Cricket

Millions of people all over the globe play recreational and grassroots cricket for one good reason: they love the sport. It’s anathema to most that anybody would play cricket for any other reason, but sadly there’s increasing evidence to suggest that some players – at a pretty high level, too – have ulterior motives for […]

Many great ideas, at the time they are conceived, have a tinge of madness to them. Depending on who you believe, either Thomas Crapper or Sir John Harington invented this thing the flushing toilet – at a time when people were using, ahem, other vessels to relieve themselves into. At the time, the idea of […]

Control, skill and guile are usually the arbiters of success for a bowler in cricket – at any level of the sport, from the elite to the grassroots. But there’s no doubt that sheer pace and raw power can put the wind up a batter, and when combined with skill, the individual is sure to […]

Would you rather win at all costs or lose with style and panache? It’s an interesting question and one that idealists will answer with the latter option – pragmatists, meanwhile, would suggest that winning in sport is, ultimately, all that matters. Coming up with an answer, or at least a resolution that satisfies those on […]

Of all the major sports played around the world, cricket is perhaps the only one still ruled by traditionalists and puritans – those with a sense that the old way is still the best way. That explains why the members of the MCC rejected the idea of twenty-twenty cricket in 1998 – that simply did […]

A hole-in-one in golf. A 147 break in snooker. A nine-dart leg in darts. Some sports have their moments of perfection; be it rare or more common, it’s the pinnacle of what can be achieved. For a bowler in cricket, taking all ten wickets in an innings is perhaps as close to perfection as it […]

Whenever the pub quiz question comes up that asks players to name all of the modes of dismissal in cricket, the majority come with ease. Bowled, caught, LBW, run out….even slightly more obscure wickets like handled ball and obstructing the field come after some thought. But timed out? That is generally a new one to […]

As he majestically swatted one six after another against the Netherlands’ bowlers in Delhi, Glenn Maxwell must have thought he was breaking all sorts of records. It’s true: the Australian big-hitter did accomplish the fastest century in World Cup history as he carved the Dutch bowling attack to all parts in an outrageous 40-ball ton. […]

When the final of the World Test Championship took place in the early summer of 2023, it appeared as though cricket’s organisers had finally broken with tradition. In addition to the standard five days of action, officials revealed that a reserve day would be used to complete the game if rain affected the contest. Thankfully […]

When drawing up a list of the most controversial moments in Ashes cricket history, there’s no shortage of source material. And the 2023 edition of the battle for the famous urn between England and Australia served up another addition to the canon with the astonishing stumping of Jonny Bairstow. After another delivery from Australian quick […]

The quintessential sights, sounds and smells of cricket are people dressed in white running around on lush green landscapes, leather on willow and grated cheese sandwiches in the pavilion at tea time. Cheerleaders, fireworks and in-game music? Well, many T20 competitions have tried to ‘Americanise’ their form of cricket, but now the original and best […]

One of the interesting things about cricket is that an innings can, theoretically, end without a run being scored. It’s never happened in the professional game, although there has been one instance of it occurring in the amateur ranks. Huish and Langport were skittled out without scoring against Glastonbury in a Somerset league game back […]

Will test cricket ever be the same? Since the appointment of Brendan ‘Baz’ McCullum, England have revolutionised the longer format of the game – introducing the same blistering hitting, innovative shot-making and breathless running between the wickets that fans expect to see in T20 and limited-overs games. The modernisation of test cricket has happened so […]

In sport, you can sometimes be a victim of your own success, and that’s a tag that can perhaps be pinned on Ben Stokes. A phenomenal cricketer in all formats of the game, the 31-year-old has been a pivotal figure for Durham and England for more than a decade – winning World Cups and Ashes […]

In cricket, there are eleven different ways for a batsman to be dismissed – give yourself a pat on the back if you can name them all. For Henry Nicholls, his dismissal in the third test between England New Zealand at Headingley looks one of the most generic on paper – he was caught by […]

It was a hot summer’s day in Amsterdam, and England’s cricketers were intent on making their own fun. And so, on June 17, 2022, they set about posting a world record score of 498/4 in an ODI game against their beleaguered hosts, the Netherlands. Jos Buttler led the way with 166 – posting the second […]

Joe Root was the eightieth man to captain England’s test cricket team, and in the minds of many he’s among the very best to have been bestowed with the honour. His decision to step down from the captaincy has rather left the Lions in something of a hole, with no natural successor currently in the […]

Oh dear England. While able to mix it with Australia on home soil in Ashes series, when the action takes place down under it seems to become a case of men against boys. Only once in nearly five decades have England clinched the famous little urn on Aussie soil – since 1987, eight of the […]

While the image of village cricket is one of cream teas and lazy days in the sun to the backdrop of the sound of leather on willow, at the elite level the sport is rather different. As a batsman, opposition bowlers are physically priming themselves to bowl that five-and-a-half ounce ball at your head at […]

It was the unique vehicle that was going to push cricket into a new stratosphere as far as fan popularity is concerned….and then along came 2020 to ruin things. The inaugural edition of the competition was delayed for a year as a consequence, although the show will go on in 2021 – hopefully with crowds […]

USA Cricket, the governing body of the sport in the North American country, has revealed blueprints that, if realised, could see the U.S. elevated to full member status with the International Cricket Council (ICC) by 2030. If they achieve their goals of increasing participation, growing engagement and improving the standard of the national team and […]

One of the most revolutionary figures in world cricket sadly passed away on April 2nd 2020. He may not have been a swashbuckling batsman or a terrifying quick bowler, but Tony Lewis played his part in changing the face of the sport forever prior to his death at the age of 78. The mathematician loved […]

For many things in life, there are the believers and the sceptics. Whether you believe in the ravages of climate change or not, the fact is that the average yearly temperatures in all of the main cricket playing countries are on the rise. That is indisputable. Such is the increase in temperatures in some nations, […]

Hundreds of people took to the streets of Bangladesh this week in protest; it was the size and scale of demonstration you would expect in the midst of a political revolt. But the people of Dhaka and Magura weren’t protesting against a corrupt politician or election result, but in anger at the punishment dished out […]

It was an unmistakably Sky Sports production. The glitz, the glamour, the razzmatazz and the fireworks: not bad for a tournament that has never been hosted before and may end up as the dampest squib of the British summer. But at least the ECB, the organisers behind The Hundred, are trying to take cricket forward […]

It’s been confirmed that Shane Warne, the legendary Australian leg-spinner, will take up the role of head coach of the ‘London Spirit’ franchise for The Hundred, English cricket’s ‘exciting’ new competition. He will be joined by the history-making Lisa Keightley, the first woman to hit a century at Lord’s, who will lead the women’s franchise. […]

Cricket’s boring, so they say. That’s the view of those who have had to sit through a nondescript county game played in front of one man and his dog, but a World Cup final between two evenly-matched teams in front of a rapt Lord’s crowd is always likely to serve up a humdinger. And boy, […]

England are the favourites to win the 2019 World Cup. Those are not words you get to hear every day, but they are well deserved for an English cricket side that has worked extremely hard to be ranked the best limited overs team in the world. And as hosts, England have an almighty advantage in […]

There are some sports, such as cricket, where there are unwritten rules about what goes on during the heat of battle. These are things that, whilst not ‘illegal’ or against the rules, are considered against the spirit of the game, which is a moral crime of sorts. One such item is ‘Mankading’, the practise of […]

If you weren’t aware, England are currently ranked as the third best test-playing nation (and we’re talking about cricket here) on the planet, and have at times held the number one spot in recent years. In the summer of 2018 they beat the current number one side, India, in a series on English soil, and […]