< 1 minute read Australia coach, Tim Nielsen, has some positive words to say about Mitchell Johnson, who’s currently trying to read this article on the bookcase four feet to the left of his monitor: “It wasn’t like he’d lost confidence and all the things were falling apart and he was bowling 85mph and
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The Andrew Strauss catch of Phil Hughes
< 1 minute read Phil Hughes edged a Flintoff delivery to the slips. Andrew Strauss scooped it up, but did it graze the turf? The umpires didn’t refer it, but if they had have done, Hughes would certainly have been given not out. The heart bleeds. The Australian view is that Hughes would definitely
Continue readingWatching Ricky Ponting flip out
< 1 minute read Ricky Ponting always reminds us of the spoilt youngest daughter in a story about an upper class family set in the Fifties. She’s short, ridiculously spoilt and on the rare occasions she doesn’t get her way, she shrieks and shrieks and her facial expression becomes unavoidably punchable. One of the
Continue readingAustralia batting collapse and other good things
< 1 minute read This morning, we said that England’s 425 wasn’t a good score against these Australian bowlers. We stand by that, but somewhat gleefully concede that it isn’t as bad a score as 156-8. With this and Steve Harmison taking 6-20 in the county championship, could things get any better? Rob Key’s
Continue readingAustralia’s bowlers aren’t flattered by comparisons with the past
< 1 minute read Largely because they’re a bit toss. 425 ain’t good enough and England haven’t knackered out Australia’s four bowlers as much as they should have done. Mitchell Johnson Mitchell Johnson or James Anderson? Easy. Johnson has promised a lot, but unless you love non-bouncing wides, he hasn’t really delivered. We love
Continue readingShane Warne’s head
< 1 minute read Shane Warne’s head has long been round and red, but it seems to be getting ever more inflated and ever more vivid in colour. It looks like a spacehopper.
Continue readingAustralian batsmen batting on and on
< 1 minute read This is the toss side of the Ashes that you forget about in the two year downtime: ball not doing a lot, Australian batsmen not doing a lot wrong. You can enliven proceedings greatly by playing the ‘how bored can I possibly make myself’ game. Put the TV on mute
Continue readingBen Hilfenhaus is quietly impressive
< 1 minute read Midway through yesterday’s play, there was a strange, unholy sound in our front room. We eventually concluded that an Australian was trying to communicate with us. After concealing all sleeves from sight so that it didn’t get distressed, we eventually managed to deduce what it was trying to tell us.
Continue readingMitchell Johnson or James Anderson?
< 1 minute read And you HAVE to choose. We’re going for James Anderson. He’s the better bowler when the ball swings and we love watching swing bowling. If the ball doesn’t swing, Mitchell Johnson’s got the better attributes, being quicker and kack-handed (as if THAT’S an attribute). Also, you have to remember that
Continue readingAshes players to watch tomorrow
2 minute read You might have noticed a certain jaded world-weariness about our recent Ashes coverage as a result of mindless media coverage smotheration. It feels right that we should return to our natural demeanour at a time when everyone else is bouncing about like there’s a lot of bouncing to be done
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