King Cricket

March 25, 2015 Extras

The joys of mishits, dropped catches, failed run-outs and overthrows

< 1 minute read Or, in other words, the semi-final report we promised you yesterday. It’s also worth noting the contribution made by Dan Vettori. Thanks Dan for being one of the few players to keep his side of the bargain after being named one of our World Cup cricketers to watch. Shame on

March 24, 2015 Extras

Crowd-pleasing lesson number 468

< 1 minute read We know what you guys are like. The last thing you want to hear about after a fantastic semi-final is that fantastic semi-final. You’d rather wait at least 24 hours to hear what we have to say on the subject, until a point at which the emotion’s faded and you’re

March 23, 2015 Extras / India

MS Dhoni’s conviction isn’t swayed by anything so prosaic as evidence

< 1 minute read That’s what we’ve written about for the Mumbai Mirror. It’s not just about Dhoni though. It’s also about conviction in general and how an epidemic of uncertainty can sweep through a side at a major tournament. In other words, it’s yet another piece about stuff England did wrong masquerading as

March 22, 2015 Extras / New Zealand

We tried to write about Martin Guptill

< 1 minute read But it seemed to come out as a Dan Vettori piece. Big beardy Dan. Back from retirement. Keeping it tight like one-day cricket hasn’t changed at all in the last decade and leaping about like a man roughly the same age but not quite so decrepit.

March 21, 2015 Australia / Pakistan

Wahab v Watson

< 1 minute read Technically, Shane Watson won this particular duel by surviving, going on to hit the winning runs. But if it really was a victory, it was one characterised by looking like a complete div for a prolonged period. Wahab Riaz’s mistake was that he left himself reliant on the woeful catching

March 20, 2015 Extras / India

For India a run a ball seems to be enough

< 1 minute read The players, the coaches, the fans and the media told England that they needed to be making 350-plus scores to do well in this tournament. The 2015 World Cup wasn’t just going to be about run-scoring; it was going to be about phenomenal, unimaginable run-scoring. Look at what India are

March 19, 2015 Extras / South Africa

Hat-tricks are handy

< 1 minute read This and other insights in our latest piece for the Mumbai Mirror which is about the South African team, why it’s good and why it’s bad. For all that the Saffers have some great batsmen and a strong pace attack, there’s also another version of the side that’s fragile with

March 18, 2015 England

Adil Rashid braced for more knocks

< 1 minute read It’s always faintly harrowing when England select a leg-spinner. The way they’re treated tends to be geared towards absolute decimation of their confidence. Adil Rashid himself has benefited from this once before. Eight years ago, we promised Rashid that we’d always be nice to him – even if he got

March 18, 2015 Extras

Bowled

< 1 minute read A proper journalist would have crunched the numbers. We didn’t because it would have been really boring and the results might have disproven our theory that more batsmen are being clean bowled at this World Cup. The Mumbai Mirror have called the piece Bowled and beautiful back in fashion, which

March 17, 2015 England / Extras

Quasi-nepotism and the murky lens of hindsight – England’s MD and national selector appraised

2 minute read We’ve written about just what a monumental achievement it was for England to get knocked out in the group stages. The more we think about it, the more we’re impressed at how they managed to prevent even one cylinder from firing. There is talk that Paul Downton may get the

His nickname at Northern Districts was "flatline", good to see he's living up to it: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/ind-vs-nz-pune-test-mitchell-santner-peaks-with-virat-kohli-wicket-1457007

Kohli career was destroyed by his wife.

Santner has got to be the least expressive man I've ever seen. Is he going through a divorce? His potm…

Great test turn-around by New Zealand after their drubbing by Sri Lanka. Never have I enjoyed a test series victory…

When was the last time you saw a bus conductor? Do such jobs still exist? I thought they'd gone the…

Hats off to Harry Brook’s very particular ‘steamrollered pancake pitch’ set of skills

Let’s pick the All-Time Greatest Middle-Aged XI

Less than the sum of their parts: Six Test batting partnerships that invariably disappointed

Five Graham Thorpe innings that were equal parts silly, brilliant and vital

Show me the money. Inattention and monetisation in Major League Cricket, The Hundred and Test cricket