< 1 minute readIf there is to be any drama in England’s T20 World Cup campaign, it seems likely that it will come in the form of a very formulaic, second-rate sitcom. We’re expecting the most noteworthy performance in every match to be one of the batsmen making 40-odd off as many balls.
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.
Start the Car: The World According to Bumble – book review
3 minute readWe finally got round to reading this. Oddly, this hasn’t clarified whether it’s worth reading or not. A friend who follows cricket fairly closely but who at the time hadn’t watched much of Sky’s coverage, once asked us about David Lloyd. He’d got the impression that Bumble was this self-consciously
Continue readingTim Gruijters’s back…
< 1 minute readIs better than it’s been in a while. Apparently. You may not know much about Tim Gruijters. In fact, you may not know much about Tim Gruijters at all. Gruijters plays for the Netherlands. Or at least he would do if he hadn’t been sent home from the World T20
Continue readingJade Dernbach bowls two balls the same
< 1 minute readWhen a sweaty-palmed Jade Dernbach bowled a wide with West Indies needing seven to win off one delivery, it was easy to forget that his opening spell had been sort of all right. It’s not a big thing, but it’s definitely progress. Someone seems to have persuaded Dernbach that variations
Continue readingMore Test cricket for South Africa
< 1 minute readThat’s not a chant. There are too many syllables. You’d have to rush through the ‘Test cricket’ bit to make it work and Test cricket ain’t for rushing through. No, ‘more Test cricket for South Africa’ actually comes about because it looks like there is going to be more Test
Continue readingShould Jos Buttler bat at five?
2 minute readLet’s overlook all the trivial details, like the omission of England’s best Twenty20 batsman and the retirement of their best-ever Twenty20 bowler (one name in particular crops up very frequently in this list) and instead focus on whether Jos Buttler should emerge with England 26-3, 32-4 or 38-5. It might
Continue readingA bit of housekeeping
< 1 minute readJust to let you know that the answers to the Ashes 2013/14 crossword are now available. The link’s at the bottom of the page and there are explanations as well so that you can see how you’re stupid as well as how stupid you are. If you think that’s insulting,
Continue readingVivisection on England’s World T20 squad
2 minute readIt’s not dead yet, but let’s take our cleaver and dice it anyway. It’s only a matter of time. Batting No Kevin Pietersen, the man of the tournament the only time England won a big competition, so who’s going to pick up the slack? Well not Joe Root. He’s got
Continue readingStraussCat being conspicuously indifferent to Graeme Smith’s retirement
< 1 minute readLemon Bella writes: As is customary at times like this, cricketing greats of the past must come out of the woodwork to pass opinion on the breaking news of the day. Therefore I found it necessary to consult StraussCat regarding the retirement of Graeme Smith. He wasn’t particularly interested when
Continue readingSouth Africa aren’t exactly easy to beat
< 1 minute readIt was nearly a fitting send-off for Graeme Smith from a team hewn in his image (and ‘hewn’ is the only appropriate word to use). This South Africa side are dogged, resilient, they bat for ages and they’re prone to fourth innings performances that defy received wisdom. Fortunately for Australia,
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