Tim de Lisle
It was the allrounders wot won it
Andrew Flintoff, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann made a telling impact on the series with both bat and ball
Tim de Lisle
Sending out an SOS
Why Mark Ramprakash should be called up for The Oval, and how things have changed drastically post-Headingley, despite England's denials
Tim de Lisle
Are you England in disguise?
So far, the 2009 Aussies have not just been a pale shadow of their brilliant predecessors - they're so pale, they have a distinctly Pommie tinge. Here are eight ways in which Australia appear to be the new England
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Will England choke?
History tells us that England can easily get vertigo when on top. Will this piece of history repeat itself? ... more
England picked the wrong team
In their bowling, they went for quantity and solidity over quality and incisiveness, and none of their batsmen bar one can take a match by the scruff of its neck... more
Missing the biffers
They may have won a Test match but something's off about England: their top six ... more
Silly money
What the IPL could have learned from Ben and Jerry ... more
Bold but flawed
Why Middlesex plus MCC does not equal Manchester United... more
Gilchrist: beautifully used
Australia's masterstroke with Gilchrist wasn't starting him at seven, but keeping him there... more
Fight the fudge
England's selectors need to think more clearly... more
Let's ban sledging
Cricket shouldn't just be trying to ban racism, it should ban sledging... more
Eight ideas for President Brearley
Some suggestions for the keepers of Lord's ... more
Pace is back
Lee, Steyn, Shoaib - the quick guns are in business again. The gods have acted ... more
Ripe for the picking
Of all the jobs in a cricket team, the captain's is the one to which a few wrinkles are most conducive ... more
Cricket is not a business
Why the ECB's new chairman, Giles Clarke, is wrong... more
The true world order
International cricket in 2007 is a bell curve, with a great big bulge in the middle. Inzamam-ul-Haq may have gone, but his silhouette lives on... more
Too much of a dull thing
Don't kill ODIs, but let's have a balance... more
Two runs a ball, please
Batsmen are under pressure to score fast in twenty20... more
Flawed yet fascinating
Shane Warne's list of the top 50 cricketers of his time is everything a list ought to be: provocative, surprising, talked-about, and, in places, plain wrong... more
Goliaths in awe of the Davids
India's big four are considered batting stars yet the bowlers who have been successful against them are the decade's half-forgotten names... more
Advantage Wimbledon
Where tennis scores over cricket... more
Same old blues
England's unconvincing clear-out in one-day cricket... more
The naming-after game
Cricket has some handsome, concrete ways of making sure this happens, naming parts of grounds after its greatest exponents... more
The game's new conscience
Why the MCC's new committee matters ... more
England's four-fold target against West Indies
Tim de Lisle believes that England's targets for the series against West Indies will include hoping for an aggressive start, gettting hold of a productive middle, aiming for an accurate attack and ensuring 100% unity... more
A farce, a fiasco, a debacle or a shambles?
Tim de Lisle looks back the World Cup and concludes that as an event, it committed the crime that sports administrators are apt to accuse players of: it brought the game into disrepute ... more
It's not just Vaughan
England captains are never great one-day players
... more
A public relations disaster
The authorities are having a shocker of a World Cup
This World Cup has been a tough one from many points of view, not all of them the ICC's fault; they can hardly be blamed for the horrific death of Bob Woolmer... more
The wonder of Woolmer
The four keys to an exceptional coach
Tim de Lisle on the four keys to an exceptional coach... more
Gloriously inept
Ever thought of Glenn McGrath the one-day bowler up against Glenn McGrath the one-day batsman? ... more
Reaching the top by stealth
South Africa replace Australia as No. 1
Are South Africa the best in the world, asks Tim de Lisle? Not really ... more
We want less
Cricket, like the food in British supermarkets, has lost a lot of its seasonality. It rolls on remorselessly, year-round, and doesn't care if it loses flavour as a result, says Tim de Lisle ... more
Who has the world's best attack?
As Bob Dylan observed in a song a few years ago, Things Have Changed. For the first time in perhaps 35 years, there is no outstanding attack in world cricket... more
The day of the specialist captain
England's decision to reinstate Michael Vaughan
For the umpteenth time this winter, England are taking a risk on a half-fit player as Michael Vaughan returns to captain... more
How long is a career?
The treadmillish times of the modern cricketer
Tim de Lisle on the ever-lengthening careers of the modern cricketer... more
Give Harmy a break
Tim de Lisle justifies why Steve Harmison should be rested for Adelaide ... more
Two keepers, one lack of consistency
Tim de Lisle expresses his views on England's decision to sideline Chris Read and bring back Geraint Jones... more
Why it has been fun this time
The Champions Trophy has been fun, mainly because it has been unpredictable.... more
Cricket loses some of its innocence
Part of cricket's appeal over the years has been that it hasn't had drug-taking, it hasn't been awash with money, and it has had distinct seasons... more
The telly factor
Television and the ball-tampering controversy
The Darrell Hair saga shows how close and complicated the relationship between the game and the small screen has become... more
Warne and Buchanan: two wrongs ...
The coach and legspinner divide
There is a widening rift in the Australian camp, between the brains of the team off the field (Buchanan) and the brains on it (Warne)... more
Both dull and risky
This looked like being one of the most interesting England selections of recent years...but it wasn't, says Tim de Lisle... more
Going, going ... Gough
Gough departure from the stage has been protracted and painful, but it shouldn't be allowed to take the shine off a memorable career, writes Tim de Lisle... more
A case of over-reacting to an over-reaction
Tim de Lisle blames Hair for pulling the plug hastily, faults the Pakistanis for reacting churlishly before criticising Hair for over-reacting to their over-reaction... more
Predict and perish
The unpredictable charm of cricket
Tim de Lisle warns against the Ashes fever gripping England way ahead of schedule and looks ahead to a trying contest against Pakistan... more
The irreplaceable Mr. Flintoff
Why bring in a batsman for a bowler?
Tim de Lisle argues that England should have replaced Andrew Flintoff with a bowler, to bolster a depleted attack, and not Ian Bell in the first Test against Pakistan at Lord's if they wanted to force a victory... more
Tackle Pakistan first, the Ashes later
Have England been getting ahead of themselves?
Tim de Lisle warns against the Ashes fever gripping England way ahead of schedule and looks ahead to a trying contest against Pakistan... more
Rip it up and start again
How to revive England's one-day cricket
England's one-day team are in disarray. They have been rubbish abroad for the last eight years, and now they're rubbish at home too... more
The special case of Michael Vaughan
Growing concern over a dodgy knee
How fit does Michael Vaughan need to be of use to England, asks Tim de Lisle... more
The fastest bat
Kevin Pietersen and the art of express runmaking
The holy grail of batting used to be consistency - the ability to make strings of high scores. It's still much prized, but it's no longer the chief aspiration of the most accomplished players... more
Yes, Flintoff is fallible
England's national icon sleepwalks through the Lord's Test
Britain woke up this morning to a sobering realisation. Andrew Flintoff - the nation's hero, Mr Incredible, Superman, Leading Cricketer in the World, etc - is capable of making a mess of things... more
Give us back our seasons
Why cricket is like strawberries
Greetings from London, where it is cold and wet and hardly feels as if spring has arrived, let alone summer - and yet, next week, we have a Test series... more
The importance of being independent
A blast from Atherton and a memorable line from Wisden
It's a strange little tale - the curious case of the stand-in captain who made a run for it - and the plot keeps on thickening... more
Fletcher's Bothamesque flaw
Both have got their one-day priorities wrong
Tim de Lisle on the need for separate Test and one-day sides - despite what former greats might think - and how the ICC Champions Trophy is already a bore, some six months before it starts... more
Expectation, expectation, expectation
Of superhuman efforts and debutants
Tim de Lisle on how debutants have outmatched expectations in recent Tests ... and why we should savour the 400-run ODI and not complain about it being a batsman's game... more
Nice guy spoils thriller
Rahul Dravid is an outstanding cricketer, the most classical batsman in the world today. And he is one of the good guys - polite, modest and thoughtful. But at Nagpur, in a Test that had more twists than a racetrack, the biggest twist of all was that Drav... more
Twenty20 demands a World Championship
Last week, the ICC floated an idea of a Twenty20 World Championship and the BCCI immediately rubbished it. But it was the ICC who were right... more
When less isn't more, and overdoing the OBE
The Ashes and its subcontinental variant
Tim de Lisle on India-Pakistan encounters, and England's over-the-top reaction to the Ashes triumph... more
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