King Cricket

July 10, 2023 Australia / England

Why Stokes and McCullum aren’t worried about bad shots, only bad innings

3 minute readBad shots are bad shots, but in an age when the dumbest moments are endlessly replayed and dissected, it’s important to at least try and take in the bigger picture. A batter who sometimes plays the wrong shot is nowhere near as bad as a batter who’s always worrying about

July 7, 2023 Australia / England

Did you see… Joe Root blaming the ball for his drops?

2 minute readWhen Joe Root drops catches, Joe Root blames the ball. Remember when English commentators were talking up Josh Tongue’s “extra pace” because he was bowling 85mph? That seems even more nonsensical now after Mark Wood made the Headingley crowd gasp at not just the obvious threat of his bowling but

July 5, 2023 Australia / England

Why the word ‘Bazball’ is not helping any of us

3 minute readBazball is a completely annoying word because any time it’s used – which is basically every other sentence these days – everybody is talking at cross purposes. The foundations for this ongoing noisy surround sound argument lie in the fact that almost no-one knows or acknowledges the definition that Cricinfo

July 5, 2023 Match report

Meeting people is easy – an Edgbaston 2023 match report

2 minute readSend your match reports to king@kingcricket.co.uk. We’re only really interested in your own experience, so if it’s a professional match, on no account mention the cricket itself. (But if it’s an amateur match, feel free to go into excruciating detail.) King Cricket contributor Sam Blackledge writes… ‘Meeting People is Easy’,

July 2, 2023 Australia / England

Ben Stokes’ 155 v Ben Stokes’ captaincy – which was more irregular?

2 minute readBen Stokes’ incredible attempt to play a twice-in-a-lifetime innings has tragically overshadowed the Lord’s Test’s most extraordinary passage of play: England spending two-thirds of a day bowling nothing but 80mph bouncers and it somehow working out for them. Forget day five. We’ve all seen a Stokes special before and everyone

June 30, 2023 Australia / England

Do England want Pat Cummins to bowl?

2 minute readThe attitude of England’s top order batters appears to be that if you aren’t Pat Cummins, you’re going to the fence. It’ll be interesting to see the impact of this as the series wears on. Australia’s most accurate bowler, Scott Boland, conceded 147 runs in 26 overs in the first

June 28, 2023 Australia / England

It’s a bit grim when Josh Tongue is talked up as the quick one

2 minute readIt’s not just that England have fielded five right-arm seamers in this Test, it’s that the one bowling 85mph is being lauded as the quick one. Where’s all the pace gone? It’s there a leak somewhere? Let’s pull back the carpet and see if there’s 5mph pooling somewhere under the

June 27, 2023 Australia / England

You can ignore Ollie Robinson – England probably won’t “go harder” in the second Test

4 minute readWe still don’t feel like we know Ollie Robinson all that well, but one thing we’ve concluded is that he is now pretty well established as England’s talker-of-bollocks in chief. Robinson somehow made the headlines last week for a tetchy and sweary outburst at Usman Khawaja after dismissing him for

June 26, 2023 Australia / England

Ashleigh Gardner sees your 10 wickets in a match and raises you

2 minute readAfter securing a 268-run target via Tammy Beaumont’s 208 and Sophie Ecclestone’s second five wicket haul of the match, England were, if not happy, then at least steely-eyed and up for a challenge going into their second innings. Then Ashleigh Gardner took 8-66. Moeen’s Ali’s seeping spinning finger last week

June 25, 2023 Australia / County cricket / Extras

The Kookaburra cricket ball – what’s the big deal?

2 minute readThey’re going to use the Kookaburra cricket ball for the next couple of rounds of the County Championship. Why exactly? Have you ever seen that godawful film where Nicolas Cage is a pilot and a bunch of people suddenly cease to exist? Nic Cage films range from actually good to