King Cricket

August 29, 2022 Match report

Ben Stokes was at best only partly responsible for the most exciting moment of the second Test

3 minute readWe were at Old Trafford on Friday for the Bens’ hundreds. There were some tense moments and some exciting moments and Ben Stokes didn’t play a direct role in all of them. We’re not sure whether his pride was pricked by this old match report, but the day began with

August 24, 2022 England

Ollie Robinson has been given a golden opportunity to develop a new ailment

< 1 minute readThat feels the most likely outcome here. You pick Ollie Robinson and generally something goes wrong with him. This time around our money’s on – ooh, let’s see – auto-brewery syndrome. To whisk through Robinson’s last few months once again, it’s gone back spasm, back spasm, tooth infection, food poisoning,

August 23, 2022 County cricket

We have one big question about The Hundred TV graphics

2 minute readWe watched some of The Hundred last night. We watched it the way we have watched so much cricket over the years: with the sound down slightly too low while having a conversation about something entirely unrelated. The experience reminded us that the on screen graphics remain a major source

August 22, 2022 England / South Africa

Ben Stokes should probably try and nail a second draft of England’s game before promising to rewrite Test cricket

2 minute readIt’s good to be ambitious and open minded and not hidebound by the past. It’s maybe not quite so smart to talk about how you’re going to rewrite how Test cricket is played – particularly if you’re England. Ben Stokes has mostly spoken well since he took on the captaincy,

August 18, 2022 England / South Africa

Did you see… Dean Elgar elbowing himself out?

2 minute readThe scorecard says Dean Elgar was bowled by James Anderson. The scorecard is keeping a lot of important detail to itself there. To recap what happened, Anderson hit Elgar on the thigh, the ball bounced back towards the bowler, only for Elgar to inadvertently elbow it backwards again. The ball

August 16, 2022 England / South Africa

Is England v South Africa a series we should care about?

2 minute readIt’s the fun question that now launches all series and tournaments: “Why should I care about this?” When there’s wall-to-wall cricket, nothing can be taken for granted – these days you have to take the time to work out which matches actually matter. No matter how seriously a team says

August 12, 2022 Extras

King Cricket backers rewarded with early access to non-King Cricket thing

2 minute readHere’s a quick update on our Patreon campaign, which we haven’t really mentioned in a while, other than in passing. It’s to do with Pat Cummins. If you don’t know what we’re on about with this whole Patreon thing, the details are here. It’s basically the crowdfunder that keeps the

August 10, 2022 England / Features

Where are Jason Roy’s foundations? Do white ball specialists need more time in the middle?

5 minute readJason Roy isn’t at his best. He’s not even in a place where he can try and bat at his best. How can a white ball specialist like him get back into good batting form these days? Let’s start in the obvious place with a story about a speed skater.

August 8, 2022 Australia / England / India / New Zealand

Lesson from the Commonwealth Games: the team that wins absolutely every single game is a good team

2 minute readWe’ve been here before. Australia are still the team that wins everything – this time gold at the Commonwealth Games. As far as on-the-nose victory anthems go, We Are The Champions by Queen still rules the roost. Comedy writer/actor Stephen Merchant used to talk about trying to write a rival

August 5, 2022 Extras

How cricket administrators see cricketers and why they’re wrong

2 minute readWe generally try and avoid reading or hearing comments from those entrusted with organising the world of cricket. It’s not a nice world. This is not going to be a long or particularly coherent article. We just want to pick out a couple of quotes we’ve seen this week –

The problem with keeping a lid on a potential brouhaha is that the pressure builds until an unexpected kerfuffle escapes.…

Whether the post-Ashes media is in brouhaha or kerfuffle mode I wouldn’t dare to suppose. But it would be totes…

Big fan of a brouhaha. Much better than a kerfuffle.

In other, only slightly related news... ...I spent a few minutes this morning watching The Hundred auction. Just a few…

It's not about the format, or the matches, it's about our interest in the individuals. We find we enjoy the…

Did you see… Harry Brook’s first ball in Melbourne? Unquestionably the 2025/26 Ashes’ finest moment

Sky Sports has boiled its Ashes coverage down to its purest and greatest form: Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain standing there talking about what’s gone wrong

The 2019 Ridiculous Ashes (podcast)

The 50 Most Ridiculous Ashes Moments is definitely out now – you should buy it for someone! (Possibly yourself)

51. Michael Vaughan Declines A Crushing