< 1 minute read It has to be. Unable to fly and never allowed to play more than three Tests in a series, it has to adapt quickly if it isn’t to be devoured by cats or beaten by Pakistan. Captains and coaches always talk about learning from a defeat, but you rarely see
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Mop-up of the day – rail and radar
< 1 minute read A lot of people were going for the ‘we can land a robot on a comet but we can’t get the trains to arrive on time’ line of reasoning yesterday. Just to let you know, it’s not the same people. Different people are responsible for space missions and rail travel.
Continue readingMop-up of the day – bones, Bangladesh batsmen and battery
< 1 minute read Is MS Dhoni’s arm made out of just one super fast-growing bone? We’re imagining an ever-extending protuberance that requires regular pruning based on the following from Cricinfo: “On the eve of the meeting, a BCCI insider revealed that Dhoni was recovering from a “right forearm” injury. By the time the
Continue readingShivnarine Chanderpaul talking about Wasim Akram
< 1 minute read Rahul Bhattacharya’s piece about Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the November issue of The Cricket Monthly is full of highlights, not least because a man who is himself one of our favourite cricketers also seems to revere exactly the same players we do. He describes how Brian Lara would sometimes put spin
Continue readingNew Zealand witness a perfect stellar eclipse
< 1 minute read Poor New Zealand. In recent times, they have slowly been putting together a solid side. Since losing to England last year, they have drawn one Test series and won three. They have one of the more promising seam attacks around and have even found a few batsmen. Now they find
Continue readingLearning, reacting, chopping, changing and Ponting
3 minute read It may feel like Australia lost the series against Pakistan 4-0, but actually it was only two. No matter how you play, you can’t lose more than two matches when you only play two. This has allowed Michael Clarke to somewhat disingenuously plead that his captaincy shouldn’t be judged on
Continue readingMisbah-ul-Haq and the golden robot
< 1 minute read It’s a difficult gear change from second to 14th, but today Misbah-ul-Haq managed it. Doctor Deadbat transformed into Professor Pulverise and equalled Viv Richards’ record for the fastest-ever Test hundred off 56 balls. For some batsmen, quick scoring is a numbers game. They play aggressively all the time and a
Continue readingSpeaking of Pakistan…
< 1 minute read Because surely you are. Australia are 136-5 in reply to Pakistan’s 570-6 at the time of writing. Younis Khan is averaging over 200 in the series. Unless this current partnership really goes somewhere, that’s better than Australia’s top six combined. But never mind unheralded Pakistani bowlers ripping through top Test
Continue readingMop-up of the day – Younus Khan’s bat and Murali’s balls
2 minute read Younus Khan’s just made his third Test hundred on the bounce. We mentioned that he was underrated after the first one. Let’s revisit that. We all know Younus averages some way north of 50 and that he’s now made Test hundreds against every nation, but let’s dig a little deeper.
Continue readingThe head-wobbling ghosts of Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah
2 minute read It can be hard to keep up with Pakistan’s playing staff. Mitchell Marsh gets a debut and great tracts of webspace are devoted to him, explaining what this decision means and why it’s such a monumental event. In contrast, Pakistan players ghost into the side and it’s only when they’ve
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