< 1 minute readJust a single sighting of the natmeg in the World Cup semi-final by our count – but it secured two runs and was therefore, by all measures, decisive. England passed South Africa’s total with just two balls to spare. You can’t honestly suggest that the natmeg wasn’t the difference. With
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England are a team utterly without breadth
2 minute readEngland are a limited batting side. Most of the players have plenty of shots and they’re seemingly limited to a style of play where they use them all. This article isn’t going to be a paean to the blocker. It’s about a lack of flexibility; a lack of range. England
Continue readingLiam Dawson is getting carted
2 minute readWe’ve been wondering whether Liam Dawson will become a player we hate for being kind of dull or a player we love for being kind of dull. We haven’t yet reached a conclusion, but what we are a little more certain of is that he’s utterly failing to do the
Continue readingIs Joe Root brave enough to bowl Gary Ballance?
< 1 minute readThe great tragedy of England’s six-man bowling attack is that Gary Ballance never gets to bowl. We reckon that Joe Root and Keaton Jennings are likely to get on before him as well, so realistically he’s ninth choice. England will need to have an extraordinarily bad day before we see
Continue readingMoeen Ali and Stuart Broad follow by example
< 1 minute readWith their feisty batting in the morning and a pair of wickets each, Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad truly delivered non-captains’ performances. This is what good team members do. They set an example for the captain to follow. It’s like they always say: he who leads the leader slightly reduces
Continue readingJoe Root sinks a few and then wanders off on his own
< 1 minute readIf Joe Root’s going to try and lead by example, he might want to check whether anyone’s actually following him. If no-one does, then we’re afraid it’s just plain old ‘batting well’ – which is what he always used to do anyway. What kind of captaincy is that? If you’re
Continue readingLiam Livingstone’s golden duck was one of the finest
2 minute readLiam Livingstone’s England debut was pretty spectacular. He didn’t just fail to display his talent to a wider audience, he actively concealed it. He dropped a catch; mishit everything, including the one boundary that he hit; bust his bat; and then got run out. He also found time to enrage
Continue readingAB de Villiers plays decisive innings to win first T20 for England
2 minute readA real man of the match performance from AB de Villiers won England the first T20 international against South Africa. The greatest sportsman who ever lived ate up 58 balls in making an unbeaten 65. If the innings hinted at a two-paced pitch, England’s batsmen only noticed one of them
Continue readingEngland play South Africa in a pretty meaningless T20 international and Bob isn’t playing
< 1 minute readWe said you were going to start noticing everyone going mental about Mason Crane. Today marks an obvious step-up in mentalgoing as it seems highly likely the leg-spinner will make his international debut. Indirectly referring to him, AB de Villiers grappled with the meaning of the word ‘unknown’. “A few
Continue readingEngland need some E45 cream
< 1 minute readAfter snatching the second one-day international, England decided to test the notion that they can now win from any position by giddily launching themselves towards 20-6 in the third. Now 20-6 is definitely a score you can win from, but ideally you’d be fielding when it occurred. South Africa got
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