What an explainer is
An explainer is a short, sourced piece that walks through a rule, a pattern or a piece of data the desk is using. An explainer is not a feature article. An explainer is the context the desk assumes the reader already has.
Each explainer carries the source links at the bottom of the page. Each explainer is timestamped. If the rule changes, the explainer is updated within 24 hours and a dated note is added at the top.
How to use the explainers
Use the explainers as a reference when reading the news, the predictions and the fantasy pages. The explainers sit behind the reporting. If a news article references a pattern, the explainer is the place to verify the pattern.
Cricket explainers
The DLS rain rule — when it triggers and what it actually changes
How the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method works in interrupted matches, the par score it produces, and the gap between the par score and the chasing side’s target.
How to read a cricket wicket in 90 seconds
The five things to look at on a cricket wicket before the toss — the grass cover, the footmarks, the cracks, the colour and the moisture.
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