Tuesday 16 January 2007

Cricket Shock

England have won a match, against New Zealand in the second full ODI since the end of the Test Series.

The game is notable chiefly as further proof of "Brearley's Law", first formulated in Leeds in 1981. This law has three basic sub-laws, or by-laws:

1. A successful all-rounder shall not make a successful captain of the England cricket team.
2. When such a captain is relieved of his duties, he is replaced by a captain whose specific skill is that he takes responsibility for the performance himself.
3. Under these circumstances, the ex-captain shall once more perform to his ability, and take wickets and score runs.

It is staggering that the analysts and geeks in the ECB set up had forgotten this law.

3 comments:

_ said...

Oh, the bitterness. As a New Zealander living in England, I've been supporting England all tour... until now. This was the first time I supported the other side - my home country.

But if I only have to wait for the rugby world cup for a New Zealand win, then all the pain will be forgotten.

Colin Campbell said...

Watching the game off and on all day, I couldn't understand why England made such hard work of this. They just didn't seem to want to win. There was a grudging better just do this right to the end. I watched the last 3 overs and they still didn't have the will to win. I suspect they will get into the final, but they may lose all their games to Australia. Good practice for the World Cup all the same.

James Higham said...

Have you seen the Tim de Lisle summary of it?