2 minute read “We don’t want to say he’s going to be the next Botham, or the next Flintoff,” said Trevor Bayliss. England’s coach then veered away from an already painfully familiar statement somewhat by adding: “He’ll be the next Ben Stokes” – as if we’ve had one already. Every time anyone says
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Ben Stokes: Brutal Deluxe
2 minute read There are times for thoughtful analysis and there are times for giddy enthusiasm. Today is clearly the latter. At the peak of his powers, if you said the name ‘Flintoff’ to someone during a match with the right look in your eye, that person would immediately drop whatever they were
Continue readingDurham do the dishes and then take out the recycling
< 1 minute read The final of the domestic 50-over competition is an odd thing. It took place yesterday, in late September – a fortnight after the semi-finals, three weeks after the quarter finals and a month after the main bit of the tournament. You can see why it works that way, but with
Continue readingBen Stokes and the cure-all that is ‘passion’
< 1 minute read One worrying, but entirely predictable, revelation from Ben Stokes’ recent interview in the Guardian is that he’s broken bones punching inanimate objects before. He reckons he’s going to learn this time. “I don’t think punching lockers is the way forward for anyone. There’s only going to be one winner there.”
Continue readingEngland beat some Australian players
2 minute read Although, admittedly, you could just as easily say that some England players beat some Australian players. England were down a Pietersen and an Anderson, but Australia were down a Clarke, a Warner, a Watson, a Haddin and we can’t actually be bothered working out who else would be in the
Continue readingBen Stokes is a large, brightly-coloured straw
< 1 minute read You can see him a mile off. Clutch him. CLUTCH HIM! It’s not so much that he scored a hundred on what was actually a fairly even, true pitch between the cracks. It’s more that he looked unruffled. Any idiot can bat, but hardly anyone can bat in the muggy
Continue readingWho is Ben Stokes?
< 1 minute read And what does he look like? Just Google it… You can always rely on Google.
Continue readingKing Cricket’s county players to watch in 2012
3 minute read Right, let’s get this over with. First, let’s restate the qualification criteria: Qualified to play for England No established internationals Youngish Playing in the first division of the County Championship Think that’s it. There might be other things. Who knows? Presumably us, but we don’t like to scrutinise the workings
Continue reading2011 County Championship players to watch review
2 minute read Suppose we should take a look at how our 2011 County Championship players to watch fared. Adam Lyth, Yorkshire 553 runs at 26.33 Yeah, that’s pretty shoddy. James Hildreth, Somerset 893 runs at 38.82 That’s okay. Ben Stokes, Durham 628 runs at 48.30 and 17 wickets at 33.00 Three hundreds,
Continue readingAdil Rashid is getting worse
< 1 minute read How much worse? One worse. Having taken 6-77 in Worcestershire’s first innings, Adil Rashid could only manage 5-37 in their second innings. This grave loss of form is deeply worrying. Ben Stokes is getting better How much better? 125 better. Having scored 10 in Durham’s first innings, Ben Stokes then
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