2 minute readWe’ve always liked Ajinkya Rahane. He’s always struck us as a batsman who can adapt to different situations and different conditions. India like him too. They like him to be 12th man. Rahane’s case for inclusion in the second Test against South Africa wasn’t undeniable, we’ll admit. He had a
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Is Hardik Pandya the best all-rounder in the world?
< 1 minute readOne of the problems with asking questions such as this is what time-frame do you use to make your assessment? Performances over the last year, over the last five years, over the last ten years? We’re going make our assessment based on performances over the last 24 hours. This leads
Continue readingThe more batsmen England pick, the fewer they have
< 1 minute readThe big question before this fourth Test was could England’s batsmen start making some runs and maybe win a few more Tests? When the answer revealed itself to be “no and yes” it became apparent that these were actually two separate questions. England somehow cobbled together a half-decent first innings
Continue readingOld Trafford’s Anderson End
< 1 minute readFew initially remarkable features, but you often get nice swing. If Jimmy has an end, Cricket Badger readers will soon be aware that Vernon Philander has two – a top and a bottom. This week’s Philander ailment is a light case of back knack. Violent full body convulsions can do
Continue readingMoeen Ali, England’s second spinner, takes a hat trick
< 1 minute readWe’ve told you before how we once saw a story in the local paper where a woman had come second in some sort of vegetable growing competition despite being the only person to enter something in that particular category. The judges decided that her entry was only worthy of a
Continue readingToby Roland-Jones: first look in Test cricket
< 1 minute readWe don’t believe you can draw meaningful conclusions from players’ debuts – but we report on them anyway. We suppose that if people call you Toblerone, you’re kind of duty-bound to provide the odd peak. 4-39 is pretty useful for a kick-off. Toby Roland-Jones seems to bowl at around 80mph.
Continue readingWhat Ben Stokes’ erratic boundary-hitting says about his batting
< 1 minute readKevin Pietersen’s career strike-rate was 61.72. Matthew Hayden’s was 60.10. For all that these are batsmen with a reputation for intimidating bowlers, they chose their moments. This is a large part of the art of Test match batting. It’s about letting bowlers know that you are willing to hit them
Continue readingTom Westley: first look in Test cricket
< 1 minute readWe don’t believe you can draw meaningful conclusions from debut performances – but we report on them anyway. If there’s one thing we’ll say for Tom Westley, it’s that he appears to have a pleasing preference for the workmanlike side of the ground. Legside nurdlery has always worked for Alastair
Continue readingEngland pick some wheat and chaff and postpone their separation until later
< 1 minute readAs a result of Cricinfo’s redesign, we don’t actually know that a Sri Lanka v India Test is taking place and therefore cannot comment on who has scored hundreds and who has been dismissed for three. We will instead restrict ourself to an observation that England will be picking at
Continue readingIn what sense was JP Duminy “released”?
< 1 minute readJP Duminy had initially been sentenced to a full Test tour of England but has been released early due to good behaviour and bad batting. Duminy has been around a while. He made his one-day international debut in 2004 and his Test debut in 2008. Somehow he has played 46
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