After screaming at the telly every time England named an unbalanced side in the recent ODI series, how refreshing it was to see the Ashes touring party today. The selectors actually got things right – and I challenge anyone who disagrees with me to a fist-fight in the Walkabout. As you know, we’re prone to strong opinions here at TFT. As I tuned in to the squad announcement at lunchtime today, my typing fingers were primed to explode. Surely there would be the odd shock selection: the inclusion...
Australia finally win something
Australia 298 (49.1 overs). England 249 (48 overs) Well, the bowling figures said it all. Boyd Rankin took 1-26, Chris Jordan 3-53, Stokes 5-61 whilst the others had combined figures of 20 overs 1-150. England had the Aussies on the ropes at 48-3 but then we had to bring on the part-timers – because we failed, for the umpteenth time in a row, to pick a balanced side. Watson and Clarke duly picked them off like prawn tempura at a Thai buffet, and suddenly the Aussies had set close to 300 – a...
By Jeeves: Buttler takes England to victory
Australia 227 (48.2 overs). England 231-7 (49.3 overs) At the beginning of this ODI series, Ashley Giles played down expectations to an unprecedented extent. He said England should expect some pain in these matches, as they’d picked an experimental side missing key players. Interpretation: I know I’ve lost more matches than I’ve won so far, and we’re likely to lose a few more, but can I still be England test coach next year please? It’s really not my fault. We’re not sure what...
The Friday Roundup
The big bit of breaking news is that Bresnan’s back is bust (is that a record for the number of ‘B’s in an opening sentence?). Poor Bressie lad suffered a stress facture after the Durham Test. We cannot either confirm on deny the fictional rumour that he hurt himself piggybacking Stuart Broad across the outfield after consuming several schooners of Drambuie in the post-match celebrations. His most likely replacement at The Oval is Chris Tremlett, who obviously plays his county cricket south of...
So what happened there then?
West Indies 113-5 (20 overs) England 88 (16.4 overs) Windies win by 25 runs Nobody likes to lose, but when people look back at the summer of 2011 they won’t remember this game at all. It was just a footnote to the main event. I doubt even the Windies fancied travelling to England for two futile T20s at the end of September. Given the choice between autumn in London or a beach in Barbados, I know where I’d rather be. Having said that, the game was of some interest because so many stars of the...
