< 1 minute readThe plight of Ravi Bopara makes an interesting case study. He’s trying to establish himself as a Test cricketer and only Test runs will really persuade anyone that he’s ready. He gets a series of ducks in Tests in Sri Lanka and gets dropped. He promptly makes a one-day double
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Adil Rashid, Yorkshire: first-class bowler to watch in 2010
< 1 minute readThe general feeling about Adil Rashid is that maybe everyone should just let him play a bit of cricket. England helped his development no end last season by keeping him out of the majority of Yorkshire’s matches so that he could not play for them instead. Occasionally they let him
Continue readingArtballing – we love the use of the word “accurately”
< 1 minute readRemember Michael Vaughan’s paint thing? He was commissioned to produce a painting of the Chevrolet Cruze. “The painting took eight hours to create with Vaughan calling on his cricketing expertise to accurately recreate the bodywork, tyres and alloys on canvas using five different coloured cricket balls and over 20 litres
Continue readingBangladesh v England – no protagonist, no narrative, no cephalopods
< 1 minute readGood films come in two forms: The writers are smarter than you and have constructed an ingenious plot where the story slowly unfolds, keeping you rapt The writers are far stupider than you and haven’t a clue about plot structure, so just to keep things moving, every now and again
Continue readingAshes on free TV could mean four counties going bankrupt
< 1 minute readSounds good to us. Can we choose which ones? The ECB have felt it necessary to spend half a million pounds on some research that shows how badly off they’d be if the Ashes were put on free TV rather than Sky. We can’t help but think that an organisation
Continue readingSteven Finn brings height and speed to the England bowling attack
< 1 minute readEarlier this week, we wrote about England’s back-up bowlers for The Wisden Cricketer, saying they were all a bit samey. The one guy we didn’t mention was our former One To Watch, Steven Finn. Finn actually got picked to make his Test debut against Bangladesh and it’s the fact that
Continue readingMichael Vaughan wants South Africans DEAD
< 1 minute readThere’s a beautifully hazy piece in The Independent today on Michael Vaughan’s comments about South African born cricketers representing England. Essentially, his thoughts about how some South African players come to England for money have been presented as if he’s saying that Kevin Pietersen should be dropped because he was
Continue readingEoin Morgan: reverse sweeps and keeping calm
< 1 minute readOf all the many eye-catching features of Eoin Morgan’s batting, it’s one of the least noticeable which is perhaps the most significant. He’s very, very calm. Eoin Morgan is the England one-day batsman you most want to watch, but he’s increasingly the one you most rely on as well. He’s
Continue readingAndy Flower motivates England’s openers and wicketkeepers
< 1 minute readIt’s tricky motivating people. Trust us on this, we’re pretty clued up on the psychopathology of apathy. Earlier in the year, Graeme Smith subtly dissed Dale Steyn because he didn’t think he was pulling his weight, even though Steyn was only just returning from injury. Smith didn’t care about that.
Continue readingCraig Kieswetter – yes or no?
< 1 minute readWe might as well do our usual thing of formalising our fence-sitting position. Our initial feelings when Somerset wicketkeeper, Craig Kieswetter, started eating up column inches was: ‘No, not another one. Too many wicketkeepers!’ Everyone’s got a favourite wicketkeeper to push and we hate it. No-one can make an informed
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