A very thought-provoking article by Simon Hughes in today’s Daily Telegraph. He argues that England’s forensic coaching techniques and vigorous attention to detail are propelling our side to the top of the world rankings. As he points out, our test record since February 2009 is P20 W10 D8 L2. But six of those wins were against weak Bangladeshi and West Indian opposition. The mere two defeats is perhaps a more telling statistic. Hughes flags up two interesting talking points. First...
Is Anderson really king of the swingers, or is he still Jimmy (the) Riddle?
Eat your heart out Terry Alderman. And as for you, Ben Hilfenhaus, kindly move over. There’s a new swinger in town. Well, to be totally accurate, James Anderson is hardly new. He’s now 28 years old and he’s played 49 test matches. But people outside of Lancashire (and the Anderson family) are finally beginning to call Jimmy ‘the best swing bowler in the world’. Even Shane Warne has recently admitted as much. But is the title ‘best swing bowler in the world’ an accolade that Jimmy Anderson would...
The elephant in the room
Just one question springs to mind after the first day’s play at Trent Bridge: should we drop Kevin Pietersen?
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 also improving – although Shell still have some way to go before they match the invisible elixir...
Government stalls on free-to-air decision
Sports minister Hugh Robertson today announced that the decision on whether to re-list home Ashes tests for free-to-air TV will be deferred to 2013. The government’s official rationale is a preference to wait until the digital TV switchover is complete in 2012. Unless of course they’ve chosen to fudge a politically fraught decision which either way will anger someone – the public, or the ECB. 2013 is itself a home Ashes year – and how today’s news will affect that...
Why the English love Warney
He terrorised us for years. He pushed the laws of the game to the limit (and sometimes overstepped the mark). He was suspended for using a banned diuretic. He gave information to a dodgy Indian bookmaker – a kind of cricketing ‘cash for questions’ scandal – and he badgered match officials into giving dodgy decisions in a way that Christiano Ronaldo would have been proud. Yet, amazingly, the English public absolutely love Shane Warne! The man can do no wrong. It’s like a...
