King Cricket

May 18, 2018 County cricket / England

The Hundred is not going to be a big deal, people aren’t going to talk about it and it won’t attract a new audience

2 minute readAsk a stupid question, get a stupid answer. After that, build a whole stupid thing around the stupid answer and then pin all of your hopes for the survival of your sport on how well the stupid thing fares. The ECB are going to launch this 100-ball competition and they

May 16, 2018 England

Is it right that Jos Buttler won a Test spot without playing first-class cricket?

2 minute readLet’s take a look at how Test teams are picked and whether runs in other formats are relevant. We’ll begin with a quick bit of background. A quick bit of background Doing well at one-day cricket for England used to be a common way of getting into the Test team.

May 15, 2018 Match report

What’s it been like watching Ireland’s first Test, against Pakistan at Malahide?

3 minute readChuck writes: With my Aged Parent heading towards 83 not out this summer (a superb innings), I decided it was time to introduce him to the pleasures of Test cricket by bringing him to his, and Ireland’s, and indeed my first men’s Test match, against Pakistan in Malahide. Well, day

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

The problem with keeping a lid on a potential brouhaha is that the pressure builds until an unexpected kerfuffle escapes.…

Whether the post-Ashes media is in brouhaha or kerfuffle mode I wouldn’t dare to suppose. But it would be totes…

Big fan of a brouhaha. Much better than a kerfuffle.

In other, only slightly related news... ...I spent a few minutes this morning watching The Hundred auction. Just a few…

It's not about the format, or the matches, it's about our interest in the individuals. We find we enjoy the…

Did you see… Harry Brook’s first ball in Melbourne? Unquestionably the 2025/26 Ashes’ finest moment

Sky Sports has boiled its Ashes coverage down to its purest and greatest form: Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain standing there talking about what’s gone wrong

The 2019 Ridiculous Ashes (podcast)

The 50 Most Ridiculous Ashes Moments is definitely out now – you should buy it for someone! (Possibly yourself)

51. Michael Vaughan Declines A Crushing