The Long Handle

Cricket books of the year you may not have had time to read

Inaccurate animal-sport metaphors getting you down? You've come to the right place

Is between those who want to watch noisy cricket and those who'd rather hear birds er tweet

And other important IPL analysis you won't get elsewhere

But who's doing the hating?

Or why an exciting draw does not prove that draws are exciting

Do you spend precious minutes of your life listening to unmemorable things players have to say?

Build-up? I'll tell you where to stick your build-up

Will he be boy genius or imitation ectoplasm of Shane Warne, in Mohali?

Think your life's a drudge and a chore? Well, join the queue, why don't you?

And the reason why they are doing so badly in New Zealand

Learnings and suchlike from day four in Hyderabad

Their spinners may go on strike if they don't change their stance against technology

There are plenty of things to dislike about Ricky Ponting, but his attempts to tease gravity is not one of them

If cricket was a bowling contest, then Pakistan would be flourishing. Unfortunately our sport requires both batsmanship and ballsmanship

It occurred to me, on the morning of the first day's play at Newlands, that watching Test cricket is a very odd way to spend your leisure time.

Players need time to acclimatise at the start of every tour, and cricket watchers have to go through our own period of orientation

And why New Zealand commentary is so understated

In which we praise a fine new reality-television series

What's money when you can get players to play for the love of the game?