Category Archives: Star columnists
Simon Hughes: Heat is on England in Sri Lanka
The alarming tale of the Bolton footballer Fabrice Muamba who collapsed on the field against Tottenham prompts two immediate thoughts. One, the memory of a cricketing colleague of mine who suffered a number of similar heart seizures and whose premature … Continue reading
Posted in Featured Articles, Opinion, OpinionAlerts, Simon Hughes
Tagged England, Simon Hughes, Sri Lanka, wilf slack
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Martin Johnson: The meerkat solution to watching England
A whitewash in the Test series, and a whitewash in the ODIs. Just what we all predicted for the winter showdown with Pakistan, and only a nitpicker or a pedant would be churlish enough to point out that the hacks … Continue reading
Posted in Featured Articles, Martin Johnson, Opinion, OpinionAlerts
Tagged ashes, England, Martin Johnson, Pakistan
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Simon Hughes: Experience the key one-day ingredient
If you doubt the value of experience in one-day international cricket, just look at England. They depended hugely on Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen in their extraordinary 4-0 triumph in the one-day series. Not only had these two played a … Continue reading
Martin Johnson: Big Bob untouchable as man of the series
It was, by anyone’s standards, a bit of a disaster, and the post mortems, inquests and soul searching would have gone on for quite some time after England’s Test series hammering by Pakistan. How awful was that? Who’s to blame? … Continue reading
Posted in Martin Johnson, Opinion, OpinionAlerts
Tagged bob willis, England, Martin Johnson, Pakistan
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Simon Hughes: The mental torment of Saeed Ajmal
The threat posed by Saeed Ajmal and his spinning assistants is, when combined with a dusty, low bouncing pitch and the Decision Review System, as big as that of the conveyor belt of tall West indies fast bowlers in the … Continue reading
Posted in England, Featured Articles, Opinion, OpinionAlerts, Pakistan, Simon Hughes
Tagged England, Pakistan, saeed ajmal, Simon Hughes
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Vic Marks: Cricket in Dubai better than its backdrop
As a newcomer to Dubai it has been a surreal experience just getting to the cricket stadium in the middle of what was so recently the desert. There is still plenty of sand around, though now it swirls around all … Continue reading
CMJ: Strauss must be wary of resurgent Pakistan
It would be all too easy for England, trying not to bask too indulgently in their status as officially the best Test team in the world, to slip up in either Dubai or Abu Dhabi over the next few weeks. … Continue reading
Simon Hughes: It’s been a good year for the bowlers
It has been a good year for bowlers. In Test cricket the fast men have been taking their wickets more cheaply than in the past few seasons, and despite the retirement of those two great wicket-thiefs of the last decade … Continue reading
Posted in Featured Articles, Opinion, OpinionAlerts, Simon Hughes
Tagged England, odi, Simon Hughes, Test cricket, UAE
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Jonathan Agnew: England’s No 1 challenge for 2012
As we approach 2012, and the start of a hectic twelve months for the England team early in the New Year, there is one major challenge facing Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower: to stay on top of the Test match … Continue reading
Posted in England, Featured Articles, Jonathan Agnew, Opinion, OpinionAlerts
Tagged Andrew Strauss, andy flower, England, jonathan agnew
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CMJ: Well-being of cricket should be Morgan’s priority
One should always be prepared to offer an alternative when criticising cricket administrators who invariably have the game’s best interests at heart but all too often give way to mis-placed priorities. This, therefore, is what I suggested to David Morgan when … Continue reading