< 1 minute readNot least because he isn’t currently a Test cricketer. But that’s not really our point. Imagine you have three important things to do today, but you’re kind of pressed for time. If you’re anything like us, you’ll favour the ingenious solution of doing a really half-arsed job on all three.
Continue readingCategory: County cricket
Why is Adil Rashid giving up first-class cricket and becoming a white ball specialist?
3 minute readBecause he’s pressed for time. Adil Rashid has signed a white-ball only contract with Yorkshire for the 2018 season. Some will say he’s looking to become a short format specialist because it’ll allow him to buy a bigger car or house or whatever, but that’s missing the point. The point
Continue readingWho is Tom Helm?
2 minute readWe experienced a delightful nostalgic moment earlier this week when we read that Tom Helm had narrowly lost out to Tom Curran for an Ashes call-up. “Who’s Tom Helm?” we thought. We knew the name, we knew he was a bowler, but it’s been a long, long time since we
Continue readingWe should probably mention Middlesex being relegated
< 1 minute readIn a way, Middlesex were unlucky to be relegated as they only finished two points off fourth place. In another way, they weren’t unlucky because Somerset, Hampshire and Yorkshire all finished with more points than they did, which is kind of the aim of this whole endeavour. As title defences
Continue readingWhere are your ‘bad pitch’ thresholds?
2 minute readWhat is a bad pitch? We can get some sort of an idea by working out what we deem to be a good pitch – but there’s more to it than that. Most people will say a pitch is bad when wickets fall too easily. When a pitch gives too
Continue readingSpin bowling is abnormal – ask any county cricket supporter
2 minute readIn England, spin academies aren’t so much schools of excellence as institutions built to keep the weirdos away from the normals. Seam bowling is normal; not to be remarked upon. Spin bowling is other. If people see a lot of something, they become conditioned into thinking it’s the default. So
Continue readingSo the County Championship’s over then
2 minute readHonestly, you take the trouble to inform people how things stand in the County Championship and the damn thing only goes and gets itself decided five minutes later. Essex won their match by an innings and let’s not bother getting too mathematical about what Lancashire would need to do to
Continue readingWhat in the name of all that is good and pure is going on in the County Championship?
2 minute readNice bit of SEO there. Anyone searching “what in the name of all that is good and pure is going on in the County Championship” is now highly likely to end up on this page. In your face, Google algorithm. [Watches the ad revenue roll in.] Yes, it’s the time
Continue readingHaseeb Hameed might carry his bat
< 1 minute readEngland are still very much in the market for a Test opener, you feel. Mark Stoneman is making a fist of things, but they’d quite like another top order batsman or two to take to Australia. At the time of writing, Lancashire are four wickets down but Haseeb Hameed is
Continue reading2017 Twenty20 Finals Day – most of the story in scorecards
< 1 minute readWe rather love Twenty20 finals day, which has always seemed to strike a good balance between elite sport and village fete. A lot of short format competitions seem to be striving for the po-faced tribalism of football, but the annual climax of the original has always erred on the side
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