< 1 minute read Jacques Kallis bowled a ball at about 90mph today. Generally speaking, he was bowling faster than Philander, Steyn and Morkel. Despite looking more like a rugby player, Kallis has always been pretty slippery when the mood’s taken him. It’s astonishing that he can still do this when he’s 36-years-old. Few
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.
Vernon Philander takes wickets for fun
< 1 minute read Other than Angus Fraser, few bowlers have appeared to do it as penance. Many people’s definition of an all-rounder is that they should average more with the bat than they do with the ball. Vernon Philander isn’t a million miles away from that and his batting average is only 7.75.
Continue readingRicky Ponting earns a hundred
< 1 minute read There have been times when we’ve thought that a fat man doing naked limbo in the office would have more dignity than Ricky Ponting. However, he can have his moments. He often speaks well these days and he seemed dignified when he reached 100 against India at the SCG as
Continue readingFit and misfiring
< 1 minute read We don’t try and steer clear of stupidity altogether – that would be unrealistic – but we do generally try and avoid saying anything too moronic until both sides have batted. Even so, we’re tempted to get in early today after India were again bowled out easily by Australia. India
Continue readingTwo more parts of a thing
< 1 minute read We did consider upping our game with regards to post titles, but then we thought: ‘Why risk it?’ Cricinfo have published two more episodes of our increasingly bleak cricket administration short story. Happy New Year. Here are some links. Part one Part two Part three
Continue readingIan Bell: Lord Megachief of Gold 2011
2 minute read That’s right – Ian Bell. Weird but true. Dale Steyn came pretty close to becoming the second player to earn a promotion to Grand Lord Megachief of Gold, but Ian Bell’s year was just too ridiculous to overlook. Some numbers 11 Test innings, 950 runs, five hundreds, an average of
Continue readingMaking sense of Test victories and defeats
< 1 minute read The Test world is a baffling place right now. There’s more uncertainty than when the cat finds himself equidistant from some food and an open door. Australia are worse at home than they used to be, but India are worse away than they have been in recent times, so what
Continue readingAnother Test, another Australian batting collapse
< 1 minute read It was only just over a month ago when South Africa were given the most memorable of lessons by Australia. In being dismissed for 96, South Africa thought they’d set the standard when it came to batting collapses, only to see their opponents proudly stumble to a score of 47
Continue readingSachin Tendulkar falling short
2 minute read Suppose we should write about at least one of the Boxing Day Tests. Australia v India is the more interesting one from an impartial perspective and so far India have the upper hand thanks to Zaheer Khan and some old bastard fifties. One of those was from Sachin Tendulkar, who
Continue readingThe Boxing Day Test tradition
2 minute read We couldn’t remember whether we did anything on the site for Christmas. Turns out we don’t. The closest we’ve come is wishing everyone a happy Boxing Day Test Eve. The Boxing Day Test is a great tradition. There are a great many things that make cricket better than other sports
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