Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 57 i Wisden Cricket Monthly

“Genius attaches itself to outlandish showmanship more commonly than the endless repetition of near perfection. Watching Root through the last 12 months, I wonder if the definition is rather too narrow I’d forgotten how much pleasure this game can give me. And I’m talking, by the way, about deep, genuine joy, not some sugary jolt of gratification before the next thing. Why this time, though? Why this game, why now? I’ve seen loads of decent season pipe-openers, and more than a few finishes on a Sunday morning under dreary skies, which have left me cold. This year I didn’t even go to Lord’s. Other stuff, like this magazine right here, got in the way. So I followed that final hour just like everyone else, rapt and peculiarly emotional. It wasn’t…

Wisden Cricket Monthly columnist, UK editor of ESPNcricinfo and former editor of The Cricketer @miller_cricket On the eve of a potentially dicey run-chase in the first Test at Lord’s, Stuart Broad declared that he’d be going out for dinner for his fiancee’s birthday and shelving all thoughts of batting heroics. It’s unknown whether he asked the chef to rustle up a “mung bean curry with spinach” or a “piri-piri breaded tofu with tomato salsa”. But seeing as his captain, Ben Stokes, celebrated his own birthday that same night with a “couple of beers”, it’s safe to presume he could have got away with a steak, chips and a glass of good red. Those menu choices, in case they ring any distant alarm bells, formed part of an 82-page dietary document,…

Australian writer and broadcaster @GeoffLemonSport If there were one way to remember Andrew Symonds the international player, it should be in the field. We could talk about the breakthrough century to start a World Cup, the emergence of a Test batter, 165 multiskilled wickets for his country. But before these stages of evolution, right from his 50-over beginnings in the twilight of the 1990s, there was Symonds staking ownership of a green expanse of turf, making the third and often disregarded discipline of the game into his first, a primary bowstring that forced a reconsideration of what constituted an all-rounder. Australia didn’t have cricketers built like rugby players. Not his kind of big. There were long lanky fast bowlers extruded from pasta machines in a confusion of limbs, or tall…

ISSUE 57 July 2022 Cricket is a sport that straddles the divide between team and individual. For the most part, selfishness benefits the greater good, and personal success generally contributes to the team cause. This is part of its beauty, not least because it allows those who play it to boast about how great they are behind the veil of boosting their teammates. Enter Rikki Clarke, 22 England caps, less than nine months on from his final professional game, making it known that he had smashed 229 at better than two runs a ball in the sixth tier of Hampshire club cricket by tweeting out a screenshotted scorecard with the simple caption: “Love playing with these lads”. All hell broke loose. “Did I know what I was doing? Yes, ”…

Derbyshire NEXT MATCHES: Yorks, T20 (H), June 18; Birmingham, T20 (A), June 19; Northants, T20 (H), June 21; Notts, T20 (A), June 23; Lancs, T20 (H), June 24; Sussex, CC (A), June 26-29; India, T20 (H), July 1; Durham, T20 (H), July 3; Durham, CC (A), July 11-14 Lakmal loss is Hayden’s gain The disappointing news that Sri Lankan seamer Suranga Lakmal will miss the rest of the season with an elbow injury has been offset by the arrival of Australian all-rounder Hayden Kerr. Kerr, a 25-year-old left-arm pace bowler who is considered an emerging T20 star, will be available across all formats until September. He excelled in Sydney Sixers’ recent run to the Big Bash final, scooping his team’s Player of the Tournament award after claiming 25 wickets and…

An alternative prize will be provided if the winner is aged under 18, or if requested LETTER OF THE MONTH Get well soon, Jofra The news of Jofra Archer’s season-ending injury comes as a huge blow to England, and to all supporters of the game of cricket. In full flow he is a wonderful sight and I only hope we get many more opportunities to see him play at international level. It’s funny (or perhaps not so funny) to think of the criticism he received early in his Test career from some quarters. After a handful of matches he was still finding his way but people were too impatient and critical. The effect on Archer’s confidence was visible. Now it feels very much a case of not knowing what you’ve…

Wisden Cricket Monthly editor-in-chief @Phil_Wisden “Sorry’ hold on a minute, ” says Garry Sapsford, momentarily breaking off from our conversation, the voice turning muffled down the phone line. “GEORGE MORGAN! Do you need a slip?!” It’s become apparent that a slip may not be what George Morgan needs. “Sorry. They do love a slip. Yeah, I was saying. You’ve got to have passion for your subject, else you’ll get nowhere.” Sapsford is one of those people who you’ve probably never heard of who does quietly monumental work in the margins of developmental cricket. 1 first got wind of him when I interviewed Mady Villiers, the England Women’s cricketer, a couple of years ago. Sapsford had been her PE teacher at Shenfield High School, a central-Essex state school, and Villiers couldn’t…

“When Root made his maiden Test hundred in Leeds, he sent Gaywood a print of the celebration, inscribed with: “Thanks for turning all my threes into ones” It’s May 13, 2006 and the 15-year-old Joe Root scores 7 on first-team debut for Sheffield Collegiate CC, while opening partner Nick Gaywood, the 43-year-old former cricket master at Worksop College, cuffs 80. Two years later, Root is back at Abbeydale for the Yorkshire Academy league side, playing against his dad, this time making 8. Gaywood biffs 168. Fast forward two years, Root, still a teenager, is back in the Sheffield Collegiate team, amassing 643 runs at 43 to finish 11th in the Yorkshire Premier League (YPL) averages. Gaywood, by this time 47, makes 946 runs at 52.55, finishes third in the averages,…

Tales & treasures from cricket’s glorious past The Oval, August 12 17,1976 West Indies 687-8dec (Richards 291, Lloyd 84; Underwood 3-165) & 182 Odec (Fredericks 86*, Greenidge 85*) v England 435 (Amiss 203, Knott 50; Holding 8 92) & 203 (Knott 57; Holding 6-57) West Indies won by 231 runs Michael Holding in 1976 was one of the great pieces of fast bowling in the history of the game. It’s a source of great pride that I’m associated in some small way with what he did that week at The Oval. It was such a good wicket, so Mikey bowled full at the stumps to take the pitch out of the equation. The greatest were always the blokes who could pitch it up and move it around, and that was…

England’s Joe Root-inspired victory at Lord’s emerged from a familiar first-innings batting wreckage, when they slumped from 59-0 to 141 all out. It was the 14th time they have lost all 10 wickets for fewer than 120 runs in 54 Tests since March 2018, when they speed-subsided to 58 all out in Auckland. They had suffered 14 all-10-for-under-120 collapses in their previous 116 matches, and, even in the notoriously unfruitful 14 years from 1984 to 1997 inclusive, just 14 such megaslumps in 146 Tests. New Zealand nonetheless pulled off the rare feat of outcollapsing England. The Kiwis’ sixth first-innings wicket fell at 36, making them the 14th team, when batting first in the first Test, to begin a series by losing their first six wickets for fewer than 50 runs…

Former England batter and current Middlesex batting coach @MarkRamprakash The make-up of England’s batting order was a point of contention leading into the first Test of the summer, and the victory over New Zealand at Lord’s shouldn’t mask the problems they still need to solve. When I was involved with England as a coach Joe Root maintained that he wanted to bat four, and I backed that call because he was captain, and I felt that was the right decision for the team. It’s really important that as captain your personal game is successful, because if it isn’t then to some degree your leadership is undermined. However, Root is no longer captain and I cannot for the life of me understand why he’s gone back to No.4 having batted at…

1 Gujarat Lions won the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League, beating Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets to take their first title. Gujarat’s Hardik Pandya was named Player of the Match after claiming 3-17 including the key wicket of Jos Buttler. Buttler finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer, making four centuries in 17 innings. 2 South Africa batter Zubayr Hamza has been suspended from cricket for nine months after testing positive for a banned heart medication he claims he took by accident. The 26-year-old said he intended to take his own medication, but mistakenly took his father’s. The ICC accepted his explanation and gave him a shorter ban as a result. 3 Amy Satterthwaite has retired from international cricket after surprisingly being overlooked for a contract by New…

Wisden staff writer @Jimbo_Cricket The first thing you notice is the voice. An instantly familiar sing-song of lilting antipodean, warm but with a hint of mischief. Jeremy Coney greets WCM in the lobby of a hotel in St John’s Wood, across the road from Lord’s. Before we’ve even threatened to sit down Coney is already loosening the brakes, veering away into a story, the marble floors and velvet plumes sparking a memory about the iconic New Zealand side of the Eighties doing a spot of orienteering around a hotel lobby while on tour in Sri Lanka. “These poor tourists would arrive to check-in only to be greeted by 15 hulking Kiwis, climbing the curtain rails and charging through reception. ‘Have ya seen a letter E?!’ they’d bellow at the poor…

Musician, author and co-host of the Tailenders podcast @felixwhite Lord’s Cricket Ground, London Tuesday, May 31, 2022 It’s two days before the first Test of the English summer. The England squad have been in the nets, moving to the indoor school due to rain. Across the wide expanse of sloped green, a handful of players shuttle back to the pavilion, bags on backs, light-blue tracksuits on, walking past the covered pitch. Two of them are the new captain and coach, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. They cut oddly anonymous figures off in the distance. For some reason Lord’s looms largest when empty, making miniscule even men that have their own chapter in its story. Jimmy Anderson is not in his training gear. He’s already changed into a green jacket and…

1. Herbert Sutcliffe, Yorkshire 60.73 from 54 matches, 16 hundreds 2. Eddie Paynter, Lancashire 59.23 from 20 matches, 4 hundreds 3. Ken Barrington, Surrey 58.67 from 82 matches, 20 hundreds 4. Wally Hammond, Gloucestershire 58.45 from 85 matches, 22 hundreds 5. Jack Hobbs, Surrey 56.94 from 61 matches, 15 hundreds 6. Len Hutton, Yorkshire 56.67 from 79 matches, 19 hundreds 7. Ernest Tyldesley, Lancashire 55.00 from 14 matches, 3 hundreds 8. Denis Compton, Middlesex 50.06 from 78 matches, 17 hundreds 9. Joe Root, Yorkshire 49.57 from 118 matches, 26 hundreds 10. Phil Mead, Hampshire 49.37 from 17 matches, 4 hundreds 11. Stanley Jackson, Yorkshire 48.79 from 20 matches, 5 hundreds 12. Douglas Jardine, Surrey 48.00 from 22 matches, 1 hundred 13. Ted Dexter, Sussex 47.89 from 62 matches, 9 hundreds…

Freelance sportswriter and editor @dan_brigham It is one of the defining images of the 2005 Ashes. Michael Clarke is elegance personified, front foot smoothly planted forward, bat raised purposefully above his shoulder, displaying the art of the leave. He is the essence of calm, but all around him is storm. His off stump is mid-air, a bail is hurtling off stage, Simon Jones is statuesque, arms spread to the heavens, euphoric teammates clambering up him, the Old Trafford crowd feral with belief. It was a delivery for the ages. Clarke, Australia’s golden boy, entirely hoodwinked by Jones’ masterful control of late reverse swing, shouldering arms to a ball deviating violently towards off stump. The noise as it locates its target is one of sport’s finest-ever recorded sounds. The 2005 Ashes…

The winner of this month’s quiz will receive a copy of The Legend of Sparkhill, by Moeen Ali and Tanya Aldred Send in your answers via email (editorial@wisden.com) or via post (Time Warp, Wisden Cricket Monthly, Fourth Floor, Bedser Stand, Kia Oval, Kennington, London, SE11 5SS). Entries must be received by July 6,2022 WIN! 1. 5 years ago... On July 9, 2017, Joe Root won his first match as England Test captain, beating South Africa by 211 runs at Lord’s. Who was named Player of the Match after becoming the first England player to take 10 wickets and score a fifty in the same Test since Ian Botham in 1980? 2. 10 years ago... On July 22, 2012, who became their country’s first triple-centurion in Test cricket? 3. 15 years…

Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack editor and Daily Mail writer @the_topspin “Maybe it’s a coincidence, ” said Brendon McCullum with a chuckle. “We’ll find out.” He had just been asked why England’s most successful periods in the modern era had come under foreign coaches – first Duncan Fletcher (the 2005 Ashes), then Andy Flower (a T20 World Cup win, Test victories in Australia and India, the No.1 ranking), and finally Trevor Bayliss (the men’s first 50-over World Cup). Two Zimbabweans, an Australian, and now a New Zealander. No pressure, then. McCullum, it seemed, had already noticed the trend himself. “It’s funny how that’s worked out, ” he said in his first public appearance as England’s new Test coach. “I’ve spoken to both Andy and TB [Bayliss] about the challenge, and both were…

Wisden Cricket Monthly editor-in-chief @Phil_Wisden First of all, it’s not a rebel league. The FairBreak Invitational is fully sanctioned by the ICC, whose representatives, watching on last month from the cavernous boxes at Dubai, squirming a little in their seats, were left to wonder why they hadn’t organised such a vision themselves. Technically the FairBreak is Cricket Hong Kong’s version of their own T20 competition, an ICC Associate Member’s own short-format money-spinner. The inaugural event only took place in Dubai due to Covid restrictions; all being well, next year’s instalment will be played in Hong Kong itself. The difference is that FairBreak happens to be the most diverse multi-nation cricket tournament ever staged. With budgets matching its ambitions, the event was able to attract top-class talent from around the world.…

I was invited to do a stint on the radio when I finished playing in 1988.I didn’t have a deep knowledge of the history of the game in the way someone like CMJ [Christopher Martin-Jenkins] did, he knew it all. But I wasn’t overawed. I knew I could talk about the game and I could see things happening that they couldn’t, and they liked that. I’m always the summariser, you notice things in the course of the over. Changes in the field, in a delivery stride – minutiae, but you have to watch. You can’t fit it all in between balls, you need to be able to pick it up and let it go. Your story might start in June and still be going in August… Commentary has changed dramatically…

“A former England captain, a pioneering commentator and more recently a formidable and progressive figure in the boardroom, Clare Connor commands respect and has the necessary diplomacy skills for the jobJO HARMAN PHIL WALKER WCM editor-in-chief The former Surrey CEO Richard Gould narrowly missed out to Tom Harrison last time round. Persuading him to turn his back on the Bristol City FC job and return to a game in dire need of clear-headed leadership would be a smart move. He would command respect as a long-standing administrator inside the game and out of it. He understands from acute experience the ‘eccentricities’ of the ECB-county relationship. He has the game in his heart, having worked effectively at two very different hothouses, first at Taunton and then in south London. And crucially,…

Matt Parkinson, England Test cricketer. How does that sound? A bit strange. It’s probably not really sunk in just yet. This week’s been a bit of a whirlwind. I was getting ready to have a nice Jubilee Thursday off, it wasn’t really on my radar. I’m just very pleased it went fairly well. What communication did you have with the England set-up in the lead-up to the match? I got a phone call from Keysy [Rob Key] – must have been three-and-a-half weeks ago now – saying, “You’ve not made the squad, you’re a concussion replacement for Jack [Leach]” and that I wasn’t in the [ODI] squad to go to Holland either. So yeah, it wasn’t a great phone call. When I saw Jack go down, I had a half-thought…

Even before his dream debut at Lord’s, the selection of Matt Potts in England’s first squad of the summer made a whole lot of sense. The 23-year-old finished the first block of the County Championship as the leading wicket-taker in the country (35 at an average of 18.57), showing both pace and heart on flat pitches. He’d managed to stay on the park, surviving the injury crisis which has depleted England’s pace-bowling reserves. And, crucially, he’d learnt his craft at Durham – a county with a longstanding reputation for producing international-quality fast bowlers. Steve Harmison was at one stage the Nº1-ranked Test bowler in the world and delivered one of the great balls to become an Ashes hero in 2005. Liam Plunkett mastered the middle overs to become a World…

Wisden Cricket Monthly editor-in-chief @Phil_Wisden Violence meets nonchalance The Kensington Oval, Barbados April 20,1992 PATRICK EAGAR This was the first ever Test match between West Indies and South Africa’s returning exiles. It was South Africa’s first Test since 1970, so every stride and click had meaning. “Sometimes you have to push the narrative,” says Patrick Eagar, but here there was no need. For four days the returnees were rampant. This shot, of Allan Donald tearing through Keith Arthurton, took place in the raw heat of the evening session on day three, when the shackles were off and the game was on fire. In its noisy intensity this image still feels resolutely modern, and in some ways it is – 1992 being one of cricket’s great leaps forward. Only Keith’s cap dates…