Now the dust has settled, and Darren Lehmann has gone home crying, it’s time to reflect on our players’ performance during the Ashes. Who triumphed in the crucial moments, and which players were largely passengers on the good ship HMS 3-0. We’ll try to be as fair as possible here – utilising statistics when necessary, but also looking behind the statistics too. Let us know if you agree or disagree. All Ashes player ratings are scores out of 10. Alastair Cook 4 – It’s almost blasphemous to...
The Ashes are ours. But we hardly set the world on fire.
Well, we did it. Or to be more accurate, the rain did it. Despite losing three quick wickets in the only short passage of play possible, we got an ill deserved draw and retained the Ashes. Hallelujah. The problem is, it all feels a bit empty. Nobody wanted it to materialise this way. Call me daft as a brush, but I didn’t want it to rain today. I wanted us to bat out the day with no alarms, just to demonstrate our blatant superiority: to show the Aussies that days 1-4 were an aberration, and...
The Big Bluff? Third Test Preview
Andy Flower is no longer Andy Flower. He’s Agent Flower; working on Her Majesty’s very secretive service. Ever since the Lord’s test finished, England have been playing mind-games with the Aussies. What will the Old Trafford pitch be like? Will it be as dry as Richie Benaud’s favourite muscadet? Will England play two spinners? As a result, Michael Clarke’s canary yellows seem to be desperate to play two spinners themselves – even though we keep hearing that their strength is fast bowling. How...
Settee: The Search for Extratesttrivia Life
How have you coped without live Ashes cricket for nine long days? Did you return to your normal daily routines, watch the endless re-runs of ‘England’s best days’ on Sky, or hibernate for a week – recharging your batteries for another emotional roller coaster? At TFT we’ve been tracking down fresh writing talent; looking for like-minded cricket fans keen to share their musings. As a result we’ve unearthed this fella, who goes by the name Paul Grin Hopi. We...
Job done – day five at Headingley
Andy Flower’s deadpan persona is great at making the media look stupid – even its most cerebral members. When Mike Atherton interviewed our team director after we wrapped up the win yesterday, he asked him whether his team had squandered an advantage by not enforcing the follow on. Flower looked quizzically at Atherton – a bemused look which certainly contained more than a smidgeon of distain – and scowled “well, I don’t know what advantage you’re talking about … we won the game”. It’s...
Nice weather for ducks, bad news for Swann
We’d really like to talk about the cricket. But there’s not much to say. England lost the toss and New Zealand chose to bowl. Then in rained … a lot. No play was possible on day one. If it’s blue skies and good batting conditions tomorrow, the Kiwis will be cursing their decision to field. The big news yesterday was the make-up of England’s team. Where was Graeme Swann? Had England decided to pick four seamers (they’ve done it before, remember)? Had Swann overslept? Had the selectors...
