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March 1, 2006
Posted by Amit Varma on 03/01/2006 in Random, yaar!
Gaurav is amused by the number of English cricketers leaving for home before the Test series has even begun. Yes, much fun. But you corner these chaps and you know never, they might just be pushed into raising their game. They've still got some fabulous players left.
And, of course, they've got young Ponty. I can't wait to see him bowl to Sehwag and Dhoni.
December 30, 2005
Posted by Amit Varma on 12/30/2005 in Random, yaar!
It's that time of the year, and 23 Yards is on holiday for a few days now. But I had to leave you with some cricketing stuff to mull over, so here's my post in Metroblogging Mumbai on the decline of Mumbai cricket: "Whatever happened to the cricket?"
[In a gruff tone] I'll be back.
December 23, 2005
Posted by Amit Varma on 12/23/2005 in Random, yaar!
This study reminds me of the point I'd made here more than a year ago: the cause-and-effect relationship between success and happiness doesn't always happen in the order we think.
(Link via email from Dev Kumar.)
Comments (5)
December 18, 2005
Posted by Amit Varma on 12/18/2005 in Random, yaar!
Veeru, Dada, Yuvi, Mahi, Bhajji: such familiarity we show with our players, as if we know them so well, as if we call them up whenever we're bored and say, "Kya Veeru, kya chal raha hai, ek beer-sheer ho jaye?"
And sometimes I think about how I would feel if strangers started calling me by my nickname, and if I saw it on newspaper headlines, heard it on TV, saw it used and abused in heated discussions in online bulletin boards. How strange that would be.
We think we know these men so well, but really, I'm sure we know very little.
Comments (18)
December 17, 2005
Posted by Amit Varma on 12/17/2005 in Random, yaar!
A nightmare for every bowler:
N..NNNNNNNNN.WN.2.
That's one over from Gladstone Small during a Warwickshire v Middlesex game at Edgbaston in 1982. And in case you're wondering where the wide came from, it happened when, as is described here, Small shortened his run-up to two paces to put an end to the no-balls.
(Trivia via "Next Man In" by Gerald Brodribb.)
Comments (1)
December 15, 2005
Posted by Amit Varma on 12/15/2005 in Random, yaar!
The sounds of cricket bats according to James Joyce. In "The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" he wrote:
The fellows were practising long shies and bowling lobs and slow twisters. In the soft grey silence he could hear the bump of the balls: and from here and from there through the quiet air the sound of the cricket bats: pick, pack, pock, puck: like drops of water in a fountain falling softly in the brimming bowl.
In modern times, with the kind of bats we have these days, the sounds have changed a bit, and we also hear shards of ice cracking along with drops of water falling softly. Maybe it depends on the hearer as well.
By and by, you can read Joyce's book here, and that chapter here.
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