< 1 minute readWe had suggested that a few away Tests would see Vernon Philander’s bowling average swell like a space hopper at altitude. What we hadn’t considered was that Philander’s first away Tests would be in New Zealand. You get some good Test matches in New Zealand. The home side have secured
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.
A half-arsed history of the Stanford Super Series
< 1 minute readAllen Stanford’s been found guilty of greed of the highest order so we thought we’d provide a few links to our coverage of his shitty cricket event from 2008. How we didn’t give a toss One reason why we didn’t give a toss A way we could have been made
Continue readingHow many CB Series finals are there?
< 1 minute readThe CB Series features three finals. This fact led to Mark Taylor saying something almost transcendentally stupid while commentating on the second one. To be fair to Tubby, it wasn’t his fault that what he said was stupid, because it actually made sense. It’s the fact that this phrase can
Continue readingOld cricketer to retire in the future
< 1 minute readThat’s the big news today. Cricinfo have revealed that 35-year-old Mark Boucher is thinking about maybe stopping playing. Possibly even fairly soon. Boucher said: “I would like to go England and then start a process of trying to get another keeper involved.” He didn’t even include a ‘maybe’. “After England
Continue readingWhat is a bits and pieces cricketer?
< 1 minute readIt’s the theme of the week. We thought we’d write about it for Cricinfo as well. Chris Harris gets a mention, but we’re not sure we quite got across how much we like him, which is a shame. We really admired Harris’s approach to the game and we’re forever glad
Continue readingLong Test series and dry retching
< 1 minute readThis piece by Ed Cowan is well worth a read, especially if you judge Test cricketers swiftly or dissect techniques, finding fault with minor details. Cowan puts things in perspective. Being a Test cricketer is not so much about being gifted as having the ability to stand still without spontaneously
Continue readingWhy is Samit Patel in the England Test squad?
< 1 minute readLife’s about compromise. That’s what we’ll tell our kids when we take them to Lancashire v Yorkshire and buy them an ice cream between them instead of splashing out on Alton Towers tickets. If the Battotron 9000 averages 50, but has to be bolted to the floor in order to
Continue readingVirat Kohli middles it
< 1 minute readVirat Kohli went a bit Nathan Astle earlier. In fact, we’re pretty sure Mahela Jayawardene said that he ‘batted out of his skins’ which raises the possibility that Kohli isn’t human. India needed to chase down Sri Lanka’s total within 40 overs in order to secure the bonus point that
Continue readingTaking stock of England’s tour against Pakistan
< 1 minute readWell, we would take stock, only there’s NO TIME. England announce the squad for their next tour later today. England’s fixture list frightens us. We once planned to buy a toothbrush one day and toothpaste the following day because we needed to spread out our tasks to fill the week.
Continue readingMS Dhoni and Virender Sehwag – do they want to punch each other’s lights out?
< 1 minute readIndia’s tour of Australia has been a bit poo. They have lost a lot of cricket matches and as a result of all this losing, some of the players are getting tetchy with each other. The media are gleefully pouncing on the tetchiness and seem to be weaving a few
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