King Cricket

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

December 30, 2010 Australia

Australia’s captain and spinners

2 minute readThe more we think about it, the more these two things go hand-in-hand. The situation was this. Nathan Hauritz got the boot because he got wellied in India like just about every other spinner who ever goes over there. Demented selections ensued. Maybe Hauritz offended Ricky Ponting by suggesting that

December 30, 2010 Australia

Australia’s Ashes team – an English perspective on what went wrong

< 1 minute readAs an Englishman in his thirties, there’s nothing we don’t know about pointing out a team’s flaws after it’s failed to win the Ashes. Might as well put our skills to more joyous use this year. Today, captaincy and spin bowling. Tomorrow, batting and pace bowling.

December 29, 2010 England

England cricketers’ Ashes sprinkler celebration

< 1 minute readThis is another good way of celebrating the retention of the Ashes. If you don’t know about ‘the sprinkler’, it’s become the England cricketers’ official dance of the tour. It’s a stupid dance and they’re all awful at it, but you can’t help but warm to them even more when

December 29, 2010 Regulars

The only way to celebrate an Ashes win

< 1 minute readYou’ve got to pull out all the stops at a time like this. So here’s a Venn diagram made by someone else: Never let it be said that we don’t make the effort. Thanks Ged.

December 28, 2010 England

Tim Bresnan is two players in one

< 1 minute readMore specifically, Tim Bresnan, England’s fifth-choice seamer, is Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle rolled into one. Bresnan has the fitness, pace and accuracy of Siddle. He also bowls away swing with the new ball and reverse swing later on like Ben Hilfenhaus. Oh, and he can bat. Bresnan’s reputation as