• Joy for Paine as Root Licks His Wounds

    The Ashes

    This has been the best Ashes series for some time, probably since 2009. In 2015 England won 3-2, which makes…

    The finest Ashes in a decade, finely poised
  • Abdul Qadir

    Some Cricketers

    The great Pakistan leg-spinner Abdul Qadir died last week. This article about him first appeared in my book, The Pakistani…

    Pakistan's great leg-spinner, fondly remembered
  • The Legend of Headingley – 2019

    The Ashes

    It’s not supposed to happen. You don’t win Test matches after being bowled out for 67, at least not in…

    You don't win from there - except this once
  • The Apotheosis of Steven Smith

    Some Cricketers

    Whatever happens in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston - England are slightly ahead on points, as it were, as…

    A run-machine reborn on the Ashes stage
  • Time Machine Cricket

    Some Cricket Matches

    Come on everyone! It’s England v Ireland at Lord’s! And we’re going back to the nineteenth century!It really did seem…

    England v Ireland, and a step into the past
  • Someone Had To Lose

    Cricket World Cup

    That’s the rule. Even England, the side all neutrals wanted to lose (after the elimination of India) can’t be blamed…

    A final too cruel to have a loser
  • Roundheads and Cavaliers

    Cricket World Cup

    The two semi-finals of the 2019 men’s Cricket World Cup could hardly have been more different from one another. Yet…

    Two semi-finals, two contrasting cricketing souls
  • Six Down, Three to Go

    Cricket World Cup

    The so-called group stage of the 2019 men’s Cricket World Cup has been an unqualified success. Group stage seems odd…

    A group stage that has delivered handsomely
  • Jockeying for Position

    Cricket World Cup

    Twelve days, and fifteen matches, including the washout at the Ageas Bowl today (Monday 10 June) seems a good time…

    Twelve days in, the contenders take shape