There could be no doubt as to which was the outstanding men’s international cricket team in the calendar year 2022. England won nine Tests out … Read More
Lord’s or The Oval: Must One Choose ?
One is north of the river, the other south. For some, that is all that needs to be said. London, The Great Wen, is a … Read More
Men’s International Cricket in the 1990s: A Golden Age?
Like everything else, cricket has changed immeasurably in the last forty years. The international game has probably changed more than most sports. The development of … Read More
The Year of Living Dangerously: International Cricket in 2021
For a second year in succession, international cricket had a challenging time. It didn’t win any matches or series. It didn’t come anywhere in the … Read More
The Honourable Member: Tim Paine, and a Story for Our Times
With English cricket still reeling from the shame and embarrassment of the Azeem Rafiq saga, and with actual cricket not being a possibility because of … Read More
Today Yorkshire: Tomorrow…?
In all of English cricket’s long history, there have been few more chilling, more harrowing, days than 16 November 2021. At the same time it … Read More
Pragmatism or Betrayal? The West and Pakistan
It is impossible for a genuine cricket follower to feel anything other than sadness and dismay at the sudden cancellation of first New Zealand’s and … Read More
A Turning Point
It looks as though The Hundred might actually work. I haven’t actually watched any of it myself, for the various reasons associated with being in … Read More
Watching Paint Dry
Is cricket too boring? It may seem a strange question to ask but it isn’t really. Writing this on the afternoon of Sunday 11 July … Read More
Education, Education, Education
It’s not difficult to see why New Zealand are in the World Test Championship (WTC) final and England aren’t, on the evidence of the two-match … Read More
Cricket in the Time of COVID: the IPL and The Hundred
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) must have been dreaming that people would come to compare its controversial new gamble, The Hundred, with the … Read More
Fever Pitch
My wife, Anita, has a theory about life during the wretched pandemic, which has now been with us for roughly a year. Her view is … Read More