< 1 minute readTechnically, Shane Watson won this particular duel by surviving, going on to hit the winning runs. But if it really was a victory, it was one characterised by looking like a complete div for a prolonged period. Wahab Riaz’s mistake was that he left himself reliant on the woeful catching
Continue readingAuthor: King Cricket
Otherwise known as Alex Bowden, a lapsed cricket journalist who has written for ESPNCricinfo, wisden.com, Cricket 365, The Cricketer and plenty of other places.
Links to some non-cricket writing and a bit more background here.
For India a run a ball seems to be enough
< 1 minute readThe players, the coaches, the fans and the media told England that they needed to be making 350-plus scores to do well in this tournament. The 2015 World Cup wasn’t just going to be about run-scoring; it was going to be about phenomenal, unimaginable run-scoring. Look at what India are
Continue readingHat-tricks are handy
< 1 minute readThis and other insights in our latest piece for the Mumbai Mirror which is about the South African team, why it’s good and why it’s bad. For all that the Saffers have some great batsmen and a strong pace attack, there’s also another version of the side that’s fragile with
Continue readingAdil Rashid braced for more knocks
< 1 minute readIt’s always faintly harrowing when England select a leg-spinner. The way they’re treated tends to be geared towards absolute decimation of their confidence. Adil Rashid himself has benefited from this once before. Eight years ago, we promised Rashid that we’d always be nice to him – even if he got
Continue readingBowled
< 1 minute readA proper journalist would have crunched the numbers. We didn’t because it would have been really boring and the results might have disproven our theory that more batsmen are being clean bowled at this World Cup. The Mumbai Mirror have called the piece Bowled and beautiful back in fashion, which
Continue readingQuasi-nepotism and the murky lens of hindsight – England’s MD and national selector appraised
2 minute readWe’ve written about just what a monumental achievement it was for England to get knocked out in the group stages. The more we think about it, the more we’re impressed at how they managed to prevent even one cylinder from firing. There is talk that Paul Downton may get the
Continue readingWill Porterfield has been annoyed
< 1 minute readOur latest column for the Mumbai Mirror is about the unextinguishable rage of Ireland captain, Will Porterfield. You may notice that the column is titled ‘Bowzzzat!’ and they used the same line when flagging our piece on yesterday’s front page. For clarity, our name is Bowden as in ‘bow tie’
Continue readingDashed on the Eden Park rocks
< 1 minute readThe Mumbai Mirror – formerly the Bombay Bathroom Mirror – stuck our picture on the front page this morning. And not even for some sort of crime. Out of merit. Or out of perceived merit at any rate. It’s all rather unnerving. Today’s piece is about Eden Park and how
Continue readingSomewhere on a news stand in Mumbai
< 1 minute readWe appear to write a column for the Mumbai Mirror. We heard that this might happen as long ago as yesterday, so you’re not much behind with this. Here’s our first piece for them. It’s about how England will go about developing a template for success at the 2019 World
Continue readingCounting England cricketers who went to state schools
2 minute readGuardian writer Toby Chasseaud provided us with a shocking revelation the other day. In 1987-88, of the 13 players who represented England on a tour of Pakistan, only one had attended a private school. Did that really happen? Was that really the way things once were? We don’t want to
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