< 1 minute read We like a bit of ruthlessness, but there’s a fairly clear line between ‘ruthlessness’ and ‘being a dick’. We call it the ‘being a dick line’ and we always try and stay the right side of it. England didn’t. Ryan Sidebottom went after the ball and inadvertently decked Grant Elliott
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Paul Collingwood talks all kinds of sense
2 minute read Unlike players in some other sports, cricketers quite often talk sense. They’re even capable of being interesting. That said, there have been some pretty ordinary thoughts expressed about this whole Stanford Twenty20 thing and about the IPL as well. Monty Panesar’s a bright guy, but his comments are fairly typical:
Continue readingThe state of England’s batting
< 1 minute read Winning a Test by an innings is not to be sniffed at. What exactly would you expect to smell? England didn’t exactly dominate the series like they dominated this last match though. Overall, the team looks okay, but there are quite a few flaws, the most glaring of which is
Continue readingEngland’s middle order shows signs of improvement
< 1 minute read We all know how important it is to look to the positives. England’s players and coaches have taught us this for years now. Ian Bell batted at five and made a three-ball duck. Paul Collingwood batted at six and made a four-ball duck. England’s middle order batsmen are making tangible
Continue readingPaul Collingwood hits England’s fastest fifty
< 1 minute read Paul Collingwood, a man of incomparable aceness right now – in fact a man so ace he’s forcing full-grown men to write like 11-year-olds – hit England’s fastest ever fifty at some point in the recent past. Hitting England’s fastest ever fifty is a bit like being Australia’s most debonair
Continue readingPaul Collingwood – all-rounder (in one-day cricket)
2 minute read An excellent all-round performance from Paul Collingwood: 3-43 with the ball and 70 not out off 50 balls. If it were Andrew Flintoff with those figures, everyone’d be giggling, dribbling and getting all rambunctious. They’d be saying ‘bring on the Aussies’ like morons due to the lack of blood supply
Continue readingTwenty20 takes 22 players
< 1 minute read We really like Twenty20, but it can be difficult to report on. It’s more difficult to identify that one, stand-out performance from a player. Twenty20’s more of a team game than you might think. With only 20 overs, it makes sense that one big innings from a batsman decides the
Continue readingPaul Collingwood papers over fragile England batting line-up
< 1 minute read Because if you’ve got a fragile batting line-up, paper is the greatest disguise. You can conceal all manner of batting sins through judicious use of paper. England’s batting folded at Old Trafford but they got away with it. It happened at Headingley and they didn’t. Paul Collingwood’s innings of 91
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