Jacob Oram has said he would happily amputate his broken finger if it means he would be able to play in the World Cup. Oram broke his ring finger whilst dropping a catch against Australia in the Chappel-Hadlee series in New Zealand.

Now, call me cynical, but surely amputating part of your body is not the best physical preparation for a World Cup? I don’t think it’s a simple case of “lop it off, couple of paracetamol, back to hitting sixes”. I think he’s underestimating how important all his little pinkies are to the control of a cricket bat.

“If it means …read more

New Zealand’s Jacob Oram, the man who singlehandedly made the CB Trophy interesting by systematically destroying any bowler that was silly enough to send down a couple, will miss the start of the World Cup after breaking a finger in New Zealand’s win against Australia yesterday. In his defence it was a good catch, but he did make a hash of it by getting his finger in the way.
This is, however, good news for England, who are in the same group as New Zealand. With Kenya and Canada as the other opponents, England must surely be favourites to win …read more

Whilst watching England vs New Zealand in a ODI in the CB Trophy, I was hit by all the different people who caught my attention. So here they are.
Umpire Steve Davis
I’m not sure what it is, but there’s something about Umpire Steve Davis that I don’t like. I think the first thing is that I have absolutely no idea who he is. He has somehow appeared on the International scene without so much of a word of warning. The second thing is that in today’s ODI between England and New Zealand, he made a lot of mistakes. But thirdly, and …read more