How could it ever be a bad idea to make insanely competitive individuals play a sport that they’re crap at?

We’re talking about England’s football warm-ups of course. Joe Denly bust his knee yesterday, Matt Prior suffered a back spasm before the fourth Test and James Anderson twisted his ankle in Wellington. Many of England’s cricketers fancy themselves as skilled footballers, but they’re not. Cricketers aren’t footballers to the same degree that lemurs aren’t cyclists. They’re just built wrong. Yes, there have been a handful of players who’ve shown footballing competence, like Ian Botham and Graham Thorpe, but these men are not representative of the majority.

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