On a vintage Test-match day, the England captain bent the occasion to his will in heartwarming and engrossing fashionThere are still some unchanging certainties in the English cricketing summer; many of which were on show on a humid, bellicose second day of this second Test.Specialist wicketkeepers are busy at the crease, all bottom-handed crunch and ferrety shovels. Anything with the name Strauss attached to it will be accepted as objective, unchallenged gospel (call it The Strauss Hundred and we’d never have heard a whimper). Old Trafford will continue to remake the world as a series of red glass boxes, the compulsory template for any licenced Manchester architect. Perhaps the eastern stand, currently flattened, might bring something new. We might get...
This was Robinson 2.0: 6ft 5in of pale Sussex seamer pressed through the cookie cutter of central contract professionalismThere was a fascinating moment before the start of play on the first day of the second Test as the England pace bowlers marked out their run-ups using an ECB high performance tape measure and Ollie Robinson almost — almost — forgot to take it really seriously.A carefree first attempt ended in a minor disaster as the end of the tape blew up in the wind. Robinson seemed about to walk off absent mindedly at one point. Did he even know the precise millimetre-grade length of his run-up, a comfortable thing that brings him rolling up to the crease like a cross...
To say poor scores are acceptable is to judge him differently to every opening batter who has ever been selected for EnglandAfter the hammering England took against a well-organised and talented South Africa side, it would be easy to jump on the bandwagon and pour criticism on the players and their approach. Personally I commend Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes for challenging convention since taking over as coach and captain of the Test team, which desperately needed a shot in the arm.They have said from the start that it will be an up‑and‑down ride, that bumps in the road such as the defeat by South Africa last week are part of the process. However, there are clearly some legitimate questions...
Innings defeat for Ben Stokes’ side in the first Test could be turned around if his bowlers raise their game at Old TraffordAfter his side’s thumping victory at Lord’s last week the South Africa captain, Dean Elgar, praised his batting unit’s ability to score “ugly runs”. For a man whose own technique has been compared to a scuttling crab, this was a compliment of the highest order.“We batted hard,” Elgar told the BBC. “We batted really gritty, ugly runs, which was kind of needed on a wicket that was not really batter friendly.” Continue reading...
Dean Elgar’s side may be the world’s best but they’re losing the battle back home to preserve the longest form of cricketThe last day of the Test stretched on long after England’s batsmen had been and gone. When the presentations were finished, the interviews wrapped, the hoardings packed, the crowd still lingered in the stands with nothing better to do on a free sunny afternoon than ask each other: “Who fancies another?”I passed three men sprawled in the front row of the Mound Stand, all in linen suits, one with his loafers up on the boundary boards. “Excuse me,” he called out as I walked around the outfield, “but what happens now?” I wondered what he was talking about. “Is...