England’s failure in the 2019 Ashes was due partially to the immovable object that was Steve Smith, but equally to the calamity that was its own top order, who had lost a few matches before the Ashes and nearly embarrassed them very badly against Ireland. The problem at root (with the exception [...]

It's time to welcome back Haroon Khalid for the second instalment of his look back at the 1981 Ashes series.  After the dumbfounding goings on at Leeds, the teams reconvened at Edgbaston on July 30th for the fourth test. The morning of the match was warm and sunny; the pitch looked good [...]

Today we welcome back Haroon Khalid to TFT. Take a trip down memory lane as the first test at Edgbaston gets underway ... The 2005 Ashes series is often spoken of as the greatest Ashes series of all time and with much justification. 1-0 down after the first test, England came back [...]

In The Wind in the Willows, Rat tells Mole, “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” As something of an anchor in open water, boats aren’t a favourite. But it’s a phrase that can be translated [...]

Once upon a time cricketers could pretty much do what they liked off the field. Drug testing wasn't so sophisticated, there were no WhatsApp messages, and getting pissed before important games was almost mandatory. Alex Hales would've loved it. Twenty five years ago the public didn't have mobile phone cameras ready to [...]

The Powerspots….The Scoops…..the Dynadrives…The Elites…..Gray-Nicolls bats made everyone at schools across the country drool. They still came from the same willow as their rivals, but they looked a whole lot better. Anyway, so I, Alex Ferguson – who had his best-ever season slogging a GN Elite before it was broken by a [...]

I know what you're thinking. It would be easier for us to simply put the great West Indies team of the 70s and 80s into the best-ever England vs West Indies combined XI. But we’re trying to find some semblance of balance here. Before I get stuck in I should make it [...]

Here's Alex with his best and worst moments of 2018. He was better qualified than me to write this piece as my answers invariably involve the words 'bah' and 'humbug'. Do you agree with his choices? MOMENT OF THE YEAR: Alastair Cook’s Last 100: This writer was at The Oval , joining [...]

At the dawn of this blog, James Morgan wrote about England’s worst XI, a team comprising players who before, during and since their test career confounded expectations by setting low standards and consistently failing to achieve them. There could have been many more on his list: nearly half of those who have [...]

When you’re sent a line-up and your first reaction is “Wow. What an XI”, you know you’re onto a good team. Anyway, Alex Ferguson put together his best-ever Gunn & Moore XI following on from a piece on this ‘ere blog about the All-Time Duncan Fearnley XI. While Duncan Fearnley had its heyday, [...]