3 minute readD Charlton writes: When myself and the soon-to-be Mrs D Charlton were enjoying a holiday in South-East Asia, I realised that it was the India-South Africa second Test at Eden Gardens. So, I decided to try and find the score. I’ve had previous trouble finding the score in Italy and
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.
Project Free Test Match Tickets For Life Because Son Is England Captain
2 minute readBert writes: A few days ago, I enrolled Bert Jr. (aged 7½) at our local cricket club. This is Phase 1 of Project Free-Test-Match-Tickets-For-Life-Because-Son-Is-England-Captain. The club was holding its junior indoor net. Eighteen kids, aged between 7 and 12, all being “organised” by two coaches (or, as I shall see
Continue readingChurro being conspicuously indifferent to the status of Wisden
< 1 minute readMiriam writes: This is Churro, the kitten we were looking after for a fortnight. As you can see, he isn’t conspicuously indifferent to cricket, as he is using the Wisdens as a protective wall from humans who try to stop him gnawing at books. He is obviously also ruminating on
Continue readingAndy Caddick’s Test career – awkward bounce from an awkward bowling action from an awkward bloke
2 minute readWe never wrote about Andy Caddick when he retired. We should have done. Say what you like about Andy Caddick. Say that he was mad as pies; say that he got picked for England because people wanted him there to fix stuff while they were on tour; say he was
Continue readingCounty cricket players to watch in 2010
< 1 minute readWe’re watching these guys when there isn’t an international match on, which is never: Liam Plunkett Mark Davies Adil Rashid Will Smith Paul Horton Phil Mustard Ravi Bopara
Continue readingRavi Bopara, Essex: first-class batsman to watch in 2010
< 1 minute readThe plight of Ravi Bopara makes an interesting case study. He’s trying to establish himself as a Test cricketer and only Test runs will really persuade anyone that he’s ready. He gets a series of ducks in Tests in Sri Lanka and gets dropped. He promptly makes a one-day double
Continue readingSouth Africa v England, Centurion Test – match report
2 minute readI hadn’t been feeling terribly well, having been off work for a couple of weeks with an ear infection, but had arranged to meet a couple of friends in London on the afternoon of the first day of the series. It was very cold. I think it was snowing. I
Continue readingPhil Mustard: one-day wicketkeeper-batsman to watch in 2010
< 1 minute readSo much of what’s wrong with English cricket can be seen in the never-ending debate about wicketkeepers. First-class cricket’s too weak to show who’s best and because there are so many counties and therefore so many candidates, no player gets much of a run. We are no better informed than
Continue readingPaul Horton: first-class batsman to watch in 2010
< 1 minute readLike Will Smith, Paul Horton’s another who had a 2009 season of less than unbridled success. He did hit 173 in one match, but didn’t do much else. However, if there’s one thing we’ve learnt with these Ones To Watch, it’s that they’re devious bastards and always slip in a
Continue readingWill Smith, Durham: first-class batsman to watch in 2010
< 1 minute readWill Smith was the one batsman who didn’t score runs for Durham last year, which might not immediately mark him out as being worth watching, but the year before that he was arguably their best batsman. We’re putting the mediocre batting down to his being made captain in 2009. It’s
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