6 minute readTop level cricketers really care about what they do. Caring is the basic fuel for their careers. But whether it’s an Iranian gasfield, a Tesla Cybertruck battery or merely the giving of shits, sometimes fuel can also finish you. Part of an international coach’s job is therefore to protect players
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3 minute readThe ECB briefly banned all players with England central contracts from speaking to the media this week. What did they think would happen? Did they honestly expect one of them to say something interesting? The ban’s since been lifted – probably on the basis that its mere existence made the
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3 minute readUnder Matthew Mott, England were very bad at the 2023 World Cup, then made the semi-finals of the 2024 T20 World Cup, where they lost to India. Under Brendon McCullum, they were very bad at the 2025 Champions Trophy, then made the semi-finals of the 2026 T20 World Cup, where
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3 minute readWe feel like we’ve read this sentence, or one very much like it, almost daily for the last few weeks. If you hadn’t noticed, Jos Buttler hasn’t been scoring too many runs. He’s apparently tried to correct this with more and more practice. Is this the right approach? If you’d
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3 minute readWe’re inclined to agree with Brendon McCullum that it’s “quite annoying” there’s currently so much focus on the night Harry Brook got chinned by a bouncer. We would however disagree with his assessment that it’s all about the specific players involved and that, “piling on to them is not helpful
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< 1 minute readIf you’ve developed a taste for fifth Ashes Test dead rubbers then good news! We’ve a contrived one to tell you about. The final episode of the latest series of our Ridiculous Ashes podcast is now up and (spoiler!) there was nothing to play for but pride (in one’s own
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5 minute readHarry Brook walked out at 8-3 in England’s first innings in Melbourne. Mitchell Starc ran in and bowled at 145.1km/h. Brook ran at it, swung with all his might… and completely missed it. It was one of the most glorious arrivals we can ever remember seeing. This was, let’s be
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5 minute read“I hate doing it,” claimed Steve Smith at the toss. “But as I’ve said, we keep producing wickets that we don’t think is going to spin.” As it turned out, the more accurate assessment came from Ben Stokes. “We try and act like we know what we’re doing when we’re
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2 minute readFinally, belatedly, on day three of the fifth Test, the normal Ashes began: flat pitch, hot sun… how are you going to handle this? Australia handled it with bats in their hands. England handled it the way they’ve so often handled it in the past: with an endlessly rotating cast
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4 minute readYou expect the unexpected in this Ashes, but we didn’t see the prospect of Jamie Smith getting bounced out by Marnus Labuschagne mentioned in any of the previews. This was obviously gloriously awful cricket all round, but which was the worst (and therefore also, in some weird sense, the best)
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