2 minute readThere’s quite a bit of Test cricket going on at the minute. Savour it, because it’s not long before we make a sharp turn and embark on the long, straight approach to the 50-over World Cup. After this week’s final Test, England don’t play the longest format again until the
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.
England send out high-vis messengers like nobody’s business
2 minute readIt’s a common criticism of modern cricket that there are too many disruptions; too many conferences and unscheduled drinks breaks. On Sky, David Lloyd has taken to drawing attention to them with an impassioned: “Get on with the gaaaame.” You can hear the frustration in his voice when he says
Continue readingIndia unveil a new breed of collapse
< 1 minute readSometimes the bowling’s good and the ball’s moving around and the fall of wickets seems inevitable. At other times, relentless pressure causes a side to break. Then there are those other days when it seems like you need to take every opportunity presented to you. Day three at Old Trafford
Continue readingWill Pankaj Singh ever get a Test wicket?
< 1 minute readLuckless at the Rose Bowl, mediocre at Old Trafford, Pankaj Singh has thus far found two ways to avoid taking a Test wicket. Our worry is that two will prove enough; that he’ll fail to take a wicket in this match and will never return to the team. It’s become
Continue readingStuart Broad isn’t who you think he is
2 minute readThere have been a few stats of late about James Anderson and Stuart Broad as a bowling partnership. Something about lots of wickets. We forget how many. On paper, they’re a wonderfully complementary duo. One’s a devious swing bowler; the other’s rangly and hits the deck hard (a phrase which
Continue readingMop-up of the morning – encouraging a state of Grace
< 1 minute readA quick bit of housekeeping before Test time. “Do not go into the field with a cigarette or pipe in your mouth” That was one of WG Grace’s maxims for fielding. We’ve learned more from him than that and have outlined some important points over at Cricinfo. Another old cricketer
Continue readingCause and effect in the land of MS Dhoni
< 1 minute readYou wonder whether Ishant Sharma’s ‘sore leg’ might have resulted from his workload. And how did Bhuvneshwar Kumar look in the third Test, MS? “I think Bhuvi seemed to be a bit tired.” Maybe you shouldn’t have picked just the four bowlers then. “In the first couple of games we
Continue readingMop-up of the day – BCC-whhhhyyyyyyy?
< 1 minute readWe’ve put the bad news first in the forlorn hope that you might at least finish reading today’s piece with your spirits on an upward trajectory. The BCCI are asking the ICC to appeal the Jimmy Anderson decision No, seriously. They are. Does no-one in the BCCI ever feel embarrassed
Continue readingSteven Finn’s back
< 1 minute readAs in ‘returned’. He hasn’t got ankylosing spondylitis or anything. He’s also only back in the squad, not necessarily the team. Plus he hasn’t been away that long. If we’re honest, we’re only doing this joke because we know we’ll get complaints if we don’t. But it does feel like
Continue readingMop-up of the day – leading, forgiving and send-offs
< 1 minute readJames Anderson has his hearing about maybe having pushed someone today. There’s much talk about how he’s been singled out as result of being a persistent sledger, but his rage isn’t a patch on that of the retiring (from cricket) Steve Kirby, who was one of the subjects of last
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