2 minute readIndia got past Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood bowling with the new ball and lo, they won the Test match. That’s reductive – but then so’s concluding a team can’t bat when it gets bowled out for 36. Ajinkya Rahane made the most obviously telling contribution, run out for 112
Continue readingMonth: December 2020
The Festivus holding page: The Boxing Day Tests and some Ian Austin news
2 minute readWe can’t generally be arsed reporting on Boxing Day Tests in any way promptly, but it is nevertheless one of the most important times in the cricket year. This is a quandary, but a few years ago we came up with an approach that we’ve since tried to pass off
Continue readingWhy India’s 36 all out was a one-dimensional effort in the field of collapses
3 minute readIf you’ve ever seen The Perfect Storm, you’ll know that quite a lot of things go wrong in it. The Perfect Storm is a film about fishing, starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and quite a few other people you know. At one point Wahlberg is bitten by a shark. A
Continue readingThe Ultimate Kricket Challenge looks delightfully half-baked and bonkers and Kevin Pietersen seems to be at risk of being set on fire
3 minute readHere’s a thing. Six lads that you’ve heard of are going to play a one-on-one form of cricket called the Ultimate Kricket Challenge this Christmas and New Year. (Or at least that’s when it’s going to be broadcast on Star Sports and Disney Hotstar.) The lads in question are Rashid
Continue readingKyle Jamieson looks a useful and very slightly frightening bowler to have about the place
< 1 minute readIn Tim Southee and Trent Boult, New Zealand have textbook new ball bowlers who disagree on which arm to use. This is a useful starting point when trying to bowl out the opposition. After that, they have the finest old ball bowler around, The Great Neil Wagner. Wagner is a
Continue readingLet’s try and identify England’s purest and greatest bits and pieces cricketer
8 minute readA bits-and-pieces cricketer is a player who wouldn’t warrant a place in the side as a batsman or a bowler but somehow gets picked anyway based on cumulative all-round ability. Let’s try and find England’s purest and greatest bits and pieces cricketer. Before we get into this, you may be
Continue readingA cricket bat in a wrestling match
2 minute readSend your pictures of cricket bats and other cricket stuff in unusual places to king@kingcricket.co.uk. Feel free to put the cricket thing in the unusual place yourself. (In fact please, please, please do. No-one sends us any of those and they’re our favourite ones.) Today’s cricket bat in an unusual
Continue readingAustralia might again be poor enough that they’ll feel like they have to pick Shaun Marsh
2 minute readSometimes there’s a man. We won’t say a hero, because what’s a hero? But sometimes there’s a man – and we’re talking about Shaun Marsh here. Sometimes there’s a man… well, he’s the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that’s Shaun Marsh. If there’s
Continue readingA cricket bat lurking on a street corner
< 1 minute readSend your pictures of cricket bats and other cricket stuff in unusual places to king@kingcricket.co.uk. Feel free to put the cricket thing in the unusual place yourself. (In fact we actively encourage it – we don’t get anywhere near enough of those ones.) Daisy writes: Ged and I were driving
Continue readingDouble talk with Kane Williamson
< 1 minute readIt’s a Lord Megachief of Gold-fest down at Seddon Park this week. Neil Wagner (2019) is doing his usual thing, while Jason Holder (2018) has had a slightly less wonderful time. But it’s Kane Williamson (2015) who has been most influential. We’ve been thinking about double hundreds a bit recently
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