THE
Ben Jones analyses another distressing day for English Test batsmen. Why does this keep happening? Why do England keep collapsing? Why do England, a country with a surplus of white ball talent and a drought of red ball equivalents, fall so hard, so fast, so frequently? Why do England keep cracking open? They have been […]
Ben Jones analyses the most eye-catching of England’s Test selections. Jason Roy will open the batting for England in a Test match this week. It’s a selection which has the potential to excite and enthral the newly engaged British cricketing public, but which also has the potential to end with a whimper. England have gambled […]
Ben Jones analyses the delicate situation regarding an Indian legend. MS Dhoni has always done things a little differently. Most geniuses do. Often in sport, the ability of the true innovators is not to execute old plans better than those who’ve gone before them, but to spot a different way to play. Why leap higher […]
Ben Jones analyses the key head-to-heads for Sunday’s clash. This has been a tournament where the performance of the top order in the first innings has been enormously influential. In games where the side batting first has won, their opening partnership have averaged 71.17; in games where they have lost, it’s averaged 16.93. Scores have […]
Ben Jones analyses a fantastic opening spell. It was a day where everything came full circle. England were embarrassed in 2015, blown to smithereens by side after side as they collapsed and fell out of the tournament. They sat in their hotel rooms and watched Australia charge on to another world title. Today, they knocked […]
Ben Jones analyses the passage which turned the game From the last World Cup, to yesterday, nobody lost fewer wickets against the new ball than India. Their whole strategy was set-up so that, even in the worst case scenario, they wouldn’t lose a fatal amount of wickets in the first 10 overs. No side in […]
Ben Jones analyses a knock for the ages. Ravindra Jadeja walked up to the border between history, and just another day. He placed his hand on the glass. Nothing gave. *** When Ravindra Jadeja arrived at the crease today, the score was 92-6. India were in the mire. Their chances with WinViz were 3%. Just […]
Ben Jones analyses a remarkable run of form from the Indian opener. Rohit Sharma’s performance at this World Cup has been colossal. In just eight innings, he’s amassed 647 runs, runs of the highest class and elegance, against all the attacks the world can offer. On the biggest stage of all, he has delivered as […]
Ben Jones analyses two important innings for South Africa. South Africa’s World Cup campaign is over. It was over a while ago. This match, for the Proteas, wasn’t about what happens in the next week. Like the best sport, it represented far more than simply what was happening on this given day; for South African […]
Patrick Noone looks at India’s unorthodox talent There are not many batsmen in world cricket whose signature shot is the aerial flick over fine leg. There are not many left-handers who more or less totally eschew the off drive, preferring to play square on the off-side or to shuffle across and work to leg in […]
Between the click of the light / And the start of the dream. ‘No Cars Go’ – Arcade Fire *** England could be all but out of the World Cup by the end of today. They could be out of their home tournament, the first they have hosted in 20 years, before the knockout stages have […]
Ben Jones analyses one of the great World Cup campaigns. Bangladesh aren’t a one man band. They’re an orchestra. Everyone knows their job, their role, everyone has their moment to shine and their chance to step up. Everyone matters. But an orchestra needs a conductor. Even if you just look at his work with the […]
Ben Jones analyses England’s opening pair. At some point, it came to be known as a “Meet Cute”. That moment in a film where the two prettiest people on the poster accidentally reach for the same ‘Belle and Sebastian’ record, or drop the same JD Salinger book outside the university library. The two protagonists in […]
Ben Jones analyses another remarkable day for the Indian seamer. Play that. There was a moment today, where Jasprit Bumrah bowled a ball so good to Ben Stokes, that it made you stop. It made you catch your breath. It made you consider what a death delivery was supposed to be. Was it supposed to […]
CricViz analysts Freddie Wilde, Patrick Noone, and Ben Jones examine where Eoin Morgan’s side can get ahead. CricViz Analysis: How England can beat India England need to stay calm. Over the past four years, Eoin Morgan has made a lot about England’s approach to the game being a “brand” of cricket, or to use a […]
As the Southern hemisphere rivals go head-to-head in the World Cup once again, Patrick Noone looks back on their last group match encounter: a thriller at Eden Park. When New Zealand took on Australia at Eden Park in Auckland in the group stage of 2015 World Cup, the pre-match discussion was largely centred around the […]
Patrick Noone analyses the six balls that clinched the game for India at Old Trafford Sport is about moments. The moments that define matches, tournaments, even careers. We talk about ‘big game players’ who routinely step up and deliver such moments to seize the initiative, change the course of a match or make the crucial […]
Ben Jones analyses the knock of the tournament from a Pakistan star. Trust Babar Azam. Pakistan needed a hero today. It might not have looked like it by the end, as they won by an apparently comfortable six wickets. It might not have felt like it when they had the ball in hand, and New […]
Ben Jones looks at what England and Australia can expect tomorrow. ‘The Home of Cricket’ isn’t the best name for Lord’s. A home should be somewhere where you feel comfortable, where you feel able to relax – for good or for bad, Lord’s is not relaxing. It’s a place as awash with tradition and ceremony […]
Patrick Noone looks at how the New Zealand captain has quietly gone about his business on his way to successive World Cup centuries. Kane Williamson is not an obvious modern-day batting superstar. He doesn’t possess the power of Andre Russell, the swagger of Virat Kohli or the innovation of Glenn Maxwell. He is an old-fashioned […]
