King Cricket

June 19, 2018 England

It didn’t always seem so obvious that Liam Plunkett wasn’t Sajid Mahmood

4 minute readThere was a time when Liam Plunkett was spoken about in much the same way as Sajid Mahmood. Then there was another time when Liam Plunkett was spoken about in much the same way as Sajid Mahmood. It seems safe to assume that it won’t happen a third time –

June 15, 2018 Afghanistan / Extras

Afghanistan haven’t scored too many runs, but that’s not really the point at this stage, is it?

< 1 minute readRemember Out of the Ashes? It’s a documentary about Afghanistan’s journey “from war to the World Cup”. We reviewed it here and thought it was rather wonderful. It strikes us that it could do with an update because Afghanistan are a Test team now. This is a highly astonishing state

June 12, 2018 England

Why aren’t the big teams embarrassed about losing to smaller teams?

2 minute readScotland’s obvious delight at beating England at the weekend was in no way matched by the anger of the England fans or the embarrassment of the players. It’s not an exact mathematical thing, but normally in sport you’d expect similar sorts of weight on both sides. Why was that not

June 8, 2018 England

Will Jos Buttler prove that the best Test teams contain the best T20 players?

2 minute readThat’s a terrible headline. It labels Jos Buttler a T20 player when a key aspect of the point we’re about to make is that players shouldn’t be categorised. Over at Wisden, we’ve picked up almost exactly where we left off earlier in the week, arguing that England’s Test team would

June 7, 2018 Australia

Australia redefine “the line” (again)

< 1 minute readWe always do our best to keep you updated on the exact whereabouts of “the line,” according to its official custodians, the Australia cricket team. In news that will be hugely reassuring to everyone, Australia’s new captain and coach say that they are well aware of the location of the

June 5, 2018 England

How Jos Buttler has brought a bit of culture to England’s Test team

3 minute readWe’ve always said that Jos Buttler seems much, much safer at the crease – and a far more reassuring presence for England fans – when he’s just standing there spanking sixes, all bionic eyes and adamantium wrists. We wrote about this in 2015 and Buttler himself seems to have been

May 31, 2018 England

Sam Curran is almost the right choice

< 1 minute readIf Sam Curran could bat a bit better or bowl a bit better, he would definitely be a good addition to the England team. If that sounds dismissive, it’s only because it made for a better opening sentence. Scurran is close. He’s just not quite there. Strengths Left-armer Swings it

May 30, 2018 England

England’s batsmen are insecure and complacent

3 minute readEngland’s batting is bad. England are bad at batting. Bad batting is a thing that England’s batsmen generally do. Before we get into the ins and outs of the badness, let’s contextualise it with the players’ career Test averages because that way we can really get a sense of the

May 26, 2018 England

Who was your favourite ineffective opening partner for Alastair Cook?

< 1 minute readIf we were to ask, ‘who has been your favourite England Test opener since Andrew Strauss retired?’ the answer is obvious. If you say anyone other than Alastair Cook, you are either (a) a contrarian hipster (b) not an England supporter or (c) mental. That’s an easy one. A far

May 25, 2018 England / Pakistan

What the hell is up with Hasan Ali’s hand?

< 1 minute readWe honestly haven’t got much left to say about England’s batting, so let’s instead turn our attention to Hasan Ali’s hand and whatever the hell is up with it. Here’s Hasan Ali’s hand midway through delivering the (apparently) fiendishly tempting wide one that did for Joe Root. Strapping is a