< 1 minute readWe were moaning about Matt Prior as opener the other day. When Luke Wright was called up to the England squad, it opened up the possibility of his opening up some possibilities through opening… up. He didn’t and Matt Prior scored six, so Wright didn’t do his opening ambitions any
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Yuvraj Singh in one-day cricket this summer
< 1 minute readWe’ve made one or two rash pronouncements in our time. Fortunately most of them are now all-but-invisible on the old site. However, we’re going to bring one to the fore today in a fairly transparent bid to make a player lose form for a couple of matches against England. This
Continue readingPaul Collingwood papers over fragile England batting line-up
< 1 minute readBecause if you’ve got a fragile batting line-up, paper is the greatest disguise. You can conceal all manner of batting sins through judicious use of paper. England’s batting folded at Old Trafford but they got away with it. It happened at Headingley and they didn’t. Paul Collingwood’s innings of 91
Continue readingAjit Agarkar tries to fool us with wickets – we won’t be fooled
< 1 minute readAjit Agarkar is still all kinds of terrible, despite taking four wickets in the fourth one-day international at Old Trafford. We’re not going to be swayed. We accept that his ball to Ian Bell was a beauty, although it was a hideously dreadful leave on Bell’s part. You don’t think
Continue readingRavi Bopara and Stuart Broad given the ultimate honour
2 minute readWhat were you doing when you were 21 or 22? We were mostly not leaving our room for weeks on end and feeling kind of numb inside. Not Stuart Broad and Ravi Bopara. They were exhibiting extraordinary amounts of steel in rescuing a disastrous one-day international run chase in front
Continue readingIan Bell – ink him in at three
< 1 minute readWe’d planned to write something about how Ian Bell supplied the padding in the ‘meal’ of an England innings – the bulk that everyone takes for granted, without really paying any attention to it. Slightly dull, but integral to the construction of the meal. There were going to be lots
Continue readingRahul Dravid’s cool destruction
< 1 minute readSome observers seemed surprised by Rahul Dravid‘s innings of 92 off 63 balls as India won the second one-day international yesterday. Why? Dravid’s more than capable of doing this. People get blinded by his careful approach to Test cricket, but he only plays like that because he thinks that’s the
Continue readingAjit Agarkar: Seriously, what is the point?
< 1 minute readIf you’re only going to pick four bowlers in a one-day game, you’d think you’d want four good ones. Yet in an era where India’s pace bowling resources have never run deeper, there’s been one conspicuous survivor from an earlier period. Ajit Agarkar. His survival is inexplicable. Even more inexplicable
Continue readingEngland wallop India in a one-day game – honestly
< 1 minute readWhat in blazes? What, what… THE DICKENS is going on? An England player scores a one-day hundred. ANOTHER England player scores a one-day hundred. England tot up 288 for the loss of only two wickets. James Anderson bowls at 90mph and takes 4-23. Andrew Flintoff‘s back and he’s also bowling
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