Welcome back to the Bishop and Bear.   Most guests in this pub would probably agree that they want cricket to grow and be healthy. They want it to be more diverse, inclusive and attractive to new younger fans. They also, want to watch national teams to play entertaining winning Test cricket and be successful in other formats too. For many of us, that is England. But by no means exclusively. Those of us that follow English counties want them to entertain us a play great cricket and, ideally, win things.   And yet, in a theme we constantly return to in the B and B, for English cricket ..read more

Welcome back to the warm embrace (and warm beer) of the Bishop and Bear.   The chat this week is very much focused on the IPL as this year’s marathon begins. Who are the runners and riders? Where is the smart money going? Who are the stars and who is missing for each team? What makes the new smart replays smarter than the average replays? Why do Sunrisers Hyderabad get battered everywhere? Is their website still a UX disaster? (Don’t bother looking - it is I can assure you). Who is Jake Fraser McGurk and what happened to the monkey that bit him?   To answer these and so many other qu ..read more

A warm welcome once more to the Bishop and Bear.   A fabulous if ultimately unsuccessful Test series for England is behind us, but there is plenty to reflect upon. The IPL stretches out before us. No less than 66 days of, well pretty much the same as last year, but it will be fun.   As we look back to that enthralling Test series in India, we have two guests propping up our bar to cogitate on that and much more besides. Anindya has been busy penning his thoughts on whether or not India saw the death of Bazball as a strategy. If you haven’t read “Death of a Strategy? The Curious Case ..read more

Welcome back to the Bishop and Bear – the internet’s favourite virtual cricket pub (probably).   Well, it was a right old battering for England in Rajkot. The young Jazz Whale played all the right notes in exactly the right order and there were way too many bum notes from England against Bumrah and co. The Yorkshire middle order of Root and Bairstow looks under pressure and out of sorts. Can they battle their way back into some form in Ranchi? Ben Stokes thinks the pitch there looks “interesting very interesting” to appropriate the words of the great Barry Davies.   Our gue ..read more

Once again, a very warm welcome to the Bishop and Bear. We’re enjoying a little bit of breathing space between the 2nd and 3rd India Tests and the England team are enjoying themselves too with golf and family time in Abu Dhabi. Not Rehan Ahmed though. The lad thinks golf is for old men and he’ll be catching up with a Turkish TV series about the Ottoman Empire instead. Our guest this week is no stranger to the bar in the old Bishop and Bear. She has a stool and pint glass with her name on it. It’s the one and only St Annie, county cricket natterer and matterer supreme. And there is so ..read more

Get your Kicks in the Bishop and Bear 66! With due deference to Bobby Troupe who wrote Route 66 (and not a lot of people know that), perhaps not even Joe Root who wears 66 on the back of his shirt of course.   What a week for Test Cricket, culminating in its own Super Sunday. Two incredible Tests, two extraordinary results. Three heroes in the form of Shamar Joseph, Ollie Pope and Tom Hartley. The latter, we think, bears an uncanny resemblance to the great Hedly Verity. Google some pictures and see what you think.   It really was riches indeed for Test cricket fans and on our Ba ..read more

Welcome back to the Bishop and Bear, brought to you this week in association with Nord VPN - working for a safer and better internet. Top rated by Cybernews, Nord VPN stands as the unrivalled leader in digital protection, offering exceptional speeds, impenetrable encryption, a no-log policy, cutting-edge features and an unparalleled commitment to privacy.   Our two Barstool of Bravado guests this week are the lads from The Cricket Podcast (and Guerillas of course) Jack and Max. Your Ursine Landlord and Episcopal Barman certainly have to be on our toes with T20 knowledge. There may be ..read more

Welcome back to the Bishop and Bear, brought to you this week in association with Nord VPN - working for a safer and better internet. Top rated by Cybernews, Nord VPN stands as the unrivalled leader in digital protection, offering exceptional speeds, impenetrable encryption, a no-log policy, cutting-edge features and an unparalleled commitment to privacy.   Our two Barstool of Bravado guests this week are the lads from The Cricket Podcast (and Guerillas of course) Jack and Max. Your Ursine Landlord and Episcopal Barman certainly have to be on our toes with T20 knowledge. There may be ..read more

This Bishop and Bear this week is brought to you in association with Nord VPN - working for a safer and better internet. Top rated VPN by Cybernews, Nord VPN stands as the unrivalled leader in digital protection, offering exceptional speeds, impenetrable encryption, a no-log policy, cutting-edge features and an unparalleled commitment to privacy. To be honest we are a bit confused as to which number Bishop and Bear this is. Looking back, we seem to have missed 62 completely, had 64 as our Christmas Special and then released 63. So, this is either 62 (delayed), or 65. “But frankly”, as Bar ..read more

The Bishop and Bear this week is brought to you in association with Nord VPN - working for a safer and better internet. A Very Happy New Year! We have a great chat for you to start 2024. Let’s face it, you might have a bit of time, especially if you had been planning to watch days 3, 4 and 5 of the Cape Town Test!   Special guests seated on our Barstools of Bravado are Shelley - Destroyer of Worlds and India’s biggest fan and critic, Anindya. Not surprisingly, we focus on the extraordinary Test in Cape Town – a conversation that last’s almost longer than the Test itself. Re ..read more