Indefatigable 39-year-old is retiring at the end of the season with one niggling regret – how he was treated by EnglandSomewhere among his old kit and other bits, Rikki Clarke has a fat scrapbook, full of dog-eared clippings from the summer of 2002. He was 20 and on a run of form that took him from Surrey’s second XI into the England team in the space of three months.“Clarke in Like Flynn” was the Guardian headline when he hit 153 against Somerset, “Clarke’s Flash of Lightning” when he smacked three sixes in an innings against Yorkshire and “Rikki’s a Rare Talent” was above a full-page profile in the Observer when he won his first England call-up for the Champions Trophy...
One win in six Tests before an abrupt ending mean Joe Root’s side have more questions than answers as Australia tour loomsDuring the discussions that preceded the postponement of England’s one-day series in South Africa last December, Tom Harrison is said to have sent an email to Ashley Giles, with their South African counterparts still included on the chain, asking who exactly was running the tour.It transpired the answer to this pointed question from the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board to his director of cricket – albeit one unlikely to have been tapped out in reply – was their players. Covid-19 had breached the team hotel and, with fears over what this could mean for onward...
The opener has finally made his first overseas Test century and his captain will be looking for him to help India dominate again at Old TraffordThe one word Rohit Sharma hated more than any other through the initial part of his international career was talent.As heir apparent to the batting greats of the generation before him, the next big thing from the storied Mumbai school of batsmanship, great things were expected of him. And expected of him instantly. When his natural ability did not translate into a mountain of runs, he would be taunted as talent, but no performance, on social media. The doubters used his strength to target him. Continue reading...
Old Trafford was the scene of three Test wins for the home side last summer and Joe Root’s side need another this week if they are to avoid a series defeatOld Trafford was deemed to be the less comfortable of the two biosecure venues by England’s men last summer, with its city location and smaller perimeter a distant second to the leafy golf resort that is the Ageas Bowl. Some even called it an “open prison”.But cricket-wise the old ground was also the scene of the three Test wins they managed to secure during that weird season – two against West Indies, one against Pakistan – and thus a source of encouragement as Joe Root’s now weary-looking side hope to...
This was England’s third Test defeat of the summer but the inquest will surely be brief after a spellbinding win for IndiaForget about operas and fat ladies singing, you know a Test is over when India’s captain starts conducting. It happened here 24 minutes, five overs and two wickets after lunch on the final day, shortly after Ollie Pope’s stumps had been rearranged by Jasprit Bumrah. First a few overhead claps, then Virat Kohli extended his arms to full width and swayed them gently up and down, like an albatross in flight. Not an inappropriate bird, England might have thought, for Kohli to be impersonating. The pocket of the JM Finn stand that has been overwhelmingly populated by India’s blue...