Cricket Comment: Bayliss factor already apparent and worlds away from last Ashes July 1, 2015 Head coach Trevor Bayliss may only have started work with the England team last week but he will already have had a massive influence and that will only gather momentum during the Ashes series this summer. Read more: Root is now a master of all trades As I touched on in a previous column, [...]
Cricket Comment: Root is now a master of all trades June 24, 2015 ENGLAND produced another eye-catching limited-overs performance when beating New Zealand in their T20 international at Old Trafford on Tuesday and Yorkshire’s Joe Root once again delivered with the bat. He has been on fire during the last 18 months or so since being dropped for the final Ashes Test at Sydney during the 2013-14 tour, [...]
Aussie cricket team welcomed ahead of Ashes June 22, 2015 Australian diplomats had their best sporting powerhouses on show last night, as the Australian cricket team met the media and introduced their players for the upcoming Ashes tour – just over two weeks away. The Australian team, known to some as “Dad’s Army” for their higher than average age range, are firm favourites for an [...]
Ashes hero prior retires from all cricket June 11, 2015 TRIPLE Ashes winner Matt Prior yesterday retired from all forms of cricket after failing to overcome a recurring Achilles tendon injury. The 33-year-old played the last of his 79 Test matches against India at Lord’s in July 2014. Prior retires with a Test batting average of 40.18 – the fourth highest of any wicketkeeper who [...]
Cricket Comment: England success heralds new dawn for ODI cricket June 10, 2015 IT MAY only have been one match but I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that a new dawn may have broken in limited-overs cricket, given what we witnessed in England’s record-breaking 210-run victory over New Zealand at Edgbaston on Tuesday. I have seen players perform for their counties in domestic cricket over [...]
Cricket Comment: Stokes can be England’s next true all-rounder May 27, 2015 Like many people I thought Jason Gillespie had a real shout of landing the England head coach’s job but I believe that Trevor Bayliss is a really good appointment and he is someone who will move the national side in the right direction. I spent a bit of time with him when I was with [...]
Cricket Comment: England want to land a big fish May 20, 2015 CARETAKER boss Paul Farbrace this week threw his hat into the ring to become England’s head coach on a full-time basis. I think he has a chance but my gut feeling is that England are after a bigger fish. Having said that, he has the opportunity to impress over the next few weeks during the [...]
Kevin Pietersen: Four reasons why Andrew Strauss is wrong to exclude him from the England cricket team May 12, 2015 Andrew Strauss has only just been unveiled as England's new director of cricket, yet there are already calls for him to be sacked after he decided against reintroducing Kevin Pietersen into the England team. In his first press conference as director, Strauss had to deal with a tide of journalists' questions about Pietersen's exclusion – [...]
Cricket Comment: Morgan should prioritise England over IPL duties April 29, 2015 In the long term it is not a massive issue but Eoin Morgan is England’s one-day captain and he should be there for his side’s first 50-over clash since their disastrous World Cup campaign, against Ireland in Dublin on 8 May. Morgan has been given dispensation by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to [...]
Cricket Comment: England in need of a spin doctor April 22, 2015 KENT’S James Tredwell did a good job in the first Test against the West Indies in Antigua and gave England a chance of victory with five wickets in the match but I understand the decision to recall off-spinning all-rounder Moeen Ali. He has looked a bit rusty so far in the second Test in Grenada [...]