King Cricket

March 1, 2015 England

Parties, par, pace and predictability

2 minute readIn a run-chase, pressure doesn’t just come from the bowling you face. It comes from the relationship between the bowling you face and the runs you need. We haven’t yet seen England’s defence of 310, but our initial feeling is that Eoin Morgan’s belief that the bowlers were at fault

February 28, 2015 Australia / New Zealand

Kane Williamson demonstrates how to hit a six

2 minute readWhen New Zealand played Australia, the bowlers won and cricket was all the better for it. Runs are not a sensible unit of measurement when gauging the value of the ‘product’. AB de Villiers is a genius and deserves every plaudit that comes his way, but Kane Williamson’s 45 off

February 27, 2015 South Africa

How bad can a fifth bowler be?

< 1 minute readThis appears to be South Africa’s thinking after picking only four proper bowlers. It should present a vulnerability, but when you then make 408, you find you have a certain amount of breathing space – perhaps even enough that you could field Jade Dernbach and still harbour reasonable hopes of

February 26, 2015 Afghanistan / Associates

Samiullah Shenwari really was worth watching

< 1 minute readAfghanistan have won their first World Cup match. It was only the fifth one wicket win in the history of the tournament. With Ireland beating the UAE by two wickets yesterday, it doesn’t need saying that the Associates have provided more than their fair share of entertainment. But we’ll say

February 24, 2015 West Indies

How big is Chris Gayle?

< 1 minute readWe’d say that Chris Gayle’s biggest achievement today was looking like a relatively small person. The route to achieving this wasn’t easy. He first had to hit a double hundred and this then allowed him the opportunity to stand next to Ian Bishop at the post-match press conference. Bishop appears

February 23, 2015 England / India / South Africa

Lower orders and the last 10 overs

3 minute readAt the start of the tournament, we highlighted a weakness of South Africa’s – the fact that their batting order “quite quickly becomes a little bit Farhaan Behardien”. This weekend, it just as quickly became a little bit Wayne Parnell. That’s a long tail. South Africa’s best batsmen are so

February 20, 2015 England / New Zealand

When Southee and McCullum skinned England

2 minute readSkinned them alive? Probably not. Skinned them undead maybe, for England increasingly seem like zombies. Asked to explain England’s latest defeat, all Eoin Morgan could muster was “braaaains” in a long, drawn-out moan. “Skiiiill” and “caaaaalmness” were also lacking. In contrast to England’s rotting flesh, New Zealand have a surfeit

February 19, 2015 Extras

Unity, leadership not a problem – Holder

< 1 minute readWe’re thinking about getting more into uninspired, derivative headlines. This is what we’d have gone with for our latest Cricinfo piece. And while we’re linking, it’s also just occurred to us that we never pointed you towards the latest king added to our pantheon over at All Out Cricket. This

February 18, 2015 Bangladesh

Mominul Haque’s not a bad number nine

< 1 minute readIf you’ve been around this site for a couple of years and have properly been paying attention, you’ll know that we have a slight obsession with Bangladesh’s Mominul Haque on the not-at-all flimsy grounds that his name sounds a bit like a drunk person saying a team-mate’s name – a

February 17, 2015 India

How many World Cup hundreds has Virat Kohli scored?

2 minute readWe suppose we really should at least acknowledge that the biggest cricket match of recent years took place. You know the one – Virat Kohli scored a hundred (as usual) and Misbah-ul-Haq made a futile 50 (as usual). It was Kohli’s 22nd one-day international hundred, a number that is both