It’s hard to think of a more satisfying win. The Ashes were sweet but they came with a caveat: England played in conditions made to order and we won crucial tosses. We were also overly reliant one two batsmen: Root and the skipper. Let’s face it, we were lucky. This time it was different. Cook lost the toss and scored no runs whatsoever. Neither did Root in the first innings. Yet England prevailed thanks to a monumental team effort. Just about everyone contributed. All those supposed weaknesses...
England Showing Good Signs
It’s all looking rather promising eh. England quite often start overseas tours at a slug’s pace (apparently they’re slower than snails). But this time we’ve started in the perfect fashion – thanks to a couple of our middle-order dashers. Seeing Ben Stokes return to the side and score an imperious 158 at almost a run a ball warms the cockles. He’s becoming a bit of a streaky batsman. When everything clicks, he’s unstoppable. I think we can safely say that the lad has regained something close to...
South Africa v England: Battle of the Middleweights
So England have arrived in South Africa – a nation of biltong, wildlife, beautiful scenery, guns, macho men, and foreigners spouting generalised clichés. South Africa is also home to the world’s best test team – or so we’re repeatedly told. Most of us realise this is a bit of a fib though. The Proteas might be ranked number one (by a whisker) but there’s no dominant team in test cricket right now. The world is awash with teams in transition – teams with some strengths but also glaring...
Australia’s cupboard is bare, but ours is hardly stacked
Thanks to Maxie for his spoof of the Australian touring squad last week; my particular favourite was left arm spinner Xavier Hope. Looking at the Canary Yellows squad – robbed of Pat Cummins through injury – I personally don’t think they’ve got a hope (although stranger things have happened). Perhaps us England fans shouldn’t be so smug though. In case you missed it, the England Lions got well and truly massacred by Australia A this winter. Admittedly, the Aussie team was much more experienced...
In, out, Taylor gets a shout
Once upon a time, some faceless stooge in an office somewhere (we’re presuming the person in question wears a grey suit and loves watching re-runs of Crossroads) decided that international teams must name a preliminary squad of 30 for the Champions Trophy. Why? We have no idea. It’s utterly pointless. However, since we’re all forced to go through this inane procedure, we might as well report who England’s 30 are; even though exactly half of them will be cut from the ‘squad’ in a few weeks time...
Losing Pietersen would be a disaster
Are the good times over? Lose KP and any advantage we had going into the 2013 Ashes will be lost If I was in a high profile cricket team, and my teammates followed a twitter account that extracted the Michael out of me mercilessly, I’d feel pretty insecure. I’d definitely question whether I wanted to play with them anymore – especially if I was already in dispute with the team’s governing body. I’d be even more tempted to jump ship if I knew there were other clubs out there willing to pay...
