Unexpected results are bound to occur in long, unwieldy tournaments like the World Cup, and we should enjoy them

Their rise has been remarkable, and their first World Cup game is an absolute must-win for them

When India meet Pakistan and England take on Australia, despite all the complex historical baggage, on the field all they are doing is playing

Rather than run a futile race for third, why doesn't cricket simply stage the best event it can?

Any debate in English cricket between the modernisers and traditionalists about the future of T20 should come down to one simple fact: the quality of the sport

The line between risk and responsibility is terribly thin, yet sport must tread it

He served the purpose of being the hero to Pietersen's antihero, but given his appalling one-day form, is it time to be disloyal and get rid of him?

Cricketers do not have more integrity than other sportsmen; it's just that cricket makes more of a parade of it

His death reminds us that sport is dangerous, and that the pursuit of sporting excellence calls on large reserves of courage - such as he possessed

There was a time when cricket needed a moral climate against chucking. Not anymore

The gap between the haves and the have-nots is growing wider, and the disenchantment is forcing a devaluation of Test cricket among weaker teams

His cricket gets hardly a mention in his new book. And isn't the cricket the point of Kevin Pietersen?

It's essential to sport, but it's also the lowest level at which sport can be appreciated

Not quite. Sledging is not masculine, it's shameful

South Africa's quota system may be politically correct, but it's better than apartheid, says Simon Barnes