ROUNDUP: On Mulder, and self-respect
The best cricket stories of the week, 5th to 11th July 2025
1
On Mulder, and self-respect
✍️ Best of Cricket’s Tarutr Malhotra on why Wiann Mulder’s declaration rubbed him the wrong way, despite wanting Brian Lara’s record to stay intact.
“[In the WTC final] Bavuma epitomised that sporting ideal that we all aspire to – blood, sweat, and tears to push through that dark tunnel of life to find that occasional, improbable success that makes everything worth it.
Meanwhile, Mulder thinks he doesn’t deserve to break a 20-year-old record. To repeat; Mulder doesn’t doubt his talent. He believes he might find himself in the high 300s again.
He doesn’t think he deserves to break Lara’s record.”
2
Dukes have ballsed up their product
✍️ ESPNcricinfo’s Sidharth Monga writes about the quicker deterioration of balls that is affecting the Test and first class game.
“Whether by design or by any other reason, this unholy union of flat, long-lasting pitches and quickly-softening Dukes balls are making the contest totally one-sided. It has turned the precious little available with the new ball into a precious commodity to make the most out of.
It has made for ridiculous scorecards such as England's first innings at Edgbaston: five wickets in the first 22 overs of the first new ball, a 303-run stand with no wicket to the old ball, and then five more to the second new ball.”
3
Cricket’s bowling assist
📊 Cricbit’s Arnav Jain invents a way to quantify ‘bowling assists’; i.e. the impact of bowlers who create pressure, but don’t actually take the wicket.
“These are normally cases where a previous bowler applies pressure and the next bowler reaps the reward. And this is a skill becoming tougher in the modern T20 era, where more pressure is needed now (measured in terms of change in required run rate) to create a wicket opportunity.”
“An imperfect understanding of where wickets come from”
📊 Three Slips and a Gully’s Divyansh Peswani analyses how KL Rahul has an average of just 34, while looking like a 45-average Test batter.
4
The best of the rest
“From grief to glory - Akash Deep's spell of a lifetime”
✍️ ESPNcricinfo’s Sidharth Monga on Akash Deep’s unorthodox talent.“Our dreams of Jofra”
✍️ Arrangements of White on Green’s Jon Hotten on the excitement of seeing Jofra Archer again, by remembering the Jeff Thomson effect in the 1970s.“The quiet rise of N Shree Charani”
✍️ ESPNcricinfo’s Shashank Kishore on the rise of the latest India Women’s spin prodigy who has broken out with the most wickets in the England tour so far.“Confessions of a cricket groundsman”
✍️ The Athletic’s Richard Sutcliffe with the groundsmen in England to understand what goes into their jobs after the controversy at Edgbaston.“The Old-Timey New Zealand T20 XI”
✍️ Beyond Cow Corner on the best Kiwi T20 side from players who retired before T20s became a format.
5
The best videos and podcasts
“On the decline of wristspin in modern Test cricket”
🎤 Talking Cricket’s Raunak Kapoor chats with Anil Kumble about the development of his leg spin, and what to teach modern spinners. [Apple/Spotify]“The evolution of wicket-keepers”
📽️ IWM’s Cyrus Broacha talks to ex-India international Deep Dasgupta about the evolution of wicket keeping in the 21st century. [YouTube]“When there is so much corruption, you cannot develop a coach”
📽️ Pak Passion’s Saj Sadiq talks to former Pakistani bowler Abdur Rauf, who stunningly talks about every facet of the PCB’s failures from the administrator ‘mafia’ to their coaching incompetence! [YouTube]