Australia 527-7 dec. England 52-2 Do you remember that all-important third test seven years ago? We were 0-2 down in the series. Freddie won a crucial toss on a good pitch; England batted brilliantly (with the much maligned Paul Collingwood scoring a double ton) and we declared with the score on 551 late on the second day. At stumps we had dismissed Justin Langer cheaply, and our bowlers were all over the Aussies like chicken pox. The next morning we reduced them to 60 odd for 3. All the...
Matt Prior, we salute you
‘Whatever happened to all the heroes?’ The Stanglers once sung. When it comes to the England cricket team, they’ve got a point. Since the retirement of Andrew Flintoff, we haven’t really had any heroes – not proper cult heroes anyway. Whereas we had the swashbuckling Sir Ian in the 1980s, tinkle toes Darren Gough in the 90s, and Freddie himself in 2005, recent England sides have lacked that true inspirational figure. Players like Cook, Trott and Anderson are all very good cricketers, but...
England’s Best Cricket Team (Post 1980)
This XI might have been England’s best cricket team in generations. It’s a compilation of the best players we’ve seen since we started watching in the 1980s. It’s the side that would have beaten Steve Waugh’s Australians (maybe). If only they’d been born at a similar time so they were at the peak of their powers together. Of course, if Keith Fletcher was the coach, and they were still playing for their counties the day before a test, it wouldn’t have made much difference...
Is there life after cricket?
What next? Imran Khan is trying to change the world; Eddie Hemmings runs a village shop As we’re effectively in limbo at the moment (just waiting for the final test to begin) we thought we’d look at life after cricket. This is something that’s been on my mind lately. I’ve had a wrist injury since January, wasn’t able to play at all this year, and I’m facing an all important MRI scan tonight. It’s possible I’ll never be able to play cricket again – in which case, what am I going to do at...
Freddie Flintoff: The Defence
It seems like everyone’s been having a pop at Andrew Flintoff in recent days (including us). So in the interests of fairness, and the noble quest for true objectivity (if such a thing exists), we thought we’d give the other side of the argument. We’re not going to pretend that Freddie’s a teetotal intellectual with the tactical acumen of Michael Vaughan – or claim that he was right to have a pop at Athers – we’re just going to question the increasingly prevalent media view that he’s the devil...
Just to get you in the mood…
With less than three days to go, and the nerves starting to jangle, we’ve decided to adopt a twin-pronged policy here at The Full Toss.
1. Unabashed patriotism.
2. Reminiscing about great Ashes moments of the past, just in case it all goes pear shaped from midnight on Thursday morning.
And what better way to start than with this…
