Today is a quiet day. There's not much to talk about other than Steve Smith's T20 heroics against Pakistan down under. Therefore, in a desperate attempt to avoid talking about Steve Smith's T20 heroics down under, I've decided to trial something new. It's the first in what I hope will become an [...]
I was at Wembley yesterday watching two teams in body armour beat the living crap out of each other; therefore I didn't have a chance to write about England's T20 defeat. It seems a bit late to write exclusively about a short-form bash that concluded 36 hours ago so today's post will [...]
I was hoping to bring you more good news today. England's T20 cricketers started their series against New Zealand with a win. However, then I read some off-field news that rather knocked the stuffing out of me. Yes it's another blow to first class cricket in our country. Let's deal with the [...]
Now this is an intriguing development. Chris Silverwood has asked Darren Gough to be England's bowling coach during the tour of New Zealand. At first I thought this was a full time appointment but alas it's just a short-term consultancy role. Goughie is still committed to his media commitments long-term by all [...]
Oh Shakib. What have you done? Or rather what haven't you done? I never thought a player as respected as Shakib Al Hasan, a player who's one of my personal favourites, would breach the ICC's anti-corruption code. It's a really sad day. And it brings back all those concerns about unscrupulous and [...]
There was an interesting interview with national selector Ed Smith in The Times over the weekend. I didn't read it all because the article was doing an impression of live cricket in England i.e. it was hidden behind a paywall. However, a few tidbits from that interview have emerged on free-to-air media [...]
I know, I know. It's a very provocative headline. I'm blushing a bit to be honest because I love Joe Root. He's one of my favourite batsmen, and probably the best player England have produced since Graham Gooch. The last thing I want to do is slag off the England cricket captain. [...]
Winning isn't everything. Apparently. We're now living in a new age of international sport where manners, decency and fair play are the objectives. The goal is to win respect not matches. Anyone would've thought that we've become Australia post sandpaper-gate. I didn't think so at the time, but maybe the entertainer at [...]
Is there a more controversial word in the English cricketing dictionary than 'Kolpak'? No other word, other than '(the) Hundred', leads to more collective cursing and eyebrow raising. However, not all Kolpak deals are the same. And today I'm going to argue that Surrey's Hashim Amla Kolpak signing, which was announced this [...]
I wonder if Ashley Giles voted leave or remain? I normally stay clear of politics - and you won't read anything remotely partisan in this article - but the assertion that the ECB's managing director always wanted to appoint an English England cricket coach does make one wonder. I bring this up [...]
