King Cricket

July 13, 2013 Australia / England

We were at Trent Bridge today

< 1 minute readHere are some things that happened: 1. Jonathan Trott did some mileage This was probably the most important thing that happened today. When Australia’s openers were in, Trott was fielding at fine leg. Left-hander, right-hander, from both ends, Trott was at fine leg. He covered all four corners of the

July 12, 2013 Australia / England

I.Ron Bell puts overs into Aussie legs

< 1 minute readMaybe we should consider him two different batsmen – Ian Bell, the guy who chips one to cover, and I.Ron Bell, the guy who plays these sorts of innings. (Make your own metallurgical puns. We had a look at the iron Wikipedia page with a view to coming up with

July 11, 2013 Australia / England

Ashton Agar’s first Test innings could have gone worse

2 minute readWas it only last year when we wrote about how enjoyable it was to watch a number 11 batsman make a record Test score? ‘Cricket at its best,’ we wrote, completely forgetting that a lurching Ashes Test makes us want to vomit until we’re right down to the lung butter.

July 10, 2013 Australia / England

Peter Siddle doesn’t concern himself with hype

2 minute readWho’d have thought that it would be Peter Siddle taking all the wickets? Who’d have thought that in Australia’s brave new world of James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc and shiny new Ashton Agar, it would be tired old veteran Siddle, with his 150 Test wickets, proven record and exceptional fitness who’d

July 9, 2013 Australia

Australia’s seam bowlers for the 2013 Ashes

3 minute readThis is an area where you find yourself being dragged along by the consensus. So many people are saying that Australia’s seam bowling is strong that you tend to think it must be true. Frequently, people will talk about the attack as a whole, which is usually a sign that

July 9, 2013 Australia

Australia’s spin bowlers for the 2013 Ashes

< 1 minute readAustralia’s spinners are both better and worse than people seem to think. Let’s first be clear that, as it stands, neither Fawad Ahmed nor Ashton Agar are actually in the squad. Furthermore, both benefit from being to a large extent unknown and untested. In a barren land, the distant man

July 8, 2013 Australia

Australia’s wicketkeepers for the 2013 Ashes

< 1 minute readBrad Haddin has primarily been brought back as child minder, but he does average 45 in Ashes Tests and he does look like an Australian wicketkeeper, which is more important than you might think. There’s a chance that Matthew Wade might play as a batsman, so it’s safe to assume

July 8, 2013 Extras

Ashes crossword answers

< 1 minute readWe meant to let you know a couple of days ago that the Ashes crossword answers are now up. There’s a link on that page to an Excel document containing explanations as well. We’ve also added a link to the answers on the original page in case you don’t read

July 5, 2013 Australia

Australia’s middle-order batsmen for the 2013 Ashes

2 minute readWe’d say that Australia were one crankshaft short of an engine room if we knew what constituted ‘the engine room’ or what an engine room contained or what a crankshaft was. Also, they appear to be missing more than that. Flicking through our Big Book of Cricket Clichés, we find

July 4, 2013 Australia

Australia’s openers for the 2013 Ashes

2 minute readWith his perpetually tear-filled eyes and propensity to snap tendons while waxing body hair, Shane Watson always appears a figure of fun. Add in his comedic insistence on throwing his wicket away before he reaches three figures and the boy-man becomes symbolic of how Australia has fallen. On the other