Today Sam Tomkinson argues that bowlers should be able change the arm they ultimately deliver the ball with during their run up. Do you agree? The process of evolution is prevalent in life, and not just sport. Stand still and you are left behind. In technology, you lose the market and become obsolete. In the Serengeti, you are lunch. In sport you start to lose, and lose badly. As India found out in the T20 World Cup Semi Final, old methods become outdated and cricket moves on. Though the...
The purity of Test cricket and the five day game was once sacrosanct and untouchable. Domestic cricket had been reaping the benefits of the one day game since the early 60s, but it took almost 10 years to infiltrate the international game. The 50-over format slipped quietly into the calendar and took its formal bow when the World Cup was first staged in 1975. T20 cricket arrived on the international scene in 2005 – two years after the domestic game had embraced the quick and easy thrill...
Now the dust has settled on England’s T20 World Cup win and attention has shifted to the Test series in Pakistan, we can now give some thought to the future of England’s white ball 50 and 20 over sides. This raises some interesting issues about age and cricket, and the whole thorny issue of how to evolve a side when players need to be replaced. The fact of the matter is that the bulk of our World Cup winners are now in their 30s. Inevitably this raises some questions as to whether they should...
In 1964, Pakistan all-rounder Mustaq Mohammed changed the course of cricketing history. Playing in a club match for Rotherham’s Cavaliers, Mustaq faced up to the esteemed Fred Titmus. The England and Middlesex off-spinner was bowling neatly to a tight field. Out of scoring options, Mushtaq eyed the only gap – third man. “My shot was premeditated, but it connected and went for four,” he told the Indian Express. Bewildered, Truman appealed. “Poor old Freddie. He went wild and pulled...
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...
Money makes the world go round and cricket cannot escape it. The recent IPL broadcasting deal has meant that a single IPL match carries the second highest value of any single sports match behind the NFL. That is mental. We are now dealing with games of cricket in monetary terms that have been unheard of throughout the entire history of the game. And it now means private ownership is taking over the game. It has now been reported that all of the six franchises in the up-coming South African T20...
