King Cricket

November 2, 2014 Pakistan

Misbah-ul-Haq and the golden robot

< 1 minute readIt’s a difficult gear change from second to 14th, but today Misbah-ul-Haq managed it. Doctor Deadbat transformed into Professor Pulverise and equalled Viv Richards’ record for the fastest-ever Test hundred off 56 balls. For some batsmen, quick scoring is a numbers game. They play aggressively all the time and a

November 1, 2014 Extras / Pakistan

Speaking of Pakistan…

< 1 minute readBecause surely you are. Australia are 136-5 in reply to Pakistan’s 570-6 at the time of writing. Younis Khan is averaging over 200 in the series. Unless this current partnership really goes somewhere, that’s better than Australia’s top six combined. But never mind unheralded Pakistani bowlers ripping through top Test

October 30, 2014 Pakistan / Regulars / Sri Lanka

Mop-up of the day – Younus Khan’s bat and Murali’s balls

2 minute readYounus Khan’s just made his third Test hundred on the bounce. We mentioned that he was underrated after the first one. Let’s revisit that. We all know Younus averages some way north of 50 and that he’s now made Test hundreds against every nation, but let’s dig a little deeper.

October 29, 2014 England

England coaching news: someone to do something for a bit

< 1 minute readFans of inexplicable additional consonants in first names rejoiced today when it was announced that one of England’s former bowling coaches will be returning to the setup, albeit on a short-term basis. No, it’s not Allan Donald – it’s Ottis Gibson. Gibson may or may not have said: “I was

October 28, 2014 County cricket / England

Jonathan Trott joins Yorkshire

< 1 minute readAt least we think that’s what’s happened. As far as we can tell, Trott and a handful of others have signed for Yorkshire in time for the county’s tour to South Africa. Weirdly, there doesn’t seem to be any explanation why only seven of last year’s Championship-winning squad will be

October 27, 2014 Australia / Pakistan

The head-wobbling ghosts of Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah

2 minute readIt can be hard to keep up with Pakistan’s playing staff. Mitchell Marsh gets a debut and great tracts of webspace are devoted to him, explaining what this decision means and why it’s such a monumental event. In contrast, Pakistan players ghost into the side and it’s only when they’ve

October 25, 2014 Pakistan

Pakistan thrive on hardship and chaos

< 1 minute readPakistan. Is there any sporting team in the world for which the link between sound preparation and performance is less meaningful? Having lost what was arguably the best new ball attack of its time as a result of that spot fixing thing, Pakistan rebuilt their bowling around Saeed Ajmal. Being

October 24, 2014 Match report

England v Sri Lanka at Lord’s Day three match report

3 minute readGed writes: When Daisy and I go to a day of international cricket at Lord’s these days, I apply for seats in the Lower Compton or Lower Edrich, as Daisy likes to hide from the sun. These seats are relatively unpopular with the county members, so we tend to get

October 23, 2014 Australia / Pakistan / Regulars

Mop-up of the day – stealth, Siddle, celebrations and social media

2 minute readFirst up, Pakistan v Australia where the ‘home’ side appear to be doing a reasonable job of putting a score on the board. It’s always hard to tell what’s a decent first innings total, but with Pakistan’s flaky batting, you reckon they’d be pretty happy already. Stealth The major contributor

October 22, 2014 Australia

Steve O’Keefe and Imran Khan

< 1 minute readSteve O’Keefe’s finally been picked to play a Test match for Australia. We mentioned him as far back as 2010 as being a spinner who wasn’t completely rubbish, but who was somehow being overlooked in favour of any number of slow bowlers who were. O’Keefe’s the second spinner, so Australia