England are on top. End of Day 1, Sri Lanka bowled out for 141, England 130 odd for 3. But it’s not all tea and crumpets just yet. In fact, England being in command after day 1 seem a little familiar. I’m not going to be counting anyone’s chickens in this match… England need to bat all day tomorrow and really cement a position. But the biggest question of the day : Melinga the Slinger? Where the heck did this guy learn to play cricket?
Experience ought to warn us though that a good first day rarely means something in English …read more

No sh*t, Athers. But the prudent observation is that grassroots initiatives are paying off – not least by getting youngsters involved in cricket.
Grassroots initiatives are thriving. The Chance to Shine campaign has now garnered £9 million in private funding and a commitment from the government that the National Sports Foundation will commit £2.5m per annum over the course of the next 10 years, bringing a sustainable cricket legacy into a third of all state schools. Urban Cricket – with the street urchin look-a-like Kevin Pietersen as its face – is up and running, bringing cricket with ‘no rulez’ to urban …read more

The groundsman at South Africa’s Cape Town needs to be shot, or at least put out of his misery. The other day, I gave him some props for his sterling efforts in even getting the game going, but that’s nothing when compared to the complete shocker that is the incidental music is being played during stoppages. The 3rd test is meandering to mind-numbing draw, for certain, but I wouldn’t be blaming the lack of spectators on that. No – the answer is a lot more obvious. When there is a stoppage (wicket/lost ball/drinks break) music is played on loudspeakers around …read more

As Marcus Trescothick made a confident start to the season, with an emphatic 74 against a West of England Select, the news that he was making himself available for England for “whatever they want” would have been the silver lining of a cloud desperately troubling the England selectors. Steve Harmison will be out of action until at least the 2nd test of the forthcoming test series against Sri Lanka, with Michael Vaughan, Ashley Giles and Simon Jones, 4 key members of last year’s victorious England Ashes squad still looking doubtful.

West Indies are no longer the force they used to be. They haven’t been in years. Since the days of Courtney and Curtly, Patrick and Malcolm, Vic and Carl, things haven’t really gone right for the West Indians. Brian Lara excepted, the side is a shadow of its former glory, and even Lara has struggled in recent years. And so their struggles have further escalated with the resignation of Shivnarine Chanderpaul as captain of the side, just three weeks before the Zimbabwe series. Preparation for a test series (even against Zimbabwe, who are no strangers to team turmoil themselves) is …read more

If there was any doubt whatsoever that England had been totally outclassed in the ODI series against India, then it was completely eradicated in the final match when India handed out a comprehensive drubbing to England. In spite of a series-best 288 from England, with some useful half-century contributions from Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Geraint Jones, it simply wasn’t enough, as India knocked them off just 3-down with balls to spare. The match itself was of little consquence, given that England had already lost it (inside the first 4 games), but what it does highlight is the inability of …read more

It’s true – Six and Out is alive and kicking, and goshdarnit if the timing of its launch doesn’t perfectly coincide with the first day of the English domestic season. Editorial and management genius? (Actually no… just pure fluke).
To celebrate, I’ll clear up just what the ballyhell is going on with the name of this blog. For the uninitiated, you might want to read the Rules of Cricket. Essentially you use a cricket bat to hit a cricket ball to score runs. Now, if you hit the ball over the boundary (out of the ground) on the full (without hitting …read more

Consider this the first real abuse of my power as editor of this blog.If you’re a cricket fan, or a sports fan, or English, or hell, someone… please please please check out this site – Keep Cricket Free. As of 2006, all English Test Cricket will only be available on Sky – a pay-TV service. The question is not an “I hate Sky” argument, because I don’t, but it’s more of a cultural argument – national teams involved in sport should be on national television. Simple as that.
There’s an online petition you can sign (which I’m sure will do less …read more

If you’ve been watching International cricket, you’ll no doubt be aware of the popular figures amongst the commentary teams. In recent years, certain voices have become synonymous with watching cricket, Richie Benaud, Tony Grieg and Bill Laurie to name but a few.
So if you haven’t heard of Billy Birmingham, aka “The 12th Man“, you really ought to grab yourself a CD of his. He’s the Rory Bremner of the sporting world, doing some spectacular impersonations of some of the great sporting commentators. It really is bloody funny, and if you’re a cricket fan, you should listen.

Well it’s officially the weekend thanks to it being Easter and all.
So to celebrate both a 4-day weekend and the launch of this brand spanking new b5 blog (if that weren’t enough), I thought I’d do the obvious thing, and explain the Rules of Cricket.

You have two sides: One out in the field and one in.
Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out.
When they are all out the side that’s out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and …read more