< 1 minute read Time is meaningless. Although the sooner a cricketer can appreciate that, the better – so maybe time isn’t meaningless. The fifth Test moved forward almost as much in the last eight deliveries of the day as it had in the previous 483. England will have finished with a sense that
Continue readingTag: Joe Root
Was Joe Root responsible for Adil Rashid being dumped from England’s Test squad?
< 1 minute read Everyone was weirdly fine with Adil Rashid’s omission from England’s Ashes squad, even though he was England’s only consistent wicket-taker on flat pitches last winter. Considering England have spent much of this tour looking decidedly fast-medium, it seems a fair time to revisit the decision. We took a look at
Continue readingJoe Root’s losing-the-Ashes face
2 minute read Now is not the time to analyse. Now is the time to look at Joe Root’s losing-the-Ashes face. Oh, England have lost the Ashes, by the way. Don’t know if you’ve heard. Before we look at Joe Root’s losing-the-Ashes face, it’s worth pointing out that you have to be a
Continue readingEngland have (apparently) been lacking motivation
2 minute read The Ashes, you know, it’s hard to really get up for. Hard to get up at 5am or whatever and hard to get up in the ‘come on, let’s give it everything’ sense too. Or at least that’s the way England have been painting things. James Anderson said the tourists
Continue readingJoe Root crushes the ‘targeting’ cliché
< 1 minute read Joe Root has done many great things in international cricket. He launched England’s rebound in 2015 and kicked off the last Ashes with a magnificent hundred later the same summer. Now he’s shone a light on the fundamental bullshittery of ‘targeting’ the opposition’s captain/best batsman. “I’ve heard a lot of
Continue readingJoe Root sinks a few and then wanders off on his own
< 1 minute read If Joe Root’s going to try and lead by example, he might want to check whether anyone’s actually following him. If no-one does, then we’re afraid it’s just plain old ‘batting well’ – which is what he always used to do anyway. What kind of captaincy is that? If you’re
Continue readingA bit of advice for Joe Root
< 1 minute read If there’s one thing the England captain generally lacks, it’s advice from random members of the public. Fortunately for Joe Root, we are prepared to step in and fill that void. It’s a little-known fact that our critically-acclaimed Club Captain’s Handbook for All Out Cricket was originally penned as a
Continue readingJoe Root still struggling to get out in single figures
< 1 minute read When Joe Root made 254 against Pakistan earlier this year, there was much talk of how he’d cracked it; how he’d responded to the move to number three by adopting a newfound merciless approach. The responsibility of batting at three had firmed Root’s desire to eradicate errors and from now
Continue readingAt least Moeen Ali made 99 not out
< 1 minute read Imagine that today is exactly like today only Moeen Ali made a duck. There, you see – things could be slightly worse. This isn’t so much a ‘glass half full’ attitude as a ‘there’s still something in there, I’m sure – maybe if I tip the glass the right way
Continue readingAlex Hales’ disappointed face after being dismissed
< 1 minute read Yesterday Alastair Cook played far and away the most entertaining reverse sweeps and ramp shots we’ve ever seen. Proof, if it were needed, that context is everything. With 10,000 runs of back story, this was a proper plot twist. In contrast, Alex Hales’ daddy fifties are a new story. This
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