< 1 minute readWe’ve written about batsmen being ‘due’ a score before. The idea is that if a batsman isn’t scoring any runs, he’s actually stockpiling them for a future innings. The idea seems to be that every batsman has a quota of runs that he can allocate as he chooses. A terrible
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.
Johnson Watch feature dropped
< 1 minute readWe are sad to announce that the Johnson Watch feature is being dropped after just one instalment. The main reason for this is that the protagonist failed to hold up his side of the bargain. He didn’t bowl badly while hinting that he could bowl brilliantly at some point soon.
Continue readingWG Grace Ate My Pedalo | book review
< 1 minute readYou, King Cricket reader, will love WG Grace Ate My Pedalo. We are pretty much certain of that. You may all be very different, but you all have one thing in common – this website. Alan Tyers’ book is not a million miles away from what you might expect to
Continue readingJohnson Watch – part one
< 1 minute readWe figure we’ll formalise the Mitchell Johnson victimisation this year. Might as well. So here it is: ‘Johnson Watch’. Sounds a bit rude, but only really if you’re American – and as we all know, Americans don’t count. What passes for Mitchell Johnson news today is the following quote from
Continue readingAustralia v England, First Test, day three match report
< 1 minute readSorry for those of you still waiting for match reports to appear, but we thought we’d make an exception to our normal rules about leaving everything in the queue for months on end in order to maintain the Ashes theme. Remember that this isn’t Sam’s fault when you start the
Continue readingA Fan’s Guide to World Cricket | book review
2 minute readA Fan’s Guide to World Cricket is basically a book with which you’ll idly plan holidays. It’s full colour, looks amazing and makes you wish you were overseas even more than you already do. It covers 55 cities, all of which feature an international cricket ground. You’ll basically leaf through
Continue readingAlastair Cook creates a weird scorecard with help from Jonathan Trott
< 1 minute readWhen have you ever seen an England scorecard that read 517-1? Against Australia as well. We said that Alastair Cook would be okay and with 235 not out, you’d say we were probably right about that. We also predicted a whole host of series results though – none of which
Continue readingAn Australian bowling attack unsuited to Australian conditions
2 minute readYou’ve got to break partnerships in Australia. You’ve got to somehow take wickets when the ball ain’t doin’ a right lot. This Australia bowling attack seems ill-suited to the task. Today one wicket fell – to Marcus North. No matter how flat the pitch, no Australian bowling attack should completely
Continue readingBatting partnerships in Australia and breaking them
< 1 minute readJames Anderson started with a blinding spell to Mike Hussey, but as we said yesterday, the cricket after the new ball matters too. It’s easy to look on the first hour of the third day as being England’s chance to break the Hussey-Haddin partnership, but Test cricket in Australia is
Continue readingThe cricket after the new ball matters too
< 1 minute readYesterday’s theme was of how bowling success can be about playing well frequently rather than extremely well occasionally. You remember great bowlers for the occasions when they took 7-20; when the ball was swinging or turning a mile. But often those performances aren’t what made those players’ reputations. It’s often
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