King Cricket

June 24, 2020 Australia

The Antagonists XI: a team we couldn’t bear to lose to

3 minute readThe basic premise of The Realm’s England XI is that it comprises players we love and can’t help but root for. To maximise excitement, they obviously have to play against a team we absolutely could not bear to lose to: The Antagonists XI. The first time we picked this team,

June 23, 2020 England

The Realm’s England XI – 11. Monty Panesar

2 minute readWe’re picking an England XI comprising the players we invested in the most. Turns out we’ve latched onto quite a few England spinners in recent years. We have always loved Adil Rashid very, very much while Moeen Ali rather snuck his way into our affections and shows no sign of

June 22, 2020 England

The Realm’s England XI – 10. James Anderson

< 1 minute readWe’re picking an England XI comprising the players we invested in the most. Once upon a time we worked on a helpdesk for those credit card type machines you get in shops where people top up their electricity and gas and pay-as-you-go mobile phones, back when going to a shop

June 19, 2020 England

The Realm’s England XI – 9. Steve Harmison

2 minute readWe’re picking an England XI comprising the players we invested in the most. We were watching a Sky thing the other day where Steve Harmison was reflecting on his career. At around the point that he became the number one ranked Test bowler, he went on tour to South Africa

June 18, 2020 England

The Realm’s England XI – 8. Darren Gough

< 1 minute readWe’re picking an England XI comprising the players we invested in the most. Darren Gough at eight is… well, it’s not great, is it? Except it is, because it means Darren Gough is in the team. Gough is in some ways the prototype for players we emotionally invest in. Firstly,

June 17, 2020 England

The Realm’s England XI – 7. Matt Prior

2 minute readWe’re picking an England XI comprising the players we invested in the most. We’ve got to be honest, there was more competition for some spots in this team than there was for others. This is entirely unsurprising. After all, you only ever play one wicketkeeper at a time. We did

June 16, 2020 England

The Realm’s England XI – 6. Andy Flintoff

2 minute readWe’re picking an England XI comprising the players we invested in the most. It’s easy to overthink these things. Let’s not fall into that trap. Andy Flintoff – and he was best back when he was Andy – was a cricketer we loved. It seems important with hindsight that Flintoff

June 15, 2020 England

The Realm’s England XI – 5. Paul Collingwood

2 minute readWe’re picking an England XI comprising the players we invested in the most. In 2017 we launched a campaign for Paul Collingwood to be included in England’s Ashes squad. No-one was more surprised than us that we’d ended up feeling that strongly about him. There are definitely two ends to

June 12, 2020 England

The Realm’s England XI – 4. Graeme Hick

< 1 minute readWe’re picking an England XI comprising the players we invested in the most. Graeme Hick was the best batsman in the world and he was going to play for England and England were going to have the best batsman in the world and WHY AREN’T YOU THE BEST BATSMAN IN

June 11, 2020 England

The Realm’s England XI – 3. Rob Key

2 minute readWe’re picking an England XI comprising the players we invested in the most. In 2002 Steve Waugh said of Rob Key: “He doesn’t give a shit about much and is real relaxed. I like that in a bloke; it stops him getting overawed.” As someone who at the time didn’t