< 1 minute readSimon Katich – remember him? – hit 306 for New South Wales against Queensland. Everyone cross their fingers that he’ll get back into the Australian team in time for the next Ashes. Australia have any number of excellent batsmen and Katich is one of them, but at least he’s got
Continue reading< 1 minute readHere’s a comparison. The Rugby World Cup finished last Saturday. England played in the final. Their next international fixture will be on the second of February. England’s final match in the Cricket World Cup was on the 21st of April, against the West Indies. Their next international fixture, a Test
Continue reading< 1 minute readThere is literally no cricketing event that Shaun Pollock can’t portray through subtle distinctions in his ‘arms aloft’ pose. An lbw appeal. Celebrating a wicket. Celebrating a hundred. You’ll also notice that Shaun tends to appear as a mirror image when celebrating a wicket.
Continue reading< 1 minute readLemon Bella has the latest on Strauss’s omission from the England squad: “Here is a picture of StraussCat being indifferent to Strauss (again). It means you can get two posts out of the Andrew Strauss announcement, instead of just the one.” “You’d think in this time of crisis his namesake
Continue reading< 1 minute readWhat’s going on? Derbyshire are getting serious. Their latest signing is none other than Mahela Jayawardene – only one of the finest batsmen in the world. Jayawardene will also be playing alongside four other top drawer new signings for Derbyshire: Wavell Hinds of the Windies, who doesn’t count as an
Continue reading< 1 minute readSo Andrew Strauss has finally been dropped. It’s about time. We don’t mean that in the sense that he’s not good enough for England, just that it seems to have been certain to happen for altogether too many matches. Strauss has been going to the crease thinking it was his
Continue reading< 1 minute readSurvival of the fittest. Cricket has mutated again. While an early mutation, 50-over cricket, lives happily side-by-side with Test cricket, there aren’t enough natural resources to support both as well as Twenty20. In a few years time, one of these forms might have gone the way of the dodo. If
Continue reading< 1 minute readAt the age of 27. Uninjured. This is why we shouldn’t allow Old Etonians to become professional cricketers. What kind of a person gives up professional cricket in favour of ‘a career in business’? Well congratulations, Alex. You’ll be shaking hands with people for a living before you know it.
Continue reading< 1 minute readWell obviously wicket-taking miserliness is what you’re aiming for. But there was a fire-and-ice, chalk-and-cheese, black-guy-and-ginger-guy contrast between South Africa’s opening bowlers in the first one-day international against Pakistan. Shaun Pollock didn’t get a wicket but only went for three an over from his full allocation. Makhaya Ntini went at
Continue reading< 1 minute readIndia beat Australia in a dead match at the end of an overlong one-day series about as far away from a World Cup as it’s possible to be. Could we have some Test cricket now, please? Murali Kartik took 6-27, which are pretty astonishing one-day figures. He then hit 21
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