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Reverse Swept Radio: An podcast on cricket's past, present and its literature
Episodes
Monday Jul 12, 2021
Monday Jul 12, 2021
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy rediscovers the joy of bowling, and Toby enjoys a 'shock' England call-up
"These days, like so many batsman who don't really bowl, I attempt offspin. Much to my astonishment, my second ball turned and hit middle stump. I had so little faith in my bowling, that I didn't celebrate but assumed that the keeper had knocked the bails off."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (8'25): Samuel Beckett, the cricketer
"I recently read a theory that Waiting for Godot is all about cricket. At the heart of the play is the question of how you keep an audience glued to their seats while everything happened for several days? A perfect description for cricket. ."
THE REVIEW (17'15): Sweet Summers: The Classic Cricket Writing of JM Kilburn, edited by Duncan Hamilton
"Toby, where do you rank him on the curmudgeon spectrum? Andy, that's called leading the witness."
Recorded 10 July 2021
Saturday Jun 19, 2021
Saturday Jun 19, 2021
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Controversy at Windsor Great Park, and two intriguing tests
"We had a lovely afternoon that degenerated horribly in the last ten minutes. To the extent that many didn't shake hands at the end."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (7'30): Dennis Lillee's Aluminium Bat
"Lillee didn't pretend that this was anything other than a promotional stunt. Unlike in baseball, this wasn't about enhancing performance. It was about getting product on TV just before Christmas to boost the sales."
THE REVIEW (15'25): John Arlott: Cricket's Radical Voice (BBC radio documentary produced by Mark Whitaker)
"Arlott could take people with him who perhaps others couldn't. There were many who would shrink from what would be seen as a left-wing militant cause, but would see Arlott's support and then follow it."
Recorded 17 June 2021
Sunday May 16, 2021
Sunday May 16, 2021
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Twitter chooses a favourite county, and bamboo bats
"Most persuasively, support Worcestershire because the pavilion has a choice of 20 homemade cakes. Interestingly, many encouraged supporting any county but Surrey."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (8'50): Charles Studd's remarkable journey from midwicket to missionary
"Perhaps there is some crossover between the energy and drive that makes you become an international sportsperson or go around the world as a missionary."
THE REVIEW (16'50): David Townsend's Do They Play Cricket in Ireland
"Your appetite for the book depends on your appetite for Irish cricket and for drinking based anecdotes and other stories."
Recorded 13 May 2021
Monday Apr 12, 2021
Monday Apr 12, 2021
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: County commentary, and the joy of being part of a longstanding cricket team
"Every game there would be a couple of players who turned up not having been to bed, smelling a bit funny, and with pupils bigger than a cricket ball."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (7'55): A Hoax and a War: Peter Smith's Thirteen Year Wait for a Test Debut
"Smith asks Wyatt whether he's in the starting XI, and Wyatt confesses that he hadn't expected to see him there. In a moment of beautiful Englishness, he had seen Smith in the changing room and decided to say nothing."
THE REVIEW (15'44): Prashant Kidambi's Cricket Country
"The travelling supporters was a group of high-caste vegetarian Hindus. A little different from the way that the Barmy Army team operates"
Recorded 10 April 2021
Monday Mar 15, 2021
Monday Mar 15, 2021
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Looking forward to watching county cricket, and Cricket the Musical in Sydney
"I'm not expecting to go out for a pint with Kumar Roach after the game, but we can still be nattering at the boundary edge."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (9'35): The Headingley Ashes Test, 2001
"At the beginning of the summer, Butcher had been in such horrible form that he had been playing for the Surrey Second XI. The chairman of selectors for the England test team, at the end of the season, was happy to state that Butcher owed his place simply to the lack of options elsewhere."
THE REVIEW (21'35): Tatenda Taibu's Keeper of Faith: Cricket, Conflict and God in Zimbabwe's Age of Extremes
"Miles Jupp points that you read this book thinking that it's a tragedy that Taibu didn't play more international cricket. But it's also remarkable that he played the game for as long as he did, given all that he went through."
Recorded 14 March 2021
Sunday Feb 21, 2021
Sunday Feb 21, 2021
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: A farewell to Faf du Plessis, and travelling back to 1939 courtesy of a wedding present
"There's an advert for visiting Jamaica that boasts that it's 'only twelve days' travel from London'."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (8'50): The Hick Declaration, 1995
"There's no anger or open sign of rebellion. The camera pans across shocked looking England fans, who were clearly up for a celebration, and Hick can only manage a half raised bat to acknowledge their applause."
THE REVIEW (19'05): County Cricket Matters
"There is so much to enjoy here. For a publication that is so new, it feels like it has already found its voice."
Recorded 20 February 2021
Monday Feb 08, 2021
Monday Feb 08, 2021
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Joe Root's lockdown viewing, welcoming a future test cricketer, and a jawdropping shot at the BBL
"When you're in those first, sleep-deprived moments of parenthood, I'd imagine that having a test match on in the background must be a great thing."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (9'20): More cricketing etymology, including the origins of the word 'cricket'
"This is where I'm going to get really Tudor with some of my pronunciations."
THE REVIEW (19'05): The Cricketer, February 2021 edition
"I know that cricket administration matters, and I'm very grateful to journalists for keeping the administrators honest. But I couldn't help craving more cricket, and finding the administrative stuff homework reading."
Recorded 6 February 2021
Friday Jan 15, 2021
Friday Jan 15, 2021
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Cricket (possibly) at the African Games, and Toby returns to club cricket
"My fellow opener had spent the off season lovingly knocking in his bat, only to nick one through to the keeper first ball of the innings. At least it proved his edges were well knocked in."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (7'50): The remarkable stories of Donald Weekes
"An actor who played Othello in Moscow. A painter whose works were exhibited in Paris. A Hollywood screenwriter. A basketball player for Barbados. A sparring partner of Muhammad Ali. Donald Rudolph Weekes was supposedly all of these. And we haven’t even got to the cricket."
THE REVIEW (18'05): The Wisden Cricket Monthly, January 2021 edition
"If you wonder what Michael Vaughan's been up to, he's been distilling Declaration Gin. If you'd like a bottle, write in to the magazine."
Recorded 16 January 2021
Monday Jan 04, 2021
Monday Jan 04, 2021
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Fawad Alam's masterful ducking, and the chance to spend a whole day listening to the test
"Wagner defied two broken toes to bowl with energy and aggression. And he finally got his man."
INTERVIEW (7'20): Chris Smith, from The Declaration Game
"My process is what sometimes gets criticised in wider society: the echo chamber effect of Twitter."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (25'30): The tragedy and triumph of the 1953 Christmas Eve test
"When a country's at its lowest, we look to sportsmen to be our heroes. But what a burden to carry when there's a personal connection too."
THE REVIEW (36'05): The Champion (radio play about the life of WG Grace, 1993)
"We hear about Australians not knowing what a roller is. Instead, they go into the village, find the person with the biggest feet, and ask them to tramp down the pitch."
Recorded 2 January 2021
Monday Nov 30, 2020
Monday Nov 30, 2020
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Tottenham Hotspur take to cricket, and a day out at the WBBL
"I'm intrigued by where midfielder Eric Dier gets his wicket keeping gloves from."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (8'45): The Tendulkar Run-Out Riots
"If you gave me the choice between being stoned or appled, I'd probably take the apple."
THE REVIEW (18'35): The Strange Death of English Leg Spin by Justin Parkinson (published 2015)
"You had international bowlers frequently unable to land it on the pitch. Warner became embarrassed at the number of balls from his star bowler that would bounce multiple times before reaching the batsman."
Recorded 29 November 2020