The popular Hameed got stuck after reaching his half-century when he could have been making hay at HeadingleyThere was a rather tender moment after lunch on day one, as Joe Root gathered his England team into their traditional post-interval huddle. This can be a deceptively fraught moment for a captain, geometrically speaking. Allow the same faces to occupy their usual place in the huddle, and you risk letting cliques develop. Huddle too quickly or in the wrong place, and you can kiss goodbye to your dreams of a perfect circle. Watch Kane Williamson’s New Zealand team if you want to see it done properly.The code-red scenario for a captain occurs when the huddle has formed, all the gaps have closed...
The popular Hameed got stuck after reaching his half-century when he could have been making hay at HeadingleyThere was a rather tender moment after lunch on day one, as Joe Root gathered his England team into their traditional post-interval huddle. This can be a deceptively fraught moment for a captain, geometrically speaking. Allow the same faces to occupy their usual place in the huddle, and you risk letting cliques develop. Huddle too quickly or in the wrong place, and you can kiss goodbye to your dreams of a perfect circle. Watch Kane Williamson’s New Zealand team if you want to see it done properly.The code-red scenario for a captain occurs when the huddle has formed, all the gaps have closed...
Strange things happen at this ground and, despite a sensible strategy after winning the toss, India fell apart in the third TestIt’s 11.23am and Virat Kohli is jogging down the Headingley steps. The sky is a watery grey, the air is thick with cheers and boos and India are four for two. In his 15-year career as a batter and captain, Kohli has pretty much seen it all. He has played international cricket in 17 countries, overcome adversity of every sort, faced down every kind of challenge in every format. But he has never won the toss at Headingley before.Maybe this matters, and maybe it doesn’t. But there’s something about this place that seems to play tricks on the mind....
Strange things happen at this ground and, despite a sensible strategy after winning the toss, India fell apart in the third TestIt’s 11.23am and Virat Kohli is jogging down the Headingley steps. The sky is a watery grey, the air is thick with cheers and boos and India are four for two. In his 15-year career as a batter and captain, Kohli has pretty much seen it all. He’s played international cricket in 17 countries, overcome adversity of every sort, faced down every kind of challenge in every format. But he’s never won the toss at Headingley before. Related: Anderson cuts through India before Burns and Hameed prosper for England Continue reading...
As drama plays out on the field, the experience of Azeem Rafiq highlights a glaring failure to combat institutional racismFailure tastes like the bathroom floor after a night out. It floods like a blush from the ears to the fingertips, sending you burrowing for sanctuary. It haunts, pouncing in the night. But what turns misfortune into something far worse? What if it is just the vagaries of luck? A momentary lapse of concentration? Who decides what, and who has failed?Is failure winning the toss – at last – in overcast conditions at Headingley and choosing to bat, and then being bowled out for 78, India’s ninth-lowest total in history? Continue reading...