Daniel Brigham: The beauty of hindsight
August 14th, 2008 by Daniel Brigham in MiscellaneousHindsight’s a wonderful thing isn’t it. Well, actually, no it isn’t. Hindsight is only good for creating smugness. I bet Giles Clarke has a lot of hindsight. I bet he also says ‘I told you so’ a lot.
Hindsight was the theme of the day in the office today (yesterday it was food. Nearly every day is about food). The hindsight was mostly coming from our web-editor Sam Collins and new recruit and Nathan Robertson look-a-like Benj Moorehead (pictured here with Gail Emms look-a-like Daniel Brigham).
Remember the 2005 Ashes? Well, before it started everyone with the tiniest bit of cricket-tragic in their blood was arguing about whether KP or Graham Thorpe should play. Well, not our Sam.
Sam claims it wasn’t KP v Thorpe he was interested in, it was KP v Bell. Yes, everyone was having this discussion as soon as Bell began to look like the kind of kid who’d run a mile if a girl tried to kiss him. Not our Sam though, or our Badminton star Benj. They were saying this before the Ashes, when Bell had shown at Warwickshire that he was the kind of kid who would average in the high fifties for England.
Sam was travelling in Brazil when Bell got the chin wobble from Duncan Fletcher over Thorpe. Most people travelling in Brazil wouldn’t give a fig about the England squad selection. Not our Sam though, he was so apoplectic that he found the nearest internet café and hurled abuse towards the England selectors via the BBC cricket blog. Apparently he had always thought Bell didn’t have the guts to play international cricket.
Or so he claims. Thing is, he can’t find any of the comments he left. There is no evidence of this remarkable piece of intuitive thinking. Which to my and Ed’s eyes makes him a great big liar. Which also means that Ed and I are in agreement, which also means the world is likely to implode. See. That’s how bad hindsight is. It destroys planets.
So, does anyone else out there claim they shared the same gut instinct as Sam and Benj? More importantly, does anyone have evidence of Sam’s BBC comments?
Daniel Brigham is assistant editor of The Wisden Cricketer
Posted in Miscellaneous |
August 15th, 2008 at 10:33 am
No one ever mentions Hoggard v Defreitas
August 21st, 2008 at 6:19 pm
To steal Gary Naylor’s link: http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/213463.html?wrappertype=print
See. No mention of Bell. Anywhere!
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Is it me or is Mr Daniel very, very bitter that the SA perfectly outlined what we, deep down, we all already knew.
Bell is complete and utter bottle-job. If anything he epitomises the problem with this current England side - talks a huge game, looks pretty on a flat deck or against poor bowling, goes totally missing when it matters.
Can you imagine the Aussies thinking about bowling at him next summer? Even Beau Casson will be liking his lips.
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Mr Daniel is clearly just very very bitter
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Come off it Daniel - sounds to me like Sam is just spot on and you’re jealous! Bell is unquestionably the biggest bottler since Mr Big Bottle went to the small village of Bottle in the county of BigShire for a holiday. It’s one big holiday for the Bellster, and he’ll continue bottling it.
Well done Sam I say
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Bell annoys me so much. everyone drools over him. His innings in the 2nd innings of the 3rd Test this summer clinched it for me.
2nd innings of the 2nd Test last summer v India anyone???? We are just back in it (partly thanks to another battling knock from Colly) and he gets a first baller.
Go back to school Ian and find a backbone.
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
As Nasser has said on many an occasion, character often means more than talent at the very highest level.
Ian has the second, but not the first.
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Umm - isn’t Dan saying that no one was talking about Bell v Pietersen but was talking about Thorpe v Pietersen - or have i read a different blog?
August 22nd, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Who’s Benj? In fact, who is this Ed you speak of too?
Bell’s a loser.
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Mr Charlton is right. I was talking about pre-2005 Ashes, when Bell hadn’t provided any indication that he was going to be a bottler.
How many of you really knew he was going to be a bottler before that series? And how? Was it the mountains of runs for Warwickshire or his excellent, nerveless start for England?
Brian - Benj is TWC’s new editorial assistant. He has hair that makes him look Italian. In fact, he looks so Italian that I started telling people he was Italian. He isn’t though. Ed is Edward Craig, deputy editor. He likes wearing cords. Bad cords. He hates being called Craig.
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:20 pm
“Even Beau Casson will be liking his lips.”
What are you suggesting here, Up-The-Villa?
I’ve never noticed that Bell has such nice lips.