Blog: long reads on cricket
Original long reads on tactics, history, science, culture and the future of the game.
How selectors pick a Test bowling attack, weighing pitch, conditions, workload and series context to blend pace, swing, seam and spin into a balanced unit.
Tactics Ones and Twos: The Quiet Skill That Keeps Innings AliveWhy turning the strike over matters as much as hitting boundaries: how singles ease pressure, disrupt bowlers and build the platform for big scoring.
Tactics Left Hand, Right Hand: Why Bowlers Dread the Mixed PairHow a left-hander and right-hander batting together disrupt bowlers lines and lengths, force constant field changes and break a fielding side rhythm.
Tactics Under the Lights: What Really Changes in a Pink-Ball TestA look at day-night Test cricket: how the pink ball behaves, why dusk can be dangerous for batters, and how tactics and scheduling adapt under floodlights.
Tactics Two Jobs, One Man: How an All-Rounder Reshapes the XIHow having a genuine all-rounder alters the balance of an eleven, from batting depth and bowling options to captaincy choices and the risks of overreach.
Tactics Reacting or Plotting: The Difference Between Field and PlanThe contrast between bowling to a field set for you and bowling to a plan of your own, and why proactive bowlers tend to dismiss good…
Tactics The Yorker: Cricket’s Most Unforgiving DeliveryWhy landing a fast, full ball at the batter toes is so hard, what goes wrong when it fails, and how bowlers practise the yorker until…
Tactics Staying Calm in the Chase: The Mind Game of a TargetWhat goes on inside a chasing team: how required rates, risk, partnerships and clear thinking help batters stay calm when the scoreboard is closing in.