King Cricket

November 20, 2015 England

England retrieve Nick Compton from the freezer

2 minute readBack in 2013, we suggested that England couldn’t refreeze Nick Compton having already defrosted him (this makes fractionally more sense if you read the article). Turns out they did. They stuck him back and now they’re defrosting him for a second time. Nick Compton’s back in the fridge! At least

November 19, 2015 England

Ian Bell will not bat like a prince before inexplicably spooning one to cover against South Africa

< 1 minute readThey’ve only gone and dropped him. Dropped him as if he were a cricket ball and they were him standing in the slips at some point in the last 12 months. There’s a hideous video on the ECB Twitter feed where selector James Whitaker mouths the usual platitudes about Bell

November 18, 2015 Australia

The Mitchell Johnson bowling action – a nasty and effective and unreliable thing

2 minute readMitchell Johnson contributed some extremely interesting cricket and you can’t ask for much more than that from a player. Overall, his record is very good, but that long-term-very-goodness was created by opposing short-term extremes. At his best, Johnson was as exciting to watch as pretty much any cricketer ever. If

November 17, 2015 India / Sri Lanka

Sourav Ganguly, man of a thousand spooky impressions (okay, two)

< 1 minute readWe could write about Mitchell Johnson’s Test retirement. We could write about some actual cricket. Or we could publish some tweets in which Sourav Ganguly looks frighteningly sickly. Hey Sourav, do an impression of a zombie. Top drawer. Now do an impression of a ghost. Not bad. Note Murali’s T-shirt

November 16, 2015 Australia / New Zealand

The Waca – fast bowlers’ graveyard

< 1 minute readAh, the Waca. Fast bowlers love it because it gives them an opportunity to bowl plenty of overs. Batsmen are terrified of it because of the humiliating possibility that they might not make a ton. The pitch has been so challenging in the second Test between Australia and New Zealand

November 13, 2015 England

England – the world’s finest 50-over side

< 1 minute readIt’s the only conclusion to draw from recent history. The question is, what can other sides learn from the way England approach this format and can England stay ahead of them all up until the next World Cup? In the second one-day international against Pakistan, Abu Dhabi played host to

November 12, 2015 England

England’s one-day cricket elicits jaded optimism

2 minute readNot so long ago, we were in a public house with a friend when his neighbour turned up. This neighbour had been to watch Manchester City win five-nil earlier that day. She said it hadn’t been a good game; that City had seemingly lost interest in the second half. How

November 11, 2015 England

James Taylor is busy

< 1 minute readBusy being described as ‘busy’ mostly. The word’s very quickly become a Taylor cliché and today it was used on Sky as early as his first ball – at which point he’d mostly been busy waiting. What does ‘busy’ mean? As far as we can tell, it means the player

November 9, 2015 England / Match report / Regulars

Essex v Australians at Chelmsford – match report

3 minute readMy name is Ivan. I am Ged’s smart phone. One of the few things I cannot do is take a selfie; my friend Ida took this picture. I wear a protective cover in the style of an old-fashioned calculator. I am told that this is a joke. I went with

November 8, 2015 Cricket products

Death of a Gentleman’s out on DVD

2 minute readWe’ve all bought films on DVD because we feel guilty about going to Croatia instead of attending the premiere, haven’t we? To be honest, we’d have bought it anyway. It’s a great film. Weirdly lovely, despite the somewhat bleak subject matter. Plus, as an added bonus, owning the DVD allows

Blah blah…uncovered pitches…blah blah…five day tests with a rest day between days three and four…blah blah…proper wickets…blah blah…sensible batting…blah blah…

Not sure we get votes, this is a monarchy ain't it? So we are free of the burden of decision-making.…

I think Cricinfo et al are holding off on end of year lists until this test is over which is…

Remember the summer when every match lasted five days? Now that was entertainment... Merry boxing day testmas everyone

Sigh

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?