Yesterday I heard Kevin Pietersen playing down England’s Ashes chances. He quite rightly pointed out all the holes in our batting line up, which currently resembles something akin to Swiss cheese. Although to be fair to the cheese-makers of Switzerland, their diary products are probably hardier and more resilient. Where I disagree with KP, however, is his assertion that Joe Root should bat 3. Why...
Word has just reached us that hell has indeed frozen over. The ICC has reached an agreement to introduce a world test championship and ODI league from 2019. These competitions will start after the World Cup. The test championship will run over a two year period. Each team will play six series (three home and three away) lasting at least two tests. The structure will be flexible to allow longer...
Last week I received an email from Simon Cousins, an Australian Kent fan living in Sydney. We got chatting about the Big Bash and whether Harrison’s Harebrained Have A Hit would be a success. Simon’s responses were so detailed and enlightening that I felt compelled to share them. He makes some very good points. Here’s what he had to say … Much is made by supporters of the...
One punch caught on camera. One giant kick in the jatz crackers for England’s Ashes hopes. When I heard last week that Ben Stokes had been involved in a fight – this time with a real person rather than a locker – my heart sank. It sank even further when I saw that CCTV video of a man getting knocked cold by a devastating haymaker. David Warner can only dream of landing a punch like that. And the...
There is a scene in an old episode of The Simpsons where Principal Skinner is addressing a new intake of students and Bart scuppers it by unfurling a banner with the message – “Skinner is a wiener”. The Principal of Springfield Elementary looks up forlornly to the heavens and mutters “you’ve lost them Seymour. You’ve lost them”. He knows immediately that regardless of what he does throughout the...
Excuse the headline. It has been a long week. But a least a bad pun is better than a misspelling. I just wanted to quickly discuss the England Lions squad for the winter … and obviously any mention of lions provides plenty of opportunity for cheesy headlines. Be thankful I didn’t roll out the old ‘lions squad to be roaring success’ chestnut. So what do we make of the squad...
You’ve heard all about Peter Moores’ data. You’ve seen analysts like Gemma Broad staring at their laptops. But do you know everything else that goes on behind the scenes in limited overs cricket? Unsurprisingly perhaps, white ball cricket is fast becoming a science. Whereas players used to prepare for big matches by eating chicken and rice, and sinking three pints instead of the usual six, modern...
With Ben Stokes nursing a broken hand, a bruised ego, and a ruptured reputation, England might find themselves short of runs this winter. Indeed you might want to reconsider if you were planning on placing a bet at sites like casinoonline.co.nz. However, one unintended consequence of long batting line-ups is that individuals sometimes lose focus and don’t take responsibility for scoring big runs...
First class cricket is dead. It’s boring, predictable, and nobody likes it. In fact, the only way to save it is to make the players wear coloured clothing, play music every time there’s a boundary, and cut the duration of matches to two days. Oh, and scrap the counties and create artificial city-based franchises packed full of overseas ‘stars’ too. Then the bloody thing...
We have a problem. England only have nine test class cricketers. Therefore one could argue that it doesn’t really matter which bodies make up the broader squad of 16. The selectors might as well have picked random names out of a hat. After all, these squad fillers aren’t particularly likely to score any runs or take any wickets. They might as well have picked the seven best fielders...
