Reverse Swept Radio - a cricket podcast

Reverse Swept Radio 144 - A Cricket Podcast

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy finally makes his Trent Bridge debut, and Toby enjoys a flight of fancy about a rule change.

"I was wondering whether it was Sherwood Forest in the distance. Which may be completely geographically inaccurate."

FROM THE ARCHIVES (6'45): The cricket career of Lord Byron

"His captain wrote 'Byron should never have been in the XI had my counsel been taken'."

THE REVIEW (14'00): One Test Wonders podcast, hosted by Brian Murgatroyd

"Tony Pigott comes up with the wonderful assertion that if he had been playing in the previous test, England would have won."

Recorded on 21 September 2021

Reverse Swept Radio 143 - A Cricket Podcast

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Back at Lord's post-pandemic, and rediscovering the joy of net sessions in lockdown

"It's the grabbing by the scruff of the neck that I particularly like. It feels like exactly the right way for an MCC member to express their disgust."

FROM THE ARCHIVES (8'00): Cricket and excuses

"The match reports talk about the excellence of the bowling, not the fact that none of the batsmen could lift their arms because their shirts were too tight."

THE REVIEW (19'05): Cape Summer and the Australians in England by Alan Ross 

"Describing the pitch, Ross reaches for an unexpected metaphor: 'perhaps as for tired businessmen who like a night out, a single frolic sufficed for a long time'."

Recorded on 30 August 2021

Reverse Swept Radio 142 - A Cricket Podcast

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Watching The Hundred, the changing language of cricket, and marking the death of John Woodcock 

"Would I go again? I would go if asked by people I wanted to spend the evening drinking with."

FROM THE ARCHIVES (9'10): The history of Vigoro

"If you're a fervent cricket or a fervent tennis fan, perhaps it was hard to see how this new hybrid fitted into your life, and quite why you need it."

THE REVIEW (17'25): Spinwash '93 (Sky Sports, available on YouTube) 

"If you want to know how you can eat a creme caramel in one gulp, it's worth watching this."

Recorded 7 August 2021

Reverse Swept Radio 141 - A Cricket Podcast

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

Reverse Swept Radio 140 - A Cricket Podcast

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

Reverse Swept Radio 139 - A Cricket Podcast

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

Reverse Swept Radio 138 - A Cricket Podcast

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

Reverse Swept Radio 137 - A Cricket Podcast

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

Reverse Swept Radio 136 - A Cricket Podcast

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

Reverse Swept Radio 135 - A Cricket Podcast

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