King Cricket

November 21, 2011 Australia / South Africa

When the fifth day of a Test match has the right ingredients

< 1 minute readThe fifth day of a Test can be dreadful. It can also be the best thing ever. When you get the right ingredients, it’s rich and intoxicating, like a creamy mustard sauce laced with smack. The second (and final) Test between South Africa and Australia is set up perfectly. South

November 18, 2011 Australia / South Africa

One down in a two Test series

< 1 minute readIt’s a generalisation to say that long-term cricket fans gravitate towards the longest format, but it’s not an outrageous generalisation, like saying that all left-handed people are agents of Lucifer. We’ve twice this year had perfectly civil interaction with someone who has later revealed themselves to be sickeningly wrong-handed, but

November 17, 2011 South Africa

Jacques Kallis’s odd days

< 1 minute readEvery now and again, Jacques Kallis has an odd day where he suddenly starts thrashing the ball around like he’s been possessed by one of Shahid Afrid’s many personalities. He holds the record for the fastest Test fifty off 24 balls. Yes, it was against Zimbabwe, but plenty of other

November 16, 2011 India

Duncan Fletcher’s India team

< 1 minute readHaving extracted our face from the dent in our desk, we did manage to catch much of today’s play, our view unobscured by tears of frustration. What we saw was India’s bowling attack and it looks a damn sight better than it had in England. Bizarrely, the man who emerged

November 15, 2011 India

Indian batsmen hit hundreds

< 1 minute readWe’re not really sure what to write about today. We suppose we should make reference to India v West Indies, but we were either asleep or at work for today’s play, so we don’t really have much to say. Looking at the scorecard, we’re kind of irritated that MS Dhoni

November 14, 2011 Cricket products

Choosing a cricketer to stalk

< 1 minute readWe’re not entirely sure why someone would choose to stalk a cricketer other than Rob Key, but for some reason that’s precisely what Adam Carroll-Smith decided to do. He decided that he wanted to bowl a ball at Sachin Tendulkar, which is even more bizarre, because there are professional cricketers

November 13, 2011 Extras

Wasim Akram and irresponsible swing

< 1 minute readFor those who missed it, this is our latest Stu and Ash piece for Cricinfo. It’s about Wasim Akram against England in the 1992 World Cup, which is well worth seeking out on YouTube by the way. We’d link to a video, but, you know, we’d have to open another

November 11, 2011 Australia

There is nothing big or clever or grown-up about wallowing in other people’s misery

2 minute readSo says Bert, who continues: Fortunately, nobody here has ever claimed to be big or clever or grown-up? Anyone like to take a guess at what the following sequence of numbers is? 245, 304, 268, 309, 98, 258, 280, 281, 273, 210, 411, 316, 488, 284, 47 Yes, that’s right

November 10, 2011 Australia / South Africa

Brad Haddin’s wicket was our favourite

< 1 minute readWhen they manufacture a girl band or a boy band, they often work on a simple principle: put enough reasonably attractive people in one place and it’s hard to assess the visual merits of any one individual. When it comes to girl bands, we subconsciously take the best features of

November 10, 2011 Australia / South Africa

Australia’s lowest Test total of all time

< 1 minute readAs we write, Australia are 22-9 in 12.5 overs. Their lowest total ever is 36 and the lowest Test total of all time is New Zealand’s 26 (both those scores were against England, incidentally). Bizarrely, Australia are actually 210 ahead, thanks to Michael Clarke’s increasingly spectacular 151 in the first