Stokes’s Headingley miracle and the
World Cup final super over were special but 2019 is likely to be as good as it gets for a whileThere’s something missing from the
England and Wales
Cricket Board’s financial statements, a hole in between all the intangible assets and net liabilities, where the figures revealing the enormous sums they’ve spent on tea and biscuits ought to be. Cricket press boxes, like so many
British institutions, run on tea and biscuits. Demand rises in proportion to stress, and reaches a peak an hour or two before deadline, right about the time everyone’s supposed to start writing. Last year, when Ben Stokes played like Botham, Steve Smith batted like Bradman, and Jofra Archer bowled like Tyson, the biscuit outlay must have run a close second to the marketing spend on The Hundred.
There were biscuits by the barrel load, Bourbons when Stokes took that catch on the boundary at the Oval, Digestives as
Pakistan narrowly defended 348 at Trent Bridge, Shortbread when Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow thrashed Australia all around Edgbaston, Ginger Nuts when Trent Boult trod on the boundary rope, Oatmeal Cookies when Martin Guptill’s throw ricocheted away for six, Garibaldis as Jofra Archer steeled himself midway through the super over, and Viennese Whirls when Jos Buttler made that last run-out, Custard Creams when Tim Murtagh bowled England out for 85, Jammie Dodgers during Archer’s duel with Steve Smith at Lord’s.