King Cricket

December 7, 2017 Australia / England

Three reasons why Australia will more than likely collapse at the Waca

2 minute read Australia do like to collapse. Amid all the talk of conditions, bowling attacks and Steve Smith’s runsome proclivities, this is the one thing in favour of the tourists. England like to collapse too, of course. They just have to hope that they do it less frequently – or at least

December 5, 2017 Australia / England

Hope can hibernate

< 1 minute read Hope never truly dies. It can however recede to the extent that it entirely loses consciousness. It’s safe to say that at around the point Australia emerged for their second innings, hope was in deep hibernation. A little while later it re-emerged after faint rays of Jimmy Anderson had warmed

December 5, 2017 Australia / England

Video: The Barmy Army goad Steve Smith about his use of DRS

< 1 minute read Like most wild animals, The Barmy Army are generally best viewed from afar – ideally on television or at the very least with some sort of robust barrier between you and them. They can also be very funny. Australians sometimes struggle to comprehend that the same bounce that can make

December 4, 2017 Australia / England

Commence the straw-clutching

< 1 minute read Grasp at them. Clutch them. Savour the delightful sensation of straws against palms. England are methodically addressing each of their shortcomings in turn. For some reason the first one they turned their attention to was ‘tail getting blown away by short-pitched bowling’. England’s tail is supposed to be ‘fragile’ compared

December 3, 2017 Australia / England

When more of the same fails, try even more of the same – England’s bowling masterplan

2 minute read It’s not so much that England’s attack lacks pace, so much as that it lacks variety. It also has no left-armer, while the stinging open wound on Moeen Ali’s spinning finger means the team can’t rely on spectacular returns from their tweaker to make up the shortfall. But pace is

December 2, 2017 Australia / England

Craig Overton: first look in Test cricket

2 minute read We don’t believe you can draw meaningful conclusions from players’ debuts – but we report on them anyway. Craig Overton looks like a big fast bowler. Then he humphs in and dobbles it like a good ‘un. Dobblery is not a craft that is highly regarded in Test cricket, but

December 1, 2017 Australia / England

England have (apparently) been lacking motivation

2 minute read The Ashes, you know, it’s hard to really get up for. Hard to get up at 5am or whatever and hard to get up in the ‘come on, let’s give it everything’ sense too. Or at least that’s the way England have been painting things. James Anderson said the tourists

November 30, 2017 Australia / England

Chris Tremlett’s shirt and Jonathan Trott’s listening face

< 1 minute read The latest instalment of ‘seemingly random screengrabs from ECB videos’ brings us Chris Tremlett busting out of a black shirt and Jonathan Trott either fed up with his cold, pondering his own mortality or drifting off into a coma or something. Just look at the strain on those poor buttons.

November 29, 2017 England

Bringing you the one major highlight from England’s latest gym session

2 minute read The latest video from the ECB in which a load of people (most of whom you don’t really recognise) mill around a gym is a real thrill-a-minute ride. Sadly, the video is only 44 seconds long so it’s mostly just a bunch of people idly chatting to each other while

November 28, 2017 Australia / England

The very obvious way in which England can add variety to their bowling, lengthen their batting and improve their fielding

< 1 minute read Paul Collingwood! When a bowling attack’s a bit fast-medium, people always hanker after “genuine pace” – but what about genuine medium-pace? That brings variety too. If Paul Collingwood were to play instead of Jake Ball say, they’d not only benefit from some devastating dibbly dobbly military medium, they could also