< 1 minute readAsking someone to bowl with the old ball is not the same as picking someone who has built their career around bowling with the old ball. Asking someone to bowl short is not the same as picking someone who has built their entire career around bowling short. Being tall does
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The fourth innings ‘ball hundred’
< 1 minute readRuns are not always the objective for a batsman. If a team finds itself behind in a game such that a win becomes almost impossible, the objective generally becomes survival. Similarly, if you’re one-nil up in a series and it’s the final Test, a draw means a series win. In
Continue readingIs Stuart Broad back and is that necessarily a wholly good thing for England?
4 minute readThe future’s here. The future’s even more of Stuart Broad bowling with the new ball. You might think that sounds suspiciously like the past and you’d be right. Sometimes things don’t change all that much. Actually one thing’s changed. Whether it’s enthusiasm, rhythm, a minor technical tweak or a combination
Continue readingWhen was the worst moment to tune in on the day England were 58 all out?
2 minute readEngland were 58 all out today and New Zealand didn’t even have to stoop to a bowling change. Being as play largely took place during the UK night, England supporters will have first seen the score at all sorts of different points, depending on bedtime, alarm time and bladder size.
Continue readingSix very important things to watch out for as New Zealand take on England in Big Man Cricket
2 minute readHat-tip to Marlon Samuels for coining Big Man Cricket, a term that really does sum up the might and majesty of the longest format rather well. 1. The Great Neil Wagner First and foremost, make sure you watch The Great Neil Wagner, whether on live coverage or via the tiny
Continue readingLet’s see if we can sum up Kevin Pietersen’s entire career by looking at one innings – but no, not by using that one
6 minute readTerry’s been with the firm for 30 years, but he’s not retiring; he’s going part-time. A couple of years down the line Terry reduces his hours further and then a bit later still he says that he’s going to be available for jobs he’s already done a bit of work
Continue readingShould England play Chris Woakes or Mark Wood?
4 minute readChris Woakes is a very good and admirable cricketer. He didn’t have the best of time in the last Ashes but has since bounced back in the shorter formats. If he were to play a Test match, he would not doubt take a bunch of wickets. Nevertheless, England should pretty
Continue readingFrankly, you might as well open the bowling with Mark Wood
< 1 minute readThe big news from England’s warm-up piss-take of a match against a New Zealand XI is that they’re thinking of having Retired Hurt open the bowling. Accounting for three batsmen, he was England’s most successful bowler after Jimmy Anderson, who took 4-56. Root deployed just the nine bowlers and even
Continue readingYou’ll never dismiss Jonny Bairst- oh…
< 1 minute readJonny Bairstow had made 104 runs off 59 balls when this happened. Two things to note. One, the bail is illuminated. Two, the position of Bairstow’s back foot. Pondering the former with reference to the latter, you might like to consider the path his bat took. Still, the job was
Continue readingA second Kane Williamson would have been handy
< 1 minute read“This game is not over until you get Kane Williamson out,” said Nasser Hussain when the New Zealand captain reached his fifty. Entirely untrue. England never did get him out, but still won. Kane Williamson scored getting on for a quarter of the runs in the match. No-one else passed
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