Allan Donald became England’s bowling coach at the start of summer. Today marks the fiftieth occasion when an England bowler has said something along the lines of: “AD’s just been telling us to go out there and be really aggressive.” It was James Anderson on this occasion, but Ryan Sidebottom
Continue readingA match report, again from Lemon Bella who’s swiftly earning the title of ‘roving reporter (who tends to rove to the same destination)’: I was sat in front of two old ladies who couldn’t read the scoreboard or tell the players apart, so I had to help them fill in
Continue readingWe’d planned to write something about how Ian Bell supplied the padding in the ‘meal’ of an England innings – the bulk that everyone takes for granted, without really paying any attention to it. Slightly dull, but integral to the construction of the meal. There were going to be lots
Continue readingIt’s often said that Philip Mustard is a headline writer’s dream. He’s a nicknamer’s dream as well. The Durham players call him ‘The Colonel’ for obvious reasons. With so many options at our disposal however, it would be lazy of us to use someone else’s creation. That’s why, after an
Continue readingEngland are always on the lookout for a wicketkeeper who can bat and particularly one who can open the batting in one-day internationals. This is because Adam Gilchrist opens the batting for Australia in one-day internationals and Australia are better than England and therefore must be copied in EVERY CONCEIVABLE
Continue readingAfter one-day hundreds versus Surrey and Derbyshire and County Championship hundreds against Durham, Hampshire and Warwickshire, you’d think we’d be running out of things to say about how great Rob Key is. Good job we hit upon that idea of asking prominent experts for their opinions after each of his
Continue readingSome observers seemed surprised by Rahul Dravid‘s innings of 92 off 63 balls as India won the second one-day international yesterday. Why? Dravid’s more than capable of doing this. People get blinded by his careful approach to Test cricket, but he only plays like that because he thinks that’s the
Continue readingAlways play a spinner. Always. Always, always, always. It offers variety; a change of pace that might unsettle the batsman. Maybe the odd ball will turn more than you think. Or maybe – just maybe – a batsman who’s untroubled by pace will, for some inexplicable reason, be totally unable
Continue readingHere’s a short list of some of our ones to watch over the last couple of years: Stuart Broad Bilal Shafayat Will Jefferson Mark Davies What do you notice? That’s right. All of them have moved to Nottinghamshire since we identified them, albeit only on loan in Mark Davies’ case.
Continue readingSeriously, Mark Davies is doing something right. Our ones to watch are worth watching, make no mistake – hence the name. Durham’s 20th choice seamer was given the new ball in the first match of his loan spell at Nottinghamshire. He’s normally more used to handling a malformed ball with
Continue reading