England 169-4 (19.3 overs) beat India 165 by six wickets It’s England 5 India 0, but last night’s T20 was far closer than any of the test matches. We only just edged it – with ‘edge’ being the operative word. With Bopara and Patel at the crease, it looked like England might blow it from what, in T20 terms, was an impregnable position. It was only sheer luck, and the edge of Patel’s bat, which saw us home: with ten needed off the final over, two streaky boundaries down to third man proved...
England help themselves to the buffet – day three at Edgbaston
India 224 & 35-1. England 710-7 dec (yes, we really got that many) Shane Warne described it as the most boring day’s cricket he has ever seen. That just about summed it up. India went through the motions, and England cantered towards an enormous first innings lead. Alastair Cook scored a mammoth double ton (narrowly missing out on a triple) but the most challenging part of his day was remembering how many runs he’d scored when a power-cut killed Edgbaston’s electronic scoreboard during the...
Morgan innings drives Lord’s crowd wild
Day One at Lords – Eng 342-6 at stumps Eoin Morgan is like a Morgan car: quirky but a classic. His innings of 79 stole the show at Lord’s today after we found ourselves in deep poop at 22-3. Those of us who have craved a pugnacious left hander in the middle-order since the retirement of Graham Thorpe (whose batting I still go all girly about) will have a smile as wide as Ian Austin’s belly tonight. The other man of the day was Alastair Cook, who made a steady 96 when all around him were, err...
Morgan’s 193 should not be in vain
Let’s make this as simple as possible. Do England need a left-hander with a brilliant temperament, who just made a sparkling 193 in a match whose only purpose was to help the selectors pick the test squad, or yet another right-handed batsman who has failed under pressure several times in the past, and failed again when all eyes were on him on Friday? You’d have thought it would be a no brainer – but apparently not. According to most newspapers today, Ravi Bopara is still the favourite to...
England’s likely lads – but which one will make the test team?
The England Lions take on Sri Lanka tomorrow in what many people see as a trial match. Who will replace Paul Collingwood in the test team? And who will replace Tim Bresnan, whose calf injury (did he eat too much veal?) will keep him out for a few weeks. The pundits reckon that the batting spot will either go to Eoin Morgan or Ravi Bopara. Both candidates have baggage. Morgan has a relatively poor first class record and he can’t bowl for toffee – so he’s hardly a like for like replacement for...
The 2nd ODI – When Morgan fails, England fail
We thought we were making progress in ODIs but we’re not so sure now. The opening partnership looks wrong (having failed numerous times in the past), Trott looks too one paced at number three, Yardy isn’t convincing at number seven, and we’re missing an inform Paul Collingwood to lift the side with bat and ball. The inconvenient truth is this: we are almost totally reliant on Eoin Morgan. Once the Irishman gets out, hope usually goes down the toilet. We’ve lost three matches in a row now. Ok...
