2 minute read They always say of Twenty20 cricket that it’s ideal for modern lifestyles because we’re all so busy these days, as if everyone’s got oh-so-many important things to do all the time and all those labour-saving devices have had no impact. It’s probably true though. We are busier. We’re busy watching
Continue readingCategory: England
Alex Hales makes use of the door handle
2 minute read They always talk about players ‘knocking on the door’ when it comes to England selection. Then, when a player makes a really compelling case, they say he pretty much knocked the door down. Alex Hales seems inclined to take an even more straightforward route into the team. He’s just going
Continue readingSo that’s why Jason Holder’s going to be Test captain
< 1 minute read If you envision the next Chanderpaul, the first thing you picture is a younger version of the current Chanderpaul – a crabby, left-handed batsman who has Chanderpaul’s face and Chanderpaul’s oversized cricket gear. What you don’t picture is a two metre tall right-hander who’s actually a bowler. Nevertheless, Jason Holder
Continue readingGary Ballance sloughs his skin
< 1 minute read Gary Ballance doesn’t so much score Test hundreds as cut them. Short and wide, fair enough, but our Gary seems to play the shot to middle stump half volleys as well. Fair enough. Whatever works. Ballance isn’t the only England player who appears to be sloughing his horrifically stained World
Continue readingThe day of Jermaine Blackwood and James Tredwell
2 minute read We feel moderately confident naming it this, because it doesn’t seem so likely that there’ll be another such day when not just one, but both of these players have a sizeable impact on a Test match. James Tredwell, for one, might never play another Test. This is sad and if
Continue readingLike Stuart Broad… but different
2 minute read If wealthy, middle-aged American women’s faces teach us anything, it is that people do not go under the knife and then return much as they ever were. Don’t seam bowlers usually have to prove themselves again after surgery? Stuart Broad had a knee problem. It wasn’t anything too debilitating. It
Continue readingThe England cricket team is slightly diseased
2 minute read We’re not sure what the disease is called. Nor can we tell whether it’s a mild virus that you soon overcome or a more serious illness, like rigor mortis. Either way, symptoms include caution, timidity and a fear of failure. Observing these qualities, relatives yearn for the patient to display
Continue readingWho do England rely on? And is that a problem?
3 minute read With live cricket broadcast at a reasonable hour, a Test tour of the West Indies is one of our favourites when it comes to watching the game on TV. It’s a shame it comes hot on the heels of the World Cup, ahead of an Ashes and in conflict with
Continue readingBring out your dead – the mortician’s cart rolls by the ECB
2 minute read We’ve a slight concern that the ECB’s new chief executive referred to ‘the England Cricket Department’ in announcing Paul Downton’s sacking, as if English cricket really were a corporation in which broad, curved desks were every bit as important pieces of equipment as bats and balls. Nevertheless, it’s hard not
Continue readingThe multi-coloured Excel monster that is the English domestic season
2 minute read Each year, The Cricketer produces a wall chart detailing all of the summer fixtures. It works well as a visual representation of the way the English domestic game is organised. White space is in short supply. It is as much an assault on the senses as a paper wall chart
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