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Andrew Beaven

@theteesra.com

160 followers 60 following 860 posts

Cricket - coach a bit, play a bit, watch a bit. Mostly talking about cricket coaching, sports culture. Blogging at theteesra.com Opinions way above my pay grade!

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Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 1d

Another remarkable game, in a remarkable World Cup. Lots of runs “down the order”, with record partnerships for 8th & 9th wickets, highest scores nor nos. 8, 9 (and lower?).
Not sure whether a stat might capture this — proportion of runs made after the fall of the 5th wicket, perhaps?

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 1d

rhyddid Cymreig ?

(with apologies to Welsh speakers…google translate)

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 2d

BTW — have you seen any formal statements this year on progress against the ICEC recommendations?
Some elements from the _2024_ update have been referenced in the context of the new domes, but there hasn’t been a recent progress report (unless I have missed it).

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 2d

I’d not seen the ECB survey (not a County member, but they have my contact info from individual ticket sales), but some of the questions do look a little “leading”.
Ed Warner’s alternative survey questions are a lot more interesting, but I can’t imagine anyone being able to monetise the responses.

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 2d

Re Acast - many years ago (pre-COVID) I tried to run a podcast — could be that I had an Acast account, and the link was trying to log me in to that.

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 2d

Thanks
I would be interested to see what Dr Holey has published, but as a fan of the sport, not an academic.
West Ham, before the Custom House track was re-developed, then Hackney, now somewhere beneath the #V&AStorehouse in the #HereEast building on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park #QEOP

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 2d

Thanks.
I’m sure programmes & initiatives are in hand, but, given the (deserved) criticism of “cricket” in the ICEC report, I had expected (hoped) to see more actual progress (and more announcements) from the ECB, two years on.

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 2d

Hi @elizabethammon.bsky.social
From your interview with Richard Thompson — any word on ICEC progress?
It’s a year since the last update, and I’ve seen nothing on the new coaching training & education programmes, nor (beyond the hubs) on work with harder-to-reach communities, state schools & clubs.

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 2d

Keep up the good work!👏🐑🐑🏏🐑🌋

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 3d

The ECB wants to build 40 new “domes” — but is this really enough?
Does “making the game more inclusive” need mire than pitching new “tents” in fields?
#cricket #ICEC

The ECB wants to build 40 new domes — but will this be enough?

A couple of weeks ago, Richard Thompson, chairman of the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB), was interviewed by Dan Roan of the BBC at the opening of the country’s second all-weather cricket “dome” in Darwen, Lancashire. With the (understandable) focus at the time on playing schedules in the County game and player workloads, the main story from the interview was how players were “exhausted” by an “unrelenting” schedule.

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 4d

Sir Alastair on the front cover!

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 5d

Fascinating from Beyond the Headlines on #IndvPak : India’s No.2 & No.3 can’t play with each other, and why Richa Ghosh is a fire starter, not a fire fighter (and why holding her back in the batting order is so much more effective, illogical as it might appear).

#cricket #cwc2025

Beyond the Headlines: IND's batting order is brilliant but disjointed

Beyond the headlines; IND v/s PAK, 6th game of the Women's World Cup.

open.substack.com

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 5d

It’s red, it’s round…and it’s in the next County…

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 5d

3/3
…so what might have been a “clunk” with a traditional bat would carry much further off a modern, larger bat.
Viv Richards, with a modern bat, would probably have smashed to ball even further!

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 5d

2/3
But I also recall, at the time when the limits on bat size were introduced, discussion about the importance of the bat’s coefficient of restitution (“ping” off the middle); bigger bats (by volume) have (potentially) bigger sweet spots…

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 5d

It’s a long time since I finished with A level physics, but F=ma says that acceleration (how fast the bat is swung) is equally important. And a lighter bat can be swung faster.
1/3

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 6d

Isn’t this Bazball?
England didn’t suddenly learn new skills, post-Silverwood — they changed the algorithm - if <this> do <a different that>

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 6d

2/3
Rather than identifying in advance potential wins in a failed project, perhaps it is going to be more effective to instil a “learning mindset”? “Whatever happens, we will learn from it.”

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 6d

2/3
I wonder how much this can actually be planned? Yes, a (Kahneman) “pre-mortem” might well identify potential (future) breakdowns, but that process should also include mitigation of those threats? So the project won’t fail.

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 6d

So unless a project is designed to fail (occasionally, some coaching activities _might_ be), can you actually predict (plan for) likely benefits from failure?
1/3

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 8d

They could have used the excavated soil to level out (some of) the Lord’s slope!

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 8d

Interesting. I wonder if this might also start to explain the numbers of hy1 in Lions & Test squads - players are being earmarked for international honours earlier in their careers, before RAE balances out.
Performance in the County Championship is no longer a primary selection criterion.

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 9d

Exactly this.
And the CAG system only amplifies the bias — bigger, more mature players get picked earlier, spend longer in the system and become “better” characters (or find themselves dropped from the programme).

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 9d

It might be interesting to see how the County game has changed/stayed the same across the two time periods.
Perhaps no coincidence that Lions RAE shows the same progression as the Test team? Broadly similar hy1/hy2 in the earlier period, for both groups, strongly skewed to hy1 today.

Andrew Beaven @theteesra.com · 9d

The link via acast doesn’t want to work, for me (takes me to a content creators’ page?), but the audio is available via e.g. Apple Podcasts.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/r...

Rewriting Sport and the British: A discussion on the revised edition of Richard Holt's Sport & the British

Podcast Episode · Sport in History · 30/09/2025 · 1h 34m

podcasts.apple.com