King Cricket

April 20, 2015 England

Alex Hales makes use of the door handle

2 minute readThey always talk about players ‘knocking on the door’ when it comes to England selection. Then, when a player makes a really compelling case, they say he pretty much knocked the door down. Alex Hales seems inclined to take an even more straightforward route into the team. He’s just going

April 18, 2015 England / West Indies

So that’s why Jason Holder’s going to be Test captain

< 1 minute readIf you envision the next Chanderpaul, the first thing you picture is a younger version of the current Chanderpaul – a crabby, left-handed batsman who has Chanderpaul’s face and Chanderpaul’s oversized cricket gear. What you don’t picture is a two metre tall right-hander who’s actually a bowler. Nevertheless, Jason Holder

April 17, 2015 England

Gary Ballance sloughs his skin

< 1 minute readGary Ballance doesn’t so much score Test hundreds as cut them. Short and wide, fair enough, but our Gary seems to play the shot to middle stump half volleys as well. Fair enough. Whatever works. Ballance isn’t the only England player who appears to be sloughing his horrifically stained World

April 16, 2015 England / West Indies

The day of Jermaine Blackwood and James Tredwell

2 minute readWe feel moderately confident naming it this, because it doesn’t seem so likely that there’ll be another such day when not just one, but both of these players have a sizeable impact on a Test match. James Tredwell, for one, might never play another Test. This is sad and if

April 15, 2015 England / Regulars

Like Stuart Broad… but different

2 minute readIf wealthy, middle-aged American women’s faces teach us anything, it is that people do not go under the knife and then return much as they ever were. Don’t seam bowlers usually have to prove themselves again after surgery? Stuart Broad had a knee problem. It wasn’t anything too debilitating. It

April 14, 2015 England

The England cricket team is slightly diseased

2 minute readWe’re not sure what the disease is called. Nor can we tell whether it’s a mild virus that you soon overcome or a more serious illness, like rigor mortis. Either way, symptoms include caution, timidity and a fear of failure. Observing these qualities, relatives yearn for the patient to display

April 13, 2015 England

Who do England rely on? And is that a problem?

3 minute readWith live cricket broadcast at a reasonable hour, a Test tour of the West Indies is one of our favourites when it comes to watching the game on TV. It’s a shame it comes hot on the heels of the World Cup, ahead of an Ashes and in conflict with

April 10, 2015 Extras

Richie Benaud – the greatest commentator of them all

2 minute readMourning everyone. Richie Benaud has died and a small part of our brain that responds to blue skies, lengthening days and Test cricket has also died. You can’t spend as long in someone’s company as most of us have spent listening to Richie and not feel like you know them.

April 9, 2015 England

Bring out your dead – the mortician’s cart rolls by the ECB

2 minute readWe’ve a slight concern that the ECB’s new chief executive referred to ‘the England Cricket Department’ in announcing Paul Downton’s sacking, as if English cricket really were a corporation in which broad, curved desks were every bit as important pieces of equipment as bats and balls. Nevertheless, it’s hard not

April 8, 2015 County cricket / England

The multi-coloured Excel monster that is the English domestic season

2 minute readEach year, The Cricketer produces a wall chart detailing all of the summer fixtures. It works well as a visual representation of the way the English domestic game is organised. White space is in short supply. It is as much an assault on the senses as a paper wall chart