Posts from ‘August, 2009’

One to watch: James Taylor

You may, or may not, have noticed the identity of the Young Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year for 2009. For scoring 898 runs in 11 innings with 4 centuries, the award was given to James Taylor.

This summer, Taylor has been appearing in the middle order for Leicestershire, and he has been doing rather well.

Where now for England?

The England management, beginning with Andrew Strauss have been very careful to highlight that the Ashes win is only one milestone along the road to Test domination. And rightly so. So how do England continue to build from this point onwards? Where can they improve? And how do they cope with the loss of Flintoff?

England beat Ireland (just)

England gave Ireland the narrow beating of their lives yesterday, winning by 3 runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method. It took a debutant and a part-time spinner to make the game safe, but we should expect nothing less in an England 50-over match.

County cricket can’t stomach 50 overs

Forty-over cricket is considered so important by the ECB that they have decided to go one step further than simply scrapping their 50-over competition to protect it. Now, the ECB is asking the ICC to change the international 50-over format on their behalf.

The Ashes: Umpiring

The Ashes was a fascinating series, but it will not be remembered for the quality of the umpiring. With the referral system to be phased in by the ICC, should they be looking to technology or just improving the quality of the umpires? I feel that there is an argument for both.

The Ashes: Flower power does the job

Whilst everyone ponders who the key man was for England in the Ashes, and most would probably go for Andrew Strauss, let’s take a moment to think about the contribution of their recently appointed team director.

The Ashes: A lesson from 2005

England have won the Ashes, and the nation rejoices and 2005 can now finally be looked upon as a fond memory. But, as we celebrate, England must learn the lesson from their previous triumph over Australia – don’t get carried away.

The Ashes: Broad steals Freddie’s script

The stage was set for England’s all-rounder to take centre-stage, to win the Ashes with one final, devastating display before bowing out of Test cricket. That was Andrew Flintoff’s script for the Oval.

Today, Stuart Broad stole that script, crossed out Freddie’s name and wrote his own.

The Ashes: The kids are alright

If I had a pound for every time I’ve heard the phrase “an Ashes series is no time to try new players” I’d be following the cricket from a small island in the Pacific somewhere. Why is it that all-England (by which I mean our media, who speak the words that we don’t have the wit to think of for ourselves) are so convinced of this?

The Ashes: The ballad of Mark Ramprakash

It doesn’t matter who England pick for the Oval, the media will damn them for it either way. The players would either be past it (Key), not up to it (Bell, Bopara) or not ready (any debutant). Ramps, as the media’s choice, would remain untouchable regardless of how he actually performs.