Can it really be a quarter of a century since the late Martin Crowe opened the 1992 Cricket World Cup with a stunning century at Eden Park to dramatically bloody the nose of the defending champions on the opening day of the tournament? This piece by Hector was originally written in preparation for the 2015 World Cup but not completed until recently. It seemed rather fitting to publish such a piece on the 25th anniversary of the tournament’s genesis. Reminiscing can be a capricious business...
What Are Your ‘Stolen Moments’?
My childhood was eons ago. It was a world before the internet, blanket media and instantaneous access to information. A world that my kids think is somewhere between the Jurassic period and Victorian England. A dystopian world where dinosaurs routinely knocked down buildings and feasted on mangled chimney sweeps. My oldest son once participated in a school project that featured a picture of a Victorian school. All the children had to add a slogan to be pasted around the picture. His was simply...
White Ball Bowlers: An Endangered Species
News just in: Ben Stokes has been bought for the astonishing figure of $2.16 million USD in the IPL auction. The team that has paid this eye-watering figure, the Rising Pune Silly Nannies, obviously didn’t watch the World T20 final, when poor Ben was absolutely slaughtered by Carlos Brathwaite. Needing an unlikely 19 off the final over, Stokes’ first four balls disappeared into the stands … 6, 6, 6 and then 6 again. It was an absolutely chastening experience for the Durham all-rounder that...
To Remodel Or Not To Remodel?
Those of you who have been following the Jack Leach controversy will be disappointed to learn that the Somerset spinner – by far the best young tweaker on the county circuit – has been left out of the 1st Lions ‘test’ because he’s struggling with his remodelled action. He bowled 14 wicketless overs against the Sri Lankan President’s XI whereas Olly Rayner took 3-55. This is disappointing news because there had previously been reports that Leach was quite...
Growing Pains: T20, Overkill, And The New City Based Tournament
In the post Big Bash, pre Indian Premier League vacuum all the talk is of how successful the former has proved, leading to much conjecture over the English domestic equivalent. Is the much discussed, much proposed city franchise league a means of growing the game or simply a means of growing bank balances? In the article below, Hector Cappelletti discusses the problem of T20 cricket in England, its future and its raison d’etre. Thirteen summers previous I took the plunge and attended my first...
Root Named Test Captain
As if we needed any proof that Andrew Strauss reads this blog religiously, England’s MD has just announced that Joe Root will be the new test captain … literally an hour after we published Jack Mendel’s piece endorsing Stuart Broad. Thanks for that Andrew. I’m glad you took one week, rather than three, to make a decision but you could’ve given us a bit more notice. This is now the second Monday in a row that Strauss has ruined. Last week I had a rare day off...
