2 minute readEngland will be tempted to screw up their one-day plans and start again, but that would be the wrong move. There’s a reason why people talk about building a side. It’s because there’s no perfect, fully-formed team that’s just waiting to be compiled through correct selection. But what about [insert
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.
Home advantage in cricket
< 1 minute readWe’re a great fan of home advantage. It’s a key part of cricket. If matches between two teams were likely to have the same outcome both home and away then the sport would lose a significant quality. It also means that away wins are even more significant. England’s victory in
Continue readingHow to bat in one-day cricket
< 1 minute readHere is our one-day batting philosophy – take it or leave it. It is not scientific. We are not scientific. We’ve never even owned a lab coat. To us, one-day batting works like this. Try and hit a single If it’s asking for it, try and hit a four That’s
Continue readingSuresh Raina is getting nowhere fast
2 minute readYou’d think you’d be more convinced about a player after he’d hit 80 off 62 balls in a one-day match. At worst, you’d think you’d feel the same about him. Yet somehow Suresh Raina actually managed to erode our confidence in him. This despite the fact that we said India
Continue readingEnglish cricket consciousness
< 1 minute readAll Indians and Australians believe that everyone in England thinks the same thing. (Do you see what we did with that sentence?) We’d just like to refute this. If you see an article in the Telegraph that says England are going to dominate world cricket forever, it is important to
Continue readingWhy England shouldn’t drop Jade Dernbach
2 minute readWe’ve spent the day badmouthing Jade Dernbach and we’ve previously written that his ‘variations’ often blind people to his deficiencies, but despite both of those things, we still don’t think England should drop him. Why? He’s shit No, he isn’t. Calm down. Jade may have looked pretty shit while bowling
Continue readingThree things that would help England win in India
< 1 minute readFor all their progress and despite all their resources, England still can’t compete in one-day cricket in India. We’ve thought of three things that would help their cause. 1. Hire a scientist It’s staggering to think that England don’t have a scientist on their staff. We’re not talking about nutrionists
Continue readingKieron Pollard is overrated and we feel a bit sorry for him
< 1 minute readKieron Pollard made a golden duck today as West Indies were rolled for 61 by Bangladesh. Pollard’s failure isn’t all that surprising, because his record is actually pretty piss-poor. Kieron Pollard’s record Pollard is best-known for his clumping hitting, yet he averages 21.67 in one-day internationals and 12.66 in Twenty20
Continue readingVirat Kohli should be in India’s Test team
< 1 minute readRob Key says that even Suresh Raina must wonder how he gets picked ahead of Virat Kohli. It’s not just because we mindlessly go along with everything Rob says like a mindless yes-man that we agree with him on this occasion. There’s been a change in Kohli. He’s always looked
Continue readingUmesh Yadav’s bowling speed
< 1 minute readUmesh Yadav just bowled a 90mph delivery. By this time next year, he should have reined that in and India can expect to have another solid medium-pacer available to them. Yadav has much to learn. If he thinks he should be striving for the kind of delivery that he bowled
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