King Cricket

June 7, 2008 England / New Zealand

Hopefully it’s just a series of flukes

< 1 minute readWe said that due to the swing-friendly conditions Kevin Pietersen’s hundred might prove handy. For similar reasons we picked James Anderson as England’s top wicket-taker and Kyle Mills to bowl most overs in this match. In the last Test, we picked Daniel Vettori and Monty Panesar to be the top

June 6, 2008 England / New Zealand

Is James Anderson a nightwatchman?

< 1 minute readAre we right in thinking that James Anderson came in as a nightwatchman in order to protect Ryan Sidebottom? This is beyond reason. Our feelings about nightwatchmen are perfectly clear, but this warrants further comment. If James Anderson is functioning as the nightwatchman, it’s been his job to protect Ryan

June 6, 2008 England / New Zealand

Kevin Pietersen out waving slightly fatiguely

< 1 minute readThat’s what Simon Hughes said on Channel 5’s highlights programme, so that’s what happened. It’s probably wrong to mock commentators’ slips of the tongue when you yourself forget 98 percent of your vocabulary whenever you have to talk in front of more than one person, or to a stranger, or

June 5, 2008 England / New Zealand

England’s middle order shows signs of improvement

< 1 minute readWe all know how important it is to look to the positives. England’s players and coaches have taught us this for years now. Ian Bell batted at five and made a three-ball duck. Paul Collingwood batted at six and made a four-ball duck. England’s middle order batsmen are making tangible

June 5, 2008 County cricket / England

Ravi Bopara hits a one-day double hundred

< 1 minute readTest duck-scoring shortarse with a point to prove, Ravi Bopara, proved his point weeks ago. Ravi’s now had his point embossed on his batting glove and his systematically punching everyone in the face with it. If you don’t know that Ravi Bopara is serious about playing for England, you’ll see

June 4, 2008 Match report

Kent v Middlesex Friends Provident Trophy match report

< 1 minute readSarah comma Canterbury writes: I went to bed late on Sunday evening. It was raining. My alarm woke me on Monday morning. It was raining even harder. I had a shower and got dressed; went downstairs; made a coffee; ate a raspberry yoghurt; and looked outside. It was still raining.

June 4, 2008 Australia

Stuart MacGill retires

< 1 minute readStuart MacGill was fun. You never quite knew what to expect from him. He wasn’t erratic in a Shane Warne kind of way. There was a certain consistency in Warne’s back page headlines. MacGill was creatively diverse with his odd behaviour. He would shout at team mates like a nutter.

June 3, 2008 County cricket / England

Steve Harmison takes a hat trick

< 1 minute readLolloping ganglatron of mental fragility, Steve Harmison, took a hat-trick against champions Sussex over the weekend. We’re more interested in his opening spell during Sussex’s first innings though, where at one point he’d taken 2-7 off 11 overs. Moping about in county cricket in a state of permanent ill-temper will

June 3, 2008 Australia / West Indies

Shiv hits some more hundreds

< 1 minute readNot many people would be undersold by a title like Lord Megachief of Gold, but Shiv is. If you haven’t been paying attention to the West Indies v Australia Test series – it has been clashing with crucial County Championship division two fixtures after all – you’ll not know how

June 2, 2008 India

Rajasthan Royals win IPL off last ball

< 1 minute readIt could have turned out calamitously with a damp squib of a final and the wrong team emerging victorious, but the IPL ended well. Rajasthan rightfully triumphed after dominating the league and they did it off the last ball as well. The Rajasthan Ribonucleotides were fined for not spending enough