Wednesday, February 17, 2010
“I fear a bit for England’s bowling in Australia. We’ve got Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Graham Onions and Ryan Sidebottom, but beyond that I’m not sure” – Never fear, cricket fans, because Steve Harmison could soon be along to sort that shower out. What a relief!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
“It’s a lack of respect for Test cricket. It’s disappointing that the captain of England decides to have a rest from a Test series, I can’t comprehend that… I hope they are not taking Bangladesh too easy because they can be quite strong” – watch out folks, here’s Shane Warne back at his post, fighting the Ashes air war on Ricky Ponting’s behalf. Stand by your beds!
“You don’t have to be close to me, I’d tell a complete stranger that. If you spoke to Ian Botham, he’d love to play Tests tomorrow. However, I’ve retired” – Fred says he’s really not coming back for the Ashes.
“I didn’t get bowled, but I did not exactly cover myself with glory either” – Prince William, touring Australia, finds himself in an impromptu cricket match with Brett Lee, Matthew Hayden and a number of small children.
That’s possibly good enough. What does he have pencilled in for December?
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
“England’s players are like the planets of an orrery: when one is passing close to the sun and in decent nick, another will inevitably be orbiting on the dark side and struggling for form – and so the cycle continues with each passing series. The planets will need to be perfectly aligned against the Aussies, or England could get buried” – Ben Dirs reflects on the series for BBC sport.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
“The reason [cricket in England is] thriving and healthy is that we’ve been able to invest in facilities and in coaches. Sport England’s ethos is ’sustain and grow’. You cannot sustain without investment. We should be saying that we have a proud track record over the last few years of investing in our community sport, our women’s cricket, our disabilities cricket has made huge strides. Our investment in facilities through the county clubs has been fantastic.” – ECB chief executive David Collier puts the case against making The Ashes a protected event that must be freely available to TV viewers.
“It says a lot about him that 35 of his 53 wickets were batsmen in the top six, so he gets top-order batsmen out with the new ball. He is his own person and doesn’t get too analytical about his action, which is a nice, high, strong action. He just likes to talk to other bowlers about bowling. If he does err, he doesn’t spray down the leg-side – he tends to drop a bit shorter. But you can’t be too critical of someone who has taken on such a workload at such a young age” – Middlesex directory of cricket Angus Fraser on the county’s basketball player turned fast bowler Steve Finn, 20, already tipped as a star of the next Ashes. No pressure, lad.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
“I know we have only just finished an Ashes series in England but I also know that the Aussie players – and Australian cricket in general – are already thinking about the Ashes series down under which starts in just over 12 months. Australia has a very good Ashes record at home and I’m hopeful that will continue next summer and we can bring the urn back to Australia” – Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland, understandably keen to get on with things, after the dates of the next Ashes series were announced.
Cricket Blips: England feed