King Cricket

November 26, 2015 England

When did Eoin Morgan become England’s short format ‘anchor’?

2 minute readRemember when Eoin Morgan was the exciting one. Remember how you used to shout “Morgan’s in!” when he came to the crease and how the person you were shouting to used to respond: “I don’t care. I don’t like cricket.” Remember how you used to flaunt your knowledge by telling

November 25, 2015 India / South Africa

Who says Tests are supposed to last five days?

< 1 minute readWe’ve always been of the opinion that a Test can last up to five days and that if all of that allotted time is required, things haven’t really panned out correctly. Others see it differently. We often see comments of the oeuvre ‘a Test is supposed to last five days’

November 24, 2015 England

Liam Plunkett gets a fractionally undercooked deal

2 minute readNot a raw deal, like Chris Read got, but pretty rare – bloodier than he asked for in the middle. Plunkett was picked to go on the tour to the UAE and then somehow found himself three places down the pecking order for the South Africa tour despite not having

November 23, 2015 Cricket books | reviews and recommendations / Regulars

Last in the Tin Bath – a review of David Lloyd’s autobiography

3 minute readBack when we reviewed Start the Car: The World According to Bumble, we suggested that rather than majoring on Lloyd’s zaniness, they might have been better off writing a traditional autobiography. Well this is what they’ve done. The result is indeed a better book. For those that don’t know, before

November 21, 2015 England

Jos Buttler and the myth of a batsman’s ‘natural game’

3 minute readAfter watching Jos Buttler hit over a third of the deliveries he faced for boundaries against Pakistan, it’s tempting to wonder whether maybe, just maybe, he might do well to shelve his watchful, deliberate approach to Test batting. It seems to us that he’s much, much safer at the crease,

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