Ed Smith

Sometimes it just makes sense to pick an in-form player in his 30s than a younger alternative

In the hare-and-tortoise comparison of Clarke and Cook, we must not lose sight of the fact that one man's methods are not necessarily better than the other's

Once the players are out on the pitch, they are on their own - which makes it important to get the right ones out there in the first place

Momentum isn't only about winning sessions in a row. It is a direct result of the kind of players you pick

With his immaculate concentration at Lord's on Sunday, England's captain revealed his mental toughness. Whatever the sphere, the latter flows from the former

There is no template for the perfect captain. Some of the game's greatest were not identified as such straightaway

Champion runners from the Kenyan tribe show how the interventions of modern sports science can be counterproductive if relied upon too soon. Cricketers, are you listening?

That there is a place for proper batsmanship in ODIs, that New Zealand punch above their weight, and that taking wickets wins you matches

Taking the stats at your disposal into account does not mean your players cannot play a fearless and instinctive brand of cricket

Our sport can never hope to compete with football unless it takes an expansionist view

The only way to win, in the deepest sense, is to enjoy playing

The rise of New Zealand is heartening, but the preponderance of whitewashes in the five-day game tells of cramped itineraries that demean rivalry

Good performances make all plans look good. The better team on the day always wins, irrespective of what was strategised in the dressing room

Players blame coaches for poor leadership, but often it's just a case of them being poor followers, or there being better players available for selection

Lessons from a book that delivers insights on coaching and captaincy without once mentioning either

The various acts that are involved in playing cricket well happen best intuitively, when we aren't consciously perfection in them

Players achieve greatness in different ways. With KP, embryonic greatness poured out like incense

Cricket should look to not only shore up struggling and emerging cricketing nations but also to export the game with entrepreneurial vigour

It's one way to explain India's turnaround in the 50-over games in England

Would he have fared better than the incumbent middle-order batsmen, Root and Ballance?