4 minute readSouth Africa wanted to win this one. England were happy to loosen a few limbs. That’s kind of how it went. In many ways this South Africa v England series was the definitive pointless bilateral: a little island of three one-day internationals dropped right in the middle of another tournament
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2 minute readWe previewed the Boxing Day Tests. We may as well take a look at what happened in them. Australia v South Africa Signs of an upturn for South Africa, who finally passed 200 for the first time in many attempts. Their second innings 204 all out was enough to secure
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2 minute readCricket has lots of laws, but also a couple of general rules. One rule is that Pakistan will generally defy expectations – whether high or low. Another is that South Africa will generally contrive a way of exiting world tournaments when everything seemed to be going swimmingly for them. South
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4 minute readWe’re late on this one, but please bear with us because there’s one particular element (a face, if you’re wondering) which should not be overlooked. Yesterday morning, King Cricket reader Ritesh drew attention to a wonky caption to a Getty photo he’d spotted. “Kohli celebrates after hitting the winning runs,”
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2 minute readOllie Robinson doesn’t do his pointing upper-cut celebration every time he takes a wicket, but he does it often enough that it certainly feels like he does. Plenty of bowlers have had signature celebrations over the years – little sequences of actions they reflexively do in response to each dismissal.
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< 1 minute readIs this a thing now? Is the scheduled last Test of each summer forever destined to be played the following year? We’re jumping the gun here, but there’s at least some sort of a chance we’re going to have to run a Sim Series here, isn’t there? After first rain
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2 minute readAfter one innings victory apiece, the third and final Test between England and South Africa will surely end up either a high-scoring draw or a low-scoring tie. England’s new number five, Harry Brook, would presumably prefer the former as all things being equal that increases the chances he’ll make a
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2 minute readIt’s good to be ambitious and open minded and not hidebound by the past. It’s maybe not quite so smart to talk about how you’re going to rewrite how Test cricket is played – particularly if you’re England. Ben Stokes has mostly spoken well since he took on the captaincy,
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2 minute readThe scorecard says Dean Elgar was bowled by James Anderson. The scorecard is keeping a lot of important detail to itself there. To recap what happened, Anderson hit Elgar on the thigh, the ball bounced back towards the bowler, only for Elgar to inadvertently elbow it backwards again. The ball
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2 minute readIt’s the fun question that now launches all series and tournaments: “Why should I care about this?” When there’s wall-to-wall cricket, nothing can be taken for granted – these days you have to take the time to work out which matches actually matter. No matter how seriously a team says
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