King Cricket

February 18, 2013 Extras

When is an ODI not an ODI?

< 1 minute readEngland Lions are in the process of playing (and losing) ‘unofficial ODIs’ against Australia A. Even though it’s of no consequence whatsoever, we aren’t happy with that label. ODI stands for one-day international, but if two sides defined by their players being from particular countries play each other, is that

February 15, 2013 Pakistan / South Africa

South African fire v Pakistani ice

< 1 minute readThat is a deeply unsatisfactory title and we’ll tell you why – fire and ice are not equal. No matter how dangerous ice can be, fire is just fundamentally scarier. Talk about fire and it conjures images of blazing infernos. Talk about ice and you think of slipping over and

February 14, 2013 Pakistan

Younus Khan is still around

< 1 minute readFor a man with 21 Test hundreds and an average of over 50 who’s also been involved in his fair share of drama, Younus Khan can be surprisingly low profile. That said, your singy, shouty ‘look at me’ types tend to lack inner steel. Younus is far too busy getting

February 13, 2013 Extras

Massive error on Cricinfo homepage

< 1 minute readThis is pretty much unforgivable. Reporting on the Women’s World Cup, they’ve gone with: “Spirited WI make it to maiden final” Clearly, it should be: “Spirited WI make it to maidens’ final.”

February 12, 2013 England

Can we talk about Jos Buttler and Twenty20 a bit?

3 minute readWe really need to update the saying “throw the baby out with the bath water”. Who ‘throws out’ bath water these days? In the modern world, bath water exits via a plughole and no baby could be lost via one of those. You could argue that a parent might be

February 11, 2013 England / India

Gautam Gambhir’s arse senses boot

2 minute readMore often than not, an out of form batsman needs to be treated sensitively and given reassurance. If their confidence returns, they tend to discover it was actually all that was ever absent. Then again, sometimes a batsman needs the bracing reality check that comes with having someone’s lace holes

February 8, 2013 Australia

Why is Shane Watson Australia captain?

< 1 minute readOne answer would be ‘because Michael Clarke’s injured’. If you’re wondering what’s wrong with Clarke, a Cricket Australia spokesman said: “Michael Clarke has had his right hamstring assessed by team medical staff following the game and the team physiotherapist has confirmed that Michael has stiffness in the right hamstring.” There’s

February 6, 2013 Bangladesh

Who’s playing in the Bangladesh Premier League?

2 minute readTwenty20 leagues all operate in the same way. They try and attract as many stars as possible and then they use local players as padding. However, different leagues have to settle for different stars. Some players will turn up for anything. Azhar Mahmood, Dirk Nannes, Shaun Tait – obviously all

February 5, 2013 India

What would you do if landed with a £275m tax bill?

< 1 minute readWell, on the assumption that you are employing a treasurer, why not do what the BCCI has done. From Cricinfo: “The BCCI has been hit with a Rs 2300 crore (approx $433m) notice from the income tax department and has asked its treasurer Ajay Shirke to suggest how to deal

February 4, 2013 South Africa

Bad news for Jack Russell

< 1 minute readIndividual statistical achievements in cricket don’t always tally with ability, so it’s pleasing when a good player is rewarded. However, for every 11-60 recorded by a Dale Steyn, there’s a world record number of dismissals for an AB de Villiers. Now AB de Villiers is great at many things. He