King Cricket

September 8, 2025 England

Even after scoring a hundred, Jacob Bethell isn’t doing his job

3 minute readJacob Bethell finally scored his first professional hundred and did so in fine style. He’s still not doing his job in England’s one-day team though, because he’s being picked as half an all-rounder. Even at this early juncture, it feels like there isn’t a right lot to say about Bethell’s

September 4, 2025 County cricket

The counties are pointlessly arguing the finer points of yet another impenetrable bonkers compromise. This is exactly why we ended up with The Hundred

5 minute readIt’s county cricket revamp discussion season again. Except really it’s always county cricket revamp discussion season. When we reported on county cricket’s latest structural review on the first day of the season, we expressed not so much scepticism that anything meaningful might come of it, but cast iron certainty that

September 3, 2025 England

Sonny Baker: first look in ODIs

3 minute readWe don’t believe you can draw meaningful conclusions from players’ debuts – but we report on them anyway. We’ve never done one of these for limited overs cricket before, but Sonny Baker’s debut warrants comment as one of the most bathetic (yes, bathetic – not pathetic) entrances you’ll see. Baker had

September 1, 2025 India

Are R Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara coming to some random league near you?

3 minute readR Ashwin has retired from the IPL so that he can play in overseas leagues. It strikes us that the wording of Cheteshwar Pujara’s recent announcement was conspicuously specific too, stating that he was retiring from “all forms of Indian cricket.” What are your plans, lads? “They say every ending

August 27, 2025 Features / India

Cheteshwar Pujara is trying to sidle out on the sly – but we ain’t gonna let him, are we?

7 minute read“It’s going to be hot. It’s going to be flat. Who’s going to break first? Is it going to be us, or is it going to be them?” That’s what Justin Langer asked his team midway through the Boxing Day Test during the 2018/19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The answer was unequivocal,

August 21, 2025 Australia / England / Features

A 21st Century Worst XI for an Ashes Down Under

8 minute readEveryone loves a Combined XI. Yeah, sure, it’s usually a Best XI, but in these parts we deal in Worst XIs because they’re funnier. This particular one is specifically for an Ashes series played in Australia. How many of England’s upcoming tourists will feature in it? And will any Australians

August 18, 2025 Match report

Keep your enemies closer | a 2019 Edgbaston Ashes Test match report

2 minute readSend your match reports to king@kingcricket.co.uk. We’re only really interested in your own experience, so if it’s a professional match, on no account mention the cricket itself. (But if it’s an amateur match, feel free to go into excruciating detail.) Ged Ladd writes… Out of the blue, Nigel Father-Barry invited

August 14, 2025 County cricket / England / India

After the Lord Mayor’s Show of Test cricket… the crits of The Hundred

4 minute readAfter the Lord Mayor’s Show comes a cart to clear up all the horseshit. That is at least a very different thing from what preceded it, rather than merely a shorter version of the same thing that’s consequently far more limited in scope. In that sense The Hundred can at

August 12, 2025 Match report

Match report: Sixes, Fulham

2 minute readSend your match reports to king@kingcricket.co.uk. We’re only really interested in your own experience, so if it’s a professional match, on no account mention the cricket itself. (But if it’s an amateur match, feel free to go into excruciating detail.) Sam writes… Stag parties are typically raucous, rowdy affairs featuring

August 8, 2025 England

So who’s in England’s first choice Ashes bowling attack then?

4 minute readIn April 2024, Rob Key, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum told James Anderson they were looking to regenerate the England Test bowling attack ahead of the next Ashes and could he maybe provide them with another regeneration slot to help them in their efforts. Since then, they’ve given themselves plenty