England all out 231

Bit like a collective IQ score for this shambles. What were those run-outs about. Is this worth paying £83 to watch at the Oval next week? I think we all know the answer

Moving ball has England all at sea

Well, there’s nothing like the collective tomfoolery of what passes for an England top and middle order these days to crowbar a reluctant blogger back to his computer. Should Paul Collingwood go back to county cricket to try to regain some form? Certainly. But should not Andrew Strauss. Should not Michael Vaughan, should not Alastair [...]

Quiz question of the day (in the absence of anything else)

Been a bit busy of late, so not much time to blog, but just got a moment to slip in and offer up a new quiz question of the day: What links the Test match grounds of Carisbrook, Dunedin, and Old Trafford, Manchester?

Suck it and see…

Twelfth Man is on the ball. William Schrafft was the man who first marketed jelly beans to Union soldiers in the American Civil War.

Quiz question of the day (a hard one with a soft centre)

What connects William Schrafft of Boston and the 2007 Test series between England and India? The most detailed answer (within reason) wins!

For f***’s sake match referee, are you blind?

What, exactly, does a match referee do? I ask because there seems to have been no suggestion that the acts of AB de Villiers – and, perhaps, Michael Vaughan – should be put before him for consideration.
I refer of course to the thorny issue of the cleanliness of catches.
De Villiers hardly needs a hearing – [...]

Smug England get their due reward

I don’t hold out much hope of England doing a South Africa and lasting more than two days for the loss of only a handful of wickets, but no doubt I’ll be there in front of the box again today hoping against hope that I’m being unduly pessimistic – and then looking for a small, [...]

Dear Mr Miller – are you having a laugh?

Question to the England selectors. What would have been wrong with this team?
1 Strauss
2 Cook
3 Vaughan
4 Pietersen
5 Bell
6 Collingwood
7 Flintoff
8 Ambrose
9 Broad
10 Panesar
11 Anderson

There’s cheating and then there’s…..AB de Villiers

Well, that was some morning of Test cricket, wasn’t it: an awful umpiring decision – not to mention the no-balls that were missed by Mr Bowden – a great ball to dismiss Vaughanie and a controversial catch that wasn’t.
I must admit when Strauss edged Morkel, my immediate reaction was that the ball did not have [...]

Miller’s future should be riding on bizarre selection

Bizarre! That’s the only thing you can say about Darren Pattinson’s selection for the second Test this morning. His inclusion in the initial 30-man squad for the Champions Trophy lifted my eyebrows heaven-ward a few weeks ago, but this has to be the biggest kick in the teeth for some hardworking fast medium bowlers in [...]