2 minute read Bangladesh were bowled out in 18.4 overs yesterday. That’s pretty bad, but apparently it wasn’t actually the shortest first innings in Test history. Imagine how bad at cricket you’d have to be to be bowled out inside 18.4 overs. Imagine how embarrassing that must have been. Hopefully, whoever it was,
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The UAE briefly looked like they were going to beat the West Indies (and other stories) – mop-up of the day
< 1 minute read It’s only a warm-up match, but it seems that like much of western Europe, the West Indies still have plenty of warming to do. They’re so cold that you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they’ve suffered a burst pipe or two once they actually thaw. They were bowled out
Continue readingMop-up of the day – capybaras and helicopters
2 minute read Firstly, let’s just savour yet another fine moment for Rangana Herath, an international cricketer who is not only older than us, but also better than every other cricketer there’s ever been (possible hyperbole). Spending most of your career with Muttiah Muralitharan as your benchmark can lead to having standards some
Continue readingMoeen Ali does some clean hitting
2 minute read Mo mowed it. It was a day of increasing numbness to sixes and Batting Ali had the good sense to get in early when they still seemed important and the match was still in the balance. Others may have hit the ball further, but no-one lashed it quite so reliably
Continue readingStuart Broad’s batting has peaked
2 minute read Stuart Broad’s batting just gets better and better. Maybe not by the traditional metric of batting average, but there are far more sensible ways of assessing a cricketer’s worth. Once upon a time, Broad was a good batsman: high left elbow, great timing and solid defence. Then he top-edged a
Continue reading“You don’t see Alastair Cook drop too many”
2 minute read So said Michael Vaughan after Cook had shelled an easy one early on. Where has he been looking? We’ve always felt like he drops a fair few – although maybe not by Vaughan’s own almost criminally low catching standards. We wouldn’t go so far as to say that Cook’s a
Continue readingWhen should a captain declare?
2 minute read The timing of a declaration will often elicit heated discussion among commentators. However, it seems safe to assume that the actual importance of the decision rarely justifies the level of debate, which is almost certainly artificially exaggerated by the fact that such questions generally only arise when not much is
Continue readingThe West Indies make use of some quality imports
< 1 minute read The great thing about alternative dimensions is that every now and again you can pluck a similar-looking cricket team from one of them and deploy it in your own world. The incarnation of the West Indies seen in this Test was an unusually gritty one. Like a team-mate’s belt within
Continue readingThe real story of the West Indies’ dropped chances is just how many England’s batsmen offered
< 1 minute read It’s like we always say, to take 12,841 wickets, you need to create 15,516 chances. (We should stick that on a T-shirt). At the time of writing, the second Test between England and the West Indies had seen 12 drops, which is rather more than you’d expect. The Windies were
Continue readingWest Indies improve their attack, England don’t
< 1 minute read Shannon Gabriel’s fun, isn’t he? An old school fast bowler who doesn’t half-arse it and who has plenty of arse to deploy. He is a good selection. Gabriel’s efforts have contrasted with those of Chris Woakes in this match. At the start of day one, Woakes was the only one
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