Episodes
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy receives a message from a listener, and Toby ponders whether cricket's efforts to reduce carbon emissions may have some unintended consequences
"As a podcast host, it makes you feel very differently about the whole enterprise."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (12'00): England's victory in the dark: Karachi 2000
"England would later celebrate in the dressing room with a chorus of “Who let the dogs out?”, Duncan Fletcher reportedly woofing along."
THE REVIEW (22'00): Crossing...
Published 10/28/24
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy plays fantasy cricket, and Toby comes across some retro technology on the train
"I went to take out my headphones, and then my ear was caught by the message coming out of his phone."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'15): The Canterbury Lime: Cricket's most famous tree
"That particular rule is completely rational, but something of a shame."
THE REVIEW (22'40): Herbert Farjeon's Cricket Bag, published 1944
"'Is there a grown man in the grandstand whose maturity isn't a...
Published 09/30/24
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy donates his Cricketers to a good cause, and Toby ponders the Shakib al Hasan scandal.
"There's a bandaged batsman sitting in hospital leafing through my old magazines."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (08'54): Cricket in the poetry of Philip Larkin
"'...an Odeon went past, a cooling tower, and someone running up to bowl...'"
THE REVIEW (19'00): The Great Cricket Con (BBC Radio 4 / BBC Sounds), 2024
"When you step back, you're talking about organised crime, people...
Published 09/06/24
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy overhears a conversation about cricket discipline; Toby plays in a family grudge match
"The pavilion had the most perfectly positioned loo."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'00): When Left-Handers were in danger of being banned from the game
"Most things you Google, you get pages and pages of results. For the Academy of Statistical Studies, you get just three hits."
THE REVIEW (21'50): One Long and Beautiful Summer: A Short Elegy for Red Ball Cricket by Duncan Hamilton...
Published 08/12/24
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy and Toby spend a day in the Lord's pavilion
"We can't let this go without talking about the picnic provision."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (08'30): Underwood triumphs in the nick of time - 5th Ashes Test at The Oval, 1968
"There were apparently knitting needles being used to dig holes for drainage."
THE REVIEW (19'20): Hitman for Hire: A Year in the Life of a Franchise Cricketer (2024)
"He wins the Pakistani T20 competition, and has ten minutes to celebrate the victory...
Published 06/28/24
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy makes his debut in the Long Room, and Toby reflects on Jimmy Anderson's retirement
"Harry Brook came past joking about handwarmers. This was an April day much more winter than spring."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'28): The Precursor to DLS: the Average Run Rate Method
"Under the Average Run Rate Method, the target was 61. If DLS had been used, it would have been 131: more than double the number of runs required."
THE REVIEW (21'51): It's Always Sunny Somewhere by Felix...
Published 05/20/24
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: French cricket levels up, and Liam Dawsons resigns from trying to play test cricket
"The Ghost Cricket Leagues of France - a superb title for anything, really."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'50): The Unstoppable Sonny Ramadhin is stopped
"His 588 deliveries over 98 overs remain the most balls bowled in a first-class innings."
THE REVIEW (21'20): Cricket's Greatest Game (2022)
"We need more people who find Trevor Bayliss sexy."
Recorded 1 April 2024
Published 04/09/24
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy reports back from the Logan Cup, and Toby enjoys the small (and futile) parts of Sunday cricket
"Clearly the Reverse Swept Radio coffers will be extensive enough to fly me back to Australia every three weeks to record the podcast?"
FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'00): the Tied Test between Australia and India, 1960
"Richie Benaud walked onto the outfield as Australia begins their chase, and sees clover flowers all over the outfield."
THE REVIEW (24'30): The Miracle...
Published 03/05/24
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Reflecting on the West Indian victory against Australia
"So I woke up last Sunday morning in a Gothic temple, as you do."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'50): Benjamin West's The Cricketers, and the battle to take the painting to the US
"One bat is being leant on like a walking stick, the other has been discarded on the floor."
THE REVIEW (21'55): Shane Warne: A Hampshire Love Story (BBC Radio Solent, hosted by Robbie James) (2023)
"If you're doing a radio show about Warne,...
Published 02/05/24
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy ponders the lot of the groundstaff of waterlogged British pitches; Toby reports back from day 1 of the SCG test
"You presumably need a super super blotter, when it comes to a flood."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'50): When Cricket Added a Fourth Stump: the innovations of Cricket Max
"This is a niche question: where do you take guard when you've got four stumps?"
THE REVIEW (22'40): Evita Burned Down our Pavilion: A Cricketing Odyssey through Latin America by James Coyne...
Published 01/08/24
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy becomes a Middlesex member, and Toby finds himself hopelessly out of his depth
"We have a running joke that our shirts are our best player. This has come back to bite us in the arse: bonus points for wearing the same shirt got us promoted up a division."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'10): The One Ball Walkout: Transvaal vs the Rest of South Africa, 3 April 1971
"We create so many assorted reasons for play to stop, that you do become slightly immune as a...
Published 12/11/23
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy reflects on a rare summer without cricket, and Toby enjoys Mark Ramprakash's insights into England's woeful World Cup
"To lose me and Sir Alastair in just a few weeks would be a lot for the nation to take."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (13'48): The Greatest Australian Cricketer you've never heard of: Greg Mail
"Perhaps the secret to his success is not being quite good enough."
THE REVIEW (26'18): First of the Summer Wine by Harry Pearson (2022)
"A breeder of canaries and...
Published 11/07/23
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy makes a first visit to Nevil Road and Toby reflects on post-captaincy careers
"In my head, Misbah-ul-Haq had to go for it. In reality, he could have done it in singles."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (12'10): When Warne and Dravid met by the Solent
"He is eventually undone by legspin - but not by Warne."
THE REVIEW (22'10): The Englishman Abroad - BBC radio play by Christopher Douglas
"Much like that Australian top order, I might have had enough of Bodyline by this...
Published 09/27/23
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy plays cricket in a field in Kent, and Toby enjoys Afghanistan v Pakistan
"The other great advantage: compared to a proper game, the wait for a post-match pint is much shorter."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (07'50): A potted history of cricket in Japan
"And then the penny dropped, and I realised that all along he had been talking about croquet, while I had been talking about cricket."
THE REVIEW (17'15): Edging Towards Darkness: The Story of the Last Timeless Test by John...
Published 08/29/23
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: For the third episode in a row, Andy visits Lord's, and Abdullah Shafique pulls off an impossible catch
"Maybe short legs around the world are cursing Shafique for resetting expectations for what short legs can be."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'20): Ted Alletson's 189 in 1911
"Play restarted at 2:15 and Alletson was out at 2:55. In those forty minutes, he scored 142 runs."
THE REVIEW (21'40): Stumped (2022) by Shomit Dutta
"We've all played in games of cricket that don't...
Published 07/25/23
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy visits Lord's again, and a vintage cricket story on Twitter
"This is the most awful team I have ever had, the batting is awful and the bowling, my god. I have not got a bowler. . . . If anyone would like to take on my job they can have it. . . I hope it rains for the rest of the season."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'00): Fowler's Match: Eton vs Harrow, 1910
"In the whole history of cricket, there has been nothing more sensational" - The Times
THE REVIEW (19'15):...
Published 05/30/23
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Visiting the Lord's pavilion and Leicestershire win a remarkable game
"You can't really have everyone wandering around with pints."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'20): Ian Botham v Andy Roberts in 1974: teenage Botham loses his teeth but wins the match
"I spat out the last fragments of teeth, took a few sips of water, and let the 12th man assess the damage."
THE REVIEW (19'20): Caught Out: Crime, Corruption, Cricket (Netflix documentary)
“Sport is meant to be unscripted. It’s...
Published 04/15/23
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Discovering ICC TV, and rediscovering The Nightwatchman
"Watching Zimbabwe is pure nostalgia for me: in Harare I made a very elegant four."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (09'10): The Curious Case of the end of Bobby Peel's Career
"Pissed at the wicket? Most probably. Did he piss on the wicket? Probably not."
THE REVIEW (19'50): Cricket 2.0: Inside the T20 Revolution, by Tim Wigmore and Freddie Wilde (2019)
"There's a theme which could almost be used by businesses as an...
Published 03/27/23
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Duncan Hamilton fears for the future of cricket writing, and Australia's test players learn from their predecessors via the media
"Ian Healey sets himself up in front of the pedal bin in the SEN Office, and did a piece for camera that looks suspiciously like it was filmed on a phone."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'50): The Rise, Fall and Rise of Chris Schofield
"This is the feature that Andy has just admitted he has been looking forward to for several years..."
THE REVIEW...
Published 02/27/23
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Ricky Ponting has a plan to save Test cricket, and the MCC take a mis-step when issuing their clarification on the Mankad.
"It goes back to that thing called 'the Spirit of Cricket', and the MCC don't contribute towards a debate pro-actively about the Spirit of Cricket when they use language like this"
FROM THE ARCHIVES (12'00): Pakistan vs Bangladesh in Multan, 2003
"They decide not to call the batsman back - which is odd, given that it's the captain who has dropped...
Published 01/31/23
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Listening to the Aus SA series from an English winter, and re-learning cricket's self-control
"When you're watching cricket, you can swear at the umpire as much as you like. But when you're on the pitch, you have to switch to see the umpire in a very different way."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'00): "An innings played with one eye and one leg" - The Nawab of Pataudi's 75
"As well as having double vision from childhood, he's nursing an injury from the first test - he comes...
Published 01/11/23
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy welcomes a legspinner into the world, the test debut of Tagenarine Chanderpaul, and a promising tour match from the South Africans
"As yet, she hasn't displayed the level of patience and self-control required of an opening bat."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'10): DRS' test debut
"Every referral that had been sent to the third umpire in the Friends Provident Trophy had ended up back with the on-field umpire's decision."
THE REVIEW (21'40): Long Shot Summer - The Year of...
Published 12/12/22
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: farewell to Bob Cattell, author of the Glory Gardens series; and Jonathans Agnew and Liew talk about that incident
"This week of all weeks, we don't want to talk too much about politics, but..."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (09'00): Godfrey Harold Hardy - the mathematician who loved cricket
"That was only the start of his new year resolutions, that also included 'Be the first man atop Everest' and 'Assassinate Mussolini'."
THE REVIEW (18'00): One Billion to One: The Great...
Published 11/03/22
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: cricket in the rain at the Oval, and Shomit Dutta's new play Stumped
"It's a very liberating thing to take a day off work to go to the curry house and the pub, and you wouldn't do that under other circumstances."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (08'40): Simpson 'Sammy' Guillen - the man who played test cricket for the West Indies and New Zealand
"Ironically it was Guillen who was responsible for New Zealand's first-ever test victory - in a game against his old team."
THE...
Published 09/30/22
THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: meeting 'Yorkie' and Australia's new friendship with Pacific cricket
"Once you've messed up your own innings, you can take on the umpiring and muck up someone else’s."
FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'45): When the President went to the Cricket: Eisenhower at Pakistan vs Australia in Karachi
"We hope Biden can meet Eisenhower's standards and make it through a whole day... without yawning."
THE REVIEW (20'55): Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams (2022)
"Anyone who has spent...
Published 09/07/22