England are best when underrated in the Ashes but after Lord’s feats they must beware thinking they can recover any situationA clique of radical extremists have seized the levers of power. A risky event that was unthinkable three years ago now seems unstoppable. Those with experience and acknowledged expertise have been marginalised. Dissent is discouraged.Sensible people are sceptical, uneasy. Lesser officials suppress their doubts and keep working within the system, hoping the leaders are right and that the damage will be less than they fear. They block out fears of ruin and look forward to promised cash. But many others stand aside aghast, some believing the only hope now is for the revolution to happen and fail so that life...
In front of some Tory grandees now with time on their hands, Somerset’s Leach applied all his skill to record his highest scoreThere was a bevy of merry ex-ministers at Lord’s, demob-happy evictees from the Tory cabinet – Greg Clark, David Gauke, Gavin Barwell, and Theresa May, sipping on something long, cold and fizzy. It seems it has become something of a Tory tradition, after John Major spent the very first day after he lost the prime ministership watching Surrey thrash the British Universities at the Oval.The day’s play May watched was a little more entertaining than the one Major got and she even seemed to enjoy the long stretches of it she spent listening to Colin Graves, chairman of...
England’s collapse at Lord’s was orchestrated by Murtagh’s consistent deliveries at the Ireland bowler’s home from homeFeverishly hot as it was at Lord’s, it was a surprise to find all those melting clocks draped over the Mound Stand, the liquescent pocket watches hanging off the Tavern, that lobster telephone ringing in the pavilion. Even Tim Murtagh couldn’t really seem to make sense of what went on this dreamily, surreal morning. Related: Tim Murtagh stuns England as Ireland lead Test after day of 20 wickets Related: Ireland should bask in Open-driven time in the sun, not English shade at Lord’s | Andy Bull Continue reading...
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s tweet was frustrating because we want sport to be pure, as it was at Lord’s in a game the Kiwis didn’t deserve to lose“I’m not sure anyone at the moment has a steady heart … Seven weeks of cricket, 48 games, one ball. Here’s Boult, they’re going to push, are we in for a super over? They’ve got to go quick, they’ve got to go quick. OUT! I’m sure he’s OUT! We’re going for a super over!”The ICC montage of the last moments of the Cricket World Cup final has almost four million views – which isn’t that impressive considering three million of them are mine. Ian Smith’s commentary, in that gravelly Kiwi drawl, is spine tingling to...
England have the spoils, to New Zealand goes the glory, and the nation has a chance to fall back in love with cricket againIt is a phrase that is usually painfully glib or laden with irony but for once it may be appropriate: perhaps cricket really was the winner. The audience beyond, thankfully enlarged, as well as those crammed into every nook and cranny of Lord’s, watched a melodrama that left everyone gasping. Spectators eventually filed out of the old ground stunned by what they had just witnessed, enthralled and exhausted.The last hour at Lord’s was complicated, yet there seemed to be women and children present who found it utterly captivating. The result may not have been just but that...