3 minute readWhen we first saw Cameron Bancroft tampering with the ball using sandpaper, we thought to ourself: “That is sandpaper” – and so did everyone else. We were therefore very much surprised when he later claimed that it was not in fact sandpaper but something akin to home-made sandpaper. “We had
Continue readingCategory: Australia
Has David Warner really ‘gone rogue’ and if so, why? Let’s examine the evidence
4 minute readAbsolutely the best recent headline about Australia’s ball tampering is the one on Fox Sports suggesting that David Warner has ‘gone rogue’. The evidence for David Warner’s rogue-going is that (a) he was sitting on his own at one point and (b) he drank Champagne with friends who weren’t cricketers.
Continue readingAustralia have been caught ball-tampering. But what was the worst aspect? And what was the funniest?
4 minute readWell this is very much hilarious but also reprehensible because saying the second bit is part of the unwritten contract we have all entered into as cricket fans. Australia have been caught ball-tampering, a simple statement that doesn’t really do justice to all that’s happened and how people have reacted
Continue readingLet’s celebrate that magnificent Rabada v Warner thing without at any point expressing support for all the stuff that gave rise to it
3 minute readHere at King Cricket, we’re not at all in favour of unnecessary on-field aggro: fielders over-celebrating dismissals, bowlers getting right up in the batsman’s face and all that. However… We are HUGELY in favour of adrenaline-fuelled cricket – particularly when it involves a true fast bowler and a batsman who
Continue reading
When and where is AB de Villiers at his best?
2 minute readAB de Villiers is very good. We’re pretty sure most of you will agree with that insightful assessment. But where do we see him at his best? We can think of five immediately obvious environments in which AB de Villiers might be seen. In a music video Just sort of
Continue readingNew Zealand beat Australia 18-14 at sixes
< 1 minute readHowever, Australia won the fours classification by 19 to 14 and they also scored 20 extras to New Zealand’s 12. The upshot was that Australia won the runs classification by 245 to 243. Wickets also fell – but not enough to be of any real significance. Speaking after the match,
Continue readingSteve Smith the ball-eater and other stories: England’s ODI series win over Australia in old-school stats
2 minute readRemember averages and strike-rates? We do. Let’s take a look at some of the meat and potatoes stats for England’s 4-1 one-day series win over Australia. Steve Smith ate balls The Australian captain ate up 148 deliveries over the course of the series and yet paid his team back with
Continue readingJoe Root goes big, Australia fall short
< 1 minute readBefore the fourth one-dayer between Australia and England, the at times nauseatingly partisan BT Sport Twitter account asked which of three England batsmen would “go big” – Jason Roy, Joe Root or Jos Buttler. ✅ Roy ✅ Root ✅ Buttler Who will be the man to go big tonight? ????
Continue reading
What does Lloyd Pope’s hair say about his leg-spin?
2 minute readLloyd Pope took 8-35 to knock England out of the Under-19 World Cup and he’s done a bunch more eye-catching stuff since. This is Lloyd Pope’s hair. You may also notice something hanging off the bottom of it. That thing is Lloyd Pope. You may feel that a man’s hair
Continue readingEngland’s one-day bowling strategy shows up everything that’s wrong with their Test approach
< 1 minute readSpeaking about England’s Test bowling attack this week, Steve Harmison managed the rare feat of deploying the word ‘unit’ in a halfway meaningful way. He told Sky Sports that England have to, “make sure that at any one given time they’ve got skill factor with the new ball, an X-factor
Continue reading