Here are TFT’s annual awards courtesy of Billy Crawford. Happy New Year to all… Hero of the year – Ben Stokes Has anyone in the history of cricket ever had such a transformative effect on the game as Benjamin Stokes has wrought in the last 12 months? If so, it is hard to think of one. In June, the Durham man, along with coach Brendan McCullum, took on an England team which had won 1 of its last 17 Tests and was beginning to make the shambles of the 1999s look like the glory years of...
Today Sam Tomkinson argues that bowlers should be able change the arm they ultimately deliver the ball with during their run up. Do you agree? The process of evolution is prevalent in life, and not just sport. Stand still and you are left behind. In technology, you lose the market and become obsolete. In the Serengeti, you are lunch. In sport you start to lose, and lose badly. As India found out in the T20 World Cup Semi Final, old methods become outdated and cricket moves on. Though the...
The purity of Test cricket and the five day game was once sacrosanct and untouchable. Domestic cricket had been reaping the benefits of the one day game since the early 60s, but it took almost 10 years to infiltrate the international game. The 50-over format slipped quietly into the calendar and took its formal bow when the World Cup was first staged in 1975. T20 cricket arrived on the international scene in 2005 – two years after the domestic game had embraced the quick and easy thrill...
Yes, we shouldn’t go over the top. Our media constantly builds young sportsmen up only to knock them down. But surely it’s OK to get just a little bit excited, eh? England’s win in Karachi, which secured a 3-0 series whitewash, was pleasing in so many ways. However, the performance of 18-year old Rehan Ahmed, who became the first England bowler with parents younger than me to take a five-fer in Test cricket, was by far the biggest talking point. Of course, we’ve picked young leg-spinners hoping...
Steve Smith is in red hot form. Last week, the Australian stroked a masterful 200* against the West Indies – dismantling what looked to be a promising young Windies attack to reach the milestone off 311 balls. Smith’s monster knock laid the foundation for a commanding Aussie win. Smith and co are now playing South Africa in a three match Test series. Australia will be looking to end their abysmal run of three home series defeats in a row to the Proteas. Astonishingly, they haven’t won a...
Now the dust has settled on England’s T20 World Cup win and attention has shifted to the Test series in Pakistan, we can now give some thought to the future of England’s white ball 50 and 20 over sides. This raises some interesting issues about age and cricket, and the whole thorny issue of how to evolve a side when players need to be replaced. The fact of the matter is that the bulk of our World Cup winners are now in their 30s. Inevitably this raises some questions as to whether they should...
