Politics and Cricket

We are all building up to a General Election here in the UK on June 8th. However, politics and cricketers do not always go hand in hand. To most cricketers, T. May was Shane Warne's spin twin on the 1993 Australia tour of England whilst most players are more au fait with Jeremy Coney than Jeremy Corbyn. Saying that, the pacifist Labour leader probably still has more venom in his bowling than the Kiwi ever did, although I have to question if the current Conservative leader has modelled her hairstyle from Coney's team mate, Ian Smith. There are one or two exceptions to the non political cricketers though and here are a few that have made the transition from their whites to the blues and reds.

Jeremy Coney

County Champo Div 2 Preview

Here it is with part 2...Division Two of the County Championship looks an interesting league this year with a couple of the big boys in Notts and Durham coming down. Some sides down here have serious potential whilst others have the budget of the Greek Finance Minister. With a ten team division it looks as if there will be plenty of spills and thrills this summer in the lower league. As usual, don't come crying to us if your bets go wrong on our advice and your children get an orange this Christmas. Here is our Division Two preview...

Title for Trent Bridge?

County Champo Div 1 Preview

It's nearly here. Like a kid at Christmas, the eve of the County Championship is an exciting time for us cricket badgers. I personally love this competition. For me, it is one of the best in sport. With 25% of the sides getting relegated this year, it promises to be tighter than a Yorkshireman at the bar. Here are the predictions for this year. As usual, I hold no responsibility should this go tits up and you have gambled away your nest egg. Here are the runners and riders for Division One...

TRJ clinches the title for Middlesex in 2016

The Cricketer's Daughter

Apologies I haven't written for a while...a new job has been keeping me out of mischief. However my daughter had to write something for a University assignment, so she wrote this about growing up in a cricket club. It's a great piece and encapsulates what cricket clubs up and down the land are about; a sense of community, of being part of something and the cricket family. Have a read...

Bec as a 4 year old...why do kids like flipping the top of pads?

Flat Track Bullies

"It's a batsman's game" so the old saying goes but having a look around the world, it really is starting to look that way. 400 is the new 300 in One Day Cricket, scores of 200 aren't safe in T20 cricket and we even saw a 223 chased down recently in the Big Bash. But is it all becoming a bit boring? Is cricket in danger of killing the goose that is laying the golden egg? Bigger bats, tracks as flat as the lager served up at Lord's and boundaries that make the KwikCricket kids ones look big at times are all part of the reason. But are we getting a bit bored of it all?

The Big Bash and all that razzamatazz

Silly Points

The Modern Day Dream

When I was a kid it was my ambition to play cricket for England. Sadly, I wasn't good enough. The dream of pulling on those three Lions is replicated around the world. The Baggy Green of Australia, the Maroon of the West Indies, or the Protea of South Africa will be the ultimate goal to thousands of children in their respective countries. Yet the modern day player seems to be putting money before the jersey and I find it sad that the innocence of the childhood dream is being taken away; not to mention the opportunities for home grown youngsters.

Kyle Abbott

Ones to watch in 2017

OK so you know the drill by now. Each year on New Year's Day, we pick the up and coming youngsters who will be ones to watch over the coming year. Like Wisden, previous players mentioned will not be on these pages, although Wisden and the Middle Stump are rarely spoken about in the same sentence. Some of our previous mentions have made it - Haseeb Hameed, Ben Duckett and others have graced this column previously, whilst some fall by the wayside - that's the nature of professional sport. Anyway, read on and see which ones we think will go much further in the game.

Hameed...one of our ones to watch in previous years

Review of the 5th Test in India

Right, I've got the raging Ivana, as we say in North London. England finished off this shambles of a tour with a shambles of a performance. The last hour was a disgrace. It was a dereliction of duty. This Test summed up England's tour - chasing leather for much of it, clueless on how to take wickets and yet again, negative, turgid cricket from Bayliss and Cook followed by a meek surrender to a spinner. Unless your name is Karun Nair, the following will make grim reading as this was probably the most boring Test I have seen for a while on a surface that made Mother Teresa look aggressive. We still managed to get bowled out twice on it though. This is the review of the 5th Test from Chennai...

M.A Chindambaram Stadium

Go Selecta

England have lost the series. It's 3-0 at present and soon to be 4-0. Stranger things have happened but I am expecting as much out of Chennai as Stevie Wonder's eye. Visionary? Not if you are an England selector. This tour has been a shambles from the moment that the party was picked. The Lions aren't much better to be honest and I get emails and tweets on a daily basis that certain counties' players are overlooked. The authors may well have a point. The County Championship is sponsored by Specsavers; apt, as there has been some myopic thinking on this tour. If the selectors aren't doing their job then is it time for them to go?

Whitaker...under pressure