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
Be Careful What You Wish For
There is almost universal regret that the West Indies captain, Jason Holder, will not be playing in the third Test against England in St Lucia. … Read More
2018 – A Year to Savour and to Regret
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Well, let’s not exaggerate. But there was some genuinely enthralling and entertaining Test … Read More
Cricket in the Eighties
Remember the 1980s? Reagan, Thatcher and Gorbachev, the Berlin Wall, the Falklands, the Pope and his Popemobile, the assassinations of Indira Gandhi and John Lennon, … Read More