King Cricket

January 3, 2008 Australia / India

VVS Laxman playing his favourite opponents at his favourite ground

< 1 minute read Not many cricketers actively prefer to play Australia, statistically at least. Most prefer Bangladesh. VVS Laxman just might prefer Australia. We always preferred playing the wall of the garage, which could function as batsman, bowler, fielders AND scorecard – with the aid of a bit of chalk. We think that

January 2, 2008 South Africa

Herschelle Gibbs: crap and dropped

< 1 minute read Now we have to admit that we don’t pay the closest attention to South African fortunes when they’re not playing England. Their Tests always seem to clash with crucial fixtures for Bangladesh A. Nevertheless, we were a little bit surprised when Herschelle Gibbs was dropped today. Pretty much the last

January 2, 2008 Australia / India

Andrew Symonds: good enough if you give him a chance or two

< 1 minute read We’re still not sure about Andrew Symonds as a Test player. We’re sure he is one. Don’t get us wrong. We don’t doubt our own eyes – that would be madness. Just who do you trust, if you don’t trust your eyes? Your ears? Unlikely. Ears are devious. Anyway: Symonds.

December 31, 2007 West Indies

Shivnarine Chanderpaul: Lord Megachief of Gold 2007

2 minute read He’s got more than his fair share of elbows and knees, but that hasn’t prevented him being given the highest honour in international cricket; the award that the players most respect and yearn for. This year’s Lord Megachief of Gold is Shivnarine Chanderpaul. England might have spent most of winter

December 29, 2007 South Africa / West Indies

Did Graeme Smith try to be clever?

< 1 minute read South Africa are currently ranked second-best in the world. The West Indies are ranked second-worst. The Windies had also come into this Test on the back of defeat to South Africa A, so when Graeme Smith won the toss, he put his opponents in to bat. This didn’t turn out

December 29, 2007 South Africa / West Indies

The Chris Gayle era

< 1 minute read The West Indies won a Test – and they were away. The West Indian batting is still woefully fragile. Their fielding, while far-improved in this match, will surely take a good while longer to repair from what we’ve seen in the past – progress can only ever be so fast.

December 28, 2007 South Africa / West Indies

Windies’ early work keeps them on top

< 1 minute read If there’s one cricketing nation that’s quite reliable, other than Australia, it’s South Africa – particularly at home. If there’s one cricketing nation which is quite unreliable, it’s currently the West Indies – particularly away from home. So how did the Windies rack up 400 and then dispatch South Africa

December 27, 2007 Australia / India

Brett Lee’s actually good nowadays

2 minute read Stuart Clark got the better figures, 4-28 and got the best batsmen out, but the story’s about Brett Lee today. He took his 250th Test wicket, but there’s more than that. This is Australia’s third Test since Warne and McGrath retired and every time Australia’s opponents have batted, Brett Lee’s

December 27, 2007 South Africa / West Indies

It’s Shiv and he’s scoring a hundred

< 1 minute read We haven’t seen it, but we bet it was beautiful. We could watch him play those lithe, supple shots all day. He doesn’t look at all like the chimney sweeps in Mary Poppins when he’s at the crease. He doesn’t rock from side-to-side like a dancing cockney when he ambles

December 22, 2007 England / Sri Lanka

Alastair Cook papers over some cracks

< 1 minute read The quiet, southern, well-kempt, left-handed Michael Atherton for the 21st Century (actually, maybe he’s not Michael Atherton, thinking about it) brought the merest hint of pride back to shameful, shameful England with what we can’t help but describe as a rearguard hundred. Alastair’s very much a rearguard hundred kind of

@Lev the imposter (maybe). What we do in private stays private ;-) ...and apologies for taking credit for being the…

@KC. Ahh, bu**er. Yes, confused by the birding reference.

It was a classic of the genre. Not sure we've ever seen one go further.

bat, obviously, not bar. They already tried the latter in the bad old days

Sides are often said to 'throw the bar' in an effort to score quickly, but it seems today Ben Stokes…

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