King Cricket

November 9, 2023 England

From Moeen Ali to Mark Wood, England are about to have a proper clear-out – will any of this World Cup squad still be around in four years’ time (or even next week)?

3 minute read It’s the nature of modern cricket that international cricketers don’t so much retire as go part-time. But while a good few members of this England World Cup squad will also be part of the England T20 World Cup next year, when it comes to one-day internationals (ODIs), this is pretty

November 8, 2023 England

David Willey: six and out from a selfless, dutiful player who England always seemed to take for granted

2 minute read David Willey had two balls to face today and he tried to make full use of both of them. It was typically selfless stuff from a committed player who rarely seems to have got much love or respect from England, even when he’s been one of their top performers. Willey

November 7, 2023 Afghanistan

Did you see… Ibrahim Zadran’s ramp shot off Pat Cummins?

3 minute read Afghanistan’s batters hit several incredible shots in their 291-5 against Australia today, but Ibrahim Zadran’s ramp shot off Pat Cummins gets the nod from us as the most incredible. Before we get into this, let’s first have a handful of honourable mentions. Firstly, Azmatullah Omarzai’s cover drive off Mitchell Starc

November 6, 2023 Bangladesh / Sri Lanka

Why didn’t Shakib al Hasan withdraw his appeal when Angelo Mathews was timed out?

2 minute read For the same reason he appealed in the first place: because he’s Shakib al Hasan. Angelo Mathews was timed out during Sri Lanka’s game against Bangladesh in Delhi today. This is, incredibly, the first time a batter’s been out this way in international cricket. It takes a particular type of

November 1, 2023 Extras

Other than one brief flicker from Adrian Holdstock we’ve been massively unimpressed with the standard of umpiring at this World Cup

3 minute read When most people talk about the standard of umpiring in a cricket match, they tend to mean the quality of the decision-making. But we don’t mean that… we don’t mean that at all. Other than when there’s a stinker of a decision or a marginal call at a crucial time,

October 30, 2023 England / Features

The chaotic way England dropped Jason Roy gave a powerful message to the rest of the team

7 minute read Sometimes it’s not about the logic of dropping one player in favour of another; it’s about the message you send to everyone else who hasn’t (yet) been dropped. England talk about playing with conviction, yet coach Matthew Mott and captain Jos Buttler have demonstrated little but uncertainty with this 2023

October 26, 2023 England

It’s a particular type of recent ODI experience Jos Buttler’s England lacked – the experience of playing together, winning games

4 minute read England haven’t played this format much recently, so you can forgive them for looking at bit rusty against a guy who hasn’t bowled in an ODI for almost four years. “It’s raining cats and dogs in Sri Lanka so I’ve not been able to play much,” said Angelo Mathews after

October 25, 2023 Australia

Glenn Maxwell’s complete commitment to hitting from mad positions

3 minute read Today Glenn Maxwell spent one ball in the 90s and it was a no-ball. There’s not much cause to be nervous in the 90s when it’s so vanishingly unlikely you’ll be dismissed in them. When weird looking batters score a lot of runs, there are two main things people tend

October 23, 2023 India / Match report

Affinity, attendance and attire at India’s greatest food ground – what it was like to watch Australia v Pakistan in Bangalore (shame about the DJ)

7 minute read Send your match reports to king@kingcricket.co.uk. We’re only really interested in your own experience, so if it’s a professional match, on no account mention the cricket itself. (But if it’s an amateur match, feel free to go into excruciating detail.) Ritesh writes… The moment the World Cup schedule was (finally)

October 22, 2023 England

The Tupperware freshness of Jos Buttler’s England World Cup team

4 minute read England’s 2019 World Cup team was just about good enough to win. The hypothesis for 2023 seems to have been, “Maybe if we don’t expose the team to any air or light, it’ll keep.” If you’re almost exactly our age, you may remember the children’s TV series Eerie Indiana and

Vasbert's lad. Hadn't clocked that.

Even more disappointing that the West Indies haven’t picked likely lad Dominic Drakes for this series, missing its own Drakes…

It's a shame England never picked a certain Cornish-born Somerset wicketkeeper, thus depriving us of a 'Dukes of Gazzard' joke.

As we have now reached the “in other news” stage of these comments… …Daisy and I enjoyed following yesterday’s ODI…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/67606702 Who's this Mitchell Johnson chappy then? Have to say I quite like him.

The 1981 Ridiculous Ashes

10 staggeringly indecent highlights and lowlights from the 2023 World Cup – featuring Rohit Sharma, Glenn Maxwell, Ravi Shastri + more

The chaotic way England dropped Jason Roy gave a powerful message to the rest of the team

The Worth Watching Ratings: One player from each nation (except Sri Lanka) to keep an eye on during the 2023 Cricket World Cup

Stuart Broad: Titan of Ridiculousness

From Moeen Ali to Mark Wood, England are about to have a proper clear-out – will any of this World Cup squad still be around in four years’ time (or even next week)?

David Willey: six and out from a selfless, dutiful player who England always seemed to take for granted

Did you see… Ibrahim Zadran’s ramp shot off Pat Cummins?

Why didn’t Shakib al Hasan withdraw his appeal when Angelo Mathews was timed out?

Other than one brief flicker from Adrian Holdstock we’ve been massively unimpressed with the standard of umpiring at this World Cup

The chaotic way England dropped Jason Roy gave a powerful message to the rest of the team

It’s a particular type of recent ODI experience Jos Buttler’s England lacked – the experience of playing together, winning games

Glenn Maxwell’s complete commitment to hitting from mad positions

Affinity, attendance and attire at India’s greatest food ground – what it was like to watch Australia v Pakistan in Bangalore (shame about the DJ)

The Tupperware freshness of Jos Buttler’s England World Cup team