It’s lighter outside, the clocks have moved forward, but it’s still bitterly cold and frosty. This can mean only one thing: the county championship is back. Oh yes! To get you in the mood, Rob has come up with an XI of county stalwarts that he’ll be keeping an eye on this summer. It’s a personal XI (based purely on players that he enjoys watching) who seem unlikely to play international cricket this summer. Enjoy. 1. Alastair Cook: No real explanation needed to select...
Test cricket is becoming a competition between just three teams. That seems almost beyond doubt at this point. I can’t figure out how it’s good for the future of the game but the English, Indian and Australian cricket boards appear to disagree. Their actions have been promoting this outcome for years now, and the ICC future tours programme – the Test series schedule – for 2023 to 2027 certainly backs it up. In this four year window, every scheduled Test series of three or more...
He’s back. This month, over 1,200 days after his 27th test century, Virat Kohli scored his 28th against Australia at Ahmedabad. A comeback long awaited, Virat looked every bit the player that, for so long, had world cricket at his feet as he strolled to 186 off 364 balls. By no means a flashy knock, Virat’s marathon innings was mostly devoid of the crisp drives and powerful pulls that, for so long, were his calling card. Instead, he churned out the singles and ignored any good balls. An...
There’s not a lot happening at the moment as we wait for the start of the county season. In the meantime, we’re going to bring you a couple of pieces discussing the big names in the game. Today, Sulaiman talks about one of his favourite players, AB de Villiers. And tomorrow, Will has something for you on Virat Kohli and his long-overdue return to form. With the Indian Premier League due to commence in the near future, I thought it fit to write about one of the finest cricketers we...
Today, Jack Surtees dives deep into the numbers to settle an age-old pub debate. Feel free to express your thoughts in the comments section and suggest any other statistical angles that might be interesting… It’s the eternal debate. One defined by contentious, subjective, impossible-to-answer issues such as cod vs haddock, ketchup vs gravy and the correct term for the little chunks of batter that fall off a fried fish – ‘batter bits’, ‘scraps’ or something...
When Rehan Ahmed was selected for the 3rd test against Pakistan in December, he became England’s youngest ever Test cricketer. At 18 years and 126 days, he beat the record set by Brian Close in 1949. It’s difficult to imagine any sporting record lasting for 73 years, but shows how cautious England have been in blooding youngsters. Test nations on the Indian subcontinent regularly cap teenagers. Ahmed took 5-50, the youngest test debutant to achieve a five wicket haul. It strengthens the adage...
