< 1 minute readThe ECB have released a statement announcing that Samit Patel has been dropped from England’s one-day squad. We’ll paraphrase for you: Samit Patel is fat. We’re glad our employers don’t make press releases about the personal flaws that affect our work. It would be disconcerting to open a newspaper 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.
West Indies v England, Antigua match report
< 1 minute readSend your match reports to king@kingcricket.co.uk Sam writes: We arranged to meet for an after work drink and watch the third day of the re-arranged test at the ARG at a pub somewhere in north Surrey. I drove from my office to my friend’s office. I turned off the A3
Continue readingNot so statistically aberrant or statistically abhorrent
< 1 minute readWe’ve long had a problem with Mike Hussey’s ludicrous batting average. Finally, after a long wait, South Africa have started dragging it back towards being something more sensible. Hussey now averages 57.11 after 35 Tests, which is still offensive, but not as offensive as hearing the general public give opinions
Continue readingWhat of tours to Pakistan after attack on Sri Lanka team bus?
< 1 minute readOur initial reaction was to worry that one of the Sri Lankan cricketers had been killed, as if their lives were somehow more important than the lives of the policemen who were escorting them. Such is the way of thinking after something like this. We’ve always felt that cricketers were
Continue readingOur numbers are bigger than your numbers, so your numbers can kiss our numbers’ arses
< 1 minute readWho was the winner here? Not England. Not West Indies. Not cricket. Not the crowd. After many calculations, we’ve deduced that the winner was, rather unexpectedly, Michael Flatley. Nobody wants that. This match was like watching a dot matrix printer run off sheets and sheets of binary code. Something was
Continue readingRamnaresh Sarwan’s batting form – sublime/ridiculous
< 1 minute readRamnaresh Sarwan’s current batting form is so sublime, it’s ridiculous. To average 150 this series with a worst score of 94 is sublime. To outdo Shivnarine Chanderpaul in terms of crease occupation is just ridiculous. We’ve a sneaking suspicion that Ramnaresh Sarwan may have become a sadhu. Sadhus are famed
Continue readingPhil Hughes scores runs when others don’t
< 1 minute readThose of you who haven’t irreparably damaged your memories through inadequate preparation may remember that we told you this about Phil Hughes the day before yesterday. Phil Hughes top-scored for Australia with 75. The next highest score was 37.
Continue readingMitchell Johnson, all-rounder?
< 1 minute readMitchell Johnson, batting at nine, launched the South Africa attack to all parts on his way to 96 not out. He then took 4-25, making light of the fact that Australia have only selected three-and-a-half bowlers. Johnson’s respective averages have just swapped places, so his batting average is now higher
Continue readingAlastair Cook, please stop hooking
< 1 minute readSomeone should look into irregular betting patterns surrounding ‘Alastair Cook caught hooking’ because he seems to be hell-bent on getting out this way. In the last Test, he leant back and poked one into the air in an enticingly gentle parabola. In yesterday’s innings, he popped one up towards Sulieman
Continue readingPhil Hughes’ Australia debut
< 1 minute readPhil Hughes has now faced four balls in Test cricket. Hopefully in his next innings he’ll score his first run. We mentioned Phil Hughes a month or so ago when we pondered whether Australia were the worst team in the world or not. He was one of many reasons why
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