A rain delay is the most common piece of dead time in the calendar. It is also the easiest to use well: you have a phone, an hour, and no way to watch the thing you came to watch. The trick is knowing in advance what you are going to put on, because choosing in the moment means scrolling.
There are two kinds of delay and they need different things. The short one – covers on, twenty minutes – wants a podcast, because a book needs a longer commitment than the delay can promise. The long one – tea called, three hours of nothing – wants a book, and it can be the thing that makes the day.
The facts
| Audiobook | Who it is for | Length | Read by |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Final Word Cricket Podcast Adam Collins Geoff Lemon | The sharpest cricket analysis for a short gap | ||
| Sky Sports Cricket Podcast Sky Sports | Keeping up with the professional game | ||
| Bounce Matthew Syed | A long delay with a book | James Clamp | |
| Playing It My Way Sachin Tendulkar | A player's own account for the long stoppage | Sartaj Garewal | |
| Mind Over Batter Graeme Fowler | Something shorter and cricket-specific | Graeme Fowler |
What each one covers
The Final Word Cricket Podcast — Adam Collins Geoff Lemon
Two of the most analytical voices in the game, Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon, working through what happened and why. It is the podcast to put on when the covers are on and you have six minutes.
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The value in a delay is that you get to hear something you would not have chosen to hear, so the sharper the analysis the better it fills the time.
Listen on Audible. Listen on Audible
Sky Sports Cricket Podcast — Sky Sports
The Sky Sports feed for the days when you only catch the scores and want the context rather than the result.
Long enough to fill an entire stoppage, which is exactly what a delay gives you.
Listen on Audible. Listen on Audible
Bounce — Matthew Syed
Matthew Syed on how talent is built rather than found, read by James Clamp. It is the piece to reach for when the delay is longer than a chapter of anything else.
The idea that your ceiling is set more by deliberate practice than by talent is uncomfortable, which is what makes it worth a long listen.
Read by James Clamp · Harper. Listen on Audible
Playing It My Way — Sachin Tendulkar
Tendulkar’s autobiography, read by Sartaj Garewal with Tendulkar on the recording, and the natural choice when a delay turns into half an hour.
It holds a long pause well, and the passages on being dropped are more useful in a delay than almost anywhere else.
Read by Sartaj Garewal · Hodder & Stoughton. Listen on Audible
Mind Over Batter — Graeme Fowler
Graeme Fowler on cricket and the mind, read by the author. A cricket book that is about the mental side rather than the scorecard.
Short enough to start and finish inside a stoppage, which makes it the practical choice when the covers are coming back on.
Read by Graeme Fowler · Simon & Schuster Audio UK. Listen on Audible
How to use the delay well
**Have two things queued before you leave home.** A podcast for the short delay and a book for the long one, both downloaded rather than streamed.
**Do not watch highlights of the match you are at.** Everyone does it, and it reliably makes the delay worse.
**Keep your playing kit on.** The delay is often shorter than the forecast suggests.
How to get the most from it
Download before you travel. Signal at a cricket ground is the least reliable part of the whole experience.
Use the delay for the thing you would not do at home – the book you have been meaning to start.
If the delay turns long enough, it is also the best possible time for the technical conversation with the people you are watching with.
Common questions
What should I listen to during a rain delay? A cricket podcast for a short stoppage, and a book for a long one. Cricket Unfiltered or the Final Word for analysis; a player autobiography or a cricket mental-game book for the long version.
Are cricket podcasts good for rain delays? They are ideal – the episodes are long enough to fill a delay and short enough to abandon when the players come back.
What about music? Music is fine for the warm-up and the walk back, but it does not hold attention for forty minutes the way a good podcast does.
Can I use the delay to review my own game? Yes, and it is the best use of it – a short conversation about what you were trying to do beats anything you could stream.
Do I need to download anything? Yes, if the ground has poor signal, which most of them do.
Written by the CricketGearGuru editorial team. Links above are affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you buy through them. It does not change the price, and it does not change the opinion.
