3 minute readThere were three phases to Virat Kohli’s hundred. There was the bit where he kept being beaten by the bowlers; there was the bit where the ball wasn’t doing quite so much but he was still shaken up; and there was the bit where everything went back to normal and
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Virat Kohli ran out Joe Root and then he did a good thing and then he did a bad thing
2 minute readWe don’t know if the following is fair or not. You could probably prove it one way or the other using ‘statistics’ or ‘facts’. It certainly feels true though and if modern politics tells us anything, it’s that what feels true is of far greater significance that what actually is
Continue readingTo celebrate England’s 1,000th men’s Test match, we ask: which one was the most mediocre?
2 minute readIt’s England’s 1,000th Test match. In honour of this inevitable round number, we thought it would be nice to pick out the most mediocre Test they’ve played. Not poor. Mediocre. Just middling and neither here nor there really. Method We went through all of England’s 999 men’s Test matches and
Continue readingWhich is more likely: a Virat Kohli hundred, an Adil Rashid five-for or a Kuldeep Yadav five-for?
2 minute readMany things will happen when England play India from tomorrow. It’s tempting to imagine that the first Test match is some sort of newspaper headline final which will only feature those who were prominent during the quarters and semis in recent weeks. Viewed from that perspective, which is more likely:
Continue readingAdil Rashid’s back!
2 minute readAs in ‘returned’. He hasn’t got ankylosing spondylitis or anything. Is Adil Rashid a bowler who can take wickets when others cannot? Yeah, probably. Sometimes. Does Adil Rashid’s selection for the Test squad having previously jacked in red ball cricket maybe raise a couple of awkward questions? Erm, yeah, probably.
Continue readingThe three main changes you can always make to the England Test team
2 minute readWhen a Test squad’s due to be announced, everyone normally has a default XI in mind and then we all make swaps according to our own prejudices. Typically, everyone wants to make between one and three changes. Change No 1 is when you replace the rubbish batsman you hate with
Continue readingWe made up a word and Wisden published it
< 1 minute readThe word is ‘schedusfaction’ and it means ‘satisfaction with the scheduling of a cricket tour’. We didn’t realise the world had use for such a word until this summer. England are about to play a Test series against India. You may be aware of this and that might be because
Continue readingVirat Kohli’s ‘I’ve just been bowled by Adil Rashid’ face
< 1 minute readWhen we wrote about what it’s like to be Virat Kohli, we didn’t for one minute think that there would be any overlap with what it’s like to be Mike Gatting. Turns out there is. Virat Kohli and Mike Gatting both do a thing where they make an astonished face
Continue readingPlease can we very quickly talk about that very fine MS Dhoni innings in the last one-dayer?
2 minute readImagine a tiger hunting a deer. He’s squatting down in the undergrowth, taut and primed to strike. The deer is ambling around just in front of him, oblivious. When the deer gets close enough, the tiger will leap out and bite him in the neck. The deer mills around. He
Continue readingThere are many different ways to get out to Kuldeep Yadav
2 minute readHere’s Jason Roy getting it not-right again Kuldeep Yadav. Here’s Roy’s follow-through. You may notice that he’s hitting the ball in the air while simultaneously falling on his arse. It seems safe to assume this probably wasn’t the outcome he envisaged. Now here’s Joe Root getting it very not-right. This
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