King Cricket

July 25, 2008 India / Sri Lanka

It’s Mahela Jayawardene at the SSC. Again.

< 1 minute readIf Sanath Jayasuriya’s catchphrase would be ‘ha-haaaa‘, then Mahela Jayawardene’s ought to be just silence. He’s not speaking because he’s concentrating. Jayawardene averages near enough a hundred at Galle, but it’s at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground that he REALLY likes batting. No-one’s ever scored more Test runs at a

July 24, 2008 India / Sri Lanka

Malinda Warnapura’s hundred unexpectedly delights us

< 1 minute readWe think we might have subconsciously adopted Malinda Warnapura and we’ve no real idea when it happened or why. All we know is that he scored a hundred against India today and we thought ‘well played our guy’. At that point we stopped. ‘Wait a minute, why are we thinking

July 24, 2008 County cricket / Match report

Durham v Leicestershire Twenty20 match report

2 minute readMatch reports are still welcome. The guidelines are: don’t write much and don’t mention the actual cricket. 668 Neighbour Of The Beast writes: Seduced by advertising? Never! But the comfy retro chairs looked inviting. To Riverside, home of the Durham Doodahs. The scorecard stated entertainment provided by the Durham Allstarzz.

July 23, 2008 India / Sri Lanka

Ajantha Mendis to make his Test debut

< 1 minute readLet’s close our eyes to England’s filthy performance and instead imagine we’re in Sri Lanka. The sun is shining, monkeys are rife, you’re having string hoppers for breakfast and Sri Lanka are playing India in Colombo. They’ll already have started by now and Ajantha Mendis should be playing. Unfortunately, Lasith

July 22, 2008 County cricket

Liam Plunkett does more than enough to earn a Test recall

< 1 minute readLiam Plunkett took 3-16 as Durham FINALLY made it into the Twenty20 Cup semi finals. With three superlative overs behind him, Plunkett’s surely in line for a Test recall. That’s a whole opening spell for England these days.

July 22, 2008 South Africa

Morne Morkel seems rather handy

< 1 minute readWho needs spinners when you’ve got bowlers like Morne Morkel? Pace, bounce, seam, swing, accuracy and stamina. It’s a quick bowling full house. England need a five-man attack to cover all those bases. Can he stay free from injury? Will he bowl well in tighter matches than these? Probably –

July 22, 2008 England

Let’s second guess England’s selectors

2 minute readJust prior to the second Test, someone swapped England’s selectors’ supply of mogadon-laced Danish pastries for a batch of E-number laden kids’ snacks. Rumour has it they ate that unnerving stretchy cheese from the advert. We don’t know much, but we do know that cheese should never stretch without the

July 21, 2008 England / South Africa

Does anyone else feel like it’s the Nineties?

< 1 minute readTotally unpredictable team selection, a batting line-up that’s five-out all-out and a bowling attack that seems to spend its time waiting for the clouds to roll in and which is utterly ineffective otherwise. But it can’t be the Nineties, because the worry lines caused by English cricket of that era

July 20, 2008 Extras

Neil Manthorp on TMS

< 1 minute readHaving badmouthed TMS last week, we feel that we should redress the balance and one person we’ve really warmed to has been South African journalist Neil Manthorp. Somehow we’ve never heard a lot of Manthorp before, or maybe we just haven’t noticed him, but on scant evidence he’s now our

July 18, 2008 England / South Africa

Darren Pattinson jumps the queue

< 1 minute readWe’ll give Darren Pattinson a chance, but… (1) It’s not being Australian that makes someone a good cricketer. Australia themselves leave out plenty of Australians from their Test side. (2) Trent Bridge, where Pattinson plays half his cricket, is kind to swing bowlers. (3) If Chris Tremlett is first reserve, then