Having reduced Australia to 12 for three, the tourists ended up using a part-time spinner in ideal conditions for seam bowlingAccording to reports, the England team took a charter flight to Hobart. Watching them play on the first day at the Bellerive Oval it looked more like they had travelled by ancient sailing bark, and arrived, like Abel Tasman, soiled, sore, and ship-worn, half-starved after six months picking weevils out of biscuits. Battered, cut, and bruised, suffering from strains, niggles, aches and breakdowns, a loss of form, and a lack of faith. Between the 11 of them it felt like if you cherry-picked the best bits from each they could just about cobble together one fit, functioning, and happy Test...
It is possible to arrest the decline in English Test cricket, starting with bringing those overseeing it to accountChris Silverwood is taking the positives. Chris Silverwood was expecting this. Chris Silverwood has found, squinting through his Victorian eyeglass, something to build on here.Watching Silverwood’s deeply weird performance in front of the cameras at the end of the third Ashes Test in Melbourne – batting away concerns, wincing in the sun, and wearing throughout the pitying smile of a man who knows that all of this is simply another stage in the vast, unknowable masterplan of Chris Silverwood – it was hard not to worry a little about England’s head coach; to search in vain for the line between nightmarishly bad...
Anyone who loves cricket wants a game that is inclusive and welcoming to everyone, says the author of the ‘Fletcher report’It was impossible not to be moved by the emotion in Azeem Rafiq’s testimony at the digital, culture, media and sport select committee and also not to feel angry about what he endured during his career in cricket; not only as a professional, but also as an ambitious junior representing his local town club.As he reeled off recollections of being targeted with abusive language, having his faith ignored and ridiculed, and he and other Asian players homogenised and dehumanised as either “Kevin” or “Steve”, I found myself nodding along. Continue reading...
The ECB does not get to act surprised at this week’s events, to dance away from responsibility – it has failed, repeatedly, to actOh no you don’t, Tom Harrison. Hold it right there, the England and Wales Cricket Board. Drop the mask of simpering piety. Lose the grave, troubled look. There is no doubt that English cricket’s continuing, historic problem with racism is a resigning issue for someone, that it speaks to both a sickly culture and a failure of regulation.But before we start apportioning that blame, let us be clear on the roles here. The ECB does not get to act surprised at this, to get away with flaming some flunkies, dropping the toxic Yorkshire brand, throwing its hands...
The investigation panel may not have found sufficient evidence of racism at the club, but how else can the Azeem Rafiq saga be viewed?Yorkshire County Cricket Club are institutionally racist. There: that wasn’t so hard, was it? For years Yorkshire enabled, tolerated and normalised a dressing-room culture of racist discourse. They failed to create a welcoming environment for Muslims and other ethnic minorities. They continued and continue to employ staff who have made racist comments.When a former player raised serious allegations of longstanding racist behaviour three years ago, the club initially did nothing and then reportedly offered him a six-figure payout to keep quiet. Under investigation, they have chosen at every turn to prioritise their own reputation and their own...