2 minute readOne of the more mundane revelations from the recently undertaken trials of The Hundred is that they’re going to have a Powerplay. ‘So what?’ you might think. But when all innovations seem to be on the table and the aim is to make the game as simple and straightforward as
Continue reading2 minute readSurrey have won the County Championship. You win 10 of 12 matches and draw the other two and these things happen. We were checking the averages in the first division of the County Championship earlier today and two things struck us. Firstly, very few people have averaged over 40 and
Continue reading2 minute readPaul Collingwood excelled at all those aspects of cricket which are undervalued; all the ones that are hard to measure; stuff like fielding and unearthing singles that have no right to be taken. Because of this, he was one of our heroes when he retired from international cricket and he’s
Continue reading2 minute readEngland got to have a go at partnership-breaking when the ball wasn’t doing a right lot today. Everyone had a go and everyone failed and then Joe Root finally gave Adil Rashid a bowl and he got both lads out. That’s a very simplistic way to describe how things went,
Continue reading2 minute readAfter precisely one Test match, we’d seen all the shots (and non-shots) we were ever going to see from Alastair Cook. You know them all, but let’s list them anyway. Maybe in 20 years time you’ll revisit this article having forgotten one of them. The leave The forward defensive The
Continue reading2 minute readThere are two main reasons why cricketers are annoying. (1) They play for your team and they aren’t very good. (2) They play for the opposition and they are very good. The first is self-evident. The second is rather more nuanced and deserves a little bit of elaboration. So let’s
Continue reading2 minute readEdwardian writes: I had stayed in London the night before, so got to Lord’s early. I was frisked by a security chap who was pouring with sweat. “Blimey, mate,” I said. “You’ve been on it.” He replied: “It’s the menopause” – a line I suspect he was using liberally. After
Continue reading2 minute readAlastair Cook has looked jaded. The modern way is to throw things away when they’re past their best. They left it too late, but we’d have had a go at recycling. A routine can be a great way to continue doing things well. Once things start to deteriorate, it can
Continue reading< 1 minute readDepends on your perspective really. They’re a competitive and exciting side who could quite easily be 3-1 up. Their batsmen are better than England’s, their four main bowlers have been brilliant – but they’ve lost the series. From our perspective this is pretty much tourist perfection. We absolutely do not
Continue reading< 1 minute readThis was Sam Curran’s face midway through yesterday’s innings at the Rose Bowl. Has anyone in the history of the world ever looked more serious than this? We’re aware that sometimes people’s facial expressions don’t accurately reflect their state of mind, but this is no fleeting thing. This is what
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