< 1 minute readFrank Duckworth says that if there is a problem with his and Detective Sergeant Lewis’s method of deciding rain-affected games, it is in the fact that the ICC deem five overs to be sufficient to constitute a match. We agree. If we could characterise a five-over minimum requirement as Naomi
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.
England v maths
< 1 minute readMaths wins. You should never try and compete against maths. It’s unconquerable. Despite putting in one of their finest batting performances in either of the short formats, England were comprehensively beaten by maths. Maths unleashed its biggest and most destructive weaponry, the Duckworth-Lewis calculations, which cruelly shuffled figures about until
Continue readingChris Gayle knows where England go wrong
< 1 minute readChris Gayle knows why England rarely perform well at these tournaments: “I’m sure they come out here with blood in their eyes.” That can’t help. Even if it doesn’t affect their vision too much, it’s got to be a bit unsettling.
Continue readingSuresh Raina makes a good career move
< 1 minute readSuresh Raina hit the first Twenty20 international hundred for India. He’ll do well out of that, you’d think. We like Suresh Raina. We like the fact that he plays across the line into the off side. That seems to us to be the most effective way of making yourself look
Continue readingThe odds on England winning the World Twenty20
< 1 minute readWell, they’re not great, but that’s largely due to the fact that there are a whole bunch of teams in the tournament rather than because of any massive shortcomings on England’s part. If there were only one team in the tournament, England’s chances would be far better. If there were
Continue readingSajid Mahmood actually takes five wickets
< 1 minute readDo you know how rare that is? Lots of smart-arse Mahmood critics will say that they do know, but that’s not really the point we’re making. Saj Mahmood has spent a good portion of his career bowling first-change for Lancashire. When there are good bowling conditions, he might pick up
Continue readingBack to England and back to county cricket
< 1 minute readHow come the rolling 24 hour news channels aren’t telling us everything Giles Clarke’s said in the last five minutes? How come Gordon Brown hasn’t stepped into the debate about possible restructuring of the county game? It’s a strange land we’ve returned to. Following the IPL, we’ve got the World
Continue readingMumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings, IPL final match report
< 1 minute readAlex writes: I watched the pre-match sunglasses-fest/pose-athon while tucking into Kashmiri lamb shank rogan josh. Unfortunately, my reluctantly embraced ‘no beer’ policy meant I enjoyed the main event in my room, accompanied by a bottle of Bisleri bottled water. What I like to call “the IPL ad endurance challenge” really
Continue readingIndian media coverage of the IPL and the fans’ view
< 1 minute readIndian newspapers and 24 hour news channels are awash with stories about Lalit Modi and the income tax investigations into all aspects of the IPL. The bombs at Chinnaswamy Stadium get a few mentions as well. We get the impression that most people here don’t particularly care about this; that
Continue readingIPL third place play-off match report
< 1 minute readAlex writes: Is there any sequence of words in the English language more exciting than ‘third place play-off’? I’m currently working on the horrifying theory that my internal issues might be caused by beer. This is not a theory I’m keen to see proven.
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