< 1 minute readVirat Kohli’s due a score, isn’t he? And how many runs has Alastair Cook got in his bag, just waiting to be plucked out? Or is it more that Cook’s now suffering the inevitable consequences of frittering runs away earlier in his career. There was a complete lack of rationing
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Gary Ballance bares his teeth
< 1 minute readA lot. It seems to be his default facial expression while batting. It’s a little disconcerting. But on the plus side, we’ve already started thinking to ourself: “At least Ballance is still in,” as if he’s the most reliable of the England batsmen. Like Jonathan Trott, you don’t really feel
Continue readingAjinkya Rahane’s overdue a proper mention
< 1 minute readFor the second time this series, we find ourself looking for an old article of ours about an Indian batsman only to find that we never actually wrote it. As far back as 2012, we were casually referring to Ajinkya Rahane in a matter of fact way, as if you
Continue readingA pitch for Cook the bowler and Anderson the batsman
< 1 minute readFor a very short while on the final day, it seemed like things could potentially maybe be sort of in the balance a little bit if a few more things went England’s way, but then it very much wasn’t in the balance and the day climaxed with Alastair Cook’s round-arm
Continue readingJimmy Anderson and the lost art of opening doors
< 1 minute readThis England team isn’t the most popular, but you can’t fault Jimmy Anderson for that. He’s waging a one-man willow-wielding war on unpopularity this summer. You wouldn’t think it possible to improve on his efforts against Sri Lanka, but at Trent Bridge, against India, he may well have managed it.
Continue readingGreat insight about Ishant Sharma gleaned from having spent a day watching him bowl
< 1 minute readWe were at the Test yesterday. It was… steady. Or at least it was until Stuart Broad came in. The main thing we gleaned from our side-on vantage point is that Ishant Sharma has two different running styles during his approach to the crease. First, he jogs normally. Then, halfway
Continue readingRhythm, timing and a diverse bowling attack
2 minute readThis starts off as a Twitter story, but stick with it because that’s merely the setting. The point we’re about to make has nothing to do with that. Firstly, let us just say that we don’t make predictions on Twitter. No-one really cares what we think and it’s too easy
Continue readingMurali Vijay’s straight bat against England’s ‘worthy’ bowling
< 1 minute readThere’s been a fair amount of whinging about the slowness and lowness of the pitch – and not without cause – but it strikes us that really good bowling attacks don’t happen across dead pitches very often. England’s is not a really good bowling attack. The point of Test cricket
Continue reading“People want to see runs”
< 1 minute readPeople are always saying this. It drives us mental. They say it like it’s a fact. Stuart Broad’s the latest. “I think Test wickets should be flat, no doubt, because the crowds want to come and see runs scored.” No we don’t. The most boring days we’ve ever seen have
Continue readingArticle about English county cricketer fails to dwell on his chances of playing for England
< 1 minute readThere is more than one thing to celebrate regarding Andrew Flintoff’s return to competitive cricket, but surely this is the greatest. A county match report which doesn’t go on and on about how some no-mark is ‘pushing for selection’ is a rare thing indeed. Okay, so in this instance the
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