Bat should do it: It’s about time bowlers were given a helping hand and the new MCC rules should be applauded March 8, 2017 Bats have been getting bigger and bigger and it’s ridiculous how unfair being a bowler can be in the modern game. I’m therefore pleased that new laws have been announced this week which should even up the contest between bat and ball. The game’s lawmakers, the MCC, have disclosed a series of measures that are [...]
Tom Curran will not be fazed by his maiden senior England call-up, while the West Indies series is massive for certain players March 1, 2017 My former Surrey team-mate Tom Curran is just the sort of cricketer England look for: young, good skills in one-day cricket, an all-rounder and, with his yorkers and back-of-the-hand deliveries, a talented death bowler. The 21-year-old marched into the Surrey side pretty much from school but showed no fear. Tom is a confident young lad [...]
Eye-watering, life-changing Indian Premier League deals for the likes of Ben Stokes and Tymal Mills are positive for cricket February 22, 2017 While Kevin Pietersen has a point when he says the lucrative £1.4m Indian Premier League (IPL) contract handed to Twenty20 specialist Tymal Mills this week is a slap in the face for Test cricket, I believe it’s predominantly positive for the game. Some domestic players work hard day in, day out for their counties, striving to [...]
Vital for Joe Root to take a leaf out of Andrew Strauss’s book on captaincy February 15, 2017 When then England captain Andrew Strauss used to come up to me during Test matches around 2010, he would be decisive. In turn, I would be absolutely clear about my role in the team and what was expected. It makes everyone’s job a lot easier when a skipper establishes that level of clarity and in [...]
Alastair Cook was a nice, reliable England Test captain but not a great one February 8, 2017 Alastair Cook will not be remembered as one of England’s great Test captains. He will be recalled as a nice, reliable and uncontroversial skipper who over the last couple of years has taken a young England side to pretty good heights and laid the foundations for that team to achieve more in the future. Others [...]
England’s collapse against India was crazy, but there were a number of positives to come out of their one-day tour of India February 1, 2017 Losing eight wickets for as many runs in just 19 deliveries is crazy when you look at it on paper and there is no disguising the fact that England took a hiding in the decisive Twenty20 clash against India in Bangalore. But rather than look too deeply into it, I would put it down to [...]
How England might counter India’s skipper, run-machine and genius Virat Kohli January 18, 2017 India skipper Virat Kohli’s averages over the past year or so are just ridiculous and he’s so consistent that you almost expect him to score a century every time he’s at the crease. The expectation to deliver which he carries on his shoulders each time he bats is phenomenal, just like it was for Sachin [...]
It’s a massive series for England one-day captain Eoin Morgan where only runs will silence critics and banish scrutiny January 11, 2017 It's a big series for England’s limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan and only scoring runs will silence those who have criticised him for pulling out of the tour of Bangladesh in October because of security fears. There will undoubtedly be increased scrutiny of Morgan during the three one-day tussles with India, which start on Sunday in [...]
One-day success, Ashes revenge and Alastair Cook: My 2017 predictions January 4, 2017 ICC Champions Trophy June’s tournament is being staged in this country and England and have been drawn in Group A alongside Australia, Bangladesh and New Zealand. The hosts are a strong side in their own conditions and have been playing some really impressive one-day cricket over the past 18 months or so, scoring in excess [...]
Jonny Bairstow, that World Twenty20 final and Virat Kohli: Chris Tremlett’s guide to the best of 2016 December 21, 2016 England player of the year It took Jonny Bairstow a while to find his feet in Test cricket but he has dug England out of trouble on many occasions this year. The 27-year-old didn’t score a century in his first 21 Tests but racked up three during 2016 as well as eight half centuries. He [...]
