King Cricket

January 7, 2009 England

Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores resign

< 1 minute readMaybe we don’t need Pakistan cricket after all. We’ve got England for back-stabbing and intrigue now. Officially, Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores both resigned. Unofficially, well, does it matter what really happened, does it? Those halcyon days of long-term planning under Duncan Fletcher seem longer ago and more valuable by

January 7, 2009 West Indies

Viv Richards – hero of cricket

2 minute readIs there anyone who doesn’t know Viv Richards? Are there any of our readers who never saw him bat? If there are, you need to get this month’s issue of The Wisden Cricketer which has a special Viv Richards ‘Heroes of Cricket’ supplement with it. There is a profound gap

January 6, 2009 Australia

Michael Clarke is a proper batsman

< 1 minute readMichael Clarke and Ian Bell. Two munchkin-faced, thimble-sized men who’ve made knowledgeable cricket folk go all quivery with their batsmanship. They’re much the same age and apparently both have “natural talent” instead of a skeleton. However, one’s dithering along the same as he always has done, while the other’s a

January 5, 2009 Australia

Are Australia the worst team in the world?

2 minute readYou’d be forgiven for thinking so with some of the things you read. The fact is Australia are still a feisty outfit and England in particular shouldn’t be fancying their chances against them too much. Australia may have slid a bit, but they’ll never implode. It’s not the Aussie way.

January 4, 2009 England

Why have Peter Moores and Kevin Pietersen fallen out?

< 1 minute readThe seeds of the fall-out were sown during a conversation between Peter Moores and Andrew Strauss. The pair were discussing manufactured pop bands and Moores branded Liberty X ‘derivative’ and ‘lacking in true vocal talent’. As Kevin Pietersen is married to ex-Liberty X chanteuse, Jessica Taylor, Strauss felt moved to

January 3, 2009 Australia

Doug Bollinger lacks for effort

< 1 minute readDoug Bollinger’s making his debut for Australia. How much effort is he going to put in? “If I happen to play I’ll put 150,000 percent in.” That’s the bare minimum these days. Remember when Damien Martyn retired because he could only muster a puny 100% dedication. That was a long

January 1, 2009 West Indies

Lord Megachief of Gold 2008

2 minute read2007’s Lord Megachief of Gold was Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but who will be given the most exalted title in all of cricket for 2008? The contenders Gautam Gambhir came of age as a Test batsman and averaged 70.87 during 2008. Graeme Smith did his things and averaged 72. Ajantha Mendis took

December 30, 2008 Australia / South Africa

Graeme Smith does his things

< 1 minute readGraeme Smith’s things are hitting the bulk of the runs in a fourth innings chase and winning Test series. There were no miracles from Australia’s bowlers, because the bowlers who could perform them are gone. South Africa chased down 183 for the loss of one wicket, won the match, won

December 29, 2008 Australia

Ricky Ponting – an admirable batsman

< 1 minute readRicky Ponting, eh? He’s not likeable, because of the face, the face and also the face. However, he is admirable as a batsman. Look Ponting in the face and it’s tricky to know whether to sigh and hope he goes away or to start with the punching. Watch him bat

December 29, 2008 Australia / South Africa

Neil McKenzie: brave, stupid or mental

< 1 minute readNeil McKenzie did something. Tony Greig called him brave, Mark Nicholas branded him stupid. We’d like to add ‘mental’ to the equation as well. Of course, Neil McKenzie is known to be a bit mental, but this was a different kind of mental. He took up a fielding position maybe