http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/ en-us Copyright 2009 Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:34:17 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss

Sourav Ganguly, more than anybody, has embodied the new India © Getty Images

So this is it. Forget Anil Kumble’s exit. Forget that this could conceivably be Rahul’s final Test. To know that Nagpur is currently staging Sourav Ganguly’s five-day farewell is to know that an era is well and truly over. He may not have captured imaginations like Sachin, nor won as many games as Anil, nor enchanted as many purists as VVS, not erected as many walls as Rahul, but Sourav, more than anybody, has embodied the new India. Skill, commitment and ambition are all very well and good, but what a team needs to take that quantum leap from promise to fulfilment is someone who detests giving an inch, much less losing. If that person happens to be able to toss a coin with reasonable efficiency and give a lively press conference, so much the better. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/11/all_hail_lord_snooty.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/11/all_hail_lord_snooty.php Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:34:17 +0000

The “winner-takes-all” concept may make for riveting entertainment, but it is not one that bears even a passing resemblance to fairness © Getty Images

The question was posed with all the innocence of youth. “Looking forward to tomorrow night, are you Rob?” wondered one of my students yesterday. What followed was the often contradictory sound of a middle-aged boy grappling with snobbery, conscience and the dilemmas thrown up by a world changing rather too rapidly. “No” was the short, unhesitating answer. The prospect of tuning in to this evening’s $20m showdown in Antigua, of watching a match whose individual feats will only ever appear in one edition of Wisden, one in which the slightest human frailty can only prove costly in the most literal sense, is not one that fills me with any pleasurable anticipation. Elaboration, though, was called for. Journalism students demand no less. No, I emphasised, there is not a single morsel of me that begrudges the players their potential wealth. Given that cricketers’ earnings have long lagged behind those of footballers, baseballers and basketballers, let alone golfers and tennis players, I’m both proud and chuffed that the biggest prize in the history of team sport should be destined for practitioners of flannelled folly. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/11/a_onesided_coin.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/11/a_onesided_coin.php Stanford Super Series Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:29:55 +0000

Kevin Pietersen said he will not tolerate any excessively jubilant celebrations should England beat the Stanford Superstars in next Saturday’s $20m winner-takes-all finale © Sportcel/ Pierre Karadia

In 1735, an advert proclaimed that a London XI, selected by the Prince of Wales, would meet one from Kent, chosen by the Earl of Middlesex, for a prize of £1000. In 1751, Eton Past & Present challenged the Gentlemen of England for the even princelier sum of £1500. We have almost come full circle. The Stanford Series has attracted scorn ever since Sir Allen helicoptered to Lord’s carrying a briefcase stuffed with more dollars than Elvis Presley’s estate earns in, ooh, a month. With the credit crunch biting and recession dawning, that scorn has been augmented by distaste, hence Kevin Pietersen’s insistence that he will not tolerate any excessively jubilant celebrations should England beat the Stanford Superstars in next Saturday’s $20m winner-takes-all finale. Oh, that John Terry were so sensitive towards his fellow man every time he haggles over whether he should be paid £135,000 a week or £140,000. Then there is the sheer fear Twenty20 tournaments of this ilk incite: for the future of Test cricket, yes, but also for the unity of the game. The ECB and the BCCI may at least be on speaking terms but to describe their relationship as warm would be akin to characterising Paris Hilton as a demure young lady. Sure, the Antigua showpiece is the ECB’s way of compensating KP and company for their misfortune in playing for a country whose season clashes with the IPL, but it is also a broadside aimed at what it perceives as the BCCI’s temerity in using its vast revenues to take over the game. Accepting that the boot has swapped feet never comes easy. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/10/play_it_again_allen.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/10/play_it_again_allen.php Sat, 25 Oct 2008 09:58:54 +0000

The priorities seem plain: revamp the Future Tours Progamme, fix a four- to six-week window in the calendar for the IPL and another for a credible annual World Test Championship © Getty Images

So it has come to this. Just as the United Nations stamped its feet and shouted itself hoarse but was unable to prevent the United States and Britain from invading Iraq, so the ICC, for all the harrumphing and tub-thumping of David Morgan and Haroon Lorgat, is proving entirely impotent in preventing the BCCI from jackbooting the primacy of international cricket for six. To scream or to cry: that is the question. Laughter certainly doesn’t come into it. The trouble with an Englishman portraying Lalit Modi as the devil incarnate, or lamenting even the teeniest aspect of this Indian-led revolution, is that it leaves him wide open to charges of racism, or jealousy, or both. As someone who has spent a goodly chunk of his journalistic career lamenting the Anglo-Antipodean duopoly, befriending south Asians, bemoaning the patronising treatment of Sri Lanka, advocating the ICC relocate from Lord’s to Kolkata and expressing undying gratitude for the way India’s obsession with all things flannelled and foolish has kept the planet’s most anachronistic ballgame alive and kicking, I reject the first charge with every bone, fibre and cell in my body. But am I envious of the fact that cricket means so much more on the subcontinent than it does here? You bet. That the game is at a crossroads cannot be doubted. Anyone who cares for its long-term future can only observe the Acronym Era with fear and trepidation. Of course it is about time the old world tasted what it is like to be dictated to by the new. Of course the desire to avenge decades of disrespect, however carefully concealed and repeatedly denied, is completely understandable. But with power comes responsibility, and the BCCI seems so utterly, so wilfully, oblivious to this.]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/10/in_search_of_wisdom.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/10/in_search_of_wisdom.php Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:23:43 +0000

Adil Rashid's omission from the Indian tour party beggars belief © Getty Images

Derek Underwood’s ascent to MCC President prompted the Times to run that immortal photo of the match-winning, Ashes-squaring wicket taken by “Deadly” when he trapped John Inverarity leg-before at The Oval 40 years ago. What made it unforgettable was less that Inverarity may well have had as good a case for wrongful dismissal as he has always insisted, but that every fielder bar one is in the frame. Underwood, understandably, has taken the opportunity to lament the decline of British spin, pledging to do everything in his power to save that endangered species, the left-arm spinner. Mind you, if truth be told, his own brand of left-arm deliveries, which made him the only English slow bowler to take 200 Test wickets, relied more on pace, cut and damp pitches than loop, twirl or devil. The statistics, on the face of it, are profoundly depressing. In the final Professional Cricketers Association MVP rankings, only six specialist spinners figured in the top 40, and most owed an inordinate debt to their ability as run-makers. The only one to dent the top 25 was Adil Rashid (11th), whose 65 wickets at 31.83 lagged just two behind Steve Harmison atop the first-class lists. In the County Championship MVP chart, only three twirlers made the top 30, and Ian Blackwell’s berth at No. 6 had rather more to do with his 1000-plus runs: after all, for all his parsimony and admirable economy-rate, he was forced to plough through 19 overs for every victim. Rashid tallied more than double the number of bowling points (246.53) gleaned by any rival twirler bar Shaun Udal (127.05). I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling that his omission from England’s Indian tour party – and I’ve lost count of how many respected commentators have argued, ludicrously, that the experience would damage him – beggars belief. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/10/a_tide_in_sore_need_of_turning.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/10/a_tide_in_sore_need_of_turning.php Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:28:08 +0000

Again and again Harmison struck when it mattered, in all formats, and with sufficient consist ency to earn a Test recall against South Africa © Getty Images

All right, so there’s still a few yards left, but in all likelihood, sometime on Saturday, barring any small miracles at Trent Bridge or Taunton, the final day of this summer of foul weather and fairly glorious uncertainty will see Durham breast the tape first and hence carry off the County Championship pennant for the first time. In which case, we will have witnessed one of the more improbable turnarounds in recent cricket history. As a consequence, Steve Harmison, the man whose wickets are currently serving as a modicum of compensation for the agonies north-east soccer fans are enduring at the hands of the fast bowler’s beloved Newcastle United, will be able to spend at least the next couple of months blowing enthusiastic raspberries in the general vicinity of the press box. Tucking into humble pie is part of a journalist’s lot. The tendency to be pressed into seeing the world in white and black, and ignoring those endless shades of grey, all too often incites rash, often inflammatory judgements that dispense with humanity while expertly, if barely, skirting the laws of libel. And because he can be so good, so intimidating, so damned irresistible, Harmison has attracted considerably more than his fair share of invective. The fact that, at heart, he is both articulate and a complete sweetie somehow makes him an even easier target. When he and Matthew Hoggard were dropped by England after the first Test in New Zealand six months ago, it appeared to all intents and purposes that Harmy had cooked his own goose for the umpteenth and final time. Always a reluctant traveller, he seemed keener than ever to be anywhere else but on a cricket field, and bowled accordingly, the menace reduced to that of a toothless tabby. The arrival of a fourth child was proving a distraction, sure, but could the selectors really be expected to maintain any vestige of faith in someone of such apparent frailty? Forget those feline metaphors. If the caricature of a fast bowler is a rip-snorting, fire-breathing, no-holds-barring Tyrannosaurus Rex with a sturdy pair of arms, here was a Brontosaurus apt to intimidate purely by dint of size, and prone only to occasional lapses from strict vegetarianism. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/09/the_sweet_taste_of_humble_pie_1.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/09/the_sweet_taste_of_humble_pie_1.php Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:17:59 +0000

No matter who wins, the unedifying fact, for apostles of an exclusively Twenty20 world, is that cricket’s most venerable competition is still alive and kicking © Getty Images

This has been a season of endings for British flannelled tomfoolery, some less mourned than others. For Michael Vaughan and Chris Adams as, respectively, England’s pre-eminent Test and county captain of the decade; for the first-class careers of Darren Gough and Graeme Hick; for Oxford and Cambridge’s inordinately prolonged status as first-class opposition; for the BBC as a serious player in broadcasting cricket. It has also probably marked the beginning of the end, thanks to a court ruling in France, for the Kolpak Era. But someday, one trusts, we will also look back on it as the end of a new beginning. And no, I’m not referring to anyone called Kevin. Last week, glory be, the ECB, not always the fount of all wisdom, got something wonderfully right. In hiking the rewards for winning next year’s County Championship from its present £100,000 to £500,000, over ten times more than the next fattest domestic prize, it attempted to equip what some regard as a dodo with a pair of working wings. It also took a giant step for cricketkind by sending out a welcome and only slightly overdue message. Yes, it implicitly acknowledged, Twenty20 is the flavour of the month, possibly the age; yes, it probably will transform the game’s finances for evermore; yes, it may well reverse more than a century’s worth of custom by making clubs more profitable to play for than countries. Nevertheless, it explicitly insisted, Test cricket, for which the Championship provides the training and manpower, remains the game’s highest and most important means of expression. Which will come as a relief to traditionalists and purists alike, contemptuous as so many are of the shorter format, not to say fearful that it might swallow all other variations whole. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/09/championing_the_cause.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/09/championing_the_cause.php Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:35:43 +0000

Each of Shivnarine Chanderpaul's Test innings over the past year lasted nearly three hours © DigicelCricket

So there IS some justice in the world. Recent events in Darfur, Georgia and Zimbabwe had not given rise to a surfeit of optimism but at least Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been anointed as ICC Player of the Year. And how he deserves it. Partly for rekindling the spirit of Horatio, partly for services to that most old-fashioned of sporting virtues, namely patience, but mostly for the inspiration he will, one hopes, provide for Caribbean cricket. Quite how Dale Steyn beat him to the Test award beats me. In 2008, our Shiv has batted 13 times in Tests, against South Africa, Sri Lanka and Australia, the three strongest attacks in the game, remaining unconquered on six occasions, each of which has seen him tally at least 65. He has passed 50 eight times, and averages 101. In South Africa his series average was 82.33; the next most consistent West Indies batsman was Marlon Samuels (52), and only one other team-mate averaged more than 22. Against the Ozzers he averaged 147, scoring one fewer 50-pluses than the rest of the side combined. In all – and here’s the best bit, the clinching bit – he has endured for 2,267 minutes, ie. 37.78 hours. Which gives him an average of 174 minutes per crease visitation: all but three hours. Nor, despite his exclusion from the ICC ODI XI, has his one-day record been shabby: 598 runs at 74.75, at an energetic if necessarily third-gear sort of strike rate, with only one dismissal for under 27 in 13 innings and seven scores of 50-plus. Even if Clive Lloyd hadn’t chaired the adjudicating panel, it is hard to believe that the vote would have gone differently. A conference held at Headingley on Monday brought home the wider importance of what Chanderpaul, in his own shy, loner-type way, is doing, and why he stands so alone. And why, for all that supporting England is my sole concession to patriotism, defeat in the Caribbean next year would prompt a degree of guilty pleasure. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/09/the_pain_of_dwayne.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/09/the_pain_of_dwayne.php Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:23:20 +0000

While Gough would have been England’s only shoo-in for a World XI in the late 1990s, Hick became a byword for lack of nerve and/or backbone © Getty Images

And so they face the final curtain. For one, coaching at Malvern College appears to beckon, and perhaps a few more pounds in the ICL; for the other, who knows? I’m A Celebrity, Ballroom Dancer of the Year and Truemanesque folk hero status in Yorkshire, probably, but there’s a lot he, too, could pass on to youngsters, and even more in terms of attitude than yorkers. But how will posterity treat Graeme Hick and Darren Gough? It is hard not to suspect that the one who deserves the greater respect will be quicker to vanish from the collective memory. Let’s get the stats over and done with first, which means a spot of jaw-dropping in Hick’s case. His choc-a-bloc swagbag contains 136 first-class hundreds (eighth on the all-time list); 178 in toto (second only to the boy Hobbs); in excess of 64,000 runs, including more than 22,000 in List A matches, with power to pass Graham Gooch’s record tally; more than 1200 games and 1,000 catches. Readers of the 2058 Wisden will doubtless revere him in the way we do Grace and Hobbs. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/09/of_winners_and_nice_guys.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/09/of_winners_and_nice_guys.php Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:42:57 +0000

Marcus Trescothick has sparkled for Somerset, but should not be in consideration for the Ashes © Getty Images

Calling England followers. Let’s be optimistic out there. Bit by bit, with the Ashes less than a year away and, even more important, a first series win in India for 23 years in the offing, the pieces seem to be plopping into place. Freddie’s back and firing with one-and-a-half barrels, which is about as much as could reasonably be expected when you consider how little he’s played over the past 18 months; Matt Prior is grasping his second chance with the determination that marks out life’s winners; Stuart Broad is starting to bowl with the belief that underpins his batting; he may still insist on not looking where he’s bowling, but Jimmy Anderson has taken bigger strides than anyone this year; as evidenced by a greater trust in his own bowling than any of his captains has had, KP is blessed with the positive mindset that fuels every lucky leader. And Steve Harmison, on his day the most intimidating bowler on the planet, is back, giving KP four speedsters capable of exceeding 90 mph (whether this renewed hunger is strictly in response to Sir Allen Stanford’s largesse is neither here nor there; he does this for the living, not the loving). Is it being greedy to hope Michael Vaughan can reclaim that silken touch? Maybe, but that can certainly be balanced by the painful acknowledgement, given his ebullient county form, that Marcus Trescothick will never, should never, return. Last Saturday brought a sobering reminder of Somerset’s gain and England’s loss when Trescothick hammered 184 off 112 balls against Gloucestershire, not so much breaking his own national 40-over record, set just a few weeks earlier, but obliterating it, by fully 60 runs. To the inevitable question that followed, the answer was unequivocal: “I am done and dusted.” Whether Kevin Pietersen’s powers of persuasion are extensive enough to compel a change of heart remains to be seen – and anyone who can persuade Harmison to spend less time with his family is not to be underestimated - but, for now, the prospect of translating such form to the international arena still appears to fill Trescothick with about as much enthusiasm as a long weekend with Robert Mugabe. Even the stoniest heart, surely, would not begrudge him his priorities. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/08/stop_shopping_at_tresco_1.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/08/stop_shopping_at_tresco_1.php English cricket Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:10:38 +0000

Surely the priority, if you really do insist on flinging money at sport, should be with those who truly make us feel proud, or at least better © Getty Images

Dear Gordon, I know you’ve been having a tough time since moving from No.11 to No.10, what with all the economic worries, the cash-for-gongs saga, record levels of dissatisfaction with your premiership and that curious-looking Milliband chap sniffing your throne, so I’m not entirely surprised to see you taking such pleasure in the performance of all those “Team GB” cyclists, oarsmen and sailors in Beijing. However, I don’t think it would be fair on you to let you get too carried away. Which is why I am here to set you straight. "Success in rowing, sailing and track cycling can essentially be bought by siphoning off money from the public purse and handing it to the athletes who are then able to train like professionals ... Success in sport - like in the agricultural market - is easier when it receives huge state subsidies." So wrote Matthew Syed, a former Olympian, in The Times the other day. OK, so he was a ping-ponger, out for himself from first bobbled serve to final fluffed smash, but the point remains. If you really want to give yourself a worthwhile goal, let’s see what you can do about our regular national teams, notably the lot who endeavour to play cricket. To be honest, and I reckon most of your subjects would back me up, I would far prefer our soccer-rockers, rugger-buggers and willow-wielders win a few more games than a ragtag collection of largely university and/or public school types bring home more golds in more unwatchable sports than China and the US combined from a quadrennial event that costs more to stage than the GDP of Southern Africa. If you are tempted to believe I am one of those people who regard the “winning” of the right to stage the 2012 Olympics to be something of a costly and catastrophic defeat, I will not take offence. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/08/yes_please_prime_minister_1.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/08/yes_please_prime_minister_1.php English cricket Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:27:52 +0000

In two-and-a-half seasons as captain of Kent, Robert Key has grown enormously in stature, among opponents as well as team-mates © Getty Images

Funny how things come back to bite even the hardiest bum. But for English wariness, the review system trial that appears to have gone down so well in Colombo and Galle would have been in force during the Basil D’Oliveira series, in which case England might well have won the third Test and levelled a series that in all other respects showcased why modern Test cricket, at its most competitive and invigorating, is streets ahead of where it has ever been. Indeed, had but one of the balls that James Anderson fizzed across a clueless, groping Graeme Smith during the opening phase of South Africa’s chase caught the edge they deserved, Poms might well be celebrating a remarkable comeback against a side, lest we forget, that could well end Australia’s seemingly interminable dominance before next year’s over-hyped and undermining A**** debate. That, though, would merely have papered over those widening cracks and deepening holes, which makes what actually happened, and their inevitable consequences, more desirable. Michael Vaughan’s decision to step down was firmly in keeping with the man who has led England to more Test victories than any other captain. So long as his personal form refused to improve, the self-doubts that festered in New Zealand were bound to resurface sooner or later, and Vaughan has too much self-esteem to be able to cope with persistent failure. One wonders, with every cheap dismissal, how easy he found it to look at himself in the mirror, to accept that he wasn’t pulling his weight, wasn’t worth his place as a player. (And three 50-plus scores in 17 post-knee-op innings against strong attacks – Sri Lanka, India and South Africa – certainly infers as much.)]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/08/rob_the_key_to_renewal.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/08/rob_the_key_to_renewal.php Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:15:50 +0000

A fresh perspective is needed on the number-crunching in cricket © HKCA

What with the Acronym War in full flight, the game’s governance in disarray, umpire referrals being trialled, the Kolpak Era showing encouraging signs of drawing to an unlamented close and Mohammed Asif being a very silly boy indeed, it hasn’t been easy of late to focus on what really matters – runs and, um … oh yes, wickets. Unfortunately, even in the safe, profoundly apolitical arena of Stats Island, I can’t seem to get much, if any, satisfaction. While watching Wednesday’s Pro40 game between Durham and Somerset, the thrilling sight of Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett adding 81 for the last wicket - and only just in vain - set me wondering about the highest such stand to win a senior match. Not exactly a left-field query, one would have thought. Certainly not an unnatural one for a fully-qualified anorak. Infuriatingly, my determined scouring of various Wisdens, Frindalls and Webbers, not to mention sundry reputable databases, all came to naught. Which merely strengthened what has long been a personal bugbear: cricket is not well-served by its statisticians. Or not as well as it might be. And definitely nowhere near as well as the Elias Sports Bureau, Bill James and other likeminded souls serve baseball, the only sport that matches cricket when it comes to being fatally smitten by numbers. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/07/new_regime_on_stats_island.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/07/new_regime_on_stats_island.php Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:31:01 +0000

Paul Collingwood's own self-image, as a tough but fair competitor, has taken a pounding. © Getty Images

Two years ago, Mohammad Asif was on a roll, whipping out 29 Indians, Sri Lankans and Englishmen in four Tests to confirm himself as Pakistan’s next planet-conquering fast bowler. In Adelaide a few months later, Paul Collingwood became the first Pom to score a double-century in Australia for nearly 70 years, matching the matchless Wally Hammond. Now, for both, the doldrums beckon. In neither case is sympathy unconfined. But neither is it negligible. By failing sundry drugs tests, Asif was the one who actually broke some written rules, rather than merely ignored the urgings of a spiritual manifesto. So it is curious, yet entirely typical of cricket, that there appears to be more compassion for him. As Kamran Abassi wisely points out in his blog, the Pakistan Cricket Board, in failing to provide a proper lead on drug education and then indulging him, convincing him he was fire-proof, have hardly been blameless. There is even talk of Indian espionage. Was it merely coincidence, wondered one poster, that, the day after the PCB decided to bar its players from next year’s IPL dollar-fest in the event of it coinciding with Australia's rescheduled tour, IPL released Asif's positive results? “Not to mention that he was previously found guilty in India. And, also at Dubai Airport where 95% of the working staff is Indian!” It’s all too easy to see where this one is heading! I have still to be convinced that performance-enhancing drugs can do much to enhance performance in cricket [hence the apparent dearth of offenders], other than to ease recovery from injury - which doesn’t really seem that heinous a crime, other, of course, than to the player himself, whose body might suffer in the long run. Nonetheless, my sympathies lie more readily with Collingwood, if only because he appears to have paid a full-enough price for his crime against the cricketing state but seems unable to avoid placing himself in front of misfortune’s steamroller.]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/07/a_tale_of_two_pities.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/07/a_tale_of_two_pities.php Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:11:53 +0000

Without quotas, would one of the most successful fast bowlers of all time have ever scaled such heights? © AFP

“That’s why it’s the best game in the world.” So texted my best pal after last Sunday’s Wimbledon epic between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, which had made me forget for the best part of five hours that tennis has left me cold ever since John McEnroe threw off his Superbrat cape a couple of decades ago. “Best individual game, yes,” I texted back, still dizzy at the rediscovery of a lost love but not so dazed that my faculties had fled in their limited entirety. Yesterday’s fare at Lord’s underlined why I still feel fully entitled to make the distinction. This is supposed to be the moment in cricket history when virtually every conversation and headline concerns the Twenty20 golden goose. (If the ICC wasn’t supremely confident about the lasting impact of this particular revolution, why else would Haroon Lorgat’s first action as the new Malcolm Speed have been to announce that the best part of US$300 million will be lavished over the next seven years on spreading the gospel?) The quality of the first episode of the first five-day play for more than three weeks came, therefore, as a blessed relief. It was also a glowing reaffirmation of why team sports in general, and Test cricket in particular, beat all that selfish individualistic stuff. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/07/in_praise_of_quotas.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/07/in_praise_of_quotas.php Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:55:05 +0000