< 1 minute readThis is what they do nowadays. They say they’re thinking of picking someone as a means of increasing the scrutiny on them and then they see how the player reacts. Earlier in the season, word got out that England were almost certainly going to pick Scott Borthwick. He reacted by
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Yorkshire bear down on Middlesex
2 minute readBefore the latest round of County Championship matches, Yorkshire were five points adrift of Middlesex. NOW THEY’RE ONLY FOUR POINTS BEHIND. Truly, it was the definitive week of this year’s competition. Eight teams were in action and the points accrued ranged from 8 to 11 as everyone drew. Nottinghamshire were
Continue readingOne major worry about England’s one-day team
< 1 minute readThey aren’t due. Aren’t remotely due. This occurred to us midway through yesterday’s run-chase when they were a few wickets down. While they eventually overhauled Pakistan’s total, that’s only postponing the problem. Yes, there are arguably players who haven’t scored too many runs recently, but unfortunately for them, England aren’t
Continue readingLast week’s County Championship news… today!
< 1 minute readSuppose we should try and catch up. We’d left it so long we were thinking about doing a double round-up after the matches taking place at the minute, but then we thought about how long that article would end up being and decided we had to do some nettle grasping.
Continue readingYeah, maybe worth taking a look at him in other formats
2 minute readBoundaries are smaller, the white ball does sod all, fielding restrictions are imposed. There are all sorts of reasons why one-day cricket is different from Tests, but all are of secondary importance to the simple fact that it is. England’s quadruple nelson was built around a record hundred for Alex
Continue readingWhat Jason Gillespie taught us as Yorkshire coach
< 1 minute readJason Gillespie’s leaving Yorkshire at the end of the season. Disappointingly, he never picked up the accent. We always thought that Gillespie would make a terrible coach on the grounds that he did a really bad job of explaining his nickname in a TV interview in about 2003. He has
Continue readingThe ins, outs and merits of England’s one-day plan
2 minute readIt’s not an elaborate plan. It’s not particularly intricate. It is however consistent and that is perhaps of greater importance than anything else. Previously, England seemed to pick 11 players before deciding how to play based on what they ended up with. This led to an ever-changing formula from which
Continue readingTypical Pakistan: magnificent one day, diabolical the next (according to the format)
< 1 minute readPakistan have actually achieved an even more impressive feat than becoming the top-ranked Test side. It takes a particular kind of artistry to become the top-ranked Test side while also maintaining ninth position in the one-day rankings. Hats off. So what’s the difference? An obvious answer would be ‘Misbah-ul-Haq and
Continue readingPakistan are slightly number one
< 1 minute readIf there is one great benefit to the ongoing turmoil at the top of the ICC’s Test rankings, it is that it is slowly starting to dawn on people that rankings are relative. Top can mean ‘out on your own, everyone else trailing in your wake’ or it can mean
Continue readingWhat are they feeding them in Northamptonshire?
< 1 minute readIt must be very calorifically dense. Earlier in the year, we pointed out that Rory Kleinveldt’s nickname could never be Kleinsvelte, but the South African doesn’t appear to be an outlier. He plays in a muscular-yet-flabby team that appears to be getting most its protein from pork belly and fried
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