King Cricket

December 22, 2022 Extras

The 2022 Festivus holding page: The Boxing Day Tests

2 minute readA few years ago we hit on a characteristically half-arsed approach to covering the Boxing Day Tests. We flag what matches are taking place in advance, wish everyone a happy Festivus and then cross our fingers and hope that something passing for informative reportage materialises in the comments section. It

December 21, 2022 England / Features

Six things older than Rehan Ahmed

4 minute readLast week Rehan Ahmed became England’s youngest debutant and soon after the youngest men’s Test debutant to take a five-wicket haul. But just how young is he really? Age is famously just a number (in this case 18), so maybe we can get a clearer perspective on his youth by

December 19, 2022 England / Pakistan

Rehan Ahmed: first look in Test cricket

3 minute readWe don’t believe you can draw meaningful conclusions from players’ debuts – but we report on them anyway. We have a track record of getting overexcited about 18-year-old leg-spinning all-rounders. It worked out last time though, so the way we see it, it makes perfect sense to get completely overexcited again.

December 16, 2022 Australia

Sydney Thunder were cut by the thunder

< 1 minute readSeam bowler Brendan Doggett top scored for Sydney Thunder today after hitting the only ball he faced which didn’t dismiss him for four runs. The Thunder didn’t even bat long enough for extras to outscore him. All out for 15. Not a great effort. Bad enough, surely, to warrant use

December 14, 2022 England / Pakistan

Karachi Test pitch preview with Archimedes

3 minute readWhile England’s hell-for-leather batting approach of the first Test was again seen in the second, it was often tempered by either (a) conditions or (b) getting out. What we can conclude from this is that pitches matter. So what can we expect from the National Stadium in Karachi for the

December 12, 2022 England / Pakistan

Five talking points after England’s fourth-ever Test win in Pakistan (and second in a fortnight)

5 minute readThe second Test was “a differently played game” according to Ben Stokes. It still resulted in England winning in Pakistan though, which is not a thing that had happened too often until this month. The match has left us with quite a few half-baked thoughts rolling around our largely empty

December 9, 2022 England / Pakistan

Abrar Ahmed: first look in Test cricket

2 minute readWe don’t believe you can draw meaningful conclusions from players’ debuts – but we report on them anyway. How very Pakistan to fight fire with magic. How very Pakistan to have a random pile of spare magic just lying around waiting to be used in a Test match – this time

December 7, 2022 England / Pakistan

Multan Test pitch preview with Fred Durst

3 minute readEngland’s win over Pakistan in Rawalpindi has given rise to several highly annoying articles asking whether Ben Stokes’ team are changing Test cricket forever. Maybe a bit, maybe not so much. Does it matter? Can’t it just be a great Test victory on a fairly awful pitch? Because that really

December 5, 2022 England / Pakistan

Are Stokes and McCullum right? Is a win bigger than a loss?

3 minute readIt was a win that England were racing to catch from the outset. The Test began with Zak Crawley hitting three fours off Naseem Shah’s opening over and it ended with the light meters out. Ben Stokes’ men never really slowed in between. Even if England hadn’t won, you’d have

December 5, 2022 England / Pakistan

Will Jacks: first look in Test cricket

2 minute readWe don’t believe you can draw meaningful conclusions from players’ debuts – but we report on them anyway. England have a long and rich history of travelling to the subcontinent and handing out caps to spin bowling all-rounders who they wouldn’t ordinarily pick for either their batting or their bowling. These