Here’s a picture of a cricket match. It could be in Sussex, Hampshire or Dorset perhaps? Or maybe Palmerston North in New Zealand, or Tasmania? All wrong. This is High Point CC playing a...
What to do about Ian Bell? After his duck in the final innings of the Pakistan series his career test average (42.7) is the lowest it’s been since March 2010. In 13 tests in...
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/cricket/ Jimmy Anderson is the most successful England bowler ever because he is the fittest and the most precise. He has bowled more balls for England than anyone (more than 22,000) yet has only...
Mercurial country Pakistan. Despite the exile from playing tests on their own soil, the match-fixing scandals, the constant upheaval, they keep unearthing match winning bowlers. The latest are Wahab Riaz, whose blistering spell on...
If you want an example of how not to prepare to face a seriously brilliant Pakistani fast bowler, read this account of Middlesex v Pakistan at Lord’s two decades ago… (extracted from Who Wants...
Tours of ‘Pakistan’ are not what they used to be. Stories abound from previous decades of difficult road journeys in dodgy coaches – including, terrifyingly, the time the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked...
The edifice painstakingly constructed by Alastair Cook in Abu Dhabi deserved better than to be consigned to white elephant status by the absurdness of test cricket’s playing conditions. How do you explain to a...
Comparing test batsmen from different eras was always a mugs game. Style of play, playing conditions, bowling attacks have varied so hugely it is almost impossible to make a balanced judgement. But what you...
Fast bowlers put six times their body weight through their knee and ankle every time they deliver the ball. It’s a shocking fact. In my case, that was a force of almost 500kg per...
It is easy to develop misconceptions about Ibiza. Dubbed the undisputed party capital of the world, the island is often used as a byword for excess. The television documentary Ibiza Uncovered – featuring a...
