< 1 minute read Who needs spinners when you’ve got bowlers like Morne Morkel? Pace, bounce, seam, swing, accuracy and stamina. It’s a quick bowling full house. England need a five-man attack to cover all those bases. Can he stay free from injury? Will he bowl well in tighter matches than these? Probably –
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Does anyone else feel like it’s the Nineties?
< 1 minute read Totally unpredictable team selection, a batting line-up that’s five-out all-out and a bowling attack that seems to spend its time waiting for the clouds to roll in and which is utterly ineffective otherwise. But it can’t be the Nineties, because the worry lines caused by English cricket of that era
Continue readingDarren Pattinson jumps the queue
< 1 minute read We’ll give Darren Pattinson a chance, but… (1) It’s not being Australian that makes someone a good cricketer. Australia themselves leave out plenty of Australians from their Test side. (2) Trent Bridge, where Pattinson plays half his cricket, is kind to swing bowlers. (3) If Chris Tremlett is first reserve, then
Continue readingAndrew Flintoff playing for England
< 1 minute read We were hugely, hugely impressed with Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie in the Lord’s Test. We don’t care what the pitch was like – just imagine coming out to bat after you’ve been so comprehensively trampled for three days. Imagine what would have happened to England in the same situation.
Continue readingKevin Pietersen likes an occasion
< 1 minute read That was as good as a certainty, wasn’t it? Kevin Pietersen likes a big match. He must be driven by stomach butterflies or something. We’re not quite sure how that would work, because even our rudimentary scientific knowledge tells us that there aren’t actually butterflies in there. He went out
Continue readingThe only story of today’s play
< 1 minute read Realistically, there was only one story from today’s play. We’re talking of course of Jacques Kallis’s new ‘comfortable’ appearance. Now we like a fat cricketer as much as the next man – maybe even more than the next man – but we don’t appreciate Jacques Kallis’s late-to-the-party attempts. Our idea
Continue readingEngland will win
2 minute read Not at Lord’s, obviously. That’ll be a rain-affected draw like usual. England will win the series though. Why? Because it’s tricky playing in England. England supporters don’t realise this sometimes, but it is. Conditions are as tricky and alien to most nations’ players as Sri Lankan or Indian conditions are
Continue readingGet to know the South African team
< 1 minute read This is a guide to a few of the newer South African players. You shouldn’t cut it out, nor should you keep it. You should read it once, sigh and think to yourself: ‘I already knew all that. I remember when this site was good.’ Paul Harris Paul Harris is
Continue readingAndre Nel has a request
< 1 minute read Flex your typing fingers. Get them good and supple. You have quite simply GOT to have some comments about this quote from Andre Nel: “When the fans go hard and abuse you, I love that.” That’s a direct quote from a BBC interview. Apparently he said it ‘with a glint
Continue readingA bit of TWC
< 1 minute read That’s ‘The Wisden Cricketer’ to you. We won’t link to every piece of ours that appears on their blog, but we thought that today’s was ‘all right’ – and that’s a real high water mark for us. It’s more about Neil McKenzie. We don’t feel like everyone really got into
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