King Cricket

October 3, 2016 County cricket

Durham “agree” to jump through latest hoop

2 minute readGiven that this particular hoop is suspended directly over a barrel of excrement, one can only wonder what the alternative was. We predicted that Durham wouldn’t be relegated or penalised more than 45 points for their ongoing financial troubles. We were correct, but only on the basis of the ‘or’.

October 3, 2016 Australia

Australia’s pace bowling has weakness in depth

< 1 minute readMitchell Starc is injured, James Faulkner is injured, Nathan Coulter-Nile is injured, Pat Cummins is injured, James Pattinson is injured and Josh Hazlewood is being rested in case he gets injured. The way things are going, he’ll probably end up missing the next Test with bedsores. Australia coach Darren Lehmann

October 2, 2016 India

Is Virat Kohli really India’s best batsman?

2 minute readWere he to find himself playing in a format-spanning Super Series, it would seem highly likely that Virat Kohli could find himself named man-of-it. The guy averages over 50 in the two shorter formats with a perfectly healthy strike-rate in both. His Test record’s very good too: 12 Test hundreds

September 29, 2016 Extras

Mop-up of the day – Sweet, sour, bitter, savoury

2 minute readA bitter-sweet mop-up of the day today, like someone’s spilt a honey-and-lemon sore throat remedy. Actually, maybe that’s sweet and sour. A sour-sweet mop-up of the day today. Sour James Anderson is out of England’s tour of Bangladesh and probably won’t be back until halfway through the India tour. No

September 28, 2016 Extras

A cricket bat in a real tennis place

< 1 minute readGed writes: I know what you are thinking, dear reader: “That real tennis workshop must be at Lord’s; how can Lord’s be an unusual place to see a cricket bat?” Well I’m here to tell you that the real tennis area at Lord’s is a relentlessly cricket equipment free zone.

September 27, 2016 County cricket

Why Durham probably won’t be relegated following a points deduction

< 1 minute readCricinfo are reporting that Durham face relegation if the ECB decides to impose a points deduction for their financial troubles. We can’t see it happening. It’s not that we don’t expect them to be docked points. It’s just that they finished 45 points ahead of Hampshire in the top half

September 26, 2016 India / New Zealand

Why Indian pitches offer an excellent exchange rate

< 1 minute readRemember when India’s batsmen used to make double hundreds all the time? Captains routinely doubled up as doctors in the first innings, declaring the innings closed and the pitches dead (even if a certain zombie joie de vivre often manifested itself in the form of turn on day five.) It’s

September 23, 2016 County cricket

Middlesex County Championship-winning hat-trick video – what a way to snatch a MacGuffin

< 1 minute readAt one point today, Middlesex and Yorkshire ceased slithering against each other and began to slither together. Working independently, neither would reach the MacGuffin. Working together, they could get close – at which point it would become ‘every man for himself’ in a bid to wrest the prize from Somerset’s

September 22, 2016 County cricket

Yorkshire don the special MacGuffin gloves

2 minute readWe can’t help but feel that our coverage of the denouement of the County Championship is getting a little niche. In the previous instalment of our four-day mud-slithering analogy, Yorkshire had lost ground to Middlesex and Somerset because they for some reason needed to go and pick something up before

September 21, 2016 County cricket

County Championship Permutation Watch: Everyone needs to win

< 1 minute readPretty much. That’s the gist anyway. If Middlesex beat Yorkshire, they will win the County Championship If Yorkshire make 350 in their first innings and also beat Middlesex, they will win the County Championship Somerset need to win as a bare minimum. They then need neither of the above scenarios