2 minute readMuch is said about Cheteshwar Pujara – we’ve written a lot ourself – but we’re not sure anyone’s ever talked about his ability to persuade you that it rained when it didn’t. The way it went down was like this. Late afternoon we got a message from King Cricket reader
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Bairstow and Moeen remind us how hard it is to resist a yo-yo trick
< 1 minute readLast week we suggested that the adaptability of Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali was a key reason why they had become yo-yos for England. There are two sides to this. Firstly, the fact that the two men can each perform so many ‘roles’ means that Test openings materialise more frequently
Continue readingKL Rahul: “Hello Lord’s!”
2 minute readKL Rahul successfully made it to the middle at Lord’s, batted a bit and then just about successfully made it back to the changing rooms again. As Tom Evans points out, it’s a long way. Here’s Rahul’s epic journey. “Well, we’ve kept them waiting long enough. Let’s do it to
Continue readingIf England’s top three sets the tone, exactly what tone is it setting?
3 minute readStarts are important. Starts set everyone’s mood and so shape everything that’s to come. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ Abattoir Blues album starts with two bars that sound like the climax of an encore. Nick then forcefully instructs us to, ‘get ready for love,’ and by 12 seconds, there’s
Continue readingJimmy Anderson wicket celebration analysis: Pujara 4 v Kohli 0
3 minute readJames Anderson took two wickets in his 11th over of the first Test: Cheteshwar Pujara for 4 and Virat Kohli for 0. Both are great and significant batsmen and if our maths is correct – and no guarantees on this one, people – there is only a four-run difference between
Continue readingPick of the ducks with Rory Burns, Dan Lawrence, Jos Buttler and Ollie Robinson
3 minute readWell India are great and England seem massively out of their depth. So what are we left with? Let’s compare ducks. Four ducks in an innings. That’s a thing now, apparently. Cricinfo’s George Dobell says it’s the third time it’s happened to England in their last five Tests. That’s… a
Continue readingWhy England v India is exactly what you need right now
3 minute readEngland are about to play Test matches against India. Maybe we’ll just concentrate on that for a bit. We don’t know about you, but these last few weeks have sapped our enthusiasm a bit. It’s not the Hundred itself, which is flawed and a bit silly, but still fundamentally cricket.
Continue readingR Ashwin went to Devon
5 minute readR Ashwin is a man who very much ploughs his own furrow. We like this. We like R Ashwin. Recently R Ashwin went to Devon. The world of cricket has changed a lot in quite a short period. It’s hard to put the change into words, but basically the top
Continue readingEither Tammy Beaumont is dominating bowling attacks exactly as much as they allow her to or she’s not telling us something
< 1 minute readAs an elite cricketer, you can approach your cricket however you want. The important thing is that no matter what approach you take, you have to tell everyone you’re being positive and aggressive and dominant. In cricket, certain words are right and certain other words are wrong. We’ve lost count
Continue readingNew Zealand’s World Test Championship and the fallacy of fairness
3 minute readWhere did we get this idea that every trophy has to be a lab experiment, measuring and weighing every facet of excellence? In the immediate aftermath of defeat, Virat Kohli said that in future the World Test Championship final, “has to be a test of character over three Tests.” Beaten
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