< 1 minute read Not many cricketers actively prefer to play Australia, statistically at least. Most prefer Bangladesh. VVS Laxman just might prefer Australia. We always preferred playing the wall of the garage, which could function as batsman, bowler, fielders AND scorecard – with the aid of a bit of chalk. We think that
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Andrew Symonds: good enough if you give him a chance or two
< 1 minute read We’re still not sure about Andrew Symonds as a Test player. We’re sure he is one. Don’t get us wrong. We don’t doubt our own eyes – that would be madness. Just who do you trust, if you don’t trust your eyes? Your ears? Unlikely. Ears are devious. Anyway: Symonds.
Continue readingBrett Lee’s actually good nowadays
2 minute read Stuart Clark got the better figures, 4-28 and got the best batsmen out, but the story’s about Brett Lee today. He took his 250th Test wicket, but there’s more than that. This is Australia’s third Test since Warne and McGrath retired and every time Australia’s opponents have batted, Brett Lee’s
Continue readingIndia’s young fast bowlers – it’s a bit overwhelming
3 minute read India used to really struggle for quick bowlers. These days they seem to have a new Next Big Thing just about every week. We can think of six young, decent, Indian quick bowlers from a standing start and with only three brews powering our tiny little brain cells. We’ve assumed
Continue readingVirender Sehwag sidles up to Yuvraj Singh looking all serious and that
2 minute read India have named their squad for the four Test tour of Australia. It’s not totally straightforward. We’ll talk about the bowlers separately, but batting-wise the big news is the return of Virender Sehwag. We’ve read that India can’t pick Sehwag in the squad and not play him, which is technically
Continue readingMisbah-ul-Haq – another glitteringly sedate hundred
< 1 minute read Misbah-ul-Haq’s one of those players who gets his own post even if we’ve got nothing to say now. He got 133 not out in a match where runs are as inevitable as weekend overeating. He did his best to stand out from the crowd though – for much of his
Continue readingSourav Ganguly’s double hundred
2 minute read Well, at least his highest Test score’s higher than his highest one-day international score now. We saw his highest score in one-day internationals, 183 against Sri Lanka in the 1999 World Cup, and there are similarities with yesterday’s knock. On both occasions Ganguly was largely overshadowed by his batting partner
Continue readingYuvraj Singh in Test cricket
< 1 minute read So Yuvraj Singh finally gets a Test match. It’s a fairly rare occurrence. Ridiculously rare. He arrived at the crease with India 61-4 and proceeded to smear 28 fours and a six, finishing with 169 off 203 balls in a partnership with Sourav Ganguly that was worth 300. It was
Continue readingMore centurions than the Roman army
< 1 minute read Because there were only five centurions in the Roman army, weren’t there? There were six in the second Test between India and Pakistan. Younis Khan was the latest. High-scoring draws are what India v Pakistan’s all about. Fear of losing led to some classic exhibitions of stone-walling in series gone
Continue readingWasim Jaffer gets a big hundred
< 1 minute read Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were fairly predictable thorns in Sohail Tanvir’s side, but Wasim Jaffer was a thorn the size of a pickaxe handle. Jaffer actually made his Test debut back in 2000, when he was looked on as the latest great batsman from Mumbai, the town that brought
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