The wickets are falling, now for the runs
An analysis of England's attack and the success they have had in this Ashes series
View ArticleThe hero who almost didn't play
Bob Willis, one of the heroes of Headingley 1981, wasn't even in the original squad picked for the Test
View ArticleThe umpire who called time
Umpires are always under the spotlight and sometimes the pressure gets to them. In the case of Tom Brooks, it happened during an Ashes Test
View Article'Mike Brearley did his job magnificently'
Tom Graveney remembers the Headingley Test of 1981
View ArticleStrange innovations
Lawrence Booth searches through the kitbag of history to find a collection of eccentricities and innovations
View ArticleBrearley named next MCC president
Mike Brearley, the former England captain, will serve as the next president of MCC
View ArticleBrearley's brilliant declaration
Martin Williamson on an outstanding piece of captaincy from Mike Brearley
View Article'You need to work by intelligent hunches'
Mike Brearley talks to Siddhartha Vaidyanathan about the essentials of good captaincy
View ArticleBoycott's Headingley heaven
In Yorkshire in August 1977 news of Elvis Presley's death and England regaining the Ashes paled into insignificance as Geoff Boycott scored his hundredth hundred
View ArticleSumangela's field of dreams
Three years after it was devastated by the tsunami, a small corner of Sri Lanka is looking to the future with hope - and that's thanks in no small part to the world's premier cricket club
View ArticleLeading, by the book
Brearley's book stands apart from the few others on the subject for its authority, simplicity and range of personal examples
View ArticleUnderwood to become MCC president
Derek Underwood, the former England spinner, is set to become the next president of MCC and will take over from Mike Brearley on October 1
View ArticleGetting shirty about substitutes
The subject of substitute fielders has attracted considerable comment and the ICC is set to clamp down on their use. It was an issue that was high on the agenda twenty-seven years ago
View ArticleBrearley distances MCC from EPL plan
Mike Brearley, the president of MCC, has moved to distance the club from the proposals for an English rival to the Indian Premier League
View ArticleCan bat, can bowl, can't write
All too few top-level players have the writing skills to match. So why are they increasingly making inroads into the cricket media?
View ArticleCaptain marvel
After Kevin Pietersen's success, we take a look at 11 other captains who made a mark early in their reign
View ArticleUnderwood takes over as MCC president
Derek Underwood, the former England spinner, will begin his one-year tenure as president of MCC on Wednesday, taking over from Mike Brearley
View ArticleAustralia's old new ball
When a captain decided to open the innings with an old ball and two spinners
View ArticleBradshaw steps down from ECB Board
Keith Bradshaw, the secretary and chief executive of MCC, has announced he is stepping down from the ECB Board of Directors because of a conflict of interests
View ArticleICC might send a hand-picked side to Pakistan
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has said the organisation might send a hand-picked side to Pakistan late next year
View ArticleBeing Andrew Strauss
There are more worthy goals ahead of England's captain still, but will he have the appetite for them, or the fortitude to keep self-doubt at bay?
View ArticleTreat Amir more leniently - Brearley
Mike Brearley, the former England captain, has said that Mohammad Amir, the Pakistan fast bowler currently in prison for his role in the spot-fixing scandal, should be treated more leniently
View ArticleFailures will strengthen Strauss' resolve
Questions about his place in the team are quickly forgotten if he scores runs and/or the team wins again. Not that he can afford to flatline in either department for long
View ArticleThe zone and the importance of imagination
A sportsman in the zone, like an artist, has both a wider and a narrower focus. He has the ability to be in the game and yet stand above it, seeing it clearly
View ArticleThe end of the innocence
The felling of a tailender by Bob Willis triggered the acceptance that helmets were needed in the game
View Article'You learn how to manage players from losing'
Steve Waugh, Ian Chappell, Clive Lloyd, MAK Pataudi: some of cricket's finest captains speak about their craft
View ArticleShould Twenty20 be Over-30s only?
On a panel for the Bradman Oration in Melbourne, Rod Marsh suggested that Twenty20 cricket should be limited to players over 30 as a reward for long service
View ArticleWhat is the point of sport?
Mike Brearley's speech at the Bradman Oration in Melbourne, during which he spoke about the psychoanalytical factors involved in playing sport, particularly cricket
View ArticleBroad's mighty challenge
Few England players in the modern era have been booed to the extent Broad will be. Will he rise to the occasion?
View ArticleDown to the wire
When the County Championship was controversially tied for the last time after a gripping finale to the season
View ArticleThe hold-up at Headingley
Mike Hendrick's nagging seam bowling helped England defend a low total against a powerful Pakistan line-up in the 1979 World Cup
View ArticleThe start of saturation cricket
Australia's international tri-series came out of financial necessity and the need to appease a broadcaster
View ArticleNatural leaders are made in retrospect
There is no template for the perfect captain. Some of the game's greatest were not identified as such straightaway
View ArticleEight new balls, Boycs' go-extra-slow, Gower's stand-in bat
Plus debutant brothers, a man who paid for the honour of captaining England, champagne to celebrate a first wicket, and more fun Ashes facts
View ArticleBrearley apologises for Clarke comment
Mike Brearley, chairman of the MCC's World Cricket Committee, has apologised to Giles Clarke, the ECB president, after suggesting Clarke would have to "do what he's told" with regard to the possibility...
View ArticleBeefy's 28-ball Ashes broadside
Ian Botham had had a quiet match at Edgbaston in 1981, until he was summoned into the attack for one last burst at the Australians
View ArticleWhen Sunny made 438 look gettable
Had India pulled off a remarkable victory at The Oval in 1979, Sunil Gavaskar's 221 would be up there as the greatest Test innings
View ArticleMCC cricket committee calls for restrictions to bat depth
The MCC World Cricket Committee has recommended the introduction of further limitations to the size of cricket bats within the laws of the game
View ArticleHow do batsmen cope with the intensity of their lonely skill?
Digging the pitch, repetitive body movements, talking to themselves, superstitious behaviour, visualisation - different ways that batsmen deal with the pressure of their profession
View ArticleGames within a game?
Farcical bowling, the helmet fielder, chess interruptions, batting for pints - ten instances of when matches weren't cricket
View ArticleWhy are most captains inevitably batsmen?
Batsmen have always been preferred over bowlers for the leadership role. Is there any merit in such thinking?
View ArticleInternational cricket faces 'looming potential crisis'
Mike Brearley has warned of "a looming potential crisis" in international cricket as it struggles to compete with the growth of T20 leagues
View ArticleWhat does fear have to do with form?
Master cricket thinker Mike Brearley has written a hugely helpful book
View ArticleThe USA captain who captained Mike Brearley
Jim Reid, who led USA to the Auty Cup in 1966 and went on to become USACA president, has died at the age of 91
View ArticleBotham, Willis, Brearley, magic: let's cast our minds back to 1981
To be an up-and-coming English cricketer that summer was to get a glimpse of the stuff myths are made of
View ArticleMike Brearley: 'Stokes and McCullum are about playing cricket for enjoyment....
The former England captain and well-known psychoanalyst talks about Bazball, the current England side, and his new book
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