Bye: Former England opening batsman Michael Lumb has been forced to retire at the age of 37 due to an ankle injury. He’ll surely be grateful that the ankle has only given up on him having reached the age of 37 and the question is, if he was 27 could he have played on?
The Nottinghamshire left-hander was an integral part of England’s 2010 T20I World Cup winning team and crucially effected the run out of Australia’s David Warner in the final. The former Yorkshire and Hampshire player also played three ODIs when England used the T20I squad to play against West Indies. He was in part lucky to get the ODI chance but having scored a century on debut…
followed by a fifty next up, he was somewhat unlucky not to get further opportunities.
He was also one of the early English trendsetters by getting in on the global T20 franchise act. He represented Rajasthan Royals in the IPL and Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash.
Silly Point wishes Lumb the very best in whatever future endeavours lie ahead.
Leg Bye: England have gone west with their latest batting solution. Essex’s Tom Westley has received the call to replace the injured Gary Ballance in the third Test against South Africa. Westley should be safe in the knowledge that given Ballance’s injury, he’ll get at least two Tests to prove his value. He’s consistently stepped up for England Lions and when Essex have faced touring sides in the past. It did seem as though he was one that the national selectors weren’t ever going to turn to but he gets his thoroughly deserved chance now.
No Ball: Cricinfo have changed their website. It’s become quite, well… bloggy. Let’s just say that it’s going to take some getting used too!
Wide: Moving away from Extras, please be aware that in the future there will be articles other than International Cricket Captain 2017 themed ramblings but for now you will have to make do with my fantasy come reality efforts at making English cricket great again making up a high proportion of the articles!
Silly Point Cricket 