The Reverse Sweep

Why England won the World T20

In our latest column on CricDude, we analyse the reasons behind the transformation of England from Twenty 20 also-rans to World Champions in less than a year. Yes, it is less than 12 months since England suffered that ignominious defeat to the Netherlands.

Get over to CricDude and check it out.

Now where are those Alka Seltzers?

 

 

Confessions of an IPL virgin (Reprise)

Unfortunately, the virgin in question is not one of the IPL cheerleaders but your humble writer. As those of you that read this blog regularly will know, prior to this season, I had not watched any of the first two years of the IPL. If I am honest, it has taken some time for me to warm to T20 and in my view it is still vastly inferior to test cricket. Furthermore, despite all the hype created by Lalit Modi, the IPL is a domestic Indian league and even with the plethora of star names, as a non-Indian the competition held little appeal for me.

In my latest column on CricDude, I outline my thoughts on the tournament now that we are over a month into IPL3. These include observations like: i) Indian may love advertising, but I don't, ii) the rise of the kamikaze batsman, iii) Lalit Modi's self-satisfied smile, iv) the garish kits and v) the worst TV coverage in the world outside North Korea.

Go and read 'Confessions of an IPL virgin' and let me know your comments. What have I missed, good or bad about the tournament?

  

Forthright views on the future of county cricket

The new English domestic cricket season kicks into full swing today with the first round of county championship matches. It does so under the shadow of an IPL season approaching an exciting conclusion. And as it casts envious eyes towards the sub-continent, English cricket knows that its nouveau riche Indian cousin is here to stay; they only need to look at the attendances and viewing figures on ITV4 to realise that.

 

We at the Reverse Sweep must be in doomsday mode at the moment, as this week's column on World Cricket Watch leads on our belief that the county system is in urgent need of reform. This is the theme we have taken even further with our most recent article on CricDude called Envy and the need for reform.

 

Please read the articles and let us know what you think? Do you agree, and if so what would you do? If you disagree, please tell us why and we may write a follow-up article to offer a more balanced view and hopefully prompt further discussion. 

CricDude

I've recently been contracted to write a thrice weekly column for CricDude, a site launched nearly a year ago by of all people Sachin Tendulkar. I'm writing under my real name of David Green and have somehow managed to be included in the 'Expert Analysis & Opinions' section on the homepage.

Although I will write with the same irreverent and acerbic nature displayed on this blog (at least I hope that's how it comes across!), the style will be slightly different in that I intend to tackle more meaty issues than Shane Warne's underwear venture (if you pardon the pun) or Andrew Strauss' toastrack problems.

The first article asks if cricket today really is an equal battle of bat and ball or whether the willow wielders are the lions to the bowlers unfortunate Christians.

Please get over there now and read, enjoy and provide feedback. In that way, one day I may be able to fund that biography of Hedley Verity that I am desperate to write.