King Cricket

The 2021 Festivus holding page: The Boxing Day Tests and ancient Ashes

< 1 minute readA few years ago we hit on a suitably 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 leave you all to cobble together a kind of fragmentary, disjointed log of any major developments in

December 21, 2021 Australia / England

Should England have rocked up without a plan? Were they mentally exhausted before they even began?

3 minute readWe’re not lodging this as an official criticism. More just raising it as something to think about. How much does England’s insane obsession with tours Down Under drain the players before they’ve even arrived? It was Jos Buttler’s first innings dismissal in Adelaide that made us think of this (and

December 20, 2021 Australia / England

Jos Buttler took some fine catches and made a double ball hundred but all we’ll remember is the terrible drop and when he trod on his stumps

2 minute readHistory is not just written by the victors. When it’s a particularly bad defeat, the losers make doubly certain to note down all the really awful moments too. Jos Buttler made a fourth innings double ball hundred in Adelaide. In a series where England have so far displayed almost zero

December 16, 2021 Australia / England

Maybe England should have picked a sixth right-arm fast-medium bowler

2 minute readAs a parent of young children, we encounter our fair share of repetition. Green bottles, speckled frogs, monkeys on a bed, little men in a flying saucer. Nothing could prepare us for England’s second Test bowling attack though. If there is one thing England have been sure of these last

December 14, 2021 Australia / England

Which bowlers should England pick to cure their terrible top order batting

2 minute readThe second Ashes Test sees England arrive at the ground where a far better batting side than them was bowled out for 36 this time last year. It therefore stands to reason that the debate is about exactly which combination of tail-enders they should pick. England are not a great

December 13, 2021 Australia / England

If you’re going to win the toss and collapse in an Ashes Test then…

< 1 minute readThere is a very easy way in which England could have collapsed even more comprehensively in the first Test. They could have picked their two all time greatest duck-makers, James Anderson and Stuart Broad. It was a missed opportunity, but it’s not like the two men haven’t been involved in

December 10, 2021 Australia / England

Root and Silverwood have the Jack Leach that they created

3 minute readThe England Test team run by Joe Root and Chris Silverwood is not big on picking spinners. It is even less big on picking Jack Leach. A rare appearance in the first Ashes Test saw the left-armer get walloped, so how comfortable will the two head honchos be about picking

December 8, 2021 Australia / England

Let’s start at the start. Exactly how short was Rory Burns’ innings?

2 minute readWhat is the start? Is the first ball the start? (Rory Burns bowled for 0.) Is the first session the start? (England 59-4.) The first innings? The first day? (England 147 all out.) Maybe the whole of the first Test match is the start. (Well at least there’s rain around.)

December 7, 2021 Australia / England

We’re more than happy to stump up for BT Sport for a month or two but maybe the BBC highlights will work just fine for you

2 minute readWe’ve often bemoaned the inflexible, out-of-date way broadcasters sell sport to consumers, but things have definitely improved in recent years. Obviously the ideal is that any given Test series is broadcast on a channel you already have. Failing that, all we ask is that there’s a way to see the action

December 6, 2021 Australia / England

Fifth Ashes Test + 14-day quarantine requirements could have equalled one of the all-time great England team selections

2 minute readThe fifth Ashes Test is a very important thing, even when – in fact, especially when it’s a dead rubber. We hereby retract our knee jerk suggestion that they simply abandon the match in light of the two teams’ decision not to travel to Perth because of Western Australia’s 14-day