A huge appeal

Dear reader,

In the lift down to the press conferences after the World Test Championship final at Lord's, an old friend from the South African pack asked if the joy and relief he was feeling after seeing a long trophy drought end was the same for me after England won the 2019 World Cup. Yes, I replied — difference being, I had also seen 900 words wiped out by the carnage of the super over that day, so a few more emotions were flying with it.

But even in those moments when the deadline is seconds away and steam is coming out of the laptop — those last-ball finishes on which the entire story hinges — it remains a huge privilege to relay the action to our readers. And going by (most of) the comments and emails, we seem to have a good thing going: a shared love of dissecting a sport that is as absorbing as it is absurd, life-affirming and yet the perfect escape from it.

Anyway, this email is firstly to flag up our coverage over the coming months, including tours of England by India's men and women — Jasprit Bumrah versus the Bazballers, anyone? — Australia's Test tour of the Caribbean, plus the ongoing County Championship and the domestic finals in England. The Women's World Cup gets underway in India on 30 September, followed by the latest moonshot Ashes tour by England's men.

The world-famous OBO will be cooking as usual from Rob Smyth and our team of supersmart bloggers. At the Tests our team – me, Andy Bull, Simon Burnton, Barney Ronay, Jonathan Liew and Taha Hashim – will be chiselling out our finest prose from the grounds to be devoured after stumps. We’ll also have every day of action in the county championship covered in Tanya Aldred's blog, unique among national outlets in the UK and with a cult following of its own.

The second point of this email — very much in the don’t-ask-don’t-get spirit of the lbw law — is a gentle reminder about the option to take out a subscription to the Guardian and help sustain all the above and plenty more.

We like being free at the point of entry and do not take gambling industry advertising money, which underpins so much of sports media these days. And beyond 900-word reads on whether Jacob Bethell or Ollie Pope should bat at No 3, you would be backing an investigative, independent news organisation in an era of misinformation and drastic assaults on the freedom of the press.

If you love cricket and value our extensive coverage, please consider supporting us today. We value whatever you can share but a monthly subscription makes the biggest impact.

And if this isn’t the right moment, that's cool too. The model is as much about keeping our work open to those who can’t afford it as those who can — to keep capturing, sharing and discussing those laptop-melting moments with as many of you as possible.

Many thanks for reading,
Ali