Since Alec Stewart retired five years ago England have dropped keepers almost as often as the keepers have dropped catches or flopped with the bat

He has taken 78 Test wickets at 16 since May last year. The ratings say he's the world's best quick. TWC spoke to him before the England series

The joys of sitting back and watching the sparks fly as a bunch of hard cases take each other on

The first two weeks of the IPL have proved that while Twenty20 is far from perfect, it is a valid form in its own right with its own unique attractions and pleasures

In the early 2000s a pair of spinners took centre stage. But Warne is gone, Brett Lee is better than ever, Dale Steyn is making the headlines, and quicks are even thriving in India, traditionally fast-bowling's final frontier

England play New Zealand in six Tests in a row, Sri Lanka have played 10 Tests against Bangladesh since 2000 and seven against Australia. Not only is the international schedule too full, it is hopelessly lopsided

Lawrence Booth on the probable expansion of Kolpak

In which an unhealthy obsession with "Limmie" is confessed

Lawrence Booth searches through the kitbag of history to find a collection of eccentricities and innovations

For most of the 17 years Hadlee was a Test cricketer, he singlehandedly carried his side's attack like no other bowler had managed before and only Muttiah Muralitharan has managed since. His action, as smooth as whipped cream, combined menace with meannes

When Wisden Cricketers' Almanack invited 100 experts around the world to vote for their five top players of the 20th century, a few grumbled that two names were shoo-ins: Don Bradman and Sir Garfield Sobers. Because if Bradman is the greatest batsman of a

While Alan Knott was keeping wicket for England in 65 successive Tests in the 1970s, there was not a gloveman in the world to touch him. But he was not merely a keeper of impish brilliance: Knott was England's lower-order not-so-secret weapon

Tony Greig is one of the most colourful and least pigeon-holeable cricketers in the modern game

At his peak, he was - for Englishmen of a certain generation - nothing less than a phenomenon

A throwaway comment from Steve Waugh sowed a seed of self-belief in Paul Collingwood who has turned the doubts into an MBE and a Test average of 40

Lawrence Booth reviews The Hansie Cronje Story: An Authorised Biography by Garth King

Don't whine, don't panic and for God's sake get the toss right, Lawrence Booth advises Nasser and Co.

Lawrence Booth on Mark Butcher, a modest man with the courage to dare

Lawrence Booth does the rounds of county cricket to find sledging and ball-tampering aplenty, and the Ashes radar on everywhere