2 minute readLike most bowlers, James Anderson is frequently up against it. Modern pitches are generally against him, overseas conditions are often against him and the fixture list is always against him. However, like a fat man’s old belt, Jimmy hasn’t buckled in a long, long time. Fit for purpose Most of
Continue readingCategory: England
The drab life between the leave and the lofted block
2 minute readOn Sky, Nick Knight asked why England had been scoring at two runs an over, like it was some sort of policy. The truth is that even Kevin Pietersen couldn’t score quicker. Early wickets probably brought added caution, but the pitch seems to have dictated that there will be some
Continue readingThe case for Onions
2 minute readDelicious and versatile. Oh wait, upper-case ‘O’. Let’s start again. Graham Onions is the England bowler everyone rates, but not enough that he’s ever the person they think should play. His qualities are low-octane and harder to see. There’s always a taller bowler or a faster bowler who’s more eye-catching.
Continue readingEngland’s Eden Gardens Test win, four-man bowling attacks and Zaheer Khan
2 minute readWe’ll be honest, we’re struggling to know what to say about England’s win at Eden Gardens. Comparing our preview to the scorecard kind of puts things in perspective. The current fashion seems to be to denigrate India, but that’s only half the story. The other half most revolves around Alastair
Continue readingIndia have a bad day at the crease
2 minute readR Ashwin is a good batsman, but no-one considers him to be one of the best six batsman in India. In that case, why is it that he seems to be thriving with the bat while the specialists are batting like a big bag of grundle? There’s no simple answer.
Continue readingIndia have a bad day in the field
< 1 minute readIndia have an amazing ability to take a bad day in the field and make it look worse. It’s a flat pitch and they managed to take five wickets (although none for the man with ‘the best wrist in cricket’) but yet it seemed far more horrendous than that. Mostly
Continue readingGuess we’ll write about Alastair Cook
< 1 minute readDoes Alastair Cook know that captains are allowed off the field? If he doesn’t, no-one tip him off, because it’s going quite well. In five Tests leading England, he’s now scored five hundreds. He even hit some nice shots today, which isn’t really the point. An Alastair Cook innings shouldn’t
Continue readingSomething about the third Test
< 1 minute readIt’s not that we’ve got nothing to say ahead of the Kolkata Test, it’s that we’ve already previewed the match. You want more than that? You want something timely? Okay, how about whether Steven Finn should play? We’d say that if he’s fit, he should play, because Stuart Broad seems
Continue readingHow do you feel about England’s win over India in the second Test?
< 1 minute readRegardless of the outcome of the rest of the series, we’re inclined to say this was one of the most impressive England wins we’ve seen. It’s not just that it’s an England win in India – which is as rare as a sighting of a wendigo – it’s that they
Continue readingMonty Panesar’s dimension
< 1 minute readPeople can overcomplicate things sometimes. Pyramid tea bags? You can make a perfect cup of tea with an ordinary bag, so this is not a worthwhile development. Okay, maybe that’s not precisely the right analogy here. We do accept that there is something in the Monty Panesar has played one
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