2 minute readIn recent years there has been much talk about how county cricket hasn’t been producing spin bowlers. A corollary of this is that county batsmen have been facing less spin. With just a bit of a nudge, the latter becomes something that can be exploited. This year in the County
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Jonathan Trott and no ice age
< 1 minute readA lot of you will have assumed that England’s domestic 50-over competition had been and gone. The group stages barely outlasted July and the semi-finals took place three weeks ago. The final, however, was scheduled for the arse end of the season, long after anyone could remember what preceded it.
Continue readingWhy England have selected Gareth Batty
2 minute read“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” At the age of 38, we have genuinely never been fitter in our entire life. We had however assumed that our chance of playing international cricket had passed. Not so! Almost as if England were Australia and Gareth
Continue readingThe County Championship state of play a few crucial minutes before the end of the second day
2 minute readWe could wait until the end of the day’s play before giving the latest round of County Championship matches a mid-point once-over, but why wait? Whatever we write will be out of date soon enough anyway. Might as well allow it to become so almost instantly. Keep on Keaton on
Continue readingWhat is the point in the County Championship?
2 minute readWas it a batting point or a bowling point? Was it one arising from a win, or did it come about through a draw? The dream scenario would be for it to have come about thanks to a penalty for a slow over rate, but neither Middlesex nor Yorkshire has
Continue readingCity-based T20 and the art of forcing windows
3 minute readIndependent websites are meant to provide a rapid response to news stories, telling the world how things should be based on an unshakeable sense of what is right and what is wrong. However, we long ago concluded that when it came to stories about what might happen to the structure
Continue reading‘We played like pretty boys there at one stage’ – Trevor Bayliss
< 1 minute readIt’s been very humid in the North-West these last few days. That probably didn’t have any impact on the outcome of the T20 International between England and Pakistan but we haven’t got much to say about the cricket so thought we’d flesh out this piece by talking about the weather
Continue readingEngland float the idea of picking Haseeb Hameed to see what happens
< 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
Continue readingYorkshire 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
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