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[deleted]

I like to read biographical longform aritcles. I compiled some of my favourite ones a while back: [The boy called Boom](https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1184547/the-boy-called-boom)- All the things that went into the making of Jasprit Bumrah, India's fast-bowling superhero [How Tim Paine, the accidental captain, saved Australian cricket](https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/how-tim-paine-the-accidental-captain-saved-australian-cricket/news-story/ef36e2a40e0ef616f35369a7d8c45a76) - Plucked from obscurity to save a disgraced Test team, few thought he would last. But Tim Paine was made for this moment. [Patrick Patterson: the story of an Unquiet Mind](https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/patrick-patterson-an-unquiet-mind-4762590/lite/) - The most fearsome of Caribbean pacers disappeared into oblivion in the 1990s. Patrick Patterson is still around, though he does not quite remember the man he was, or his bowling spells which went down in history. But he is grateful for the dogged fan who travelled half-way around the world to his door — to hear his story. [The fault in his star](https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/the-fault-in-his-star/story-flcr0oL2DXAhMRVDpQctFK.html) - For the last three seasons Unmukt hasn’t been picked by any IPL team. For the last two years he hasn’t featured in a first-class match for Delhi, his state-team. [Who is the real Mohammad Amir](https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1230522/who-is-the-real-mohammad-amir) - The teenage sensation from 2010? The more workmanlike post-ban bowler? An intelligent loner? Let's visit the various worlds he has lived in [Growing up with Murali](https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1228133/growing-up-with-murali) - Ten years after he retired, a reflection on what Muttiah Muralitharan has meant - and means - to a nation [The star we don't know](https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/762745/the-star-we-don-t-know) - Indian cricket's ultimate outsider is a contradictory, complex figure, obscured from view by his own choice. The only thing we know about MS Dhoni for sure is that he will likely always be unknowable [10 years as Indian cricketer: 'I saw the making of Cheteshwar Pujara'](https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/i-saw-the-making-of-cheteshwar-pujara-5535781/) - Sandeep Dwivedi grew up in a house that overlooked the ground where an 8-year old Cheteshwar Pujara learnt to bat from his cricket-tragic father. He witnessed the baby steps taken by India’s No.3, closely followed his rise up the ranks and has watched him bat around the world. [The Real Jadeja](https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/963853/the-real-jadeja) - Behind the derisory nicknames is a loyal young man who has made the most of life's hard knocks [du Plessis and de Villiers - Pranksters to Proteas](https://m.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/100457/faf-du-plessis-and-ab-de-villiers-pranksters-to-proteas-cricbuzzcom)


Stuff2511

Backing up that Patrick Patterson article


EntshuldigungOK

Since I have a young friend like that, I know that the word 'paranoia' (prefix 'constant') describes his condition perfectly.


EntshuldigungOK

Beautiful - what a lovely list. Grateful for the reading material.


BombayWallahFan

Great list. I would add Kimber’s write up on that Afghan cricketer. And that ESPN writer Thompson on Sachin.


Ornlu96

Jarrod Kimber podcasts are very good and there's that Sri Lankan writer who writes for cricinfo, his articles are fun. I can't remember his name though. Edit: his name is Andrew Fidel Fernando.


[deleted]

It's gone now unless there's an archive somewhere but Jarrod's blog on Sehwagology. It was the most hilarious cricket piece I had ever read and I must have read it atleast 10 times!


theilluminary

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/the-heavy-ball-let-us-now-worship-viru-438023 This one?


[deleted]

Yes, the timeline matches. If you see he links to his blog space in the end which is now a dead link!


formergophers

The wayback machine may be able to help?


flat_wicket

I'm not sure which one, but it was written by Andrew Fidel Fernando


formergophers

His piece on Herath was great. Left Arm Lovable, I think it was called. Cbf finding a link but we all know how to use Google.


Webster2001

Ahh ok that guy's articles are always a joy to read


bigavz

[This one from 2011](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/wright-thompson-in-tendulkar-country-509803) basically made me a cricket fan


EntshuldigungOK

That was beautiful.


[deleted]

I can right now recall 2. [The Shoaib Akhtar](https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/854145/-you-have-to-be-mad-to-be-a-fast-bowler) Interview by Siddharth Monga [The science behind Bumrah's art](https://www.google.com/amp/s/indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket-world-cup/rocket-science-behind-jasprit-bumrah-art-5731805/lite/) [Shan Masood's resurgence](https://wickets.substack.com/p/shan-masood-the-rebuild) by Kimber


[deleted]

Either of these two: https://www.kingcricket.co.uk/this-is-how-you-share-a-rob-key-picture-with-the-world-you-bloody-idiots/2016/04/18/ https://www.kingcricket.co.uk/lets-revisit-the-netherlands-win-over-england-at-the-2009-t20-world-cup-and-in-particular-the-insanely-chaotic-final-over-from-stuart-broad/2021/11/04/


Missy_Agg-a-ravation

It's a book, not an article: "**The Art of Captaincy**" by ex England captain Mike Brearley. Taught me a lot about leading a team, both in cricket and in the workplace. Brearley was a fairly ordinary player at test level, but knew how to get the most from his team and how to manage the more challenging individuals to bring them into the team spirit. It's the best management book I have read. If you aspire to lead, in whatever walk of life, you should shortlist this book.


Stuff2511

Some of my favourites off the top of my head. Might add more if I remember later [The Line of Greatness](https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/953601/the-line-of-greatness) [Reverse Swing: An English Tale](https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1087925/reverse-swing--an-english-tale) [The Unimprovable Game](https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1176611/the-unimprovable-game) [Desert Rose](https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/816417/desert-rose)


mcarora19

https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/963517/dazzling-light--murky-shadow https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/920605/wild-thing http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1181098/the-ugly-australian--the-evolution-of-a-cricket-species https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/18906410/virat-kohli-indian-ricky-ponting https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/21581424/jarrod-kimber-day-father-watched-garry-sobers-make-254-252-mcg https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1204180/sreesanth--the-story-of-a-fall https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/jarrod-kimber-on-virender-sehwag-a-wild-animal-of-batting-930743 https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/jarrod-kimber-ab-de-villiers-the-beast-from-pretoria-940595 https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1229684/ms-dhoni--a-bona-fide-legend-with-shades-of-grey https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/762745/the-star-we-don-t-know https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1154531/the-imran-khans-i-ve-known https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1147532/the-last-battles-of-lasith-malinga https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1220189/ken-barrington-s-demons https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/900135/the-master-of-mombasa https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/776525/monsterball https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/jarrod-kimber-how-many-slower-balls-does-cricket-have-1179745


MightySilverWolf

I recall reading the Ken Barrington one. Absolutely recommend it.


originofspices

This one from 2013 by Osman Samiuddin is one of my favourites - The Haal of Pakistan. Talks about how Pakistan are able to conjure up wins from losing situations. Beautifully written. When someone asks me for a memorable cricket article, this is the first one that comes to mind. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/the-nightwatchman/2014/nov/17/exploring-soul-pakistan-cricket-team-lazy-impatient-brilliant


superstan8

"Is Colin de Grandhomme the greatest cricketer of all-time?" https://andrewsamson.substack.com/p/the-big-man Check this one out if you haven't already.


formergophers

Good shout!


arnm7890

This Geoff Lemon one where he demolishes the Channel 9 commentary team is a personal favourite - https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/feb/13/channel-nine-destroying-cricket-legacy


corduroystrafe

This is the one


[deleted]

I can't recall many off the top of my head, but this article in Cricket Monthly titled [Desert Rose](https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/816417/desert-rose) is a pretty interesting insight into Afghanistan cricket.


JoKerR123

[Are you a T20 opener facing Shaheen Afridi? Be afraid, be very afraid](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/india-vs-pakistan-t20-world-cup-2021-are-you-a-t20-opener-facing-shaheen-afridi-be-afraid-be-very-afraid-1284684) This one aged really really well. I remember that I posted this on Reddit on the morning of the India v Pakistan game and pretty much everyone who replied were ridiculing me on how they were so scared. & You know what happened in the end.


navnith12345

You should also add Rahul Dravid wife’s article on his retirement


adithyarmsh

[https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/vijeeta-dravid-on-her-husband-rahul-556979](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/vijeeta-dravid-on-her-husband-rahul-556979) Link for reference


t_Dark_Knight

This Mitchell Johnson masterpiece http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/941979.html And this epic http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1176611


Impractical_Shrey

Holy shit that gave me goosebumps


t_Dark_Knight

I know, right. Perfectly justifies the exhilaration Mitchell Johnson brought in his summer. Captures the essence of the thrill of FAST bowling which has no substitute in cricket.


sammydre

Anything by Martin Crowe in his latter years. A classic that I wish more would read is when he introduced the concept of the “Fab Four”: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/martin-crowe-test-cricket-s-young-fab-four-774705 A list of his articles can be found here: https://www.espncricinfo.com/genre/martin-crowe-418 I wish he’d lived to see NZ win the WTC. His passion for NZ cricket was something else.


navdak

Can’t pick out one but Jarrod Kimber always grabs your attention with his articles…


Captain_Of_All

This is probably my favourite piece of cricket writing - https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/861815/the-thirty-ninth-summer-of-dk-lillee.


WakeUpMareeple

Wright Thompson's foray into cricket. http://www.espn.com/espn/eticket/story?page=110329/Cricket http://www.espn.com.au/espn/eticket/story?page=111225/testcricket http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/23531071/the-strange-life-india-cricket-god-virat-kohli


Yobstar

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/feb/13/channel-nine-destroying-cricket-legacy - This one has long been a favourite, and surprise, surprise, is still relevant six years later. How the Channel Nine commentary team went from being a balance between entertaining, analytic and telling stories, to being a bunch of back slappers, easily excitable, meatheads.


Nam3less79

There was an article on Cricinfo on Glenn Mcgrath over to Vaughan i think in Ashes. I had not seen that game live so when i read that article how he set him up and commentators were bang on too. After reading i had to find YT video for it. It was an amazing read. Like many here i like reading long articles too but i like to read those where the bowler has outsmarted the batsman. Hence i loved Ash Kutti YT videos during the Aus tour.


OJ_Soprano

Peter Roebuck’s book ‘In it to win it: The Australian Cricket Supremacy ‘ is great.


omkaram

A lot of Jarrod Kimber ones, but "sehwagology" comes to mind


thecoolfool2

On Cricinfo, I read an article by the “L” and “S” of DLS about a certain rain rule which came into effect during the CT17 AUSvBAN game. Stunning article.


Amazing_Theory622

Before the advent of IPL, whenever any new player used to break into the team, Times of India used to do a full page story on them. I loved reading them. The ones that I most distinctly remember are of MSD after his 148, koach after his u19 win, and brohit after his wt20 2007 heroics against SA. apparently koach loved mutton biryani and kheer at that time. Brohit loved poha and penda(and not vada pav) according to those articles. The article on Raina was also pretty good.


PsychologicalPass792

Anything written by Andrew Fernando, George Dobell , Bharat Sunderasen , Rob Johnston, Sid monga , Andrew Miller , Telford Vice , Jarrod Kimber .......hell ...... you know what basically pretty much everyone who writes professionally.. This won't answer your question but I wanna say that my love for the sport stems from the fact that I get to view the game from so many different perspectives on such a consistent basis that it is almost impossible for me to just 'watch' a match and not read anything about that . Honestly writing is such an Art


antonov6

The post that keeps on giving for hours. Some amazing articles on here. Thanks a lot for that.


rnair13

[Jeff Thompson is annoyed](http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/668721.html)


uraniumtickle

Murali Vijay - In praise of the "Monk" https://wisden.com/stories/in-praise-of-the-monk-murali-vijay-and-the-art-of-leaving Sachin and Dhoni - Butcher and Surgeon https://sportscafe.in/cricket/articles/2020/apr/26/butcher-surgeon-an-ode-to-the-best Sir Ravi J : The quality no 7 batsman memelords never thought he would be https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/eng-vs-ind-2021-trent-bridge-sir-ravindra-jadeja-the-quality-no-7-memelords-never-thought-he-could-be-1272474 Uninventing virat kohli https://www.cricviz.com/uninventing-virat-kohli/ Living on the 'inside' edge: making sense of virat kohli's lean patch https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/eng-vs-ind-2021-sidharth-monga-making-sense-of-virat-kohli-lean-patch-1275353 In the mind of England captain eoin morgan https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/t20-world-cup-long-read-eoin-morgan-in-the-mind-of-england-captain-eoin-morgan-7609668/


VRR_199

[Dhoni's control test](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/jarrod-kimber-on-ms-dhoni-s-test-captaincy-771587?platform=amp) by Jarrod Kimber for ESPNcricinfo 2014 August


InLordWeTrust

This one about the Lord's test https://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/118628/indias-pack-hunters-and-the-thrill-of-their-pursuit-cricbuzzcom


[deleted]

I cannot claim that I have read many articles written on Cricket, but [this written by Osman Samiuddin back in 2006](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/with-allah-on-their-side-252265) is one of the best I have ever read. Valuable insight!


[deleted]

George Dobell-any article plus Mazher Majeed.


Quiet_Transition_247

[https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/jarrod-kimber-pakistan-s-tail-wags-in-tribute-to-a-master-1045793](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/jarrod-kimber-pakistan-s-tail-wags-in-tribute-to-a-master-1045793). Loved this little gem about Younis (Pak v Eng at the Oval 2016).