England’s game-changing play 70 years ago was nothing like Bazball, but it regained the Ashes in a summer of royal pompAre you excited for the biggest royal event since the last one? Have you downloaded your official quiche recipe and your print-at-home bunting? The Spin may not be about to stand in the street shouting oaths of allegiance to a new king, but that’s because The Spin was taught not to stand in the street swearing at anyone. And be you a coronation watcher or dodger, it’s impossible to ignore the prime cricketing omens embedded in this weekend’s celebrations.The last summer a monarch was crowned, England won back the Ashes by playing an entirely new brand of cricket. Admittedly, the...
The three games have been shoehorned in to make a few extra dollars and is unlikely to be instructive ahead of the World CupAfterthoughts don’t get much less thought than this. Australia’s Test series in India has come to an end after six weeks of scrutiny and emotion, probably leaving the visitors feeling a little satisfaction at some of the gains and a lot more frustration at the shortfalls that cost them a chance to win it. Now players have to switch focus immediately to one-day cricket. Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head and Mitchell Starc are the Test players staying on, with David Warner and Ashton Agar returning from a brief spell at home after...
For years he churned out hundreds like a machine, then it stopped. Sunday offered the best environment to start againBetween March 2011 and and March 2012, the people waited for Sachin Tendulkar. With 99 international centuries, he was on the verge of something nobody else had ever considered achieving. Cricket stats are usually for a niche set of people, but this one grew as time went on. It sprouted tendrils that curled past the nuffies before lacing their way through broader society. For 33 international innings, more and more people watched each time as Tendulkar walked out to bat and returned without a ton. It almost drove them mad.That wait was a year and four days. Virat Kohli’s version dwarfs...
When Australia lost their first wicket to the second ball of the day, things looked grim. Then Travis Head slammed the doorWhen you read back over the scorecard in years to come, it will look easy. A run chase of 76 is a formality. Done in little more than an hour, purring along at 4.14 runs per over? Standard. Except it wasn’t. Not when the first ball of the third morning exploded in a dust cloud like a Dakar rally jeep jumping a dune. Not when Ravichandran Ashwin dialled back the turn on the next delivery, just enough of it to flick the bat so softly that even Usman Khawaja didn’t know he was out.For the next 10 overs, Ashwin...
Spinner has gradually become a formidable operator in Asia, where he has more Test wickets than any other visiting playerIn Bengaluru in 2017, Nathan Lyon took eight for 50; his best figures in a Test innings. He dismissed India’s key players at their peaks: Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane. He toiled for more than 22 overs, and later a further 33. He put his teammates into a dominant position with a modest target to chase. Then he watched them lose.In Indore in 2023, Nathan Lyon took eight wickets for the second time. After a long day of off-spin bowling, the figures were a similar eight for 64. This time he took them in the third innings of the match,...