Reverse Swept Radio - cricket books, films and history

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy joins a petition to get Larwood into the Long Room, and Toby roots for Somerset "It would have been curious to know the vibe in the room when Larwood's grandson was taken around and didn't find Harold there." FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'51): When Chanderpaul Got Up Later Chanderpaul would say that: “I did not know where I was. My entire body went numb…" THE REVIEW (19'46): The Miracle of 99 - Fox Sports Australia "It's frankly a struggle to see an Australian win in the late 90s as a surprise, let alone a miracle." Recorded 3 August 2026

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy revisits his cricketing past in Zimbabwe, and we reflect on England's leadership changes "The Zimbabwe Cricket Podcast kindly shared my longshot request to find someone who had played in the 1999 edition of Stragglers Week, and Joseph Madyembwa got in touch." FROM THE ARCHIVES (12'00): William Lambert and the infamous fix of 1817 "It was an unusual game, in that both sides wanted to lose." THE REVIEW (25'15): Footprints: David Foot's Life of Writing (2023, Fairfield Books, ed. Stephen Chalke) "The horror of the trenches and the inevitably of missing a catch as an amateur are held in such perfect balance." Recorded 4 August 2026

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: The death of Bob Blair, and is the Bazball captaincy a poisoned chalice? "It's the story so good that we accidentally told it twice on the podcast." FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'50): The Bouncer that Peter Lever regretted "When I got back to the pavilion I wanted to retire." THE REVIEW (20'55): The Fifth Estate: Corruption Inside Cricket Canada (2026, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) "Essentially what we're saying is Please don't sue us." Recorded 30 June 2026

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: The annual RSR Lord's away day "The Lord's bar's approach towards carbs is really something else." FROM THE ARCHIVES (08'42): A new cricketing alphabet game "There is absolutely no way you're going to come up with a Q." THE REVIEW (23'45): Catching the Light (2026, Fairfield Books) "It's exactly the kind of thing that could be written while languishing in the long grass." Recorded 8 June 2026

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy feels the weight of his Middlesex voting rights, and Toby ponders the changing seasons "I particularly enjoy just watching the groundstaff standing and looking at the pitch." FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'30): An(other) Unusual World Record: The only wicket maiden in a T20 Super Over "How do you even get the stadium announcer job? I would *love* that job." THE REVIEW (22'25): The Southpaw Project (2024, dir. Lachlan Ross) "This isn't just about performance, it's about having a project on the scale that gets you excited again." Recorded 24 April 2026

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy surveys his cricket-themed birthday cards, and Toby wonders whether Livingstone's criticism of Bazball might let the genie out of the bottle "It does make you wonder what they'd send if I wasn't a cricket fan." FROM THE ARCHIVES (09'40): An Unusual World Record: Jimmy Sinclair scores the longest ever six "His name sounds like a super hero, which is probably quite appropriate given what we're about to hear." THE REVIEW (19'30): Echoing Greens: How Cricket Shaped the English Imagination (2024) by Brendan Cooper "Wonderful to think of Keats at the age of 24 wandering about with a cricket injury." Recorded 19 March 2026

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy is struck by a photo of Shaoib Bashir, and Toby reads an open letter about England's playing fields "These are young men with fragile careers chasing dreams." FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'10): Tony Lewis’ Christmas Present: India v England 1972 at Delhi "England at least remain unbeaten on Christmas Day." THE REVIEW (19'46): Flintoff (2025), Disney Plus "It was delightful to see Ponting visibly pissed off when recalling the events of 2005." Recorded 5 January 2026

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy admires a test debutant towards the end of his fourth decade, and Toby encounters Plum Warner in a new context "I don't score quickly enough, that's my real issue." FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'00): The One-Eyed Cricketer - the remarkable life of Colin Milburn "Often you saw him batting with both feet off the ground, in a sort of gravity-defying act" THE REVIEW (22'17): Basingstoke Boy by John Arlott (1990) "There's an extraordinary page where he describes narrowly missing joining the Manchester United team who were in the Munich air crash." Recorded 17 November 2025

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy empathises with Durham's demise, and Toby marks Chris Woakes' test retirement "Dwayne Bravo - a true road warrior of the franchise era." FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'00): The Run Reaper "This was all about reducing the air resistance when you play the shot. The physics here - well, it's fair to say that I'm not a physicist..." THE REVIEW (19'00): The 2005 Ashes: Settling the Score (BBC, July 2025) "I'm not entirely sure what this is, but I know that it combines my two great loves, and that it's worth a listen." Recorded 7 October 2025

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy visits the Hundred, and Toby has an unusual wager "I think what you've cleverly done, without knowing it, is an emotional hedge." FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'00): Jeff Thomson's Test debut "He decides that he's not going to let a big toe get in the way of his test debut and a shot at the West Indies." THE REVIEW (22'00): The King of Spain and I: Surviving Cricket, Depression and the Greatest Ever Ashes, by Ashley Giles (Fairfield Books, 2025) "We both came to each other and suggested this new Ashley Giles book." Out now and available as a hardback and an ebook from fairfieldbooks.co.uk and all good booksellers. Recorded 13 September 2025

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy talks cricket at work, and Toby talks cricket in Italy "This was an excellent moment to be an evangelist - because of the recent news in Italian cricket." FROM THE ARCHIVES (09'30): Shane Warne's Test debut "Haigh also says you could see Warne’s “lucky yellow speedos visible through the white pants”." THE REVIEW (18'20): Bad Sport: Fallen Idol (2021) "If anyone's entitled to be furious with Cronje, it's surely Herschelle Gibbs." Recorded 29 July 2025

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy has a new mug - with a deep cricket backstory, and Toby plays an unconventional game of T20 "If at any point you see me, I'll likely be drinking or making tea." FROM THE ARCHIVES (11'20): Ajit Agarkar's debut century - England vs India, Lord's, 2002 "Agarkar had recently returned from an Australian tour where he had been taunted as Bombay Duck after recording seven consecutive wicketless innings." THE REVIEW (23'40): Richie Benaud's Blue Suede Shoes: The Story of an Ashes Classic by David Kynaston and Harry Ricketts (2024) "A drunk Walter Robins, former all rounder and England selector, came into the dressing room and commanded England to play a certain way - and Peter May, to get rid of him, agreed." Recorded 22 June 2025

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy and Toby head to Lord's for the annual Reverse Swept Radio day in the Pavilion "You gave me false advice with just the right amount of confidence to truly screw me." FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'33): Alex Tudor's Nightwatchman Heroics - July 1999 "Thorpe comes back to the dressing room, fresh from being abused by the crowd, to the abuse of his team-mates." THE REVIEW (20'40): Cape Summer (2009) "What part of the touring life would resonate? Well, there's a trip to the gold and uranium mine." Recorded 1 June 2025

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy puzzles over a forgotten childhood poster, and Toby applauds Wisden taking the gloves off. "Mind you he wasn't massive, so you could probably print him on A3." FROM THE ARCHIVES (09'20): Stump Cricket, or Podex "At its core this is an issue with the length of time you spent pulling out tree roots." THE REVIEW (19'00): Godfrey Evans: A Biography by Christopher Sandford (1990) "After getting hit by a car, Evans gets up, shrugs it off and walks off. And I thought 'this is a book I need to read.'" Recorded 28 April 2025

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: An announcement about the next chapter in the history of the Gabba (play Olympic cricket there, then knock it down); Andy's summer begins when his county wallchart arrives. "My oldest daughter made a move for it, and while I am usually tolerant of her playing with my dearest property, in this case I had to say 'No, this is sacred stuff.'." FROM THE ARCHIVES (08'45): The India vs Pakistan bowl out - Kingsmead Oval, September 2007, inaugural T20 World Cup "It's a world cup match between two great rivals, but this whole bowl out has the air of a beer match." THE REVIEW (18'45): Cricket's Forgotten Team (2025) "When the Taliban took power, they had to find and destroy their scorebooks. No longer were these books a proud way of memorialising achievements of the past; they were incriminating documents that would lead to punishment." Recorded 25 March 2025

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy's brother revives a promising career, and Toby wonders whether cricket and politics can ever be entirely separated. "It may astonish you, but he's actually better than me." FROM THE ARCHIVES (08'04): The Curious Tale of Billy Midwinter - The Kidnapped Cricketer "WG Grace dragged him bodily out of the Lord's pavilion and over town to the Oval." THE REVIEW (19'52): Cricket Calling by Roland Ryder (1995) "Has the modern crowd got the skill to Sardine a Jardine?" Recorded 16 Feb 2025

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Maiden's new female cricket kit, and encounters with the game in Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy “I will absolutely be selling my daughters on the idea that cricket is the finest way to waste a large chunk of one's life, but it's far better when that message is being communicated by their peers ." FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'10): The final day of the 2010 County Championship “Notts were presented with an imitation trophy - which apparently was lost later that night in a nightclub" THE REVIEW (19'30): The Documentary: Sir Frank Worrell (BBC World Service) “Initially I thought we needed a bit more on Worrell - but eventually I realised that this lands him as a historical figure." Recorded 19 Jan 2025

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Darren Lehmann embarks on a County Cricket chapter, and Toby attempts to pass on the flame to a new generation “We’re recording 60 years to the day since possibly the most one-sided match in first class cricket history: a victory by an innings and 851 runs." FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'15): The strange beginnings of the super sopper “Does it just make a huge mess? That’s actually a really good question." THE REVIEW (20'10): Bowler’s Turn by Ian Peebles (1960) “‘What matter if it doesn’t land quite in the right place? So long as it bursts like a bomb in a beehive. This is art for art’s sake.’" Recorded 4 Dec 2024

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy receives a message from a listener, and Toby ponders whether cricket's efforts to reduce carbon emissions may have some unintended consequences "As a podcast host, it makes you feel very differently about the whole enterprise." FROM THE ARCHIVES (12'00): England's victory in the dark: Karachi 2000 "England would later celebrate in the dressing room with a chorus of “Who let the dogs out?”, Duncan Fletcher reportedly woofing along." THE REVIEW (22'00): Crossing the Line (2018, SuperSport) "Warne has the immortal line “Steve Smith is not Pablo Escobar.”" Recorded 27 September 2024

THE TEN MINUTE FORTNIGHT: Andy plays fantasy cricket, and Toby comes across some retro technology on the train "I went to take out my headphones, and then my ear was caught by the message coming out of his phone." FROM THE ARCHIVES (10'15): The Canterbury Lime: Cricket's most famous tree "That particular rule is completely rational, but something of a shame." THE REVIEW (22'40): Herbert Farjeon's Cricket Bag, published 1944 "'Is there a grown man in the grandstand whose maturity isn't a little saddened that after all, he is just a grandstand man?" Recorded 29 September 2024