King Cricket

December 2, 2016 England / India

Why have the England players gone to Dubai?

2 minute readEngland are taking a break. A mid-tour holiday. There’s been a bit of discussion about the fact that they feel they need one and what that might say about international schedules, but there’s been precious little comment about why the holy hell they saw fit to go to Dubai. We’d

November 30, 2016 England / India

Do England play too many all-rounders?

2 minute readThe answer is no. But let’s explore the question anyway. England have just added Liam Dawson to their squad. He joins Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid in one of the most all-rounderly squads England have ever assembled. He also replaces Zafar Ansari, another spin bowling all-rounder.

November 29, 2016 England / India

England get a grip, but India keep a grip

< 1 minute readYet again, it’s one of those win the toss, win the match, if you’re India pitches. The sheer predictability of proceedings only being disrupted when the coin ended the other way up. There’s an illusion of inevitability when India bat first, but the play is coerced down a certain path

November 29, 2016 New Zealand / Pakistan

Neil Wagner sacrifices the opportunity to run in for a small fragment of the final session

< 1 minute readPakistan had already lost six wickets in the final session of the match when Kane Williamson brought forth The Great Neil Wagner. Three ducks later, the series was over. This isn’t going to help Wagner’s reputation one bit. How the hell are you supposed to run in all day when

November 28, 2016 England / India

Today’s Ben Stokes-induced happenings

< 1 minute readAt one point in the afternoon session, Ben Stokes accidentally spat on his own shirt. You’d think this would be a low point, but he plucked off the deposit with no obvious display of emotion. Perhaps he knew that things were about to get significantly worse. Shortly after spraying a

November 27, 2016 England / India

Good evening, Mr Kohli?

< 1 minute readBefore tea, Che Pujara and Virat Kohli, neither of whom had looked too troubled, started to hit a few more fours. It felt predictable and seemed to foreshadow a long evening session for England. After tea, Pujara – perhaps concerned that he might partially obscure Kohli’s halo – needlessly looped

November 26, 2016 England / India

Where would India be given another half-revolution of the coin?

2 minute readWhen trying to assess the state of play after the first day’s play, it’s often tempting to imagine a parallel world where the toss-winning captain has opted for heads instead of tails, tails instead of heads, or just totally gone off on one and gone for arms or thoraxes or

November 25, 2016 Extras

Even if you’re not normally much into this sort of thing…

< 1 minute readIt’s worth pointing out that David Gower makes an appearance in our latest Cricinfo Twitter round-up. Yes, that’s right – Gower. David Gower. On Twitter. His contribution is every bit as wonderful as you would imagine.

November 24, 2016 Australia / South Africa

How to dismiss Faf du Plessis – make friends with him

< 1 minute readFaf du Plessis is a competitor. That’s the kind of thing people say. It’s a shorthand way of saying that he only seems capable of playing to his full potential when there’s a stronger taste of conflict to proceedings. Performing in what is never called the crucible of county cricket,

November 24, 2016 India

Rishabh Pant is not India’s wicketkeeper – what possible reason is there for this?

< 1 minute readWriddhiman Saha is injured. India’s selectors said it was too early to hand a debut to Rishabh Pant who is still only 19 years old. They instead picked Parthiv Patel, a 31-year-old who made his Test debut against England in 2002. In seven innings this season, Pant has made four