Cricket writing, from our own data
Cricket records, rules explained and notes on the daily puzzles. Written from our own dataset, never rewritten from a news site.
Test, ODI and T20: what actually differs beyond the overs
The three formats are not the same game at different lengths. The ball, the fields, the value of a wicket and the point of an innings all change.
How the Ashes got its name, and why the urn is tiny
A satirical obituary in a London newspaper in 1882 invented the most durable rivalry in sport, and the trophy everyone pictures has never been the trophy.
Bodyline, and the only Law ever changed by a diplomatic cable
England's 1932 plan to contain Don Bradman was legal, effective and so contentious that two governments got involved and the Laws were rewritten.
Bowling economy rate explained, and why part overs mislead
Runs per over sounds like the simplest statistic in cricket. The arithmetic trips people up, and the number means three different things in three formats.
What counts as a no-ball, and the five ways to bowl one
The front foot is the famous one and the least interesting. Height, bounce, fielding positions and the ball reaching the batter on the full all qualify.
Every kind of wide, and why they differ by format
A delivery that is legal in a Test can be a wide in a T20. The Law is the same; what changes is how strictly it is applied and where the lines are painted.
What the follow-on is, and why captains stopped enforcing it
A 200-run lead lets you make the other side bat again. Three teams in history have lost after enforcing it, and that is enough to have changed the tactic.
Powerplays explained, format by format and phase by phase
The fielding restrictions that shape every white-ball innings, why they exist, and what each phase is actually asking a captain to decide.
What the super over is, and how cricket settles a tie
Six balls, two wickets, one team each. The rules are simple; what happens when the super over also ties has changed twice and once decided a World Cup.
Reverse swing explained, and the conditions it needs
Why an old ball swings the wrong way, why it took decades to be believed, and why two new balls in one-day cricket nearly removed it from the format.
Twenty20 cricket explained, and why it took over
Twenty overs a side, invented by English counties to sell tickets, now the format that funds the sport. What actually changes when an innings is 120 balls long.
The IPL explained, and how it rearranged world cricket
Ten franchises, an auction, and a two-month window every board now schedules around. What the IPL actually is, and what it changed that was not the salaries.