< 1 minute read This is so perfect we actually had a little bit of a cry to express our gratitude. We struggle to explain our feelings about this unbelievable format, but if pushed, we’d go for ‘super psyched’. Brace yourself. Group stages There are 10 IPL teams. They are split into two groups
Continue reading< 1 minute read No, nothing has yet happened in the IPL. Matches have been played, teams have won, teams have lost, but nothing of any importance has taken place. Teams who have won a match are probably about one-seventh of the way to a play-off place. If you are excited about a particular
Continue reading< 1 minute read If you want to be taken seriously as a batsman, one of the worst things you can do is bowl. Every team is desperate for all-rounders, but the label gets misapplied so much it tars those who actually warrant it. Shane Watson probably just about qualifies as an all-rounder –
Continue reading< 1 minute read How much worse? One worse. Having taken 6-77 in Worcestershire’s first innings, Adil Rashid could only manage 5-37 in their second innings. This grave loss of form is deeply worrying. Ben Stokes is getting better How much better? 125 better. Having scored 10 in Durham’s first innings, Ben Stokes then
Continue reading< 1 minute read “Day one of the County Championship?” thought Adil Rashid. “I’ll have that.” So he did. Rashid has kicked off with 6-77 against Worcestershire. That’s called ‘being better than everyone else,’ that is. We recognise it well from all the millions of times we’ve been one small part of the ‘everyone
Continue reading< 1 minute read County Championship only. First division only. We’re also lumping them all together in one post this year, because multiple posts feels like quite a big commitment. Adam Lyth, Yorkshire Our reasons for picking batsmen to watch are invariably the same: they’re young and we’ve got a general sense that they
Continue reading2 minute read The World Cup matters – let’s clarify that first of all – but other one-day international (ODI) series don’t. That is a new, official King Cricket editorial stance. Why ODIs don’t matter Between squad rotation, experimentation, dead rubbers and lack of interest from fans and players, we no longer see
Continue reading< 1 minute read We’re being insulted on Cricinfo again. Qasim has branded our latest piece “a staggeringly unfunny article”. You’ve got to love an article that’s so lacking in humour that not only are readers unmoved by it, they are actually blown away by the unfunniness. We meant to ask that this piece
Continue reading< 1 minute read In sport, excitement comes from tension. In a knock-out competition, the excitement comes from the danger of being knocked out. You can’t just have India play every other day and expect people to get worked up about it. Something has to be at stake. This is the basic principle behind
Continue reading< 1 minute read All save the clearest technician must rein themself in when essaying a cover drive, lest they founder betwixt active and passive. Wise words and worth remembering when attemping this shot for this is almost entirely wrong. Should a delivery pitch six inches short of overfull and a similar distance wide
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