AuthorJack Mendel

It’s About Time

The trust and persistence placed in Moeen Ali is how England should approach their top-order conundrum. After a decade of success, the demand for instantaneous results has cut off England’s nose to spite their face. Selection policy has become impatient and short sighted. Alastair Cook has gone through 11 opening partners since the retirement of Andrew Strauss in 2012. And England have tried several number 3s without committing to one. Yet in the midst of chaos, Moeen Ali has emerged as a...

Stokes Or Flintoff?

As Ben Stokes continues to rise in stature, his numbers are matching and surpassing another allrounder in Andrew Flintoff. But it’s unfair to compare them on numbers alone.  Measuring Ben Stokes against Andrew Flintoff’s success is not an outrageous thing to do, either due to their playing style, or charismatic, occasionally hot-headed, nature. But when you compare their numbers alone, Ben Stokes has already reached Flintoff’s level.  Over the course of Flintoff’s 79-Test match career, he...

Younus and Us

Younus Khan’s retirement after Pakistan’s series against the Windies will see one of the last true greats of the last 20-years, and perhaps the most undervalued and underrated, finally leave the game. Pakistan’s leading Test run-scorer is rarely mentioned in the company of other legends – which is both surprising and unfair. He doesn’t have the flair of Brian Lara, so he doesn’t get bums on seats. He doesn’t have the signature shots of Ricky Ponting, so he doesn’t make...

Eoin Morgan’s Bum Deal

Today Jack Mendel continues our build up to Ireland’s ODIs in England this summer with a robust defence of Eoin Morgan, the man set to lead his adopted country against his native one in May. I’d also like to tell you about the above video of comedian Dara O’Briain commentating on the cricket (or at least trying to)! They were made by Threepipe to promote the England versus Ireland games. Obviously Dara hasn’t got a clue what’s going on. It’s quite funny. ...

Broad Would Be England’s First Australian Captain

Here’s Jack Mendel with some interesting thoughts on Stuart Broad’s candidacy. Thanks go to our friends at The Diary of The 17th Man for the image above. We’ve resurrected it from a piece Jeremy Pooley wrote for us a while back.  Following the resignation of Alastair Cook, the possibility of Stuart Broad succeeding him has surfaced. This would inject a very Australian feeling into England. Stuart Broad is hated by Australia so much that one wonders if they’re just a bit...

Kumar Sangakkara: Knowing When To Go

Every fan is invested in the career of their favourite players, and I’d rather remember a great legacy like that of Kumar Sangakkara than a grand goodbye like Sachin’s. I loved watching Brian Lara. I was upset when Lara retired, not just because he would be no more, but because I felt he went prematurely. He retired in 2006/7, when he was 36, but when I was just 13. This feeling of being robbed of a few golden years of Lara, was compounded when contemporaries like Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid...

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