King Cricket

August 23, 2013 Australia

What do you make of Steve Smith’s batting?

2 minute readWe’ve been struggling with this for months and we’ve still not reached any firm conclusions. We asked an Australian friend for his view and he just said: “He’ll be fine,” which didn’t really help clarify things. We’re probably verging towards this: In good conditions in the first innings, Smith’s head’s

August 22, 2013 Australia

Shane Watson’s muscle and skull

< 1 minute readOne of the reasons why it’s been so enjoyable to watch Shane Watson’s hapless summer is because he generally looks like the kind of batsman who can rifle a long series of chanceless fours. Yesterday, he actually did this. His drives were crisper than neglected bacon blackening under the grill

August 21, 2013 County cricket

Investing in poor debuts

< 1 minute readHow much does the ability to handle debut nerves have an impact on whether or not a player might one day thrive in Test cricket? Answer that question and you go a long way towards deciding how much attention to pay to the performances of Chris Woakes and Simon Kerrigan.

August 21, 2013 Australia

Australia’s batting disorder, Watson’s travels, something about buckets and Lehmann acting like Kevin Keegan

2 minute readIt’s the first morning of a Test. It’s time to try and come to terms with yet another new Australian batting line-up. Some batting orders are etched in stone. Australia’s are spelt out in magnetic letters on the door of the fridge. Obviously Mitchell Starc returns, because he plays every

August 20, 2013 England

Mike Carberry seems a sensible Twenty20 selection

< 1 minute readThe watercolour vivid intrigue surrounding this week’s Test squad is about as good as it gets when it comes to writing about England selections. Predictability is good, we suppose, but it’s not much fun to write about. Mike Carberry has been called up to England’s Twenty20 squad. That makes sense.

August 18, 2013 England

A can’t-make-our-minds-up England squad

2 minute readSo it looks like either Finn or Tremlett will replace Tim Bresnan for the fifth Test, unless England decide to play a second spinner, in which case Simon Kerrigan will get a game. Or, if they can’t make their minds up which way to go, they might end up picking

August 17, 2013 England / Pakistan

Cricinfo scorecard news

< 1 minute readIn the spirit of being a half-arsed website with no clear direction, we thought we’d bring you the news as gathered by looking at a couple of scorecards on Cricinfo. First of all, if you haven’t seen it before, we can confirm how the internet’s foremost cricket website (Cricinfo, not

August 16, 2013 Match report

New Zealand v England at Dunedin match report

< 1 minute readSam writes: I finished work at 8pm – the moderately-late shift. Not as late as the 10pm but later than the 6pm. Arriving home, I was greeted by my girlfriend and her mum watching the football. “Hello,” my girlfriend said. “The football is on.” This was a surprise. Tuesday night

August 15, 2013 Australia / England

The fifth Test is an Ashes Test

< 1 minute readWe don’t really buy into the concept of the dead rubber when it comes to Test matches. In a long one-day series, a situation can arise where bowlers are running in with a figurative cup of tea in one hand and a biscuit in the other (clasped awkwardly between two

August 14, 2013 Australia

Gooey foundations and a lack of curse words

< 1 minute readDirk Nannes has written about second XI cricket over at All Out Cricket. He draws attention to Greg Chappell’s decision to limit Australian state second XI teams to just three players over the age of 23 back in 2009. Chappell’s thinking appears to betray a belief that older players who