Rotating the strike is a habit, and your club has lost it
Ones and twos win more club games than boundaries do. The trouble is that nobody practises them, so by July the middle order is taking eleven off an over and calling it pressure.
Cricket that talks back
Opinion, technique and kit advice for people who watched the game and have already made their mind up about it. We say what we think. When we get it wrong we say that too.
The latest writing
Also worth your time
-
It is a run out, it is Law 38.3, and it is fine
The same argument every season, and the Law has been sitting there answering it the whole time.
-
Your club drops catches because nobody practises catching
Twenty minutes of throwdowns and one volunteer lobbing balls at the slips. That is not practice, it is a warm up.
-
In praise of the forward defensive
The least fashionable shot in cricket is still the one that keeps you at the crease long enough to score.
-
The follow-on is a decision, and captains keep ducking it
Two hundred ahead, the option in your pocket, and everyone bats again anyway.
-
LBW is five conditions, and your side argues about one
Pitched outside leg is never out, however plumb it looked from mid on.
Kit advice from people who have to carry the bag
Five pages on the things you actually buy. Nobody pays us to write them, there are no affiliate links in them, and no brand has seen a word before you did.
-
How to choose a cricket bat without being sold one
Pickup, weight, willow and the bits of the sales patter that mean nothing.
-
Your bat is heavier than you think
The single most common mistake in a cricket shop, and it costs you runs square of the wicket.
-
Knocking in, and why the boring hour matters
A new bat is a soft bat. Skip this and you will find out in April.
-
Pads and gloves for the ball you actually face
Club cricket is not a Test match. Buy for the pace you get on a Saturday.
-
What actually lives in a cricket bag
The list is shorter than the shop would like, and it has two things on it nobody sells you.
There is nothing to sell you yet
The plan is to sell cricket gear here. That part is not built. There is no stock, no basket and no checkout, so rather than dress up an empty shop we have left it empty and said so.
The gear pages above are the honest version of a shop for now. They tell you what to look for and send you nowhere.
Cricket, written for people who watch it
-
We assume you know the basics
No page here explains where the slips stand. You either know or you can look it up, and either way you did not come for that.
-
Bad cricket gets called bad cricket
With affection. A shocking hour of batting is funny, and saying so is not the same as having a go at somebody.
-
The kit advice comes from people who play
Or at least watch far too much of it. If a thing is not worth the money we will say the thing is not worth the money.