The Full Toss Cricket Blog
Welcome to TFT, the irreverent cricket blog with a zero percent bounce rate. We’ll be here throughout the year to debate, moan, and occasionally rejoice about the England cricket team. If something’s bothering you, whether it’s selection, governance, or the cost of a pint, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You don’t need to be a journalist or copywriter, just a fan with something to say. Email james@thefulltoss.com for more info.
Chris Silverwood: The Wrong Choice For The Wrong Reasons
Chris Silverwood is a promising young cricket coach. He may well go on to be a very good cricket coach (like Gary Kirsten or Graham Ford already are). However, nobody knows at this stage. He has only been the head coach of a professional cricket team for two years before now. Appointing him is therefore a massive and unnecessary gamble. [...]
England Head Coach Search Gets Political
So much for Gary Kirsten's imminent appointment as England head coach. It seemed to be an open goal. But when the ECB is your main striker, and they've got a conversion rate worse than Emile Heskey, we probably shouldn't be surprised that they're taking a touch too many. The expression 'couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo' immediately springs [...]
Those Hundred Uniforms: Say Hula To Horror
Poor Chris Woakes and Jason Roy. You've got to jump through all kinds of 'hoops' to earn your £125,000 from The Hundred these days. And then there's the poorest sod of them all, Jofra Archer. Have you got any idea how embarrassing it is for an England cricketer to wear a 'Pom Bears' uniform? Well, I suppose the Aussies would [...]
I Oppose The Hundred
Today we have a protest poem by Mojo Wellington. You can read it below but I strongly recommend listening to the audio version here instead. He articulates what many of us feel about The Hundred superbly. I Oppose The Hundred For the simple fact Professional cricket doesn’t need another shortened format With T20 and one-day already in [...]
Rohit Sharma: Is This The Turning Point?
When Jason Roy was controversially picked to open in the Ashes opinion was split into two camps. The first camp argued that it was a terrible idea and should never happen. The second camp argued it was a terrible idea but the least terrible option England had at the time. Basically, nobody thought Roy’s prospects were terribly good. However, much [...]
Kirsten In, Flower Out?
Things just got interesting folks. Although nothing has been confirmed yet, many news outlets are reporting that Gary Kirsten, one of the best cricket coaches in the world, is meeting with Ashley Giles at Lord's today. And somehow I don't think they're meeting to discuss the latest episode of Columbo. This is really exciting news. It's like finding out that [...]
Introducing The Hundred Overseas Players
I have a confession to make. The original title of this post was Introducing The Hundred Mercenaries rather than Introducing The Hundred Overseas Players. I decided the former was unfair. The definition of mercenary is 'one who is primarily concerned with making money at the expense of ethics' and I don't think that's quite true. Professional sportsmen have a short [...]
Fortunate Summer
The county championship season might have finished with a damp squib, but the metaphorical sun shone brightly on English cricket in the summer of 2019. It was an important year - probably the most important year for decades – and it might have finished in disaster had events unfolded differently. Fortunately, however, on balance it was a successful six months. [...]
Well Batted, Marcus Trescothick
It wasn't quite the fairytale that Marcus Trescothick had envisaged. Rained ruined the county championship finale at Taunton and cruelly denied Somerset the chance to win their first ever county championship title. They had to accept second place, for the sixth time this century, as Essex walked away with their second title in three years. Somerset have been waiting one [...]
5 Cricketers We Love To Hate
"Rise above it". "It's only a game". "Don't be a bad loser". "He's a nice guy off the field". Sorry I'm having none of it. Why be all sympathetic, magnanimous, and empathetic when a good rant is far crueller? It's time to let rip folks. It's time to stop suppressing that anger and resentment that's been building inside us for [...]
The TFT Interviews
How To Save Cricket – Our Interview With Jarrod Kimber
You've seen him on Cricinfo's Polite Enquiries. You're about to see him in Death of a Gentleman. Now you can hear Jarrod Kimber's passionate and pertinent views on the future of cricket here on The Full Toss. The only drawback: you'll have to suffer my vapid tones at the same time. Sorry about that. [...]
The Full Toss talks to Simon Jones
Last week I had the pleasure of talking to Ashes favourite Simon Jones. I picked his brains about that famous series in 2005, his new book The Test and England's chances against Australia this summer. We also asked him for his thoughts on Kevin Pietersen, who has remained a good friend of Simon's since that [...]
Our Jonathan Agnew Interview
Here's our interview with BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew - the backstory for which is here. It was a really interesting conversation, and we're very grateful to Aggers for finding the time to speak to us and share his thoughts. He discusses the recent criticism of the cricket media over [...]
The Full Toss Meets Andrew Flintoff
When Shell wanted an ambassador to help promote their new FuelSave range, Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff was the natural choice. There’s always been a connection between cricket, automobiles and people nicknamed Fred: The Flintstones' car looks exactly like a cricket pitch roller. Fortunately, today’s automobiles are rather more comfortable than the ‘Flintmobile’. Petrol technology is [...]
