Each and every single cricket related thought of one Yorkshire born and dwelling, extremely average, retired village cricketer. If football is your thing then please visit www.leftbackfooty.com
Glamorgan have added batsman Charlie Hemphrey to their batting ranks for the 2019 campaign. The Doncaster born bat has done okay on the Australian domestic scene and a stint in county cricket should serve him well. The Welsh county have already acquired fellow Yorkshireman Billy Root and as a result they should be more of a force this term.
Nottinghamshire didn’t really seem to know what to do with Root. You could check three scorecards in a week and find him batting at three, then at nine playing primarily as a spin bowler then batting at five. The opportunity to play week in week out should help bring out the best of a player who has demonstrated that he’s good enough to carve out a career at county level.
As a batsman who bowls a bit and likely to get regular first team opportunities, Root is a player to consider come the 2019 edition of Telegraph Fantasy Cricket. Look out for my YouTube video of how to go about selecting your team soon!
I added audio to my blog not that long ago and have recently debuted on YouTube. Making my way to the crease on YouTube has led me to review a few things, the most crucial of which has been tagging. So it turns out that I’ve been tagging all wrong! Well not all wrong but here’s a crucial thing that I’ve discovered by actually bothering to read the advise on WordPress…
Don’t put anymore than a combined fifteen categories or tags otherwise your article won’t show up on Reader.
I thought that tags were how people found your writings on the internet but no, the internet can actually identify the content from your writing, I think that this is called meta. I’m aware that my absence from platforms such as Twitter limits my reach but as much as I’d like to communicate with a larger audience, I don’t want to spend my entire life in front of a screen. I could help myself by tagging correctly though!
My YouTube videos aren’t quite as polished or spectacular as I’d like them to be. A limit on both time, opportunity and crucially location in such a small and busy environment restrict the quality of my finished product but enough excuses… I’ll get better!
Back to tagging. On YouTubethe suggestion seems to be that you wouldn’t just tag ‘cricket’ or ‘joe root’ but ‘how to play cricket’ or ‘batting tutorial’. The fact that most search terms that people have used to find our blogs display as ‘Unknown Search Terms’ really isn’t helpful. If we could see what people have keyed in then it would be extremely beneficial. Of course my articles aren’t generally ‘How to…’ videos. Most people seem to come to my blog for my Don Bradman and Ashes Cricket computer game articles. They seem to have typed for example ‘Don Bradman career mode’ or ‘Ashes Cricket PS4’ into a search engine and found my work. Ultimately those games are a niche area with, in the grand scheme of things, limited content on the world wide web. If somebody types in ‘cricket’ or ‘Virat Kohli’ then they’re unlikely to find my blog at the top of Google!
I’ve always said that “My blog might be rubbish but at least it’s my rubbish”. The content, though sometimes inspired from other written work is my research and content. The photos, though occasionally a photo of a trading card or a calendar are my photos. I stopped following the copy and paste addicts a long time ago but I do think that a lot of bloggers need to educate themselves on use of images online.
I hope that one or two things I’ve written above are helpful to other bloggers and if anyone can help me with tagging tips and general advice on gaining exposure then please let me know… but please don’t tell me “Social media”… I know!
Harris has history at this level but appears to have been employed primarily as a bowler when donning Australian colours. She’ll be hoping that her exploits with the willow can earn her a recall to the national side then both Australia’s men’s (Marcus) and women’s teams could have Harris at the top of the order.
Here are some cricket films that are well worth watching. As was the case with books, it’s pretty much all non-fiction (Documentaries). Oh, and actually some of them are books as well…
Death of a Gentleman
For cynics of cricket’s top brass, feast on this!
Fire in Babylon
Focusing on West Indian success throughout the 1970s and 80s.
Out of the Ashes
This film charts the rapid rise of the Afghanistan men’s team… including the unceremonious ditching of their coach!
Warriors
I bet that you never thought you’d watch a film about cricket and female genital mutilation did you?
Wherever Will Young is, the Central Districts batsman better leave right now! He’s been called up to New Zealand’s Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka. Young will be hoping to light my fire (Or maybe his own fire) and have an evergreen international career for Aotearoa. The twenty-six-year-old will be determined to commence an all time love with the national side.
Meanwhile, spinner Will Somerville has rather harshly been omitted from the playing party, despite claiming match figures of 7-127 against Pakistan on debut.
Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Jack Leach, Dom Bess, Liam Dawson, Mason Crane, Matthew Parkinson, Sukhjit Singh, Hamidullah Qadri, Matthew Carter, Amir Virdi, Ben Twohig, Matthew Critchley, Josh Poysden, Adam Riley…
There is an oft-repeated myth that English cricket lacks a healthy stock of spin bowlers. That assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. There is no doubting the abundance of talent on the county cricket scene. Admittedly many of the aforementioned players are far from the finished article. They are young guns and it remains to be seen whether or not they’ll be presented with the opportunity to develop as one would hope. If they are, then the competition for places in the England team will be intense!
Through misfortune (AKA injury), England have accidentally bred competition. Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid have returned to the Test side. Jack Leach has quite rightly been left to rediscover his groove at Somerset and Mason Crane was making promising strides in white-ball (List A/T20) cricket before injury recurred its ugly head. It’s been great to witness Adam Riley return to the Kent fold and Matthew Parkinson is surely a candidate for at least England’s T20I side in the short term. Josh Poysden has relocated to Yorkshire where he can hopefully blossom (Like a white rose!). If Nottinghamshire provide him with opportunity then England may want to get Carter (See what I did there?!). Fingers crossed that Sukhjit Singh and the rest can break into their respective county first XIs sooner rather than later. Meanwhile the much maligned Liam Dawson is one of the most ever-improving cricketers in the English game. He did little wrong during his Test outings (With the ball at least. His batting went awol post debut), suffered from being a fill-in player under attack from the opposition but performed admirably well in the Pakistan Super League.
England don’t want to make any RASH decisions, go down a dark ALI, succumb to blood sucking LEACHes. They want to get the BESS out of their spin bowlers by POYSDENing the opposition batsmen. They want to PARKinson up and SINGH from the hills. They don’t want to be CARTERed around, they want to go at no more than TWOhig an over. They want to CRANE over the opposition and live a life of RILEY!
Less than two years ago and whilst still a teenager, a stoic but adaptable young batsman from Lancashire made his Test bow in India. He promptly made 82 on debut and even made 59 not out when batting with a fractured finger in his last Test. Despite requiring surgery, it seemed as though England had found an opening batsman for the next decade or more. That man was Bolton-born Haseeb Hameed and when Keaton Jennings, Hameed’s injury replacement scored a ton on his debut, it looked as though some competition for the years to come had really been bred. Jennings however has been found wanting at Test level ever since and the same can be said of Hameed, if only at domestic level. Hameed’s performances in the County Championship have been so woeful that you seriously have to question whether or not he’ll add to his three Test caps. Given that England seem unlikely to ever drop Alastair Cook regardless of form, it could be that Cook will still be at the top of England’s order for another twenty years!
In 2017, Hameed totalled 513 runs in 21 County Championship innings, He averaged 28.50 with a top score of 88. After a horrendous start that made him unselectable for the national side, he did at least recover slightly. Unfortunately, he’s gone completely the opposite way during the current campaign. In 17 innings this term, Hameed has compiled a limp 165 runs at a miserable 9.71. His highest score is just 31. This is an opening batsman don’t forget! No matter how many times he returns to the second XI, scores a big ton and comes back (Full of confidence?), he just can’t translate his abilities to the First Class arena. His career average is now only just above thirty at 30.91
Current incumbent Keaton Jennings has seventeen First Class tons with an average of 34.02 and just look how much he’s struggled in home conditions in Test cricket. It could be that Hameed is, like the oft-used examples of Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan, more suited to the higher level and that it brings out the best in him. In order to be presented with the opportunity to prove that though, he’s going to have to score SOME runs at county level. If Rory Burns can’t get a game given the amount of runs that he compiles year after year then Hameed is a long way from England selection. The romantics will push for his recall however and they’ll point to that Test average of 43.80 (From six innings!).
Will Hameed, in the words of former Zimbabwe player Henry Olonga ‘Rise Again’?
It’s back folks. Cricket Captain is with us for another year. I’ll be assuming my role as Selector/Coach of the England side and attempting to lead them to glory in the Test, ODI and T20I formats… probably on easy mode!
Why have Ed Smith and Trevor Bayliss take up two roles when yours truly is capable of performing them as one?
We had some great moments on Cricket Captain 2017, notably Mark Stoneman’s 296 against West Indies, David Willey’s 8-14 versus Australia and Adil Rashid’s 166/7-61 in Sri Lanka! What can we achieve on Cricket Captain 2018?
You can of course play many domestic (First Class, List A and T20) leagues in the game as well as creating custom series. Afghanistan and Ireland are fully playable as Test nations in this year’s release.
I’m hoping to be able to record some of my game play on the Mac. I’ll possibly upload that YouTube and put the links here on WordPress.
If you have any questions about the game, maybe you’re thinking about purchasing, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch. I’ll include the link to the forum below…
Following my article regarding players in the men’s game to look out for come T20I status being applied to all associate nations, here’s a Six to Watch Team Special…
Argentina
The South American side used to benefit from regular visits from touring MCC sides and therefore played First Class fixtures. They’ve appeared in the ICC Trophy but have slipped off the ICC World Cricket League structure so it’ll be interesting to see what route back to cricket recognition they can take.
Canada
The inaugural Global T20 Canada kicks off this month, complete with the usual T20 franchise brigade, Chris Gayle, Steven Smith and Shahid Afridi included.
It’s to be hoped that the competition ignites interest amongst the local community in The Land of Maple Leaf. Canada have had their moments in cricket history, most notably when John Davison smacked a record-breaking century at the 2003 World Cup.
They’ve also had some shockers though, including being dismissed for 36 by Sri Lanka in the same tournament. They were also routed for 45 against England in 1979. Canada will be relying on expats for now but hopefully native Canadians will be inspired to take up the game and break into the national side.
Denmark
Not that long ago Denmark were one of the there or there about nations beyond the Test world. Their place on the cricket scene was somewhat akin to how Netherlands have been in the past couple of decades. Players such as Ole Mortensen and Freddie Klokker appeared on the county circuit with Mortensen averaging just 23.88 with the ball in the First Class game. When Demark defeated Israel by all ten wickets at the 1994 ICC Trophy, Mortensen claimed figures of 7-19! They’ve somewhat fallen away since, though former England Test player Amjad Khan has helped them return to prominence in recent years. Expats are almost vital to developing cricket in the associate nations but it’s great to see some young local talent in the Denmark squad. Danish born Klokker who was on the books of both Warwickshire and Derbyshire tends to don the gloves these days and his county experience complete with First Class hundreds will be vital if the Danes are to be great again!
In bygone years Fiji benefited from their proximity to Australia. They even toured Oz and hosted New Zealand as well as been regulars in the ICC Trophy. In recent years they’ve been well down the ICC World Cricket League spectrum, falling as low as division seven. Their squad is full of indigenous talent including many players still in their teens.
When Fiji defeated Wellington in a First Class fixture in 1948, it was the man with the longest name (IL Bula) in cricket history who led the way with 88 in Fiji’s second innings to set the Pacific islanders up for a heart-pumping one-wicket win…
Rwanda have put a lot of effort into raising the profile of cricket in their country and if for no other reason than their cricket ground is so beautiful then it’s to be hoped that they can join the African forces to be reckoned with.
Captain Eric Dusingizimana famously broke a world record with an epic fifty-one hour net session.
South Korea have played at the Asian Games but looked like they’d have made a good ODI side ten years ago. Technically correct they’ll need to adapt their skills to T20I cricket. The talent and hunger is there and it’d be great to see a side from the Far East come to the fore in the cricket world. Maybe some of their players can have great Koreas (Careers!)… sorry!
On the subject of Associate Cricket, Roy Morgan’s Real International Cricket: A History in One Hundred Scorecards is well, well worth reading. Tim Brooks’ Cricket On the Continent as well as Second XI: Cricket in it’s Outposts by Tim Wigmore and Peter Miller are also essential reads for the Associate fan.
Silly Point Cricket 