King Cricket

February 6, 2011 Pakistan

Spot fixing bans and second chances for Amir, Asif and Butt

2 minute read People are idiots. That’s a rule that pretty much always stands up to scrutiny. Put people in a position where there’s a choice to make and they will naturally veer towards the stupid option by default. Even so, some options are sufficiently stupid that most of us don’t take them.

February 3, 2011 Cricket products

Out of the Ashes | DVD review

2 minute read Out of the Ashes is a documentary about the Afghanistan cricket team’s joyously ludicrous journey from war to the Twenty20 World Cup. Have you ever watched a film and felt completely and utterly unmoved by the most spectacular action sequences because you don’t care one bit about the characters in

February 3, 2011 Extras

Not enough Blu-Tack in cricket

< 1 minute read You know it and we know it too. Thankfully, there’s a little bit of Blu-Tack on the Wisden Cricketer blog at the moment. The bit where some of the Blu-Tack looks sad is a high point.

February 2, 2011 Extras

London Tigers tour to Bangladesh – joke needed

< 1 minute read London Tigers are sending a team to tour Bangladesh at the same time as the World Cup. London Tigers help underprivileged youths, so we’re having a hard time coming up with a joke for today’s post. Maybe something about them being better than England? Is there something in that? You’re

February 2, 2011 Australia / England

Ashes series were already too frequent

2 minute read We’d like to add a slightly more sober footnote to our post from last Friday. We described back-to-back Ashes series as being ‘quite literally the worst idea of all time’. We stand by that and would like say that it’s actually the worst idea by an even greater margin that

February 1, 2011 Regulars

Backlift | batting lessons

< 1 minute read As the bowler runs in, lift the bat backwards in the direction of the stumps. Keep raising the bat until you feel glad. If you start to feel depressed and resentful, your bat is too high. Ensure your shoulder rolls counter-topwise at the moment the bat reaches its highest point

January 31, 2011 England

Liam Plunkett’s going to be eating highly compacted food served in square plastic dishes

< 1 minute read That’s our way of saying that Liam Plunkett’s flying from the Caribbean to Australia to maybe-or-maybe-not appear in a dead rubber for England before flying back again. At least James Anderson had a new slavering bairn as a reason for racking up thousands of air miles. That’s a decent reason.

January 29, 2011 Australia / England

10 Ashes Tests in a row

2 minute read Sweet fucking Christ, does everyone in the world of cricket suffer from all three major forms of retardation? This is quite literally the worst idea of all time. Back-to-back Ashes series. Ten England v Australia Tests in a row. Does no-one who has control over anything have even the most

January 27, 2011 India

Eden Gardens World Cup balls-up

< 1 minute read England were due to play India at Eden Gardens during the World Cup. We were looking forward to it as much as we looked forward to our night on the Belgian beer the other week. Eden Gardens is massive. World Cup matches featuring India that take place in India are

January 26, 2011 Regulars

Batting stance | batting lessons

< 1 minute read Space your feet roughly shoulder width apart. Stand side-on to the bowler on the balls of your feet but evenly balanced, pressing forward with your weight moving counter-crosswise while remaining perfectly still. Bend your knees to the extent that you feel euphoric. Try and project a high-minded yet magnanimous air

Vertical clapping - schoolboy error - trying to play such a technically difficult game without the extra protection that the…

Huh! Interesting cricket in Western Australia... https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/one-day-cup-aus-2024-25-1444469/western-australia-vs-tasmania-10th-match-1444479/match-report Meanwhile, in India...

He certainly has land.

Slight bus conductor vibe c/w an absence of said vibe? I think not. I think of those two spinners in…

Only one phrase can describe this day's cricket: it's astounding.

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