< 1 minute readJoe 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
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Ellyse Perry takes a rare opportunity and makes it very difficult for England to win the Ashes
< 1 minute readEllyse 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 readWe 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 readTom 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 readWe 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 readA 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 readIf 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
Continue readingBen Stokes Ashes situation entirely unchanged by latest “revelations”
2 minute readIf you’re indicted for war crimes, “But they started it!” is not a particularly weighty defence – even if it’s true. It’s some way down the scale, but the same principle still holds true with Ben Stokes. Today’s confirmation that he was defending two gay men when he rained all
Continue readingKevin Pietersen says team spirit is everything
2 minute readHe’s got to be doing this on purpose, hasn’t he? Surely? In truth, much of what Kevin Pietersen says in his interview with Cricinfo makes perfect sense. The gist is that there’s much to be gained from players going out together, but they also need to take responsibility for their
Continue readingAlex Hartley is invincible
< 1 minute readNot in the sense of being incapable of being defeated because she’s just lost two Ashes matches out of two. We mean it purely in a batting sense. Hartley made nought not out today. In her 20-match international career, she has NEVER BEEN DISMISSED. Not once. Now, admittedly, Hartley has
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