I try to stonewall, bowl leg spin, field in close and sledge relentlessly, but in reality I'm usually out injured. Now retired and trying to coach. Just as rubbish with a pen as with a bat.
[Read part one here] “You can’t win singlehandedly…” St John’s Wood, postcode NW8. Once part of a Royal Forest, now the most expensive rental area in London. In the 692 years since ownership of the woodland passed to the Knights Hospitaller, it has gone from forest fragment to the fifth highest house prices in London. … More Geoff Humpage: Unwavering Warwickshire (part 2)
“I was, naturally, nervous – that whole process [of getting to First Class cricket] had taken from when I went to South Melbourne as a 17 year old in 1972, until 1978, and I can still remember – I got hit on the pads first ball. The loudest appeal you’ve ever heard. It was one … More Mick Taylor, an unrebellious rebel
The name Richard Petrie isn’t one that sits amongst the upper echelons of New Zealand cricketing folklore. The bowling all-rounder who first took off with Canterbury, and later became a senior figure at Wellington, played just 12 ODIs – and while his stats weren’t poor, they equally didn’t lend themselves to greatness. For those who … More Richard Petrie; ‘you win some, you lose some’
3-2 sounds unconvincing; but the scoreline deceives. Apart from the day one at Lord’s, England have been at worst solid, and at their peak brilliant. A 405 run defeat was, incongruously, but a blip on the radar: they out-gutsed the Aussies at Cardiff, and then watched self-capitulations at both Edgbaston and Trent Bridge. At the … More Let’s Talk About Adam
“That’s probably the best one.” Ray Illingworth, a 51 year old veteran-to-end-all-veterans, was trundling in to bowl his winding off-spin. Despite having supposedly retired several years earlier, and despite having been a First Class cricketer for over three decades, Illingworth’s performances in 1983 were more than commendable. Leading a Yorkshire side ruptured by internal schisms, … More Geoff Humpage: Unwavering Warwickshire (part 1)
The image is a compelling one: imagine the scene, Wellington’s Basin Reserve. It’s the final day of the State Championship for 2005-06. The match is, surely, destined for a draw. Not thanks to a banal set of innings culminating in an absolute absence of fruit-bearing, but instead courtesy of the fresh brace of black clouds … More Bevan Griggs: determination and dedication make the Stag
Recently, I wrote a piece entitled ‘The Cowan’, about the opening batsmen since 2010 most capable of facing up to ball after ball. It was simply an account of their ability to face balls, not score runs, and measured Kaushal Silva and Alastair Cook as the numbers one-and-two. Given England’s inability to find a replacement … More The English Cowan
NOTE: All stats as at 0900NZT, 03-08-2015 This inspiration for this piece came from a fellow Mind the Windows! writer, Dan McGrath. His suggestion was to look at the primary task of opening batsmen – that is, seeing the shine off the ball. While those with the characteristics of David Warner or Virender Sehwag have … More The Cowan
Clive Edward Butler RICE (23 July 1949 – 28 July 2015) was the face of South Africa’s re-entry to international cricket. Tragically, he was the first face of a board with whom he could never reconcile. Rice never truly accepted the actions of the ‘post-isolation’ South African board, grounded as they were in ideas of … More Obituary: Clive Rice
CLR James saw cricket, to so many simply a sport and merely a game, as a manifestation of, and metaphor for, life itself. If that is the case, cricketers (and, indeed, spectators) are themselves a depiction of society. It’s through speaking to them, understanding them, and hearing them breathe life into the game that we … More Amol Muzumdar; ‘cricket is my life’
Mind The Windows 