< 1 minute readAside from batting all day at one run an over to save Test matches, Faf du Plessis’s other thing is getting hit in the balls. You might say that he’s a specialist. In the video below, he talks you through the countermeasures he has been forced to take. Here’s a
Continue readingAuthor: King Cricket
Otherwise known as Alex Bowden, a lapsed cricket journalist who has written for ESPNCricinfo, wisden.com, Cricket 365, The Cricketer and plenty of other places.
Links to some non-cricket writing and a bit more background here.
Name England’s first choice one-day bowling attack
< 1 minute readMoeen Ali made 44, 10 and 55 in his first three one-day internationals (ODIs). He was opening the batting. Then they dropped him. Today he made 67 batting at seven. Chris Woakes opened the bowling at Cardiff and took 4-52. He also opened the bowling in Nottingham. Today he was
Continue readingThe hidden reason why England won’t win the World Cup
2 minute readThe main criticism of England’s one-day batting approach recently has been that they lack the dynamic hitting which is supposed to characterise the modern game. While that’s true up to a point, we actually don’t think that it’s the worst of their problems. There’s something else going on during the
Continue readingMop-up of the day – negativity and The Kingdom
< 1 minute readFirst up, our fortnightly Twitter round-up for Cricinfo where Grobbelaar has correctly identified that we bring nothing but negativity to the world. We’re pretty sure Shaun Pollock would have a groansome quote about judging people to deliver as a riposte to that, but he’d probably also have one about bitter,
Continue readingSuresh Raina v England – what this means for the World Cup
2 minute readBefore today, Suresh Raina had made three ODI hundreds in 193 matches. He made them against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong. But Raina bats in the middle order, so that doesn’t tell us a lot. Let’s look at fifties instead. Against New Zealand, he has one in 11 innings;
Continue readingMiddlesex Second XI v Essex Second XI at Radlett
2 minute readGed writes: It seemed like an excellent plan when the idea was hatched. In the absence of first class cricket between Middlesex and Essex for the foreseeable future, Charley “The Gent” Malloy and I would take in a day of second XI cricket between our two teams. As luck would
Continue readingMop-up of the day – demons and barometers
< 1 minute readFirst, some links: Summat about a demon for Cricinfo The latest Shire Horse for All Out Cricket Our cycling site should you wish to follow the Tour of Spain with us Now let’s spend the rest of Bank Holiday Monday in classic fashion by moaning about rain.
Continue readingVictory for a city in the summer
< 1 minute readCities disappear in the summer. Winter has cities, summer has counties – or at least that’s the way it used to be. Now Birmingham have won a cricket tournament and we don’t know where we are. The weather has been unseasonably cool this last week. Even the climate’s confused. Our
Continue readingEngland v India ODI fantasy league
< 1 minute readAll Out Cricket’s Test series fantasy league is over. Our mini league, The Kingdom, was won by… er… did anyone actually check before they deleted the league? We’d guess it was either Balladeer’s Bhangra-Morris Fusion side or Patrick’s p = mv, both of which were almost certainly in the top
Continue readingFist forming and extreme hat retrieval
2 minute readIt’s the fashion these days to look back on a losing streak and say that you were playing well in patches and that you knew all it would take would be a slight improvement and everything would be hunky-dory again. This always gets on our nerves, because of course you
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