King Cricket

May 14, 2018 County cricket

We’re mostly talking about Ollie Pope again this week, with maybe a dash of James Hildreth and a soupcon of Keaton Jennings

2 minute readA combination of (a) the current state of the England cricket team and (b) the nature of early season cricket means that we’ve almost exclusively been talking about batsmen so far this summer. This isn’t actually all that great for those of us who consider batsmen necessary impediments to the

May 11, 2018 Ireland / Pakistan

Having actually fought for it, Ireland seem to comprehend that Test cricket is worth fighting for

3 minute readThis Ireland v Pakistan Test is a big deal and Ireland are treating it as a big deal. If feels the way international matches are supposed to feel. Ed Joyce said that Test cricket “wasn’t even a pipedream” for Ireland’s men’s team until relatively recently, which really puts things in

May 10, 2018 County cricket / England

Are you in The Wisden Cricket Weekly Gang?

2 minute readDo you mind if we tell you a barely relevant story? If you do mind, you’re probably reading the wrong website. We’re very confident that the pure hilariousness of this tale cannot possibly be conveyed without first-person experience of the person involved, but we’re going to tell you anyway because

May 9, 2018 County cricket / England

Mark Wood’s IPL experience with Chennai Super Kings has helped him make his choices – but where will he go next?

2 minute readYou may remember that earlier in the year, we wrote about the weighted, weighty decisions faced by Mark Wood this season. Wood’s long format career has been in the balance of late. An IPL contract seemed likely to keep him out of all early season first-class cricket and a consequence

May 8, 2018 County cricket

We’re talking about Harry Brook this week

2 minute readWell the message is clear: if you want to identify batsmen who will one day go on to play for England, contract a very heavy cold, take time off work and watch a bit of the Under-19 World Cup. You’ll have to endure quite a lot of Alan Wilkins, but

May 3, 2018 Australia

Did Justin Langer say it was “humbling” to be appointed Australia coach?

3 minute readOf course he did. This is not a bet anyone would have taken. Justin Langer is exactly the kind of guy who would say something like “humbling” when given a new job. He did however come up with an even better quote – and by “even better” we of course

May 2, 2018 Regulars

Clive being conspicuously indifferent to Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s arrival and departure

< 1 minute readGed sent us a photo of Clive showing extreme indifference to the arrival of Shivnarine Chanderpaul at the crease. This was during this season’s Essex match, so we asked Ged whether there were any signs of life in response to Shiv’s almost immediate departure. Ged said: “Very similar lack of

April 30, 2018 County cricket

This week we’re talking about Peter Siddle bowling in a woolly hat

2 minute readWe’re going to be upfront about this: today’s post is largely a means of trying to exploit our readership in a most-likely forlorn bid to remember a very trivial thing which we cannot currently remember. But let’s have a few words about Matt Renshaw before we get into that. This

April 26, 2018 County cricket

The County Cricket Ground Name Awards

4 minute readIt’s high time someone handed out a bunch of awards to the various county grounds for their names. A couple of ground rules. Rule one: Only one award per ground Rule two: No googling. The jury will not be finding out who the hell any of the sponsors are if

April 23, 2018 County cricket

Who are we talking about this week: Matt Renshaw, James Hildreth, Ollie Pope or Sam Northeast?

4 minute readMatt Renshaw, James Hildreth, Ollie Pope and Sam Northeast: four centurions in an April where wickets have arrived as frequently as buses on Manchester’s Oxford Road. Clearly we’re talking about all four of them. But let’s say we’re pressed for time and can only talk about one. Who should that