Oh dear. That wasn’t in the script. At the start of play everyone was full of predictions. Will we score 500 this time? How much will we win by? Will it be all over by lunchtime? The question nobody asked, of course, is IF England would win. Pakistan have some very useful players and everyone should know they’re at their most dangerous when every man, his dog, and the fleas on the dog’s back write them off. Unfortunately, however, I don’t think we can put this one down...
Promising
We didn’t freeze. We didn’t choke. Eoin Morgan’s men started their World Cup campaign with a bang. And this time, unlike previous World Cups, it wasn’t the bang of a metaphorical tire blowing up or the whole engine combusting, it was the bang of boundaries flying off Ben Stokes’s bat, and the clang of a Jofra Archer bouncer ricocheting off Hashim Amla’s grill. England performed well, particularly in the field, and completely out-classed a weak South Africa team. Although England’s 311 didn’t...
Your Starting England XI & Those Hundred Names Dissected
The World Cup finally starts on Thursday. Are you excited? On balance I think I am. I’m not exactly pant-wettingly excited, because (a) I prefer Test cricket to the white ball stuff, and (b) I’m too old to get too excited about sport anymore. However, I do sense a certain tingling, which I vaguely recognise as excitement, in my bones. To be honest though, I tend to get paralysed with anxiety more than anything else these days. You should’ve seen me at the end of the...
Cider and Sandpaper
Welcome to the A&E. Otherwise known as the England dressing room. Players should form an orderly queue and use the Savlon sparingly. It’s got to stretch a long way. Here’s the current injury report: Mark Wood – Chronic foot / ankle condition Adil Rashid – Long-term shoulder niggle Chris Woakes – Long-term knee niggle Eoin Morgan – Bruised finger Liam Dawson – Cut Finger Jofra Archer – Unspecified something Team culture – Bruised by Hales...
Players Win Matches, Not Culture.
Now don’t get me wrong. I really like Eoin Morgan. He’s done a tremendous job as England’s ODI captain, and he’s a very good white ball batsman too. In fact, I think he’s one of our best ever players. People just forget how good he is because he’s surrounded by so many other fantastic white ball batsmen these days. However, the one thing I dislike about Eoin is how he’s become completely subsumed by the ECB’s communications culture since becoming...
Willey, Won’t He?
The three finest cricketing minds in the land (ahem), will meet this evening* to finalise which 15 cricketers will no doubt receive World Cup winners medals in just over a month’s time (big ahem). Most players are assured a place. But three or four of them will be waiting anxiously for a call. The big question mark seems to be David Willey, who has been a real stalwart over the last two or three years. If Willey misses out he can consider himself extremely unlucky indeed. His problem is...
