King Cricket

November 7, 2017 Australia / England

Two hat tricks in one match – has Mitchell Starc peaked too soon?

< 1 minute readWe can’t remember the last time we used the phrase ‘peaked too soon’ to refer to anything other than someone we went to school with who hasn’t aged well. Mitchell Starc took two hat tricks for New South Wales against Western Australia. In the words of Osman Samiuddin, he did

November 4, 2017 Australia / England

All England’s rubbish batsmen make runs while their good ones don’t

< 1 minute readA lesson here in the allocation of runs, surely. In England’s opening match against a Western Australia XI, Joe Root wisely restricted himself to nine, while that master of Australian conditions, Alastair Cook, hung around for all of two balls. Everyone else frittered away runs, meaning they are no longer

November 3, 2017 Australia / England

Hit the Ground Running Watch

< 1 minute readIf we’ve learned anything about Ashes series, it’s how vital it is that the touring team hits the ground running. We know this because everyone says it all of the time and has done for years. It’s said so often that we don’t need to check whether the importance of

October 31, 2017 Extras

A dog who may or may not look like Ben Stokes

< 1 minute readEdwardian writes: “I think my dog looks like Ben Stokes, especially in the eyebrows department. The difference between Stokes and my dog is that Digger is tucked up in his bed by 10pm every night.” Edwardian later added: “Digger is a rescue dog (I’ve had him for three months) and

October 30, 2017 Extras

A handmade county cricket sticker album

2 minute readHonestly, what could be better than this? It’s a homemade county cricket sticker album. Here’s Darren Stevens. Here’s Vernon Philander. Here’s the England team. The album was created by John, who got in touch with us having seen Sam’s ‘artwork’ last week. You can see loads more of the stickers

October 28, 2017 Australia / England

Ben Stokes Ashes situation entirely unchanged by latest “revelations”

2 minute readIf you’re indicted for war crimes, “But they started it!” is not a particularly weighty defence – even if it’s true. It’s some way down the scale, but the same principle still holds true with Ben Stokes. Today’s confirmation that he was defending two gay men when he rained all

October 27, 2017 Australia / England

Kevin Pietersen says team spirit is everything

2 minute readHe’s got to be doing this on purpose, hasn’t he? Surely? In truth, much of what Kevin Pietersen says in his interview with Cricinfo makes perfect sense. The gist is that there’s much to be gained from players going out together, but they also need to take responsibility for their

October 26, 2017 Australia / England

Alex Hartley is invincible

< 1 minute readNot in the sense of being incapable of being defeated because she’s just lost two Ashes matches out of two. We mean it purely in a batting sense. Hartley made nought not out today. In her 20-match international career, she has NEVER BEEN DISMISSED. Not once. Now, admittedly, Hartley has

October 25, 2017 Australia / England

Some really pretty amazing Ashes-themed artwork

< 1 minute readLong-term readers/masochists will be aware that this website has often published cricket-themed artwork. This beautiful picture of Rob Key by Suave brought forth a veritable torrent of follow-up works, including Rob on a capybara in front of a wall of flame, Rob making the diving stop of his life and

October 24, 2017 Australia / England

BT Sport to use Geoffrey Boycott as Ashes commentator

< 1 minute readWe got a bit distracted when we tried to write about this last week, but BT Sport has revealed its commentary line-up for the Ashes. For some reason the press release led with “legendary cricket captains” Michael Vaughan and Ricky Ponting, but we’re far more interested in the others. Geoffrey