King Cricket

February 24, 2011 South Africa

When did the South Africa cricket team become exciting?

< 1 minute readSeriously, South Africa have got a worryingly strong claim to being the most exciting team in this World Cup. They pick three spinners, including a devilish leggie and they ask one of them to open the bowling. They have the best player in the world. They have no consistent gameplan.

February 24, 2011 Regulars

Pull shot | Batting lessons

< 1 minute readWitness the greats play the pull shot and you will learn nothing. A good pull shot is played instinctively after careful deliberation and many hours of practice. Whether played off the front or back foot, your weight must be even, progressing and at once forward-moving and retreating. The central pivot

February 23, 2011 Australia

Why did Ricky Ponting smash a TV?

< 1 minute readThere are some great stories going around about Ricky Ponting smashing a telly after being run-out against Zimbabawe. We like the ones that depict feeble tantrums rather than those where he has THE RAGE. Our two favourites so far are: That he threw his gloves at the TV and now

February 22, 2011 England

Complacent England sabotage their own team

< 1 minute readNo Mike Yardy for England’s World Cup opener against the Netherlands? Are they saving him for later in the tournament? Maybe he’s being remoulded as a secret weapon. Although if that’s the case, he’s not very weapon-like. He seems like something altogether more functional, like a spanner or a screwdriver.

February 21, 2011 Match report

Pakistan v Australia Lord’s match report

2 minute readWill writes: Despite being a Thursday, it was actually the fourth day of what is now, with hindsight, the totally ironically named MCC Spirit of Cricket Test Series. I had bought the tickets a year before with the intention of taking clients and having a drunken day out on the

February 19, 2011 India

Virender Sehwag can win the World Cup for India

2 minute readAnd he can do it by scoring slower and hitting fewer boundaries. We often look for individual match-winners and few are so obviously identifiable as Virender Sehwag. Yet cricket is a team game and teams can do more than individuals when they get things right. Sehwag has said that he

February 18, 2011 England

Kevin Pietersen as an opener in one-day cricket?

< 1 minute readYeah? Maybe? Dunno really. England have long known that one-day openers are better off being twat-it-around batsmen. They haven’t fully embraced this though. They tend to pick their second or third best twat-it-around batsman for the job. Preferably the wicketkeeper. Why not do the job properly? If you want a

February 18, 2011 Regulars

Forward defensive | Batting lessons

< 1 minute readBring the bat down, clean and true, angled topwards but vertically horizontally. Aim to strike the ball while moving into a stationary position. A good forward defensive stroke will be soft-yet-firm, played late at the earliest opportunity with supple hands that caress the bat handle in a vice-like grip using

February 17, 2011 Extras

Newsreader’s ‘small and impressive’ joke about the Ashes

< 1 minute readBrian pointed us towards this. We haven’t really got anything to add.

February 16, 2011 England

England ABSOLUTELY MURDER Canada by 16 runs

< 1 minute read“Avril Lavigne, Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, Alanis Morissette, The Crash Test Dummies. “Shania Twain, can you hear me? Shania Twain, your boys took a hell of a beating.” Sometimes England are so good at one-day cricket it’s physically painful just thinking about it.