King Cricket

November 14, 2022 Australia / England

So is everyone super-psyched about this Australia v England ODI series then?

2 minute readAn Australia v England series starts this week. The old rivalry. Always an edge to it, bragging rights, a chance to make some sort of statement, yadda, yadda, yadda… The 1986 John Hughes film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off features one of the all-time great film quotes. This is of course

November 13, 2022 England / Pakistan

Adil Rashid’s T20 World Cup final wicket maiden

2 minute readEveryone remembers the big over when a T20 batter lays into a bowler and the boundaries flow like overpriced beer in a cricket ground. What’s less obvious, but arguably more influential, is when an innings goes clanking off the rails with a trickle of downbeat gropes at thin air. Adil

November 11, 2022 England / Pakistan

The T20 World Cup final is on Channel 4 on Sunday and possibly also Monday

< 1 minute readUK readers are probably already aware of this, but just in case you’re not: Sky Sports have again done the surprisingly decent thing of agreeing to share the broadcast of England v Pakistan in the T20 World Cup final with Channel 4. The match is due to start at 8am

November 10, 2022 England / India

Adil Rashid, India’s top three and a premature death

3 minute readThey talk a lot about ‘the death’ in T20 cricket. We’re not sure it’s an appropriate label for the latter stages of India’s T20 World Cup semi-final innings. They were already on life support after six overs and rigor mortis had pretty much set in by the end of the

November 9, 2022 New Zealand / Pakistan

Slog of the Day: Kane Williamson v Pakistan

2 minute readKane Williamson is a weird-arsed T20 player. He’s been one of the best batters in the world for years, but quite often seems to serve less as a run-scorer and more as a comfort blanket. Williamson made 40 off 40 balls when New Zealand failed to chase 180 against England

November 6, 2022 Pakistan / South Africa

South Africa should have seen this coming as soon as Pakistan lost their first two games

2 minute readCricket has lots of laws, but also a couple of general rules. One rule is that Pakistan will generally defy expectations – whether high or low. Another is that South Africa will generally contrive a way of exiting world tournaments when everything seemed to be going swimmingly for them. South

November 4, 2022 Afghanistan / Australia

Did you see… David Warner’s suicidal switch-prod?

2 minute read‘David Warner b Naveen-ul-Haq’ really doesn’t do it justice. You need to see it. Or at least have it described to you alongside a handful of stills. The switch hit is right up there with cricket’s most hubristic shots. It arguably even surpasses the quite-possibly-smashing-it-straight-into-your-own-face peacocking of the ramp shot.

November 2, 2022 England

Hyperbole Watch: The Greatest Game on Sky Sports

4 minute readWhat’s Sky’s upcoming documentary, The Greatest Game, about then? It should be obvious really, shouldn’t it? You know, with a title like that. The Greatest Game. Let’s look for some clues. Well, it’s a moodily-lit Ben Stokes kinda documentary. But that doesn’t really pinpoint things. Now here is looking thoughtful-yet-resolute.

November 1, 2022 Extras

This net run rate season we have a wonderful gift for you

2 minute readWe’ve always disliked net run rate. Until now. Let’s first start with an explanation of the concept of net run rate, which should also double as an explanation of why we’ve always hated it. Net run rate is the average runs per over that a team scores, minus the average

October 31, 2022 India / South Africa

Slog of the Weekend: Aiden Markram v India

4 minute readWe’re late on this one, but please bear with us because there’s one particular element (a face, if you’re wondering) which should not be overlooked. Yesterday morning, King Cricket reader Ritesh drew attention to a wonky caption to a Getty photo he’d spotted. “Kohli celebrates after hitting the winning runs,”