England and Australia achieved something very rare at The Kia Oval on Sunday. An Ashes series was drawn two-all for only the second time since … Read More
Joy for Paine as Root Licks His Wounds
This has been the best Ashes series for some time, probably since 2009. In 2015 England won 3-2, which makes it sound close, but none … Read More
Abdul Qadir
The great Pakistan leg-spinner Abdul Qadir died last week. This article about him first appeared in my book, The Pakistani Masters. “Mummy, I want to … Read More
The Legend of Headingley – 2019
It’s not supposed to happen. You don’t win Test matches after being bowled out for 67, at least not in the twenty first (or twentieth) … Read More
The Apotheosis of Steven Smith
Whatever happens in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston – England are slightly ahead on points, as it were, as I write this before the … Read More
Time Machine Cricket
Come on everyone! It’s England v Ireland at Lord’s! And we’re going back to the nineteenth century! It really did seem like that in this … Read More
Someone Had To Lose
That’s the rule. Even England, the side all neutrals wanted to lose (after the elimination of India) can’t be blamed for that. Not so long … Read More
Roundheads and Cavaliers
The two semi-finals of the 2019 men’s Cricket World Cup could hardly have been more different from one another. Yet both games contained elements that … Read More
Six Down, Three to Go
The so-called group stage of the 2019 men’s Cricket World Cup has been an unqualified success. Group stage seems odd nomenclature because of course there … Read More
Malinga Rolls Back the Years as Sri Lanka Inflict Shock Win on England at Headingley
Many spectators in a capacity crowd at Headingley must have been disappointed by the result of the toss; Sri Lanka won the toss and will … Read More
Williamson Seals Proteas’ Fate in Thriller at Edgbaston
The 2019 Men’s Cricket World Cup finally got what it needed, a genuinely exciting match which went down to the wire. In hitting the third … Read More
Aussie Muscle Too Much for Flimsy Sri Lanka
For a while, on a cool, overcast but, mercifully, largely dry day, before a near capacity crowd at the Kia Oval, it seemed that Sri … Read More