Reverse Swept Radio - a cricket podcast

RSR 81 - A Cricket Podcast

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: "Writing Cricket" at the London Library's Words in the Square festival, the imminent start of the summer test series', the ECB annual report and remembering Tony Cozier. 

 

"He gets up and dedicates his Oscar to Dennis Compton." 

FROM THE ARCHIVES (16'41): Lady Adeline Milner on Cricket 

 

"She does talk about stopping the ball with petticoats - this is ungraceful and bad form. "

Available here

 

THE INTERVIEW (25'17): Owen Benton (@Benton3000)

"Looking at things from a statistical viewpoint encourages you to take a slightly longer view."

 

THE REVIEW (39'28): Cricket: The Game of Life - Scyld Berry 

 

"Struggling at a difficult northern boarding school, he takes refuge in the match reports of great Yorkshire teams past."

Recorded on 15/5/2016

RSR 80 - A Cricket Podcast

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Ben Duckett's breakthrough, James Taylor's dignity and courage in the face of his premature retirement, Grant Flower's frank assessment of Pakistan's lack of professionalism and a bong in the shape of Shane Warne's head. 

 

"I don't personally know what a speed dealer looks like." 

FROM THE ARCHIVES (12'13): The joy of cricket board games 

(including Owzthat, Calculator Cricket, Book Cricket, Armchair Cricket and the Test Match Game)

 

"These games are only as good as the imaginations of those playing them."

 

THE REVIEW (25'45): Fatty Batter - Michael Simkins

 

"A nudge into the crisp boxes at third man counts as a single."

 

Recorded on 24/4/2016

RSR 79 - A Cricket Podcast

TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: T20 cleverness (including Steve Smith's wandering and Virat Kohli's cool), the all stars turning up for county cricket, Boom Boom exits without a bang and pitch vandals ruin the hopes of Kingsville Baptist Church Cricket Club. 

"The pitch had been dug up at both ends and this kind of oily substance had been poured all over it."

FROM THE ARCHIVES (14'03): The Benefit Season

"Credit must be go to Hamish Marshall for livening up his benefit season with an invitation to "Spend an evening with two hookers"." 

THE REVIEW (22'52): 10 for 10: Hedley Verity and the Story of Cricket's Greatest Bowling Feat  - Chris Waters

"Waters has not only written a tribute to Hedley's brilliance but a tribute to the cricket writers of the time."

Recorded on 28/3/2016

RSR 78 - A Cricket Podcast

TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Remembering Martin Crowe, hope for Monty and a disappointing start to the World T20. 

"You're not getting a sense of the game being developed; you're getting a sense of "one in, one out"." 

FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'54): The Shane Warne Foundation

"Throughout this whole story, we've seen characteristics of the Shane Warne that we've known from his career."

THE REVIEW (23'23):  The Nightwatchman

"Often when cricket writing is at it's best, it's not about cricket at all."

Recorded on 13/3/2016

RSR 77 - A Cricket Podcast

TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: The joy of short leg brilliance, Toby's Big Bash love affair, farewell to the mighty Shiv and the misery of being out of form. 

"There was always something wonderfully tragic hero about him."

FROM THE ARCHIVES (13'24): Time for Tea

"After two dozen oysters and a bottle of the Chablis, our performance in the game became a little laboured."

THE REVIEW (24'01): Warriors 

"For cricket evangelists, it's wonderful to see the sport be taken up with gusto."

Recorded on 24/1/2016 

RSR 76 - A Cricket Podcast

TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: A glorious blockathon in Delhi, James Pattinson deciding to "stuff it", the Craig Overton controversy and the West Indies plumb the depths. 

"I'd rather not fly across the world to go to two days of a one-sided match."

FROM THE ARCHIVES (13'55): Cricket and the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award

"I think there's something that appeals to all of us about a player who was making the very most of the ability he had." 

THE REVIEW (24'42): The Cricket Monthly 

"Kumar Sangakarra arrived in London absolutely desperate to buy a house boat."

Recorded on 13/12/2015

RSR 75 - A Cricket Podcast

TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Nostalgia and a steam train at All Star Series Cricket, the utter brilliance of Kane Williamson, the frustrating impossibility of an India v Pakistan test series and the pain of a rained off cricket game. 

 

"One of the most inglorious and inept cricket sides I've ever played for . . . I say that only with a great deal of love and the statistics to back it up."

 

FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'11): Cricket in the Somme

 

"There is something inherently optimistic in the act of practising; if you're practising, you're saying that "I'm going to play this again, I will be back in England and play this sport"." 

 

THE REVIEW (18'56): The Wrong Line - Andrew Ramsey

 

"You're being paid to generate content even when no real news is forthcoming."

 

 

 

Recorded on 15/11/2015

 

RSR 74 - A Cricket Podcast

FIVE MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Early season excitement in Australia, a breakthrough victory for Afghanistan, the Chris Cairns perjury trial and Gloucestershire consider becoming Bristol. 

"Guns being fired in the streets - you don't get that in St John's Wood."

FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'30): Sarah Taylor - a quiet cricket revolutionary

"He would obviously have said this after a long lunch with lots of claret."

THE REVIEW (19'15): Netherland - Joseph O'Neill

"It's the dodgy entrepreneurs who have always played a role in spreading the game."

Recorded on 1/11/2015

RSR 73 - A Cricket Podcast

FIVE MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Saluting two country cricket stalwarts, Brad Haddin's dignity in retirement, farewell to the WACA and missing out on county cricket. 

"A pitch as legendary as any in cricket."

FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'27): "It's absolute chaos" - Pitch Invasions in Cricket

"His bat, helmet and gloves were all stolen."

THE REVIEW (20'45): Death of a Gentleman

"They perfectly capture the culture of impunity at the top of the game."

THE INTERVIEW (30'18): Sam Collins (cricket journalist and co-director of Death of a Gentleman)

"We are framing a moral scandal."

Recorded on 13/9/2015

RSR 72 - A Cricket Podcast

FIVE MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Explaining cricket to a newcomer at Lord's, how the struggles of Australia's men have been an inadvertent boost for Australia's women, not mentioning the Ashes to Australians and the football season getting in the way.

"I wonder if there's any other sport that can be enjoyed as much even when you have no knowledge of what's going on."

FROM THE ARCHIVES (8'30): Indigenous Australian Cricket - Part 2: 1870 to the Present Day

"Jack Marsh proved that he could bowl his fastest ball with his arm straight by strapping two bits of wood to his arm when he bowled . . . They still called him for no balls."

THE REVIEW (20'07): Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket - Christian Ryan

"Amongst the sadness, Hughes did still leave a special legacy."

Recorded on 15/8/2015