Bloody fantastic! It feels great to write about something positive for a change. The team has been heavily criticised over the last few months, and rightly so, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with the performance at the Ageas Bowl. It was the perfect team effort. Congratulations all round. It’s important not to go over the top – we all know this side is capable of mindless cricket as well as the inspired variety – but let’s just enjoy this victory without worrying too much about the...
The champagne’s on ice: day four at the Ageas Bowl
Today will be the greatest day in the history of British sport. The England cricket team are poised to win their first test of the summer, at only the fifth attempt. The impending victory will cap a fine year for the side, in which their record will now read: won one, drawn three, and lost just seven. Detailed plans are already in place to mark this seminal event, which will take place in front a capacity Ageas Bowl crowd – with some spectators queuing from as early as 10.59am. At the...
With Us, the Force Is – Day Three at the Ageas Bowl
Whisper it quietly, but we might actually win this test match. Now there’s something we haven’t said for a long time. About eleven months in fact. The force is definitely with our team for a change. Since November last year, the Sith have been winning the battle: how else can you explain the success of guys like David Warner? There was something very dark at work. Now all of a sudden, Yoda’s boys are back in business. Our batsmen’s wickets seem to be protected by an invisible force-field –...
I don’t ‘ate you, Buttler: day two at the Ageas Bowl
This was a pretty boring day of test cricket. Let’s not mince words or beat around the bush. There is something uninspiring, at a basic level, in watching batsmen pile up runs against a tiring attack, who have been much less incisive than at Lord’s, on a very true pitch. That’s no discredit to England. They did their job well, confidently and fluently. And true, there was some glorious strokeplay, especially by Ian Bell (who knew he now has twenty one test centuries?)...
Thanks Very Much, Mr Jadeja – Day One at the Ageas Bowl
Eng 247-2 stumps After being a right royal pain in the bum at Lord’s, Ravi Jadeja finally gave England something to smile about today. He shelled a straightforward chance at slip, gave our beleaguered skipper a second life, and potentially breathed new life into an England team that barely has a pulse these days. The relief around the Ageas Bowl was palpable. Maybe Cook’s luck was finally turning? He could have been out to the very first ball of the match: he felt for the ball outside off...
Why there is no alternative to Alastair Cook
If hell is other people, Cook can be forgiven for preferring the company of sheep and baby deer. With Cook in the cross hairs more often than the fawns on his Bedfordshire retreat, those of us old enough to remember the famous Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson, would be forgiven for thinking someone in the England dressing room must, by now, have remarked to the skipper, ‘Bummer of a birthmark, Al.’ The Other People in Cook’s particular hell are Piers Morgan and three trolls in India, who have...
