I won’t ask you to boot up your phone and laptop cameras, but I wish you could see the beaming smile etched across my face. There’s nothing better than destroying / obliterating / absolutely tanking the Aussies, and to do it in a World Cup semi final is all the sweeter. England were brilliant today and Australia were woeful. It was the complete opposite of the group game at Lord’s. What a difference three weeks makes. Now I’m afraid I’m not qualified to discuss the minutiae of today’s game. As...
Semi Finals Here We Come
You can relax now. At least for a few days. England are through to the semis after a comfortable win against a sloppy New Zealand team that never really showed up. We batted really well at the outset (when the pitch was at its best) and then bowled really well to seal the win. Thank **** for that! Today was a good day. Chewing our fingernails to the bone before play started was unnecessary after all. Joking aside, I was always extremely confident that England would win for two primary reasons:...
Still Alive
What a weekend of cricket. I’ll start by quickly mentioning the Pakistan and Afghanistan contest, which was one of the best ODIs I’ve seen in ages. Although I feel desperately sad for Afghanistan, who really should have won, I tip my hat to Pakistan’s middle and late-order. It was some comeback. The game was so intriguing because in a low scoring affair every run mattered. It was deliciously old-school. Once the rate climbed above a run-a-ball, one sensed Pakistan would be...
Just As Things Couldn’t Get Any Worse … Here’s Jonny
You’ve read the comments. Now vent your spleen. I’m sad to report that Jonny Barstow seems to have lost the plot. He thinks people want England to fail just to they can stick the knife in. And now he’s started a row with Michael Vaughan. This really isn’t a good look. And it’s a distraction that England really don’t need. Our upcoming opponents, India and New Zealand, will interpret Jonny’s words as a sign that we’re feeling the pressure...
One-Trick Ponies Looking Like Donkeys
If the World Cup was a bilateral series – the criterium by which we reached the top of the world rankings – we’d currently be celebrating a 4-3 series win. Everyone would be extolling the vim and virtuosity of our victorious squad, and the management would be basking in the glory of yet another triumph. But this isn’t a bilateral series. Recent defeats in the World Cup’s league format have hurt our prospects badly. I’ve long said that the current England side...
Time To Walk The Walk
So this is it. Squeaky bum time. Tuesday sees England’s most import ODI for years. It might even be our most important ODI since the 1992 World Cup final. Lose tomorrow and we’ll be facing humiliation all over again – the humiliation of being tournament favourites, playing at home, and not even making it to the semi finals. So much has been sacrificed for this event: the county championship has been sidelined, the test team is somewhat in the doldrums, and there are few...
