< 1 minute readIndia don’t like some elements of the decision review system (DRS) and their refusal to use it might at some point come back to haunt them. Okay, we get it. Does the schadenfreude really have to be so obviously primed for deployment? We also have issues with the term ‘DRS’.
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.
Australia have found the new Warne
< 1 minute readSouth Australia off-spinner, Nathan Lyon, has been called up to the Australia Test squad after just four first-class matches. Can we be the first to brand him ‘the next Shane Warne’? You have to get that in early with your Aussie spinners these days, what with the rapid turnover and
Continue readingEngland beat the eight men of India
< 1 minute readHyperbole, but not entirely unwarranted. Sometimes a pint of dour dissatisfaction and a willingness to take the negatives doesn’t do you any harm. India had the misfortune of having three players handicapped by a perennially twangy hammy, a pock-marked elbow and the wild shits. This wasn’t their fault. They also
Continue readingEngland need to take their chance
< 1 minute readWe well remember the first Test of India’s last tour, which is weird, because we were in Canada for all but the final day. But it’s that final day that’s important here. Nine wickets down, MS Dhoni blocked the shit out of it and for England, that was the difference
Continue readingGet The Wall on the board
< 1 minute readIt’s not the usual way round, but it makes a lot of sense if you follow cricket. Rahul Dravid should be on the Lord’s honours board. And now he is. After Dravid made his hundred, there were a lot of people implying that he has played in the shadow of
Continue readingWas Kevin Pietersen out caught at leg slip for 49?
< 1 minute readIf you answered ‘yes’ to that question, you’re wrong. Kevin Pietersen was not out on 202 when England declared. The consensus seems to be that Pietersen probably should have been given out when he tucked the ball down to Rahul Dravid, but we care more about what happened after that.
Continue readingZaheer Khan Operation Greggs latest
< 1 minute readBert has just left a comment drawing attention to Zaheer Khan’s performance this morning, pondering whether Operation Greggs has been put into practice. Operation Greggs involves plying Zaheer with meat and tatty pies until he’s bowling at Praveen Kumar pace. Bert is right to raise this possibility, but it is
Continue readingTendulkar has been better than Bradman
2 minute readOver at The Cricketer, John Emburey has made the point that Sachin Tendulkar has been tested in ways that Bradman wasn’t. It’s a fair point. Different eras In Ed Smith’s damn fine book, What Sport Tells Us About Life, there’s a whole chapter dedicated to Bradman’s average. Someone somewhere did
Continue readingFeeble headline of the week
< 1 minute read‘Sachin Tendulkar is arguably the best batsman of my generation’ The Guardian have set the bar low. Can anyone stoop lower?
Continue readingMatch report of garden cricket at the Frangipani Tree near Galle
2 minute readGed writes: On arrival at the Frangipani Tree, we couldn’t help but notice the cricket bats and stumps mixed in with tennis equipment and swimming gear. “Oh yes”, we are told, “the staff are always up for a late afternoon game of cricket if any of the guests request it”.
Continue reading