The Full Toss
Welcome to TFT, one of the UK’s longest serving cricket blogs. 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 professional writer or copywriter, just a fan with something to say. Email james@thefulltoss.com for more info. Cheers.
The Lord’s Test – Day 1
Day 1 I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry. So I'll do neither. I'll rant instead. What a horribly lacklustre and lamentable start to the summer by England. Our batting was quite frankly pathetic. It was a continuation of the winter's woeful succession of train wrecks. There were far too many poor shots and a complete inability to knuckle [...]
1982: The Summer Of The All-Rounder
The first home test of 2018 begins today when England face Pakistan at Lord's; therefore we're going to bring you a touch of nostalgia to put you in the mood for some good old fashioned test cricket. New guest writer Haroon Khalid, who is a bit of a fearsome fast bowler himself, has penned the following look back at the [...]
Strauss Steps Away But Leaves Everything In A Muddle
First let me begin on a sympathetic note. When I heard the news that Andrew Strauss would be stepping away from the ECB for a while to look after his wife my heart sank. It must be a horrible time for him and his family. I hope this seemingly unscheduled break doesn't mean that the prognosis has worsened. I really [...]
The May Marriage
Today we have an article from Paul Potter, who is one of our Australian readers. He's been following our recent discussions about the county championship with interest and has a rather interesting take on things. He certainly offers food for thought and, quite frankly, it's good to see that people from other countries have faith in our domestic product. More [...]
Best County Championship Bowler Betting Wide Open
© ForwardDefensive The County Championship is getting into full swing after a wet start to spring and defending champions Essex have already made a victorious opening to their defence of the Division One title. That side containing former England captain Alastair Cook are 100/30 favourites to retain their crown ahead of 5/1 chances Surrey and Yorkshire in the [...]
A View From Malahide
Back in February, Kevin Galvin wrote about Irish cricket as his team built up to their test debut against Pakistan. Today he's back, fresh from helping Cricket Ireland with their media duties, to tell us how it all went down at Malahide. One sensed, when Kevin O’Brien raised his bat to acknowledge the crowd after an historic century, that Ireland’s [...]
Buttler’s Test Recall: Championship Kicked In The Crotch Again
Oh dear. I can already tell that Ed Smith and I are not going to get along. The selection of Jos Buttler to play as a specialist batsman at No.7 is indefensible if you believe in the county championship. And it's also indefensible according to Smith's own evidence-based methodology. First of all it's necessary to separate Jos Buttler the T20 [...]
The Monday Muffin
Morning all. I hope you had a good weekend. Mine was a bit of a blur really. I made the annual mistake of watching Eurovision, drinking far too much, and then getting angry when our song finished third from bottom. But before I could say "sod the lot of them" I realised that other countries actually take this competition seriously [...]
Help Us Daryl, You’re Our Only Hope
For those of us who have loved and cherished county cricket all our lives, the ECB's new Hundred proposal (or Harrison's Harebrained Hundred as I like to call it) is probably our darkest hour. We need help to stop this monstrosity that takes the money we've all invested in the game - through ticket purchases and Sky subscriptions - and [...]
Fun In The Sun: Championship Roundup
Afternoon all. I hope you enjoyed the bank holiday. There was sun, lots of it, and that meant lots of cricket too. What a nice change from last week’s deluges. The county championship was in full flow, with results aplenty, and lots of eye-catching performances. Indeed, a few England hopefuls really put down a marker over the extended weekend. So [...]
The TFT Interviews
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 [...]