< 1 minute readShane Warne’s head has long been round and red, but it seems to be getting ever more inflated and ever more vivid in colour. It looks like a spacehopper.
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.
Andrew Flintoff advert
< 1 minute readAs in, it’s the advert featuring Andrew Flintoff, not an advert for Andrew Flintoff. Fred pretty much markets himself. They’re selling off the pedalo for charity as well. We’ve always wanted to own a famous pedalo.
Continue readingAction replays with sound
< 1 minute readBack in the day, action replays didn’t have sound. This was the right way of doing things. You don’t need a big flashing R in the corner of the screen or anything like that, but you do need to know that it’s an action replay. Obviously, if you’re sitting there
Continue readingWhy has Andrew Flintoff retired from Test cricket?
< 1 minute readHave you seen the size of him and the way he bowls? It’s because of that. Andrew Flintoff’s body can get through 30-odd overs in a Test match as easily as it can get through the eye of a needle. We imagine that if you’re Andrew Flintoff, the impact on
Continue readingWhy players sometimes underperform in the Ashes
< 1 minute readThe Ashes isn’t like other series. It’s the same game, but batting averages and bowling averages mean so much less. Runs or wickets against other Test nations give an idea how good a player is, but when it comes to the Ashes, you also need other qualities. The press and
Continue readingPakistan batting collapse shows they’re still the ultimate
< 1 minute readPeople in the British media sometimes complain about England being inconsistent, but when it comes to inconsistency, there’s only one side worth talking about. There’s only ever been one team worth talking about. Having gone from dreadful and seemingly a bit apathetic to World Twenty20 champions in under a fortnight,
Continue readingEngland’s batting collapse in the first Test in Cardiff
< 1 minute readEngland’s second innings top order batting collapse was pretty piss-poor, but it was just as big a crime to get themselves into that position in the first place. Neither set of bowlers were exceptional in the first Test. The exceptional performance came from Australia’s batsmen, who were sublime. There was
Continue readingMomentum has raised its meaningless head
< 1 minute readIf cricketers’ use of the word ‘momentum’ were given physical form, we’d like to meet it. Even if it were an innocent-looking child holding a balloon, we’d still have no qualms about punching it square in the face with all our might. We’d watch the balloon floating skywards and think
Continue readingClose Ashes finishes (and why a draw after five days can be exciting)
< 1 minute readWe’ve reached a conclusion. We’re all dead. That’s right. Each and every one of us is dead. But we’ve not gone to heaven. Instead, we’re all stuck in purgatory working off our sins. It’s an Ashes purgatory of inevitable, unendurable tension where Tests are still in the balance right up
Continue readingAnd it begins…
< 1 minute readWe’re increasingly thinking that the Ashes is actually a grim psychological experiment that’s being carried out on all of the people of England and Australia. How much tension can a human being endure?
Continue reading