King Cricket

September 18, 2025 Australia / England

The three silliest things Andrew McDonald said about Pat Cummins this week

2 minute readLook, every publication’s got its own way of covering Pat Cummins’ back injury and its possible impact on his participation in the Ashes. This is ours. (For what it’s worth, we have long suspected that for all the column inches devoted to them both, Cummins and Ben Stokes won’t be

September 15, 2025 County cricket

Are Surrey going to win the County Championship without hitting hundreds, taking wickets or winning games?

2 minute readThe draw is an unloved thing. No-one sings songs about finishing level because you’ve run out of time. You don’t get impassioned speeches of the oeuvre, ‘maybe it’ll rain this afternoon and we’ll get away with this one’. But draws are still important – some years more than others. Back

September 11, 2025 County cricket

The answer! The County Championship’s structural problems SOLVED

3 minute readYou’re no doubt aware that the counties are currently having a big old argument about how to alter the County Championship for future seasons. (And if you aren’t already aware, you’d surely assume that was the case anyway, because when have they not been arguing about that?) It’s been said

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