The Reverse Sweep

The Reverse Sweep v2.0

A couple of weeks ago, we promised that this site was about to undergo some major changes to its look and feel (note to self: I must stop sounding like a Marketing Consultant). Well we are delighted to launch our new site today to coincide with England's first home test of the summer and the likely test match debut of perhaps the best exponent of the Reverse Sweep - Eoin Morgan.

It's already been a fairly momentous week for the Reverse Sweep. Firstly, our humble blog received its 10,000th hit since its launch at the end of December 2009. Amazingly we are now getting an average of 150-200 hits a day, which is fantastic. Thanks very much Mum and Dad for your continued clicking! Not quite what you imagined from your retirement I know, but it's a worthwhile cause I hope.

Secondly, we were humbled to be included in The Times' list of the best 50 cricket web sites in the World, which certainly gave us a huge lift on a miserable Monday morning in the office.

So, we now present the Reverse Sweep version 2.0. I'm not sure if we've quite hit the intended button of being as beautiful as Scarlett Johansson, but it's certainly a huge improvement on version 1.0. Well at least we hope so.

We now have in no particular order:

• An About page, telling everyone a bit about us

• Pages providing links to Popular Posts, Our Lists and XIs and a one stop shop for all the articles we wrote on the World T20 - yes, we are still basking in the glory of England's win there

• There's also information on how to Advertise and Subscribe with us, links to our favourite Cricket Sites and Blogs (please drop us a line if we have missed you somehow) and a link so you can follow us on Twitter

• We are also finalising details of how aspiring cricket writers and bloggers can Contribute to this site. Unfortunately, it will be purely for love rather than payment, but you never know the exposure could lead to some paid work for other cricket sites and publications (we should know) - more details coming soon.

We hope that new and old readers alike (yes, Mum and Dad we are talking about you again) enjoy the new look, and as an added bonus here is another picture of Scarlett Johansson to brighten up the day.

 

It's time for a revamp

Regular readers (if there actually are any!) of this blog may notice some differences in the coming weeks.

Just as the UK has decided it needs a new look and style at the head of its Government in the form of the first coalition since World War II, so we at the Reverse Sweep feel it's time to spruce up the look and feel of this blog.

In the five months or so since we started this blog, we have worried more about the quality of the posts (or at least that's been the aim) then the look, feel and usability of the site. But now its time to upgrade and move from an Anna Friel (nice, but quite plain) to a Scarlett Johansson (great to look at and with substance too). Or to use an cricketing analogy, move from the batting style of Paul Collingwood (effective but hardly attractive) to that of a Virender Sehwag (effective and so good that you can't keep your eyes off it).

Well that's the plan anyway. So expect to see more features, more information and the disappearance of that horrid olive green background. It will take some time because a) my IT skills are should I say limited, b) because I am not being paid enough to make this my full-time vocation I have to hold down a non-cricket related day job, and; c) my wife is nearly eight months pregnant with our second child with the first being an energetic eighteen month old boy.

So bear with us over the next few weeks. The actual posts will keep coming, but it will be a work in progress.