ROUNDUP: Rodrigues’ redemption
The best cricket stories of the week, 25th to 31st October 2025.
1
Rodrigues’ redemption
✍️ Sruthi Ravindranath on Jemi Rodrigues’ redemption arc.
“When I reached my fifty, when I reached my hundred, I didn’t celebrate, because, at that moment I looked at our hotel right here, and I said [to myself] tomorrow morning, what would make me happier? Would it be a fifty? Would it be a hundred? No, it would be India winning. And I want to wake up with that feeling, I want to sleep with that smile, that we are playing the finals, and I’m waking up to get ready for the finals.”
2
The better choice
✍️ Daniel Brettig investigates the murky world of cricket selections, the impact it has on players, and how the current AUS selectors are pushing back against decades of secrecy.
“If someone can show me how being distant and unaware of what the players are going through and what the plans are with the team and the coaching staff and how that’s more beneficial, I’d be all ears.”
3
Edwardian England
✍️ Sam Dalling goes behind the scenes on England Women’s transformation from their abysmal T20 World Cup in 2024 and equally abysmal 2025 Ashes loss.
“A six-wicket defeat to the West Indies in Dubai meant a group-stage exit from the 2024 T20 World Cup. Having travelled with hope, perhaps even a little expectation, of lifting the trophy, they limped home — literally in Knight’s case — having dropped catch after catch after catch.
Hang on. Scrap the first line of that previous paragraph: the 16-0 Ashes shellacking that followed in Australia was worse still. Knight and Jon Lewis were subsequently removed as skipper and head coach, opening the door for Sciver-Brunt and Edwards.”
4
The best of the rest
“Cricket owes Sophie Devine a lot”
✍️ Valkerie Baynes on Devine’s impact on Women’s cricket.“Dodgy hotels, bomb threats, golden memories”
✍️ Vishal Dikshit talks to Lisa Keightley about playing (and winning) the 1997 World Cup for Australia in India.“Complete mayhem”
✍️ Adam Burnett transports us back to 2000 to relive the end of one of the most lopsided rivalries of all time, as Queensland broke a 70-year loss streak against New South Wales in Australia!“Indian cricket’s coaching whisperers”
✍️ Venkat Ananth on how Ravi Shastri, Bharat Arun & Sridhar R. realised IND lacks an institutional approach to training cricket coaches, and how they built a successful, profitable academy for coaches since stepping down from Team India.
5
The best videos and podcasts
“Brett Lee joins The Grade Cricketer”
📽️ Ian Higgins & Sam Perry talk to Brett Lee about his early days, his post playing days, and why pace bowling units have to work like a cartel. [YouTube]“Inside the Mind of Abhinav Mukund”
🎤 Raunak Kapoor chats with player-turned-broadcaster Abhinav Mukund about his career on and off the pitch. [Apple/Spotify]“Cricket’s Extraordinary Powers”
🎤 Simon Hughes chats with Richard Verity, the founder of the Alsama Project that is helping rehabilitate poverty-stricken kids in refugee camps through cricket. [Apple/Spotify]