It was a marginal decision, but after referral to the DRS we can confirm that Alex Bowden’s superlative King Cricket takes our vote as the Reverse Sweep’s favourite cricket blog.
Like the great master Jack Hobbs himself, King Cricket scores freely and heavily in all types of conditions: whimsical humour, longevity (a blog veteran stretching all the way back to 2006), a keen eye, quantity and quality, originality and above all brevity.
Most of us fall into the ‘time poor’ category and King Cricket certainly doesn’t mince his words. Why write a great thesis when 200 words will do? More than any other cricket blog we’ve seen King Cricket understands this best. KC simply doesn’t do written diarrhoea (whatever that looks like).
This is probably the secret of its success as is the amusing and intrinsically self-deprecating English humour shining through such features as Animals being conspicuously indifferent to cricket, the frankly bizarre Venn Diagrams and Match Reports (that aren’t really Match Reports).
If being a fan of the site means clicking on to it most week day mornings, then we are guilty as charged m’lud. Of all the blogs featured in our Top 20 Cricket blogs it is only King Cricket and cricket with balls that we click onto on an almost religious basis.
As we said at the start, the choice between these two was borderline, but in the end we decided to go with the former not because Alex is a fellow Englishman (although that probably helped), but when it comes down to it, he really detests Matthew Hayden.
And he’s hated Hayden almost since the day he started the blog – see old Hayden and new Hayden articles.
That pretty much sealed it.
You can find Alex on Twitter @TheKingsTweets, although when it comes to Tweeting, Alex doesn’t exactly fall into the prolific category.
Where next?
Cricket Zeroes: Matthew Hayden
See our other Top 20 Cricket Blogs here
Read all our County Cricket coverage
Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
PS: Whilst the Reverse Sweep is busy packing up and moving back to Surrey from the South of France, we'll be counting down our Top 20 cricket blogs whilst we are away (so to speak)...
The first cricket blog we came across outside the mainstream media was Jarrod Kimber’s cricket with balls.
We lived to tell the tale.
Just.
Cricket with balls most definitely falls into the terrorist category of cricket blogs and is a no-holds barred, full-frontal assault on the game once played by gentlemen.
Appealing to (and I quote) “hermaphrodites, perverts, cricket fans, and anyone not related to a cricketer we hate”, cricket with balls has long been one of the most popular (and downright dirty) blogs available.
Indeed, the site has nearly as many followers as the Church of Scientology and perhaps therefore appropriately has even started its own religion – Sehwagology.
Cricket with balls has catapulted JRod from outside (as in on the other side of the world outside) the mainstream cricket media into a position today when it sometimes feels that he is the cricket media – editing Spin Cricket, appearing as one-half of The Two Chucks, writing articles for the Wisden Almanack and being one of Test Match Sofa’s crack commentary team.
That Jarrod has done all this without any sign of compromise (ok Spin Cricket maybe doesn’t have quite as much swearing as cricket with balls) is a tribute to his much mimicked but never bettered style.
Jarrod’s success particularly in 2011 has probably had a bit of a detrimental effect on cricket with balls as he clearly now doesn’t have the time to devote to it that he used to.
That said, whilst the quantity has dropped off the quality hasn’t and Jarrod was splendidly vitriolic on the Ireland/Associate/World Cup issue and also recently on the DRS mess.
Finally, Jarrod would probably (no, try definitely) want us to finish by reminding you that you can buy his three books at your friendly, local Amazon book store.
Follow JRod on Twitter @cricketwballs - be warned, if you are easily offended you may want to avert your eyes.
Where next?
Don't miss a thing - Subscribe to and read about all of the Top 20 Cricket Blogs here
Read all our County Cricket coverage
Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
PS: Whilst the Reverse Sweep is busy packing up and moving back to Surrey from the South of France, we'll be counting down our Top 20 cricket blogs whilst we are away (so to speak)...
“They’ve come to watch me bat, sir, not you umpire”
Arguably the most knowledgable, considered and erudite cricket blog around, The Old Batsman has been going since 2008 and with an average of one post every 3-4 days in 2011 opts for the quality over quantity approach.
They are no pictures and no gimmicks, just eminently readable and considered analysis of some of the major cricket talking points such as “The non-unappealing flair vortex of Alastair Cook” and Marcus Trescothick’s likely usurping of Mark Ramprakash as the daddy batsman of county cricket.
There’s not too much information about the identity of the Old Batsman, but some rudimentary searches on Google confirmed that author Jon Hotten is the one donning the pads.
Here’s hoping that this is one innings with plenty of shots still to be played.
Follow on Twitter @theoldbatsman
Where next?
Don't miss a thing - Subscribe to and read about all of the Top 20 Cricket Blogs here
Read all our County Cricket coverage
Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
PS: Whilst the Reverse Sweep is busy packing up and moving back to Surrey from the South of France, we'll be counting down our Top 20 cricket blogs whilst we are away (so to speak)...
Whilst we were selecting the blogs that would feature in this series, Yorkshire Len the creative genius behind the quite brilliant Last of the Summer Whine abruptly announced that:
“After three (and a bit) years, and a third of a million words, I've decided to call it a day with LotSW as I can no longer justify the time and effort required to write the blog for such a relatively small readership”.
Whilst not quite as gut wrenching a day as when The Smiths split up or Manchester United secured their 19th league title, its safe to say that the premature demise of LotSW was a sad day for us and its numerous loyal followers.
Detailed descriptions of the ups and downs of being an England and Yorkshire CC fan were interspersed with hilarious pieces such as a secret diary of Timothy Bresnan, Len’s Top Tens and picture montages of Giles Clarke in various poses (I kid you not).
Indeed, LotSW was everything Cricinfo’s Page 2 should be (perhaps without the Yorkshire bias), but quite spectacularly fails to be.
Accordingly, we’ve decided to feature LotSW in our Top 20 posthumously in the hope that Yorkshire Len will resurrect the blog once Stuart Broad has been dropped by England and Yorkshire have survived the County Championship Division 1 relegation door.
Follow Yorkshire Len on Twitter if he is still there @countykitman or @YorkshireLen
Where next?
Don't miss a thing - Subscribe to and read about all of the Top 20 Cricket Blogs here
Read all our County Cricket coverage
Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
PS: Whilst the Reverse Sweep is busy packing up and moving back to Surrey from the South of France, we'll be counting down our Top 20 cricket blogs whilst we are away (so to speak)...
Now over three years old, 99.94 offers “Considered Cricket Analysis From Beyond the Boundary”.
The sheer variety on offer is perhaps understandable giving that the three writers come from different parts of the globe: Nestaquin in Sydney, The Trumpet from Tooting (one of our old stomping grounds) via Liverpool and Rajesh Kannan in Singapore.
Like The Old Batsman blog, 99.94 offers a more considered and sober style, but this does not detract one iota from the fact that it is well-crafted and a damn good read for any cricket lover.
Our favourite feature (despite him being an Everton fan) is The Trumpet’s marvellous County Cricket’s Last Over of the Week (now featuring also on Spin Cricket) and its close relation the Final Over of the Day, where the post is distilled into six succinctly written balls (just like an over).
Given that The Trumpet (aka Gary Naylor) is also one of our favourite commentators on Test Match Sofa, it would seem that along with our Dad (who is also a Toffee) we’ve found a second Everton fan to like.
Follow 99.94 on Twitter @nestaquin and @garynayler999
Where next?
Don't miss a thing - Subscribe to and read about all of the Top 20 Cricket Blogs here
Read all our County Cricket coverage
Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
PS: Whilst the Reverse Sweep is busy packing up and moving back to Surrey from the South of France, we'll be counting down our Top 20 cricket blogs whilst we are away (so to speak)...
For fear of accusations of nepotism, we should probably declare upfront that it was World Cricket Watch that gave us our break as a cricket writer back in 2009.
Indeed, we have written 200 posts for the site since then although our recent contribution has been limited to the odd appearance on their excellent weekly podcast One Hand One Bounce.
However, personal contributions aside, it really is an excellent cricket site being much more than a blog and featuring a plethora of talented writers from around the world (hence the name?), as well as the aforementioned podcast and video highlights.
The whole shebang is expertly marshalled by editor David Siddall out of Melbourne – a Pom making a big impression on enemy territory.
So, World Cricket Watch is in our list ok.
Follow the gang on Twitter @worldcricketw
Where next?
Don't miss a thing - Subscribe to and read about all of the Top 20 Cricket Blogs here
Read all our County Cricket coverageCheck out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
PS: Whilst the Reverse Sweep is busy packing up and moving back to Surrey from the South of France, we'll be counting down our Top 20 cricket blogs whilst we are away (so to speak)...
Cricinfo’s Page 2 generally leaves us cold. Other than the odd occasional gem it mostly just isn’t funny. Andy Zaltzman’s splendid ‘The Confectionery Stall’ is the one notable exception to this rule.
Its heady cocktail of stats, satire and humour is one that ticks all the right boxes down here at the Reverse Sweep. We particularly like Zaltzman’s use of similes and would confidently predict that he is a fellow fan of the majestic Edmund Blackadder.
As a comedian, political satirist and author, it is perhaps hardly surprising that Zaltzman brings a rather unique and refreshing style to the world of cricket writing. It certainly works for us.
Describing England’s stunning final day Test victory over Sri Lanka in Cardiff, Zaltzman offers this appreciation of Chris Tremlett’s bowling:
“Yesterday’s win was facilitated by Tremlett, who surgically dismantled the high-class Sri Lankan top order in such a way that it would not have been entirely surprising if, at the post-match presentation, Mike Atherton had marched up to the Surrey paceman, said, “Come on Scooby, let’s see who he really is”, and ripped a latex face-mask off to reveal Curtly Ambrose underneath, before concluding: “I thought I recognised the way you were bowling.””
Follow Zaltzman on Twitter @zaltzcricket – although don’t expect him to follow you – he only follows two people the last time we looked.
Where next?
Don't miss a thing - Subscribe to and read about all of the Top 20 Cricket Blogs here
Read all our County Cricket coverageCheck out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
PS: Whilst the Reverse Sweep is busy packing up and moving back to Surrey from the South of France, we'll be counting down our Top 20 cricket blogs whilst we are away (so to speak)...
Both on and off the field, Pakistan cricket certainly provides plenty to write about. No one however makes more sense out of the madness and translates it more succinctly than Kamran Abassi with his Pak Spin blog on Cricinfo.
Abassi’s blog is sub-titled ‘the mysterious world of Pakistan cricket’, which sounds just about right, as he expertly unravels the highs, lows, controversies and downright ‘you couldn’t make it up moments’ in a direct and erudite style that befits his day job as editor of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Indeed, Abassi applies a surgeon's method in the way that he slices his way through the uncertainty, rumour and revelations that are part and parcel of cricket in Pakistan.
Certainly, every bizarre twist and turn that the world of Pakistan cricket (match fixing, bans, defeats snatched from the jaws of victories, resignations, you name it) takes has us clicking onto Pak Spin (and not just because its author is a fellow Liverpool fan) to read how Abassi deciphers and assesses the situation. More often than not he is right on the button.
Warning - If your name is Ijaz Butt, you may not want to read Pak Spin.
Follow Kamran on Twitter @KamranAbassi
Where next?
Don't miss a thing - Subscribe to and read about all of the Top 20 Cricket Blogs here
Read all our County Cricket coverage
Responsibility and Misbah-ul-Haq
Historic India-Pakistan summit flounders due to cricket diplomacy
Revealed: New Pakistan Player Code of Conduct
Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
PS: Whilst the Reverse Sweep is busy packing up and moving back to Surrey from the South of France, we'll be counting down our Top 20 cricket blogs whilst we are away (so to speak)...
The newspaper that is more right wing than Oswald Mosley, that German guy with the comedy moustache and even David Beckham is the unlikely home to one of the finest cricket blogs in the mainstream media – Lawrence Booth’s award-winning The Top Spin (there’s no direct link, but you should be able to find it on this page).
Strictly speaking, it could be argued that The Top Spin is a weekly column rather than a blog, but as it is our list of cricket blogs, we’ll decide what gets allowed in and what doesn’t.
Given that Wisden has recently appointed Northamptonshire fan Booth as its new Editor from 2012, it would seem that we are in pretty good company in enjoying The Top Spin.
Follow Wisden's newest editor on Twitter @the_topspin
Where next?
Don't miss a thing - Subscribe to and read about all of the Top 20 Cricket Blogs here
Read all our County Cricket coverage
Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
PS: Whilst the Reverse Sweep is busy packing up and moving back to Surrey from the South of France, we'll be counting down our Top 20 cricket blogs whilst we are away (so to speak)...
The “alternative cricket commentary” isn’t strictly speaking a blog (it would be in the top 2 for cricket commentaries though!), although it does contain the musings of Dan Norcross - Test Match Sofa’s very own answer to Jonathan Agnew – on the Sofa’s blog pages.
However, as we’ve written before Test Match Sofa actually saved our lives when we were desperately scrabbling around to hear commentary of the momentous Newlands Test of 2010, so it would be wrong not to include the Sofa here.
The popularity of the Sofa has soared since its inception in the 2009 Ashes series and we’re not surprised given that it is a worthy alternative to the more austere Test Match Special, which of course is practically an institution.
Unlike, some of the Sofa’s listeners, we’re also big fans of the ‘other TMS’ and the fact that we share our loyalty between the two is perhaps the biggest statement of our appreciation of the Sofa.
The blog itself, which although not updated quite as often as we would like, is just like Dan’s commentary – articulate, amusing, sometimes controversial and intrinsically English.
Follow the madness on Twitter @testmatchsofa as well as some of the gang on @sofa_dan, @la_sophista, @HENDOTMS, @sofa_tom
Where next?
Don't miss a thing - Subscribe to and read about all of the Top 20 Cricket Blogs here
Cricket Heroes: Test Match Sofa
Read all our County Cricket coverage
Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
PS: Whilst the Reverse Sweep is busy packing up and moving back to Surrey from the South of France, we'll be counting down our Top 20 cricket blogs whilst we are away (so to speak)...
We’re not sure if this is a blog or if it is a real-life version of Alan Tyers’s Crickileaks. The answer is probably a bit of both for WICB Exposé is without a shadow of a doubt a unique inclusion in our top 20 cricket blogs feature.
For if its claims are true, WICB Exposé is a window into the running and soul of the West Indies Cricket Board. The categories on the site are in alphabetical order: Abuse of Power, Corruption, Dirty Tricks, Financial Erosion, Hypocrisy, Mismanagement, Nepotism and the more mildly named but perhaps revealing Official Docs. As we said, not your average cricket blog.
The information it reveals is shocking but sadly no surprise given the very public incapability of the WICB to function as a fit and proper organisation – just ask Chris Gayle.
The best cricket blogs have you absorbed for hours when you first stumble upon them. WICB Exposé does that and a whole lot more.
Keep up the good work, whoever you are. The fate of Caribbean cricket may rest on your shoulders, sources and continued investigative powers.
Follow the latest revelations on Twitter @wicbexpose
Where next?
Don't miss a thing - Subscribe to and read about all of the Top 20 Cricket Blogs here
Fire in Babylon - relive the glory years of West Indies cricket & weep at its current parlous state
Time for a coup d'etat at the WICB over Chris Gayle cock-up
Chris Gayle may be cool, but we're not sure even he can carry this look off...
Read all our County Cricket coverage
Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
PS: Whilst the Reverse Sweep is busy packing up and moving back to Surrey from the South of France, we'll be counting down our Top 20 cricket blogs whilst we are away (so to speak)...
The clue is in the name for the site that tags itself as “cricket for grown-ups”, for that is just what Alternative Cricket is.
Promising to be the “masked vigilantes of cricket: writers, bloggers & tweeters, with no little pent-up bitterness”, Alternative Cricket is a no-holds barred view of the cricket world and has included such gems as “Cricket’s ugliest man”, “A day in the life of a Pakistan captain” and “Cricket’s Movie XI”.
It’s certainly one of the most original and amusing cricket blogs out there.
There is also a wonderfully altruistic nature too with The Alternative Cricket Almanack 2011 (buy it here), which features 29 articles by 20 different authors, packed with visceral humour and brutally honest opinion. All the proceeds go to a scholarship for underprivileged cricketers in Afghanistan.
All the more reason to check out the site and buy the book.
Follow the funs and goings on at Alternative Cricket on Twitter @AltCricket
Where next?
Don't miss a thing - Subscribe to and read about all of the Top 20 Cricket Blogs here
Read all our County Cricket coverage
Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
PS: Whilst the Reverse Sweep is busy packing up and moving back to Surrey from the South of France, we'll be counting down our Top 20 cricket blogs whilst we are away (so to speak)...
Former Assistant Editor of Cricinfo, Will Luke started The Corridor (a cricket blog) way back in 2004, which (probably) makes it the oldest genuine cricket blog around. In other words, The Corridor is the W.G Grace of cricket blogs - the pioneer.
Although the number of posts have tailed off in recent times (otherwise The Corridor would be much higher in our list) even with the acquisition of excellent co-writer Rich Abbott, the quality is invariably high with the sometimes strong opinions carefully well argued.
Will announced in May that he was taking a ‘break’ from the site, which will be a great shame. However, given that only a while later he wrote an excellent post on Fire in Babylon, it may well be that The Corridor will be around for some time yet.
Follow The Corridor guys on Twitter - Will on @mailliw and Rich on @Rich_Abbott
Where next?
Don't miss a thing - Subscribe to and read about all of the Top 20 Cricket Blogs here
Read all our County Cricket coverage
Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
PS: Whilst the Reverse Sweep is busy packing up and moving back to Surrey from the South of France, we'll be counting down our Top 20 cricket blogs whilst we are away (so to speak)...
India are currently the big noises in cricket with the number one ranked Test side (although not for long!), the World Cup holders and that advertiser’s dream the IPL.
So it hardly surprising that with just the odd fan of cricket numbered amongst India’s considerably small population, there are probably more Indian authored cricket blogs than that of any other nation.
Our favourite by a country mile is Bored Cricket Crazy Indians, which takes a more satirical, succinct and less vehement/sycophantic/one-eyed (delete as appropriate) view than most other cricket blogs emanating from the sub-continent.
With a list of members longer than your arm, BCC! features many of the best Indian cricket writers around (even if it doesn’t yet count India's answer to Gideon Haigh - Dileep Premachandran amongst their contributors). The likes of Mahek, Crownish and The Cricket Couch amongst others are all worth following on Twitter.
More often than not, the site makes us chuckle every time we pay it a visit, and you can’t ask for much more than that.
Follow the shenanigans at the other BCC! on Twitter @BoredCricket
Where next?
Don't miss a thing - Subscribe to and read about all of the Top 20 Cricket Blogs here
Read all our County Cricket coverage
Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
PS: Whilst the Reverse Sweep is busy packing up and moving back to Surrey from the South of France, we'll be counting down our Top 20 cricket blogs whilst we are away (so to speak)...
Recent Comments