C.L.R. James famously asked, “What do they know of cricket, who only cricket know?” Cricket has always been more than cricket, and I seek to understand the ways we see and enjoy cricket beyond the willow and leather. Not that this means there isn’t space for silly YouTube clips and groans about selection; I am just another South Asia cricket fanatic.
Some other things about me: I’m a cricket traditionalist, which means I’m skeptical about technology, DRS and Twenty20. I have a troubled relationship with LBW rules; I think ‘good fielding’ is an overrated skill; I put much stock in players playing nice with each other (which means I wouldn’t have appealed for Ian Bell’s run out); I prefer England to Australia, and South Africa to England, and I like collecting moments when Aaron Sorkin mentions cricket in his shows. (See my “greatest hits” page for more.)
Honorable mentions from the cricket-sphere: Listed in Wisden 2011; Almost-Made Reverse Sweep’s Top 20 Blog List; World Cricket Watch Top 40 Exciting Cricket Blogs; Patrick Kidd’s Top 50 Cricket Blogs (this used to exist, I promise, but no longer).
I tweet @ducking_beamers, and if you want to contact me, I can be reached at duckingbeamers [at] gmail [dot] com. Here’s the thing, though: I’m bad about responding. So if you’re pitching a sponsorship deal, or you want to guest post, don’t be offended if I don’t write back. It’s not that I hate you, but anything that requires more than a minute of thinking makes it hard for me to hit the ‘Reply’ button. That said, if you send me a criticism or a suggestion, I’d probably be polite enough to say “Thank you for reading my silly little blog!” So, please, do that.
Ducking Beamers: A Cricket Blog 
Hi,
Nice blog, followed here from Scorpi’s link.
hai!
Very refreshing…
Hi,
Would you be interested in exchanging links with my blog.
The address is: http://www.pastpoint.wordpress.com
Isaac
Hello,
I have added your site to my blog’s link page and would much appreciate it if you added mine to your blog roll,
http://www.freewebs.com/morningall/
Tom,
Wicket Widget
Hi DB,
We’re running a marketing campaign for The Brit Oval, home of the Surrey Cricket Club,
promoting an exciting desktop application called the Wicket Widget. We’d like to offer your blog https://duckingbeamers.wordpress.com/ the opportunity to get involved, and help to launch the first ever desktop cricket specific chat application.
The Wicket Widget has a community chat function to IM fellow cricket fans, aggregates news content from online cricket sources including BBC Sport, the ECB and Cricinfo as well as video content from sites such as YouTube, they can even bowl cricket balls from their desktops to their friends!
Please be assured this is a genuine campaign and I am happy to take any calls if you want to discuss the initiative, I am based in London on +44 207 324 7560 – or email me toby.young@the7thchamber.com.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Many thanks,
Toby Young
Hi. Could I have your email address? I have a proposition for your blog. Thanks.
could i please have your email address…
duckingbeamers@gmail.com
Hi there. Just a quick note to say that I really, really like the blog. That’s a pretty lofty goal you set out up there, but you’re doing a fine job. And you’re actually funny, which is a definite plus.
Keep it coming, please? 🙂
Hi there
We would like to add a link to your site from the Test Match Sofa website, and hope you will return the favour. Like you, we were included in Patrick Kidd’s top 50 cricket websites list in the Times yesterday. If you aren’t familiar with the Sofa, have a read of this review: http://him.uk.msn.com/staying-in/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=153520510
The brainchild of a group of English cricket enthusiasts during the 2009 Ashes, Test Match Sofa is a unique internet based radio show, http://www.testmatchsofa.com, which broadcasts live to the world over the internet from a living room in London, providing live ball-by-ball audio commentary, irreverent banter and the kind of cricket chat you are more likely to hear over beers in the pub than in the stuffy confines of the traditional commentary box. It’s awesome, and if you don’t believe me, have a listen to some of our highlights at http://www.testmatchsofa.com/highlights.
Test Match Sofa recently completed live coverage of every ball of the World T20 in the Caribbean – our coverage was the only free, globally available audio commentary service for the tournament.
Test Match Sofa has a flash-based audio player that you can add to your site, which will stream our live audio feed to your listeners when we are on air, and podcasts and highlights between matches. It is offered to sites like yours free of charge, and is very simple to install. You can see how it works by visiting http://www.cricketwithballs.com; the player is on the left hand side of the page. If you’d like to try it out, please let me know and I’ll send you the code.
We look forward to you hearing from us.
The Sofa
Could you please add my blog on your roll.
I’m from CricketSummary.com – a website that gathers the latest cricket stories from all over the web.
We would like to make your blog one of our featured blog sites in exchange for a permanent link from your site and a link in one of your blog posts.
Your articles will appear on our news feeds and if the article is of interest to people then they will click on the link and it will take them to your site.
Thanks
Hey,
I’m writing on behalf of the Managing Editor of a CricketCountry.com, which is a joint venture of the Zee Group and an American media giant. Our cricket vertical has lots of cricketers writing for us, besides established writers. However, we are also giving space for bloggers and others who would like to share their views and/or blog on cricket.
Would you be interested in posting your writings on our website? If you do wish to share, kindly let me know. We are not paying fan bloggers for non-exclusive articles, but what we would undoubtedly give them is instant recognition on a big platform alongside big names – something that is not possible as a stand-alone blogger or merely commenting on social media like Facebook and Twitter. Moreover, we intend leverage the written stuff across social media platforms. And that means getting your writings across to much bigger audience and thus getting new readers to your blog – if you are a blogger.
If we find that any blogger is writing insightfully and is drawing a huge following, we could then commission him/her to write exclusive articles for which they would be paid.
Do let me know your thoughts.
Cheers,
Devarchit Varma
Hello,
Are you interested in link exchange for your site at https://duckingbeamers.wordpress.com
If yes, do let me know. I own entertainment blog and want link exchange.
Send me the details of your website, implement my site as Daily Updates – http://www.rojkinews.com/
Kindest regards,
Priyanka
Dear Blogger,
We are a group of students from the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at Florida International University. We are currently conducting a study on social media, bloggers and participants as part of our Communication Research course. As a blog publisher, we would greatly appreciate your sharing with us your opinions on various topics related to your blogging experience by filling out a short survey. Although participation is completely voluntary and you can decline participation, we do value your perspective and knowledge and therefore hope to have your response.
As our research attempts to learn about blog readers too, we would ask you to kindly distribute the survey link to your automated mailing list or post it on your blog.
The survey will take you no longer than 10 minutes to complete and you can access it through the link below:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KWXSRQ5
This survey is anonymous and does not require any identifying information. We can assure you that data will be kept confidential and results will be aggregated in a way that individual responses cannot be linked to their sources.
We really appreciate your cooperation and efforts and look forward to get your insights and ideas.
Sincerely,
Sofía Baclini
School of Journalism & Mass Communication
Florida International University
If you have any questions, inquiries or simply would like to comment on anything, do not hesitate to contact us:
sofibaclini@gmail.com
I’m writing on behalf of the Managing Editor of http://www.cricketcountry.com, a cricket vertical, which is a joint venture of the Zee Group and an American media giant, Mail.com. Our cricket vertical will have lot of cricketers contributing for us, besides established writers. However, we are also providing space for bloggers and others, who would like to share their views/ blogs on cricket.
Would you be interested in posting your writings on our website? If you do wish to share, kindly let us know. We are not paying fan bloggers for non-exclusive articles, but what we would undoubtedly give them is instant recognition on a big platform alongside big names – something that is not possible as a stand-alone blogger or merely commenting on social media like Facebook and Twitter. Moreover, we intend leverage the written stuff across social media platforms. And that means getting your writings across to much bigger audience and thus getting new readers to your blog – if you are a blogger.
If we find that any blogger is writing insightfully and is drawing a huge following, we could then commission him/her to write exclusive articles for which they would be paid.
Do let me know your thoughts.
Regards
Ronald Chettiar
ronald@corp.india.com
Hi,
I have recently started up a Cricket Sites: http://www.cric-videos.com/
Would you be interested in a link exchange?
Email us With Your Site Information
Regards
I would like to recommend the book ‘The Ashes 1945-2005, A Complete Record by Tony Wagtar.
Check out our dice cricket game from Australia. “Pocket Cricket” – maybe you can write a review for us?
http://www.pocketcricket.com.au
Take a look
nice blog
I have just published a cricket novel, an ebook, and I wonder if you would like to review it? What’s new about it is that it’s about a man who doesn’t like cricket who falls in love with a woman cricketer, and she tells him to resurrect a defunct cricket team. He is coached in this by a Sikh cricketer. It is set in modern times during the recession in Northern England.
I can gift it to you , complete with synopsis and material for an author interview if you like.
please let me know
thanks
Stuart Larner
—
read my new cricket novel:
Hey how you doing? I been reding ur blog and find it pretty intersting. I’m about to start a neqs website soon and need someone who write about Indian cricket, if u would like ur blogs to appear on my site plz email me at navikaile@yahoo.com and we will talk everything later. Thank You. Hope to hear from you soon.
Hi there,
I am working on promoting “Bent Arm and Dodgy Wickets” written by Tim Quelch and published by Pitch Publishing. Would you consider reading and reviewing it? So far we had only good reviews and even Mark Butcher mentioned us on Twitter. All royalties will be donated to Parkinson’s UK, therefore it would be lovely if you could mention the book.
All the best,
Eva
Hi,
I am really interested in your blogs especially the one on king cricket. please let me know if you would accept guest blogs or links for free on your site.
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I know you’ve not had much time for blogging recently, but would still value your contribution to the cricket blogger survey that I’m hosting. Hope all is well and that we see you back on the blog again soon. Chris
Hello Admin,
My name is Harshil Shah and I own website (sportudio.com) which is under construction. The purpose of this website is to provide information, promote sport and to organize meet up events. So for that we are inviting bloggers to come and write their article on our website.
We have been through your website and found many interesting articles. We would love that if you write articles for our website. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you desire additional information or if you have any questions.
Moreover we are also open for new ways for working together.
Looking for long and mutually beneficial relationship.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Regards
Harshil Shah
harshil.shah2612@gmail.com
Hey Guys,
Good to see such a thorough list of cricket posts. I’ve got a really cool cricket quote generator at http://lineandlength.co/ if you guys are interested in posting/linking to. It could be very engaging for your target audience and be a great compliment to your existing content. Check it out, if its something you might be interested in we’d really appreciate you posting about it.
Thanks for you time
Ryan Donald