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Sussex v Derbyshire and the Test future of Ollie Robinson

The coastal weather has been clear and bright but with high winds. I therefore swerved a trip to Hove for the county championship match between Sussex and Derbyshire. Now you can follow every ball on a live steam with commentary by Adrian Harmes. He misses a lot but is so affable and such a strong [...]

July 13, 2023 // 0 Comments

Third Test: hail Stokes … and Woakes

If you take out Ben Stokes’ first innings knock of 80 then I doubt if England would have overhauled the Aussie total, who also should have the add the time of the Stokes occupation of the crease to bowl at England. It was another herculean effort from the skipper. But praise too for Chris [...]

July 10, 2023 // 0 Comments

Great sporting duels

The Tour de France duel between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej  Pogacar – which the former is currently shading by a small lead – has made me recall and share great ones of the past. In boxing one thinks of Ali v Frazier – or before them – the brutal 3 bouts between Tony ‘Man [...]

July 7, 2023 // 0 Comments

(Second Test): final thoughts on the final day

After a final day of controversial incident after which England are now two down in the series, one hopes there can be some consensus that Test cricket was the winner. It was a most enthralling day, epitomised by Ben Stokes playing a truly captain’s innings of bravura. The game of cricket is in [...]

July 3, 2023 // 0 Comments

Fourth day of the Test: stasis and surprise

At 2-30pm the drift of this match into stasis induced a siesta in me and – when I came round – it was to one of the most extraordinary passages of cricket I have ever witnessed. We saw two bowlers – one of whom Nathan Lyon was immobile – forced to hit boundaries as, although [...]

July 2, 2023 // 0 Comments

Third day of Test: dull and ominous

Both the weather conditions and cricket were dull yesterday. Australia look like building an unassailable lead, 221 runs ahead and Steve Smith and Usman Khuwaji still at the crease. Ben Stokes went early in the morning and Harry Brook to an injudicious swat to a shorter ball.  Once Jonny Bairstow [...]

July 1, 2023 // 0 Comments

2nd day of Test: Bazball confounds and delights

The day belonged to England but the view of such sages as Jonathan Agnew and Michael Vaughan was that it could have been better. Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope set up a platform of parity only for Australia – bereft of Nat Lyon for possibly the Series – to bowl short and [...]

June 30, 2023 // 0 Comments

First day of the Second Test: grey clouds and grey cricket

The overcast weather produced a more attritional day in which the most notable event was Jonny Bairstow carrying off a protester. Given he can break a leg on the golf course, my concern was he would sustain another unusual injury. He did not – Ollie Pope after dropping a dolly catch was off [...]

June 29, 2023 // 0 Comments

Thoughts on the First Test

I hope that after this most enthralling of matches the media – conventional and social – does not turn on Ben Stokes and Baz-ball after the Aussies won, albeit narrowly, the vital First Test. Of course catches were dropped – and the declaration deprived England of vital runs [...]

June 22, 2023 // 0 Comments

The two invariables

Amongst the great selection debates and “Bazball v Pragmatic”, there are two constants: injuries and bad weather. Thus it was yesterday – on the third day of the Edgbaston Test – that both kicked in. Moeen Ali’s spinning finger is raw and blistered and a storm of biblical [...]

June 19, 2023 // 0 Comments

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