Category: Cricket

Documentary makers seeking funds to finish making film of an extraordinary man and his influence on the game

After a mere 100 years the Spin, always first with the news, is finally able to reveal the details of one of the more extraordinary secrets in the history of English cricket. The story comes from the private family archives of the former Surrey captain Percy Fender, which are being compiled into a fascinating new documentary film. It has always been a mystery that Fender, who was described by Wisden as “the shrewdest county captain of his generation” was never picked to lead England. After all these years, it now appears he was blackmailed out of the job by a corrupt cricket official.

In a private audio recording made shortly before his death in 1985, Fender explains that in May 1924 he was approached “by a gentleman who was very well known in the cricket world” who, during the course of a conversation over two half-bottles of champagne in Fender’s flat at the Adelphi, offered him the England captaincy for the 1924-25 Ashes tour. Fender was an amateur, and had a day job as wine merchant that meant he would need to arrange cover while he was away on the six-month tour. The “very well known” gentleman suggested he could do it for him.

Continue reading...

Neil Harvey, 97, the last surviving Bradman Invincible, blasts the Bazball experiment from his La-Z-Boy armchair

Twenty five kilometres north of the SCG, the world’s oldest living Test cricketer is sitting in his La-Z-Boy armchair and watching the Test. Neil Harvey was once the youngest of Bradman’s Invincibles; now he’s 97, his old cricketing buddies gone. His body is a little worn around the edges, but mentally he’s astute.

Harvey was Australia’s sweetheart, the second youngest of six brothers, a dashing left-hander, who stalked the covers and a hunted at slip. During a 15-year Test career, he cut and shimmied to more than 6,000 runs at an average of 48, making his mark with 153 in his second Test. He was a regular at the SCG, attending every Test from 1949 up until four years ago, when, in the words of his son Bruce he “gave up public appearances” and he has very fond memories of the place.

Continue reading...

Classic New Years Tests offer clues for how England and Australia can end this series on their terms at the SCG and set up for the next

If you’re an England cricket team, a Test in Sydney doesn’t look so bad. The last few weeks have merited constant updating of England’s horrible streak in Australia since January 1987, which last week’s Melbourne win improved only as far as 51 played, seven won, eight drawn, 36 lost. In Sydney over that time, the calculation is a little friendlier, at 10 played, four drawn, two won, only four lost.

So while the trophy is gone, a strong showing in this match could offer optimism that it might be a springboard for the future. Sydney has a history of involvement in Ashes comebacks, whether within a match, within a series, or in the longer term.

Continue reading...

• Wicketkeeper-batter left out after difficult Ashes series

• Injured fast bowler Archer included along with Tongue

Jamie Smith has been dropped from England’s T20 World Cup squad, but the injured Jofra Archer and uncapped fast bowler Josh Tongue have both been included.

Test performances in Australia are hardly the most obvious metric for a short-form tournament taking place in Sri Lanka and India in February, but Smith’s dramatic loss of form in the Ashes may be a factor in his omission.

Continue reading...

• Wicketkeeper-batter left out after difficult Ashes series

• Injured fast bowler Archer included along with Tongue

Jamie Smith has been dropped from England’s T20 World Cup squad, but the injured Jofra Archer and uncapped fast bowler Josh Tongue have both been included.

Test performances in Australia are hardly the most obvious metric for a short-form tournament taking place in Sri Lanka and India in February, but Smith’s dramatic loss of form in the Ashes may be a factor in his omission.

Continue reading...

More moments to savour, following reviews of 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024

Peter Moores grew up in Macclesfield, a northern town that would not feel out of place in Surrey. Maybe that upbringing bred his ability to fit in, find a way to communicate and always be of one’s place, regardless of where that place may be.

Continue reading...

The old rivals have clashed in eight of the 27 Tests to finish inside two days – these are the tales behind the six matches played before the current series

To put in context the surprise that greeted the two-day Boxing Day Test just gone, consider the rarity by arithmetic. The match in Melbourne was Test number 2,615, and was two-day Test number 27. You don’t need a calculator to see that’s roughly 1%. And yet we’ve had two such matches in the current Ashes series, plus another in Australia three years earlier. We’ve had half a dozen two-day Tests worldwide since 2021. What gives?

Nine two-day Tests – fully one-third of the total – happened in the 1800s, when pitches could become swamps or shooting galleries. The next few mostly involved weak teams in their early years of development. Australia and England each dished one out to South Africa in the tri-series of 1912, and the South African team was little stronger when ripped up by Clarrie Grimmett and Bill O’Reilly in 1936. Australia also bashed up a new West Indies team in 1932 and New Zealand in 1946.

Continue reading...