As the global football and rugby union triumphs of 1966 and 2003, and now Lord’s last year show, time is not always kindOutside, it is cinereous and damp; February creeps in without an ode to anything, least of all joy. But somewhere, surely, the Cricket World Cup final is being replayed. On Tuesday England men’s cricket team play their first ODI since that magical Sunday last July when the bubbles flowed and the sun cranked up and the burnt-orange bricks of the Lord’s pavilion shouted “England” – though in a carefully non-xenophobic way.When a tied champagne super over gave England victory by dint of more boundaries, when administrators and broadcasters saw sense by showing the game on terrestrial television and...
A scrapbook of cricket memories would include the miracle of Headingley and much, much moreThere has been some suggestion, when analysing the individual performances at the Oval Test, that certain players are looking tired from their long summer of international cricket. It is easy to empathise with them – it’s been an epic one for all of us. Some of England’s players will be rested during the T20 series in New Zealand and it is tempting to follow their lead. When else are we supposed to take stock of all we’ve seen? Related: There have been 2,358 Tests since 1877 and this was the greatest of them all | Matthew Engel Continue reading...
The ECB trumpeted this summer as a feast of cricket for England but dips in form after World Cup success are commonWhen Eoin Morgan said at the end of the World Cup group stage, during a carnival of cricket that would eventually carry his team to glory, that the experience was proving so intense that “I can’t wait to get away from a cricket field”, there will have been many sportsmen who understood precisely what he was feeling. While fans enjoy the remorseless drama of these great competitions, those actually playing them find they exact a psychological and emotional toll.In October 2018, with many of the players who starred in the World Cup in Russia that summer disappointing in the...
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s tweet was frustrating because we want sport to be pure, as it was at Lord’s in a game the Kiwis didn’t deserve to lose“I’m not sure anyone at the moment has a steady heart … Seven weeks of cricket, 48 games, one ball. Here’s Boult, they’re going to push, are we in for a super over? They’ve got to go quick, they’ve got to go quick. OUT! I’m sure he’s OUT! We’re going for a super over!”The ICC montage of the last moments of the Cricket World Cup final has almost four million views – which isn’t that impressive considering three million of them are mine. Ian Smith’s commentary, in that gravelly Kiwi drawl, is spine tingling to...
We celebrate the moments that made the 2019 tournament, from Cottrell’s salute to New Zealand’s fielding and that drama Related: Cricket World Cup 2019: Guardian writers pick their highs and lows Related: Diversity is one of our strengths and it helped us win the World Cup | Moeen Ali Continue reading...