Australia opener’s century and mad axeman’s charge lit up a fine game but the World Cup has not been designed to thrillThe rain was interrupted by a cricket match on Wednesday, rather a good one actually, and played right through without the umpires even having to look heavenwards.Nonetheless, painterly clouds hung constantly over the Quantock Hills and a chill blew off them, suggesting this bout of traditional English summer weather is not going far away soon. I was grateful for the Quantocks, and the clouds. Otherwise I might have had no idea I was in Taunton. Related: Mitchell Starc sinks Pakistan’s pursuit of Australia after David Warner century Related: Michael Holding responds to ICC ‘censorship’ after criticising umpires Continue reading...
TikTok, Helo, YouTube and the rest – like highlights after midnight – cannot make up for a widespread inability to watch the games unfoldRepeat a word often enough and it seems to lose all meaning. It’s called semantic satiation, and it’s a phenomenon you will already be aware of if you have spent much time talking to toddlers or sports marketing executives. “Legacy” went some time in the last decade, buzzworded to death after London 2012, and I suspect we’re about to lose “engage” and its variations, too. The England and Wales Cricket Board says it has “engaged” 1 million children in this World Cup, the International Cricket Council has set up fan zones to “engage” with families, partnered with...
Opener smashes 153 runs to set the tone for the World Cup hosts and suggest to the selectors that he could do something similar at the other end of the summerThe first of the sixes flew far over cow corner, across what must be the longest boundary in English cricket. The bowler, Mehedi Hasan Miraz spun on his heel to watch it go. He stared after it as if he had spotted some distant comet, or perhaps a shower of them, since the second six went in a similar direction just a few seconds later, a little shorter and a little straighter this one, over long-on, and then the third followed right after, wider this time, nearer midwicket. It was...
Jofra Archer tears into Bangladesh openers – notably with a fierce delivery that trims the off-bail of Soumya SarkarIt was a good day to hang up the washing in Cardiff. After 48 hours of miserable weather in the Welsh capital the sun was finally out, while a strong wind blew in from south-west that would have your smalls dry in no time.At Sophia Gardens – or the Cardiff Wales Stadium as it is being called during this World Cup – these conditions played very much in the favour of those charging in from the Cathedral Road End, most notably England’s shiny new toy, Jofra Archer. Related: England beat Bangladesh by 106 runs at Cricket World Cup – live! Continue reading...
People supporting cricket is the important thing and when they come to World Cup games it is our job to entertain themWe let ourselves down against Pakistan. As Eoin Morgan told us after the match, we cannot allow standards to slip in the field because it can make the difference. And it really did. Mistakes can happen. Sometimes they can build up over the course of an innings and put people even more on edge, which makes it snowball further.But in this instance I don’t believe that was the case. It was just a general sloppiness and pretty frustrating after we put in one of our best showings against South Africa. Related: England are hosts but this Cricket World Cup...