Innehållsförteckning för Issue 70 från Wisden Cricket Monthly

LAWRENCE BOOTH Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack editor and Daily Mail writer @BoothCricket For 45 heady days – starting when Zak Crawley thrashed Pat Cummins through the covers at Edgbaston, and ending with Stuart Broad’s valedictory dismissal of Alex Carey at The Oval – the Ashes allowed us to indulge our better natures. We could wallow in the joy of one of Test cricket’s alltime classics, and giddily imagine the format’s future. A confected story in the Australian media about England turning down end-of-series drinks was a reminder of how fragile states of grace can be. It’s inevitable, too, that the pleasure of five close Tests (well, four plus a one-sided draw: let no one tell you 2–2 was representative) can quickly conjure up thoughts of the flipside. Next summer, England’s Test…

Amir heads trio of new signings Derbyshire NEXT MATCHES: Worcs, ODC (H), Aug 18; Northants, ODC (A), Aug 20; Somerset, ODC (H), Aug 22; Yorks, CC (A), Sep 3-6; Gloucs, CC (A), Sep 10-13; Sussex, CC (H), Sep 19-22 It’s been a busy month of transfer activity at Derby, with the blow of losing club captain Leus du Plooy to Middlesex softened to an extent by news of three impending arrivals. Du Plooy turned down the offer a new contract to sign a five-year deal with the Seaxes which will begin at the end of the season. Mickey Arthur, Derbyshire’s head of cricket, admitted the loss of the 28-year-old South African was a bitter pill to swallow, particularly given his outstanding form. “He is honestly like a son to me,”…

3 Number of England bowlers who have taken six or more wickets in three consecutive home Ashes Tests within the same series, Chris Woakes following in the footsteps of Alec Bedser in 1953 and Jim Laker in 1956 17 Out of Woakes’ 19 wickets in the series, 17 were batters, allrounders or the wicketkeeper 33.4 Mitchell Starc’s bowling strike rate for the series, the best by an Australian since Mitchell Johnson’s 30.5 in 2013/14. Starc’s haul of 23 made him the leading wickettaker in the series 1,263 Deliveries faced by Usman Khawaja for his series-high 496 runs. In second place was Crawley (480 runs), who faced 541 balls 9 Number of Test half-centuries made by David Warner in England; the most by any player who hasn’t scored a hundred 74…

ENGLAND 1 Zak Crawley 60 matches into a Test career which has both thrilled and frustrated, Crawley’s average hovers around 35 after a solid couple of years – the high point, of course, being that Jessop-crushing 79-ball ton in a session at Rajkot – but his recent inclusion in England’s white-ball set-up has seen the re-emergence of some technical frailties. 2 Ben Duckett Financial future secured after the unexpected breakout success of the Duckett Hat™, the 31-yearold is under pressure after a testing home summer against India’s quicks but remains one half of England’s longest-standing opening pair since Strauss and Cook. 3 Harry Brook With Stokes soon to step down as skipper, Brook embarks on his first Ashes trip as captain-inwaiting. But does the world’s leading batter need the extra…

Blazing a trail The Blaze picked up where they left off when the 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy RHFT) resumed in early July, defeating Western Storm by six runs, strolling to a nine-wicket victory over reigning champions Northern Diamonds and then chasing down 260 with 10 balls to spare to beat Southern Vipers by four wickets and extend their unbeaten run in the competition to nine matches. That impressive streak came to an end in their next fixture against South East Stars, losing a rainaffected, nip-and-tuck contest by two wickets, but the Nottingham-based outfit remain on course to reach their second final of the season, having lost the Charlotte Edwards Cup showpiece to Vipers in June. When the RHFT resumes on September 5 following the completion of The Hundred, The…

‘What’s grabbed me are the rhythms of the broadcast and its soothing language’ Cricket found me, an American on the mend from a Bairstowesque injury, struggling to make out the rules through a bad internet stream of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. My interest has waxed and waned throughout long stints living in East Asia. Now, coming out of the pandemic in northern Japan and eager to connect with my British roots, I became enthralled by the brewing ideological battle that Bazball presented to the world this Ashes cycle. I’ve consumed a cornucopia of punditry these last two months. It’s been an education, not just in cricket, but in non-American sports journalism. The cricket received free through the ICC’s website, ostensibly aimed at the local Japanese, is devoured…

Wisden staff writer @Katya_Wisden Arriving on day one of the Women’s Ashes Test at Trent Bridge, Mel Jones settled into her commentary stint. Looking out over the outfield as Ellyse Perry agonisingly fell one run short of a century before Annabel Sutherland made it over the line for hers, she reflected on her own Ashes experience. “It was a long time ago now, but you naturally dip back into your own bit of knowledge to figure out how the players are managing all the things they have to,” Jones tells WCM. “That’s the job of commentators, to try and take people who haven’t been involved in Test match cricket in the same way on a journey.” Jones’ unbeaten 138 against England in 1998 came in vastly different circumstances. That match…

Phil Mead, 1928 Bournemouth Circa 1913 Phil Mead barely registers in debates about the greats. He played for Hampshire, an unheeded county, at little old Northlands Road. His Test career, spanning 17 years for 18 matches, produced an average of 49, though aided by three centuries against South Africa. His finest Test knock, 182* against the peerless 1921 Australians, came in a tame draw at The Oval. He was no one’s idea of an athlete. Neville Cardus saw in him “a curious mixture of flesh, angularity, amplitude of anatomy and rustic, gangling gait”. He suffered in comparison to the regal lines of the era’s other prolific left-hander, Kent’s Frank Woolley. He was idiosyncratic, a perpetual fidgeter and cap-adjuster. A cussed professional in an amateur era, forever pushing for quick singles,…

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 September 7, 2023. WIN! 1. 5 years ago… On August 12, 2018, England beat India by an innings and 159 runs in the second Test at Lord’s. Which 20-yearold, playing only their 16th first-class match, made 28 on Test debut? 2. 10 years ago… On August 17, 2013, Northamptonshire won their first T20 Cup. Who was named Player of the Match after scoring 60 and taking 4-9, including a hat-trick, in the final against Surrey? 3. 15 years ago… On August 11, 2008, England claimed a consolation victory over South Africa in the fourth Test at The…

ANDREW MILLER Wisden Cricket Monthly columnist, UK editor of ESPNcricinfo and former editor of The Cricketer @miller_cricket Hands up if you’ve even noticed which two teams will be joining the big boys at this year’s 50-over World Cup? Or more to the point, which former big boy most emphatically will not? Chances are, if you were even aware of the enormity of the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe last month, it will be because of the fuss that surrounded another team that fell by the wayside in that most cut-throat of tournaments: Ireland, for whom the honour of a Lord’s Test against England was such a distraction from their summer’s true priority that it arguably contributed to their limp display. But, with respect to Ireland, to Scotland, to Zimbabwe –…

The Oval finale was a special week and for Broady in particular. Everyone was on edge with the rain over the last two days, we were desperate to draw the series and give him the farewell he deserved. Stuart first told us on Saturday morning. He started off by resigning as chairman from ‘Pig’ – a keepy uppies football game we play. He was chairman and if there were disagreements he would have the last say. He started his retirement chat saying, “It’s been a long time serving so many of you boys playing Pig,” and I think a few lads were thinking, ‘What is going on here?’ and then he said, “This is going to be my last game of cricket.” A few of us welled up a little…

An alternative prize will be provided if the winner is aged under 18, or if requested *Only available to UK residents LETTER OF THE MONTH Turning off the Ashes It was disappointing, if certainly far from surprising, to read the predictably biased and laughable Wisden editorial response to the Bairstow ‘stumping’. Ageism? Check. Anglophobia? Check. I wondered how long it would take before the reaction of the Long Room “duffers” was mentioned. Forget Carey cheating or the screamingly obvious injustice which ruined not only a beautifully poised match but a series upon which so much for Test cricket seemed to hinge, a series which had the potential to generate life-saving national and international interest in a dying format. Let us focus instead on some old (and by extension wrong and…

Wisden Cricket Monthly editorin-chief @Phil_Wisden Ben Duckett, by his own admission, was a wreck. Even Zak Crawley, lugubrious Zak, English cricket’s 7ft culture war, wasn’t far off. “Yeah, same. I saw Alastair Cook walk out with the urn and my heart was pumping out of my chest.” England would be having a bat. There was already a deep point and a leg-side boundary rider. Pat Cummins stood at the top of his mark. “I stayed nervous until the moment he started running in,” Crawley says. “Then the game starts.” It’s fast, obviously. And fullish, and offering a murmur of away-swing. It’s not a half volley. “I felt pretty calm. I didn’t think I was going to middle it but thankfully I did.” The ball scuzzes across the turf, and as…

Sports journalist and content creator at The Daily Mail @aadamp9 Usman Khawaja is speaking to WCM a few days after the end of the Ashes. Or at least trying to. Our Zoom call fails to connect so we try again through WhatsApp but that doesn’t work either. Eventually we try a normal phone call, and the line finally connects. “Third time lucky!” says Khawaja. Third time lucky, indeed. Across the 2013 and 2019 Ashes series (Khawaja was injured for Australia’s visit in 2015), he averaged 19.66 in England with one halfcentury in 12 knocks. This time around, the 36-yearold was the leading run-scorer in the series. Such were his struggles four years ago that he was dropped after the third Test, with many assuming that would be the end of…

It landed with a deafening thud, all 317 pages, its contents laying bare the truths of an insular world, out of reach for large swathes of society, aggressively self-isolated, boxed in by its own narrowness. It details extensive evidence of interpersonal racism and sexism indicative of “a culture in which overt discrimination often goes without serious challenge”. The report was commissioned by the ECB in the wake of the Azeem Rafiq scandal and chaired by Cindy Butts and her team of commissioners, including the former England Test player Zafar Ansari. Butts, a cricket lover, has held equivalent positions before, most recently as deputy chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority. Hearing testimonies from over 4,000 respondents, and listening to accounts from clubs, players and regional administrators, the report concluded that “elitism…

YOUR GAME At the heart of club cricket  Freelance sportswriter and stalwart club cricketer @reverse_ sweeper t’s odd to imagine the city of Shanklyite I socialism,Militant Tendency and decidedly ambivalent attitudes to the British establishment harbouring bastions of exclusivity and elitism, but when the 24-year-old Geoff Blackburn – raised on a council estate in Speke and still playing knockabout cricket on the Wirral – hoped in 1973 to join the august Liverpool CC at Aigburth, the oldest amateur sports club on Merseyside, it required the nominations of two members and an interview with the cricket committee, who then referred it to the main committee for approval. ‘Blackie’ was accepted and eventually became the first man to complete the Liverpool & District Cricket Competition (LDCC) double of 10,000 runs and 1,000…

Pucovski enjoying life at Weybridge When Will Pucovski made his Test debut against India in January 2021, scoring a composed 62 in his first knock, many felt the Victorian would be a fixture at the top of the Australian batting order for years to come. However, that remains his only Test match to date in a career blighted by a string of concussions. Still only 25, Pucovski played his most recent first-class match last October before announcing he was taking an indefinite break from the game for mental health reasons. “Player welfare is always our top priority,” Graham Manou, Cricket Victoria’s general manager of cricket performance, told RSN radio at the time. “We’ll continue to work with Will to ensure he gets the support and space he needs and welcome…

"I’m grateful for what cricket taught me but it takes a lot out of you, like anything that you give your heart and soul to The question of ‘why’ is a really interesting one for anyone who changes career. For me, one element was wanting to keep developing new skills. There was an element of, ‘Is cricket still pushing me in lots of different ways?’ The main driver was what I do after cricket. That was always in the back of my mind. I’d done a bunch of work experience in finance while I was still playing. Talking to people in business, it became very apparent that if I waited a few more years I would be missing various entry points into corporate life. There was a realisation that by…