O

Several corridors and aisles in ESPNcricinfo's offices over the years have served as pitches for feisty battles of rubber-ball cricket between employees. These games have resulted in broken bottles, dented walls, shattered lamps, and injured staffers, but the greatest damage has been to personal egos, which have sometimes been badly bruised in these contests. =====

What connects Gary Kirsten, Jason Gillespie and Mahela Jayawardene? The three, along with dozens of other ex- and current cricketers and writers, have over the years enriched the site's opinion section with timely, incisive, and thought-provoking analysis. The earliest columnists included the likes of Trevor Chesterfield and Colin Croft; the opinion pages have gone on to feature the who's who of cricket writing, including the late Peter Roebuck, Ian Chappell, Gideon Haigh and Ed Smith.