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
The Lord’s Test
There it is, in the diary: Thursday 25 June, Lord’s. I had two tickets for each of the first four days of the Test against … Read More
April is the Cruellest Month
Whatever your interpretation of T S Elliot’s famous line, April is a month I normally look forward to. The 2020 edition of Wisden – the 157th – … Read More
Catch Me if You Can
Records are made to be broken. That is certainly true of sport. In some ways it is almost the point of sport. Feats that appear … Read More
It’s That Mankad Again
“So disappointed in him (sic) as a person…”. “Why do such a disgraceful and low act?” “This (sic) embarrassing and disgraceful act…” What are we … Read More