< 1 minute readSomeone stated this as fact during commentary on one of the World Twenty20 games. Can’t remember who. Some idiot. He said that fans didn’t want to see wickets, they wanted to see loads of fours and sixes. He spoke about ‘fans’ as if they were an entirely different species, rather
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.
Marlon Samuels v Lasith Malinga
2 minute readWe’ll be honest. Sri Lanka were steady-for-one when we got in the shower. We thought we’d timed it well. We hadn’t. The World Twenty20 final was an odd one. Sri Lankan run-scoring was stymied and they appeared to be waiting for a particular bowler to hit. He never turned up,
Continue readingTino Best’s training video – the best bit
< 1 minute readTino Best has made a video of himself training in the gym. You can watch it all if you want, but for those who can’t be bothered, this is the best bit. “This is cake!” Shortly after that, Tino goes into ‘animal mode’ and then ‘super animal mode.’ We are
Continue readingKevin Pietersen’s reintegration process
< 1 minute readKevin Pietersen has signed a four-month contract with England. If the ‘reintegration process’ goes okay, he might even play during that time. Whatever happens, it’s pretty laughable to see so much self-important business speak used in the ECB statement. We were going to satirise it, but what’s the point? The
Continue readingPakistan’s spin bowling all-rounders exploit a weakness and the Twenty20 format
< 1 minute readAustralia faced two overs of pace bowling during their defeat today. Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez saw that it was not broke and therefore declined the opportunity to attempt repairs. It’s interesting how a very specific batting weakness can be exploited in Twenty20. If spin causes some damage, the incoming batsmen
Continue readingSome other reasons why England were knocked out of the World Twenty20
< 1 minute readArticles about Kevin Pietersen are very boring and entirely overlook all England’s other mistakes and problems. Dropping the captain who won the tournament Paul Collingwood is a bit of a forgotten man, but we do wonder why there was such haste to ‘build for the future’. We’re not saying that
Continue readingSky’s World Twenty20 studio pundits
2 minute readThere is a very different feel to Sky’s coverage of the World Twenty20. It’s not the usual Test match team of presenters and pundits and we’re quite thankful for that. It’s not that Sky’s coverage is normally bad. It’s just very familiar. That David Gower and Ian Botham world can
Continue readingThere have been worse run chases
< 1 minute readBy England. This week. It’s always tempting to lay into England when they lose, but we’re going to resist today. We slagged them off for their hollow-skulled approach against India, but this was fairly respectable in its own way. You don’t have time to overcome too many obstacles in Twenty20.
Continue readingTwenty20 cricket is a lottery
< 1 minute readOr so they say, yet in the World Twenty20 tickets were bought by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ireland and Zimbabwe and none won so much as a tenner. Twenty20 isn’t a lottery. The margins are smaller because it’s a shorter game and therefore luck can perhaps play a larger part than in
Continue readingMatch report and games report
3 minute readSam writes: A “board games day” had been arranged. It was to be held at our house. I wasn’t keen, but the weather had finally improved after what seemed like months of endless rain, so I suggested that rather than sitting inside all day we should go to the park.
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