With the Ashes pain slowly diminishing and England’s excellent white-ball team on the charge once again, it’s time, don’t you think, that everyone stopped moping around and began reaching for the positives? So here goes: eight reasons to be excited about the future of English cricket. Strap yourselves in. We’re on course to whitewash the Aussies On Sunday’s evidence (Jos Buttler take a bow), England’s white ball revolution has lost none of its momentum. We found...
The 2nd ODI: Australia Have Some Learning To Do
Today’s ODI interested me because the Aussie commentators, not to mention Steve Smith after Melbourne, sounded a bit like England under Ashley Giles and Peter Moores. They still seem to think that 280 is a pretty competitive score in ODIs. Hey guys, I’ve got some news for you. It’s not. When England were trying to win the Champions Trophy under Giles in 2013, our strategy was to score 280 – normally thanks to Jonathan Trott making 80 odd off about 110 balls – and...
Suspended Sentence Most Likely For Stokes?
There has been plenty of chat about the likelihood of Ben Stokes going to prison if he’s found guilty or pleads guilty. But it’s hard for us laymen to know whether a suspended sentence, three years, or something in between is most likely. Thankfully Robert Foster, a freelancer writer with a background in Criminal Justice, is here to explain all. Over to you, Rob … After months of speculation regarding England and Durham all-rounder Ben Stokes appearing to knock a man...
County Championship Reform: Conferences or Divisions?
As everyone seems to be calling the NHS “our NHS” these days, I think it’s about time we renamed the championship “our county championship”. We all love it to bits but, like the NHS, it’s a bit sick. The ECB focus on T20 is pushing the competition to the fringes of the season and there’s a feeling amongst many supporters and players that there are too many teams. You won’t be surprised to learn that I instinctively dislike this argument. There...
Yippee Ki Yay
“Just call me Roy”. What an amazing innings. Jason Roy was simply superb at the MCG yesterday. He bludgeoned his way to the highest ever ODI score by an England player – beating the record recently set by Alex Hales – and simultaneously silenced his critics as a result. It led to an excellent England win that shows just how far we’ve come in white ball cricket. Naturally this win is no compensation whatsoever for the Ashes debacle. The win felt a little hollow...
England’s Big Bash Brigade
The Ashes was a real shame, and it wasn’t just the result that rankled. The games were a tad dull and the lifeless pitches produced attritional cricket that generally failed to sparkle. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best advertisement for test cricket. The Big Bash 2017, on the other hand, has been full of the usual glitz and drama. Traditionalists won’t want to hear it, but T20 doesn’t always need favourable conditions to prosper. Good pitches help, of course, but the bright lights, music...
