2 minute readWe don’t believe you can draw meaningful conclusions from players’ debuts – but we report on them anyway. Much to admire, but can Gus Atkinson play the reverse sweep? And how grumpy will he be when England’s fielders revert to shelling one chance in three, rather than velcroing-in everything remotely within
Continue reading
3 minute readWe’ve written about James Anderson a lot over the years. He has a lot of qualities, but one of his finest – to our mind – is his irritability. We named James Anderson in an England XI that comprised the players we have invested in the most and we also
Continue reading
4 minute readLoads of people have been picked for England since James Anderson made his Test debut against Zimbabwe in May 2003. This XI comprises some of the least successful – plus Jimmy himself. Just imagine the exasperated head shaking! 1. Adam Lyth – 265 Test runs at 20.38 Surprisingly few of
Continue reading
3 minute readJames Anderson plays his final Test next week, having made his Test debut in 2003. There was a bit of a fallow ‘bowling at a single stump during the lunch interval’ period early on, but even then he did play at least one Test match every year. It struck us
Continue reading
4 minute readIn a colossal miscarriage of justice, England (one win from four versus Test-playing nations) were knocked out of the T20 World Cup by unbeaten India after not playing anywhere near as well as them in the semi-final. India will meet the similarly-unbeaten South Africa, who triumphed over both Afghanistan and
Continue reading
4 minute readIt feels somewhat bizarre that South Africa have only just made it through to the semi-finals, unbeaten, when England – with two defeats and a no result to their name – had basically already qualified from the same group. The week’s biggest highlight came elsewhere however. Spectacular deaths Jos Buttler
Continue reading
3 minute readWhat if the Super 8s aren’t actually that super? Can they get downgraded? The So-So 8s? The Subpar 8s? The Shit 8s? They’re the Solid 8s so far, but it can probably still go either way. Does anyone know why they’re plural, by the way? As far as we can
Continue reading
3 minute readThe Super 8s phase of the T20 World Cup starts on Wednesday, and Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka will not be in it. The Super 8s actually comprise parallel groups of four. Two Super 4s you might say. Or does this round require eight teams before it qualifies as
Continue reading
2 minute readThe big news since yesterday is that Afghanistan are through to the next phase of the competition and New Zealand are out. England aren’t NRRly finished though after successfully chasing down Oman’s 47 all out in just 3.1 overs. Salt consumption Oman’s flakey performance meant the entire match only lasted
Continue reading
4 minute readMany things have happened since our last round-up, but the most significant development is that Nassau County International Cricket Stadium is already on its way back to being a public park. “The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long,” as Tyrell says to Roy in Bladerunner. No,
Continue reading