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Category Archives: England
Ripeness Is All
Relentlessly, the English medium-fast bowler James Anderson is climbing the list of all-time wicket takers (in Test cricket). At the time of this writing, he’s placed fifth (with 544), a mere 19 wickets below the great Australian quick Glenn McGrath, … Continue reading
The Thousandth Test
On March 15 1877, Charles Bannerman and Nat Thomson strode out to open the batting for Australia at Melbourne against an England team, in what is generally acknowledged to be the first “Test” match—a cricket game of two innings each … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, India, One-Day Cricket, Stadiums, T20 Cricket, Test Cricket
Tagged Alastair Cook, Charles Bannerman, Joe Root, Keaton Jennings, Ned Thomson, Virat Kohli
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A Memoir of Teenage Obsession and Terrible Cricket
A mere 48 hours away at this writing is the 75th anniversary of the start of Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. How the Yankee Clipper came to accomplish it puzzles the will. I have no intention of soliloquizing: What more … Continue reading
Annus Mirabilis 1869: Year of the Rain Out
On July 23, 1866, the Cincinnati Red Stockings were organized, and from 1867 to 1870 their record was 175 wins, 15 losses, 1 draw. Base-ball, to that time, had been “a Gentleman’s game”: even if the Reds beat everyone’s brains … Continue reading
Great Stadiums (9): PPC Newlands
I (Evander) suspect—tho my suspicions may be nugatory—that readers of this blog will be hearing more about this one, in Cape Town, before we’re very far into the new year 2016. I was once again blown away by a cricket … Continue reading
Posted in Cricket, England, Right Off the Bat Website, South Africa, Yankees
Tagged Cricket
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Cricket Comes to Citi Field Revisited
The crepuscule of early November settles in Citi Field. The World Series is over, tho there are still faded signs stenciled outside the first-and-third-base lines proclaiming it. The mound has been flattened and covered, and there is a mostly dirt … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, India, Pakistan, Right Off the Bat Book, Right Off the Bat Website, South Africa, Sri Lanka, T20 Cricket, West Indies
Tagged Babe Ruth, Citi Field, Gil Hodges, Literature, Lou Gehrig, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ricky Ponting, rounders, Sachin Tendulkar, Shaun Pollock, sir curtly ambrose, Tom Seaver, World Series
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Kumar—Cricket’s Great Hope
Cricket may be losing a player of a generation, but it could be gaining one of its great administrators. Numbers do not lie. He was right up there with all the plaudits, marching proudly with the greats of any era. … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, India, Sri Lanka
Tagged Bishan Bedi, Cricket, Harbhajan Singh, ICC, Kapil Dev, Kumar Sangakkara, MCC, Rahul Dravid
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A Singed Phoenix
To England fans of many years (such as Martin), the team’s 3–2 victory over the Australians in the 2015 Ashes bears all the hallmarks of a very English success story—partial, inconsistent, worryingly incomplete: the eggiest of curate’s eggs. All the narratives proclaiming a resurgence … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Test Cricket, West Indies
Tagged Alastair Cook, Brendon McCullum, Ian Bell, Johnny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Kevin Pietersen, The Ashes, World Cup
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A Rise from the Ashes
One of the reasons why sport engrosses large panoply of the society is that it mirrors life. People can pick an image of themselves, a person who they think represents them and what they stand for in life and then … Continue reading
The Inside Scoop
Now that I (Martin) have turned fifty, my doctor has advised me to get a colonoscopy, and dutifully I have scheduled one for later in August. At a pre-operation, getting-to-know-you meeting, my surgeon, a dapper gentleman by the name of … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, Pakistan, Test Cricket
Tagged Kevin Pietersen, Shahid Afridi, The Ashes
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Right Off the Bat 