King Cricket

January 28, 2014 India

Return of the bits and pieces cricketer

< 1 minute readIndia picked Ronnie Irani. Hurray! The Ronnie Irani in question is Stuart Binny. Speaking at the toss, MS Dhoni said that he would give India a lower order batsman and an additional bowling option. Needless to say, Binny bowls a bit of medium-pace. How appropriate that he should make his

January 27, 2014 Australia / England

Specialism or dilution? Questions for this latest month of Australia v England matches

< 1 minute readOn the face of it, there should be plenty to say about the fifth one-day international, but shortly after watching it we didn’t feel moved to write anything. A day later, we’re left with one abiding truth: we should feel a little more strongly than ‘peeved’ when England throw away

January 24, 2014 Australia / England

England beat some Australian players

2 minute readAlthough, admittedly, you could just as easily say that some England players beat some Australian players. England were down a Pietersen and an Anderson, but Australia were down a Clarke, a Warner, a Watson, a Haddin and we can’t actually be bothered working out who else would be in the

January 23, 2014 Extras

The other article about that draft proposal

< 1 minute readWe like the way people are talking about ‘the draft proposal’ as if that’s in some way a unique label. The damn thing needs branding. We need some shorthand so that Cricinfo don’t have to invest a paragraph at the start of every article explaining what it is. The other

January 21, 2014 India

Why relegation for India would be a good thing

2 minute readA draft proposal regarding the structure of international cricket will be presented to the ICC Executive Board during its quarterly meeting in Dubai on January 28 and 29. One of the elements is a two-tier Test system in which India, England and Australia would be protected from relegation. (So a

January 20, 2014 Pakistan / Sri Lanka

So, that Pakistan win, eh?

< 1 minute readOkay, let’s do this. Let’s write a 200-word article in which we somehow find a new way of emphasising how wonderful the third Test match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was for readers who already know precisely how wonderful it was and who probably followed the match much more closely

January 20, 2014 Australia

An Australian casualty of England’s mighty performances

< 1 minute readAustralia have dropped George Bailey from their Test squad. It was always likely that the side would be eviscerated by the selectors after only just about managing to saunter to five massive wins over England. They’re basically in turmoil. The replacement is none other than perennial Test yo-yo, Shaun Marsh,

January 17, 2014 Australia / England

The finishers are dropping lower (and so are England)

2 minute readTime was, your ‘finisher’ batted at six in one-dayers. Then it was seven. Today, Australia had a man who now averages 53 in 50-over internationals batting at nine. It worked out okay for them. The last wicket partnership At 244-9, Australia were some way from victory, but James Faulkner engineered

January 16, 2014 Match report

England v Australia at Old Trafford – match report

3 minute readDandy Dan writes: As rain was forecast for most of the day, Becky and I decided not rush to Manchester. We both arrived at our salubrious Ibis hotel at lunchtime and headed immediately to the ground. Soon the rain returned so we spent the afternoon waiting to see this sign.

January 15, 2014 England

Steven Finn’s probably overthinking it

< 1 minute readSteven Finn’s flying home. A couple of months aping James Anderson’s years of one-stump, solitary bowling seems to have been enough for him. Ashley Giles describes him as ‘not selectable’. It’s all gone to rat shit. There are some activities you really shouldn’t overthink. Fast bowling’s probably one of them.