King Cricket

August 28, 2007 England / India

Ian Bell – ink him in at three

< 1 minute readWe’d planned to write something about how Ian Bell supplied the padding in the ‘meal’ of an England innings – the bulk that everyone takes for granted, without really paying any attention to it. Slightly dull, but integral to the construction of the meal. There were going to be lots

August 27, 2007 County cricket / England

Phil Mustard scores runs quickly

< 1 minute readIt’s often said that Philip Mustard is a headline writer’s dream. He’s a nicknamer’s dream as well. The Durham players call him ‘The Colonel’ for obvious reasons. With so many options at our disposal however, it would be lazy of us to use someone else’s creation. That’s why, after an

August 27, 2007 Australia / England

Wicketkeepers open the batting in one-day internationals – apparently

< 1 minute readEngland are always on the lookout for a wicketkeeper who can bat and particularly one who can open the batting in one-day internationals. This is because Adam Gilchrist opens the batting for Australia in one-day internationals and Australia are better than England and therefore must be copied in EVERY CONCEIVABLE

August 25, 2007 County cricket

Rob Key hits 125 against Worcestershire

< 1 minute readAfter one-day hundreds versus Surrey and Derbyshire and County Championship hundreds against Durham, Hampshire and Warwickshire, you’d think we’d be running out of things to say about how great Rob Key is. Good job we hit upon that idea of asking prominent experts for their opinions after each of his

August 25, 2007 England / India

Rahul Dravid’s cool destruction

< 1 minute readSome observers seemed surprised by Rahul Dravid‘s innings of 92 off 63 balls as India won the second one-day international yesterday. Why? Dravid’s more than capable of doing this. People get blinded by his careful approach to Test cricket, but he only plays like that because he thinks that’s the

August 25, 2007 Extras

Always play a spinner

< 1 minute readAlways play a spinner. Always. Always, always, always. It offers variety; a change of pace that might unsettle the batsman. Maybe the odd ball will turn more than you think. Or maybe – just maybe – a batsman who’s untroubled by pace will, for some inexplicable reason, be totally unable

August 24, 2007 County cricket / England

Stuart Broad to join ‘ones to watch’ at Nottinghamshire

< 1 minute readHere’s a short list of some of our ones to watch over the last couple of years: Stuart Broad Bilal Shafayat Will Jefferson Mark Davies What do you notice? That’s right. All of them have moved to Nottinghamshire since we identified them, albeit only on loan in Mark Davies’ case.

August 24, 2007 County cricket

Mark Davies takes seven wickets in an innings

< 1 minute readSeriously, Mark Davies is doing something right. Our ones to watch are worth watching, make no mistake – hence the name. Durham’s 20th choice seamer was given the new ball in the first match of his loan spell at Nottinghamshire. He’s normally more used to handling a malformed ball with

August 23, 2007 South Africa

Nicky Boje knows it’s the INDIAN Cricket League, right?

< 1 minute readThe Indian Cricket League is a 20 over league that’s being set up by Zee TV because they don’t have the rights to existing cricket. They’re throwing money at it and signing all sorts of people who are promptly being banned from ‘proper’ cricket in India and Pakistan. One of

August 23, 2007 India

Ajit Agarkar: Seriously, what is the point?

< 1 minute readIf you’re only going to pick four bowlers in a one-day game, you’d think you’d want four good ones. Yet in an era where India’s pace bowling resources have never run deeper, there’s been one conspicuous survivor from an earlier period. Ajit Agarkar. His survival is inexplicable. Even more inexplicable