< 1 minute read Graham Manou finished his career with a first-class batting average of 25.49. He played one Test for Australia. That Test was the third of the 2009 Ashes series, a heavily rain-affected draw that never really delivered tension at any point. Maybe there was a soupcon when Australia were 52-2 in
Continue readingMonth: November 2021
Rachin Ravindra deserved a ball hundred
< 1 minute read When you’re batting for a draw, the unit of measurement switches from ‘runs’ to ‘balls faced’. This is where we get the concept of the ball hundred. New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra made his Test debut against India this week. He has three first-class hundreds to his name, but we are
Continue readingA fast bowler can definitely be captain in an era when every player misses loads of matches anyway
6 minute read Fast bowlers aren’t often captains. They’re more likely to get injured. They’re more likely to be tired and bad-tempered in the field. There’s always the temptation to over- or under-bowl themselves. But these things aren’t insurmountable. Whenever a Test captaincy vacancy opens up, the discussion begins. Who are the options?
Continue readingBrad Haddin’s finest moment as a cricketer
< 1 minute read Pad Haddin. Brad Paddin. Pad Had-a-Ball-In. There may or may not be a joke in there, but even if there is, there’s one thing we can be sure of: it is not a good one. We refer, of course, to one of the great moments of the 2009 Ashes. One
Continue readingBooks to read at the cricket? Biography by Max Frisch
2 minute read Have you tried to read summat while at a cricket match? Let us know how it went at king@kingcricket.co.uk Ged Ladd writes… The play Biography by Max Frisch was top of my reading pile for Day Three of the first Lord’s test of the 2021 summer, which I had planned/booked
Continue readingStand-in captain Tim Paine finishes his stint
< 1 minute read World cricket’s longest-serving stand-in captain took heroic and selfless steps to avert a tragedy today. Increasingly concerned that Steve Smith might never again captain Australia, Tim Paine hit upon the idea of sexting someone four years ago – a simple move that has allowed him to immediately resign. Paine was
Continue readingLife at Yorkshire and what we should be saying about it
5 minute read It’s time to write an article about Yorkshire because eventually the absence of something can start to look deeply suspicious. In 2006, before this site even had its own domain name, we made a snarky comment about how Adil Rashid had made a splash by being a Yorkshire-born player of
Continue readingThe 2009 Ridiculous Ashes
2 minute read We’re doing another series of The Ridiculous Ashes, the podcast we do with Dan Liebke in which we revisit the funnier moments of historic Ashes series and decide which side made the more significant comedy contribution. A few people have previously been put off by the fact that Series 1
Continue readingWith less than a year to go, let’s look at who’s finding form for the T20 World Cup
2 minute read It’s now less than a year until the final of the 2022 T20 World Cup. Let’s take a look at how some of the teams are shaping up with just a handful of matches left for fine-tuning. The world is unanimously agreed that the 2022 edition will be the first
Continue readingJimmy Neesham’s activity and inactivity
2 minute read Jimmy Neesham made two excellent and contrasting contributions to New Zealand’s T20 World Cup semi-final win over England. Firstly, he successfully steered the match round the sharpest of corners late in his team’s run-chase. Secondly, he totally neglected to move a muscle come the winning moment. It’s hard to pick
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