England's best offspinner in ages is a man filled with burning ambition, a desire for responsibility and the spotlight, and the ability to produce fantastic punchlines

Corruption and allegations may have soured this English summer but the success of youngsters on the county circuit warms the heart

Match-fixing erodes the basis on which sport is founded, because it undermines uncertainty; which is why it is a bigger crime than the use of performance-enhancing drugs

Cook could return to form if he lets his hair down, while Broad could return to cricket lovers' good books if he keeps his shirt on

Murali was so far ahead of the rest, and so vital to his team's cause, it's astounding. The numbers tell the story

It's going to be hard to squeeze it into the schedule, but cricket needs the context provided by a definitive tournament to crown the top Test team in the world

The trick is to find a balance between caring too much about your team and so little as to be unable to appreciate context and plot

What if, decades from now, long-form cricket - with no time limitations - is bigger than football?

Fifty years ago a county side was bowled out twice in a day. Compared to that, Bangladesh's Old Trafford loss doesn't seem so bad

Dissent in the ranks and divisive captains? The parallels with a legendary series from three decades ago are inescapable

The World Twenty20 has had high scores, good bowling, close finishes and impressive individual performances

Would Indian cricket be under a cloud if their side hadn't won the first World Twenty20? Maybe not, but it's not as if the IPL has been all bad either

Yuvraj Singh's celebrity is disproportionate to his achievements on the field, and his recent sulk brought that truth into focus

There is merit in converting the County Championship into conferences, like in the NBA; the ECB must consider it along with a compromise with the Champions League over scheduling

Coverage of the IPL and ICC events has become tedious in the extreme, with banal, cliché-ridden, hyperbolic commentary. More reason why we ought to treasure the likes of David Lloyd

Plenty of players have been doomed over the years by the burden of expectation. Here's hoping Shakib Al Hasan does not become a member of the club

Reports of Australia's descent into mortality have been greatly exaggerated

It may disempower the two men on the field but failing to do so could make them unbending, self-protecting not-outers instead

England have done surprisingly well over the season just past. It's not the end of the world for them by a long chalk

City-based franchises or a world Test championship? Best- and worst-case scenarios for the new decade