Cricket Comment: Fear of failure crippling England means selectors must break cycle July 22, 2014 I DON’T want to hammer England’s selectors. They generally get it right. There is a huge gap between county and Test level and not everyone is able to bridge it, yet they tend to choose well. But they really must grasp the nettle right now and remove captain Alastair Cook. England cannot get any worse. [...]
Spread betting on cricket July 16, 2014 ENGLAND’S five-Test series against India is finely poised after a draw in the opener at Trent Bridge last week. Ahead of the second Test at Lord’s, Sporting Index have priced up a huge range of cricket markets. Cricket and spread betting have always been a match made in heaven and it really is the most [...]
Cricket Comment: Confident Stokes can relight England’s fire July 8, 2014 ENGLAND may go into today’s first Test against India reeling from a first home series defeat to Sri Lanka but I strongly fancy them to come out on top in the next five matches. The climate could dictate whether we get a result at Trent Bridge, but if either team wins then it’ll be England, [...]
Cricket Comment: Anderson ideal man to step in while Cook given a break June 25, 2014 HE MIGHT insist that he wants to carry on and fight for his place, but repeated failures with the bat and his inability as a captain to avoid a home Test series defeat to Sri Lanka mean that scrutiny of Alastair Cook’s place in the England team just won’t go away. If he won’t step [...]
Cricket Comment: Defeat a very big reverse for coach Moores June 24, 2014 IT WAS a shame England got so close to a draw in the end, but when you are 57-5 against that Sri Lankan bowling attack then defeat can come as no great surprise. Sri Lanka aren’t a bad side, but in home conditions England’s recent track record is top class – they’ve taken apart Australia [...]
Cricket Comment: Cook faces axe if skipper can’t make big score June 17, 2014 IT MIGHT have been an agonising margin that separated England from victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test this week, but now the dust has settled it’s time to look at what went wrong. The biggest disappointment for the hosts was the performance of the opening batsmen, on what was a batter’s pitch at [...]
Cricket Comment: Plunkett and Robson primed to shine in England auditions June 10, 2014 ENGLAND’S first Test against Sri Lanka tomorrow at Lord’s may be their debut five-day outing under new head coach Peter Moores, but it is two other men who will be in the spotlight. Middlesex batsman Sam Robson is set to win his first cap and open the batting with captain Alastair Cook, and you have [...]
Cricket Comment: Forget THAT stumping, England have plenty to be happy about June 4, 2014 ENGLAND captain Alastair Cook clearly felt that Sri Lanka bowler Sachithra Senanayake’s stumping of Jos Buttler in Tuesday’s one-day series decider amounted to skulduggery, but I disagree. As long as Buttler had been warned before about not leaving the crease until the ball had been released – and he had, not just in that game [...]
Cricket Comment: Forget Cook, England need Hales May 27, 2014 INCONSISTENCY is rife in teams that A) lack confidence and B) aren’t top class and that’s what this England team is at the moment. They are an evolving side with a lot to prove. Sri Lanka will start as favourites in the third game of the one-day international series today at Old Trafford, but that [...]
Cricket Comment: Gurney offers Moores a glimpse of encouraging England future May 21, 2014 IF ENGLAND were to win the forthcoming one-day series with Sri Lanka it would be a terrific effort, but I can’t tip that outcome. Realistically, I hope they go down fighting after competing in every match. Sri Lanka are masters of the shorter forms of cricket and current Twenty20 world champions, so it was little [...]