King Cricket

March 25, 2012 England / Sri Lanka

Playing the long game in Sri Lanka

< 1 minute readSamit Patel’s cricket statistics are being weighed against his vital statistics even more frequently of late. Is he fit enough for five-day cricket? It’s an interesting question, but we’re actually more interested in how the other England players cope. Even if Patel plays, we can’t see a debutant playing the

March 21, 2012 Bangladesh

Why Bangladesh will DEFINITELY win the Asia Cup

2 minute readOkay, we’ve had a slight about-turn. We’ve decided that Bangladesh aren’t certain to lose the Asia Cup final to Pakistan. We’ve decided they’re definitely going to win instead. This sudden heartfelt belief has come about because we spent four minutes thinking about Shakib Al Hasan yesterday and we remembered how

March 20, 2012 Bangladesh

Bangladesh to lose Asia Cup final to Pakistan

< 1 minute readIn our book, that’s progress. Sri Lanka are knackered, India are emotionally spent and these days Bangladesh can take advantage of that to get themselves into a position to lose to Pakistan. It’s not full-on, double-shifts-at-the-bunting-factory glory, but it’s not bad. Life’s all about taking pride in minuscule progress anyway,

March 19, 2012 India

Virat Kohli likes a run chase

< 1 minute readIf Virati Kohli ‘batted out of his skins’ against Sri Lanka last month, he can only have batted out of his flesh against Pakistan yesterday, hitting 183 off 148 balls as India chased down 330. There can only be skellington left. But set Kohli another steep run-chase and you wouldn’t

March 17, 2012 India

Tendulkar hits his hundredth hundred and proves nothing to us

2 minute readThese sorts of landmarks are like birthdays. They get a lot of attention, but they don’t change much. People whinge about how they’re getting older when it’s their birthday, but the truth is that every day of your life you’re a day older than the day before and your birthday’s

March 16, 2012 India

We were there when Tendulkar hit his hundredth international hundred

< 1 minute readWe were there, looking at a Cricinfo scorecard, waiting for the number to change. That’s how people watch cricket these days, right? That’s how we experience these supposedly momentous events. We think we speak for most people when we say that we’re glad that’s out of the way. A hundred

March 15, 2012 Extras

Doing the decent thing

< 1 minute readThere’s not enough gentlemanly conduct in cricket any more. We don’t mean fair play when we say that. We mean proper, Victorian gentlemanly conduct. Back in Victorian times, life was about doing the decent thing. It was especially important to do the decent thing if it required an extraordinary amount

March 14, 2012 England

English players in the heat and humidity of Sri Lanka

< 1 minute readWe’ve read a couple of things today about how English players will struggle with the heat and humidity in Sri Lanka. Graham Gooch described the conditions as ‘unnatural,’ which isn’t strictly accurate. It strikes us that English cricketers should buck their ideas up. Sri Lanka may well be hot and

March 13, 2012 Cricket books | reviews and recommendations

Chasing Sachin by Adam Carroll-Smith | book review

< 1 minute readWe’re pretty sure we were meant to get this review up in time for Christmas. Hopefully Adam won’t mind. From reading his book, he seems like the kind of guy who’d understand failure to complete a relatively straightforward task. That happens quite frequently in Chasing Sachin. Not that Adam’s main

March 12, 2012 England

England retain the number one Test spot in fine style

< 1 minute readNew Zealand drew with South Africa because it pissed it down on the last day. As a result, the Saffers cannot secure the 3-0 series win they would need to become the top-ranked Test side. This is a highlight. This is better than a Test championship. England have retained the