King Cricket

March 8, 2024 England

Did you see… Ben Stokes ceasing to be a specialist batter?

2 minute readIt is halfway through day two. The score is 275-1. The last 28 wickets in the series have all fallen to spin. Ben Stokes hasn’t bowled in a match since June. Rohit Sharma faces on 103, thinking about 203 – maybe even 303. Stokes knocks his off stump back first

March 6, 2024 England

Remember Jos Buttler? He’s almost certainly played his last Test… hasn’t he?

3 minute readAs Jonny Bairstow prepares to play his 100th Test and Ben Foakes closes in on a nice fresh cap for his 25th, we can’t help but think of the third prong of England’s red ball wicketkeeping trident – the missing prong, the ghost of a prong – Jos Buttler. In

March 5, 2024 England / India

Dharamsala Test pitch preview with Fiona Bruce

3 minute readAnother Test series, another touring team dashed on the Indian rocks. Even a lighthouse won’t save you, because merely seeing the danger is not enough. The currents in this part of the world are simply too strong. Have you seen The Lighthouse, by the way? We recommend it if you’re

March 1, 2024 Regulars

Cricket stumps at Chelsea Flower Show (+ more)

2 minute readSend your pictures of cricket bats and other cricket stuff in unusual places to king@kingcricket.co.uk. It is more than okay to put the cricket thing in the unusual place yourself if you want. In fact we urge you to do precisely that. Matthew writes… I spotted John Emburey at Chelsea

February 27, 2024 New Zealand

Who will be the next great 82mph bouncer bowler now that Neil Wagner has retired?

2 minute readEveryone has a favourite batter. Everyone has a favourite fast bowler. Everyone also has a favourite fast-medium short ball workhorse bowler… and it’s always Neil Wagner, because no-one else in the history of cricket has ever made that work. Unique cricketers usually stand out for very obviously freakish physical reasons.

February 26, 2024 India

R Ashwin isn’t a robot – he just treats himself like one

5 minute readR Ashwin says he “had to literally rewire” himself to bowl in Ranchi. As far as we’re aware, R Ashwin did not have to literally rewire himself. We haven’t watched HBO’s version of Westworld in a while, but the way we remember it, the series went pretty heavy on the

February 21, 2024 England / India

Ranchi Test pitch preview with the printer from Office Space

3 minute readRenouncing orthodoxy and precedent, England took an unlikely win in the first Test of this series. However, some feel that defeat in the third Test last week was the flipside of that attitude. Our own view is that they’d most likely have lost whatever they did – this is playing

February 19, 2024 England / India

Is it possible to bat with the conviction of Ben Duckett yet talk with the bleak defeatism of the average England fan?

6 minute readConviction. It’s what Ben Stokes’ England Test team is all about. This is great to watch but cringe-inducing to listen to. Is there any chance they could play the same way without… saying all of those things? The most obviously groansome comment arising from England’s 434-run defeat to India in

February 15, 2024 India

Rohit Sharma’s hat was the real victim when Sarfaraz Khan was run out because Ravindra Jadeja was so keen to get off 99

2 minute readRun-outs are always dramatic, but doubly so when the batter’s on 99. That unignorable need for a single just brings a whole new dimension to the drama. The burning desire to get another run to get you to 100 can even result in collateral damage, like the loss of your

February 14, 2024 England / India

Rajkot Test pitch preview with Captain Ahab

2 minute readBen Stokes’ cap has been looking pretty tatty, but he is due a new one for his 100th Test match in Rajkot this week. The series currently sits at 1-1 with – glory be! – three Tests still to play. Ravindra Jadeja will most likely return for India, while England