< 1 minute readNever mind cricket. Matthew Hayden’s the greatest speaker in sport, full stop. “Ultimately it will be my call to look at the bloke that talks to yourself every day in the mirror and say ‘mate it is time to go’ or ‘saddle up, pull your socks up and get on
Continue reading< 1 minute readThere are those of you who may think we’d be pleased to see Matthew Hayden retire. Nothing could be further from the truth. For one thing, it’s fun to watch his futile attempts to scrabble runs, but more importantly, we’d hate to see the cricket world lose one if its
Continue reading< 1 minute readThroughout history, the British have had a fail-safe method for dealing with times of crisis. They find the most sensible person among their number and they tell them that they’re in charge. A new era has dawned. An era of stoicism. An era of doing the decent thing. An era
Continue reading< 1 minute readKevin Pietersen did not resign this morning. He wants to be very clear on that, okay? He did NOT resign this morning. He resigned this afternoon. From his resignation statement: “Contrary to media speculation today, I wish to make it very clear that I did not resign as captain of
Continue reading< 1 minute readMaybe we don’t need Pakistan cricket after all. We’ve got England for back-stabbing and intrigue now. Officially, Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores both resigned. Unofficially, well, does it matter what really happened, does it? Those halcyon days of long-term planning under Duncan Fletcher seem longer ago and more valuable by
Continue reading2 minute readIs there anyone who doesn’t know Viv Richards? Are there any of our readers who never saw him bat? If there are, you need to get this month’s issue of The Wisden Cricketer which has a special Viv Richards ‘Heroes of Cricket’ supplement with it. There is a profound gap
Continue reading< 1 minute readMichael Clarke and Ian Bell. Two munchkin-faced, thimble-sized men who’ve made knowledgeable cricket folk go all quivery with their batsmanship. They’re much the same age and apparently both have “natural talent” instead of a skeleton. However, one’s dithering along the same as he always has done, while the other’s a
Continue reading2 minute readYou’d be forgiven for thinking so with some of the things you read. The fact is Australia are still a feisty outfit and England in particular shouldn’t be fancying their chances against them too much. Australia may have slid a bit, but they’ll never implode. It’s not the Aussie way.
Continue reading< 1 minute readThe seeds of the fall-out were sown during a conversation between Peter Moores and Andrew Strauss. The pair were discussing manufactured pop bands and Moores branded Liberty X ‘derivative’ and ‘lacking in true vocal talent’. As Kevin Pietersen is married to ex-Liberty X chanteuse, Jessica Taylor, Strauss felt moved to
Continue reading< 1 minute readDoug Bollinger’s making his debut for Australia. How much effort is he going to put in? “If I happen to play I’ll put 150,000 percent in.” That’s the bare minimum these days. Remember when Damien Martyn retired because he could only muster a puny 100% dedication. That was a long
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