Reverse Swept Radio - a cricket podcast

FIVE MINUTE FORTNIGHT: The nobility and intrigue of early season county cricket; playing against the brother of an ex England captain in an Essex club game; and why Zimbabwe and Bangladesh need to pull their socks up.

"In terms of mental maturity, these are two batting line ups with a long way to go"

FROM THE ARCHIVES (8'20 onwards): Nasser Hussain and the 2002 Brisbane toss

"By the end of day one, all optimism has gone."

THE REVIEW (17'10 onwards): The Nightwatchman, Wisden's new quarterly

"Neither magazine nor book, but somewhere in between"

THE INTERVIEW (23'45 onwards): Nishant Joshi, editor of Alternative Cricket Almanac

"There's nowhere else on earth that you can experience that kind of thing... except sometimes in the Big Bash League"

THE DEBATE (44'55 onwards): Can dropping yourself ever be a sign of true leadership?

"If Ricky Ponting came and played for my club side, it wouldn't make us perform any better"

Recorded on 1/5/2013

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FIVE MINUTE FORTNIGHT: How we learned to stop worrying and love the IPL, County Cricket is back (welcome back long lost friend),the ICC Intercontinental Cup is slightly mad and BPL organizers should be less tight.

"I challenge any cricket fan not to be excited by the sight of Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting going out to bat together."

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Wisden at 150

"Nowhere else in the world are you going to find the top scorers of the English public schools sitting side by side with the top scorers in the IPL."

THE REVIEW: Pundits from Pakistan - Rahul Bhattacharya

""Laxman poked, missed, bent over and generally responded like a man whom knives were being thrown at" - It's genius."

THE DEBATE: Is it possible to select a player on talent even when performance isn't there?

"We risk descending into a massive argument about semantics."

Recorded on 14/4/2013

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THE 5 MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Umar Gul takes 5-6 (again!), NZ's improbable heroes, the Bangladesh Cricket Board decides to settle for draws and we worry about whether there will be cricket on the fifth day of the Ashes test at Lords.

("You are basically rewarding mediocrity")

FROM THE ARCHIVES: A Brief History of New Zealand Cricket

("I'm going to quote from Charles Darwin's "The Voyage of the Beagle"")

THE REVIEW: Not Dark Yet - Mike Harfield

("You get half way through an over and then there's a discussion on the Falklands War")

THE DEBATE: Does cricket needs to do more to address the issue of recreational drug use?

("There's always been an unwritten pact that the players do what they want as long as it doesn't affect them on the field")

Recorded on 9/3/2013

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THE 5 MINUTE FORTNIGHT: South Africa need to stop ruining test cricket, Zimbabwe need to stop shooting themselves in the foot, Ricky Ponting is still making runs and the discovery of the most beautiful ground in the world.

"I've never seen anything which is quite this bold and extraordinary"

FROM THE ARCHIVES: The curious tale of the International 20:20 Championship

"Having 3 bowl-outs in Leicestershire's indoor cricket school must have been a fairly miserable start to this tournament"

THE REVIEW: The Chinaman - Shehan Karunatilaka

"Pradeep Matthews can bowl both left-handed and right-handed"

THE DEBATE: Was England women's cricket team acting within the Spirit of Cricket in their game against West Indies?

"Commentators didn't quite know what to say"

Recorded on 7/2/2013

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THE 5 MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Why the ECB should be applauded for going after the touts, Sri Lanka remember how to fight, flyingbat-gate and remembering CMJ.

"It was a fairly casual toss but still"

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Cricket in the Snow

"Gower went back to where his car was and there was a massive hole in the ice"

THE REVIEW: End of An Innings - Denis Compton

How a glass of whisky helped Compton to FA Cup final glory

THE INTERVIEW: Philip Brown, Cricket Photographer

"I thought I was going to take a nice picture of a monkey. Didn't happen."

THE DEBATE: "Sarah Taylor playing professional men's cricket would be good for the women's game."

"Have you not taken a greater interest in dancing girls since T20 arrived?

Recorded on 19/1/2013

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5 MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Including Chris Gayle's return to Windies' colours and England v Australia

(Since when did beating Australia begin to feel routine?)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Cricketers away from Cricket

(Can you get any cooler than being an international cricketer who collects cheetahs?)

THE BOOK REVIEW: (a film) Out of the Ashes

("As you know there are a lot of problems in the world today - the solution to all of them is cricket" - Taj Malik, former Afghanistan coach)

THE DEBATE: Should Lords get a roof?

("It would probably take a day and a half to get the roof on and off")

THE INTERVIEW: Umair Qazi of the Well Pitched Blog

(On Pakistan's recent success, Mohammad Amir, Hammad Azam and why Pakistan produces great swing bowlers)

Recorded on 16/7/2012

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The history of the box (or what Bradman called his "confidence protector")

Review of Cricinfo (how ball-by-ball commentary changed the world)

Raucous debate - "Should counties consider England when they sign overseas players?"

(Toby - "I think you've fundamentally misthought this")

And why KP should talk less

Recorded on 14/4/2012

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Why we like Saed Ajmal's smile and his spin bowling and why it's good that batting collapses are back

Review of Duncan Hamilton's "A Last English Summer" (quite possibly the best book we've ever reviewed . . .)

A little slice of Pakistan - the peculiar tale of cricket in the UAE

Debate on whether cricket without a crowd is a game without a purpose (Toby likes having the ground to himself)

Recorded on 27/1/2012

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When Kenya were kings - remembering Kenya's heroics in the 2003 World Cup

Review of Peter Roebuck's "Tangled Up in White" (including the pursuit for the perfect batting "formula")

Debate over whether there is in any point in trying to bowl at 100 mph (including an agreement that Toby will bat against an angry Fidel Edwards)

Reflecting on how Australia really didn't stay bad for very long

(Apologies for any sound quality issues - this is what happens when you have to share on working microphone between 2 people)

Recorded on 7/1/2012

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Reflections on famous wins for Pakistan and Zimbabwe, how a catering company brought commercial cricket to Australia, Simon Hughes' A Lot of Hard Yakka and is there any point in a 2 test series?

Recorded on 1/11/2011

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