New writer Isaac Rawcliffe has some thoughts on England’s squad for the 1st Test against India. What do you make of the names selected? England have announced a 17 man squad for the first Test against India and there are some notable exclusions as well as one very notable inclusion. The squad reads as follows: Joe Root (capt), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie...
Every now and then a player comes along who reminds us all why we love sport, why it matters to us and most of all how it should be played. This year we have been blessed with 11 of them. They are the New Zealand cricket team and they really are a breath of fresh air. To those of us who follow cricket closely, this will be no surprise. The revolution in New Zealand cricket first began with the appointment of Brendon McCullum in 2012. Much has been made of the attacking, fearless brand of the...
As a former financial journalist, I spent a large amount of time drinking and smoking cigarettes with the characters of the Lloyds Market, for two reasons: The first was because I thoroughly enjoyed their company. The second? Because they would ever so often given me off-the-record commentary on the comings-and-goings of people within the market, as well as the probably impacts of mergers and acquisitions. So it was of no surprise to me last week when it emerged that ‘sources close to the ECB’...
Just some quick thoughts about England’s Test squad for the New Zealand series. What did you make of the squad? At first glance I was pretty happy. Every single one of the players selected deserves their place. But when I started thinking about the makeup of the final XI, the concerns crept in. The problem, of course, is how on earth England are going to field a balanced XI from the 15 names selected by the Ed Smithless braintrust. It’s not really their fault, as it’s...
Today Alex continues our buildup to the India versus England series by looking back at India’s amazing triumph down under. What made the series so special? And what did we learn? The Australia – India Series was the one of the best series that Test cricket has seen for years. Although you could talk about the drama of the last Ashes in England, this series featured a team that was literally the walking wounded against a powerhouse team that nevertheless has significant holes. It made for...
Morning everyone. It’s James here. I’m temporarily back to comment on England’s victory in the 1st Test against Sri Lanka. You can’t ask for much more than a 7 wicket win away from home – even if the hosts didn’t wake up until the third day. Now before I get into the nitty-gritty, I have a quick confession to make. I didn’t watch all of the Test match. In fact, I missed most of it. One of the reasons that I’ve scaled back my involvement with TFT...
