< 1 minute read Totally unpredictable team selection, a batting line-up that’s five-out all-out and a bowling attack that seems to spend its time waiting for the clouds to roll in and which is utterly ineffective otherwise. But it can’t be the Nineties, because the worry lines caused by English cricket of that era
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.
Neil Manthorp on TMS
< 1 minute read Having badmouthed TMS last week, we feel that we should redress the balance and one person we’ve really warmed to has been South African journalist Neil Manthorp. Somehow we’ve never heard a lot of Manthorp before, or maybe we just haven’t noticed him, but on scant evidence he’s now our
Continue readingDarren Pattinson jumps the queue
< 1 minute read We’ll give Darren Pattinson a chance, but… (1) It’s not being Australian that makes someone a good cricketer. Australia themselves leave out plenty of Australians from their Test side. (2) Trent Bridge, where Pattinson plays half his cricket, is kind to swing bowlers. (3) If Chris Tremlett is first reserve, then
Continue readingBrett Lee is a liar
< 1 minute read Brett Lee’s been caught out in an EVIL and WICKED lie. We always knew that genial smile concealed unparalleled deviousness: “We’ve got the Ashes coming up as well which we are not directly looking forward to right now because we have a few things in place that we have to
Continue readingMiddlesex v Kent Twenty20 match report
2 minute read Soviet Onion writes: I returned from a holiday in Sri Lanka last week, and within minutes of getting home I did what I usually do after work and went through lots of pages on Teletext (does anyone else still do this?). On page 354 I noticed upcoming cricket fixtures –
Continue readingAndrew Flintoff playing for England
< 1 minute read We were hugely, hugely impressed with Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie in the Lord’s Test. We don’t care what the pitch was like – just imagine coming out to bat after you’ve been so comprehensively trampled for three days. Imagine what would have happened to England in the same situation.
Continue readingMark Pougatch on TMS
< 1 minute read We’ve nothing against Mark Pougatch personally, but he doesn’t bring a great deal to Test Match Special. It smacks of the Manish Bhasin debacle during the Ashes and the World Cup. On the plus side, at least he doesn’t sound like some throwback to the British Raj, unlike some of
Continue readingThe India itinerary – good and also rubbish
2 minute read England tour India over the winter. They play two Tests, which is clearly too few. They will also play seven one-day internationals, which is clearly a huge waste of everyone’s time. You can’t blame India. The last time England toured, the Test series was drawn while the one-dayers were so
Continue readingMohammad Asif is a dick
< 1 minute read That was what we wrote as a little aide memoire to ourself and we see no reason not to use it as the title of this post. Mohammad Asif has again tested positive for ‘banned substances’. Rumour has it that traces of finest unobtainium showed up in his urine. Unobtainium
Continue readingWhat could be better than Ian Bell’s 199?
< 1 minute read Ian Bell’s innings of 199 against South Africa was better than waking up on a Saturday thinking it’s a Monday and then realising the truth. It was better than hearing the phone ring and picking it up only to hear a dialling tone. It was even better than being asleep.
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