I feel sorry for Alastair Cook. It’s no secret that the English media, and certain fans, love to build someone up and then knock them down. We see it in other sports all the time. You’re either brilliant – a world class hero, a pin-up boy, a genius or an all time great – or you’re a waste of space, a steaming pile of donkey manure or even worse, Luis ‘the biter’ Suarez. But what makes Cook a unique case is that his employers have built him up as much as anyone. In order to justify...
The Cult of Alastair Cook
I feel sorry for Alastair Cook. It’s no secret that the English media, and certain fans, love to build someone up and then knock them down. We see it in other sports all the time. You’re either brilliant – a world class hero, a pin-up boy, a genius or an all time great – or you’re a waste of space, a steaming pile of donkey manure or even worse, Louis Suarez. But what makes Cook a unique case is that his employers have built him up as much as anyone. In order to justify the decision to sack you...
Settee: The Search For Extratesttrivial Irreverence. part four of five
Pre 4th Test, the big shock for me was not the selection of Tickly Tummy Jackson Bird over Scattergun Roadrunner Mitchell Starc. No, I was more surprised when Ten-Nil Botham’s pitch-side blah blah was notpunctuated by showers of lead-shot, wrapped in tear-sodden betting slips. Sky Ashes lead-ups also include Master Class insights which are invaluable to dozy barstanders like myself. The contribution from recently house-trained Kevin Pietersen was a lot more thoughtful and hygienic than...
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...
