King Cricket

April 12, 2010 England

Andy Caddick’s Test career – awkward bounce from an awkward bowling action from an awkward bloke

2 minute readWe never wrote about Andy Caddick when he retired. We should have done. Say what you like about Andy Caddick. Say that he was mad as pies; say that he got picked for England because people wanted him there to fix stuff while they were on tour; say he was

April 11, 2010 County cricket

County cricket players to watch in 2010

< 1 minute readWe’re watching these guys when there isn’t an international match on, which is never: Liam Plunkett Mark Davies Adil Rashid Will Smith Paul Horton Phil Mustard Ravi Bopara

April 9, 2010 County cricket / England

Ravi Bopara, Essex: first-class batsman to watch in 2010

< 1 minute readThe plight of Ravi Bopara makes an interesting case study. He’s trying to establish himself as a Test cricketer and only Test runs will really persuade anyone that he’s ready. He gets a series of ducks in Tests in Sri Lanka and gets dropped. He promptly makes a one-day double

April 8, 2010 Match report

South Africa v England, Centurion Test – match report

2 minute readI hadn’t been feeling terribly well, having been off work for a couple of weeks with an ear infection, but had arranged to meet a couple of friends in London on the afternoon of the first day of the series. It was very cold. I think it was snowing. I

April 8, 2010 County cricket

Phil Mustard: one-day wicketkeeper-batsman to watch in 2010

< 1 minute readSo much of what’s wrong with English cricket can be seen in the never-ending debate about wicketkeepers. First-class cricket’s too weak to show who’s best and because there are so many counties and therefore so many candidates, no player gets much of a run. We are no better informed than

April 7, 2010 County cricket

Paul Horton: first-class batsman to watch in 2010

< 1 minute readLike Will Smith, Paul Horton’s another who had a 2009 season of less than unbridled success. He did hit 173 in one match, but didn’t do much else. However, if there’s one thing we’ve learnt with these Ones To Watch, it’s that they’re devious bastards and always slip in a

April 6, 2010 County cricket

Will Smith, Durham: first-class batsman to watch in 2010

< 1 minute readWill Smith was the one batsman who didn’t score runs for Durham last year, which might not immediately mark him out as being worth watching, but the year before that he was arguably their best batsman. We’re putting the mediocre batting down to his being made captain in 2009. It’s

April 5, 2010 County cricket / England

Adil Rashid, Yorkshire: first-class bowler to watch in 2010

< 1 minute readThe general feeling about Adil Rashid is that maybe everyone should just let him play a bit of cricket. England helped his development no end last season by keeping him out of the majority of Yorkshire’s matches so that he could not play for them instead. Occasionally they let him

April 4, 2010 County cricket

Mark Davies, Durham: first-class bowler to watch in 2010

< 1 minute readMark Davies’ 19 wickets at 29.57 last year was a woeful return by his standards, but an overall first-class record that reads 251 wickets at 21.68 is as good as it gets. Mark’s 30 this year, so this will be his fourth and final appearance in our Ones To Watch.

April 3, 2010 County cricket

Liam Plunkett, Durham: a first-class bowler for 2010

< 1 minute readLiam Plunkett’s a bit of a batsman as well, but his bowling is what matters. Of Durham’s many fine bowlers, Onions, Harmison and Blackwell all averaged less than Plunkett last season, but only Harmison took more wickets. Plunkett’s average of 24.83 was hardly shameful either. Although Plunkett’s age seems to