< 1 minute read By any stretch, Jonathan Trott’s Test debut has gone okay. Making a hundred on your debut is generally considered to be satisfactory. Making a hundred when you arrived at the crease with the score reading 39-3 on a day when 15 wickets fell – that’s better than satisfactory. Doing all
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Ravi Bopara lowers himself from Test cricket to county cricket
< 1 minute read There’s a big step up from county cricket to Test cricket, which means there’s a big step down when you get dropped. Ravi Bopara’s returned to Essex and has promptly made 201 against Surrey. Essex play in the second division, so it’s no so much a step down as a
Continue readingStuart Broad snatches the all-rounder baton off Andrew Flintoff
< 1 minute read Andrew Flintoff should keep a close eye on all his cricket gear. Stuart Broad will have his bats, his pads and even his box given half a chance. He’s not waiting until the big man’s gone before taking over. When Swann got North, we yelped like a female coati. When
Continue readingIan Ronald Bell and his ‘stache
< 1 minute read Ian Bell appears to have a bit of a moustache at the minute. If there were such a thing as a “my middle name’s Ronald” moustache, this would be it.
Continue readingAre England annoying enough?
< 1 minute read Not in the sense that they vex you with their occasional incompetence. We mean, are they annoying enough to truly challenge the opposition? We’ve always been a great believer that you can achieve a lot through being really annoying and we don’t see why that wouldn’t apply in international cricket.
Continue readingAre England going to win the Ashes?
< 1 minute read What? It’s a simple enough question, isn’t it? Are England going to win the Ashes? The players are all saying that they can. None are saying that they will and obviously none are saying that they won’t. The pundits are weighing things up and talking about pressure and weather and
Continue readingOverly dramatic headline of the week
< 1 minute read The BBC go with “Strauss makes Ashes rallying call”. England’s captain is geeing up the troops with fist-pumping lines such as: “You have to earn the right to be on top in a match and that is why what we did at Headingley was a bit of shocker. We have
Continue readingAndy Flintoff reinstated as Hero Number One
< 1 minute read It’s his last Test, so we’re going back to calling him ‘Andy’. That’s what he always used to be, before the media started calling him ‘Andrew’ and then ‘Freddie’. Andy is a good, functional name. It gets the job done. It’s the kind of name you’d be happy to buy
Continue readingJoe Denly earmarked for summat
< 1 minute read Joe Denly has been picked in England’s Fewer Overs squads for the arse end of the summer. This is pretty good. We get the impression England’s selectors have identified him as an attacking opening batsman who’s actually an opening batsman and not just a sloggy all-rounder who has a bit
Continue readingResponse to England’s fifth Ashes Test squad
< 1 minute read Jonathan Trott, who is being dropped into a deep end infested with piranhas from a great height for his debut, said: “I’m chuffed.” Mark Ramprakash, writing on Twitter, (genuinely) said: “Defecating in a package to send to Geoff Miller.” Quite bizarrely, Trott seemed to echo Ramps’ thoughts when speaking about
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