King Cricket

November 30, 2010 Match report

Australia v England, First Test, day three match report

< 1 minute readSorry for those of you still waiting for match reports to appear, but we thought we’d make an exception to our normal rules about leaving everything in the queue for months on end in order to maintain the Ashes theme. Remember that this isn’t Sam’s fault when you start the

November 29, 2010 Cricket books | reviews and recommendations

A Fan’s Guide to World Cricket | book review

2 minute readA Fan’s Guide to World Cricket is basically a book with which you’ll idly plan holidays. It’s full colour, looks amazing and makes you wish you were overseas even more than you already do. It covers 55 cities, all of which feature an international cricket ground. You’ll basically leaf through

November 29, 2010 England

Alastair Cook creates a weird scorecard with help from Jonathan Trott

< 1 minute readWhen have you ever seen an England scorecard that read 517-1? Against Australia as well. We said that Alastair Cook would be okay and with 235 not out, you’d say we were probably right about that. We also predicted a whole host of series results though – none of which

November 28, 2010 Australia / England

An Australian bowling attack unsuited to Australian conditions

2 minute readYou’ve got to break partnerships in Australia. You’ve got to somehow take wickets when the ball ain’t doin’ a right lot. This Australia bowling attack seems ill-suited to the task. Today one wicket fell – to Marcus North. No matter how flat the pitch, no Australian bowling attack should completely

November 27, 2010 Australia / England

Batting partnerships in Australia and breaking them

< 1 minute readJames Anderson started with a blinding spell to Mike Hussey, but as we said yesterday, the cricket after the new ball matters too. It’s easy to look on the first hour of the third day as being England’s chance to break the Hussey-Haddin partnership, but Test cricket in Australia is

November 26, 2010 Australia / England

The cricket after the new ball matters too

< 1 minute readYesterday’s theme was of how bowling success can be about playing well frequently rather than extremely well occasionally. You remember great bowlers for the occasions when they took 7-20; when the ball was swinging or turning a mile. But often those performances aren’t what made those players’ reputations. It’s often

November 25, 2010 Australia

Why Peter Siddle doesn’t need the unplayable delivery

< 1 minute readPre-Ashes analysis tends to treat the players as if they’re machines. If it swings, Jimmy Anderson will be great; if it doesn’t, he’s screwed. Alastair Cook has a technical weakness. He’ll score no runs. But cricket doesn’t work like that. For one thing, pretty much everybody’s shitting themself of the

November 25, 2010 Australia / England

A fact and a question from the Gabba

< 1 minute readWhat we learnt last night: Stew is not a stimulant And here’s a question for you: Shouldn’t Mitchell Johnson’s tattooed arm be ‘the doing arm’?

November 25, 2010 Australia

Peter Siddle takes an Ashes hat trick at the Gabba

< 1 minute readWith his Ming the Merciless collar and his mercilessly minging face, Peter Siddle barrelled in and dismissed Alastair Cook, Matt Prior and Stuart Broad in successive balls. We got through the experience by pretending it was a cartoon. Siddle looks like a cartoon character somehow.

November 24, 2010 Uncategorised

Twitter coverage of day one of the Ashes

< 1 minute readIf anyone is staying up for day one of the Ashes tonight, we’ll be covering all the important stuff via Twitter. Here is a list of our intended topics: What we’re eating What we’re drinking Why the world’s sudden, wrong-headed obsession with naps is sickening If there is anything else