2 minute readYou’d be forgiven for thinking so with some of the things you read. The fact is Australia are still a feisty outfit and England in particular shouldn’t be fancying their chances against them too much. Australia may have slid a bit, but they’ll never implode. It’s not the Aussie way.
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.
Why have Peter Moores and Kevin Pietersen fallen out?
< 1 minute readThe seeds of the fall-out were sown during a conversation between Peter Moores and Andrew Strauss. The pair were discussing manufactured pop bands and Moores branded Liberty X ‘derivative’ and ‘lacking in true vocal talent’. As Kevin Pietersen is married to ex-Liberty X chanteuse, Jessica Taylor, Strauss felt moved to
Continue readingDoug Bollinger lacks for effort
< 1 minute readDoug Bollinger’s making his debut for Australia. How much effort is he going to put in? “If I happen to play I’ll put 150,000 percent in.” That’s the bare minimum these days. Remember when Damien Martyn retired because he could only muster a puny 100% dedication. That was a long
Continue readingLord Megachief of Gold 2008
2 minute read2007’s Lord Megachief of Gold was Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but who will be given the most exalted title in all of cricket for 2008? The contenders Gautam Gambhir came of age as a Test batsman and averaged 70.87 during 2008. Graeme Smith did his things and averaged 72. Ajantha Mendis took
Continue readingGraeme Smith does his things
< 1 minute readGraeme Smith’s things are hitting the bulk of the runs in a fourth innings chase and winning Test series. There were no miracles from Australia’s bowlers, because the bowlers who could perform them are gone. South Africa chased down 183 for the loss of one wicket, won the match, won
Continue readingRicky Ponting – an admirable batsman
< 1 minute readRicky Ponting, eh? He’s not likeable, because of the face, the face and also the face. However, he is admirable as a batsman. Look Ponting in the face and it’s tricky to know whether to sigh and hope he goes away or to start with the punching. Watch him bat
Continue readingNeil McKenzie: brave, stupid or mental
< 1 minute readNeil McKenzie did something. Tony Greig called him brave, Mark Nicholas branded him stupid. We’d like to add ‘mental’ to the equation as well. Of course, Neil McKenzie is known to be a bit mental, but this was a different kind of mental. He took up a fielding position maybe
Continue readingJP Duminy shows South Africa’s resilience
< 1 minute readJP Duminy’s Test record is improving: one in his first innings, 50 not out in his second and 166 in his third. The 166 kicks in the balls that he gave Australia’s bowlers were particularly useful as they helped produce 275 ball kicks for South Africa’s last three wickets. Those
Continue readingPeter Siddle’s bowling speed
< 1 minute readArch woodchopper cum fourth choice Australian quick, Peter Siddle, can whang the ball at speeds up to about 150kph, which is about 93mph in old money and officially makes him a fast bowler on the King Cricket scale. In light of this, we now want to see all young English
Continue readingShakib al Hasan takes five
< 1 minute readShakib al Hasan’s taken five wickets in three Test innings in a row. 5-70 against Sri Lanka follows 5-130 and 6-99 against South Africa. He’s currently ranked the 27th best one-day bowler and the eighth best one-day all-rounder. The earth can consider itself safe from shattery, nor is it in
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