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Sam Collins: Cameras don’t lie as Cook fails TV audition

November 17th, 2009 by Sam Collins in England, Test cricket, Twenty20

Anyone who watches X Factor knows the format. Young hopeful stares blankly into the camera while a pantomime-villain in a suit reminds them they are hopelessly out of their depth.  For Alastair Cook, while the accusation was purely implicit, his villain was a Sky reporter, and there were no teenage girls watching at home to vote in and save him, just disgruntled fans of English cricket, bewildered at how a schoolboy could be leading their country.

Cook’s face has always fitted. He has the hair. He has the background. He has the talent. He has been an ‘FEC’ since his debut. He has nine Test hundreds at the age of 24. He is England vice-captain. Yet none of these mean a thing when the cameras are on you and you’ve just been thrashed.

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Posted in England, Test cricket, Twenty20 | 5 Comments »

Benj Moorehead: Viv Still Viv

November 16th, 2009 by Benj Moorehead in Interview, Twenty20, west indies

viv

The word is that Vivian Richards has softened. He even told The Wisden Cricketer last year: “I look forward to peace and a tranquil way of life. I am more chilled than when I played.”

Who are you kidding Viv? I went to meet him last week to look back over his career for a forthcoming feature in TWC and there was a glint in his eye with each memory he recalled. By the end of it he was cursing the fact that his career had been and gone before the onset of Twenty20.

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Posted in Interview, Twenty20, west indies | 2 Comments »

Jrod: Captain Cook’s voyage of discovery

November 16th, 2009 by JRod in England, South Africa

cook

Yesterday Alastair Cook looked like he had turned up for an exam of advanced calculus without having studied for it.  All of his mates had advice, but none of them were actually sitting it.

It isn’t Cook’s fault – since his junior days he has hardly captained a game of cricket.  No one picks wicketkeepers who have kept once in three years, so why captains?

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Posted in England, South Africa | 15 Comments »

John Stern: Ashes TV rights and wrongs

November 13th, 2009 by John Stern in Test cricket

This is not a clear-cut argument. I don’t believe that there is some moral imperative that demands everyone has the right to watch Test cricket, or the Ashes or whatever, on free-to-air television. It’s about what is best for cricket.

And the idea of Government intervention to enforce this seems outdated. It seems outdated in 2009. What will it feel like in 2016, the first home Ashes series to be affected by David Davies’ recommendations.

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Posted in Test cricket | 3 Comments »

Sam Collins: Strauss T20 abdication his first major mistake

November 13th, 2009 by Sam Collins in England, South Africa, Twenty20

strauss

Graeme Smith summed it up, “He is a leader who is trying to stamp his authority on the environment so it is interesting why he has decided to take a week off.”

Andrew Strauss should be leading England into the Twenty20 matches against South Africa that start today. Instead, after a successful first fortnight in South Africa under Strauss, Paul Collingwood is back in charge. The same Paul Collingwood who proved himself a horrible one-day captain for England and plumbed further depths in the World Twenty20 last summer.

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Posted in England, South Africa, Twenty20 | 2 Comments »

Daniel Brigham: No need to fear Ntini

November 12th, 2009 by Daniel Brigham in England, International, South Africa, Test cricket

nti

In the latest issue of TWC, Matthew Hoggard tells us what England should expect in South Africa.

He makes many key points to where the series will be won and lost. One of his worries is that Alastair Cook might struggle against Makhaya Ntini, who is excellent at slanting the ball across left-handers from very wide. Ntini may well get some joy against Cook (who doesn’t?), but it’s hard to see him having much of a real impact in the series.

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Posted in England, International, South Africa, Test cricket | 1 Comment »

England in South Africa Limited-Overs Drinking Game

November 12th, 2009 by Alan Tyers in Alan Tyers, England, South Africa

England fans might have their work cut out as the team play South Africa in a tough programme of 73 limited overs matches prior to the Tests, but even the most middling of middle overs will simply fly by with our NHS-endorsed binge-drinking intake monitor

Posted in Alan Tyers, England, South Africa | No Comments »

Lawrence Booth: Why Hawkeye makes sense

November 11th, 2009 by Lawrence Booth in Test cricket

On Monday cricket enters a new era – yes, another one – when the Ahmedabad Test between India and Sri Lanka will be overseen by an extra pair of eyes. Or rather an extra pair of Hawkeyes.

It will be the first time since the start of October, when the ICC chose to upgrade the umpire-review system from a mere trial to a part of the playing conditions, that Paul Hawkins’ technology will be on hand to help TV officials with leg-before decisions. Depending on your perspective, this is either a long-overdue piece of common sense or a betrayal of cricket’s ingrained deference to the umpire – a figure, it is often bewailed, who will soon be reduced to counting to six.

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Posted in Test cricket | 1 Comment »

Daniel Brigham: Dropping Owais Shah suddenly seems right

November 9th, 2009 by Daniel Brigham in England, International, Test cricket

owais

England’s line-ups for the two warm-up matches in South Africa made me feel like Kevin’s parents in Home Alone. There was something missing, something left behind. But what? Did I turn off the coffee? Yes. Did I lock up? Yes. Did I close the garage? Yes. Hmm. Was it Ronnie Irani? No.

It was the rarest of rare thoughts that brought the answer. An England ODI batting line-up looking reliable. You knew exactly what to expect from each batsman; you also had faith in them to deliver. Then it hit. The reason for that reliability was Owais Shah. Or rather his absence.

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Posted in England, International, Test cricket | 7 Comments »

Jrod: Understanding the Australian NSP

November 9th, 2009 by JRod in One-day cricket

burt

Australian selection policies seemed to stop making any sense a while back.  Perhaps around the time Andrew Hilditch started referring to the selectors as the NSP (National Selection Panel – it is not the Nordic Surf Project).  It isn’t that they actually stopped making sense, it just seems their policy of picking guys around 30-years-old who are solid characters with solid records seems to have disappeared.  They now want to get as much fresh meat into their side as they can.

David Warner was picked before he had even played a first-class game. Jon Holland, the 22-year-old left-arm spinner, was selected for a tour after six first-class games.

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Posted in One-day cricket | 3 Comments »

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