King Cricket

January 28, 2012 England / Pakistan

England’s batsmen and spin in the fourth innings

2 minute readEngland’s second innings batting card looks a bit binary code, but the truth is they weren’t qualified for this job. The batsman v bowler duel generally favours the batsman, but the balance can shift towards the bowler due to the pitch, the weather and the match situation. In Abu Dhabi,

January 27, 2012 England

Monty Panesar has played one Test X times

< 1 minute readThis statement was made my Shane Warne. He famously said that Monty Panesar hadn’t played X Tests but one Test X number of times. This is accepted as great insight all too readily. It’s a nice catchy soundbite and it’s from Shane Warne, but does it really have much merit?

January 26, 2012 India

Virat Kohli hits first Test hundred

2 minute readAs well as being from a different generation, Tendulkar, Dravid and them are also significantly older than the likes of Virat Kohli. What we mean by this is that people change over time. They grow up. We say this not because we’re competing in a hotly-contested online state-the-obvious competition, but

January 25, 2012 Australia / India

India’s nuts need tightening

< 1 minute readTheir wheel nuts. Don’t be crude. It’s not so much that India keep losing Test matches that’s depressing, it’s the way that they lose them: the wheels keep coming off. In England and Australia, India have collectively averaged 24.5 with the bat and 56.97 with the ball. To put that

January 25, 2012 England

Monty Panesar’s back

< 1 minute readAs in ‘returned’. He hasn’t got ankylosing spondylitis or anything. It may not be the first time we’ve made that joke – it may not be the first time we’ve made that joke about Monty Panesar – but come on. Some events warrant special attention. So what are the pros

January 24, 2012 County cricket

Eight counties in the first division of the County Championship?

< 1 minute readEight counties, 14 matches, home and away against everyone else in the division. Yeah, we’d be okay with that. Our official stance is that the second division doesn’t count, so it would seem a bit odd to get all het up about them having some mix-and-match half-arsed fixture list of

January 23, 2012 India

Gautam Gambhir wants rank turners in India

< 1 minute readSome people seem to think there’s a bit of “yeah, well, see how you like it,” about this. That’s understandable. Gambhir’s had a couple of bad tours, so you can’t really blame him. However, he’d do well to remember that home success doesn’t negate failure away from home. It only

January 20, 2012 Extras

“I find this series depressing, yet very engaging”

< 1 minute readHow’s that for a recommendation? That’s a Cricinfo comment about the fifth and final part of our short story set in the not-so-distant future. If you can’t remember what’s happened already, here’s a full set of links. Part one Part two Part three Part four Part five

January 19, 2012 England / Pakistan

Pakistan secure narrow win over England

< 1 minute readPakistan held their nerve throughout a challenging 15-run chase on a mostly lifeless day three pitch and secured a narrow 10-wicket win over a thoroughly professional England side. England kept it tight and the pressure built, but with one eye on the clock, Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar timed their

January 18, 2012 England

Bring forth the dobble

< 1 minute readPaul Collingwood’s bowling was always a bit too canny to be proper dibbly dobbly medium-pace. There were too many cutters; too much innovation. You don’t get any of that crap from Jonathan Trott. England’s four bowler policy means the batsmen have to chip in with a few overs. Ravi Bopara’s