Openers lengthy innings against Sri Lanka shows he has the concentration some of Englands batsmen lacked in Australia
The use of euphemism is, or at least was, an important part of writing obituaries: didnt suffer fools gladly, for example, was a stock term applied to a cantankerous old sod that few cared for very much. Perhaps these days it would be called as it is. There is another phrase from a similar stable, and much used by cricket writers down the years, which describes a days cricket as one for the connoisseur. No need to embellish this any further, but for much of the second day of this Test, as England carefully established the foundations of what ought eventually to be a commanding total, the cricket would have had connoisseurs salivating.
This seemed like the longest day in more ways than one. Only in the latter stages, after tea, when England had their noses in front, did the overall run rate creep up beyond three runs per over, although by this time Sam Robson had registered his first Test century in his second match, and Ian Bell, 98 Test matches further down the line, was playing as silkily as ever. Bowlers, those in the dressing room that is to say, love days such as this.
Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 6 hours ago.
The use of euphemism is, or at least was, an important part of writing obituaries: didnt suffer fools gladly, for example, was a stock term applied to a cantankerous old sod that few cared for very much. Perhaps these days it would be called as it is. There is another phrase from a similar stable, and much used by cricket writers down the years, which describes a days cricket as one for the connoisseur. No need to embellish this any further, but for much of the second day of this Test, as England carefully established the foundations of what ought eventually to be a commanding total, the cricket would have had connoisseurs salivating.
This seemed like the longest day in more ways than one. Only in the latter stages, after tea, when England had their noses in front, did the overall run rate creep up beyond three runs per over, although by this time Sam Robson had registered his first Test century in his second match, and Ian Bell, 98 Test matches further down the line, was playing as silkily as ever. Bowlers, those in the dressing room that is to say, love days such as this.
Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 6 hours ago.