King Cricket

December 29, 2015 South Africa

South Africa scrabble for paper

2 minute readSouth Africa are currently undergoing vivisection. Their press and fans are twanging stretchy bits and gouging their fingers into squishy bits trying to work out what’s caused a death that has yet to take place. An obvious issue is that they’re currently missing half their first-choice bowling attack and having

December 28, 2015 England / South Africa

Dean Elgar’s pretty South African isn’t he?

< 1 minute readWith his South African face and his steady South African batting. He also bowls left-arm orthodox in a way that indicates he might believe Roelof Van Der Merwe to be the finest ever exponent of the art. Dean carried his bat today. Well played Dean. We should probably have more

December 28, 2015 West Indies

Marlon Samuels needs to go

< 1 minute readWe’ve always liked Marlon Samuels. He’s mischievous and funny and his favourite cricketer is Nasser Hussain. He’s also skilful. In the 2012 World T20 final, Samuels waded into Lasith Malinga as if he were a particularly inviting jacuzzi. He’s made Test hundreds. He’s looked really good in doing so. But

December 27, 2015 England

Nick Compton’s back

< 1 minute readAs in ‘returned’. He hasn’t got ankylosing spondylitis or anything. If anything, he appears entirely unaffected by spinal ailments, awaiting each delivery with a relaxed upright stance. We got plenty of opportunities to see this as Compton stuck around for over six hours, doing his level best to ensure he

December 24, 2015 England / South Africa

How Jacques Kallis broke Vernon Philander

2 minute readWe’re approaching the fifth anniversary of The Day. It’s just a little reminder that life’s really all about the little things – little Australian innings that don’t last very long, specifically. That seems unlikely this year, what with them being up against Jason Holder and whatever the poor lad can

December 23, 2015 England

James Anderson’s calf

< 1 minute readJames Anderson has been for scans and has been found to be carrying a calf. He may therefore miss the Boxing Day Test unless it is born prematurely. Either that or he’s slightly injured in the leg. This is weird and frightening because as a general rule James Anderson doesn’t

December 22, 2015 New Zealand

Is Brendon McCullum retiring too soon?

< 1 minute readYes. Yes he is. The answer you are looking for is ‘yes’. Now that he’s a statesmanlike trendsetter and role model, the very embodiment of what cricket should be, it’s easy to forget that for many years Brendon McCullum was just a mediocre wicketkeeper-batsman who typically flailed then failed in

December 21, 2015 New Zealand

Kane Williamson bats with the strength of many men

< 1 minute readThe sequence was completed: 292, 237, 133, 108. Descending scores as batting conditions became tougher and tougher. Wait a minute. The first three of those are team scores. The last one isn’t. The sequence actually reads: 292, 237, 133, 189 – of which Kane Williamson alone contributed 108. Fourth innings

December 19, 2015 England / South Africa

More rehearsals before England face South Africa

2 minute readA friend of ours once played the finest bum note we’ve ever heard while performing Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight at a wedding. It was the very last note and it only sounded so marvellously hideous because he’d played everything flawlessly up until that point. That’s how to get something wrong.

December 18, 2015 New Zealand

Neil Wagner isn’t perfect

< 1 minute readThere aren’t many media outlets where this would be headline news. It is here though. New Zealand’s fourth seamer isn’t flawless. Stop the press! It may only have been the day before yesterday, but it already seems a long, long time since we suggested that Neil Wagner never lets you