An Introduction

As a passionate cricket fan watching this great game has sometimes become a chore. Are cricketing standards slipping around the world? Are shorter versions of the game ruining the very essence of cricket? Or am I just getting old and creating legends in my mind where in actual fact they were just average cricketers themselves?

Ask any cricket fan their favourite player and it will undoubtedly be someone from their generation which is why the argument about the greatest ever player is often skewed by generation gaps. A few parameters before I begin my crusade to reinvigorate International cricket, I am an England fan although my favourite player is Sachin Tendulkar for a variety of reasons but they will not be immune from criticism in fact a great deal of my criticism will no doubt be aimed at the England team despite their dominance in recent years.

Nor will criticism single out batsmen, bowlers or fielders. Everyone involved in cricket are in my firing line coaches, commentators, twelfth men and even the people in charge of the game who in my opinion are at fault for most things wrong with cricket. One of the great things about cricket, and sport in general, is that it is subjective and statistics can often be misleading but one thing is always true there is constantly someone doing something wrong thus essentially creating blog posts for myself.

It would be wrong of me to comment on every single game going on in the world as I feel I should have watched before criticising and I do not have that kind of time on my hands unfortunately. There will be subjects outside of this, however, which will also need addressing so this will prevent any lull between posts and of course there will hopefully be comments to provoke a response.

What prompted this blog though is in the current Test Match between Pakistan and England the batting side, England, were five wickets down at lunch in Dubai. This can often happen the first day of a Test Match but as has rightly been said in commentary the ball has not swung, seamed or spun! How can this happen? A spinner was introduced in the sixth over of the day and Cook was not ready for this? This is the subcontinent it's almost cliche to talk about how influential the spinners are but it wasn't just Cook, the England captain played a horrific shot, Trott was out to an inside edge, which is not unlucky playing the ball with the edge of the bat is full of pitfalls if it comes off the middle then he would have had four.

This ends the first post but I have a feeling this will be fun and better than therapy. Oh and don't even get me started on the shot played by Pietersen it's about time the 'star' player started to deliver instead of deciding what sunglasses to wear.


A failed cricketer

A review of the Pakistan Vs England Test to follow.................