Happy fans = More money. Revolutionary.
The best cricket stories of the week, 28th June to 4th July 2025
1
Happy fans = More money. Revolutionary.
✍️ The Times’ Mike Atherton writes about how Surrey have figured out the economics of being a modern County club.
“It means that, for Surrey, the championship more than pays its way. Lane says that putting membership receipts to one side and accounting simply for takings at the ticket office, bars, restaurants and shop, then over the course of seven home championship games, match-day receipts should exceed costs by about £300,000. For Surrey at least, four-day cricket is not a loss-leader, but an essential part of their offering.”
2
How to channel your inner Twitter troll
✍️ Beyond Cow Corner dissects a brilliant clickbait story about the 30 Best Pacers in Test History that aimed to annoy readers into commenting. They then re-rank the 30 best bowlers in a far better order.
“Although the article fails dismally in its secondary objective—ranking the 30 Greatest Test Fast Bowlers—it is a runaway success in its primary objective, namely, casting the net as wide as possible to piss off as many fan bases as humanly possible to generate clicks, discussion, and engagement. It’s classic rage bait. And I’m actively falling for it!”
3
The likes of Grace and Jessop would be proud
✍️ Get Sporty’s Tareque Laskar has a great personal essay about the culture, cricket and comfort of watching India Women v/s England in Bristol.
“Like any good artist, these days Jemi makes it look easy, giving the impression that she has some extra time on her hands when playing the shots. She did not become inventive overnight, in fact she has mentioned in multiple interviews on the work she has put in to cultivate both power and placement.
A British summer’s day may make you feel as if time itself has been stretched but Jemi’s ability to create some extra reaction time for herself is neither accident nor illusion. It is the kind of thing that leaves you energised, much like a Grace or Jessop may have done their audiences back in the day.”
4
The best of the rest
“Kookaburra conundrum - can county cricket have too many runs?”
✍️ BBC’s Adam Lanigan on the Kookaburra’s effect on run scoring.“I was in total disbelief that I could score a hundred for West Indies”
✍️ ESPNcricinfo’s Andrew McGlashan with Kraigg Brathwaite on his 100th Test.“Uncapped, not unnoticed”
✍️ ESPNcricinfo’s Hemant Brar reports on how the uncapped Salonee Dangore went from a career in athletics to the CPL.“He taught himself on YouTube, now he’s in the TNPL”
✍️ Sportstar’s Nigamanth P talks to Kanibalan, the 27-year old who’s hustled as a YouTuber, coach, & a player in Tamil Nadu’s 4th division to earn a big break.
5
The best videos and podcasts
“Freddie Flintoff: Life After Cricket, WWE Training & England's Future”
📽️ Stick To Cricket hosts Andrew Flintoff to discuss his career after cricket, including the absurd amount of money the WWE offered him! [YouTube]“From Film Sets to Cricket Nets”
📽️ Ravichandran Ashwin talks to Varun Chakravarty about his career transition from aspiring filmmaker to Team India spinner, including the all-important role of the Tamil Nadu Premier League. [YouTube]“Representation in Indian Cricket”
🎤 PCCI Pod interviews Pradeep Magazine about the lack of Dalit representation in Indian cricket, and prevailing casteism and sexism in the system. [Apple/Spotify]“How to Break into Cricket Analytics”
📽️ Cricket with Sparsh’s Sparsh Telang talks to Himanish Ganjoo about what it takes to be a cricket analyst. [YouTube]