< 1 minute read Not sure we’ve got Imran Khan or Garry Sobers on the cards, but it’s not looking bad. Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh, age 22 As a cricket-writer, we’re worried there’ll be no words left in a few years time, because they’ll all have been eaten by Bangladesh criticisers. Shakib Al Hasan
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The five best batsmen over the next five years
< 1 minute read The big names are generally old bastards. Who’s next? Ross Taylor, New Zealand, age 25 Ross Taylor tends to look like he’s the man who’s going to win the match for New Zealand shortly before doing something slightly spacky. Pretty soon those fifties will become hundreds and those hundreds will
Continue readingAdil Rashid treated like an English leg spinner
< 1 minute read England are going to have to watch this. It’s not deliberate, but if you had to design some tactics to erode a player’s confidence, what they’re doing to Adil Rashid might be what you’d come up with. In the summer, Rashid started the one-day series against Australia well and promptly
Continue readingPaul Collingwood part of a proper England one-day batting line-up
< 1 minute read We were struck that England actually had a good batting line-up today; one with rare solidity. With Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott opening, England have grown-ups at the top of the order. There’s a dependable feel about both of them and the rest of the line-up hangs off that. In
Continue readingJimmy Anderson sullied by marketing
< 1 minute read Jimmy Anderson’s been signed up by everyone’s favourite overexposed cricket bat brand, Mongoose. All you need to know is that the designer thinks that Anderson’s bowling is “an ideal brand fit for Mongoose”. Imagine what state your soul would be in if you worked somewhere where people regularly said things
Continue readingCow corner cricket – Twenty20 matches that push the boundaries
< 1 minute read England just couldn’t quite get the 85 runs they needed off the final ball. However, while we give Loots Bosman and Graeme Smith enormous credit for the faultlessness of their hitting, South Africa’s monumental Twenty20 total of 241 was perhaps one step too close to slogging. We defend Twenty20 cricket
Continue readingEoin Morgan is the England Twenty20 batsman you most want to watch
< 1 minute read We’d rate Eoin Morgan’s 85 not out off 45 balls as the best Twenty20 performance we’ve seen from an England player. The six that he ever-so-gently placed onto the roof of a three-storey building outside the ground would ordinarily have been the most remarkable shot played in the match. We
Continue readingNo Ashes on Sky means no money for English cricket
< 1 minute read This seems to be the crisis facing the ECB as it seems increasingly likely that home Ashes series will be shown on free TV from now on. We’ve a few thoughts about this. Sponsorship of the England team If we were sponsoring England, we’d pay more if we thought four
Continue readingEngland losing warm-up matches at the start of a tour
< 1 minute read Seasoned England watchers know that England losing warm-up matches is just an unpleasant fact of life. It’s like that gnawing sense that something’s very, very wrong when you wake up in the morning. Just reach for your bottle of supermarket brand gin that you keep on the bedside table and
Continue readingAustralian cricketers are generally ready for international cricket
< 1 minute read Australia have managed a cracking one-day series victory over India, particularly considering they’re down to Clint McKay and the likes. There’s a core of first-choice players, but if you were in the vicinity of the Australia side at some point recently and happened to be wearing a yellow T-shirt, chances
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