King Cricket

May 21, 2016 England / Sri Lanka

James Anderson fully capable of spending nine years at the wrong end

< 1 minute readIf ever you want to form a pantomime horse with James Anderson, don’t expect him to dress appropriately the first time. Don’t expect him to get it right the second time, third time, or fourth time either. But give him a while. After nine years of equine double-arsedness, he might

May 20, 2016 England / Sri Lanka

The impossible James Anderson

< 1 minute readPeople often say of a spell that a bowler ‘looked like taking a wicket every ball’. It’s rhetoric. What they mean is that the player in question looked far more likely to take a wicket than you would normally expect. So let’s word it differently. In his second spell against

May 20, 2016 England / Sri Lanka

Jonny Bairstow has a fridge door full of hundreds

2 minute readAbout a year ago, we started getting milk delivered – you know, like how people used to back in the Eighties. No longer do we have to carry weighty flagons of milk in amongst the rest of the big shop; now it just materialises on our doorstep, as if by

May 19, 2016 England / Sri Lanka

England’s dodgy drivers dobbled by deadly Dasun

< 1 minute readThe received wisdom is that you don’t get wickets in Test cricket with dibbly-dobbly medium-pace. This is actually entirely accurate – but only because nobody picks dibbly-dobbly medium-pacers for Tests. The truth is that dibbly-dobbly is tough for Test batsmen. Their net bowlers are 85mph, their bowling machines are 85mph.

May 18, 2016 County cricket

Samit Patel is a big fat loser – a majestic, admirable, envied, big fat loser (plus a round-up of this week’s other first division matches)

2 minute readIf respect were something tangible and delicious rather than an abstract concept, Samit Patel earned more of it than even he could eat this week. He also won the battle of the Patels. What he did not win was ‘the match for Nottinghamshire against Warwickshire’. The man Kevin Pietersen calls

May 18, 2016 England

Some sort of James Vince type substance

< 1 minute readJames Vince is stylish. We don’t generally trust that in a batsman and the feeling has been compounded by a nameless county bowler who recently told the Guardian’s Mike Selvey: “He likes to look good.” Despite this, it is technically possible that we could warm to a player likely to

May 16, 2016 County cricket / England

Where next for Chris Woakes?

2 minute readChris Woakes played in England’s last Test. He dismissed Stephen Cook for 115. Now he’s out of the team and out of the squad. England like the idea of Woakes, but they don’t like that idea enough to commit to giving him a long run in the side. It’s understandable.

May 13, 2016 County cricket

They’re finally using robots to promote cricket tournaments

< 1 minute readAbout time. This particular robot’s got flames for eyes and is, quite frankly, a bit of a tosser. Also keep an eye out for the guy who doesn’t know how to clap. That’s our favourite bit. It’s here. The epic conclusion to the #CricketHasLanded trilogy. Watch Cricket Has Landed 3:

May 12, 2016 County cricket

Cricket was played either side of the Pennines – a County Championship round-up

< 1 minute readIt was an uncharacteristically eventful week by the standards of the 2016 County Championship with two whole wins in the first division. Two losses as well, we suppose. The wins/losses After three successive draws, Yorkshire soared like a heron to their habitual place at the top of the table. Surrey

May 12, 2016 West Indies

Tony Cozier – the man who saw all and knew all of West Indies cricket

2 minute readCricket fans moan about commentators a lot, but in general we are well served by our sport. Tastes differ, but very few talk down to us and the majority have the capacity to offer some sort of insight when working in the right environment. But as the world becomes smaller,