King Cricket

May 12, 2016 West Indies

Tony Cozier – the man who saw all and knew all of West Indies cricket

2 minute readCricket fans moan about commentators a lot, but in general we are well served by our sport. Tastes differ, but very few talk down to us and the majority have the capacity to offer some sort of insight when working in the right environment. But as the world becomes smaller,

May 11, 2016 England

Charlotte Edwards’ bit is done – good work

2 minute readWhen Charlotte Edwards first played for England, she wore a skirt. She didn’t choose to. She was obliged to. That debut came when she was 16 (she played for the under-19s at 12) The women’s game has moved on since then and you might have expected her to have been

May 10, 2016 County cricket

A hatful of willow

2 minute readWill Smith just got off the mark from the 43rd delivery he faced. Hampshire are currently careering along at 1.25 runs an over knowing that the rain that has hit the rest of the country will soon arrive in Manchester. So far, this round of County Championship matches has been

May 9, 2016 County cricket

North v South one-day series is the future of county cricket

< 1 minute readCounties or franchises? Let’s discard both and instead play endless North v South matches. Imagine the crowds. Nothing gets people in like a rivalry and this new series has the potential to divide the nation. They’ll have to properly define North and South first, but all it will take is

May 5, 2016 Australia / England

What is a format-spanning points system for?

3 minute readLast week we asked whether you would care if the Ashes included limited overs matches. This was slightly mischievous on our part because while the series could in theory be affected by the mooted system which would see points accrued across formats and an overall winner recognised, the truth is

May 4, 2016 County cricket

A veritable smorgasbord of draws in the latest exciting instalment of the 2016 County Championship

2 minute readThis week’s matches varied incredibly. We had fraught, tense, hard-fought draws; ambling draws that were obvious from a mile out; and everything in between. The 2016 County Championship is not yet proving to be a competition in which people win cricket matches. The fraught, tense, hard-fought draw Yorkshire gamely went

May 3, 2016 County cricket

Alastair Cook in the second division of the County Championship

2 minute readWe always say that the second division of the County Championship doesn’t count. Hopefully it’s obvious that this is rhetoric. Our exaggerated stance is not borne of a belief that the cricket played is worthless, but of a perception that some still haven’t quite accepted that it is in any

April 30, 2016 Australia / England

Would you care if the Ashes included limited overs matches?

3 minute readBen Stokes would. Reacting to plans to implement a points system spanning the formats for cricket tours, he said: “I think it would be rubbish. They’ve changed a lot of things, but Ashes is Ashes, it’s a massive series for England and Australia and I don’t see why it should

April 28, 2016 County cricket

Last week’s County Championship cricket was even less consequential than the week before

< 1 minute readAt least last time around someone won. Halcyon days. Out of the three draws in the latest round of matches, the points scored ranged from Middlesex’s 10 to Warwickshire and Surrey’s 13. Surrey v Somerset was the only fixture to reach the fourth innings and Durham v Middlesex didn’t even

April 27, 2016 County cricket

Top ten single figure scores in the County Championship in 2016

< 1 minute readThe modern world is in thrall to the list. Everything has to be ranked. Everyone has this urge to say who’s better than whom, which innings was better than which, and which bowling performance was the greatest of all time. They even abbreviate ‘greatest of all time’ to GOAT these