< 1 minute readThis is a quote from Australia’s federal defence minister, Stephen Smith. And yes, you read that job title correctly. “Well historically of course there have been a series of atrocities committed by the Australian Cricket Board or Cricket Australia or the Australian selectors against Western Australian cricketers but this one
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.
Hampshire v Surrey CB40 match report
2 minute readSam writes: It was a bank holiday, the latest in what seemed like a never-ending string of bank holidays. The weather was clear and breezy. We put our washing out to dry using a makeshift washing line running from the window of our first floor flat and tied to an
Continue readingBenevolent Uncle Sanath is back
< 1 minute readAt the age of 41. Sam emailed to say: “I might write something about how he’s really old and he’s like everyone’s uncle and he’s, like, properly old.” We asked what he might conceivably add to that sentence. Sam concluded that there was nothing to add.
Continue readingEdwin being conspicuously indifferent to plenty of cricket
2 minute readGot this ages ago. Didn’t dare ask what ‘OnZud’ meant in case it was something cool that we should have known. However, we also don’t want people to think we haven’t done our editing properly, so we’re having to draw attention to our ignorance in this opening paragraph anyway. Jayne
Continue readingBroken-window-at-Lord’s-gate – the truth
< 1 minute readMatt Prior: I feel a profound sense of frustration at the cruel manner of my dismissal. What ought a man do to combat this uneasy sensation? Andrew Strauss: Smash that window, innit, brother. Matt Prior: Alas, my calm disposition prevents me from committing such brutish acts. At that exact moment,
Continue readingSome players won’t get to play a Test at Lord’s – who cares?
< 1 minute readThe West Indies won’t be playing at Lord’s in 2012. Forget the rights and wrongs of Cardiff being the beneficiary, the issue here relates to the accessibility of live Test cricket. Cricket matches aren’t played for the benefit of the players. They’re played for spectators. As such, it makes little
Continue readingJonathan Trott bats too quickly
< 1 minute readIn scoring at 77.33 runs per hundred balls, Jonathan Trott careered out of control, like a giant rubber ball belting down Snowdon. That’s the only reason we can come up with as to why he might have got himself out for 58. Or maybe he’s got a weakness against left-arm
Continue readingTillakaratne Dilshan pans a hundred and is arsed about it
< 1 minute readTillakaratne Dilshan celebrated enthusiastically when he reached his hundred. Some will say it was because he’d got his name on the honours board at Lord’s, but we doubt that. Dilshan is the Sri Lanka captain and his team had embarrassed themselves in Cardiff and then done little to repair their
Continue readingAlastair Cook fails to respect the sequence
< 1 minute readCook, Trott, Cook, Trott – we’re just starting to get the hang of writing about the England Test team when Alastair Cook spazzes one straight up in the air on 96. The idiot. Now what have we got? A load of half stories, that’s what. Alastair Cook scores most of
Continue readingCan lightning strike twice in the same place?
< 1 minute readIt can if you install a lightning conductor to attract it. That’s preparation, that is. It’s no surprise that England mugged Sri Lanka in the first Test when there had appeared no danger, because they had been preparing to do precisely that all season, as detailed in our latest Cricinfo
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