< 1 minute read Cardiff and Lord’s hosted great Test matches, but the Ashes has really got going at Edgbaston. It’s the crowd. We went on Saturday and much as we love eating sandwiches in the rain, Sunday showed what we missed. It clearly affects the players who were suddenly all very interested in
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Phil Hughes isn’t playing
< 1 minute read A few weeks ago, back when you couldn’t take a crap without someone knocking on the door and telling you how great he was, we said that Phil Hughes might just be a massive disappointment. Being dropped for Shane Watson is probably classed as disappointing. But don’t worry. The stumpy
Continue readingMitchell Johnson leaves a straight one
< 1 minute read You couldn’t make it up. Mitchell Johnson LITERALLY doesn’t know what a straight delivery is. James Anderson pointed one towards the stumps and Johnson, alarmed, thought: ‘What the hell is that?’ and padded up. The umpire’s finger rose. Johnson is probably still pondering this exotic trickery now; planning how he’ll
Continue readingShane Watson throws England’s bowlers
< 1 minute read You’ve got to feel for England’s bowlers. How were they supposed to react to Shane Watson? They prepare themselves for bowling at stubbly-faced munchkin, Phil Hughes, but against all expectation are suddenly confronted with a creepy-looking, gym-bodied albino instead. It must be like bowling at a fearful ghost. Not the
Continue readingGraham Manou’s playing
< 1 minute read It’s entirely in keeping with Graham Manou’s unremarkable tour that it took us until 6pm to realise he was actually playing. Considering the Australian players with most column inches have been Phil Hughes and Mitchell Johnson, low-key Manou might be a cause for concern. We know that he’s a wicketkeeper,
Continue readingMatt Prior – not a pan-handed buffoon
< 1 minute read What is fate there for, if not to be tempted? ‘Hey Fate, come out and play. We’ve got a Bagpuss box-set and a bumper pack of Ryvitas for you. Come on. You know you want to.’ Our point was something about Matt Prior not dropping the ball very often and
Continue readingDropping Mitchell Johnson
< 1 minute read Dear Australia, Please retain your erratic kack-hander. His ingenious bowling tactic of surprising the batsman with a delivery that isn’t a full-pitched, legside wide really lends itself to our unsophisticated ‘repeat until funny’ approach to writing a website. We have upwards of 200 “jokes” wherein Johnson grasps at the air
Continue reading1st Ashes Test 2009 match report
2 minute read Price writes: After driving down to Bristol on the Friday night, drinking a skin-full of Guinness, getting four hours sleep and suffering a packed train to Cardiff, we took our seats high up in the grandstand. The raging hangover subsided (through the means of hair of the dog) and we
Continue readingMitchell Johnson’s bowling problems
< 1 minute read Australia coach, Tim Nielsen, has some positive words to say about Mitchell Johnson, who’s currently trying to read this article on the bookcase four feet to the left of his monitor: “It wasn’t like he’d lost confidence and all the things were falling apart and he was bowling 85mph and
Continue readingIan Bell for England – good or bad?
< 1 minute read Knowing our depth of feeling about Ian Bell, you must be desperate to read how we’re going to cover the news that he’s likely to replace Kevin Pietersen for the rest of the Ashes. It’s heated debate like what follows that makes the cricket world tick. Angry that Ian Bell’s
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