Nowhere to turn in cricket’s moral maze

ALL CRICKETERS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @Phil_Wisden " Root’s last memory of

The month in cricket No.1

PHOTO BY FRANCOIS NEL Jos Buttler launches the

De Kock bows to pressure but cricket’s anti-racism stance remains muddled

Quinton de Kock’s refusal to take a knee and his subsequent U-turn were representative of the game’s disjointed approach to what should be a basic principle, argues Lawrence Booth

James Pattinson: the fragile phenomenon who could have been a Test great

The Australian quick should have been lining up against England in the Ashes, instead he announced his retirement from international cricket, aged 31, after a succession of debilitating injuries. Adam Collins wonders what might have been, and says Australia will miss him this winter

India v Pakistan: not just another cricket match

The fallout from Pakistan’s 10-wicket win over India at the T20 World Cup was the latest reminder that the impact of matches between the two rivals is felt well beyond the game’s boundaries, writes Suresh Menon

Quick Singles

The month’s news in brief

The world according to... Kyle Coetzer

37, SCOTLAND CAPTAIN AND FORMER DURHAM AND NORTHANTS STALWART

NEWS CYCLE

This month, cricket’s viral clips have given Ben Gardner a fever

Katherine Brunt

One of the all-time greats of English cricket sits down with her former teammate Isa Guha to discuss her extraordinary career, and where it takes her next

‘In sport the better players are the toughest to manage’

Ryan ten Doeschate

In other news...

BELOW: Northeast represented three counties in the 2021

CRICKIPEDIA

The alternative compendium of cricket

RE:VIEW

Four writers predict the outcome of the Ashes

Mailbox

In association with Botham Wines, letter of the

THE ASHES

Over the next 18 pages we preview the latest instalment of the game’s most enduring rivalry, examining how Joe Root’s men can overcome the odds to claim that rarest of things – an overseas win in Australia – recalling some occasions when it all went horribly wrong for English tourists of yesteryear, and profiling an emerging player on each side hoping to make this series a defining one in their nascent careers

HOW TO WIN IN AUSTRALIA

CricViz analyst Ben Jones examines the accepted truths of how teams can overcome Australia in their own backyard and tries to separate fact from fiction

KEY BATTLES

WHERE THE ASHES WILL BE WON AND LOST

HASEEB HAMEED: MAD INTRICACIES

Five bruising years from his celebrated Test debut in India, Haseeb Hameed is back. He talks to Phil Walker about not losing faith, staying side-on, and refusing to be labelled

CAMERON GREEN: THE NEXT BIG THING

Taha Hashim profiles the new star of Australian batting, who could yet become the all-rounder they’ve yearned for

COCK-UPS, MISHAPS AND SHOCKERS

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN AUSTRALIA

“OK SON, YOU’RE IN”

An XI of ‘interesting’ selections…

THE GREAT HALF CENTURIES

Cricket is obsessed with reaching three figures, but half-centuries can be just as significant. To mark our 50th issue, a WCM panel picked a selection of the game’s most memorable fifties

Dry spells and scattered storms

John Stern takes us back 20 years to England’s Test tour of India, which took place against a backdrop of geopolitical upheaval and included some uncompromising tactics from their increasingly influential captain and coach

ICONOGRAPHY of cricket

PART 3: 1920-1929

5-32 Axar Patel

India v England, Third Test, Ahmedabad 2021

Phil TUFNELL

The Middlesex and England spinner talks about his early days bowling fast, turning to spin on a whim and turbulent times in the nineties

The global game: cricketing outposts

YOUR GAME At the heart of club cricke

Number 55 Tony Moor

Scott Oliver meets a multi-talented all-rounder who skippered Scarborough CC to unprecedented success

WHO ONLY CRICKET KNOW: HUTTON’S MEN IN THE WEST INDIES 1953/54

Book of the Month

Beyond the Boundaries

Nobody has seen more England Test matches than Scyld Berry... and nobody has a keener eye for the idiosyncrasies of the places England have visited over the past 45 years. In his new book, Beyond the Boundaries, Berry shares his experiences of those travels. Fittingly, as England get ready for another Ashes tour, in this extract he arrives in Australia

Time Warp

The two winners of this month’s quiz will receive a collection of three books published by Fairfield

MY GOLDEN SUMMER: 1963

My Golden Summer

The Line-up

World party for Colly’s England

Chaos Theory

England v Australia First Test, Old Trafford, 1993

Andy Zaltzman’s Number Palace!

Joe Root begins the Ashes having made 50