Whatever one’s views on Britain’s honours system, nobody is going to begrudge the award of an MBE to the former Yorkshire and England cricketer Darren … Read More
A Victorian Legend: Dean Jones, 1961-2020
The cricket world was shocked to learn of the sudden death of the former Australian batsman Dean Jones at the age of 59. He suffered … Read More
One-County Man
The former England batsman Ian Bell has announced his retirement from first-class cricket at the end of this slightly unreal 2020 season; (not that we … Read More
Why Manchester Mattered
What should we make of the first (unsponsored) Test between England and Pakistan at Old Trafford? Of course the first thing to note is that, … Read More
England v Pakistan – a Magical Mystery Tour
The relationship between England and Pakistan as cricketing nations has always been “interesting”. Things started to go wrong almost as soon as Pakistan achieved Test … Read More
When the Numbers Don’t Matter
Is Sam Curran in your best England Test eleven? Well all right, twelve? Er, thirteen? Selection is a strange business but few cricketers demonstrate its … Read More
The Triple Effervescence
With the passing of Sir Everton Weekes in early July, cricket lost the last survivor of perhaps its greatest and most iconic of all batting … 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
Opening Up
Opening batsmen are different; there are no two ways about it. It is obvious why they are different. Opening the batting presents very particular challenges. … Read More
Many a Slip
This is not a history of close fielding; that will have to come later. This is more in the nature of an apology. I always … Read More
The Smack of Firm Government
A number of friends – some not even cricketing friends really – alerted me to the passing, a couple of weeks ago, of the former … Read More
Here Comes the Sun
We’re now in mid-May, and, if all was right in the world, the West Indians ought to be arriving in England for their three-Test tour. … Read More