Tag: England

Cricket Top 10

Suresh Raina is a tentative player for Juicy Surfaces

By on September 13, 2016

Suresh Raina looks such a tentative player if he is confronted with a little juicy surface and fiery bowling.


On a flat deck, he is a different player altogether and seems to have all the shots in the book. But, as soon as some pace and bounce come along to challenge him, he looks awfully limited.

His game on the tough wickets is just not improving. He has been around in the circuit for 10 years now and still he is that flat deck player which he was when he had made his debut for India.

Seeing him bat gives the feeling at times that his problem has been more in the head than in the technique.

The way he just keeps jumping around his crease to try and develop new methods to counter the moving and bouncing ball, it seems he himself is acknowledging that his technique and defence are not good enough.

There is a good old theory in Cricket that you have to keep your head still while hitting the ball, but, it is just not possible to do that if your position in the crease is constantly changing.
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COOK HAILS BROAD

By on March 21, 2013

The captain of the England Cricket team, Alastair Cook, has hailed Stuart Broad for his brilliant bowling performance in the second test match against New Zealand.

Broad took 6 wickets in New Zealand’s first inning and because of his great bowling spell; the Kiwi team got all out on just 254 runs and had to follow on.

However, England didn’t manage to win the match because of the rain interruptions in the last two days. The last day was completely washed out.

Talking to the reporters after the match, Cook said, “It was nice to see Broady bowling in great rhythm. He bowled like that after a while. The pitch was a flat one and there was not much happening there for the fast bowlers. To dismiss the whole New Zealand team on just 254 on that sort of wicket was really a wonderful effort.”

“I think Jimmy Anderson also bowled pretty well. He was running into the wind which was very strong and he did a fine job bowling from that end.”

When asked about Nick Compton who scored his second consecutive hundred in the series, Cook said, “Nick has played a couple of great knocks in the series so far. His hundred in the last test match was an absolute gem and his hundred here was also extremely valuable for the team. He has certainly grown in confidence.”

When asked if he is disappointed that the rain interruptions didn’t let his side win the test match, Cook said, “It was definitely disappointing, but, that’s not in our hand. These things happen in cricket.”

“We are looking forward to the final test match. I hope that there will not be too many rain breaks in that match.”

The third test match between England and New Zealand will be played from 22nd to 26th March at Eden Park.

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Warne predicts England win

By on July 24, 2012

Former Australian leg spinner Shane Warne has predicted that England is going to win the upcoming series against South Africa by a healthy margin of 2-0. Warne said that South Africa is a very good team, but the England players are playing under their home conditions and they know how to play well under these conditions. Warne said that England team is in great form. The English players are confident and everyone in the team knows his role very well.

Warne also gave some tips to the England bowlers on where to bowl to the Proteas batsman. Warne advised the English bowlers to bowl wide outside the off stump to the South African captain Graeme Smith. As per Warne, Smith is not a strong driver of the bowl. So, he would struggle against the outside off stump deliveries. The English bowlers shouldn’t bowl on the pads of Smith; otherwise, they would be punished.

According to Warne, Jacques Kallis is not that good against the short deliveries. So, Warne advised the English captain Andrew Strauss to bring Stuart Broad into the attack as soon as Kallis comes to bat. Stuart Broad is very good at bowling the short balls. Also, Warne thinks that AB De Villiers is not that comfortable against the spinners. So, Graeme Swann should be brought into the attack as soon as De Villiers comes to bat. The champion leg spinner said that Hashim Amla is a stroke player. So, the English bowlers should frustrate him by keeping him quiet for some time.

Warne said that the English selectors have taken the right decision by replacing Jonny Bairstow with Ravi Bopara. He said that Bairstow was vulnerable against the short bowling and he would have struggled against the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. He said that Ravi is a talented player. But, sometimes due to bad luck and sometimes due to injury, he struggled to find a place in the side. Now, he has been given another chance and hopefully, he would make the most out of it.

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ARE ENGLAND THE BEST?

By on January 11, 2012

The England Cricket team, currently the number one side in Tests in the ICC Cricket Ratings, has the best blowing attack in the world, according to the captain of the side Andrew Strauss. According to the skipper, the contribution of the bowlers of the side in the team’s cause to reach the top cannot be undermined and he believes that they contributed as much as the batsmen, if not more to the cause. Strauss believes that in James Anderson and Stuart Broad, the side has by far the best bowling attack in world cricket at the moment and any other side would be envious as well as afraid of the pace attack.

Moreover, they get ample support from the likes of Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett, who has improved leaps and bounds in his game and this means that even if the frontline bowlers are not doing the job, the England Cricket team has plenty of options to turn to when there is the need for a few wickets or to check the runs. According to Strauss, not only these four bowlers, but also the backup bowlers in the form of Graeme Onions, Steven Finn provides a very good selection headache as far as the best XI is concerned.

Furthermore, in Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, the England Cricket team has two world class spinners who could turn a game on its head at any moment and this, according to Strauss, has been a major factor in England becoming the top ranked Test side in the world. The recent run of form that his bowlers are in is providing the England skipper with extreme confidence that they will be able to maintain their status as the top side for some time to come and with the bowling lineup like that, not many people would argue.

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