King Cricket

June 22, 2011 India

Call Rahul Dravid if you need a grown-up to do a job for you

2 minute readGambhir, Sehwag, Tendulkar and Yuvraj aren’t playing against the West Indies, so there were plenty of chances for India’s up-and-coming batsmen to make their mark. Suresh Raina got 82 in the first innings and Harbhajan 70, but other than that it’s all been eights, twelves and fifteens. But batting’s been

June 22, 2011 India

Praveen Kumar brings medium-pace back to Test cricket

< 1 minute readWe didn’t even recognise Praveen Kumar when we switched on the first Test between the West Indies and India. His is a familiar face, but we’d never seen him in white clothes before. It had also never really occurred to us just how slowly he bowls. While Ishant Sharma’s pace

June 20, 2011 Sri Lanka

Kumar Sangakkara and holes in batting averages

< 1 minute readBuilding a reputation as a batsman is not unlike being a contestant on the perennially disappointing Nineties game show, The Crystal Maze. You spend your life in the nets, honing your technique and earning crystals and then you get to try and make the most of it in the Crystal

June 20, 2011 England

Ian Bell and middle-order batting

< 1 minute readBatsmen always want to play at the top of the order. This might be because they realise that you get more recognition up there. Well we’d like to recognise Ian Bell’s middle-order skills. Runs equal plaudits and while top-order batsmen face the new ball, they can also approach batting however

June 19, 2011 England

Pietersen, Strauss and recent Test innings

< 1 minute readKevin Pietersen’s out of form. Andrew Strauss has developed a problem against left-arm pace. Those were the stories at the start of yesterday’s play and the evidence came in the form of their recent Test records. When play did occur, Pietersen looked amazing, but he made the grave error of

June 18, 2011 England

Chris Tremlett should open the bowling for England

< 1 minute readLots of people have said this, saying Tremlett is more consistent than Stuart Broad and pitches the ball further up. Those things are true, but our point is much simpler: Just look at him. Chris Tremlett is terrifying. It actually doesn’t much matter that he rarely tops 85mph. If you

June 17, 2011 Extras

You have the right to question Aleem Dar

< 1 minute readBut it isn’t recommended. At the Rose Bowl yesterday, Andrew Strauss opted to review a possible edge. This was a ridiculous decision. Not because Paranavitana hadn’t nicked it (he had), but because if Aleem Dar couldn’t detect an edge with certainty, technology certainly wouldn’t be up to the task. The

June 16, 2011 Sri Lanka

Return of Sangakkara – this time it’s temporary and he doesn’t really want to do it

< 1 minute readIt’s not a great film title, but we’d watch. We will watch, in fact. Kumar Sangakkara had two years as captain, but, like Mahela Jayawardene before him, jacked the job in because of the pressure. Unfortunately, Tillakaratne Dilshan’s minced thumb has meant Sri Lanka need a stand-in and after much

June 15, 2011 County cricket

Phil Mustard and Twenty20 averages and statistics

< 1 minute readCricket has generally got more time for stats than for its own personal hygiene, yet those for Twenty20 are surprisingly useless. A good batting average can be counterproductive if not allied to a decent strike-rate. A decent bowling economy rate can be misleading if it’s just the result of that

June 14, 2011 Match report

South Africa v Zimbabwe World Cup warm-up match report

3 minute readGed writes: Daisy and I happened to be staying near Chennai on the day of the South Africa v Zimbabwe warm-up match. It must have been fate. At least, that’s what I told Daisy. We had arranged to tour Kanchipuram and Mahabalipuram that day, with a recommended early start and