England Deserve to Lose It All

There was a time where it was fun to root for England, namely when they went about toppling the unbeatable Australians in 2005. The underdogs beating the Aussies at their own game playing with aggressive swagger and style.  It was great.

But that was nearly a decade ago. The so called English dominance of test cricket, brief as it was, is going through a painfully slow death where they can no longer play Ishant Sharma. 

And they absolutely deserve it.

lol

There is a difference between the once great Australia and the once "great" England.  Australia were ridiculously good and they knew it, they could field three cricket teams who could blow apart anybody that dared to turn up. One would scream out for those precious moments when another team actually got the better of them (the aforementioned Ashes 2005, a prime example).

Does England have players to call upon if injury strikes?

Injury concerns involving England skipper Alastair Cook and seamer Stuart Broad, although unlikely to keep them both out of the series, have raised the question of the quality of the back up players in the England side. With the series being the second half of two consecutive Ashes series, it is likely that injuries and rotation will play a considerable role which could have an impact on the end result. It is therefore more important than ever to have strength and depth in the squad.

England’s bowling unit is strong, the stand out performers of Broad and Anderson being well supported by Finn, Rankin and Tremlett. All tall, all fast and I have no issues with any of them making the starting eleven. Tremlett has proven himself before, having a successful tour of Australia in the 2011 series. It’s always a worry when a fast bowler has a career threatening injury, but Tremlett looks to have come back fitter and stronger, ready to play. Steven Finn, still young and learning his game, is a threatening fast bowler, even though he

The Ashes Story - From A Punch to Piss

The oldest cricketing rivalry for probably the smallest sporting trophy. England & Australia lined up to contest the first of the two Ashes contests this season. A short summary of what an Indian fan saw in passing of the Ashes. 

It all began with a punch. As is rightly said - "Nothing good happens after two in the night". David Warner threw a punch at Joe Root in a bar during the Champions Trophy . No one got hurt. But the impact was felt later. Warner was dispatched to SA - a very appropriate punishment, steeped in tradition and reminiscent of the colonial times. The coach got fired. New fellows were added to the touring party as replacements. In short, an Australian camp in total disarray just days before the start of the series. On the other hand England became the runners-up Champions of the Champions Trophy.

The Team of Contradictions

I love the current English Cricket Team for its inherent contradictions.

The thinnest guy in the team is called Broad;

The ugliest guy is called Swann;

The slowest fielder is Trott;

The guy who is 'behind' the stumps is called Prior;

The guy whose father's name is John is called Peter-son;

And the guy who is named Monty goes in with his clothes on.

No doubt, this cricket team deserves to be led by a Cook.

Akashdeep Agarwal for DieHard Cricket Fans

For The Love Of The Game – A Short Story

It was the incessant ringing of the door-bell that woke him up. Groggily, the old man checked the time on the wall clock above his television set and was surprised that his friend had arrived much earlier than expected. Slightly annoyed, he got up from his rocking chair and switched off the TV, even as the door-bell continued to ring. “I’m coming!” he shouted grumpily. Muttering to himself, he ambled to the front door and opened it.

“Hello Grandpa. Hope I am not disturbing you.”

For a moment, the old man didn't know how to respond. After all, it was not often that his teenage grandson came around to visit him; but there he was, standing at his door step with an almost forlorn expression on his face.

“Of course not, kid. Come on in”. The old man moved aside and let the teenager trudge in to the living room. Even as he tried to gather his thoughts, wondering what the reasons for the unexpected visit could be, the teenager flopped on a near-by sofa and asked for a glass of water.

Fetching the glass of water, the old man handed it over to the boy, who gulped it down in a flash.

Shifting uncomfortably, the old man asked, “So, what’s the matter, kid? You look upset.”

Rotation; Why Not?

When I was a lad, plying my trade in the Jersey Under 15's football league, I was a reliable left back for my home Parish, Grouville. In the spring of 1995, we went on a cup run that took us to a prestigious final at Jersey's answer to Wembley; Springfield Stadium.
 
I was as excited as an England fast bowler, marking out his run up against a West Indies middle order batsman, but my cup final dream was to turn into a nightmare. Martin Roberts, a nippy left winger, nippier than me anyway, had forced his way into the reckoning and Robbo, our coach, looking for more attacking flare in the final, delivered the news I dreaded just an hour before kick-off:
 
"Marty' starts, sorry Tom!"
 
This of course was before terms like "rotation" and "managing your resources" we're part of sporting vernacular, this was simply a question of who was the best player, and I lost out. Boo Hoo!

Shiv the Selfish, Really?

And so England's international cricketing summer is up and running, with the West Indies facing the best test team in the world at the Home of Cricket this week. The weather has been decidedly moist in England over the past few weeks but remarkably it stayed dry for whole of the first day at Lords, and a packed house was treated to some fine cricket. Jimmy Anderson, proclaimed the ECB player of the year earlier this week dominated early on with the ball, teeing Kieron Powell up with a textbook out-swing, in-swing combination, before some nice stroke play from Barath and the hyperbole-drenched Darren Bravo - who was relentlessly compared to one Brian Charles Lara all day on Twitter - steadied the ship before lunch.