King Cricket

March 13, 2008 England / New Zealand

Tim Ambrose makes himself at home

< 1 minute readJonathan Agnew wrote today: “Tim Ambrose might be one of the shortest men currently playing Test cricket, but this man can bat.” We’d go further than that. We’d say, ‘Tim Ambrose might have attended Merewether Selective High, but he managed to hit two sixes’. We like a good non-sequitur. Before

March 12, 2008 England

Steve Harmison dropped

2 minute readThe graph doesn’t lie. Steve Harmison’s performances have been deteriorating for ages now. There wasn’t going to be an upturn. Last week Allan Donald revealed that Harmison had been scared while playing for England. There have been a lot of similar stories over the last year or so and they

March 12, 2008 England

Matthew Hoggard dropped

2 minute readThis is a bit of a weird one. What do you make of this? In a climate where senior players are being unjustifiably indulged, Matthew Hoggard’s had a bad game and he’s out on his ear. The long, slow descent towards Harmison’s dropping now seems unnecessarily cruel in its inevitability,

March 11, 2008 County cricket / India

Dimitri Mascarenhas signs for IPL’s Jaipur franchise

< 1 minute readDimi is quoted as saying: “I only hope that people will look back in 20 or 30 years time and say that I gave everything for a franchise I’ve supported since I was a boy.” He didn’t really say that. But someone might before too long, because people are, on

March 11, 2008 India

Kolkata name their IPL team

< 1 minute readThey’re going to be the Kolkata Knight Riders. Brilliantly, this isn’t even a joke. Writing this site gets easier by the day. This time next week, we fully expect Sohail Tanvir to change his name to Optimus Prime. But the Knight Riders aren’t the best-monikered IPL outfit. That honour has

March 11, 2008 County cricket

Swalec Stadium to host Ashes Test

< 1 minute readThe Swalec Stadium is going to host the first Ashes Test, but don’t worry, Lord’s and The Oval have still got their Tests and that’s the main thing. Actually, Edgbaston and Headingley have still got theirs as well. There hasn’t been a change in venue for the Ashes Tests at

March 9, 2008 England / New Zealand / South Africa

Kyle Mills shames England

2 minute readWe expected England to lose. They’re an insipid outfit at the minute. We didn’t expect them to get thrashed though. And they were thrashed. Getting bowled out for 110 is never too smart, but on this pitch it was jaw-dropping. Don’t let New Zealand’s 177-9 fool you. Runs were the

March 8, 2008 England / New Zealand

Ryan Sidebottom’s hat trick

< 1 minute readThree Ryan Sidebottoms, that’s what we’ve been campaigning for. He’s exceptional. Sidebottom actually started on a hat trick, having taken two wickets in two balls at the end of New Zealand’s first innings. He failed, but no matter, another hat trick opportunity soon arose. They’re nothing special. There’s nothing out

March 7, 2008 England / New Zealand

The ‘mighty mighty’ England

< 1 minute readWell we’d probably only have a go if England’s batsmen had got themselves out playing aggressively – let’s say that. We’d have bemoaned their lack of application and their inability to read a pitch and react accordingly. We’d have wondered where the old-fashioned virtue of patience had gone. We are

March 6, 2008 England / New Zealand

The power of intimidation

< 1 minute read‘Oh no, Paul Collingwood’s coming on to bowl. He’s England’s best bowler.’ ‘I thought Collingwood was good, but Pietersen’s EVEN BETTER. Where have they been hiding this guy.’ ‘Hoggard was looking in ominous form during that innings of two. That bodes badly for the rest of the series.’ Just some