By now we have all had time to digest Sir Andrew Strauss’s High Performance Review into the state of English cricket. For many of us it has left a sour taste in the mouth. The reduction of Championship games, the seeming untouchability of the Hundred and the general distain for the county teams makes it hard to swallow. Strauss didn’t help himself this month by referring to the county game as “one man and his dog” live on Sky Sports. If you are going to conduct a supposedly impartial review...
Now that the county championship has finished for another year (in depressingly autumnal conditions), it’s time to look ahead to the winter. And the very first event on England’s radar is the T20 World Cup, which starts as soon as 16th October. Can you believe it? The schedule is relentless these days. Although regular readers will know that I prefer Test cricket, I’m still partial to the odd T20 thrash-fest. It can be rather entertaining after all. Yes, it doesn’t have the same ‘ebb and flow’...
Cricket commentators are a unique breed in broadcasting. They work in pairs and shifts in a game that could depending on the format last up to five days. It’s a sport that requires more explanation than most with its tactical complexity and arcane methods. Typically there is a paradox in the way cricket is presented on screen. Less is often more and plainly obvious when these particular broadcasters speak forth. The doyen of cricket commentators Richie Benaud once said ‘my mantra is: put your...
So after three and a half years, the prodigal son is back. Alex Hales, a brutal one-day batsman, has been recalled to give some much needed oomph to England’s top order in T20. His first T20 for 3 and a half years resulted in a welcome 53 to help England defeat Pakistan in the first match of a seven-match series. Hales used to be a bit of a pratt. He was involved in the fracas in 2017 which resulted in Ben Stokes being charged but then cleared in connection with the fight. Hales was charged...
Few expected England to turn around this summer as they did. Least of all New Zealand, India and South Africa. The losses in the Ashes and the West Indies posed so many questions and cost a lot of people their jobs. However, a lot of these questions have thankfully now been answered – although some still linger. Thomas Rose looks at how things have changed below… Answered Questions Are Broad and Anderson done? Absolutely not! The first Test of the summer saw the recall of...
Blink and you missed it, that was the feeling at the end of England’s three Test series against South Africa. Each match seemed to be played on fast forward. Test cricket for the T20 generation perhaps. No game lasted for a full three days, with the first match over by the middle of the third afternoon, denying the paying public a Saturday at Lord’s. The final Test would have been over inside two days – the first time this had happened in England since Andy Caddick skittled the West...
