8 minute readEveryone loves a Combined XI. Yeah, sure, it’s usually a Best XI, but in these parts we deal in Worst XIs because they’re funnier. This particular one is specifically for an Ashes series played in Australia. How many of England’s upcoming tourists will feature in it? And will any Australians
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3 minute readIt feels like South Africa threw the World Test Championship Final away more times than Australia. It’s just that when Australia threw it away, they did so decisively. To recap all the throws, South Africa, in their position as underdogs, very definitely threw the match away in their first innings
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2 minute readOoh, it’s a crucial session coming up, isn’t it? It promises to be a great, great morning for fans of commentators saying, ‘it’s a crucial session coming up’. Before the World Test Championship Final began, a lot of the selection intrigue centred on who exactly should get to stand at
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< 1 minute readHere’s an interesting little factoid: South Africa don’t have any Test matches scheduled for their next home summer. South Africa’s strapping boys face Australia in the World Test Championship Final this week. We all know how they got there, because every preview has featured varying amounts of dappled shade. The
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2 minute read“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Steve Harmison wanging his first ball straight to Andrew Flintoff at second slip. Rory Burns missing his first ball and getting bowled behind his legs. Nasser Hussain electing to bowl and spending a very long day regretting that decision. A Peter Siddle hat
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2 minute readThe Champions Trophy doesn’t hang about. Hosts Pakistan are out already. So are Bangladesh. Things don’t look too spanking for England either. We’ll start with the England game for (a) chronological reasons, (b) because we’re an England focused website, and (c) to get it out of the way. They reached
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3 minute readDid England drop seven chances today because the British idea of beach sport is going down the arcades and spending half an hour on one of those penny pusher games? Probably not, but there must be some reason why they’ve arrived at the wheelless phase of an Ashes tour. Lack
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7 minute readIs there a less showy attacking batter than Australia’s Travis Head? Australia picked a new opener not so long ago – a couple of them actually. The second one was Sam Konstas, who quickly concluded that the best way to counter the world’s best fast bowler was by repeatedly attempting
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3 minute readWe’re not sure this is the effective rebuttal he thinks it is. England have been criticised for their fitness both before and during this Ashes capitulation, but head coach Jon Lewis says they didn’t lose because of that – there are in fact loads of other reasons why they’ve lost
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3 minute readEngland don’t change captains too often. The previous one, Charlotte Edwards, made her international debut in 1996 and served as captain from 2005 until 2016 when current captain, Heather Knight, took over. Knight has previously said she’s grown more relaxed as a leader over time because she believes that’s what
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