King Cricket

September 29, 2011 England

Are you convinced by Jade Dernbach and his variations?

2 minute readWe’re not making a point of criticising England’s newer bowlers. We’re just pointing out that we aren’t living in a bounteous land of champagne fountains and gold furniture. Players are being talked about as if they’re staggeringly gifted when they’re not. The English treat one-day cricket like some mystical oddity.

September 28, 2011 England

Stuart Meaker and England selection

< 1 minute readIn years gone by, you wouldn’t have trusted the England selectors to identify the best cricketer on an episode of A Question Of Sport, but this batch, led by Geoff Miller, has earned respect. Even so, it doesn’t pay to get too clever. Earlier this year, we said that Stuart

September 27, 2011 Match report

2,000th Test match report

< 1 minute readOur mum writes: As a thank you to KC’s dad for the loan of his DIY skills, a friend gave us two tickets for this historic day. There is nothing like a day in the members’ stand at Lord’s to make one feel young. We must have considerably reduced the

September 25, 2011 England

The English cricket backslapathon and what it means for Ravi Bopara

2 minute readWe sometimes experience this phenomenon where the girl driving the car behind seems to be the most beautiful woman in the world. This is true when we catch a glimpse of her for a fraction of a second, from a distance, while we’re both moving, but then she pulls up

September 23, 2011 England

Remembering Dominic Cork

< 1 minute readRetiring from cricket at the age of 40 is a bit like dying at a grand old age. People naturally focus on what’s fresh in the memory. People remember your interests as being duck-feeding and ailment comparison with your peers, even though you were once a fighter pilot and later

September 22, 2011 Extras

We wrote about India losing over at Cricinfo

< 1 minute readWe’re hoping to attract some decent ill-feeling in the comments section, but there’s little so far. Maybe there’s a great pile of vitriol just waiting to be approved by a moderator. We did have a bit about Sachin Tendulkar failing to score his hundredth international hundred, but something similar had

September 21, 2011 Match report

Surrey v Middlesex match report

2 minute readSam writes: Angry clouds greeted my arrival at the second day of the Guildford cricket festival. A colleague had promised a press pass would be waiting for me “at the gate.” Predictably, no such pass materialised, and said colleague was incommunicado, away on an all expenses paid trip to Spain.

September 19, 2011 County cricket

Glen Chapple might be superhuman

2 minute read1992. It was the year that Jimmy Nail would top the charts with Ain’t No Doubt. It was also the year that Glen Chapple made his debut for Lancashire. While the halcyon days of Spender and Crocodile Shoes are gone for Nail, Chapple soldiers on. He’s 37 now, but seems

September 19, 2011 County cricket

The art of coming second

< 1 minute readIf ever you happen to find yourself in the final of a coin-tossing competition against Somerset, put all your money on yourself. Technically, the odds are even. In practice, this is Somerset and it’s a final. Somerset have now lost four of the last four domestic short format finals. If

September 16, 2011 County cricket

Okay, there are going to be some changes around here

< 1 minute readFor clarity, ‘around here’ means ‘the world’. The County Championship brings with it certain privileges. This year, the champions have the right to dictate what everyone in the entire world should eat for breakfast. Lancashire are champions, so there will be no more muesli, no more toast with jam, no