And there was me, all smug, thinking that I could put my computer to one side and enjoy the bank holiday without writing any copy. And then Root suddenly decides to resign. Thanks for that, Joe. To be honest, though, I guess we should have seen this one coming. Root’s position, in hindsight, was probably untenable. We’ve won, what, about one of the last seventeen Tests? That’s a pitiful record really. Joe was probably too embarrassed to carry on. The big question, of course, is how much...
England’s Test match cricket team have been finding it difficult to pull up trees of late. One particular Root, that of the Joe variety, continues to aid rather than hinder the collective cause, but even he’s not immune to criticism anymore. If Joe was merely at batsman, then he’d probably be the only man in the current XI that enjoys universal approval. He is, after all, fourth in the ICC’s Test batting rankings and the only specialist batsman in the side that the opposition actually...
Walter Livsey (1893-1978) was one of the greatest wicket keepers of the 1920s. However, he never played for England. His career was halted by war, blocked by Herbert Strudwick, frustrated by injury, and ultimately curtailed by illness. In 320 first-class matches, Livsey claimed 648 dismissals. And incredibly, in this ‘standing back’ age, 266 of them were stumpings. Strudwick by comparison effected 258 stumpings, but he played twice as many first-class games as Livsey. Exceptional promise Born...
Today Joe Ross previews Sussex’s season after a turbulent winter. Drop us a line to james@thefulltoss.com if you’d like to submit a similar piece for your own county. Cheers. “This is absolutely devastating for a club hanging on the edge right now. How was this allowed to happen? So sad for a club that not long ago was one of the best in the country”. Those were the words of Sussex legend Matt Prior in August 2021 following the news that Phil Salt and Chris Jordan would be leaving...
Hear that horrible grinding noise in the background? It’s the sound of England supporters collectively gnashing their teeth as we digest yet another predictable red ball debacle in the Caribbean. We all warned it would happen when the ECB started to neglect the county championship a few years ago. And here we are with our worst Test team in living memory. However, it’s not all bad news. It’s not like we’ve suddenly become inept at cricket per se. In fact, England’s white ball cricket is...
The statistics make for grim reading. One win in the last seventeen Test matches, none in the last nine and five series defeats in a row. This is now surely the lowest depths English cricket has ever sunk to and, by conclusion, we must now admit we are witnessing the worst England team of all time. The side which reached the bottom of the world rankings in 1999 contained three world class batters in Mike Atherton, Nasser Hussain and Alec Stewart and arguably a fourth in Graham Thorpe. It also...
