The third day at Lord’s really could’ve gone either way. The Windies had a slender lead with seven wickets in the hutch. With better weather in the offing, and Shai Hope still at the crease, they had a real opportunity to post a target of over 200 … something England’s fragile top order wouldn’t have fancied at all. But Jimmy Anderson crushed them. He was simply too good. After reaching the superb landmark of 500 test wickets the day before, his tail was up and the...
What The?
After beating South Africa earlier this summer, the West Indies series was billed as a mere irrelevance bolted onto the fag end of the fixture list. England were expected to win well. The conversation was supposed to be about the demise of Windies cricket and how Joe Root’s side really needed a sterner test before the winter’s Ashes series. And yet now, after one day of the Lord’s test, England are in a spot of bother. Actually scratch that. England are in steaming pile of...
Joy and Misery
Only hardcore England fans who struggle to appreciate the bigger picture will be mourning today. Yesterday’s dramatic finish at Headingley was good for cricket and brilliant for the West Indies in particular. A week ago I almost wrote a piece discussing whether the Windies should be stripped of their test status. I wasn’t going to advocate doing so but I thought it might be time to at least have a conversation about it. Thank heavens I resisted. It would’ve looked mighty...
It’s The Hope (and the Brathwaite) That Kills You
We all wanted the Windies to put up a fight. I’m not sure we wanted them to actually beat us! But after two days at Headingley that’s exactly where we’re headed. Recent history tells us that whenever England get on top in a game they win big. But when the opposition get on top we lose by a similarly large margin. England haven’t been involved in a close test match for over a year. It’s all incredibly unexpected and it’s hard to know how to respond. Whatever...
Nobody Does It Better
I sometimes wonder what Alastair Cook might have been in another life. What job would have suited him in a world without cricket? Because he scrubs up pretty well, and looks rather dapper in a dinner jacket, some might see him as a James Bond character – making the ladies swoon with his clean cut Englishness. However, he’s probably not quite daring enough to be a secret agent. In fact, sometimes I think he’s more like Hugh Grant in Four Weddings. “Is it still raining at Edgbaston? I hadn’t...
