Colin Dexter wrote this story for Kevin Whately after learning of Kevin's love of cricket and that he had always hoped to become a professional cricketer.
When Sharon Maughan appeared in this episode, she was well-known for her appearances in UK TV adverts for Gold Blend coffee (branded Taster's Choice in the USA), so the writer of this episode mischievously gave her character the line "Coffee! Ugh! I *hate* coffee. It gives me a headache."
One of Morse's old fellow-students says he was known for being a drinker. The back-story in the prequel Endeavour series contradicts this, saying that Morse was teetotal as a student and only started drinking after he joined the police.
A caller on Kate Donn's radio show is named Mrs. Ellingham. Ellingham is an anagram of the screenwriter, Anthony Minghella's last name. Fifteen years later, brother Dominic Minghella also used the surname Ellingham for the lead character of his own long-running drama series, 'Doc Martin'.
The character "Anthony Donn", played here by Daniel Massey, also turns up in Ride (2016), set over twenty years earlier, where he is played by Samuel Barnett.