King Cricket

December 13, 2012 England / India

The drab life between the leave and the lofted block

2 minute readOn Sky, Nick Knight asked why England had been scoring at two runs an over, like it was some sort of policy. The truth is that even Kevin Pietersen couldn’t score quicker. Early wickets probably brought added caution, but the pitch seems to have dictated that there will be some

December 12, 2012 England / India

The case for Onions

2 minute readDelicious and versatile. Oh wait, upper-case ‘O’. Let’s start again. Graham Onions is the England bowler everyone rates, but not enough that he’s ever the person they think should play. His qualities are low-octane and harder to see. There’s always a taller bowler or a faster bowler who’s more eye-catching.

December 11, 2012 New Zealand

The Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum captaincy thing

< 1 minute readOkay, we think we’ve got to grips with what’s happened. Mike Hesson said to Ross Taylor: “I don’t like you and I don’t like your face. I’m going to get a new captain.” Ross Taylor replied: “Who the hell are you? When did you become New Zealand coach?” Mike Hesson

December 10, 2012 England / India

England’s Eden Gardens Test win, four-man bowling attacks and Zaheer Khan

2 minute readWe’ll be honest, we’re struggling to know what to say about England’s win at Eden Gardens. Comparing our preview to the scorecard kind of puts things in perspective. The current fashion seems to be to denigrate India, but that’s only half the story. The other half most revolves around Alastair

December 8, 2012 England / India

India have a bad day at the crease

2 minute readR Ashwin is a good batsman, but no-one considers him to be one of the best six batsman in India. In that case, why is it that he seems to be thriving with the bat while the specialists are batting like a big bag of grundle? There’s no simple answer.

December 7, 2012 England / India

India have a bad day in the field

< 1 minute readIndia have an amazing ability to take a bad day in the field and make it look worse. It’s a flat pitch and they managed to take five wickets (although none for the man with ‘the best wrist in cricket’) but yet it seemed far more horrendous than that. Mostly

December 6, 2012 England / India

Guess we’ll write about Alastair Cook

< 1 minute readDoes Alastair Cook know that captains are allowed off the field? If he doesn’t, no-one tip him off, because it’s going quite well. In five Tests leading England, he’s now scored five hundreds. He even hit some nice shots today, which isn’t really the point. An Alastair Cook innings shouldn’t

December 5, 2012 India

Yuvraj Singh never quite does it

< 1 minute readA few years ago, it was hard to avoid the feeling that Yuvraj Singh’s favourite cricketer was probably, on balance, after much careful consideration, Yuvraj Singh. However, he’s increasingly rounded and likeable and so it’s disappointing to see him merely flicker in Test cricket. Today’s innings was vintage Yuvraj. He

December 4, 2012 England / India

Something about the third Test

< 1 minute readIt’s not that we’ve got nothing to say ahead of the Kolkata Test, it’s that we’ve already previewed the match. You want more than that? You want something timely? Okay, how about whether Steven Finn should play? We’d say that if he’s fit, he should play, because Stuart Broad seems

December 3, 2012 Australia / South Africa

Australia’s fresh bowlers deliver fresh pies

< 1 minute readAustralia were probably down to their third-string attack in the third Test. We’re not sure how deep ‘bench strength’ needs to be these days, but they might want to stay shallower next time they play. This bowling attack was Australia’s choice, but Mitchell Johnson is basically a bowling machine set

Cricket from the Chappelli era has strangely been on my mind lately, as yesterday I wrote up my experience witnessing…

A Test starting on a Sunday (local time) just feels a bit odd. England have played a Sunday-starting Test at…

This one, that is... https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/memo-to-australia-and-england-honour-the-format-that-has-elevated-you-1517475 He goes too far (Chappelli? Too far? Never) but actual Test cricket breaking out occasionally…

Well said. I'm skirting the edge of churlishness regarding McCullumism when I say this but I have some sympathy for…

We don't mind a two-day collapse-off every now and again, but only as a noteworthy aberration. Two in one series…

Sky Sports has boiled its Ashes coverage down to its purest and greatest form: Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain standing there talking about what’s gone wrong

The 2019 Ridiculous Ashes (podcast)

The 50 Most Ridiculous Ashes Moments is definitely out now – you should buy it for someone! (Possibly yourself)

51. Michael Vaughan Declines A Crushing

14 England things that happened in the summer of 2025 – do they tell us anything?