King Cricket

November 30, 2009 Cricket books | reviews and recommendations

Ask Bearders by Bill Frindall | book review

2 minute readWe were supposed to review this ages ago. Note to publishers: don’t push cricket stuff during the Ashes. We know it’s the cricket Christmas, but everyone’s a bit busy. Ask Bearders is subtitled Answers to the World’s Most Challenging Cricket Questions. It’s a compilation of Bill Frindall’s columns for the

November 30, 2009 South Africa

Mark Boucher at six? This isn’t South Africa

< 1 minute readWhen England took the fourth wicket of what seemed like a mesmerisingly unstrenuous dismantling of the South African batting line-up, we wondered where the real South Africa were. Mark Boucher at six? Where was the breathtaking conservatism for which South African cricket is so renowned? Think back to the glory

Innings victories in cricket – good or bad?

< 1 minute readIt’s good if it’s your side that’s won, but if you’re impartial, it means that a Test has been one-sided. Australia’s innings victory over West Indies also raises uncomfortable and unwelcome questions about the future of the West Indies as a Test team, even if their best player, Adrian Barath,

November 28, 2009 West Indies

Adrian Barath hits a hundred against Australia on his debut

< 1 minute readWe didn’t see Adrian Barath’s hundred against an Australia bowling attack that we feel professionally obliged to describe as ‘rampant’. Was it any good? Brian Lara though Barath was some prospect when he saw him batting in the nets, aged 11. Being as Barath’s 19 now, he must have been

November 27, 2009 Extras

Cricinfo article about variation in bowling and English leg spinners

< 1 minute readYes, it’s another lazy Friday morning non-post. We’ve written something for Cricinfo which you could generously say poked fun at the English attitude to leg spinners and cricket’s newfound love of variation and innovation. More truthfully, you could describe it as a big pile of lies. It’s a 6/10. Read

November 26, 2009 Australia / England / India / New Zealand / South Africa

The five best batsmen over the next five years

< 1 minute readThe big names are generally old bastards. Who’s next? Ross Taylor, New Zealand, age 25 Ross Taylor tends to look like he’s the man who’s going to win the match for New Zealand shortly before doing something slightly spacky. Pretty soon those fifties will become hundreds and those hundreds will

November 25, 2009 Pakistan

Order the Mohammad Asif if you ever get served

< 1 minute readYou all think that you’ve got nothing to say about Mohammad Asif – but you have. You wouldn’t have been able to stop yourself from commenting if we’d actually said what we meant to say. International cricket is like being stuck in a shit bar that’s got too much chrome

November 25, 2009 Pakistan

Mohammad Asif will just have to do

< 1 minute readIf you like cricket, as opposed to just enjoying boundaries, it’s been a tough decade or so. We’re always on the lookout for bowlers who can redress the balance and actually make life difficult for batsmen. Very few are able to do that. A few years ago, we got quite

November 24, 2009 Cricket computer games | reviews, previews and downloads | PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii

Ashes Cricket 2009 Wii review

< 1 minute readThe Wii version of Ashes Cricket 2009 is quite different from other formats. Having played both, we’d also say it was worse. Batting technique Don’t imagine that you’ll be playing hooks and drives. What you will actually be doing is carrying out a pendulous swing as if you’re putting a

November 23, 2009 England

Adil Rashid treated like an English leg spinner

< 1 minute readEngland are going to have to watch this. It’s not deliberate, but if you had to design some tactics to erode a player’s confidence, what they’re doing to Adil Rashid might be what you’d come up with. In the summer, Rashid started the one-day series against Australia well and promptly