Is there enough interest in cricket Venn diagrams to warrant making it into a regular feature? After literally more than one person complained after we didn’t provide one, we feel there is.

The above is by prbass and is an excellent Venn diagram with which to kick off. The people in that orange section should be quite pleased now.

If you’ve got something cricket-related you want to express in Venn diagram form, send a Jpeg to king@kingcricket.co.uk and we’ll upload it onto the site the next time we decide we’d rather go to the pub than write something ourself.

Tags: Venn diagrams // 16 Appeals »

13 sixes in 106 one-day international innings and then he hits five during one knock. Andrew Strauss’s six-hitting has gone up a notch.

It’s now at notch one.

Not sure what notch Shahid Afridi’s up to, but he’s hit 272 one-day international sixes. Afridi’s probably not got much time for notches though, so it doesn’t really matter.

Tags: Andrew Strauss // 2 Appeals »

Thoughts about the media coverage of Craig Kieswetter have been bubbling inside us for a while like Dave’s Insanity Sauce in an otherwise empty stomach.

Rather than terrify you all with more than four sentences in a row, we decided it was probably better if we evacuated our system over at the Wisden Cricketer where it’s perfectly acceptable to write more than 100 words on one subject.

Tags: Craig Kieswetter // 8 Appeals »

That’s that out of the way then. Up until yesterday, England had won every match they’d ever played against Bangladesh. Not any more.

Is it a good thing that Bangladesh won? Unquestionably. Why? Well some of our friends were at the match in Bristol yesterday and one pointed out that this match was infinitely more entertaining than last year’s one-day international against West Indies – a day-nighter that never saw night.

That’s it in a nutshell. Sport is about competition. This individual match was closely competed, the result means the series as a whole will be close and it also means Bangladesh cricket is more competitive in broader terms.

And don’t anyone dare say “it’s the kick up the arse England needed to keep them from complacency”. England weren’t complacent. They were beaten.

Tags: Bangladesh, England cricket news | Tests, ODIs, T20s // 8 Appeals »

Ian Bell’s made larger steps towards forcing us into an opinion before now. Yesterday’s 84 not out against Bangladesh was more of a shuffle, but we like that he got the job done – because that is, after all, the whole point.

Number three is a funny spot in one-day cricket. Earlier this week, we wrote that it was the worst spot for Kevin Pietersen. For exactly the same reasons, it’s probably the best slot for Ian Bell. That doesn’t mean we think Ian Bell’s a better batsman, because we don’t. We just think they have different styles of play and the formulaic nature of one-day cricket means they’re suited to different parts of the innings.

We feel a bit wobbly after that outpouring of opinion. That’s enough for one year. We’re going to have to eat boiled potatoes and listen to XFM for the next few months now in a non-committal bland-land where all anyone says is ‘don’t know’ and ‘not bothered either way’.

Tags: Ian Bell // 11 Appeals »

British readers will never have seen this. We saw it rather a lot when we were in Bangalore earlier in the year. It’s quite something.

Watch it three times and see whether the tune’s stuck in your head.

Tags: IPL // 7 Appeals »

There’s all sorts of odd cricket equipment around these days, but we’ve no idea why someone would attach a handle to their own underwear to better enable them to self-wedgie.

Tags: Andrew Strauss, Lies about cricket // 5 Appeals »

We’re certainly intending to do a proper Muralitharan retirement post – possibly after his last match – but for now, we can’t be bothered. These are the things that immediately came to mind when we heard he was retiring:

1. Muttiah Muralitharan might just surpass Steve Harmison in our estimation as the finest batsman of his generation. Here’s why.
2. Murali’s bowling technique: you try it if it’s so advantageous.
3. The following Andrew Flintoff story.

Flintoff walked back into the Lancashire dressing room after getting out and everyone was staying out of his way because he was furious. Except for Murali.

Murali said: “What’s the matter, Freddie? Another crap shot, was it?”

He smiled when he said it and he got away with it. Murali and Flintoff are friends. You can’t teach good-natured cheek like that and only the tiniest fraction of the population can pull it off.

Tags: Muttiah Muralitharan // 6 Appeals »

Can we have some reader feedback?

We’ve added a Test Match Sofa player in the right sidebar so that you can listen to Test Match Sofa while you’re on this site. When there isn’t a match, it plays highlights.

One, will you use it? Two, does it affect the loading times for pages on this site? It’s fine for us, but if you experience a problem, can you let us know?

Update: Silence means you’re fine with it, by the way.

Tags: King Cricket // 28 Appeals »

Shaun Tait is unquestionably a fast bowler – probably the fastest around at the moment. You can tell because batsmen regularly ‘make room’ to play him – they’re getting their bodies out of the way, not freeing their arms.

A Shaun Tait delivery was clocked at 100mph at Lord’s in a one-day match against England. Did anyone catch what the other bowlers were bowling so that we know how seriously to take this measurement?

On Cricinfo’s Hawkeye tool, Tait’s fastest delivery for that match is recorded as being 97mph. Being as James Anderson’s is down as 95.4mph, we can probably knock that down to about 92mph, but how reliable are Cricinfo’s measurements? How reliable are one-day speed guns?

Shaun Tait clean-bowled three of England’s top four batsmen. That’s as good a measurement as any.

Tags: Shaun Tait // 9 Appeals »