The Ashes may have grabbed the attention of a nation. A new Test competition has notCricket has always had a peculiar vocabulary. The sport’s baffling use of language is part of its charm – naming a boundary fielder after a Graham Greene novel, for instance – but there have been recent additions to the lexicon I refuse to endorse. Bowlers putting “tail” on the ball – as if the word swing did not exist – or batsmen hitting it “downtown”. I hoped with the World Cup over we would have seen the end of the frankly gruesome use of “slot”, which seems to have been widely accepted as a bona fide technical term for a hittable length in limited-overs cricket....
The spinner has been dropped after struggling in the first Ashes Test, leaving England with more questions to answer at Lord’sNathan Lyon has not been as vociferous at the start of this Ashes series as he was before the last one in November 2017. There has been no need and maybe there really is a return to the brave old world when Australia respected their opponents. Back in Brisbane two years ago Lyon was the cheerleader on the welcoming committee, talking of English batsmen “running scared”, of a determination to “head-butt the line” and of an Aussie team eager to “end careers”. “I didn’t end any careers,” he said. “Mitchell Johnson ended them.”There is a suggestion that Lyon might just...
Enlist Jofra Archer, limit Joe Root’s options and make better use of Jos Buttler’s brain – how England might turn things roundJoe Root’s England have made a habit of losing one Test in a series. In his collection of home results, Root has a 4-1, a 3-1, a 2-1, a 1-1, and now a 0-1. The only visiting team not to get a Test off him are Ireland, who came close. The good news for the England fan, forever fretful, is that each of these home defeats has been followed by a victory. Related: Australia have a 'clear plan' how to wrap up Ashes series, says Justin Langer Continue reading...
Chance to lift gloom after loss in first Ashes Test is not helped by rustiness of any possible replacementsWe all make mistakes but most of us manage to do so without attracting too much attention. However, this luxury is not given to Test cricketers – even in the post free-to-air era. Moeen Ali is rediscovering this after his moon ball, his misguided leave and his wayward second-innings bowling at Edgbaston; so, too, is Jason Roy, who swung and missed so memorably when producing a poor imitation of Virender Sehwag at the crease. Playing international cricket is a great job; it is also a cruel one.It is an easier game in the press box. In my eagerness to feel some empathy...
It should come as no surprise that batsmen who have been told to whack a white ball into the stands cannot bat the day outWell, that wasn’t supposed to happen. On a mild, sunlit Birmingham day Australia bowled straight, fielded well, swarmed around England’s batsmen and took wickets with disarming ease in front of stands filled with garrulous southern hemisphere voices.As the final clatter began in earnest after lunch the endgame to this first Ashes Test began to feel a little giddy and light-hearted. There were ironic cheers for Moeen Ali as he successfully defended a straight ball from Nathan Lyon. England batsmen were barracked from the centre by the touring support en route to a 251-run defeat. Tim Paine’s...