3 minute readAfter criticism but then victory in the first Test, England coach Brendon McCullum has conceded his team made the wrong decision at the toss at the start of the second Test. A far bigger toss issue was however the massive great load of it the bowlers served up in each
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2 minute readIndia’s most newsworthy selection for this Test was their decision to bowl Deep – but it’s notable they set themselves up to bat deep too. That particular move seemed to leave tail-amputating Josh Tongue with fewer targets. How would he respond? As previously reported, in the first Test India were
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3 minute readWhenever there’s a new Test captain, it’s impossible to suppress comparisons with their predecessors. Rohit Sharma never seemed too angry about hitting hundreds (who knows, he may even have enjoyed them). But Virat Kohli? Man, he was absolutely bloody furious about reaching three figures. The early signs are that Shubman
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3 minute readThe big news ahead of the second Test at Edgbaston is that Jasprit Bumrah is eggs and somehow this is useful. (It’s probably a blessing that Rohit Sharma’s retired.) “We feel we can go 1-1 or keep the score at 1-0 without Jasprit,” said India’s assistant coach, Ryan ten Doeschate.
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3 minute readEngland achieved a couple of things at Headingley. Most obviously, they won – but they also did so while compelling Jasprit Bumrah to bowl really quite a lot of overs. That’s an investment that might pay dividends later in the series. Unleashed! It’s easy being a really good batter because
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2 minute readIt feels like Josh Tongue arrived for this match bang on eight hours late. But did he let prolonged abject non-contribution to his team’s cause dissuade him from bagging a hatful? No, for some reason, he did not. Tongue gleefully licked up rabbit pie, according to the peculiarly nauseating mime
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3 minute readWe generally prefer to highlight less obvious moments, but this one seems a perfect synopsis of why this has already been a top rate Test. It was two uncanny cricketers with their own peculiar ways of going about things taking each other on within a match where you’re never quite
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3 minute readEngland v India. Five Tests. Man alive, there’s scope for some stuff here. We’re only stopping at five with this article because if we send the email any later, you’ll all end up paying attention to THE WRONG THINGS and we’d never forgive ourself. Rishabh Pant v Shoaib Bashir In
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2 minute readEngland have stuck with Ollie Pope as their number three batter. However, growing numbers of people are worried that he’s metamorphosising into Australian leg-spinner, Lloyd Pope – or at least the version of Lloyd Pope from seven years ago. At the start of the summer, Ben Stokes seemed to momentarily
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3 minute readSend your match reports to king@kingcricket.co.uk. We’re only really interested in your own experience, so if it’s a professional match, on no account mention the cricket itself. (But if it’s an amateur match, feel free to go into excruciating detail.) Inveterate King Cricket match reporter, Ged Ladd, writes… I spent
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