A spinner’s very existence is volatile. Unlike the occupation’s primary objective, the career arc is rarely a perfect parabola. Dom Bess’ young career has proved no different. Bess is 23. He has been up, down, up and now down again. He’s been the speculative young bolter, the forgotten man, the backup option, the front line option, the answer and now the problem. The various routes and potential destination for Bess feel endless. He is in perpetual motion circling a roundabout of...
One of the fruitiest axioms one hears about cricket is that it’s a contest between bat and ball. This means bowling is as integral to a cricket match as batting. It is therefore natural to expect leading bowlers in cricket teams to become captains just as often as leading batsmen do. The reality does not match the expectation, however, and has not done for a long time. Last year’s delayed IPL, for example, saw six teams – Delhi Capitals (Shreyas Iyer), Royal Challengers...
The ECB has recently drawn ire for suggesting changes to essential cricketing terminology in The Hundred. As a (satirical) spokesperson for the organisation, TFT’s Abhijato Sensarma was drafted in to defend their decision-making. Let me begin by saying … I don’t get it. “Wickets” isn’t that hard to pronounce. Sure, it’s no “over”, but neither is it the tongue-twister our misguided focus groups are making it out to be. But then, most of the criticism about this matter has been coming from...
Today Mark Cohen discusses the ECB’s latest madcap idea for The Hundred. Apparently wickets will be called ‘outs’ to make the game easier to understand. Sigh. First things first, the ECB gets a lot of things right. It rightly embraced T20 before anyone else. Ditto the use of DRS . The radio deals it has struck are bearing fruit across the airwaves, most recently with the BBC’s excellent County Championship coverage. The ECB has also fostered the national game’s gradual...
The snow showers across the UK this weekend could mean only one thing: the start of a new domestic cricket season. What better way to prepare our aspiring youngsters for Test cricket than to play in freezing temperatures? However, it seems churlish to complain in the circumstances. The return of the county championship is always something to savour. Therefore, without further ado, let’s look at who caught the eye in the first round of matches. We all know that Ed Smith was keeping one eye...
By Our Local Cricket Correspondent, Pies Morgan … (aka Dan Flanagan). SOMEWHERE IN THE HOME COUNTIES, ENGLAND – An amateur cricketer was left wondering whether he could possibly meet the high standards he sets for himself as a batsman this morning, after the rule of six allowed cricket training to resume in England. The villager, David Hughes, 57, angrily declared that a month’s practice before the start of the season was nowhere near enough for him to keep his average at its almighty 13...
