King Cricket

June 22, 2023 Australia / England

Why do we complain about declarations? Maybe because declarations feel easier to quantify

4 minute readFew declarations pass without public complaint, but Ben Stokes’ first innings declaration in the first Test of the 2023 Ashes was more controversial than most. People complained when it happened and then they really complained when England lost. England were 393-8, Joe Root was on 118 and Nathan Lyon had

June 20, 2023 Australia / England

A lesson from Pat Cummins: even bloody awful Ashes cricket is bloody brilliant

4 minute readIt just ratchets up, doesn’t it? The climax of a tight Test match ratchets up the tension and anguish to the same point a normal sport can take you… and then it just gleefully and sadistically carries on ratcheting from there. It keeps on ratcheting for maybe another hour of

June 20, 2023 Australia / England

Stuart Broad says England’s all-out attack will involve a fair bit of defence

3 minute readAttacking is great and defending is boring and attack is the best form of defence. Also – we don’t know if you’re aware of this – but sometimes defending can be a great way of attacking. But that’s still a type of attacking, okay? OKAY!? Swap ‘Bazball’ for ‘Numberwang’ and

June 19, 2023 Australia / England

Did you see… Harry Brook’s first over?

3 minute readThe Ashes has already delivered a great many remarkable moments, but few have been quite like Harry Brook coming on to bowl early on day two. It wasn’t so much that Brook was getting a bowl – it was when. It was inside the first hour and after two quick

June 15, 2023 England

Know your Bazball – an illustrated guide

2 minute readAre you settling in for the Ashes and finding yourself a bit perplexed by all the ‘Bazball’ talk? If you’re struggling to know what is and isn’t Bazball and don’t want to embarrass yourself by making a faux pas – fear not! Simply consult our short and informative illustrated guide…

June 15, 2023 Australia / England

Now TV might work out the cheapest way to watch the Ashes if all you really want to watch is the cricket

2 minute readIf you’re in the UK and you want to watch the Ashes, Now TV is probably your cheapest legal option. (If you sign up as a ‘new customer’ via any of the links on this page, we’ll get a small cut. Update: No, turns out we don’t actually. Apparently we

June 14, 2023 Australia / England

10 things to watch out for during the Ashes

7 minute readThe 2023 Ashes is almost here! And you’re not ready! You think you are, but you aren’t. You don’t know what to watch out for. But don’t worry, we’ve done the hard work for you and come up with this list. You need to watch out for these things… 1.

June 12, 2023 Australia / India

Maybe they should have a World Test Championship Final Premier League

2 minute readThe legitimacy of the World Test Championship was this week dealt a severe blow with Australia’s victory over India in the final. Throughout the civilised world, right-thinking people looked at the result and concluded that the format of the competition should probably be different somehow if this is the kind

June 9, 2023 Australia / India

Did Steve Smith find his hands in Sussex?

2 minute readSteve Smith’s run-scoring apparently depends on whether he does or does not know the whereabouts of his own hands. Given Smith didn’t make it out of the foothills in India but then made a hundred in the World Test Championship final, we can only presume he happened across them again

June 7, 2023 Australia / India

Hayden and Langer are offering their ‘insights’ on commentary during the World Test Championship final

< 1 minute readIf there was one thing that was highly awful about Test cricket in the early 2000s, it was having to endure Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer opening the batting for Australia. Then they retired and how we rejoiced. Only now Test cricket is even worse because they’re still around and