England’s Test captain has done a lot of good over the past few years on and off the pitch but he has been evasive over the Yorkshire CCC racism scandal“I think … when I look back … I can’t …”Imagine being Joe Root right now. For the past two summers you’ve engaged sincerely with the need to broaden your sport. You’ve taken the knee. You’ve stood for the cameras in a T-shirt covered in uplifting slogans. You’ve engaged with issues beyond the remit of any previous England captain. You’ve spoken proudly of the diversity in your team, in a way that does make a difference, and not only to the optics-panic of your employers at the ECB. Continue reading...
Despite a stellar 2021, England captain will fly out this week knowing he must banish bad memories of past Australia toursAs anyone who has ever suffered from fear of flying knows, distraction is key. Anything to trick the brain into forgetting that you and it are hurtling through the ether in the cramped belly of a giant tin bird. Distraction. By any means possible.Booze might be the answer for some, the David Boon approach to air travel. Maybe you swear by that “make fists with your toes” thing or try to take your mind off the turbulence and terrifying sounds by strapping some headphones on and endlessly repeating the frightened flyers’ mantra about it being more likely you will perish...
Top two teams in Group 1 at World Cup have been narrowed decisively to the top one – and it most certainly isn’t AustraliaIf you wish for something hard enough, according to some self-help books based upon little more than the songwriting of Pinocchio, it just might come true. So went the script in the T20 World Cup, but the wrong way for Australia: a team relying on a Test configuration that was undone at the start by England’s Test‑style bowling.When facing them there is a range of T20 options to consider. The ripping leg spin of Adil Rashid, who opened proceedings in Dubai and bowled three dot balls in a first over that went for six runs. The left-arm...
Bowler makes light of his lack of international experience with productive spell towards the end of Bangladesh inningsIt is easy to forget in the middle of all that sound and light, the frivolity in the stands – not to mention, in Abu Dhabi, a PA system overseen by the holder of the World’s Most Excited Man title – that T20 is a brutal business.Cricket has always been a cruel sport. In the shortest form that cruelty becomes a relentless thing, meted out in the brightest of lights. Plenty of cricketers around the world have been a little chewed up by this during the past 18 months on the franchise treadmill. Bowlers, in particular, need the skin of a rhino, the...
The addition of Ben Stokes to England’s Ashes squad will lift Joe Root’s men and cause even the most confident of Australians to endure a few sleepless nightsHe’s back! The ginger-haired miracle-maker, the swaggering game-changer, the un-stoppered bottle of pungent cologne that promises the world with a single whiff. Yes, against all the odds, England will be drenched in eau de Ben Stokes during the Ashes this winter, and a little goes a very long way.Stokes has spent much of the summer bedding down, after stepping away from cricket to prioritise his mental health and to rest a left index finger that had been plaguing him since he broke it playing for the Rajasthan Royals in the first part of...