That much reviled sport. Wrongly accused of being boring and of requiring little physical effort. Bollocks. Not only is it the most interesting of all sports, but requires a unique combination of physical effort, hard to acquire technique and massive reserves of concentration. One mistake and your day is over.

England's tour of South Africa has been characterised by some poor cricket and some appalling luck. On many occasions England have shot themselves in the foot with their batting and (less often) their bowling. However, they have had no luck. The umpiring in the series has been terrible and England have suffered the majority of the bad decisions. Kallis alone has survived several clear dismissals, not given by rank umpires. He has also put the ball in the air numerous times only for it to land between England fielders. It is hard enough to beat a superior side on a level playing surface, but when you are scaling a sheer cliff face it is impossible.

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For the record here is my first choice England team for the First Test against Zimbabwe (assuming all are fit):

Alec Stewart
Mike Atherton
Nasser Hussain (captain)
Michael Vaughan
Graham Thorpe
Vikram Solanki
Chris Read (wicketkeeper)
Andy Caddick
Darren Gough
Chris Schofield
Alan Mullally

The reasoning behind this team is continuity from the good things that happened on the South African tour (Caddick and Gough as opening bowlers, Hussain, Atherton and Stewart's batting, the emergence of Vaughan), the affirmation of youth (Read, Solanki and Schofield) and the addition of class (Thorpe - sorely missed on the tour). Stewart is the best batsman in the side and his best batting position is as an opener. He can destroy any bowling attack right from the first ball. For this reason he should not be wasted down the order and should certainly not be made to keep wicket (though he is a very good keeper). Putting him in with Atherton (they have an excellent record as an opening pair) solves the problem of not having a good enough second opener. It should also prevent Hussain from having to play as an opener on so many occasions when he is forced to come in early by other players' failures.

On the bowling front, Caddick and Gough are becoming a fearsome opening attack at Test level, Mullally is tight and adds variety and Schofield is a promising leg spinner, who should be given a good run in the side. Vaughan's off-spin and Solanki's medium pace are useful options for the captain when things are not happening.

I believe this side, with Tudor, Headley, Swann, etc. in reserve, should be good enough to beat an average Zimbabwe and a poor West Indies over the summer. However, I thought New Zealand were an average side and how wrong I was.

If you want to keep up with the latest events in the world of cricket drop into cricket.org. The folks down there are true cricket enthusiasts, keeping you up-to-date on all the latest matches with their unrivalled ball-by-ball commentary. They have the news as it breaks and pages of statistics to keep even the most obsessive fan happy. The Critic has been known to while away a few hours here and there deep in their archives.