Category: England National Cricket

The country’s greatest bowler on why his wife, Daniella, is still mad at England, how the game saved him from loneliness growing up and what could be next

“I’m not getting too dark here,” Jimmy Anderson says quietly as we return to a time when he was a solitary boy in Burnley, “but I remember sitting in my room thinking: ‘I wish I wasn’t me. I wish I was someone else.’ That’s not a great place to be at 14. I didn’t fit in at school or have a group of mates. The biggest thing for me then was the feeling of being lonely.

“I didn’t have close friends. We didn’t play cricket at school. I was seen as a bit of an odd person who liked cricket. Why would you like cricket when you can play football and these other amazing sports? I did play them, but obviously not to the same level as cricket. I just felt like an outcast.”

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Jos Buttler flames West Indies with scintillating innings in Barbados to carry England to a seven-wicket victory

Out come the players, Archer is drying his hands in the dust – and off we go.

Terrance Hinds has just been handed his first West Indies cap at the ripe age of 32. And very pleased he looks too.

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• Warwickshire player’s first time in Test squad
• Wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith will miss tour

The England Men’s selection panel has named a 16-player squad for the three-match Test tour of New Zealand, scheduled for November and December.

The squad includes one change from the recent series in Pakistan, with Warwickshire’s batting all-rounder Jacob Bethell called up for his first inclusion in a Test squad.

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This bruising tour raises familiar questions after spinners Noman Ali and Sajid Khan exposed England’s batters

The sun was only just coming up in England when the last wicket went down in Pakistan. Jack Leach was deftly stumped by Mohammad Rizwan as he came galumphing down the pitch to swing and miss at a wide, of all things. Noman Ali had bowled the ball out there deliberately, fast and flat after he saw Leach coming.

It was a simple trick, like an uncle bewitching his nephew by pretending to tug off his thumb. England had a pyrrhic lead of 35 at the time, and on television Ramiz Raja lost the run of himself and prematurely called a famous victory for Pakistan. He was as good as right. The match was effectively over when Joe Root was caught behind for 33, but finally ended 30 minutes later when Shan Masood hit the winning six.

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