King Cricket

July 7, 2025 England / India

Bazbowl: The toss doesn’t really matter if you then bowl a load of it

3 minute readAfter criticism but then victory in the first Test, England coach Brendon McCullum has conceded his team made the wrong decision at the toss at the start of the second Test. A far bigger toss issue was however the massive great load of it the bowlers served up in each

July 4, 2025 England / India

Was Josh Tongue trying to make some sort of point?

2 minute readIndia’s most newsworthy selection for this Test was their decision to bowl Deep – but it’s notable they set themselves up to bat deep too. That particular move seemed to leave tail-amputating Josh Tongue with fewer targets. How would he respond? As previously reported, in the first Test India were

July 3, 2025 England / India

Shubman Gill seems only half angry about hitting Test hundreds

3 minute readWhenever there’s a new Test captain, it’s impossible to suppress comparisons with their predecessors. Rohit Sharma never seemed too angry about hitting hundreds (who knows, he may even have enjoyed them). But Virat Kohli? Man, he was absolutely bloody furious about reaching three figures. The early signs are that Shubman

July 1, 2025 England / India

Will India serve up their Jasprit Bumrah eggs in time?

3 minute readThe big news ahead of the second Test at Edgbaston is that Jasprit Bumrah is eggs and somehow this is useful. (It’s probably a blessing that Rohit Sharma’s retired.) “We feel we can go 1-1 or keep the score at 1-0 without Jasprit,” said India’s assistant coach, Ryan ten Doeschate.

June 26, 2025 England / India

Jasprit Bumrah Workload Watch… 43.4 overs

3 minute readEngland achieved a couple of things at Headingley. Most obviously, they won – but they also did so while compelling Jasprit Bumrah to bowl really quite a lot of overs. That’s an investment that might pay dividends later in the series. Unleashed! It’s easy being a really good batter because

June 25, 2025 England / India

The late show: How Josh Tongue (kinda) outbowled Jasprit Bumrah in that Test match

2 minute readIt feels like Josh Tongue arrived for this match bang on eight hours late. But did he let prolonged abject non-contribution to his team’s cause dissuade him from bagging a hatful? No, for some reason, he did not. Tongue gleefully licked up rabbit pie, according to the peculiarly nauseating mime

June 23, 2025 England / India

Did you see… Harry Brook charge Jasprit Bumrah?

3 minute readWe generally prefer to highlight less obvious moments, but this one seems a perfect synopsis of why this has already been a top rate Test. It was two uncanny cricketers with their own peculiar ways of going about things taking each other on within a match where you’re never quite

June 20, 2025 England / India

Mind fodder: Five things to think about as England take on India in a big ol’ five-Test series

3 minute readEngland v India. Five Tests. Man alive, there’s scope for some stuff here. We’re only stopping at five with this article because if we send the email any later, you’ll all end up paying attention to THE WRONG THINGS and we’d never forgive ourself. Rishabh Pant v Shoaib Bashir In

June 19, 2025 England

If Ollie Pope is metamorphosising into historic Lloyd Pope then which Pope is modern day Lloyd Pope becoming?

2 minute readEngland have stuck with Ollie Pope as their number three batter. However, growing numbers of people are worried that he’s metamorphosising into Australian leg-spinner, Lloyd Pope – or at least the version of Lloyd Pope from seven years ago. At the start of the summer, Ben Stokes seemed to momentarily

June 18, 2025 Match report

Tennises, Black Caps and tie envy at the World Test Championship Final | a match report

3 minute readSend 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.) Inveterate King Cricket match reporter, Ged Ladd, writes… I spent