Graciousness is widely rumoured to be on its way out of competitive cricket, from amateur leagues to professional, international sand-papering. It has never been much in vogue,… Read more “Up to you, skip #12: grace”

The temptation when rain stopped play for much of June was to write about rain and cricket. Another wet spell might yet prove irresistible. But I thought… Read more “Up to you, skip #11: crowd-pleaser”

We lost on Sunday for the second time this season and for the second time in a row, this time to St Clements Strollers in a low-scoring… Read more “Up to you skip, #10: testing”

Our club’s ethos is that our ideal game at Middleton Stoney CC is one which goes to the last possible over with all results possible (win, lose,… Read more “Up to you, skip #9: on losing & recovering”

When I was at school, cricket-lovers talked about the rarity of a batsman scoring 1,000 runs in first class cricket in May or (to include early games… Read more “Up to you, skip #8: the end of May”

Dropping a catch or a fixture or a player are awkward parts of cricket. Being dropped can mean different things: it is helpful if you are a… Read more “Up to you, skip #7: dropped & dropping”

Nets, or in our case, a single net, is the cricketing term for practising or for standing around laughing about last week’s game. Practice pitches are set… Read more “Up to you, skip #6: nets”

In cricket, captains make changes. In wider life, when I have been brought in to lead some endeavour, the phrase ‘managing change’ rather underplays the task. The… Read more “Up to you, skip #5: changes”

Mike Brearley was recalled to the England captaincy, he recalls various incidents in his books on cricket and he has faced the issue on the field of… Read more “Up to you, skip #4: recall”

  Up to you, skip #3: The beauty of cricket According to Wally Hammond, a former captain of England writing before I was born (Cricketers’ School, 1952),… Read more “Up to you, skip #3: the beauty of cricket”