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...
The Black Caps were once the inspiration, now they are the last obstacle standing between a daring England and the World CupAs it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end. Four years on from the start of English cricket’s great white‑ball paradigm shift, Eoin Morgan’s band of buccaneers return to Lord’s on Sunday for the World Cup final. In the process they find themselves facing the most poignant of opposition.Through that period of revamp and clearing out it is New Zealand who have been a significant constant for this new model England. First as an inspiration, then as a yardstick of progress and now as the final obstacle in the path of this brilliantly planned and...
Bairstow is arguably England’s finest ever ODI batsman and if you do not agree then ask the question, who has been better?What’s eating Jonny Bairstow? And whatever it is, can we have some more please? Preferably in large doses by the middle of next week.On a lovely soft summer day in Chester-le-Street England’s opening pair were once again the difference. At 10 o’clock Eoin Morgan had won the toss and chosen to bat. From there it took just 18 overs of regal, muscular violence against the hard white ball from Bairstow and Jason Roy to all-but decide this de facto World Cup quarter-final before the scoreboard clock had passed midday. Related: Mark Wood’s lucky touch symbolises England’s change in fortune...
Ever since the sun broke out in Birmingham prior to the India game, things have been going the way of Eoin Morgan’s sideEngland would have spent plenty of time in the lead-up to their encounter with New Zealand pondering the best way to winkle out Kane Williamson.The Black Caps’ captain had been averaging 113 in the tournament, with match-winning centuries against South Africa and West Indies that had once again underlined his status among the world’s elite batsmen. Related: England dispatch New Zealand to seal Cricket World Cup semi-final spot Related: MCC urges members to buy tickets for Pakistan-Bangladesh World Cup match Continue reading...