2 minute readWe never wrote about Andy Caddick when he retired. We should have done. Say what you like about Andy Caddick. Say that he was mad as pies; say that he got picked for England because people wanted him there to fix stuff while they were on tour; say he was
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County cricket players to watch in 2010
< 1 minute readWe’re watching these guys when there isn’t an international match on, which is never: Liam Plunkett Mark Davies Adil Rashid Will Smith Paul Horton Phil Mustard Ravi Bopara
Continue readingRavi Bopara, Essex: first-class batsman to watch in 2010
< 1 minute readThe plight of Ravi Bopara makes an interesting case study. He’s trying to establish himself as a Test cricketer and only Test runs will really persuade anyone that he’s ready. He gets a series of ducks in Tests in Sri Lanka and gets dropped. He promptly makes a one-day double
Continue readingPhil Mustard: one-day wicketkeeper-batsman to watch in 2010
< 1 minute readSo much of what’s wrong with English cricket can be seen in the never-ending debate about wicketkeepers. First-class cricket’s too weak to show who’s best and because there are so many counties and therefore so many candidates, no player gets much of a run. We are no better informed than
Continue readingPaul Horton: first-class batsman to watch in 2010
< 1 minute readLike Will Smith, Paul Horton’s another who had a 2009 season of less than unbridled success. He did hit 173 in one match, but didn’t do much else. However, if there’s one thing we’ve learnt with these Ones To Watch, it’s that they’re devious bastards and always slip in a
Continue readingWill Smith, Durham: first-class batsman to watch in 2010
< 1 minute readWill Smith was the one batsman who didn’t score runs for Durham last year, which might not immediately mark him out as being worth watching, but the year before that he was arguably their best batsman. We’re putting the mediocre batting down to his being made captain in 2009. It’s
Continue readingAdil Rashid, Yorkshire: first-class bowler to watch in 2010
< 1 minute readThe general feeling about Adil Rashid is that maybe everyone should just let him play a bit of cricket. England helped his development no end last season by keeping him out of the majority of Yorkshire’s matches so that he could not play for them instead. Occasionally they let him
Continue readingMark Davies, Durham: first-class bowler to watch in 2010
< 1 minute readMark Davies’ 19 wickets at 29.57 last year was a woeful return by his standards, but an overall first-class record that reads 251 wickets at 21.68 is as good as it gets. Mark’s 30 this year, so this will be his fourth and final appearance in our Ones To Watch.
Continue readingLiam Plunkett, Durham: a first-class bowler for 2010
< 1 minute readLiam Plunkett’s a bit of a batsman as well, but his bowling is what matters. Of Durham’s many fine bowlers, Onions, Harmison and Blackwell all averaged less than Plunkett last season, but only Harmison took more wickets. Plunkett’s average of 24.83 was hardly shameful either. Although Plunkett’s age seems to
Continue readingArtballing – we love the use of the word “accurately”
< 1 minute readRemember Michael Vaughan’s paint thing? He was commissioned to produce a painting of the Chevrolet Cruze. “The painting took eight hours to create with Vaughan calling on his cricketing expertise to accurately recreate the bodywork, tyres and alloys on canvas using five different coloured cricket balls and over 20 litres
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