Australia

Ricky Ponting is getting old

2 minute readRicky Ponting must be nearing retirement age because we’re starting to appreciate him. We read a statistic the other day that about one in five top seven Test batsmen average over 50. That’s a ludicrous figure, but players like Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting were averaging over 50 long before

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England

England’s batting card and score

< 1 minute readIt’s rare that a side scores 299 in a one-day international and yet has such an underwhelming batting card. Who got the runs? Somehow, it was no-one. To be fair, Eoin Morgan’s 58 off 41 balls was pretty eye-catching, but it still falls slightly short of significance somehow, particularly after

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Australia

Brett Lee’s reverse swing yorkers

< 1 minute readIt doesn’t matter that it’s only a one-day international at the arse end of the season. It doesn’t matter that it’s an Australian against England. The simple fact is, proper fast bowling is a fantastic sight. Brett Lee bowled reverse swing yorkers at 95mph. It was just like Waqar Younis

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England

Ravi Bopara is keen but not too keen

< 1 minute readHe’s confident without being arrogant; humble without being meek; aggressive without being irresponsible; watchful without being bogged down. That’s what he’d say anyway. England’s cricketers know they have to say the right things and it’s painful to hear at times. They have to remain positive otherwise the media call them

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England / Regulars

An Ashes win equals big money

< 1 minute readYou’re an England player. You’ve won the Ashes. You get in touch with your agent: “Commercial opportunities. What have you got for me?” Your agent’s silent a minute and you can hear him shuffling some papers on his desk. “Hello. Are you there? Commercial opportunities. What have you got?” Your

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Bangladesh / England

Day night Test cricket

< 1 minute readOur knee jerk-reaction to suggestions that day-night Test cricket be played was that it was a shocker of an idea. We’ve always thought of knee-jerk reactions as being worth clinging to in the face of subsequent strong evidence against your point of view, but on this occasion we’re softening our

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England

Are you sick of 50 over cricket?

< 1 minute readThe conventional one-day game is probably the least popular format in England right now. Seven 50 over matches have been tacked onto the end of a summer that’s already seen a Test and one-day series against the West Indies, the Twenty20 World Cup, the Ashes and what would have been

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