4 minute readWe love an ill-advised leave. We love Darren Gough. We love Australian batsmen ill-advisedly leaving Darren Gough. We’ve just been watching Darren Gough bowling Australia out in the 1994-95 Ashes because, you know, why not? (If you want to gain an insight into the King Cricket editorial/creative process, we were
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The 2013/14 Ridiculous Ashes
2 minute readWe’ve done series two of The Ridiculous Ashes Podcast with Dan Liebke. It’s about the 2013/14 Ashes and we’ll add the episodes below as they go out each week. If you don’t already know, the Ridiculous Ashes is an alternative trophy awarded to the side that produced the most hilarious
Continue readingWhy ‘overnight’ is such an important part of a five-day Test match
2 minute readWhenever a Test is decided late on the fifth day, there’s much talk about how that kind of tension and excitement wouldn’t happen with four-day Tests. It’s half true. This is why. If you move a deadline, you don’t negate it. Even if a Test match has no fifth day,
Continue readingThree great bowlers’ run-ups – but do you have a favourite?
9 minute readCan we talk about bowlers’ run-ups? We’ve picked out three great ones. They’re not necessarily our favourites, but we feel like each one says something in particular about how bowlers get to the crease and what we as viewers feel as they’re doing so. But before that, please can we
Continue readingDanish Kaneria or Dane Vilas – who is most Danish?
4 minute readDanish Kaneria is a Pakistani cricketer who has been banned from the sport for life for spot-fixing. Dane Vilas is a South African cricketer who currently plays for Lancashire. Despite what their names suggest, neither player is from Denmark. So who is most Danish? Let’s measure the two men against
Continue readingEngland’s eight most surprising double hundreds since Graham Gooch’s 333
9 minute readGraham Gooch’s 333 against India at Lord’s in 1990 was the first eye-wateringly big innings we can remember. The idea that one guy could score that many runs on his own in a Test match recalibrated what we thought was possible. There have only really been a handful of oversized
Continue readingWhy it is only now dawning on England fans that their team plays way too many games
8 minute readTurns out people don’t like squad rotation. Not when you call it that anyway. Test Match Special can be a good place to gauge which way the wind’s blowing – and not just because it’s regularly interrupted by the shipping forecast. Earlier this week, Jonathan Agnew wrote a column in
Continue readingFour of the weirdest eight-fors of the last 25 years (plus one nine-for and one ten-for)
8 minute readThere have been 28 occasions in the last 25 years when a bowler has taken eight wickets or more in a Test innings. Some of these were weirder than others. At what point does a bowling performance become really, truly, freakishly remarkable? We’d say at the seventh wicket. Five-fors are
Continue readingWhich of James Anderson’s near-identical reverse-swinging clean bowleds from the same over was the better?
5 minute read“I didn’t really do anything out of the ordinary,” said Jimmy Anderson about an over that featured one of the finest clean-bowleds you’re ever likely to see, then another one that may or may not have been better, plus an LBW shout that could legitimately have been given sandwiched in
Continue readingThe 1997 Ridiculous Ashes – all six episodes
2 minute readHopefully you’re aware that we (Alex Bowden and Dan Liebke) are doing The Ridiculous Ashes Podcast. Series 1 is about the 1997 series and you can find all six episodes below. The Ridiculous Ashes is an alternative trophy that is awarded to the side that produces the most hilarious and
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