King Cricket

January 5, 2011 South Africa

Jacques Kallis would genuinely score more runs than you with his eyes closed

< 1 minute readYesterday, we wrote about Steyn and Tendulkar, but there’s another modern great on display in that match. Like Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis seems to have reached an even loftier plane in middle age. You’ll need to go to another website to see the statistics about his recent form, but take it

January 5, 2011 England

Ian Bell, James Anderson and doing a bit better when things aren’t in your favour

2 minute readIt’s always tempting to judge players on their best days, but with anything long-term – a cricket career, a relationship, an overnight stint watching the Ashes on TV – a better form of evaluation is to look at what happens when things aren’t in your favour. You learn a lot

January 4, 2011 South Africa

Dale Steyn doesn’t have a loosener

< 1 minute readIt’s yet another amazing thing about Dale Steyn that he’s pretty damn likely to slice in and arc the first ball of the day past the batsman’s outside edge. He doesn’t really do looseners. Our own approach to starting work is more like that of Peter Gibbons, who explains how

January 4, 2011 India / South Africa

Dale Steyn versus Sachin Tendulkar in an abbreviated title bout

< 1 minute readThere’s a great Test series taking place in South Africa at the moment and we’re gutted that we’re missing so much of it because of the Ashes. It’s like when you get carried away ordering takeaway. The leftovers won’t keep for a week, so you’ve got to make some tough

January 4, 2011 Australia / England

Cake having and eating

< 1 minute readMost of us find that part of the joy of cricket is that there’s always something to talk about. When a match is in the balance, you can pick it apart for hours trying to work out which team’s more likely to win. In the past, we’ve also found it

January 3, 2011 Extras

Geoff Boycott fourth Test Ashes prediction failure

< 1 minute readSam writes: First morning of the fourth Test on Test Match Special. Geoff Boycott: “I can’t see any way England are going to win this.” Jonathan Agnew: “We’ve only had 12 minutes!” Geoff Boycott: “Well, I’m supposed to know what I’m talking about. That’s why I’m the expert and you’re

January 3, 2011 Australia

Scoring at four an over in Tests

< 1 minute readOnce upon a time, Australian batsmen averaging in the forties would be in danger of being given the boot if they couldn’t score at four an over. Just saying. In truth, Australia were wise not to let their bats stray too far from the stumps for most of yesterday’s play,

January 2, 2011 South Africa

Dale Steyn: Lord Megachief of Gold 2010

2 minute readIt was MS Dhoni in 2009. It’s Dale Steyn in 2010. Sachin Tendulkar ran him close, hitting seven Test hundreds, but it can’t be a batsman every year. Graeme Swann took more Test wickets, but 44 of them were against Bangladesh and a spattered Pakistan side that barely ever looked

December 31, 2010 Australia

Australia’s fast bowlers in the 2010 Ashes

2 minute readYou can ask any England fan what qualities a bowling attack needs to bowl the opposition out in Australia. We all know. You need as many as possible of the following: Extreme pace Freakishly tall bowlers Mystery spin Reverse swing How many of those can you find in the current

December 31, 2010 Australia

Australia’s batsmen in the 2010 Ashes

2 minute readLet us say that we don’t actually think that Australia’s batsmen are all that bad. They are good players playing badly, which is slightly different. Batsmen under pressure are exposed more than bowlers because they don’t get second chances. You do something stupid that gets you out and that’s your