King Cricket

April 9, 2020 Australia

The 1990s-est Australia Test XI

2 minute readLet’s pick a 1990s Australia XI. We’re not looking for the best team here; we’re just trying to pick an Australia Test team that couldn’t be more Nineties if it tried. We’re not as comfortable gauging Australian 1990s-ness as we are gauging English 1990s-ness, so a couple of weeks back

April 7, 2020 England / Features

The 1990s-est England Test XI

3 minute readLet’s pick a 1990s England XI. We’re not looking for a good team here; we’re not trying to pick a bad one either. We’re just trying to pick an England Test team that couldn’t be more Nineties if it tried. A 1990s England team is not really about the stalwarts

April 7, 2020 Regulars

A cricket bat on the wall of a pub

3 minute readFirst published in February 2009, this was the first entry in our long-running cricket bats (and other cricket items) in unusual places feature. Brian writes: This account was written on the insistence of my counsellor. He says I have to face what I have done; to see my actions and

April 6, 2020 Match report

A Sim Series match report

3 minute readSend your match reports to king@kingcricket.co.uk. If it’s a professional match, on no account mention the cricket itself. If it’s an amateur match, feel free to go into excruciating detail. Chuck writes: Having been able to garner premium ‘working from home’ tickets to every single day of the entire Sim

April 4, 2020 Features

Frame-by-frame analysis of Rob Key on a climbing wall

3 minute readDuring the 2018 Rose Bowl Test, Rob Key scaled a climbing wall. We sent the video to a climbing expert to see what he thought. The climbing expert didn’t answer us, so here’s some screengrabs of Rob Key on a climbing wall accompanied by zero insight. For some reason the

April 2, 2020 Extras

The unique and overlooked ways that cricket was ahead of the game in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic

2 minute readA couple of times recently, we’ve made the point that cricket not happening is very much an integral part of cricket. We once travelled all the way to Birmingham to spend an entire day watching cricket not happen, so doing the same thing from the comfort of our own home

April 1, 2020 Features

Who is Test cricket’s greatest number eight? (Or: Which Test bowler was the best batsman?)

6 minute readSpecialist bowlers having to bat is one of the greatest things in the world because batting is absolutely nothing like bowling. It is like a javelin thrower training for years and years to perfect their art only to turn up at the Olympics and be told that they also have

March 31, 2020 Regulars

A cricket book on a Bullet Train to Kyoto

< 1 minute readRemember travelling? Going from one place to another place? Ged writes: “Here is a cricket book in an unusual place – a Japanese Shinkansen Bullet Train to Kyoto. “Ironically, given that Cricket **** Cricket is about the 1986/87 Ashes tour of Australia, Daisy and I found ourselves alone in a

March 30, 2020 England / Sri Lanka

Sim Series, Sri Lanka v England, 2nd Test, day 4: England rue first innings deficit

3 minute readWith the Sri Lanka v England Test series postponed because of coronavirus, we’re playing out two Test matches between Sri Lanka and England on Cricket Captain 2018’s ‘All-Time Greats’ mode… This is Sim Series. Sri Lanka gave England hell on day three. The tourists are still 88 behind with eight

March 29, 2020 England / Sri Lanka

Sim Series, Sri Lanka v England, 2nd Test, day 3: Matthews exploits flaccid, careless England

3 minute readWith the Sri Lanka v England Test series postponed because of coronavirus, we’re playing out two Test matches between Sri Lanka and England on Cricket Captain 2018’s ‘All-Time Greats’ mode… This is Sim Series. England battled to some sort of total, but day two belonged to Sri Lanka. They recommence

The new trophy is one of the more interesting ones though. It's no Moose Cup Powered by Daraz, but it's…

Bethell at three. Pope keeping wicket. Stokes at seven. Ollie Robinson (Durham) flying out to join the squad. This could…

Really disappointing that Salt didn't even manage a single to differentiate himself from his opening partner. Probably time to shake…

Just when you thought cricket competitions couldn't get any weirder and more contrived, along comes the Abu Dhabi T10 featuring…

Thanks for that link. I see from the spreadsheet that Sam is right. Not that I ever doubted it, seeing…

Suffering centuries: Six bowlers who conceded extraordinary Test hundreds

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