< 1 minute readKevin Pietersen doesn’t have a weakness against left-arm spin. Not directly anyway. Kevin Pietersen’s weakness is that sometimes he thinks he could travel to the moon without a vehicle or oxygen. All players have a confidence range. Sometimes they’re up, sometimes they’re down, but the extremes aren’t the same for
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.
Shane Watson run out against Pakistan
< 1 minute readOpening batsmen always talk about developing ‘an understanding’ with their opening partner. Shane Watson and Simon Katich should try and understand that batsmen should end up at opposite ends when running between the wickets. We hope Australia never drop Shane Watson. He blends haplessness, incompetence, misfortune and childish petulance. It’s
Continue readingHow soft is Shane Watson?
< 1 minute readWe’ve always said that Shane Watson always looks on the verge of tears. Chris Gayle agrees. Gayle says that Watson’s easy to wind up. “He only looks big and strong but he’s soft.” But how soft? We already know that Watson’s so soft he has to sleep in Brett Lee’s
Continue readingChris Hollins proves that cricketers still make the best dancers
< 1 minute readJo Fitz writes: South Africa – pah – let’s concentrate on the real midwinter battle – Chris Hollins v Ricky Whittle. When The Cat got knocked out in week 9, the inevitability that a cricketer always wins Strictly Come Dancing seemed to have been proved wrong. But the best kept
Continue readingMonty Panesar playing for Lions in South Africa
< 1 minute readWhat, like as a prize or something? No. Highveld Lions are a South African domestic side. So he’s not being paid in big cats then? No. Are you keeping an eye on his performances? Yes. So how’s he been doing? Why haven’t you reported anything? Er, well… he’s been okay.
Continue readingFriedel de Wet and his hop/jump at the start of his run-up
< 1 minute readEvery cricketer’s got a ‘thing’. It is immediately apparent that Friedel de Wet’s ‘thing’ is his entirely superfluous bunny hop at the start of his run-up. De Wet cut through England’s lower order like urine through snow and we can only think that it was because most of them were
Continue readingPaul Collingwood goes one better than at Cardiff
< 1 minute readThe Cardiff Ashes Test was a great example of how a draw can be exciting. Today, after playing in the snow, eating a roast dinner and having a couple of pints, we would have been happy with a soporific blockathon, but you get what you’re given. Paul Collingwood made a
Continue readingIan Bell doesn’t help himself
< 1 minute readIan Bell gets some unwarranted abuse, but if Paul Harris bowls a ball that will hit the stumps if it goes straight on, you bloody well get your bat in the way. We distinctly remember Ian Bell leaving a straight one from Shane Warne before now and that was bad
Continue readingGraeme Swann is probably underrated
< 1 minute readGraeme Swann saved England with five wickets and in an earlier pre-referral era, he might have had seven. Not bad for an off-spinner in the first innings of a match. Not bad for an off-spinner in any innings, many say. Maybe Warne and Murali are to blame, but everyone thinks
Continue readingChris Gayle likes Test cricket a little bit
< 1 minute readHow would you describe Chris Gayle’s normal on field expression? Like someone’s wiped shit on his sleeve but he’s too tired to do anything about it. How did Chris Gayle look when he got his hundred? He dropped to his knees and started beaming. It seems he does like Test
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