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
THE ASHES ARE BACK! Australia go into this series overwhelming favourites after winning the last series convincingly by a 5-0 margin. However the English are demonstrating significant signs of improvement after a 1-1 test series and 3-2 ODI series against New Zealand. Mix in the home ground advantage of the English against the confidence and form of … More The Boldest of the Bold – 2015 Ashes Predictions
England begin their one-day series against New Zealand on Tuesday in the first of a five-match series. It will be England’s second ODI match and first ODI series since the Cricket World Cup and England have selected an exciting 14 man one-day squad comprising of younger players with an eye to the future. It is … More #ENGvNZ ODI series: an Englishman’s view
While the KP drama of will he or won’t he be picked rolled on, many judged that while a player of his abilities should slide straight into a side that just drew a Test series against a tame Windies, and had been knocked out embarrassingly early in the World Cup. The argument against was simply, … More Steven Davies: a genuine candidate
Sports coaches have possibly the most fragile jobs in the world. In all sports, but particularly football and cricket, coaches are the first to have their head on the chopping block after a defeat. Even in the quiet fields of County Cricket, the job of a coach is tenuous at best. Most survive one cycle, … More Building the County Champions: The Mick Newell interview
‘Hot NZ arrive to catch England cold’, reads the ESPNCricinfo headline. Following New Zealand’s recent run of form – World Cup runners up, series wins against the West Indies, Sri Lanka, India, a drawn Test series against Pakistan – the team appears to be shaping nicely to push themselves further up the Test rankings. And … More It’s still Lord’s in May
Part one of Andrew Hall’s interview can be found here, discussing his international career. Part two concentrates on County cricket. Case C-438/00. Held in the fifth chamber of the European Court of Justice, the case was between Deutscher Handballbund eV and Maroš Kolpak. None of that will have made much sense – apart from that … More Andrew Hall: From Cronje to Kolpak (part two)
Following the debacle in the last Ashes series, England needed changes in the Test side, particularly in the batting department. They certainly made some changes, both in bringing youth in and also altering the batting order to find the right balance. Despite certain amounts of criticism levelled at the selectors regarding one man in particular, … More England’s Test batting: the future is bright
In 2014, the County Championship was a season plagued by Yorkshire. With Lyth and Lees at the top of the order, Williamson, Bairstow, Ballance, Rashid, Gale, Leaning, Pyrah, Finch, Root and Hodd vying for middle order spots when available, and with Rashid, Plunkett, Brooks, Sidebottom, Patterson and Bresnan completing the bowling tasks, it was one … More Five to watch: County Championship 2015.
When New Zealand play England in a two-Test series in May, England will head in as firm favourites. Despite New Zealand’s recent performances in the World Cup (contrasted against England’s woes), a May pitch at Lord’s is very different to a flat drop-in at the Caketin. And I’m sure we all remember what happened last … More Leader of the Opposition
Mind The Windows 