King Cricket

August 17, 2016 County cricket

The Nottinghamshire Nosedives – another fairly half-arsed County Championship round-up

2 minute readSome really important stuff to come on this site later in the week, so let’s crack on with this. First things first – what the hell are Surrey doing in third? They beat Warwickshire It’s not really happened for Warwickshire so far this year – and this with Ian Bell

August 17, 2016 Australia / Sri Lanka

Shaun Marsh and his duck tax

< 1 minute readIt’s common for people to ask: if Shaun Marsh is the answer, what is the question? As often as not, the question is “who’s the selectorial equivalent of a last desperate roll of the dice?” Australia have not been making runs in Sri Lanka. In the first two Tests their

August 16, 2016 England / Pakistan

Seven things we learned from England v Pakistan

2 minute read We’ve been trying to provide some sort of pithy and insightful summary of the Test series for 24 hours now, but it’s not really happening. We’ll instead content ourself with a vague collage of observations. If these are our workings-out, maybe you can provide the conclusion yourself. Specialists and

August 14, 2016 England / Pakistan

Yasir Shah the best bowler in the world again – shortly after being worthless

2 minute readIt’s hard to say whether memories are fading faster these days – because who can honestly remember how things were previously? This was nevertheless a thought that has crossed our mind a few times of late – generally when some commentator or other has claimed that England have ‘worked Yasir

August 13, 2016 England / Pakistan

Younus Khan knows what he’s doing – even if it doesn’t look like it

< 1 minute readWe really wanted Younus Khan to get runs in this Test. A lot of commentators who have at no point in their lives been able to bat even half as well as him have not just been criticising his batting during this series, but actually making fun of it. We’ve

August 11, 2016 England / Pakistan

The beard that smeared – Moeen Ali enjoys the evening session

2 minute readSmeared with exquisite timing and grace, we should say. It was poetic smearage. Smearage without breaking sweat. Smearage that involved all moving parts working in perfect harmony to pan the ball to the fence. Morning session It’ll be interesting to read the reports about this morning’s play. Was Alex Hales

August 11, 2016 Australia / England / India / Pakistan

Where is the ICC’s Test mace?

2 minute readNot much more than a week ago, Australia captain Steve Smith was presented with the ICC Test Championship mace in a closed ceremony. The media and public would of course have been clamouring to attend such a spectacular and meaningful event. The nature of the presentation gave rise to an

August 9, 2016 County cricket

Jake Lehmann signs for Yorkshire – all you need to know about Son of Boof (+ video)

< 1 minute readThere was a brief period when Jake Lehmann’s T20 record was nothing but hitting a six to win a match. His first ever innings for Adelaide Strikers coincided with the last ball against Hobart Hurricanes. He needed to hit a four. He hit a six, which was also acceptable. Lehmann

August 8, 2016 County cricket

Four wickets in the fourth innings for spinners – this week’s County Championship round-up

< 1 minute readAs you can see, Middlesex are still top. Somerset and Yorkshire aren’t a million miles away and the latter have a game in hand, as do Durham in fourth. Middlesex drew with Surrey George Bailey – remember him? He scored a hundred for Middlesex. Jason Roy, in his four-day middle-order

August 8, 2016 England / Pakistan

England’s age of all-rounders

< 1 minute readEngland fielded eight batsmen to Pakistan’s seven in this match and five bowlers to their four. That is quite an advantage to carry. It was most notable when England batted in the second innings, when the duration of a Test match was really starting to bite. Pakistan’s quartet held it