4 minute readThere are two types of people in this world. There are annoying people and then there are people who pride themselves on being annoying. That’s it. Those are all the options. Everyone is annoying. Probably the most annoying person ever is Ben Kingsley’s insanely aggressive character in Sexy Beast, Don
Continue reading
2 minute readThere are great batsmen and there are great shots. Then there is the greatest batsman of all (Stuart Broad) and his greatest shot of all (the hook). At this point in his career, Broad’s batting is all but flawless. Measured in conventional terms, it is of course massively flawed –
Continue reading
2 minute readSix-foot-six and a hundred tons, Rahkeem Cornwall is a cricketer who’s hard to ignore. We do not plan on ignoring him. This is how he’s like a cat. (1) Conserves energy wherever possible Never run if you can walk. Never walk if you can stroll. Never stroll if you can
Continue reading
4 minute readThe ‘nice problem to have’ cliché klaxon is ringing out deafeningly this week. England need to take two full seam attacks and turn them into one. Three of the six pace bowlers to have appeared in this series so far will be selected for the third Test and three of
Continue reading
4 minute readHere’s a trailer for The Edge, that documentary about the England team that got to number one in the world and then fell apart. We had ten questions about an earlier trailer, but this second one really ramped up the seriousness. NO ENGLAND TEAM FELL HARDER says one of the
Continue reading
3 minute readPeople often say that Ben Stokes is two cricketers in one. This seems very disrespectful. If you’ve never seen or read Altered Carbon, the story is set in a future where people can transfer their consciousnesses into different bodies or ‘sleeves’. The technology was originally devised so that people could
Continue reading
2 minute readLate in the morning session of day two of the second Test between England and the West Indies, Dom Sibley once again awoke from his fitful batting slumbers and actually hit the ball. This particular diversion from his default approach of not hitting the ball took him to a 312-ball
Continue reading
4 minute readJoe Denly is an unbelievable Test cricketer. You’ll note that we’re saying ‘is’ and not ‘was’ there. That’s because of the specific way in which Joe Denly is/was unbelievable. Sometimes you only need to do so much to get the gig. And sometimes you only need to do so much
Continue reading
4 minute readLet’s talk about picking bowling attacks. Let’s use the first Test between England and the West Indies as a case study and, for an extra frisson of excitement, let’s do this halfway through the game – that way any specifics we use can turn out to be very wrong. Because
Continue reading
< 1 minute readThe answer is ‘none’. None more responsibility. Jason Holder is a parsimonious line bowler of immaculate line and length. He is also a two-metre strike bowler, who seams the ball plenty. He’s a decent bat too, not to mention an absolutely peerless anti-Lumbergh of a captain. Now it turns out
Continue reading