England win by an innings and 9 runs. New Zealand were rendered helpless and found wanting on the fourth day of the Third Test. We had earlier reported how KP saved England on the first day! Maybe that proved to be the catalyst for a really inspired performance by the Poms.
Making 364 in the First Innings in Trent Bridge seldom means trouble. So England were always in a relaxed state of mind, with just a few hiccups, as they mercilessly bowled out New Zealand twice over two and a half days. James Anderson took 7 for 43 in the …read more

Eat Cricket, Sleep Cricket, Drink Cricket
Monty Panesar, England’s wonder boy, suffered at the hands of former England coach Duncan Fletcher last year, missing some important opportunities, but good times are about to roll in for him. He has coach Peter Moores’ confidence ahead of their three-match Test encounter with Sri Lanka.

As soon Monty heard he’s Coach’s fave,

It gives me really bad vibes when good players start performing, well, badly, especially after some good show. James Anderson, we saw, did a brilliant job of keeping the opponents (uh, Indians) on toes on the recent test series. He was judged Man-of-the-Series, along with Zaheer Khan, for taking 14 wickets (that is coming off the top of my head). In fact, his “form” was quite stable through the ODI series that followed. But suddenly, it (his form) took a U-turn beginning the T20 World Cup and he is yet to send a single batsman back to the pavilion after …read more

India vs England, Lord’s Day 5
Sadly, the match that was truly poised for a thrilling finish, came to nothing as England’s shoddy weather intervened. Day 5 started with India needing some 250 runs for the win, or to save 7 wickets to ensure the draw. England were in a strong position after day 4 following some terrific batting from KP, which he subsequently described as his best batting performance to-date, and some equally terrific bowling from James Anderson and Monty Panesar. Late in the day, Monty yet again claimed the prize wicket of Sachin Tendulkar to set it all up.
In …read more

And I’m not referring to the injury to Little Jimmy Anderson*, which will conceivably keep him out of the World Cup, but instead an amusing piece by Ian Ward on Sky Sports last night, commenting on England’s training.
“Yeh, Ravi Bopara has a slightly tight hamstring… oh, and a wasp landed on Kevin Pieterson, and stung him, which he quickly flicked off on to Paul Collingwood, which stung him as well.”
Frightening stuff. Let’s hope neither of them suffer from anaphylaxis, especially considering England’s first match of the group stages of the World Cup is also their most important. Never fear, though, …read more

It will come as little or no surprise to anyone that in what can only be described as yet another match between England and Australia, England lost. Again. See, no surprise. In fact, anyone who didn’t watch it could quite easily, on the basis of the scoreline, dismiss it as just another England performance. In many respects, it was, England limped to 155 all out in 42 overs with only newbie Mal Loye doing anything of any merit, with a tremendous slog sweep off Brett Lee for six. Ed Joyce and Paul Nixon are still not yet enjoying their International …read more