Oranje rising
The best cricket stories of the week, 13th to 19th June 2026.
1
Oranje rising
✍️ Aayush Puthran traces Netherlands Women’s 26-year wilderness from the World Cup, and how they’ve rapidly improved their system.
“(With four runs needed) I was at the non-striking end off the last ball, and it was devastating. That is one game in my head that I still replay. I ask myself: ‘Where were those three runs’. We were literally playing for a World Cup ticket. We could have gone for the 2014 T20 World Cup.”
2
Cricket’s “World” Cups
✍️ PCCI is inspired by the ongoing FIFA World Cup comparisons to discuss cricket’s World Cup problems; from small tournaments to small-mindedness.
“Post-2007, cricket has mostly staged its biggest events with the caution of a closed shop. Put the biggest fixtures in the safest commercial markets. Chase broadcast certainty. Schedule for Indian prime time regardless of where the host crowd lives. Avoid anything that does not immediately maximise revenue. The result is a world sport that behaves like a domestic Indian product with unwelcome international guests.”
3
Farewell Kane
✍️ Dom Murray with a heartfelt note on Kane Williamson’s retirement.
“I’m almost certain that a still-teenage Kane even got a shoutout from Ian Smith on commentary during this period, circa ~2006ish, after he’d watched him dominate yet another school carnival. I remember that the Black Caps had just experienced another humiliating batting collapse, and the commentators were discussing the bare cupboard of potential batting replacements domestically, when Smith brought up Williamson’s name, almost as if to say, ‘I know the team looks pretty dire right now, but hang in there, better things are just around the corner.”
“Kane steadies the ship”
✍️ Jarrod Kimber on Kane Williamson; not a rockstar, but the boy NZ could take home to their parents.
4
The best of the rest
“Record Sales, Lionesses & West End Witches”
🔒 Paul Newman on the record-breaking start to the Women’s World Cup.“An Afterthought”
🔒 Sarah Styles on how the BBL merger talk has reduced the WBBL from a transformational tournament to a forgotten financial throw-in.“Clothed the Grass with Gold”
✍️ Giles Wilcock on Reginald Spooner, the personified nostalgia of the Golden Age of cricket (even during the age!), who was picked to lead ENG after the horrors of the First World War.“The August Latham”
✍️ Pat Rodgers remembers the forgotten legend of Percy Latham.
5
The best videos and podcasts
“Beyond the Boundary”
📽️ Abhishek Ganguly talks to Virat Kohli & Ravi Shastri about their tenure together with India. [YouTube]“This Delivery Ended Agarkar’s Career”
📽️ Cricket by JB remembers Ajit Agarkar’s prodigious career, and why he isn’t remembered as an all-time white ball great. [YouTube]“Behind the Scenes of Text Commentary”
🎤 The Last Wicket talks to Abhijato Sensarma about the intricacies of covering a game via ball-by-ball commentary. [Spotify/Apple]
On a day when the streets here in Amsterdam are overwhelmingly oranje for the other team, that caught my eye and made my heart swell with a bit of pride for the girls of my adopted country. Lovely to see the returnees, not debutants, get a headline. The women’s game is richer for having them back.