King Cricket

March 31, 2008 County cricket

Rikki Clarke, Derbyshire

< 1 minute readDon’t laugh. We’ll admit it is a bit counter-intuitive, but we’re intrigued. Rikki Clarke was picked for England at a young age and while he didn’t disgrace himself, his bowling clearly wasn’t international standard, so he’s something of a figure of fun. Last year, both his batting and bowling aspired

March 31, 2008 County cricket

Cricketers to watch in 2008

< 1 minute readIt’s pretty much April and there aren’t many fixtures this week, so let’s get on with this season’s Ones To Watch. As usual, names will appear below as more are added throughout the week. We’ll give a little away by telling you who’s not appearing though. Mark Davies isn’t appearing,

March 29, 2008 India / South Africa

Rahul Dravid: best bridesmaid ever

< 1 minute readRahul Dravid hit his 10,000th Test run today en route to his 25th Test hundred. It’s a little bit overshadowed by Sehwag’s triple hundred, but that’s pretty much the way it goes for Dravid. Dravid was very much the support act for Sehwag yesterday, hitting 68 in a partnership worth

March 28, 2008 India / South Africa

Virender Sehwag hits fastest 300

< 1 minute readVirender Sehwag has now hit the fastest Test triple hundred. He was always likely to achieve it, which is perhaps the biggest compliment of all. A freak innings like Nathan Astle’s is one thing, but Sehwag does this kind of thing consistently. At the close of play Virender Sehwag was

March 28, 2008 India / South Africa

Virender Sehwag hits tenth successive hundred in excess of 150

2 minute readThat’s not a particularly arresting statistic on first glance, but think about it. When Virender Sehwag passes 100 he almost always hits in excess of 150. That’s something. A running theme of this site of late has been the importance of imposing yourself on the opposition. We alluded to it

March 28, 2008 Australia / County cricket / Pakistan

Hampshire lose Warne while Sussex keep Mushtaq

< 1 minute readWell that’s made the County Championship a damn sight easier to predict. Mushtaq Ahmed has played more of a part in deciding the competition than any other single player in recent years. He’s being allowed to play for Sussex despite competing in the naughty Twenty20 league, the ICL. He’ll be

March 27, 2008 India / South Africa

Hashim Amla beards a hundred

< 1 minute readThe verb ‘to beard’ means to carry out any action whatsoever whilst sporting a smashing beard. India have been on a bit of a high after winning the interminable CB Series in Australia. They’re returning to earth at great speed now, after South Africa scored 540 in the first Test.

March 27, 2008 Sri Lanka / West Indies

Malinda Warnapura counters Marvan Atapattu comparisons

2 minute readMalinda Warnapura was out first ball on his debut against Bangladesh, but he’s avoided following in Marvan Atapattu’s footsteps since then. Atapattu benefitted from a good deal of generosity from the Sri Lankan selectors at the start of his career. His first few innings read as follows: 0, 0, 0,

March 26, 2008 England / New Zealand

Monty Panesar’s celebration

< 1 minute readThere it is. We haven’t seen much of it this winter, but the grin, run and airborne five got a welcome airing as England won the final Test to take a 2-1 win. Is there a dedicated recipient of the airborne five? It seems to be choreographed well enough that

March 26, 2008 England / New Zealand

Tim Southee suffers THE RAGE

< 1 minute readFor some reason New Zealand demoted Tim Southee from number nine to number ten in their second innings. Southee was clearly irked by this and promptly hit New Zealand’s fastest-ever Test fifty in a magnificent display powered by THE RAGE. England’s fielders thought they were being clever when Southee came