< 1 minute readThis seems to be a common assessment at the minute, but it’s a bit unfair. They’re more polarised, polarised England – steady upper order batting and then the three dementos at five, six and seven. Admittedly, two of the dementos – Morgan and Buttler – have mostly failed in this
Continue reading< 1 minute readIt’s funny how you can rely on the guys who’ve played 300-and-odd one-day internationals in these major tournaments. And by ‘funny’ we of course mean ‘predictable’. Mahela Jayawardene has played so many one-dayers that his average (33.40) is meaningless. What you actually need to do is split his career into
Continue reading< 1 minute readSouth Africa are supposed to be playing the Windies today, then India play Pakistan before England play New Zealand. However, we’re away for the weekend with no plans to use the internet, so you’re going to have to fill in the gaps yourselves in the comments section. We’re not really
Continue reading< 1 minute readThat Kumar Sangakkara, eh? He can bat. There’s a decent chance he’s set things up for the perfect England home tournament exit as well where they are ejected after one loss and a bit of rain without having done too much wrong. It’s the way it should be: incomplete and
Continue reading< 1 minute readIn other words, they didn’t get enough overs in for messrs Duckworth and Lewis to put their umbrella-holding hands up and come to the rain-affected party. Aside from David Warner’s performance ferrying drinks, this match was perhaps most notable for Dan Vettori’s immobility. His Achilles tendon problems necessitate saline injections
Continue reading< 1 minute readThey were in a Walkabout. Of all the pubs in Birmingham, David Warner and Joe Root opted to go to an Australian-themed bar which uses the slogan: “Home of the awesome spirit of Australia.” This makes Warner look like a homesick child, desperately clinging to anything even faintly Antipodean, while
Continue reading< 1 minute readAnd largely thanks to the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja, of all people. We’re still not quite sure how he gets wickets. This week’s instalment of The Spin was about Jadeja and how fans didn’t value him for a long time. We’re glad he’s no longer getting a hard time, but
Continue reading< 1 minute readLargely because Pakistan never actually got round to chasing the target. Instead, the batsmen just sort of stood there and hoped that it would go away on its own. It didn’t.
Continue reading< 1 minute readBut not by a huge amount. Chasing 139 to win, you’d hope to get there without losing nine wickets. Then again, they didn’t lose ten, so what’s the problem? A really bad run chase is a wonderful thing. A big run chase is faintly absorbing, but for real tension you
Continue reading< 1 minute readSame teams as last week. Slightly different order. 1st – Sussex Sussex remain top. A draw with Nottinghamshire just about crept into this week’s update. Highly efficient eating device, Samit Patel, made 157 for Nottinghamshire in that match, while highly efficient wicket-gathering device, Chris Jordan, took nine wickets for Sussex.
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