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 [...]
Cricket Comment: Sri Lanka contests are the ideal auditions for England wannabes May 13, 2014 AS INTERESTING as a handful of matches against one of the best short-form nations in the world will be, I’ll also be fascinated by the sub-plots of the forthcoming clashes with Sri Lanka. England are a side rebuilding under a new coach after a winter of humiliation, so there are places up for grabs and [...]
Cricket Comment: Moores needs to focus on attack and team ethic April 23, 2014 PETER Moores inherits an England set-up in desperate need of a fresh approach – namely a renewed emphasis on free, attacking cricket and players doing more thinking for themselves. Coach Moores is the right man for the job and I fully expect him to implement those changes in mentality. Some will be down to personnel, [...]
Sport Comment: County cricket’s an anachronism in vibrant world April 13, 2014 MOURNFUL doesn’t usually describe the experience of watching live sport, but it was the best word I could come up with after a couple of hours’ cricket during the opening week of the LV County Championship. An antidote to the hysteria of Chelsea and London Marathon mayhem, it was also a reminder of the days [...]
Cricket Comment: T20 shouldn’t end Giles job hope April 1, 2014 FIRST things first: for England professionals to lose to the Netherlands’ team of virtual amateurs by a big margin this week at the World Twenty20 was embarrassing and pathetic. It’s a blow for Ashley Giles’s hopes of landing the Test job, but the players have to carry the can. You can train and motivate but [...]