Pace bowler qualifies to play for England on Sunday but picking him this late for the tournament would be a bad decisionA weird thing kept happening during the TV broadcast of England’s white-ball series against West Indies. Whenever an English batsman steered the ball down to third man the camera would pan after it and viewers would catch a brief glimpse of something startling, a kind of apparition in the corner of the screen.Look back at the highlights and there it is again: a tall, frighteningly still figure, half-glimpsed against the green. Some ancient pastoral scarecrow, a spirit of the land perhaps. Or maybe even death himself, lurking at the edge of your vision saying, yes, even here in this...
Another huge score, allied to the skills of Adil Rashid and Mark Wood, will give England renewed confidence for the World CupEngland’s one-day renaissance began in 2015 with a Jos Buttler-inspired monster of 408 for nine against New Zealand at Edgbaston and, having never climbed so high previously, their batsmen have since gone on to pass the hallowed 400-barrier on three more occasions.But only in their most recent such feat – the near-gazumping in Grenada on Wednesday – did they walk off the field at the end looking closer to survivors in a disaster film than victors. Until Adil Rashid finally doused the West Indian fire in the 48th over of the chase, claiming four wickets in five balls, English...
The Cricket World Cup does not need McFly and Love Island to be cool. It is just lost behind Sky’s paywallAdmiral Jellicoe probably wouldn’t have been a big advocate for one-day cricket. In the first world war, the commander of the British fleet gained a reputation for a strictly defensive style of play, the kind of dead-batting that determined the Battle of Jutland was only ever going to end in a draw. Winston Churchill did, after all, describe him as “the one man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon”. Jellicoe couldn’t afford a mid‑innings collapse. Related: Questions facing England in West Indies 100 days out from World Cup | The Spin Related: Meet Haris Rauf,...
A new-ball partner for Woakes, whether Wood has a role and back-up batting at the top of the order are among the issuesEngland play 11 one-day internationals and two international warm-up matches before the World Cup starts on 30 May, but this five-match series is the last before they must announce their 15-man squad. A 16th space would allow them to cover all bases, but 15 means a corner needs to be cut. They are likely to want two spare seam bowlers, especially as those players are most susceptible to injury, which means they will have to sacrifice either a second back-up batsman (Alex Hales will be the first) or a back-up spinner. Or they could cheat. That’s what they...
Mark Wood’s Sunday spell in St Lucia was a refreshing reminder of how pace bowling turns a slow game into a fast oneThere are certain words that are crying out to have “sheer” in front of them. Sheer bliss. Sheer lunacy. Sheer pace.In cricket, sheer pace is sheer bliss, as long as it’s on your side. In St Lucia on Sunday evening England, who had been blown away in the first two Tests by a resurgent West Indies attack, finally produced a riposte. Mark Wood came on after 20 overs, when the game is inclined to nod off, and suddenly every delivery carried an electric charge. Bowling to Shai Hope, Wood beat the bat outside off stump with his first...