The Royals school the Knights
Narine's first century, county cricket's finances, the Kookaburra, and getting inside the ECB's policies.
The Royals school the Knights
Narine battles in vain, there are not enough quality bowlers for 10 teams, & how does Pandya get out of this hole?
The Rajasthan Royals beat the Kolkata Knight Riders by 2 wickets in a last ball thriller. ESPNcricinfo’s Sampath Bandarupalli has the best stats from RR’s record-equalling run chase.
Cricbuzz’s Aayush Puthran writes about 94 minutes of thrilling Sunil Narine batting brilliance, as the 35-year old registered his first century at a strike rate of 194!
ESPNcricinfo’s Deivarayan Muthu looks at the trend of uncapped Indian batters making their mark this season, while cricket analyst Dan Weston digs through the numbers to make the case that the dilution of bowling stock with 10 teams has had a bigger impact on higher scores than the impact player rule.
Indian Express’ Lalith Kalidas has their latest edition of the Indian World Cup ladder, with Hardik Pandya ruled out. Cricbuzz’s Telford Vice tries to decode how Pandya can salvage his MI captaincy, while Cricket.com’s Pramod Ananth has a piece on the Indians who are jeopardising their World Cup chances with their IPL performances.
JioCinema recorded over 148 billion minutes of watch time from a total of 383 million viewers through the first 29 matches of the season - a 42% growth on the same period in 2023.
Ever since the County Championship season started, there’s been a lot of discussion around the teams struggling for money…
…there’s a massive disparity between teams. Then again, only Surrey & Lancashire even make close to what IPL teams make on just the shared media rights revenue from the BCCI every year.
By the way, I’ve set up a Twitter and Instagram account under @BestCricStories where I post all these graphs & images, and would appreciate the support if you like them!
The Kookaburra Dukes it out for prominence
The Kookaburra divides county opinion, Rashid wants out of the BBL, and the sudden growth of Viacom18.
The Guardian’s Gary Naylor has another edition of his unique County Championship roundup following the second round.
ECB Managing Director Rob Key has doubled down on the use of the Kookaburra ball for the county cricket, and ESPNcricinfo’s Vithushan Ehantharajah & Matt Roller report on the contrasting range of emotions from various players and administrators to its effects this season.
Rashid Khan is considering pulling out of the Big Bash League because Cricket Australia is refusing to tour Afghanistan over the Taliban’s human rights record.
The new Bengal Pro T20 tournament has announced that two of eight franchises have been sold to local businesses, Shrachi Group & Servotech Power Systems.
An uncredited Grassroots Cricket piece previews the Pakistan-New Zealand T20 series from the perspective of the hosts’ selection committee.
An editorial in the 2024 Wisden Almanac bemoans that every decision in cricket is made with the priority of no upsetting the BCCI.
Bloomberg’s Sohee Kim & P.R. Sanjai write about the growth of the Viacom18 into a media behemoth, underlined by their cricket ambitions. It’s a little off-beat from mainstream cricket news, but it’s an important story for the future of cricket, so I’ve thrown it in here. [Reproduced on Economic Times - Paywall]
The inner workings of the ECB
Talking grassroots cricket, TV deals and racism with the ECB chair, and a short history of PAK players in cola ads.
The Tailenders catch up with ECB chair Richard Thompson about a range of fascinating topics, from the business of cricket media, to grassroots & school cricket in UK, to racism in county cricket, and the development of the women’s game. [Apple Podcasts]
Batta Fast’s Osman Samiuddin & Ahmer Naqvi have a fun look back at all the cola adverts featuring Pakistani players. It’s a great little video if you’re looking to kill an hour.
Editor’s Note
If you would like to receive this newsletter to you on WhatsApp when it is published, please message me here (or, on WhatsApp at +91 9972009893, if that link isn’t working).
If you have friends, colleagues, or anyone else that would like to receive this roundup every day, please share this Substack with them! Every extra reader matters.