We’ve always had a desire to balance out the names of this world. Some people have two first names, like Brett Lee for example. It’s only right that there’s a yang to Lee’s yin and that’s where Mitchell Johnson comes in. Mitchell Johnson’s got two surnames, so he can swap
Continue readingIt’s England’s first one-day series win on the subcontinent since ages ago. Except for one they won in Bangladesh, because everyone knows that you don’t include Bangladesh in things like this. They’re not a ‘real’ team. They’re just messing about. It’s definitely England’s first one-day series win in Sri Lanka
Continue readingHow are South Africa managing to beat Pakistan? They won the first Test and now they’re on the verge of taking a 150-run first innings lead in a despicably constricted two match back-to-back series. Well, rather ingeniously and for just about the first time since their readmittance to Test cricket
Continue readingGroups for whom Matthew Hayden is a standard-bearer: Modern opening batsmen who don’t have to face proper bowling Bears who eat faces Pious turds India beat Australia in the third one-day international at Chandigarh. However, they couldn’t stop Matthew Hayden from top-scoring with 92. Hayden’s one-day record since he returned
Continue readingWe’ve been waiting to write that headline since March 31st last year, when we made Graeme Swann one to watch for that season. Graeme let us down then, but since being given a chance in the England side, he’s been encouragingly solid at a time when solidity has been at
Continue readingNo. Don’t do it. We know you’re 37, but since when has lack of fitness affected your game? Besides, you’re as svelte now as you’ve ever been. Inzamam’s appearance has always been deceptive though. Maybe his slimmer look is deceiving us too. He’s got one more match to go –
Continue readingThere’s one more match at Dambulla and so far that appears to be the best route to victory. In the first match, Sri Lanka batted sensibly and then England were skittled. In the second match, England batted haphazardly at first, then pragmatically later, once Owais Shah got to the crease
Continue readingPakistan here successfully appeal for the little-known mode of dismissal ‘hunchback at slip’. As he delivers the ball, Mohammad Sami notices that his team mates have smuggled Quasimodo into the first slip position and asks the question of the umpire. This means of dismissal was removed from the laws later
Continue readingIan Healy, Australia’s wicketkeeper before Adam Gilchrist, had 395 victims in 119 Tests. Mark Boucher’s just gone past him in his 103rd Test. Quite impressive really. There are fewer draws these days and a couple of poorer teams, which goes some way towards explaining how Boucher managed to reach this
Continue readingRoyal Cricket (no relation) visited Canterbury to ignore the North Gear Premier League Twenty20 Grand Final. They say this: Our mate Paul Hibberd’s younger brother, James, was playing, so we didn’t ignore him but we did spend lots of time ignoring the cricket and looking at the cameras to make
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