< 1 minute readBefore the Champions’ Trophy began, ICC chief executive, Haroon Lorgat, gave it the big sell: “This is short, sharp and exciting. We have also created a winner’s jacket.” He didn’t say he’d created MULTIPLE winners’ jackets. You know you’re good at something when you get given a jacket to wear
Continue readingCategory: Australia
Wanting Shane Watson to reach his hundred
< 1 minute readHow can we possibly have found ourself wanting Shane Watson to get a hundred. He was on 92 and Australia needed eight to win the Champions’ Trophy. Why on earth did we want him to reach three figures? Seriously, why? This isn’t rhetoric. We actually want an explanation. He’s ridiculously
Continue readingInconsistency in Australian cricket
< 1 minute readBert writes: A common comment you hear from Australians, is that they lost the 2009 Ashes series because they were “inconsistent”. However, what they have failed to understand is that in cricket, especially Test match cricket, ‘inconsistent’ is a direct synonym for ‘rubbish’. An inconsistent batsman plays a couple of
Continue readingHow Joe Denly got to play for England
2 minute readThis isn’t specifically about Joe Denly. He’s just the example. It’s about being a young English cricketer and what you have to do to play for the national side. It’s also about Australia’s wicketkeeper, Tim Paine. Paine and Denly are just starting their careers and have been opening the batting
Continue readingWhy are England so bad at one-day cricket?
2 minute readYou can come up with immediate reasons, like how badly they’ve been batting of late, but take a step back. Why are England so consistently bad at one-day cricket? We’ve been thinking about this a bit and our theory revolves around player rotation. One-day internationals, more than Test cricket, revolve
Continue readingRicky Ponting is getting old
2 minute readRicky Ponting must be nearing retirement age because we’re starting to appreciate him. We read a statistic the other day that about one in five top seven Test batsmen average over 50. That’s a ludicrous figure, but players like Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting were averaging over 50 long before
Continue readingBrett Lee’s reverse swing yorkers
< 1 minute readIt doesn’t matter that it’s only a one-day international at the arse end of the season. It doesn’t matter that it’s an Australian against England. The simple fact is, proper fast bowling is a fantastic sight. Brett Lee bowled reverse swing yorkers at 95mph. It was just like Waqar Younis
Continue readingTim Paine, Australia’s wicketkeeper
< 1 minute readName of a professional wrestler. Face of a junior tennis player from the Home Counties.
Continue readingHow old is Brett Lee?
< 1 minute readBrett Lee is nearly 33, but he’s tried to obscure this fact by getting a spiky haircut. Unfortunately, spikiness is only considered a youthful hair quality among the middle-aged, so Lee’s made an error here. It’s the kind of hair that looks like it should have a Global Hypercolour T-shirt
Continue readingEngland’s 2010 fixtures
< 1 minute readThe unstoppable fun train is careering around the UK during summer 2010 and no mistake. England will play no fewer than 13 one-day internationals. This commitment to 50-over cricket has been reinforced by the ECB’s parallel decision to not play any 50-over county cricket ever again. Instead, county cricketers will
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