The ACSCricket Podcast

Rod Edmond delivers a brisk, provocative tour through cricket’s fictional afterlives – from bucolic village greens and imperial schoolyards to murder plots, post-colonial reinventions and end-of-the-world anxieties. This is the story of how writers have used cricket to imagine England, to critique empire, to stage comedy and tragedy, and to rethink the game’s future. His book is available here:

https://anthempress.com/books/cricket-fiction-and-nation-pb

To mark its sesquicentenary, David Pracy’s illuminating lecture traces the journey of Essex CCC from its formative days, bringing to life the triumphs, cultural moments, and most of all the personalities that have shaped it across the generations. Whether you are a devoted follower of the county or simply intrigued by the broader sweep of cricket history, this is an unmissable opportunity to celebrate a century and a half of sporting tradition and community spirit. For background, do read Pracy’s path-breaking Gentlemen and players of Essex: the amateur and professional cricketers of Essex County Cricket Club, 1876-1979, available free on the ACS website:

https://archive.acscricket.com/research/Gentlemen_and_players_of_Essex.pd

Jeremy Lonsdale and Mick Pope on two forgotten geniuses.

Johan Fourie and Krige Siebrits discuss the phenomenon of "invisible handedness."

Tom Heenan and Sam Duncan on "Big Bash as mass deception."

Michael Collins on imperial culture, Caribbean migration, and the remaking of postwar England

Russ Houldin, editor of "The Cricket Statistician," house organ of the ACS, sits down for a free-wheeling chat with two legends of the association.

Step back into the formative century of cricket in Sri Lanka with Dr Nimal Chandrasena’s richly detailed presentation, “The Early History of Ceylon Cricket: The First 100 Years, 1832 to 1932.” This talk traces the game’s journey from its colonial beginnings to its establishment as a cultural force, weaving together archival discoveries, forgotten matches, and the personalities who shaped the game on the island. Dr Chandrasena shows us how cricket became both a pastime and a mirror of social change.

Chris McMillan of the University of Auckland’s School of Social Sciences talks about his important paper “A mediated collision,” examining cricket’s enduring bond with place and nationhood, and how it has been unsettled by the rise of “mediacricket.”

In this seminar, Russ Houldin presents his important new paper “A Run is Run is a Run,” exploring how cricketers might be evaluated as complete players, rather than merely as batsmen or bowlers. Drawing inspiration from baseball’s sabermetrics and its influential Wins Above Replacement (WAR) model, he introduces a fresh statistical framework designed to capture cricketing quality in a holistic way.