Chris Stocks
@StocksC_cricket
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Cricket writer @theipaper. I’m on Bluesky @Stocksycricket Tips/stories to: [email protected]
Wherever England are...
Joined July 2009
With the most eagerly-anticipated Ashes series since 2005 starting at Edgbaston in 2 days' time, here's a thread of some of the best pre-series content from @iPaperSport to get you in the mood. 1/7 The making of Brendon McCullum, England’s Bazball guru.
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Stuart Broad to Alex Carey on stump mic: "You'll forever be remembered for that.".
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Really worth looking at Nathan Lyon’s words again before the 2017-18 Ashes. He was ecstatic at how “broken” England were in 2013-14 and talked about Australia “ending careers” in that 17-18 series. Mother cricket’s a bitch .
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Eoin Morgan via Sky Sports on England: “I’ve never come across a sports team that has underperformed like this, given the level of expectation. There’s something within the team that is definitely unsettled. I think there’s something else going on – there has to be.”.
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The disconnect between the majority view in England and Australia over the Bairstow incident is remarkable. Massive overreaction in this country but total lack of awareness from Australians that their team's actions in Cape Town five years ago still frames this narrative.
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The "whingeing Pom" narrative from Down Under is not a fair reflection of the feeling in England - which is just massive disappointment a week that would have been off the charts in terms of interest for cricket in this country has been lost. And that's not Australia's fault tbf.
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Alastair Cook on BT Sport just now: "I texted Stuart Broad last night and he said: 'Don't worry lads, this is a flat one.'" #Ashes.
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Ben Stokes: “No thoughts of a declaration tonight. That would be stupid after winning the toss. In India you get as many runs as you can. If we can bat an hour tomorrow we’ll be happy.”.
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Edgbaston has two years of cricket drinking to make up for and it appears the Hollies have managed to catch up in a session.
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Whatever England's problems are, Jimmy Anderson bowling on a cloudy morning at Headingley isn't one of them #ENGVIND.
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The decision to leave out James Anderson and Stuart Broad is even more inexplicable now we know Mark Wood had a pain-killing injection before this tour for the elbow issue that has now flared up in the first Test.
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Cook on TNT: “Gill saying [Test is] 70-30 [to India] is the effect of Bazball. It is mind-boggling the effect this has had on opposition. No side has got near this sort of total on the subcontinent. We’re only talking about it because of what Stokes has drilled into the side.”.
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People don't really care about how sports stars/coaches treat journalists and reporters but. got to say Joe Root has been the most genuine, accommodating and professional England captain I have dealt with. Class act.
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After writing this yesterday for @iPaperSport Shoaib Bashir is still awaiting his visa for India less than 48 hours before the 1st Test. He applied on the same day as me - December 11. My visa came through before Christmas.
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England’s 10th defeat in 14 white-ball matches since start of World Cup. They’ve got worse longer Matthew Mott has been in charge. A change needs to be made now so England can regroup before the T20 WC. Enough is enough. Heard so many worrying things in India. He’s got to go.
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Imagine if England can keep Mark Wood until Australia? And he is in the same bowling attack as Jofra Archer. Long way to go but what a prospect.
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The way I see it there will be four distinct phases in the evolution of Bazball:.1. The Bazball identity.2. The Bazball supremacy.3. The Bazball ultimatum .4. The Bazball legacy.
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Went to Chelmsford today to watch Joe Root bat but, my word, Harry Brook…if he’s not in England’s Test team by the end of the summer I’ll be amazed. Hell of a player and in prime form too.
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India were so concerned about Covid they took the train up from London to Manchester earlier this week. #EngvIndia.
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Change the record Kevin - you transformed yourself from a jobbing spinner into an international cricketer from this system.
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Will be a relief to put this world feed commentary in the bin. Bring on Nasser et al at Sky for the white-ball leg of this tour.
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Matthew Mott has been England white-ball coach for 16 months. His win percentage in completed ODIs is 50%. Take out games v Ireland and Netherlands & that drops to 34%. Between the end of the 2015 World Cup and Mott taking over in early 2022, England’s ODI win percentage was 69%.
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Emotional afternoon for me today. Said goodbye to my dad on Friday. You’ll Never Walk Alone played at end of the service. He had his first season ticket at Anfield in 1953-54 (when they were relegated). The Reds did dad proud today.
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Most people are basing predicted rain tomorrow on the Met Office forecast (9th most accurate by one rating). But it seems Accuweather is the most accurate for predicting rain and that says we should have a four-hour window of dryness from 1-5pm tomorrow #Ashes2023.
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England will have an expanded tour of the Caribbean next year - 5 T20s (Jan to early Feb) and 3 Tests (March). Payback for what Cricket West Indies did for ECB last summer.
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Standing ovation for Kane Williamson after his Lord’s presser. That is not normal. But absolutely deserved. Class personified.
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Virat Kohli and India punished for a slow over rate v England in the 5th T20 but appears to have got away with one of the more clear-cut cases of dissent re. his 'chat' with the on-field umpires. No wonder he keeps doing it. The ICC are enabling his disrespectful behaviour.
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For all the haters (mainly from India and Australia) here's a thread (1/4) to lay down how things really stand after England's World Cup win. - Since the 2015 WC they've played 99 ODIs.- They've won 65, lost 26, tied 2, 6 NR.- Hit two world-record totals.- Have 19 350+ scores.
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Wood now bowling consistently at 92mph - softening up the batsmen for Bess at the other end. This is a great spectacle.
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Forget Edgbaston 2005 that tops it. Ben Stokes, how the hell did you do that?! Amazing game of cricket. Better than the WC final for me.
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That is another terrible result for England. Openers gave them a great start but threw it away. Feel for Buttler who needs a break and Curran is being scarred by his last couple of months. A lot of questions for Matthew Mott - not that he’ll answer them.
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Ben Foakes. Best keeper in the country and averages 41.50 in Test cricket too. Just saying.
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Joe Root is batting on a different level to anyone else in the world this year. Reaches 50 at Headingley in 57 balls. He is Hashim Amla in 2012 and Steve Smith in 2017-18/2019 #classapart #ENGvIND.
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Cricket West Indies CEO Johnny Grave last month: “There’s very little financial reason for us to go. But as world cricket I think we need to be able to demonstrate fairly quickly we can get cricket back on safely.” .West Indies should be remembered for this selfless act.
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Considering they’re still rattled from the Ashes, this is one hell of a performance from Australia #Worldcupfinal2023.
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Azeem Rafiq has finished his testimony. Asked whether he believed he lost his career to racism he replied "Yes." On the verge of tears he also explains toll last 15 months has taken on his family. Powerful, heartbreaking and shameful indictment on English cricket.
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Tom Harrison's position as ECB chief executive looks untenable now. If change is required in cricket (and I think we all agree it is) you've got to start at the very top.
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Loved this from Stokes about Broad in his post-match presser: “He was on one, wasn’t he?” “When he came out, he needed that. He wanted to pick a battle. I was about to say ‘with someone’ but he picked the whole Australia cricket team. That’s Broady.” #Ashes2023.
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Virat Kohli has just said that the conditions and type of ball have no bearing on a Test match. Amazing scenes.
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Jack Leach joins Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara in never having scored a Lord's century.
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Andrew Strauss on C4: “It’s a poor pitch. It doesn’t mean you can’t score runs on it, it doesn’t mean it’s an excuse for not winning. But when you’re looking at a 5-day match, for it to be turning like it is right at the moment is the sign of a poor pitch for me.”.
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Apparently play stopped at Ageas Bowl in T20 between Essex and Hampshire to watch the end of that.
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A lot of rubbish on here recently about pitches (yawn), mainly from Indian fans & now Nathan Lyon (double yawn) - most claiming England are sore losers. A reminder Joe Root has only ever explicitly criticised one pitch - at Lord’s in a Test his side won.
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471 mins for that Sibley century - 9 mins short of eight hours. Remarkable effort.
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Jos Buttler dismisses talk of him opening for England's Test team on @bbctms and makes clear he has no plans to play red-ball cricket for the foreseeable future.
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David Warner now averages 11.28 this series. To put that in perspective, that's lower than Tim Paine.
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Azhar Ali, fine innings and the toughest of runs in the toughest of situations for his team.
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Sensational century from Jos Buttler in Sharjah - sealed with a six off the final ball of the innings. Becomes fourth England player to score a T20I hundred after Hales, Malan and Livingstone #T20WorldCup.
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Couldn’t agree more with Ben Stokes. It’s this kind of intrusive reporting that gives all journalists a bad name. Staggered they ran this.
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"Sandpapergate said our culture had to change. But one thing is for sure. It will only take one piece of bad behaviour for people to say, ‘There you go, that’s the Australian cricket team. Their culture is still shit'." .Justin Langer, Jan 2020.
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Been going through Bob Willis clips for the last hour or so and this promo for The Verdict before 2015 Ashes made me smile. As well as showing how the programme was really built around him it also displays how he wasn’t afraid to send up his own on screen persona #ripbobwillis
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Jonny Bairstow's encouragement for Moeen behind the stumps: "Come on Mo, come on pal, you're the man Mo, come on big man, be the man here buddy".
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Looking back, I guess it’s a bonus for England that Kohli dismissal wasn’t overturned.
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In a catastrophic week for new 'sports ventures' that completely alienate existing fans it might have been an idea to keep your head down for a few days guys.
This summer, every ball counts. Be part of the action, be part of The Hundred.
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One of the great Test wins. One of the great Test comebacks by a team. One of the great individual comebacks in a single game from Hartley. Wow. Bazball gets better and better #INDvENG.
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Amazing stat from Fox Sports that tells you how well Mark Wood has bowled - he's beaten the bat 23 time in 24 overs #Ashes
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Off to Australia shortly. Privilege to be covering this Ashes tour for @theipaper @iPaperSport See you on the other side #Ashes
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Eoin Morgan has been ruled out of the final 2 ODIs v India. Sam Billings for at least the second game tomorrow. Liam Livingstone to make ODI debut tomorrow. Jos Buttler to captain.
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I’ve covered England for 10 years and three of the most remarkable days of cricket I’ve ever witnessed have all come at Lord’s in the past 35 days. What an incredible summer.
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Rohit Sharma there catching like a man who clearly doesn’t fancy batting tonight.
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Starc follows up with another short ball immediately after hitting Root flush on the grille. Ashes cricket at its toughest.
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Amazing how Soucek gets a red for that when Jordan Pickford got away with maiming Van Dijk.
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The favour has been returned at last. England’s footballers are warming up for the World Cup by playing cricket!
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Awaiting CA investigation but from what I’ve heard.Warner 1 year ban.Smith 1 year ban.Lehmann sacked.Entire backroom staff sacked.
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Weird fact. Rohit Sharma made his first-class debut in Darwin.
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Why selling off stakes in the Hundred is a dangerous game and needs Government oversight urgently. Piece for @iPaperSport
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There's something rather compelling about watching two openers block the living daylights out of it in a bid to save a Test #INDvENG.
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4/4.You can say they were lucky to win the final or disagree with the tie-breaker. But they've been the best team in the world for a while. As Jack Nicklaus once said: "The more I practice, the luckier I get.".And there's no doubt England worked their arses off to win that WC.
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England getting hammered in a near-empty MCG nine days after they won the T20 WC at the same venue is an object lesson in the futility of a crazy, relentless and damaging schedule. It’s irrelevant series like this that’ll speed up the death of ODI cricket.
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England are going to end up losing this Ashes series 4-0 and it's been so much worse than four years ago. Tom Harrison, Ashley Giles, Chris Silverwood and Joe Root all retaining their job just won't cut it.
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Yep that’s someone dressed as a cricket ball with a sandpaper hat and holding sandpaper as well
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The last 24 hours have been an absolute s***show. Covered multiple World Cups across almost every major cricketing country over the past 15 years and this week has been the worst.
No English fans or media are able to travel to the semi-final . The #T20WorldCup has been stitched up to suit India, writes @StocksC_cricket .
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Jofra Archer has 6-26 as Gloucs stiffs have been bowled out for 79 here at Woodman Cote. He bowled 12.1 overs and looked great.
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Anyone questioning Joe Root’s non declaration should note he once lost a match as Yorkshire captain after setting Middlesex 471 to win. He was nicknamed ‘craptain’ after that.
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Eoin Morgan on Sky: "You need to take responsibility for your actions, that is part and parcel of your job. It very much surprised me seeing Carl Hopkinson rolled out yesterday. You very rarely send out an assistant coach to give a strong message when the team needs it.".
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Alastair Cook's highest Test score in Australia since his 189 in the final match of the 2010-11 Ashes series in Sydney.
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Jeremy Coney on @bbctms on England: "From an outsider's point of view it is very difficult to understand how you can surround yourself with so many coaches, helpers and so many staff and so many facilities and so much money and so many good contracts and perform like that.".
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Sweeping generalisation here from Colin Graves and an astounding lack of faith in his own sport. Maybe the ECB need a new kind of leadership as well as audience?
“The younger generation, whether you like it or not, are just not attracted to cricket”. Quite an admission from ECB Chairman Colin Graves when asked why need for 100-ball format. (Maybe more kids would be into cricket if ECB hadn’t let it disappear off terrestrial TV in ‘05)
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This from @NHoultCricket on taking his kids to last night’s opening Hundred game is glorious
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Cook batted for nine hours 23 minutes to get that double hundred. .
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Alastair Cook (BT Sport) on Hameed's lame dismissal: "As an international opener you cannot afford to give your wicket away. Getting caught at mid-on with an hour to go when your team is up against it is not ideal.".
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England have only scored fewer than 250 batting first 4 times since 2015 WC - they've lost every single time.
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South Africa should beat India. You've got to give Virat Kohli credit though. He's made sure they've finished the series which is obviously not a given with India.
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It's not quite '3 0 Walcott' but if a certain Middlesex bowler runs through England at Lord's today the tabloids can have .'Midsummer Murtagh'.
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Alastair Cook on Joe Root's 34th Test hundred:."He's quite simply England's greatest and it's absolutely right he should have the record on his own. Take it in Joe, we are watching a genius.".
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Penny for the thoughts of Rory Burns, who dropped Rohit on 6 and 31. On such moments series turn #ENGvIND.
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Best (informed) guess at England's team for the first Test in the Caribbean: .Alex Lees .Zak Crawley.Joe Root.Jonny Bairstow.Ben Stokes.Dan Lawrence.Ben Foakes.Chris Woakes.Mark Wood.Ollie Robinson.Matt Parkinson.
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England were 188-1 and are now all out for 325. Lost their final six wickets for 46. They weren't this reckless last summer, when they carefully chose their moments to go hard. One-dimensional atm which is playing into Australia's hands.
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