David Green

Now it’s South Africa’s turn to feel the heat of Alastair Cook’s bat

Two summers ago, Alastair Cook has morphed into a left-handed Jack Hobbs and plundered three hundreds and 766 remorseless runs as Australia were ground into the dust. Cook hasn't looked back and since the start of that Ashes tour with his hundred against South Africa in the ongoing first Test against South Africa making it seven hundreds in 21 Tests.

Chanderpaul should emulate Dravid and put team above self

By David Green

Brian Lara is right. As a batsman with 140 Tests and more than 10,000 runs at an average of over 50, Shivnarine Chanderpaul has to bat at No 3 for the West Indies. His continued refusal to do so smacks of self-interest and is a serious disservice to his inexperienced team mates.

It’s not jealousy Mr Pietersen, it’s pure and simple indifference

By David Green

"Engage brain before mouth" is a simple idiom, but one that time and time again Kevin Pietersen absolutely fails to comprehend, which in combination with his breathtaking and unorthodox strokeplay makes him compulsory viewing both on and off the field of play.

Rembrandt, Picasso would have been proud of Virat Kohli’s Mirpur masterpiece!

By David Green

We've already called him the best young batsman in world cricket, heir apparent to the great Sachin Tendulkar and along with Hashim Amla and MS Dhoni the best batsman currently playing One-Day International (ODI) cricket.

Virat Kohli becomes fastest to reach 10 tons in ODIs

By David Green

Not content with smashing one of the greatest hundreds in ODI history in Hobart just a couple of weeks ago, Virat Kohli returned to plunder the Sri Lankan bowling once again in the Asia Cup on Tuesday.

Did you know Shakespeare, Napoleon and even Christ played cricket?!!

Nearly two millennia after leading the Roman invasion of Britain, batsman Julius Caesar made three centuries for Surreyduring the Victorian era. Like the first Roman Emperor, he also came to a sudden and rather unfortunate end in the month of March — nine days before the Ides -throwing himself underneath a train in 1878.

11 instances of teams shot out for under 100 in the last 18 months!

Being bowled out for under 100 used to be commonplace back in the time of Queen Victoria, but until recently instances were few and far between in the modern game and normally (although not always) featured Bangladesh.

Ricky Ponting breaks free from his cricketing pallbearers to stuns the world

When we asked a few months ago if Ricky Ponting had lost his punch, despite being English we did so with a heavy heart, given that we always had a strange and inexplicable affection for him.

Ajmal threatens to take Swann’s place as the No 1 spinner in the world

This may seem a strange thing for an England supporter to write the day after a bowler has just taken seven for 55 against our country, but it just confirmed that we're big fans of Saeed Ajmal here at The Reverse Sweep.

Panesar has to be picked alongside Swann, Broad, Anderson and Tremlett

A lot has happened since England last played a Test match. Regimes have fallen, cricketers have been incarcerated, David Warner and Vernon Philander have taken to Test cricket like ducks to water and man has finally landed on the moon.

The disastrous Indian report card of MS Dhoni’s team at Perth

Got out to a nothing shot having done all the hard work on the first morning, Gautam Gambhir then got a snorter from Mitchell Starc second time around. Run without a Test hundred now extends to two years, 19 Tests and 37 innings.

The brilliant Australian report card following the Perth Test

The joint-fourth fastest Test ton ever and the quickest ever by an opener. What more can you say? David Warner has taken to Test cricket like a duck to water with two contrasting hundreds and an average of 64 after his first five Tests.

David Warner’s mayhem has further endangered Duncan Fletcher’s job

Four of the seven quickest hundreds in Test history have come at the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) or should it now be renamed the Whacker?!) – three of these have been scored by opening batsmen and indeed are the three quickest hundreds ever scored by openers in Test history.

Statistics that humiliate Team India

Whilst Brad Haddin would do well to look at his own form before casting aspersions on the fragility or otherwise of India he may have a point — albeit a crass and clumsily made one. 

Gambhir, Harbhajan and Sreesanth in the worst Test XI of 2011

Four Indians — Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh and Shantakumaran Sreesanth find a place in the Worst Test XI of 2011.

Australia vs India at the SCG – Marks out of 10 for Michael Clarke’s army

After 720 days and 34 innings, Ricky Ponting finally hit his 40th Test hundred. And it was a good one too with a theatrical climax and a desperate dive for the precious final run before the smiling hero emerged with bat aloft and shirt dirtied.

Team India’s dismal report card from the Sydney Cricket Ground

Predictably tentative dismissal to the third ball of the match before - in the second innings - Gautam Gambhir, finally looking like the batsman that once scored eight hundreds in 10 Tests. Run without a Test hundred now extended to 35 innings

Michael Clarke proves his detractors wrong – and how!

Rewind 12 months and the reception Michael Clarke received from his home crowd was very different to what he got after his splendid 329 not out at the very same Sydney Cricket Ground.

Is Team India’s famed batting strength now just a myth?

It was that arch-propagandist Joseph Goebbels

Michael Hussey cheats the undertaker – yet again!

The coffin was sent back to the undertakers and the priest had an unexpected day off.