2 minute read As the pre-Ashes war of words hits a dizzying peak of meaninglessness, it’s worth reflecting on something said long after a previous series had finished. Reflecting on the team’s modus operandi during The Mitchell Johnson Ashes, Peter Siddle said: “The key stat for us is maidens. The more maidens you
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Australia win the bloody Ashes
< 1 minute read In shit news, Australia have retained the Ashes. They won the first T20 international to give them a four-point series lead with only four points left to play for. Test centurion Ellyse Perry was at one point on a hat-trick for Australia as England slipped to 16-4. From there, the
Continue readingShaun Marsh is back
2 minute read It occurs to us that people are far more likely to say “Shaun Marsh is back” than use the contraction “Shaun Marsh’s back” when referring to his return. This rather undermines an excellent joke we were going to make. Never mind. We’re sure we’ll one day get an opportunity to
Continue readingJoe Root crushes the ‘targeting’ cliché
< 1 minute read Joe Root has done many great things in international cricket. He launched England’s rebound in 2015 and kicked off the last Ashes with a magnificent hundred later the same summer. Now he’s shone a light on the fundamental bullshittery of ‘targeting’ the opposition’s captain/best batsman. “I’ve heard a lot of
Continue readingEllyse Perry takes a rare opportunity and makes it very difficult for England to win the Ashes
< 1 minute read Ellyse Perry’s long wait for a Test hundred lasted nine years and seven Tests. If you don’t get too many opportunities, you might as well make any hundred a double – she finished on 213 not out. The first women’s Test match was between Australia and England in December 1934.
Continue readingWho is Tom Helm?
2 minute read We experienced a delightful nostalgic moment earlier this week when we read that Tom Helm had narrowly lost out to Tom Curran for an Ashes call-up. “Who’s Tom Helm?” we thought. We knew the name, we knew he was a bowler, but it’s been a long, long time since we
Continue readingTom Curran’s haircut
< 1 minute read Tom Curran’s been called into England’s Ashes squad. If you’re wondering why we’ve never really written much about him here at King Cricket, it’s because we don’t like his hair. This isn’t a proper mainstream media news site. We can do what we like. If we think Tom Curran’s haircut
Continue readingTwo hat tricks in one match – has Mitchell Starc peaked too soon?
< 1 minute read We can’t remember the last time we used the phrase ‘peaked too soon’ to refer to anything other than someone we went to school with who hasn’t aged well. Mitchell Starc took two hat tricks for New South Wales against Western Australia. In the words of Osman Samiuddin, he did
Continue readingAll England’s rubbish batsmen make runs while their good ones don’t
< 1 minute read A lesson here in the allocation of runs, surely. In England’s opening match against a Western Australia XI, Joe Root wisely restricted himself to nine, while that master of Australian conditions, Alastair Cook, hung around for all of two balls. Everyone else frittered away runs, meaning they are no longer
Continue readingHit the Ground Running Watch
< 1 minute read If we’ve learned anything about Ashes series, it’s how vital it is that the touring team hits the ground running. We know this because everyone says it all of the time and has done for years. It’s said so often that we don’t need to check whether the importance of
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