2 minute readIt is the final match of the season. We have to win and I have been entrusted with the pivotal number 11 slot. As the last batsman, all will hinge on my performance. Our opponents bat first and I am permitted to field from the dressing room, where I can
Continue reading< 1 minute readPatrick Kidd’s already started his fiendishly exhaustive build-up to next year’s Ashes series at The Times’ Line and Length blog. He asked us to supply a top ten of influential Ashes characters, so we did. Our top ten is a personal one really. We didn’t want to produce a boring
Continue reading2 minute readMarmazet writes: When I arrived at Oval tube station, I had a sudden and horrible realisation that I had forgotten to buy my lunch at the local shop. Eating a BLT and crisps is the main reason for going to the cricket really, cos my mum would probably make some
Continue reading< 1 minute readVin sent us this. It is too exquisite for words. Officially we should admonish Vin for the use of the pie, because Rob doesn’t like fat jokes. Unofficially, we think that if someone’s going to take the time to do a Rob Key picture of this standard, they can do
Continue reading2 minute readKent don’t look like a second division side to us. Quite apart from the Rob Key factor – which decides the matter and draws a line under it in itself – there are so many other decent players and so few poor performances. Kent won four matches this season –
Continue reading< 1 minute readLaurence Elderbrook has one more match left this season. We were quite pleased when his reports were met with initial apathy, because the man’s a bell-end and we wanted to get rid of him. Unfortunately, some of you seem to have warmed to him, so we’re having to find a
Continue reading< 1 minute readDurham’s bowling attack is getting all the attention, but don’t forget that they’ve prepared pitches to suit it and their batsmen have had to bat on those very same tracks. Not many of Durham’s batsmen have prospered. Most of their 2008 averages aspire to mediocrity. Of Durham players who’ve played
Continue reading< 1 minute readCounty champions are sometimes garlanded with caveats in the wake of victory, but Durham deserved their win. Regardless of weather and the occasionally misleading influence of bonus points, Durham were the best side. Quite simply, they won more games than anyone else and that’s what the game’s about, isn’t it?
Continue reading2 minute readI am due to bat at number 10. How can I impose my will on the game from there? What is the point? When the time comes for Laurence Elderbrook to take his stage, I am fast asleep. Roused by a team mate, I lash out with an arm to
Continue reading< 1 minute readEveryone’s got a skill. Everyone’s got one thing that they’re inexplicably good at. For many people it’s something useful, like having the ability to retain facts. Other people have more specific abilities, like being good at table tennis without every really having played before. Our skill is drinking litres and
Continue reading