David Cook

The quality of cricket in the current "Men's T20 World Cup Asia & EAP Qualifier 2025/26" is astonishingly high. All 6 teams are of a very similar standard. Most games going down to the last 1 or 2 overs. The ICC desperately needs to expand the World Cup in future so that these teams have a stage. 😡

Not sure I am convinced of it, though - Viv Richards hit the ball a long way and I suspect it may have been because he had a muscular frame like modern batters do.

But this quote suggests that increased volume of wood does actually somehow help the bat impart more force for the same mass.

You'd think that if force = mass x acceleration that the mass of the bat would be the key factor in how much force it imparts on the ball, and therefore how far the ball travels when hit.

Thought this article was interesting. I think this is the 1st time I have heard this explanation - that bat makers are drying the wood more than in the past, and that is why bats are "bigger" these days - at least in terms of volume of wood, if not mass.

www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...

Yes, it was something like that! (One of the other parents worked it out in the end). Thanks!

Dear cricket hive mind. Does anyone have any idea how the "R/W (Runs / wicket differential)" figure is calculated in Play Cricket. I can't make head nor tail of it. I've also tried asking Google Gemini if it can figure it out, based on my spreadsheet, but it was also stumped.

List of test openers who have played at least 10 innings over the last 3 years, ordered by average. Aggregate average of all openers over this period is 32.

They bat all the way down. They just don't bat all the way up?

ICC ready to back WTC four-day Tests in boost for smaller nations The ICC is ready to sanction four-day Tests in the World Test Championship to help smaller nations to play more games and longer series

A match per week, over the weekend to draw in crowds, with 3 days between matches. Countries who want to can still play 5 days. No brainer.

www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/j...

I'm watching the Major League Cricket livestream of a match in the Oakland A's stadium. If the USA can hold cricket in a baseball stadium, why not Japan?

"There are long-term strategies from powerbrokers for Japan to host major global cricket events"

That's good to hear! Any idea what sort of timeframes those powerbrokers might have in mind?

The junior figures are surprisingly disappointing, though. (These don't go back to earlier years, as far as I'm aware.)

Sport England have published 2023-24 data on participation in sport. I've added the senior participation figure to my graph. As ever, it's a weird metric, but at least it's reasonably robust and consistent over a long period of time. Seems to be going in the right direction. Good to see.

Reasonable point. Still sucks.

"The Home Of Cricket"

MCC to address 'ridiculous' gender divide at AGM - www.bbc.com/sport/cricke...

No live Eng games but more women's Hundred. I'll take that.

BBC and ECB agree new four-year rights deal - www.bbc.com/sport/cricke...

My son, as part of the Japan U19s, has just qualified for the 2026 World Cup. Amazing achievement by players, coaches, back room staff and everyone who volunteers to run club cricket in Japan.

Pretty powerful this: local junior and U19 international Ryuki Ozeki interviewed by local news in Sano explaining the game to new fans!

Japan inching towards ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup qualification!

Ryuki batted superbly today.

I'm a bit surprised that the East Asia Pacific U19 World Cup Qualifiers aren't getting much media coverage. Japan, Papua New Guinea and Fiji are currently battling it out for one place at the ICC U19 World Cup in Zimbabwe/Namibia in early 2026.

(Might be a bit biased. 😂)

@danielbeswick.bsky.social Loving the commentary, Dan. Hope you manage to find some time for miso ramen and a dip in a hot spring.

Banton's average just went up from 32.1 to 37.3 in one innings.

Mayow Park?

Women's football World Cup is expanding to 32, then 48 teams. Men's T20 world cup currently includes just 20. Rubbish. Spread the love. Grow the game.

BBC News - UK set to host 2035 Women's World Cup
www.bbc.com/newsround/ar...

YouTube video by talkSPORT Cricket "It Will Only Be On The Internet" What Is The Future Of Cricket Media? | Bumble & Kimber

Google and Facebook nabbed about 90% of ad revenue from newspapers almost overnight, making paying journalists big bucks obsolete. Sad but true.

youtu.be/-fN3AeNRnTA?...

England A beat Australia A by three wickets in opening T20 of tour England A begin their tour down under with a three-wicket win over Australia A in the first T20 in Sydney.

Hell yeah. More like it.

England A beat Australia A in opening T20 of tour - www.bbc.com/sport/cricke...

Inside incredible £500m plans for England's first indoor cricket stadium CRICKET chiefs are ready to change Test match history by building an indoor stadium in the UK. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are set to splash £500million on the groundbreaking project.…

I've been suggesting this for years (though I thought it'd be near London). Think what you could host through the winter - not just internationals, but also some sort of domestic tournament.

www.thesun.co.uk/sport/339954...

YouTube video by Middlesex Schools Cricket Podcast Creating Environments That Create Elite Cricketers | MSC Podcast ft. Chris Frost

Really interesting interview between Middlesex Schools coaches. This is why why my son loves being part of MSC so much.

youtu.be/wBcP-c5ZbT8?...

Thanks. I never did schedule a call with him to ask to be let back in (after being kicked out for sharing a graph from the last such survey on Twitter), so had not seen this. Interesting.