Hey dudes,

News has been slow, so it's time to take a look back at our old standby, cricket.

via content-usa.cricinfo.com

Ah, crap. A rainout.

Actually the past few days have been what our English friends, the English, called "a right mess." Their team captain Kevin Pietersen resigned from his role and the team's coach Peter Moores was fired, following a gentlemen's disagreement between the two. Andrew Strauss has taken over the team captain's role, but for what they call "one-day's captaincy."

"The selectors feel that it is important to have stability and continuity on the Caribbean tour given the events of the last few days," said England's national selector, Geoff Miller.

Strauss will be working with Andy Flower, a guy they haven't even extended the courtesy of calling "interim manager," just "the guy with the most seniority," for the upcoming Carribean tour. Strauss lost his spot on the ODI squad two years ago and has finally gotten his shot at redemption. With the English not showing a lot of confidence in their personnel, I hardly think they have the competition shaking in their Strikers.

Hit the jump for some cool cricket stats.

[ via cricinfo ]

In 78 ODIs to date, Strauss averages 31.98 with a strike-rate of 75.82 runs per hundred balls, which compares favourably (I KNOW, LOL) to the record of his former captain, Michael Vaughan, who averaged 27.15 from 86 matches, with a strike-rate of 68.39.

His efforts also compare favourably to the current ODI opener, Ian Bell, whose average (35.47) is higher, but whose strike rate (72.36) is lower.