< 1 minute readWe’re watching these guys when there isn’t an international match on, which is never: Liam Plunkett Mark Davies Adil Rashid Will Smith Paul Horton Phil Mustard Ravi Bopara
Continue reading< 1 minute readThe plight of Ravi Bopara makes an interesting case study. He’s trying to establish himself as a Test cricketer and only Test runs will really persuade anyone that he’s ready. He gets a series of ducks in Tests in Sri Lanka and gets dropped. He promptly makes a one-day double
Continue reading2 minute readI hadn’t been feeling terribly well, having been off work for a couple of weeks with an ear infection, but had arranged to meet a couple of friends in London on the afternoon of the first day of the series. It was very cold. I think it was snowing. I
Continue reading< 1 minute readSo much of what’s wrong with English cricket can be seen in the never-ending debate about wicketkeepers. First-class cricket’s too weak to show who’s best and because there are so many counties and therefore so many candidates, no player gets much of a run. We are no better informed than
Continue reading< 1 minute readLike Will Smith, Paul Horton’s another who had a 2009 season of less than unbridled success. He did hit 173 in one match, but didn’t do much else. However, if there’s one thing we’ve learnt with these Ones To Watch, it’s that they’re devious bastards and always slip in a
Continue reading< 1 minute readWill Smith was the one batsman who didn’t score runs for Durham last year, which might not immediately mark him out as being worth watching, but the year before that he was arguably their best batsman. We’re putting the mediocre batting down to his being made captain in 2009. It’s
Continue reading< 1 minute readThe general feeling about Adil Rashid is that maybe everyone should just let him play a bit of cricket. England helped his development no end last season by keeping him out of the majority of Yorkshire’s matches so that he could not play for them instead. Occasionally they let him
Continue reading< 1 minute readMark Davies’ 19 wickets at 29.57 last year was a woeful return by his standards, but an overall first-class record that reads 251 wickets at 21.68 is as good as it gets. Mark’s 30 this year, so this will be his fourth and final appearance in our Ones To Watch.
Continue reading< 1 minute readLiam Plunkett’s a bit of a batsman as well, but his bowling is what matters. Of Durham’s many fine bowlers, Onions, Harmison and Blackwell all averaged less than Plunkett last season, but only Harmison took more wickets. Plunkett’s average of 24.83 was hardly shameful either. Although Plunkett’s age seems to
Continue reading< 1 minute readJarrod Balls – as we’re going to start calling him, because it’ll get on his nerves – has put together an alternative cricket magazine with help from some friends. Many of you will already know about it, because you seem to have written a proportion of it. It’s called the
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