< 1 minute readWe sometimes have conversations with friends which go something like this: Us: I was in the pub the other day and I had a terrible pint. I thought there was something wrong with it so I asked the barman to change it. He tasted it and said it was fine,
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 cricketers’ heads drop
< 1 minute readThe difference between England and Australia so far is that when Australia have been down, they’ve fought like bastards. Even when they lost, they still managed 406 in the fourth innings. England fought in the first Test, but their decline since the middle of the third Test is unstoppable. The
Continue readingEngland 102 all out
< 1 minute readThis kind of performance begs an obvious question: angry or amazed? They say that you can never tell how good or bad a batting performance is until both sides have batted. That’s not strictly true now, is it?
Continue readingBooing Ricky Ponting
< 1 minute readGiles Clarke says England fans shouldn’t boo Ricky Ponting. He thinks it shows a lack of respect for a great batsman. He thinks it’s offensive. Well, you can happily discard Giles Clarke and his comments. Giles Clarke likes being photographed next to a big box of money. Not only that,
Continue readingBack to back Tests
< 1 minute readTechnically all the players’ injuries are unrelated to playing back to back Tests, because they’ve not actually played the second one yet. We don’t care. We’re blaming the scheduling because we hate back to back Tests. There’s also the fact that for half this match, people will be saying ‘back
Continue readingEngland v Australia, day five at Lord’s, match report
2 minute readGed writes: Daisy was feeling a bit poorly the night before and was expressing the sort of indifference towards the outing one would normally expect from cats. I gently explained that this pair of tickets were the hottest items in town and that I was a mere 30 seconds away
Continue readingRob Key deserves our faith
< 1 minute readPeople thinking second division cricket is just as first-class as first division cricket have bothered us in the past, but now that this view can be exploited, we don’t care quite so much. ‘Not really caring’ is a state we can slip into pretty much at will. Rob Key‘s last
Continue readingHeadline hero of the week
< 1 minute readThe BBC go with: Cool Laxman steers Lancs to win Which is fair enough. Laxman did hit 38 not out off 37 balls to get Lancashire home. However, he was dropped twice and had a relatively easy task as Tom Smith hit 43 off 28 balls. This is what happens
Continue readingJonathan Trott of Warwickshire and England
< 1 minute readEngland’s selectors have sprung a slight surprise in picking Warwickshire’s Jonathan Trott. We’ll say two things: Trott has scored a lorryload of runs on a pretty flat Edgbaston pitch (Jeetan Patel and Rikki Clarke have hit hundreds there this year). Test cricket is played on pretty flat pitches these days.
Continue readingPeter Siddle runs in all day
< 1 minute readThis seems to be Peter Siddle’s greatest strength in the eyes of his team mates. When asked about their bowling attack, Australian players refer to Johnson’s speed, Hilfenhaus’s swing, Clark’s control and Siddle’s ability to run in all day. You don’t want bowlers to run in all day. You want
Continue reading