< 1 minute readNot sure we’ve got Imran Khan or Garry Sobers on the cards, but it’s not looking bad. Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh, age 22 As a cricket-writer, we’re worried there’ll be no words left in a few years time, because they’ll all have been eaten by Bangladesh criticisers. Shakib Al Hasan
Continue readingCategory: News
Beware the fury of Sussex County Cricket Club
< 1 minute readThe BBC are reporting that Sussex are furious with Surrey because the latter approached one of their players. Sussex chairman, Jim May, was red-faced with fury, ranting: “The approach is unwelcome and the timing very unfortunate.” Peppering the interviewer with flecks of spit and bile, May’s rage later reached its
Continue readingMark Boucher at six? This isn’t South Africa
< 1 minute readWhen England took the fourth wicket of what seemed like a mesmerisingly unstrenuous dismantling of the South African batting line-up, we wondered where the real South Africa were. Mark Boucher at six? Where was the breathtaking conservatism for which South African cricket is so renowned? Think back to the glory
Continue readingInnings victories in cricket – good or bad?
< 1 minute readIt’s good if it’s your side that’s won, but if you’re impartial, it means that a Test has been one-sided. Australia’s innings victory over West Indies also raises uncomfortable and unwelcome questions about the future of the West Indies as a Test team, even if their best player, Adrian Barath,
Continue readingAdrian Barath hits a hundred against Australia on his debut
< 1 minute readWe didn’t see Adrian Barath’s hundred against an Australia bowling attack that we feel professionally obliged to describe as ‘rampant’. Was it any good? Brian Lara though Barath was some prospect when he saw him batting in the nets, aged 11. Being as Barath’s 19 now, he must have been
Continue readingThe five best batsmen over the next five years
< 1 minute readThe big names are generally old bastards. Who’s next? Ross Taylor, New Zealand, age 25 Ross Taylor tends to look like he’s the man who’s going to win the match for New Zealand shortly before doing something slightly spacky. Pretty soon those fifties will become hundreds and those hundreds will
Continue readingOrder the Mohammad Asif if you ever get served
< 1 minute readYou all think that you’ve got nothing to say about Mohammad Asif – but you have. You wouldn’t have been able to stop yourself from commenting if we’d actually said what we meant to say. International cricket is like being stuck in a shit bar that’s got too much chrome
Continue readingMohammad Asif will just have to do
< 1 minute readIf you like cricket, as opposed to just enjoying boundaries, it’s been a tough decade or so. We’re always on the lookout for bowlers who can redress the balance and actually make life difficult for batsmen. Very few are able to do that. A few years ago, we got quite
Continue readingAdil Rashid treated like an English leg spinner
< 1 minute readEngland are going to have to watch this. It’s not deliberate, but if you had to design some tactics to erode a player’s confidence, what they’re doing to Adil Rashid might be what you’d come up with. In the summer, Rashid started the one-day series against Australia well and promptly
Continue readingPaul Collingwood part of a proper England one-day batting line-up
< 1 minute readWe were struck that England actually had a good batting line-up today; one with rare solidity. With Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott opening, England have grown-ups at the top of the order. There’s a dependable feel about both of them and the rest of the line-up hangs off that. In
Continue reading