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...
England’s white ball teams now have a battery of left arm seamers, and often go in with as many as three. The sudden profusion of left arm options is, however, a fairly recent development, as until recently it was a comparative rarity for England to select a left armer in their seam attack. Perhaps the best known England left armer was JK Lever, and although he predated my time as an England fan, I do have vague memories watching him late in his career for Essex. Looking at his figures, it is a...
Since its dawn in 2003, the T20 format has taken over cricket. Last year alone, there were a whopping 536 T20 international matches, including a successful World Cup alongside an array of domestic leagues and franchises. The format has been around for a mere two decades, yet has undergone a host of tactical developments. The explosion of mystery spin is an obvious example, with loopy leggings gaining favour for their variation in the shortest format. However, the T20 game’s most prominent...
We shouldn’t let the ODI series in Bangladesh go unmentioned. Yes, it was ‘only Bangladesh’, but not everybody realises that the Tigers are rather handy in their own backyard. In fact, England are the only side to have won a bilateral ODI series in Bangladesh since 2015. And now we’ve done it twice! It’s an impressive achievement. Who were our stars in the 2-1 series win? Two familiar faces excelled with the bat. Jason Roy returned to form with 155 runs at an average of 52 (although the lion’s...
Today, James Walker looks back at the tour that created England’s most prolific pairing… England cricket fans will have enjoyed the first Test against NZ at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty and a thrilling finish at the Basin Reserve, Wellington. Am I alone in not regretting the loss too much? Seemingly, there is so much life in the England squad these days that we can stomach a loss because the boys had their swords in their hands. Besides Harry Brook’s fabulous batting...
