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THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Duncan Hamilton fears for the future of cricket writing, and Australia's test players learn from their predecessors via the media "Ian Healey sets himself up in front of the pedal bin in the SEN Office, and did a piece for camera that looks suspiciously like it was filmed on a phone." FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'50): The Rise, Fall and Rise of Chris Schofield "This is the feature that Andy has just admitted he has been looking forward to for several years..." THE REVIEW (22'10): Crickets All (1949) "This remains utterly bonkers to the point I thought that it was a wind-up, but at the end of the day some poor man has to go and set off some rockets: two for a draw, one for win. I have so many questions about this..." Recorded 26 February 2023

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Ricky Ponting has a plan to save Test cricket, and the MCC take a mis-step when issuing their clarification on the Mankad. "It goes back to that thing called 'the Spirit of Cricket', and the MCC don't contribute towards a debate pro-actively about the Spirit of Cricket when they use language like this" FROM THE ARCHIVES (12'00): Pakistan vs Bangladesh in Multan, 2003 "They decide not to call the batsman back - which is odd, given that it's the captain who has dropped the catch." THE REVIEW (23'15): Cricketing Lives: A Characterful History from Pitch to Page by Richard Thomas (May 2021) "Archie MacLaren was a limousine salesman later in his life. "By all accounts, what he tried to sell to his customers what they wanted or needed." A wonderful way to prick the pomposity of a man who is very much seen that way...." Recorded 29 January 2023

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Listening to the Aus SA series from an English winter, and re-learning cricket's self-control "When you're watching cricket, you can swear at the umpire as much as you like. But when you're on the pitch, you have to switch to see the umpire in a very different way." FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'00): "An innings played with one eye and one leg" - The Nawab of Pataudi's 75  "As well as having double vision from childhood, he's nursing an injury from the first test - he comes in with a runner and can't play front-foot shots." THE REVIEW (21'50): Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes (Amazon Prime, 2022)  "I don't want to labour this point (while slightly labouring this point), but you need to enter into the experience of watching a documentary like this with the understanding that a deal has been struck: access has been traded for a certain narrative." Recorded 09 January 2023

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy welcomes a legspinner into the world, the test debut of Tagenarine Chanderpaul, and a promising tour match from the South Africans "As yet, she hasn't displayed the level of patience and self-control required of an opening bat." FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'10): DRS' test debut "Every referral that had been sent to the third umpire in the Friends Provident Trophy had ended up back with the on-field umpire's decision." THE REVIEW (21'40): Long Shot Summer - The Year of the Four England Captains, 1988 by Neil Robinson (2015) "Viv Richards wins the toss and says to Cowdrey 'I'll have a chat to my team and let you know what we're going to do'." Recorded 11 December 2022

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: farewell to Bob Cattell, author of the Glory Gardens series; and Jonathans Agnew and Liew talk about that incident "This week of all weeks, we don't want to talk too much about politics, but..." FROM THE ARCHIVES (09'00): Godfrey Harold Hardy - the mathematician who loved cricket "That was only the start of his new year resolutions, that also included 'Be the first man atop Everest' and 'Assassinate Mussolini'." THE REVIEW (18'00): One Billion to One: The Great Indian Cricket Dream (BBC - September 2022) "One of the things that is best about it is that... it's very short." Recorded 30 October 2022

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: cricket in the rain at the Oval, and Shomit Dutta's new play Stumped "It's a very liberating thing to take a day off work to go to the curry house and the pub, and you wouldn't do that under other circumstances." FROM THE ARCHIVES (08'40): Simpson 'Sammy' Guillen - the man who played test cricket for the West Indies and New Zealand "Ironically it was Guillen who was responsible for New Zealand's first-ever test victory - in a game against his old team." THE REVIEW (19'00): Jon Hotten - Bat, Ball and Field: The Elements of Cricket (July 2022) "I was astonished to read the section on Shane Warne's mural - including his friends, imaginary friends, and people he admired, all chilling by a swimming pool." Recorded 30 September 2022

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: meeting 'Yorkie' and Australia's new friendship with Pacific cricket "Once you've messed up your own innings, you can take on the umpiring and muck up someone else’s." FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'45): When the President went to the Cricket: Eisenhower at Pakistan vs Australia in Karachi "We hope Biden can meet Eisenhower's standards and make it through a whole day... without yawning." THE REVIEW (20'55): Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams (2022) "Anyone who has spent time with teenage boys will recognise those challenging moments, and will recognise that you get to your limits whether you've been an England all-rounder or not." Recorded on 5 September 2022

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: the joy of cricket writing (writing cricket writing, not reading cricket writing); watching Glamorgan's record-breaking innings "Most undeservedly, I ended up interviewing the curator of the London Transport Museum." FROM THE ARCHIVES (9'40): When a stump became a weapon: Rashid Patel loses it "The batsman has his bat horizontally across his chest in an unusual fencing move." THE REVIEW (20'10): The Unforgiven: Missionaries or Mercenaries by Ashley Gray (2020) "The pursuit of the players become interesting stories in themselves." Recorded on 24th June 2022

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: an update from Lord's and England annihilate the Netherlands "As someone who has today had champagne sprayed over my back, my feelings are now rather more nuanced. The behaviour at Lord's may not be better, but the product dumped on you is certainly of a higher calibre." FROM THE ARCHIVES (7'40): When a captain sent his fastest bowler from the field "Something exploded inside me. I couldn't go on. All I wanted to do was get off the pitch." THE REVIEW (15'20): The Ball that Changed Cricket (2018, SevenPlus) "The laconic Kim Hughes comes up with one of the best lines I've heard: 'Built like Tarzan, bats like Jane'." Recorded on 24th June 2022

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: watching baseball, and Bangladesh host Sri Lanka "The first pitch of the game was sent straight into the stands for a home run. That raised my and my wife's sense of what normal drama would be in baseball. It turned out to be very rare." FROM THE ARCHIVES (12'00): Andrew Symonds at the 2003 World Cup "There must be a psychological credit to Symonds: you come in knowing that if you don't score there's the next player waiting, and scoring under those circumstances is difficult." THE REVIEW (22'40): The Test by Nathan Leamon "Cricket is lacking in fiction compared to other sports, and this is a rare attempt to take on top level cricket in fiction - and it's done really well." Recorded on 29th May 2022

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: all change at the top for English cricket "Many of us fans are attracted to the idea of the specialist captain." FROM THE ARCHIVES (9'30): The Sir Walter Lawrence Trophy "For Sir Walter, his money was well spent: his legacy has been preserved by this trophy, while it's hard to find out much else about him other than the description of 'master builder'." THE REVIEW (19'15): Howzat for Hollywood (BBC Sounds) "If you were a British actor in Hollywood at the time, and you got the message from Aubrey-Smith, you were pretty well obliged to play." Recorded on 18 April 2022

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: how best to remember Shane Warne, and a cricket-inspired name for a new member of the Reverse Swept Radio family "In 40 years time they'll say that he was named after three West Indian greats, and then defined the name Chadd as the finest English opener the 21st century has seen." FROM THE ARCHIVES (8'30): The most expensive over ever bowled in first-class cricket  "After all, the whole thing was a complete waste of time: they could have played out the draw and still won the title." THE REVIEW (18'25): Archie Jackson: Cricket's Tragic Genius by David Frith "There is reference to the late cut as his classy trademark shot, while often with stylish cricketers we go straight for the drive." Recorded on 15 March 2022

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Marnus Labuschagne prepares for the subcontinent, and Toby takes a rare catch as keeper "I remember a player reverse sweeping in a village game, and the keeper was so offended by the reverse sweep that he gave the batsman an uncharacteristic send off." FROM THE ARCHIVES (8'50): The most consecutive test maidens ever  "Many of the team were suffering from what The Times rather wonderfully described as 'internal misfortunes'." THE REVIEW (17'15): Shane: The King of Spin "If you have never heard of Shane Warne, we would heartily recommend this film." Recorded on 22 February 2022

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: The county fixture list is published, and falling back in love with cricket thanks to the women's Ashes "In the next episode of Reverse Swept Radio, we'll be providing advice on the best way to cook a cricket ball." FROM THE ARCHIVES (8'30): When Alastair Cook and James Anderson played darts  "Maybe this moment at Ally Pally can be credited with rescuing the career of one of England's greatest ever batsman." THE REVIEW (18'45): Who Only Cricket Know by David Woodhouse "We read lots of books that we enjoy, but this is a book that matters: what it says about cricket, about the politics and history of the time, and about writing." Recorded on 1 February 2022

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy reviews his highlights of 2021, and enjoying Iceland on Twitter. "The memory of sitting in the sun, at the top of the Radcliffe Road stand, stuffing my face with Scotch Eggs, will be one to keep me going through the winter months." FROM THE ARCHIVES (7'45): Chris Martin, the King of Tailenders "Seeing a tailender desperately backing away to leg is perhaps the only thing that we can all relate to in test cricket. So thank you Chris Martin and Alan Mullally for giving us that." THE REVIEW (18'05): Project Ashes (BBC podcast) "The problem is encapsulated in the title of the podcast itself. We shouldn't have a Project Ashes, after all." Recorded on 11 January 2022

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Listening to TalkSport's coverage of India vs New Zealand from a covid sickbed, and Tom Latham's remarkable innings. "You often think that you have to reinvent yourself to do well in the subcontinent. Latham's great skill was to do less." FROM THE ARCHIVES (8'30): Betty Wilson: the first test cricketer to score a century and take ten wickets in the same game "Her father was a cobbler, so it was only natural that he should make her a pair of cricket shoes." THE REVIEW (17'30): The Cricket Match by Hugh de Sélincourt ""'The seats bore the strain very well, awaiting without impatience the quiet, steady contract of elderly posteriors.' Whatever your views on flowery language, your tolerance has to be considerable to think that's an acceptable way to describe sitting on a bench." Recorded on 3 December 2021

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Tim Murtagh returns for another year, and Australia's plan to return to Pakistan "The England and New Zealand cancellations seemed to reinforce the idea of the haves of the game treating the have-nots with disdain." FROM THE ARCHIVES (7'45): The First Six in Test Cricket "Get Joe Darling into the same team with Graham Onions and you'd have a headline-writer's dream." THE REVIEW (16'30): Sport's Strangest Crimes: Allen Stanford, the Man who Bought Cricket "The parties, the yacht, building a castle in Florida which he then pulled down: there are big themes in this podcast, but there are plenty of salacious anecdotes as well." Recorded on 14 November 2021

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: The retirement of Gareth Batty, and Shikha Pandey's wonderball "There's a lingering attitude that large swing is vulgar, somehow." FROM THE ARCHIVES (8'15): Cricket at the Olympics: Paris, 1900 "The British team was a bunch of amateurs on a jolly to the Continent, and they ended up playing in the Olympics purely by accident." THE REVIEW (17'30): Cricket on the Continent by Tim Brooks "If I was the president of the Vanuatu cricket association, I'd sit down with this book and use it as a blue-print." Recorded on 15 October 2021

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy finally makes his Trent Bridge debut, and Toby enjoys a flight of fancy about a rule change. "I was wondering whether it was Sherwood Forest in the distance. Which may be completely geographically inaccurate." FROM THE ARCHIVES (6'45): The cricket career of Lord Byron "His captain wrote 'Byron should never have been in the XI had my counsel been taken'." THE REVIEW (14'00): One Test Wonders podcast, hosted by Brian Murgatroyd "Tony Pigott comes up with the wonderful assertion that if he had been playing in the previous test, England would have won." Recorded on 21 September 2021

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Back at Lord's post-pandemic, and rediscovering the joy of net sessions in lockdown "It's the grabbing by the scruff of the neck that I particularly like. It feels like exactly the right way for an MCC member to express their disgust." FROM THE ARCHIVES (8'00): Cricket and excuses "The match reports talk about the excellence of the bowling, not the fact that none of the batsmen could lift their arms because their shirts were too tight." THE REVIEW (19'05): Cape Summer and the Australians in England by Alan Ross  "Describing the pitch, Ross reaches for an unexpected metaphor: 'perhaps as for tired businessmen who like a night out, a single frolic sufficed for a long time'." Recorded on 30 August 2021