This is the self-congratulatory one.
When I had to close HDWLIA for reasons I still can’t fully go into, but feel OK enough to put it back up now (https://dmitrihdwlia.wordpress.com/), I was worried. I set up a new blog, this one, the same day and waited for people to either get the hints I was trying to send privately or word of mouth to spread that Dmitri wasn’t dead, but just reincarnated somewhere else, as LCL or whatever you want to call me, and with a new blog.
I wondered if it would work, or HDWLIA was the best it could be. Let’s be frank, it was knackering. I was piling out post after post after post, and it was tiring. I thought I might cut back a bit here, and I do. But the commenters have really stepped up. SimonH is much quicker to the newspaper articles than I am. You know the score quicker than me. I just feel like the Ranter in Chief now…..
I do keep an eye on the hits, especially as I post less frequently now. So when I got 40-odd that first day I was mildly relieved. Then ZeroBullshit blew my amatuerish cover on TFT and you all started finding it. The stragglers are catching up and we are back to our normal mob, with a few newbies.
I am absolutely amazed to say that as of 25 March, this blog topped over 40000 hits in a month. Let me put this into context. The best month of HDWLIA, at the peak of its powers maybe, when I was getting major attention on Twitter from the Aggers and others of this world, was 39,102. With a week to go, and yes, aided by the World Cup I know, I have 40,100 as I write this. I am regularly pulling in over 1500 a day. It’s not a major newspaper. It’s not even a blogging behemoth. But bloody hell. Thanks everyone. It really does mean the world to me.
Keep moaning.
Being Outside Cricket 
Dude you didn’t give a warning notice in the old blog (maybe you did but I didn’t see) so am glad your out here articulating the issues which vexes the majority of “outside cricket” fans.
Peace homz
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Missed a trick there: could’ve signed off with “keep guessing”.
Seriously though, congratulations.
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Oh that is brilliant news me Lord. Absolutely fantastic. I found your blog through TFT. Then just followed your blog and met all this brilliant people. Just love your pieces Me Lord. They were all such a wonderful relief. Not sure how I found TFT though. Picked up on it somewhere.
Really am chuffed to read this though. Mega hand claps.
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Congratulations Dmitri. Bless you and your blogs. 🙂
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Well done mate. Keep up the good work. Always entertaining!
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Well done you. Very well deserved.
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I was delighted to see that you had merely assumed a new identity rather than vanished altogether, having been central to my introduction to the strange and mysterious world of cricket. I’m sure that as one of the main voices of dissent over the last 18 months you’ve done more than you know to help change the way the wind was blowing along the musty corridors of power!
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The great irony of course is that if the MSM had produced more balanced copy your site would not have become as popular. All they had to do was give the other side of the story. But that was too much for them.
You are one of the rare people in the outside cricket community who must thank Newman, Selvey,Pringle, Brenkly for their stirling efforts to prop up the ECB/Downton/Cook cabal.
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Good stuff Dmitri! Take it easy and enjoy being Chief Ranter. With regards to your other article ‘Furious’, I could not agree more. How on earth is Cook still on the team sheet and why does he not realise he should not be! He has lost all sense of awareness and all he now feels is entitlement, he must believe he is the ‘chosen one’. Dmitir I, kerp the rants and articles coming, they help keep our passions burning.
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Passionate, genuine, frequently exasperated, sometimes suddenly anxious… you have a very distinctive ‘voice’, and the great thing about your blogs is they are so personal, but also so well-informed. I like the more multi-voiced magazine format at TFT, but the last blog and here are very much your place. It’s always interesting to drop by and see what’s got you going lately.
Wishing you many more hits!
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This is my online local. Great place to chat with real people who are all able to spot the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes.
Saw a top 10 of cricket blogs a while back by some outfit. TFT were there, this wasn’t. Ofc I checked them. Most updated once or twice a month, a couple posted nothing this year at all. You may be busy but you’re doing great Lordship. Please go on forever.
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Congrats Dmitri!
We’re all united by the same desire: meritocratic selection for England, and positive and competitive cricket on the field – and fair, transparent and accountable boards and media off the field.
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Good grief, he’s gone all Pringlesque
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‘Keep moaning’
Made me laugh
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Enjoying having somewhere to comment. Enjoy reading some great stuff.
But seriously, is it me, or is everyone on the ‘inside’ totally deluded?
I mean, seriously, this isn’t about KP any more. (In my view it never was, the ‘sacking’ was a symptom not a cause). This is absolutely about Cook.
As I’ve said, I feel sorry for Cook. As an Essex man I’m a huge fan of what he’s achieved. Have been since 2005 when he bashed the Aussies all round Chelmsford in a County Game that was, I think, between a couple of the critical 2005 Ashes Tests. Say what you want about his record against top class swing/seam bowlers, but what he’s achieved is remarkable. His performances in India have been brilliant (and that’s not a place where many English batsmen have flourished).
But we are now in a situation where Cook believes that he has the annointed right to play for England, in ODIs and Tests. And his form is woeful. His batting has serious flaws. His capatincy is insipid. His gun bowlers are either gone (Swann) or on a serious decline (Broad, Bresnan, possibly Anderson), his opening stalwart (Strauss) is gone and he’s working with a coach with a proven international track record of getting the worst out his players.
People just expect us to rock up to the West Indies and win 3-0? (Graves doesn’t, which is why he’s lining Moores up to take the fall).
I can’t see how Cook can possibly survive the next 12 months, because I can’t see how we can possibly beat Aus, Pakistan (Monty is ‘unselectable’ remember) or SA. And any reasonable person would back NZ to beat us, too.
Yet the cult of Cook prevails.
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Perhaps it was always about Cook.
KP thought it was about him, of course, and that Cook was just the company man. But KP holds the highest run record…. at the moment.
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Maybe Giles Clarke has a massive bet on Cook taking the record. Perhaps that’s what he did with Stanford’s money, put it all on Cooky at 10/1.
[NB to Mr Clarke’s lawyers: this is humour]
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I posted this BTL when it first happened and I got told to ‘put the tin foil’ back on my head.
It is a cynical view, but I am a deeply cynical man, and I always suspected that Cook wanted a clear field. No one remembers a poor England captain, but to be England’s highest every test match run scorer would make him a legend.
Far better someone from the ‘right sort of family’ than a South African born batsman being England’s highest ever centurion/run score. Plus ca change eh as the late Tony Grieg may have said.
The ECB has always been the same and I for one am glad you re-incarnated into this blog as your previous blog (and TFT) were sometimes the only thing convincing me that I wasn’t going mad regarding the machinations of the ECB and the wilful refusal to acknowledge this by the members of the ‘fourth estate’
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“People just expect us to rock up to the West Indies and win 3-0? (Graves doesn’t, which is why he’s lining Moores up to take the fall).”
As far as I can determine West Indies have never been whitewashed at home. They always, no matter how terrible they seem to be, seem to be sneaking in at least one draw.
So expectations of 3-0 are optimistic for a settled world-conquering side. As for Team ECB …
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“The greatest cricket blogger of his generation!!” I was never wrong! Well done lad…keep ’em coming!!
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Well done your lordship
Think a lot of those hits were me! You and the ft have been a source of sanity in an England cricket world gone mad
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I echo Alan’s comment – you have kept me sane in an increasingly insane English cricket world. Keep calm and carry on – please!
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I appreciate the high standard of commentary above & below here. I spent a year or two at the Guardian, skipping the articles and going straight to the comments, but then I got put on permanent mod by Selvey simply for disagreeing politely. Okay, fine, dickhead, go and trash your own team, I won’t try to stop you anymore.
But I do care about the game and I’m happy to see such a spirited defense of it against these creeps who have run English cricket into the ditch. I always used to think that there was a strong non-meritocratic element in English cricket, where some players seemed to have something like a peerage in the House of Lords. But it’s now overt policy policy and openly described as such.
So a general thanks to all here for the high level of discourse.
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Well we someone to keep applying the logic and passion to England cricket that is sadly missing from those running it!
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Appreciate the efforts LCL. Just post when you have time.
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Cheers. All your time spent is much appreciated by us, and it’s gratifying to know that our presence is so appreciated by you. I’ve said it before, but it’s very good to know that there is no outside outside cricket. We’re all inside outside, and thankful for the company.
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The pack is with you dear grey-wolf!
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