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A dangerous game we all play at some point is virtual history, that is what if? But the weight on England’s shoulders these last three years has been the monumental Ashes victory in 2005 and many have said that England have wished to replicate too much of the same thing since. The focus of the English on the Ashes above all else has been a constant criticism both at home and abroad and too many selections have said to have been based around the yearning for those magical days in the fantastic summer that was 2005. Is this fair? Have English selections been unduly influenced by a desire for what was? Was the Ashes victory of 05 detrimental to English cricket. What would have happened if the series had ended all square and the Aussies kept hold of the urn?

The evolution of batting in one day cricket has made it increasingly hard to compare the greats. A method to measure the value of contributions across time has been devised.

As the ICC ruminates and fumbles with the game’s future, the time is ripe for change. A fundamental shift in thinking about cricketing governance is required.

If you think a string of recent retirements means Australia will automatically lose top spot in the world of cricket, guess again.

Despite no longer being able to call on modern greats like Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist, no country is better able to minimise the effect of these departures than Australia.

Once again we find ourselves debating whether now is the right time to tamper with England’s top six in the Test batting line-up. In such situations the old adage of form being temporary and class permanent rings very true.

Cricket is now a global game played by millions of people. But how would a group of rural French teenagers react when experiencing the game for the first time? It seems the game isn’t quite as global as we thought…

Renowned fielding coach Julien Fountain recently spoke to CricketWeb, answering questions posed by the active community within the CricketWeb forums.

In recent times, there has been much talk of how to make Test cricket more “interesting”. Some worthy ideas have been mooted; some have talked of trying to produce more results. Yet some of the most exciting finishes to Test matches ended in draws.

What steps should the ECB take to make their EPL a success? And can it win out over the IPL?

As West Indies head into the third Test match against Australia, they do so with aspirations of leveling the series at 1-1. The Frank Worrell Trophy is now out of their hands, but there is still the pride of a drawn series up for grabs. And whatever hope the home team bears depends largely on the potency of the front line bowling attack, particularly Fidel Edwards. A cursory look at the series statistics locates Edwards second only to Brett Lee in wickets. His 11 wickets are already a series high, though he has only once played more than 3 Tests in a series. Now it remains to be seen how far he can extend his personal record in Bridgetown.