King Cricket

October 31, 2012 England / India

What’s happening in England’s warm-up?

< 1 minute readThe fast bowler’s injured, the new opening batsman made a duck and the returning genius reminded us precisely what we were missing by being dismissed by a left-arm spinner. But actually, things are okay. When they play well, England’s biggest strength is that you can happily avoid watching their first

October 31, 2012 Extras

If you buy one cricket magazine this month…

< 1 minute readBuy The Cricketer. We’ve a thing in it. “Was Don Bradman really the greatest batsman? Is Test cricket the pinnacle? Was it definitely better in your day? It’s time to bust some myths, says Alex Bowden.” Only we didn’t say that. That’s not the kind of thing we say. We

October 29, 2012 England / India

Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur for the fourth Test between India and England

< 1 minute readNagpur is a pretty new Test venue. It has hosted three Tests, the first in 2008. India have won two and South Africa won the other by an innings. South Africa’s win was built on an unbeaten double hundred from Hashim Amla and 7-51 from Dale Steyn. Not sure what

October 27, 2012 Extras

Forming opinions about batsmen

< 1 minute readSometimes we’ve watched a batsman for the first time and thought he looked okay without reaching any conclusion beyond that. When other people have then waxed lyrical about the same player, this has left us feeling like a fraud for writing about cricket. How have we not seen the talent

October 25, 2012 India

Where do you stand on Gautam Gambhir?

2 minute readCricinfo have published a story with the slightly mischievous headline: “‘We still average 53 as an opening pair’ – Gambhir”. It’s not much of a statement, but by making it a headline Cricinfo have made it seem like a rather desperate plea. Gautam Gambhir is under pressure and he’s resorting

October 24, 2012 Australia

Australian cricketers need English balls

< 1 minute readAmbiguous headline, you say? Don’t know what you’re talking about. In their painfully desperate attempts to compete with England, Australia are going to use good, solid, dependable, manly Dukes balls in some Sheffield Shield matches instead of the fey, effeminate Kookaburra ball. The idea is that Aussie bowlers will maybe

October 23, 2012 Match report

Yankees v Red Sox match report

4 minute readRichard writes: My impression of baseball is that, while on a different scale to county cricket, it is still the sort of game you can just turn up to and get in. There are loads of games, big stadiums and entry doesn’t generally require tortuous membership schemes or frantically hitting

October 19, 2012 County cricket

Friday night Twenty20 cricket

2 minute readWe’re not sure whether we dread changes to the county cricket schedule or look forward to seeing just how demented something can become and yet still have people claiming it makes perfect sense. However, the latest changes are… all right. Now, we aren’t feeling tip-top today, so there’s every chance

October 18, 2012 England

Kevin Pietersen in England selection SHOCKER

< 1 minute readEngland today announced that a player who has not retired from international cricket, who averages almost 50 and who hit a hundred in his last Test match is indeed going to be included in a Test squad. The press asked England’s selection panel whether this was wise in light of

October 17, 2012 England / India

Eden Gardens in Kolkata for the third Test between India and England

2 minute readWe are delighted that England are playing at Eden Gardens. They will almost certainly lose here, but that’s not the point. It’s simply one of the great sports grounds and to have the opportunity to play here is something in itself. Recent Tests at Eden Gardens in Kolkata If you’re