Oborne & Heller on Cricket

Professor André Odendaal has made it his life’s work to tell his native South Africa its true cricket history. He has restored to memory the achievements of thousands of black, mixed-race and Asian-origin players deliberately suppressed to serve the cause of white supremacy. Besides giving back to South Africa its cricketing past he shares responsibility for its present and future as a board member of Cricket South Africa. Born into apartheid, he describes his personal journey into truth and liberation to Peter Oborne and Richard Heller as the latest guest in their cricket-themed podcast.

Read the full description here: https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/episode-58-restoring-the-lost-history-of-south-african-cricket/

Get in contact by emailing [email protected]

Cricket has always been rich in statistics, but lately they have deepened and multiplied. Cricket’s new professional data analysts can access the detailed results of every single ball bowled in major cricket matches for over twenty years and use them to influence team selections, tactics and onfield decisions. This has alarmed many critics, who say it is turning cricket into a process without character or the thrill of the unexpected. Not so, argues Ben Jones, the latest guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller on their cricket-themed podcast. He is a leading member of the new profession and co-author with Nathan Leamon, chief analyst for the England One-Day and T20 teams, of a fascinating book Hitting Against The Spin. Ben shows that for those who know how to arrange and orchestrate them, numbers deepen the romance of the music of cricket.

Read the full description here: https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/episode-57-crickets-romantic-numbers/

Get in contact by emailing [email protected]

It is an almost unnoticed revolution in global cricket:  New Zealand’s cricketers have completed a journey from amateur whipping-boys to worldbeaters. They have secured an emphatic Test series victory over England while enjoying the luxury of six team changes to prepare for the ultimate prize of the World Test Championship. David Leggat, former chief cricket writer of the New Zealand Herald, gives unique insight into their modern success and the present state of New Zealand cricket, as a returning guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller on their latest cricket-themed podcast.

Read the full description here: https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/episode-56-no-longer-underdogs-but-still-undervalued-new-zealands-world-class-cricketers/

Get in contact by emailing [email protected]

For about fifteen years no England Test match seemed complete without the golden notes of Billy Cooper, the professional trumpeter who accompanied the Barmy Army. It made him the best-known musician in the cricket world since the celebrated pianist Don Bradman. He shares his memories of matching music to the many moods of cricket with Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their latest podcast.

Read the full description here: https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/episode-55-crickets-clarion-call-from-the-man-who-delivered-it/

Get in contact by emailing [email protected]

Timothy Abraham and James Coyne are co-editors of the perennially fascinating and expanding section of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack on cricket around the world. Together they completed a long-cherished project, a personal odyssey into Latin American cricket, which took them from Mexico to the southernmost tip of Chile. They have just published an unputdownable book about it called Evita Burned Down Our Pavilion. They discuss it with Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their cricket-themed podcast, which returns after a short interval.

Read the full description here: https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/episode-54-george-headley-and-a-supporting-cast-of-two-emperors-one-king-and-evita-peron-in-latin-americas-cricketing-drama/

Get in contact by emailing [email protected]

 Author, publisher and supreme recorder of cricketers’ memories Stephen Chalke returns as the guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their latest cricket-themed podcast. They celebrate a tremendous start to the English County Championship, before Stephen draws on his detailed and beautifully illustrated history Summer’s Crown, to analyse the competition’s past and its prospects.

Read the full description here: https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/episode-53-the-county-championship-past-present-and-future-by-its-great-historian-stephen-chalke/

Get in contact by emailing [email protected]

Steven Lynch, International Editor of Wisden Cricketers Almanack, returns to the regular podcast by Peter Oborne and Richard Heller to celebrate a landmark edition which more than ever lights up the mighty issues which shape global cricket and the lives of all its players and devotees.

Read the full description here: https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/episode-52-wisden-2021-cricket-and-class-race-plague-and-global-warming/

The arrival of Wisden Cricketers Almanack is always one of the great publishing events in the calendar. The latest edition had rather less cricket to record than usual, but was nonetheless packed with important content. Indeed, it is a major source book for future political, social, economic and cultural historians. In their latest cricket-themed podcast Peter Oborne and Richard Heller celebrate it with its International Editor Steven Lynch.

Read the full description here: https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/episode-51-rich-lives-in-a-few-words-the-obituaries-in-wisden-2021/

Annie Chave is a cricketer and editor of County Cricket Matters, journal of the members organization of the same name which supports the county structure of English cricket. She is also part of the team at Guerrilla Cricket, which provides eclectic and independent commentary and analysis of major matches. She is the latest guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their regular cricket-themed podcast.

County Cricket Matters can be obtained through www.countycricketmatters.com

Read the full description here: https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/episode-50-the-park-cricketer-who-married-the-queen/

Whether in victory or defeat, Bangladesh’s cricket team, the Tigers, have some of the most passionate supporters in the world. Athar Ali Khan is a former Bangladesh international players and selector, now a freelance commentator. He explains how and why their cricketers have captured the hearts of their nation on its fifty-year journey since independence, as the latest guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their cricket-themed podcast.  In Peter’s absence for family reasons Roger Alton is the replacement opening bowler.

Read the full description here: https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/episode-49-why-crowds-roar-for-the-tigers-of-world-cricket/

The literary event of the year is imminent: the publication of Wisden Cricketers Almanack.  Peter and Richard invite listeners to submit their nominations for the Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year to [email protected]. They will present the results in advance of Wisden’s.