< 1 minute read Luckless at the Rose Bowl, mediocre at Old Trafford, Pankaj Singh has thus far found two ways to avoid taking a Test wicket. Our worry is that two will prove enough; that he’ll fail to take a wicket in this match and will never return to the team. It’s become
Continue reading2 minute read There have been a few stats of late about James Anderson and Stuart Broad as a bowling partnership. Something about lots of wickets. We forget how many. On paper, they’re a wonderfully complementary duo. One’s a devious swing bowler; the other’s rangly and hits the deck hard (a phrase which
Continue reading< 1 minute read A quick bit of housekeeping before Test time. “Do not go into the field with a cigarette or pipe in your mouth” That was one of WG Grace’s maxims for fielding. We’ve learned more from him than that and have outlined some important points over at Cricinfo. Another old cricketer
Continue reading< 1 minute read You wonder whether Ishant Sharma’s ‘sore leg’ might have resulted from his workload. And how did Bhuvneshwar Kumar look in the third Test, MS? “I think Bhuvi seemed to be a bit tired.” Maybe you shouldn’t have picked just the four bowlers then. “In the first couple of games we
Continue reading< 1 minute read We’ve put the bad news first in the forlorn hope that you might at least finish reading today’s piece with your spirits on an upward trajectory. The BCCI are asking the ICC to appeal the Jimmy Anderson decision No, seriously. They are. Does no-one in the BCCI ever feel embarrassed
Continue reading< 1 minute read As in ‘returned’. He hasn’t got ankylosing spondylitis or anything. He’s also only back in the squad, not necessarily the team. Plus he hasn’t been away that long. If we’re honest, we’re only doing this joke because we know we’ll get complaints if we don’t. But it does feel like
Continue reading< 1 minute read James Anderson has his hearing about maybe having pushed someone today. There’s much talk about how he’s been singled out as result of being a persistent sledger, but his rage isn’t a patch on that of the retiring (from cricket) Steve Kirby, who was one of the subjects of last
Continue reading< 1 minute read Might as well call for at least one of the captains to be sacked. His batsmen have crumbled against bowling they should be comfortable against, his senior players aren’t ‘standing up’, he’s insisting on fielding a part-time spinner instead of a specialist and he hasn’t made a hundred in his
Continue reading2 minute read There are two types of spin bowlers: The first kind is the attacking kind. They bat at number 11, but with the ball in their hand, they can take wickets. Early in their career, they can be a bit hit and miss, going for a few boundaries, but you try
Continue reading< 1 minute read The day in summary: James Anderson earned two wickets through being James Anderson, Moeen Ali earned two wickets through not being James Anderson and Chris Jordan earned nothing. Oh, and Stuart Broad got three. Word of the day – “displacement” Play was reminiscent of the later days of Curtly Ambrose
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