http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/ Gideon Haigh's Ashes blog for Cricinfo en Copyright 2009 Fri, 05 Jan 2007 07:36:24 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Several times today the Barmy Army bugler Billy Cooper showed off a new addition to his repertoire: the Last Post. This is mine at Eye on the Ashes. I have filed a report for Guardian Unlimited, and a series round up for the newspaper, so here are just a few passing observations. Andrew Flintoff spoke well at his press conference – as well as he has, at least. He wore his England cap, as he usually does: a statement of allegiance now that the statement of intent is irrelevant. He was asked some good questions, and gave no excuses. Christopher Martin-Jenkins asked him about England’s circumscribed preparation. Flintoff declined to use it as a prop for England’s meekness at Brisbane: ‘I was ready to play a Test match.’ The question remains, I think, whether he was ready to play a Test match against Australia in Australia. http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2007/01/goodbye_to_all_that.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2007/01/goodbye_to_all_that.php Fifth Test, Sydney Fri, 05 Jan 2007 07:36:24 +0000

'This is his 50th Test, and Harmison is a middling first-change bowler: the personification of English underachievement' © Getty Images

Steve Harmison bowled pretty well yesterday and fronted the media last night with rather more fight and aggression than he showed in his first over in Brisbane. ‘At the end of the day I don’t know what else we could have done.’ ‘At the end of the day I try my hardest’. That’s the trouble, really: from Harmison, it’s always at the end of the day. This is his 50th Test, and he is a middling first-change bowler: the personification of English underachievement. Having loosened up, Harmison also gave a surly interview to Mike Atherton on Sky. Was he sad to be going home at the end of the match? No. Looking forward to putting his feet up. What would he be doing to make sure he was ready for the first test of the English summer? Didn’t know: waiting for Duncan Fletcher to tell him. I'll give him points for candour, but the sentiment was subtly revealing. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2007/01/no_harm_done.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2007/01/no_harm_done.php Fifth Test, Sydney Thu, 04 Jan 2007 02:38:11 +0000

© Getty Images

News, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Thus the preposterously good run enjoyed by Sir Richard Branson’s brainstorm of feeling ‘uncomfortable’ about flying the Ashes urn back to MCC, on grounds that…well…it’s really not clear, and nor is it immediately obvious why he has anything to do with it. But it was a quiet news day, and RB and a quiet news day were made for one another. Branson’s grasp of the Ashes, it is fair to say, is not sophisticated; but nor is the issue itself completely straightforward, because the trophy is twice incarnated, as the Ashes (Actual) and the Ashes (Symbol). For those who’ve just joined us, let me briefly explain. The Ashes (Symbol) derive from the original death notice for English cricket in the Sporting Times after the Oval Test of 1882, placed there by Reginald Brooks aka Watkinshaw, a pioneering work of English sporting masochism but also a riff on the cremation debate. The first cremation in England wasn’t until January 1884 - the work of the latterday druid Dr William Price – and it was at the time of the Oval Test a proverbial hot potato. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2007/01/a_burning_sensation.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2007/01/a_burning_sensation.php Fifth Test, Sydney Wed, 03 Jan 2007 08:28:34 +0000 It was hard to imagine Johnny Carson without Ed McMahon’s preamble: ‘And now, heeeeere’s Johnny.’ But does the world’s greatest Test wicket-taker really need an introduction as elaborate as he received today? Having given his hat to the umpire, dropped his bowling disc on the ground and begun the disposition of his forces, the SCG announcer thundered: ‘Change of bowling at the Randwick End. Ladies and gentlemen, would you please make welcome…[wait for it]…Shane Warne!’ Was this to distinguish him from Shane Watson, perhaps? It’s fair to say that this was not a talent the announcer confined to Warne. When play resumed after rain, the umpires were greeted like long lost friends. ‘Ladies and gentleman, please welcome onto the SCG, Aleem Dar…and Billy Bowden.’ Such was the pause between the first and second names that one half expected Aleem Dar…and Sir Richard Branson. Not as silly as it sounds. http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2007/01/a_man_who_needs_no_introductio.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2007/01/a_man_who_needs_no_introductio.php Wed, 03 Jan 2007 08:26:48 +0000 GOING OFF IN BAGGY GREEN AND GOLD: Seen at Melbourne airport yesterday: the smiling images of Justin Langer and Glenn McGrath exhorting Aussie fans to ‘Go Off In Green and Gold’ this summer. A useful reminder: retirement not only denies Cricket Australia their services as cricketers, but as recognizable and marketable personalities. The rebuilding challenge was embodied in the photo’s third face: Shane Watson. Perhaps Central Casting was asked for a blonde called Shane. There’ll be one fewer in a week. http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2007/01/postcards_from_the_scg.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2007/01/postcards_from_the_scg.php Fifth Test, Sydney Tue, 02 Jan 2007 05:18:18 +0000 Tucked in the corner of the ‘Eyes, Lies & Illusions’ exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image is some footage from an old Kinora: a device, invented by the Lumiere brothers, in use a hundred years ago for screening short movies in the home. Its period of popularity was brief, for the movies themselves were very brief, usually about 25 seconds long, and the Lumiere’s new-fashioned cinematographe was about to sweep the world. The display case promises ‘A Game of Cricket’, and what should pop up, between 25 seconds of a silently trumpeting elephant and 25 seconds of a smoke-shrouded dreadnought, but 25 seconds of Ranji and C. B. Fry, essaying a few strokes in front of what looks like Crystal Palace? http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/an_eye_for_cricket.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/an_eye_for_cricket.php Fifth Test, Sydney Sun, 31 Dec 2006 07:42:16 +0000 In his press conference cum inquest after the Melbourne Test, Andrew Flintoff offered the praise for his team and its retinue that they were ‘a fantastic blend of people’, which made it sound like he had put together a particularly successful dinner party. On the other hand, the combination of personalities does matter in a touring side. Yesterday, after my daily 2000 words, I popped out to Yarraville to watch composite teams from the Victoria Turf Cricket Association, in which I’m a player, and Free Foresters CC, the wandering English amateurs, whose wanderings have brought them to Australia this summer. Free Foresters are one of those English clubs - see also I Zingari, Incogniti, Frogs, Cryptics, Yellowhammers et al - whose provenance and purpose leave Australians slightly puzzled, engendering tremendous loyalty with apparently no more than a dazzling blazer (crimson, green and white), mysterious symbol (a Hastings knot, loosely tied) and paradoxical motto (‘United, Though Untied’). Its origins lie 150 years ago in the Forests of Arden, famous as the backdrop to As You Like It, and of Needwood, not famous at all, and known only to tree tragics. http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/gentlemen_and_players.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/gentlemen_and_players.php Touring Sun, 31 Dec 2006 02:04:59 +0000 I wasn't in a position to see a replay of Rudi Koertzen's refusal of the lbw appeal against Alistair Cook, so suspended judgement, and have only just caught up with it. Laughable. Perhaps there's something significant in Koertzen using his left hand, and he would give correct decisions if he swapped to his right. Umpires build reputations as 'outers' and 'not outers', according to the burden of evidence they expect for upholding an appeal. The trouble with Koertzen is that he seems completely unpredictable, giving everything one day and nothing the next. Anyway, happy new year and maintain your rage. http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/rudiwatch_continued.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/rudiwatch_continued.php Fourth Test, Melbourne Fri, 29 Dec 2006 07:47:51 +0000 There have been a few legends involved in this game, but only two 'Legends'. The Australian and St George’s flags were escorted onto the field on Day One by local and visiting 'Ashes Legends'. In the baggy green and gold corner, Bill Lawry; from the Anglosphere, Dennis Amiss. In the latter case, the word ‘legend’ must have been used in its liberal modern interpretation. No disrespect intended to a stout-hearted opening batsman – and one who was kind enough to give me his autograph at Kardinia Park in 1978 – but his main contribution to the Anglo-Australian game was the enrichment of Dennis Lillee’s legend: he made 305 runs in Ashes Tests at 15.25. Surely a greater Ashes Legend was on hand. Derek Pringle doesn’t look very busy at the moment. http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/legend_status.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/legend_status.php Fourth Test, Melbourne Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:53:48 +0000 "I just close my eyes and whang it down anyway, so there's not much planning there." Thus Matthew Hoggard, bringing the house down at his press conference last night, in response to the mysterious straying of England’s bowling plan. And quite so: the plan is mainly of curiosity rather than strategic value. Mind you, noone would be surprised were it Sajid Mahmood’s copy, as he was not bowling to any recognizable logic either. He has an athletic run-up, a good turn of speed, and bowls a remarkable variety of deliveries, including a change-up that reminds me of the pitcher Tommy Johns’, whose slower ball was said to be so slow that he could walk alongside it. But he is as raw as sushi: an international bowler must be able to bowl consecutive deliveries in the same place. If Martin Johnson hadn’t used it to describe Devon Malcolm, he would deserve the tag ‘Lightning’ for never striking twice in the same place. http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/the_bestlaid_plans.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/the_bestlaid_plans.php Fourth Test, Melbourne Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:51:47 +0000 Another day, another Koertzen clanger. Symonds (56) hit on the back leg by Panesar, the ball seemingly headed for middle stump, about six inches from the top. Nope. Ho-hum. At least he’s another day closer to retirement. http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/rudiwatch.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/rudiwatch.php Fourth Test, Melbourne Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:48:55 +0000

'We have a new Everest [Warne], and Murali’s K2' © Getty Images

Before the day’s play, there was a certain amount of press-box debate not merely about Shane Warne’s chance of a 700th wicket, but of his chance of a 706th. Warne took six wickets in last year’s Super Test. What might happen were that pretty daft and pointless game to have its Test status revoked? It can happen. After all, Wisden gave Alan Jones a Test cap for playing against the Rest of the World in 1970 only to confiscate it later. Some press box talking points last longer than others: this one seems to have been more or less disposed of by today’s events. Unless, of course, it’s decided that the entitlement to top level status of Tests against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe should be reviewed. In which case Warne would have rather less to lose than Muttiah Muralitharan: 17 wickets versus 137. But however you count it, 700 is a stupendous quantity of Test wickets. I was at the Melbourne Test just over 30 years ago when Lance Gibbs broke Fred Trueman’s record of 307. It seemed like the scaling of Everest. Now we have a new Everest, and Murali’s K2. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/everest_and_k2.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/everest_and_k2.php Fourth Test, Melbourne Tue, 26 Dec 2006 13:21:23 +0000 Had a hit today with a few of my Yarras teammates. We'd all been out to see bands the night before. I'd been to see The Models at the Espy, they'd been to see Mick Thomas at the Corner, and had passed a considerably heaver night. Found myself, as a result, in relatively sparkling form. It's all about preparation. We no longer play cricket in Australia on Christmas Day - except maybe in the backyard in the afternoon, to stave off post-prandial stupor. Oddly, perhaps, given how long Sabbath observance persisted in Australian cricket, we used to. West Indies won a Test at Adelaide Oval on Christmas Day 1951, and the ground also developed a tradition of Queensland v South Australia Sheffield Shield matches at the time. One day, the story goes, a barracker from the hill shouted to Ken Mackay: 'Piss off Slasher. You've been bumming Christmas dinners off us for long enough!' These days, however, Christmas is merely Boxing Day Test Match Eve. So enjoy whatever you're up to and I'll meet you back here in a couple of days. http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/cricket_seasons_greetings.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/cricket_seasons_greetings.php Notes Sun, 24 Dec 2006 11:58:45 +0000 Most natural disasters are low-key by comparison with the retirement of Shane Warne, but Glenn McGrath’s post-practice press conference to announce the end of a career so splendoured seemed extraordinarily subdued, like the Rolling Stones being reduced for their farewell gig to playing covers in a pub. In his keenly observed account, my colleague Andrew Miller describes it as ‘strangely fitting’, McGrath being a cricketer without affectations or flourishes, and he may well be right. Yet it was also another confirmation of the Warne phenomenon which, like a fire exhausting all the oxygen in the room, somehow manages to leave little over for colleagues – even one as marvellous as McGrath. The humourist Beachcomber (J. B. Morton) famously defined ‘bombshell’ as ‘the omission of a cricketer from a team’. Much of cricket season also overlapping with ‘silly season’ in news and current affairs, Warne's valediction has much the same effect. http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/glenn_mcgrath_the_sting_in_the.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/glenn_mcgrath_the_sting_in_the.php Sat, 23 Dec 2006 07:56:07 +0000

Shane Warne possessed a fast bowler's aggression in a slow bowler's skin © Getty Images

I seem to have been talking about Shane Warne all day, to people who know lots about cricket, and many who don’t, because he was the cricketer of whom everyone had heard, and on whom everyone held an opinion. My mum had a view on Warne. The girl at the post office and the guy at the servo, who know I’m into cricket, wanted to talk about him. I didn’t get to the presser because I had to field talkback calls about him on the ABC: it is fair to say that there was a wide range of very emphatic views. It was said of Augustus that he found Rome brick and left it marble: the same is true of Warne and spin bowling. But just because Warne has done it with such apparent ease, noone should underestimate the degree of difficulty involved. Have you tried to bowl a leg-break? I’ve been playing club cricket since I was nine, and I would give anything to be able to bowl a proper one, but they either hurtle into the ground or fly off into outer space like a malfunctioning satellite. Yet Warne can drop them as precisely as a dragon fly alighting on a lily pad. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/positive_spin.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/eyeontheashes/archives/2006/12/positive_spin.php Warne/McGrath Thu, 21 Dec 2006 08:23:33 +0000