King Cricket

September 26, 2015 County cricket

Cor! Strength! (and core weakness)

< 1 minute readIf bowlers didn’t require torsos, Sussex might have been all right. Side strains, pectoral injuries and dodgy spines meant that Chris Jordan played six matches, Ajmal Shahzad played five and Tymal Mills just two. It’s hard to win much without your pace attack and relegation has ensued. If they can

September 25, 2015 County cricket

A straightforward easy-to-follow climax to the County Championship

< 1 minute readNo, really. No totting up bonus points in matches you had assumed were irrelevant. No poring over the rules to find out when exactly those bonus points are earned. No keeping track of all of this across three different matches. For once, it’s simple. Unless we’ve missed something (highly likely)

September 24, 2015 India

Does R Ashwin overthink his cricket?

2 minute readHe says he doesn’t. He says the fact that he asks questions indicates only that he’s ‘a learner’. It’s hard to disagree with this assessment, but then you read his recent interview with Sidharth Monga for Cricinfo and you start to wonder. He has a way of talking about bowling

September 23, 2015 England

Samit Patel’s back

< 1 minute readAs in ‘returned’. He hasn’t got ankylosing spondylitis or anything. Or maybe he has. Maybe he’s not fat and it’s chronic inflammation. Big boned and all that. He’s also back in the England squad. We’ve said it about Samit Patel before and we’ll say it again, but sometimes picking an

September 22, 2015 County cricket

In the cold September rain

< 1 minute readApparently it’s been slatting it down all day in the South-East. Bad news for Surrey, who are pushing to become second division ‘champions’ in one of the few matters left unresolved this domestic season. We use inverted commas around ‘champions’ in much the same way as if we were saying

September 21, 2015 Match report

Cocktails For Two – England v New Zealand match report

2 minute readGed writes: “Have you brought the actual bottle of red wine you forgot to bring last time?” I asked, as I arrived to find Charley the Gent Malloy in the front row of the Mound Stand. “Absolutely – here it is,” said Charley, showing off a very appealing-looking bottle of

September 20, 2015 County cricket / England

Geraint Jones slashes to great effect

< 1 minute readIf, as a cricketer, you’re going to be remembered for just one moment, you might as well make that moment the climax of the most exciting passage of sport many of us will ever see. Even if it wasn’t the hardest catch, for safely taking it England fans will forever

September 17, 2015 Extras

Some sort of meaningless century

< 1 minute readWe know what you all think. You think we spend our Thursdays sitting around eating flapjacks and watching old episodes of Airwolf. Well you’re wrong. We don’t renounce cricket on Thursdays. Far from it. We actually put in a double shift, writing all the stuff that comes out on a

September 16, 2015 Match report

Ashes match report – day one at Trent Bridge

3 minute readBert writes: There is a law around these parts, that match reports must not UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES mention the actual cricket. Normally, this presents few problems. Cricket is largely incidental, both to a day at the match and to this website. “About the cricket, but not ABOUT the cricket”, best

September 15, 2015 England

Have you seen Zafar Ansari play? Any good?

2 minute readWe’ve always had a theory that Surrey England players are, in general, worse than those provided by other counties. The thinking is that you don’t have to do quite as much to get noticed if you play for Surrey. Surrey is a big club and the ground seems to be