2 minute readWe’re doing these county update posts for our benefit rather than yours. It’s our way of keeping on top of things, because following county cricket is like trying to catch rain – you might get a handful, but you’ll definitely miss most of it. People might also ask you why
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.
Are you watching Nick Compton?
< 1 minute readWe knew he was worth watching this season. He’s currently 19 not out off 88 balls against Nottinghamshire, including a boundary which we damn well hope was an accident. That’s the stuff. That’s why we picked him. Few players have the iron will required to be less entertaining than a
Continue readingI no longer write The Cricketer’s weekly newsletter
2 minute readForgive the detour into first-person singular, but this is personal, so I thought I’d write normally for once. I’ve just found out that I will no longer be writing the newsletter for The Cricketer. Today’s edition was my last. What newsletter? On the 18th July, 2008, I wrote my first
Continue readingRegrouping between Ashes series
< 1 minute readLet’s get an early moan in about the five-match one-day series that’s taking place between England and Australia this summer. It’s not just the fact that it’s pointless and elbows aside the build-up to a Test series against South Africa. It also sabotages the experience of watching next year’s Ashes
Continue readingCounty cricket – let’s at least try and stay on top of things for a bit
2 minute readFollowing county cricket is not easy. Sooner or later it’ll get away from you and you won’t have a clue what’s going on. It might happen when all your attention is on a Test match or it might happen when they squeeze in two rounds of the County Championship while
Continue readingKing Cricket’s county players to watch in 2012
3 minute readRight, let’s get this over with. First, let’s restate the qualification criteria: Qualified to play for England No established internationals Youngish Playing in the first division of the County Championship Think that’s it. There might be other things. Who knows? Presumably us, but we don’t like to scrutinise the workings
Continue readingLancashire are making a proper balls of their first match
< 1 minute readAt the start of this sentence, Lancashire were 39-4 in their first innings of the season against Sussex. We fully expect five wickets to have fallen before we click publish. We are not unduly concerned by this. Lancashire won the Championship in an odd way. They didn’t generally look like
Continue readingWest Indies crack as the gradient steepens
2 minute readTest cricket is famously hard. Some can’t quite comprehend what that means, thinking a reverse-swinging 90mph yorker is the same no matter what the format. It’s not all about the details though. Sometimes it’s the sheer relentlessness. Test cricket is like cycling uphill. It’s possible to cope with a small
Continue readingShivnarine Chanderpaul is still gloriously risk averse
< 1 minute readAustralia celebrated when they dismissed the West Indies’ Kraigg Brathwaite for 57 off 199 balls. As an achievement, it was like flouncing over a stile before tackling the mountain. Shivnarine Chanderpaul promptly walked to the crease and only departed when Darren Sammy declared. Shiv simply cannot be bothered being dismissed.
Continue readingIs a draw in Sri Lanka a good result?
< 1 minute readHistorically, a drawn Test series in Sri Lanka is a pretty good result for England. Set against that is the fact that Muttiah Muralitharan doesn’t play any more. Sri Lanka’s bowlers are a bit middling. Should England have done better? Well we’re pretty happy with a draw, particularly after watching
Continue reading