Mark Cosgrove double hundred

We're going to have to admit to ourself that we've a penchant for fat cricketers. Rob Key, Inzy, Darren Lehmann, Ian Austin - the evidence is really stacking up. Well by that rationale we'd better add Mark Cosgrove to the list.

Mark Cosgrove is nicknamed 'Baby Boof' for his resemblance to his South Australia team mate Darren Lehmann or 'Boof'. We asked our Australian friend why Darren Lehmann was called 'Boof' but he never really gave us a satisfactory answer. Anyway, Baby Boof, Mark Cosgrove, hit 233 not out off 258 balls for Glamorgan against Derbyshire yesterday. Big hundreds are where it's at. We're not sure about his face though.

He's obviously class. Darren Lehmann says he could win Australia a World Cup. The jury's out though because of the face. Although there is the fat factor...

Paul Collingwood - an Ashes double hundred

At the start of play last night, we were nervous because Paul Collingwood was 98 not out. We needn't have worried, because he got his hundred.

And then he got another one.

We always get massively carried away at times like this, but Paul Collingwood is rapidly becoming one of our favourite cricketers. In our current state, with England's towering total acting like the strongest of opiates, we'd say that there was no player we respect more. He's the complete antithesis of the effete, spineless England batsmen who used to crumble at the first 'g'day'.

Someone wrote a headline in a nameless Aussie paper last week: "Is this England's worst ever number four" accompanied by a picture of Collingwood. We've still got a few slices of humble pie left over from the last Test. In fact, we'd better provide that person with the recipe. They'll probably need to go into business mass-producing the stuff.

You can say that this is a flat pitch - and it is - but Paul Collingwood scored 206 against Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Brett Lee and the increasingly impressive Stuart Clark. How flat can a pitch be? That's a fair variety of bowling as well. You can't say he hasn't been tested.

Out of his depth? Technically ill-equipped to bat at four? Those are weak arguments now, surely. Weaker than our will to 'get things done'.

Nathan Astle v England, 222 (and video) - 10 Great Innings

It's a complete cop-out because we've already done this innings. That's all you get today: A link. And it's a link to a page within the same site. And you've probably already read it.

We're not bothered. We think it was a great innings. We'll probably cover it about six more times without adding anything of value.

Nathan Astle hits the fastest-ever Test double hundred.

Oh all right then. Here's a link to a video of it. It's 12 minutes long. Get a brew. Irritatingly, it cuts off just as he's about to REALLY get going. It's still worth a watch though. See how quickly he reacts later in his innings and how quickly his bat moves. Awesome, in the most literal sense.

The start reminded us that Nathan Astle had dropped Graham Thorpe on four during England's innings, costing his side a mere 196 runs - probably more when you take into account what would probably have happened if Flintoff had found himself at the crease with the tail.

10 Great Innings

Kumar Sangakkara hits fifth Test double hundred

No mean feat. Kumar Sangakkara's up to equal sixth in the list of who's scored the most Test double hundreds. Here's the list. With a pretty blue background.

Don Bradman - 12
Brian Lara - 9
Wally Hammond - 7
Marvan Attapattu - 6
Javed Miandad - 7
Rahul Dravid - 5
Kumar Sangakkara - 5

You know you've all been missing the blue box.

Kumar Sangakkara's 200 not out against Bangladesh today means he has five double hundreds out of 13 hundreds. That's some ratio.

Alistair Brown, 268 in a one-day match

Yesterday Alistair Brown hit 176 off just 97 balls in a one-day match against Gloucestershire. Incredibly, this isn't even remotely his highest score, for he's hit two one-day double-hundreds. No other first-class cricketer has yet managed this. His best innings was 268 against Glamorgan in June 2002.

You'd think maybe Alistair Brown should be in England's one-day team, but at 37 he's perhaps a little old, even if Paul Nixon seems to prove otherwise. He did get 16 one-day international caps, but surely it should have been more. This is a man who's hit 14,000 first-class runs at 43, so he's not just some slogger with the occasional on-day.

Besides, what kind of an on-day is 268 off 160 balls? Nobody's THAT lucky.

Nathan Astle’s double hundred against England at Christchurch in 2002

We were days from the nearest road in Nepal when this match took place. When we got back to the land of newspapers, we read the match reports, day-by-day. We couldn’t get our head round this match.

First of all, let’s set the scene. England batted first and promptly lost two wickets in the first over. They recovered to 228 all out, thanks largely to Nasser Hussain’s 106. In reply, New Zealand were toppled by an immense spell of swing bowling by Matthew Hoggard, who took 7-63 in bowling them out for 147.

England’s second innings subsided to 85-4 and then 106-5 and at this point it’s clearly not a batsmen’s game. Then, out of the blue, Graham Thorpe and Andrew Flintoff shared a partnership of 261. Thorpe scored what was at the time, the third fastest Test double hundred off 231 balls. Flintoff weighed in with his debut century, hitting 137 off 163 balls. England eventually declared on 468, setting New Zealand 550 to win. Then Nathan Astle went mental.

New Zealand eventually made 451 and lost the match, but nobody remotely cares about that. In New Zealand’s innings two batsmen passed 50. Mark Richardson hit 76. Nathan Astle hit 222. Not only that, he scored them off 167 balls.

Astle’s first hundred took 114 balls. 100 to 150 took a further 22 balls and 150 to 200 took a mere 17 balls. Seven consecutive Andy Caddick deliveries over the space of two overs went for 4, 6, 6, 4, 6, 6 and 6.

The ninth wicket fell at 333. Nathan Astle clearly still thought that he could win the match. Why? Why did he think this? Not only that, but he thought that he’d try and complete the task within an hour. England bowled good balls; Astle thrashed them for six.

Logic and reason decreed that New Zealand were dead and buried. The history of cricket proved with facts that New Zealand were essentially dead and buried. The loss of nine wickets and the fact that his batting partner was injured should have told Nathan Astle that New Zealand were dead and buried. Nathan Astle just decided to ignore all that. Instead he concentrated on carting the ball over the stands.

This is why we will always love Nathan Astle. He’s the man who out-Shahid-Afridied Shahid Afridi.