Of course he isn’t, but Morgan’s 130 was better than Tendulkar’s 203 against Sri Lanka – we’ll say that much. England v Pakistan has been a game for bowlers and only then does batting really mean something.

Most of us are happy about this. People mistakenly believe that sport is all about action, but it isn’t. Like anything absorbing, sport is about plot and narrative. It’s the difference between the second batch of Star Wars films and Blade Runner.

The former is all fours and sixes, shorn of context, ambling towards an inevitable conclusion. The latter is the ball beating the bat and field settings being changed – nothing tangible, but every little thing is shot-through with meaning and you’ve no idea where it’s going.

Tags: Eoin Morgan // 26 Appeals »

We did our live review of International Cricket 2010 on Twitter. Ceci Masters kindly documented the review/mental breakdown in full and it can be seen here.

If you want to keep tabs on our ongoing descent, you can follow us @TheKingsTweets. We probably won’t be doing another live review of International Cricket 2010 though, we’ll say that much.

Tags: Cricket computer games | reviews, previews and downloads | PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii // 12 Appeals »

Last night, we did a live review of Codemasters’ new game International Cricket 2010 on Twitter. We played a Twenty20 match as Pakistan and basically got battered.

Anyone interested in live Twitter reviews of cricket computer games can follow us again from about 7pm tonight when we’re going to have a go at day one of the Ashes.

This is perhaps the dorkiest thing we’ve ever done and we’re a massive, massive dork anyway. A live Twitter review of a cricket computer game. Even mum doesn’t think we’re cool.

Follow us on Twitter. Reply to our auto-updates and then marvel at how we don’t respond for a full week.

Tags: Cricket computer games | reviews, previews and downloads | PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii // 10 Appeals »

Test batsmen need to have a number of attributes. Depending on the conditions and the opposition, there will be different requirements.

Some are always necessary:

• A good eye
• A half-decent technique
• Good shot selection
• Concentration

In matches like Sri Lanka v India at Colombo, other attributes are also required:

• Stamina
• Patience
• Mercilessness
• Lack of empathy for bowlers
• Autism

Tags: India cricket news | Tests, ODIs, T20s, Sri Lanka // Appeal »

Yes, it did happen and he wasn’t a nightwatchman because it was a Twenty20 match – the quarter-final against Essex.

It makes a kind of sense. Sajid Mahmood’s been batting surprisingly well for Lancashire this season, hitting four fifties in his 10 first-class innings and scoring at quite a lick. He made 34 off 17 balls.

It’s still as weird as our work colleague who says things like: “You know that shop that’s an H and then an ‘and’ and then an M?” though.

Tags: County cricket news | County Championship, one-day and T20, Sajid Mahmood // 9 Appeals »

• Losing a match is bad
• Being out LBW is bad
• Being out first ball is bad
• Being out first ball of the innings is bad
• Dislocating your shoulder in the outfield is bad

At least Stephen Moore can console himself with the fact that he’s not Giles Clarke.

Tags: Stephen Moore // 9 Appeals »

Those of you who’ve only read this website for a couple of years or so might not be aware that this ever happens. Mostly we try and avoid it because people only end up giving us stick.

Our point has been made over at the Wisden Cricketer, because for some reason we always try and write like a grown-up for them.

Essentially, it revolves around the value of a run being defined by the match in which it’s scored and from there, we’re saying that when runs are more scarce and more valuable, every on-field event is that much more significant.

Basically, we’re saying that pitches are too flat for about the billionth time.

Tags: King Cricket // 2 Appeals »

It’s not really a point. In fact, several of the commenters on our latest Cricinfo piece say it just sort of tails off.

It’s a fictional Pakistan team meeting, if that makes you more or less likely to click through and have a read.

Tags: Pakistan // 7 Appeals »

We just thought we’d warn you all about this fact, because chances are you lost interest in the Twenty20 Cup about a month ago.

After 10,000 mostly pointless matches, we’ve managed to trim 18 teams down to eight. However, there are four matches today and tomorrow we will be down to four teams. That’s actual progress. That’s an actual sporting competition where you play for a reason rather than purely to pass the time.

Imagine going out for a meal and your starter is an absolutely massive plate of dry pastry. There’s filo, puff, shortcrust and suet, but it’s still all pastry and it’s impossible to get through. Quite quickly, you give up and go to the toilet to throw up. What a rubbish restaurant.

You sit in the restaurant for about a fortnight, occasionally having a nibble of pastry and lamenting the fact that you’ve developed scurvy, when suddenly the waiter comes over and he’s got all this great food. Where did that come from? The waiter then says you’ve got 20 minutes to eat it.

Less pastry next year please.

Tags: County cricket news | County Championship, one-day and T20 // 7 Appeals »

We don’t get it. It was only Pragyan Ojha. What’s the big deal?

If we’d taken 800 Test wickets, we wouldn’t be jumping up and down about getting Pragyan Ojha out. We’d have been more worked up about dismissing better batsmen, like Ian Salisbury or Chris Lewis.

Tags: Muttiah Muralitharan, Records // 5 Appeals »