Yuvraj Singh , , the , Chris Gayle's blistering 117 off 57 balls and - just a few of the highlights from the hugely successful held two years ago in South Africa.
Now the tournament is back and its happening right here! The most exciting cricketers in the world are arriving in the UK ready to compete in enty20 - and you will be able to follow all the action on the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú.
We will be providing ball-by-ball commentary on every match in the competition on Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio, with games shared between Five Live, Five Live Sports Extra and Radio Four Long Wave (Ed's note: there will be live text commentaries on all the major matches on the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Sport website) - and every evening of the competition there will also be highlights on Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Television.
Read the rest of this entry
After a successful, if low-key, start to the summer, England's cricketers move onto six weeks of one-day action with the and the ICC .
Although the Tests against the West Indies were a useful exercise in building confidence, especially for the likes of , I'm not sure it will be a series that lives long in the memory.
It was summed up for me on the final morning of the Durham Test match when at around 0930 in the morning we heard the public address system welcoming spectators into the ground and given details of where they could buy programmes, refreshments etc.
Unfortunately, at that point there were precisely two spectators in the ground - it would have been easier for Johnny Dennis, the affable actor who makes the announcements at international games, to have spoken to the members of the crowd individually.
Let's hope this exciting summer of cricket really starts to get going with this week's NatWest series.
Read the rest of this entry
Australia have hedged their bets by picking three all-rounders in their but the most gifted of the four possible contenders has missed out.
Once again, the headlines concern Andrew Symonds, only this time the player himself - so often at the centre of controversy - is wholly innocent of any wrongdoing.
And England fans who witnessed his two and a half years ago will breathe just a little bit easier in the knowledge that he will not be tormenting Andrew Strauss's men this summer.
Read the rest of this entry
Here is our verdict on the performances of the England team in the second Test against West Indies at the Riverside (my name may be at the top of this blog but I'm not taking all the blame). As usual, we'd like to hear whether you agree or disagree.
Read the rest of this entry
Chris Gayle sounded like Scott of the Antarctic when describing the rigours of playing cricket at Lord's in early May.
"The majority of the time I was batting out there, that wind was hitting me in the eye and there was a lot of water in the eyes as well".
Welcome to Chester-le-Street, Chris, some 270 miles due north of London. If you needed hand warmers to cope in NW8, you might need something stronger to get you through the day in County Durham.
Read the rest of this entry
After England's three-day victory at Lord's, the TMS team now moves onto Chester-le-street for Thursday's second Test.
It may have been a short game at the home of cricket, but there were still plenty of highlights both on the field and in the TMS box.
The Brian Johnston Champagne moment we agreed was Graeme Swann dismissing Devon Smith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in successive balls, the start of an impressive match for the popular spinner.
If we had to nominate a champagne moment for an event in the TMS box I think it would have gone to Jonathan Agnew for his grilling of Marks and Spencer executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose about the . This was to be honest not a conversation I was expecting to hear this summer...!
Read the rest of this entry
I love cricket, I play the guitar and I love , so you can imagine my excitement at receiving an invitation to the 'Bunbury Bashes', a black-tie gala dinner organised by the , where Rory Bremner would be MC, comedian would do a turn and Eric himself would perform live.
The Bunbury Cricket Club is a pro-celebrity club, founded and run by the inimitable David English MBE, which has raised over £12m for different charities over the years.
It has also helped to produce a few England cricketers through the English Schools Cricket Association's annual under-15s Bunbury Festival - nine members of the 2005 Ashes-winning team took part in it.
Alongside the ESCA, other causes supported by the 'Bashes' include the , the in Antigua (an alcohol and drug facility founded by Eric Clapton) and an orphanage in India called .
Read the rest of this entry
It's time for me to reveal my England ratings for I am sure this will attract some healthy debate, so let me know what you think. I like to keep to whole marks out of 10, but found myself stumped by James Anderson who ends up with 6.5.
Read the rest of this entry
The first ball he faced in Test cricket crashed into his stumps - and the first delivery he bowled an hour later was smashed for four.
So it was that Graham Onions quickly learned about the ups and downs - or downs and ups in his case - of Test cricket. And yet if he was to wander into a newsagent on Friday morning, he would have every reason to smile.
With a surname that is pure gold for a headline writer, he would be able to laugh at the inevitable puns that will be displayed - because Onions recovered from a most inauspicious entry into the Test arena .
And though Graeme Swann arguably had a bigger impact on the course of the match on day two at Lord's, Onions was a lot more than a bit-part player.
Read the rest of this entry
England captain refused to mention the "A" word during his media conference before the first Test against West Indies at Lords - the "A" word, of course, being the "Ashes".
Strauss said he wanted instead to focus on the current series and would not respond to the inevitable questions about the visit later this summer of the Australians.
But even though Strauss doesn't want to talk Ashes, it is impossible not to cast your mind forward to and during the lunch interval on Friday's TMS we announced details of a really exciting project which will go alongside our coverage of the Ashes summer.
Read the rest of this entry
Centuries by England's Test batsmen at Lord's have not exactly been collectors' items during the course of this decade. It may surprise you to know that before Wednesday there had been .
Having said that, if coach Andy Flower could have chosen which member of this England side would notch the 31st, Ravi Bopara would almost certainly have been his pick.
Selecting Bopara to bat at three for this match was arguably a bolder call than naming two Test rookies (bowlers Graham Onions and Tim Bresnan) in the starting XI.
But the Essex man paid off his coach's hunch with a pretty unfazed effort, especially when you consider how he had to watch wickets tumble in clutches at the other end.
Read the rest of this entry
Four years ago, a swing bowler from and a beanpole from took the new ball at the for England.
But while this May and failed to receive a phone call from England's selectors, two men cut from similar cloth found their mobiles buzzing with good news.
Barring a five-day downpour of biblical proportions in NW8, Tim Bresnan and Graham Onions will make their .
Read the rest of this entry
At the start of an English summer, when expectations are naturally heightened simply because it's an Ashes year, the warm-up act for Andy Flower's side is provided by a familiar foe in .
But while many of the game's global fans will be fascinated by what an ever-improving Windies side might achieve, England have a dual task: As well as winning the two-Test series, there also needs to be a feeling that their chances of winning the Ashes have improved, not declined.
Will a 1-0 win suffice? Perhaps. But at least as important as winning back the Wisden Trophy will be to provide concrete answers to troubling dilemmas.
Read the rest of this entry
You can count the autograph-hunters at Chelmsford on the fingers of one hand, but it's still an effort for a weary Ramnaresh Sarwan, vast cricket bag slung over one shoulder, to attend to their wishes.
"Doesn't he have someone to carry his bag for him?" asks the sole female member of this hardy band of aficionados. The gnarled security guard on the gate at the County Ground just looks skywards.
Read the rest of this entry
If Wednesday's Test squad announcement had a fresh feel to it, then the revelation of the 15 players called upon to represent England in the in June took the concept to a whole new level.
It was as though a dusty Victorian pub had been gutted and turned into a holistic therapy centre, with juice bars and vases of irises replacing the cigarette machines and dripping beer pumps.
Read the rest of this entry
While the debate rages about whether the England selectors have picked the right team for the first Test of the summer, you'll be pleased to know there is little controversy about our squad for .
Leading our commentary team as usual will be cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew, who will be joined by Christopher Martin Jenkins MBE and the voice of West Indies cricket Tony Cozier.
Our expert summarisers at Lords will be the irrepressible , Phil Tufnell, who knows a thing or two about bowling at the home of cricket after his long Middlesex career, and .
Viv enjoyed an eventful winter as part of the TMS commentary team. In Jamaica, we heard his excitement as ; in Antigua, we saw his and then in Trinidad, as the West Indies nervously , Viv simply could not watch the climax to the match and instead stood at the back of the media centre listening anxiously to the roars of the crowd. Let's hope he's calmed down now!
Read the rest of this entry
| 10:06 UK time, Friday, 29 May 2009
