MARTIN JOHNSON

Regular viewers of Sky’s closeof- play cricket programme The Verdict may be surprised to learn that the death penalty in the UK was abolished in 1965. You’ve got to hand it to Bob Willis. When the old curmudgeon gets his teeth into an England cock-up, he doesn’t hand out a measly suspended sentence, or a piffling spot of community service. He calls for the black cap.
In which case, the post-mortem after Headingley didn’t have quite the entertainment value as the one after Lord’s. With Bob in the executioner’s chair we were never likely t...