I must admit there was a part of me that was disappointed to see Alastair Cook put on 147 runs in his final innings as an England cricketer earlier this month. This disappointment was purely selfish; I wanted to be able to say that I had witnessed Cook’s last ever Test century on English soil […]
Think back to 1 March 2006. Tony Blair was still Prime Minister, Madonna was top of the UK singles charts and Jose Mourinho was still being called ‘The Special One’ as he led Chelsea to a second successive Premier League title. Far away, in the depths of Nagpur, India, Alastair Cook walked to the crease […]
Are captains born or made? In Graeme Smith’s case, it would appear to be the former. Captain of South African Cricket at a tender 22, he led his Proteas side for 12 years, notching up more wins than any other captain in cricketing history. What does he have to do with English cricket? As Alastair […]
Alastair Cook is no stranger to criticism of his captaincy. Ever since taking the reins of the England Test team, Cook has been widely maligned for his allegedly overly conservative on-field tactical decisions and the lack of inspired brilliance that the likes of MS Dhoni and Brendon McCullum have brought to Test cricket captaincy in […]
As cricketing summers go, England have not had a bad one. Convincing wins over Sri Lanka in both the Test and ODI series were followed up by an enthralling drawn Test series against Pakistan and a crushing ODI victory over the same opposition. While the ignominious loss in the final T20 match of the summer […]
Incoming ECB chairman Colin Graves has already kicked up quite a fuss, despite his role not officially starting until May, 15. In several interviews, Graves has indicated the direction he wishes to take English cricket, including promises of a systematic review of English cricket from club level all the way up to the international sides […]