King Cricket

May 16, 2017 England / Pakistan

The pressure builds – a four-Test story of two opposing batsmen

3 minute readOne is English, one is Pakistani. One is young, one is old – or at least he is in cricketing terms. For much of last summer’s Test series between England and Pakistan, Alex Hales and Younus Khan trod a similar path. Come the last Test, their journeys diverged markedly. Hales

May 14, 2017 Extras

Normal service not really resumed

< 1 minute readThere’s been a daughter! Her name’s Niamh. She’s basically the best thing of all. Obviously she’s not our sole creation, so please resist the temptation to assign her some sort of royal cricket title. Niamh and her mother are the main reasons why we’ve been a trifle pressed for time

May 7, 2017 Associates / England / Ireland

An acceptable way to finish a cricket match and an unacceptable way to report on one

2 minute readWe’ve been having some absolutely belting weather for the last week or so in these parts – but only on the sly. The gale force winds that have been partially masking things finally abated today and the lull revealed one of those perfect spring days that make you slightly less

May 6, 2017 Associates / England / Ireland

England’s bowling and some clarification on the current condition of Aleem Dar’s lower face

2 minute readYesterday morning, our cat Monty did a more than passable impersonation of Mark Wood’s backwards press run-up as he exited the house. Despite his unutterably poor track record of predicting cricket matches, we took this as a clear sign that England would beat Ireland. And so it proved. We’ve just

May 5, 2017 Pakistan / West Indies

Shannon Gabriel nicks one for the Windies

< 1 minute readMaybe this is why people have started saying ‘snick’ to mean ‘nick’ – to prevent headlines like this one from being ambiguous. Shannon Gabriel – arguably the finest fast bowler called Shannon currently plying his trade – took 5-11 as the West Indies dismissed Pakistan for just 81 to win

May 4, 2017 Extras

Laurence Elderbrook confronts a new challenge

< 1 minute readPrevious instalment from Laurence Elderbrook Life as a cricketer errant continues to be wearying, but it is the path I have chosen and a path I will continue to walk. This week my squire, Darron-with-an-O, must have asked at more than a dozen clubs whether any team required a dashing

May 3, 2017 Pakistan / West Indies

Misbah-ul-Haq – King of the Daddy Fifty

< 1 minute readEmbed from Getty Images Last week Ian Bell was dismissed for 99 and we wondered whether that was more or less painful than Misbah-ul-Haq being left stranded on 99 not out against the West Indies. Well, it seems Misbah was wondering the same thing. One Test later, he executed a

May 2, 2017 India

Ben Stokes or Sunil Narine?

2 minute readBen Stokes played a handy innings yesterday. With his team, Rising Pune Supergiant, chasing Gujarat Lions’ 161, Stokes made 103 not out, batting at five. Cricinfo said that Stokes “owned the MCA Stadium” – although their use of the past tense implies that he’s since sold it or perhaps had

April 28, 2017 County cricket / England

Zafar Ansari’s “other ambitions” and other tales of premature retirement from cricket

2 minute readEach to his own and all that, but the “new chapter” in Zafar Ansari’s life sounds dull as shit to us. He’s retired from cricket at the age of 25 to pursue another career, “potentially in law”. We’ve been here before. We’ve been here several times. There was James Bruce,

April 27, 2017 County cricket / England

The format of the new ECB T20 competition

2 minute readHere’s a coagulation of plans, proposals, assumptions and best-guesses for the format of the ECB’s new 20-over competition which is due to begin in 2020. Eight sides Eight group matches each Home and away local derbies (to permit that eighth match) IPL style play-offs ECB-produced TV coverage with some matches