Ahead of tomorrow’s third and final Test, the conjecture surrounding England’s team selection is mostly focussed on whether Adil Rashid will come into the side to offer a second spinner, or whether Jonathan Trott may see his return at the top of the order cut short. These positions are rightly being debated; I would not…
After a scintillating final afternoon from Jimmy Anderson and his teammates to pull of a remarkable victory in the Second Test in Grenada, England head over to Barbados with their tails up ahead of the final Test of the series. With a 1-0 lead, England know that simply avoiding defeat at the Kensington Oval will…
Although it has made few headlines here in the UK, Bangladesh’s recent upturn in fortunes is uplifting news for the world of cricket. Their recent 3-0 ODI series triumph over Pakistan is the third occasion they have been on the right side of an ODI series whitewash in the past 18 months. But it is…
This will be the final short post for a little while. Hopefully I will be able to start posting some lengthier and more in depth pieces over the coming weeks. This is all down to the fact that I have finally submitted my university dissertation. A 41-page epic on the Russian Gulag… thanks for asking!…
Sorry for the lack of meaningful posts at the moment, but with my dissertation deadline looming it is pretty hard to find the time to put anything together. All I can say is how nice it is to have county cricket back. I find the commentaries the perfect background noise for doing work too, and…
Just a short post today. As I watch England stroll to what should be a routine victory over the West Indies, i’m pretty knackered. After not bowling a single delivery or facing a single ball since last August, I finally managed to fit in a game of cricket today. And god was it cold! But…
In an age where cricketers, and sportsmen in general, are lambasted for being boring, lacking character, and being entirely mundane in interviews, just why are people criticising West Indies cricketer Marlon Samuels? After slapping a long-hop from West Indies leggie Devendra Bishoo straight into the hands of Jermaine Blackwood on the mid-wicket boundary, Ben Stokes…
A rare swerve from cricket, and indeed sport altogether, for todays post. As someone who takes a keen interest in pretty much all the facets of the news, one particular story stood out for me this morning. It seems that Channel 4 news anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy has caused the ire of yet another Hollywood A-lister.…
It was a truncated days play in Grenada yesterday, after some very un-Caribbean weather delayed the start of the second Test by nearly two hours. When the teams did finally get on the pitch, it was all a bit odd. There was swing, there were wickets, there were few runs, but England didn’t really bowl…
Slight cheat today, but here’s the link to my report on day 3 of the Championship match between Glamorgan and Surrey for Deep Extra Cover http://deepextracover.com/2015/04/meschede-ton-saving-grace-for-glamorgan/
Just a few days after the completion of what was an exciting and tiring Test match in Antigua, England and West Indies lock horns once again. This time the venue will be the international stadium in Grenada. Early reports are that the pitch looks similar to Antigua, and the question of how to conjure up…
Okay, so I’m not actually still in the West Indies, but I feel like I should round things off now I’m back in the UK. The flight home was comfortable enough, but boy did it drag. It’s Sunday evening now, or at least I think it is, it’s so hard to tell when I haven’t…
As today is a travelling day, just a small blog from me today. It’s only 6am here in Antigua, but realistically this is the only guaranteed wi-if I’ll get until I’m home on Sunday afternoon, hence the early post. So there isn’t a great deal to say, except that it’s going to be a…
What a Test match that was. Although it wasn’t the ideal result from my one-eyed English point of view, the match itself was still alive as a contest right down until the final over of the fifth day. In terms of Test match viewing, it is hard to demand more than that. I shan’t elaborate…
Today was a blisteringly hot day at the cricket. However, it started out looking for from auspicious on the weather front. Breakfast was eaten in the face of torrential rain hammering down from all sides of the open dining area. Thankfully the weather abated in time for Joe Root and Gary Ballance to continue their…
Today’s events unfolded a little differently than I expected they would first thing this morning. Off we set as per usual for the Sir Viv Richards Stadium at 8:30 on ‘Pearly’s Fun Bus’, but after the first session I fancied a bit of a change. The cricket was okay, but it was clear that the…
It’s day 8 here in the Caribbean, and today is the first time that this blog will focus solely on the cricket for this trip. To be honest, England were pretty limp this morning. Collapsing from 341/5 to 399 all out was certainly not in England’s or their travelling supporters thoughts overnight. Ben Stokes fell…
After nearly a week over here in the Caribbean, it was time for the serious business to begin. Today was the first day of the first Test between England and the West Indies. I won’t bore you all with a match report, you’ll either have already read many, or not be interested at all I’m…
If England can prolong their first Test with the West Indies into a final day, this will have been my only full non-cricket day on the island of Antigua. After my day out and about the island, I can firmly say that I prefer it to Barbados. Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed Barbados, this island has…
Today was mostly a travel day for us, and making our way from Barbados to Antigua was not as straightforward as you may believe. After a final huge breakfast at our Bridgetown hotel, we set out for the airport to make our way to Antigua. The flight we were booked onto was an Air Liat…
Jack Vittles 