King Cricket

December 4, 2024 England / New Zealand

Who will stand in for Jimmy Anderson if England again lose by one run?

2 minute readJames Anderson had a great many attributes as a Test cricketer – none bigger than his ability to serve as a majestic island of chuntering irritation and sadness when England lost a Test match by a single run. England are in Wellington again. Bloody Wellington. To recap what happened last

December 2, 2024 England / New Zealand

Jacob Bethell: first look in Test cricket

2 minute readWe don’t believe you can draw meaningful conclusions from players’ debuts – but we report on them anyway. Ben Stokes lauded Jacob Bethell’s ‘swagger’ after his Test debut. It’s a characteristic that can mark you out as something of a tool in everyday life – but Test cricket is not everyday

November 29, 2024 England / New Zealand

Did you see… Tom Latham fleeing from the ball?

2 minute readNew Zealand dropped an honestly comical number of chances on day two of the first Test – most of them from Harry Brook. Tom Latham’s at slip was our favourite. Friend of this website, Dr The Scientician was once outside a busy university library when there was a fire drill.

November 28, 2024 New Zealand

Are you ready for Kane Williamson? Because Kane Williamson is abnormally ready for you

5 minute readKane Williamson has been injured. In his first Test back, he made 93. This is how he does it. This is how he’s always done it. This is how he has to do it. Sometimes it’s a ‘big three’, sometimes it’s a ‘fab four’, other times it’s a head-to-head comparison

November 26, 2024 England / New Zealand

Jacob Bethell and Ollie Pope star in England Test Selection VI: Assignment Hagley Oval

3 minute readRemember a couple of years ago when Ollie Pope was picked to bat at number three for England even though he’d never batted higher than four in first-class cricket? Well it’s gone so well he’s earned a promotion to number six and also won back the wicketkeeping gloves. This has

November 25, 2024 Australia / India

Jasprit Bumrah v Australia’s top four

3 minute readWould it be fair to say that Jasprit Bumrah had the better of Australia’s top order in Perth? Not really. Not unless you also feel the Death Star had the better of Alderaan. So is there any cause for optimism for these batters beyond the timeless fallback, “well surely it

November 22, 2024 Australia / India

Did you see… Labuschagne MAKE KOHLI PAY

2 minute readAfter yet again failing with the bat, Virat Kohli dropped Marnus Labuschagne second ball. Oh how Australia’s number three made him pay. Kohli’s aspiration to bat like John Crawley grows ever larger. Today he made five (two singles and a three, for what it’s worth) before playing a tentative, back

November 21, 2024 Australia / England / India / New Zealand

King Cricket Test tour SPECIAL OFFERS

3 minute readObviously we’ll be covering England’s Test tour of New Zealand and India’s of Australia whether you buy us a pint or not… but hey, we wouldn’t say no… Sorry about all the Patreon-related posting of late. We’ll get back to the actual cricket after this one, we promise. We just

November 20, 2024 Match report

Some bloke catching another bloke in a 2001 charity match (a match report)

2 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.) Ged Ladd’s official cricket biographer, Herbert Ackgrass, writes… The match

November 18, 2024 Australia / Features / India / Pakistan / Zimbabwe

Suffering centuries: Six bowlers who conceded extraordinary Test hundreds

6 minute readThere were eight centurions in England’s gargantuan 823-7 against Pakistan in October 2024. Harry Brook (317) and Joe Root (262) attracted most of the headlines, but there was also Shaheen Shah Afridi (120), Naseem Shah (157), Abrar Ahmed (174), Aamer Jamal (126), Salman Ali Agha (118) and Saim Ayub (101).

A Test starting on a Sunday (local time) just feels a bit odd. England have played a Sunday-starting Test at…

This one, that is... https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/memo-to-australia-and-england-honour-the-format-that-has-elevated-you-1517475 He goes too far (Chappelli? Too far? Never) but actual Test cricket breaking out occasionally…

Well said. I'm skirting the edge of churlishness regarding McCullumism when I say this but I have some sympathy for…

We don't mind a two-day collapse-off every now and again, but only as a noteworthy aberration. Two in one series…

The most frustrating aspect of this whole series, I now reflect, is that so little of the last few weeks…

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

14 England things that happened in the summer of 2025 – do they tell us anything?