Introducing the New Full Toss

After hours of hard yakka, soul searching, research, aggro and creative constipation, Maxie and I are finally pleased to reveal the all new, all singing-and-dancing new TFT. It’s been a few weeks in the making, but it’s finally done (for the most part). And just in time for the Ashes too. Hurrah!

We hope you like our new look. We might tweak the odd thing as we go along, but for now it’s pretty much there. Let us know if you encounter any teething problems.

So what’s new? Basically it should be a lot easier to navigate, read and comment. We’ve gone for a magazine type theme so it should all be pretty intuitive.

The main development we’d like to tell you about is The Tavern. This is our brand spanking new cricket forum. It works like any other forum. You can start your own discussions and generally talk about what you like.

We hope this leads to more chat and instant reaction to twists and turns during The Ashes. If something controversial happens as play progresses, start a thread about it!

In the past, the onus has been on Maxie and I to start a new discussion (usually with a main article). This has worked ok for the last couple of years, but inevitably there are times when events move faster than we do. Now there’s no need for us to lead the debate. You guys can just pile in.

I’m hoping this will lead to more discussion about things Maxie and I simply don’t have time to keep up with – particularly country cricket, events in your club games, squad announcements, injury news etc. It enables readers like you to play a more active role and help create the kind of blog you want.

If you want to talk about new laws and regulations, or a particular player that’s impressing you, just for for it. Talk about the weather if you really want. We’d like to hear a broad church of views.

So there we go. A new era for England (cliche alert!) and a new era for The Full Toss. Thanks for all your support over the last few years. Let’s try to make this blog a great place to be.

Before I sign off, I’d also like to thank my old colleague James Colmer who did a great job designing our new banner and logo. Cheers mate!

We’ll have lots of new articles for you over the coming days as The Ashes approaches. Look out for tomorrow’s interview with 2005 Ashes hero Simon Jones. I spoke to him on the phone last week and recorded the conversation to share with you all.

Bye for now. Thanks for dropping by.

James Morgan

@DoctorCopy

21 comments

  • Good stuff. As I mainly use a tablet at home, I found the old design a bit awkward to use at times.

    One piece of feedback – there is a lot of stuff in between the bottom of the article and the start of the comments. Including three separate share sections and two related posts sections.

  • Thanks Hatmallet, I’ll try to sort this out. Still getting familiar with everything :-)

  • Hi James, good re-formatting. Just a request: could the text font size be a little bit bigger, especially in the comments section? My eyesight is not what it used to be, and it’s beginning to feel like I need a magnifying glass…

    Cheers, and keep up the good work!

    • Hi. We’ve made the text bigger in the preview snippets and in the actual posts. Currently working on enlarging the article headlines on the homepage, but the system is being stubborn. Bear with us. Thanks.

  • Hi jenny. It will be under the menu on your phone. Or look under the comments if you’re reading the full site version (you can switch between mobile version and full site at the very bottom of the page). Click on the tavern image. Hope that helps.

  • Well done guys… Surprised you included such a divisive figure in your header banner, although personally I’ll always remember Devon Malcolm with particular fondness.

    • Thanks. But divisive? Was there anyone who didn’t have affection for Big Dev? His radar wasn’t the most reliable, but the Oval 1994 was enough to seal his hero status forever.

      • and an absolute gent, always remember my mum chatting to him on the boundary at Derby and he addressed her as ‘M’aam’.

        • My favourite Dev story is Graham ‘Krugerrand” Gooch’s advice to Mike Atherton about how to captain him.

          “Ask him to do the complete opposite of what you actually want”.

  • Thanks PoP! We wanted to include a mix of cult heroes and players who have inspired debate over the years. Guys like Big Dev are right up there – not because they were the best players we’ve ever had, but because they somehow embodied something about English cricket in a particular era. We also considered Goughie and Hoggard, but somehow we felt these were a bit too obvious. Devon Malcolm somehow embraced the hopes and frustrations of the late 1980s and early 90s. And we loved him for it.

  • As expected England have named 13 players to start the next Ashes campaign next week. All 13 will play as England endeavour to remain unbeaten in all forms of cricket since the sixth century BC following agreement with the senior umpire. This has already been met with some disaproval by the Australian team who, nevertheless, will hope to smash this England team to bits with the rather fast, tenacious bowling. Cook acknowledges the strides made by England in recent weeks and suggests that with himself back at the helm thoise inside cricket can expect him to score a couple of more runs during the day’s play.As Cook states, England expect to continue to rewrite the history books.

  • …a voice of the English cricket follower?

    I suppose I do follow English cricket but it seems somewhat parochial and exclusionary.

  • Hi Maxie, I know but don’t you think you have a greater appeal than to just England supporters now?

    I’m not trying to be controversial I just think that you limit yourselves.

    How about;
    …a voice of the cricket supporter ;-)

    • Hi Ian. We debated changing the strapline to ‘a voice of the English cricket supporter’, but we felt follower was more inclusive. Follower could mean people who ‘follow’ the team (like yourself perhaps) without actively supporting them. Similarly, a lot of people of Asian descent might ‘follow’ the England team but actually ‘support’ India or Pakistan etc. Do you see what I mean? The strap was supposed to be the opposite of exclusionary. Doh!

      I can see what you mean though. You’ve interpreted ‘English’ as a site for ‘English people’. What we actually meant was a site for people who follow ‘English cricket’ – as in cricket in England. Maybe we should change it to ‘a voice of the England cricket follower’.

  • No I don’t think you should change it for a single voice and i am not meaning to challenge your choices. It’s your site and I enjoy it very much which is why i come here.

    It was more of a think out loud than a challenge to you guys or your excellent site.

    Cheers,
    Ian.

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