I’ve just done an interview for the Vodafone website. I’ll let you know when it’s live. I was asked whether England have done well this year, and whether they’re on course to become the number one side in the world. My answers were ‘yes’ and ‘no’ respectively. I answered the second question negatively simply because, in my humble opinion, we can’t read too much into the Sri Lanka series. It was a contest between the 7th ranked test team in the world, who are going through a transitional...
Mills and Malan Called Up
With the fifth day of the 3rd test effectively a washout, the big news yesterday was the announcement of England’s limited overs squads to play Sri Lanka. The ODI squad was pretty much as expected, but the T20 squadron contains a couple of interesting names. First let’s look at the 50 over squad. It’s pretty much the same team that lost to South Africa, but certainly didn’t disgrace themselves, a few months ago. The only real change is Jonny Bairstow coming in for the retired James Taylor. I...
The 3rd Test Thread
This is our thread for the 3rd Test at Lord’s. Please scroll down for our daily reports and feel free to add your comments as the action progresses over the next 5 days. Cheers. After a two week hiatus, test cricket is back. And this one promises to be an absolute humdinger. The venue is Lord’s, a magical venue steeped in history. The opposition is Sri Lanka, the best test side located between India and Malaysia. There couldn’t be more a stake. England will be looking to...
The 2nd Test Thread
So here we go again. It’s time for the most eagerly awaited test match since last week. Will the weather hold? Will Nick Compton get off the mark? Will Alastair Cook score the twenty runs he needs to reach 10,000? And will Sri Lanka make it past lunch on Sunday? All these questions, and plenty more, will be answered in the coming hours. It might even be remotely interesting. The big news so far is that Chris Woakes has been preferred to Jake Ball (or so it seems). That means England will retain...
Woakes or Ball?
The news on Ben Stokes’ injury isn’t great. He’ll need an operation for a cartilage tear and will miss six weeks’ action. That means he’s out of the Sri Lanka super series but should hopefully return for the games against Pakistan. Although some people are freaking out about the injury – Andrew Flintoff was also plagued with a knee problem during his career – Stokes’ problem doesn’t actually sound too concerning. In fact, it sounds remarkably similar to an injury I suffered myself many years...
We Really Are A Miserable Lot
When England crushed Australia mercilessly at Trent Bridge last summer, England fans celebrated ecstatically. The tourists just couldn’t cope with our rampant pace attack. Stuart Broad put in a career defining performance. Everything was rosy. Although it wasn’t the strongest Aussie team of all time – they showed no fight and appeared more yellow than canary yellow – nobody really gave a damn. The Aussies has been slaughtered and that’s all that mattered. So why has England’s win against Sri...
