It might seem odd that English sport’s great invisible superstar is back in the Test team on the back of his Indian Premier League status but his selection is bold and sensibleEvery year in the US five people die and 10 million dollars of damage is caused as a result of deep-frying a turkey. This appears to be a festive tradition among bearded flag-draped men with hunting knives and baggy shorts, men for whom freedom’s just another word for caramelising your own arteries and shouting a lot on YouTube.But freedom comes at a cost. Each deep-fried turkey takes seven gallons of superheated fat. A special chain is required to lower it into its hell-cauldron. Moisture is the key issue: a...
England are missing a trick by waiting until the gifted Sussex all-rounder is 27 and need to put a yorker through the rule bookEven with a week to sit on it there is no obvious easing of the dunder-headed inanity that surrounds the England and Wales Cricket Board’s proposed 100-ball competition. On wider reflection this isn’t just a bad idea. It’s more out-there than that, the kind of idea you might expect a precocious toddler to come up with, or some other species altogether: an ambitious sports-marketing chicken with a below average IQ, or a squirrel promoted by a series of unlikely events to a key management role in the national summer sport.Perhaps the only real purpose it has at...
They had differing backgrounds and styles but were never afraid to support innovation that they felt would be to the benefit of the game they lovedA prelude to summer arrived last week, and with it a noisy chorus of speculation over the future of cricket. A posh boy – Tonbridge and Peterhouse – with a faith in statistical analysis became the chief national selector of an unsettled England team. Cries of dismay greeted the revelation that the new inter-city competition will be based on yet another shortened form of the game, this one requiring each side to face a mere 100 balls in order to fit television schedules. And the BBC was outbid by a commercial rival for the radio...
It seems the same batsmen from the disastrous Test winter will keep their spots against Pakistan, despite the fact they are England’s weakest top six of the modern ageNobody ever feels completely ready for the start of the English cricket season but here it is all the same, blooming up out of the April mulch with an agreeably heavyweight opening round of fixtures on Friday. As ever it is a part of this process to feel a bit anxious. A sense of decorative decay, of fighting constantly for space and air has always been a part of cricket in England.This is, after all, a sport where the entire season tends to fold together into a microcosm of a single family...
There are 30 or 40 players who could make the first Test against Pakistan and the start of the County Championship on Friday is their chance to stake a claimThe weather is miserable, the football season is approaching the business end – yes, it’s time for hackneyed but well-meaning jokes about the start of the cricket season. The County Championship begins on Friday with some enticing fixtures, including Yorkshire v Essex and Lancashire v Nottinghamshire in Division One. The Spin is so excited that we won’t be able to sit still until we have shared with you, dear reader, our Five Talking Points/Things to Look Forward to This Season. Here they are: Related: County cricket talking points: six questions before...