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March 31, 2007
Posted on 03/31/2007 in Australian cricket
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Come back soon, Shane
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Shane Warne has flown off to live in England for two years with his family, according to a report in Melbourne’s Herald Sunday Sun. Warne will play for Hampshire after retiring from Tests in January.
While Warne is leaving Australia, Darrell Hair is moving back. Robert Craddock writes in the Sunday Mail of the umpire's return to Sydney.
In the Sunday Age Chloe Saltau meets up with Richie Richardson, who can’t understand why the World Cup crowds have been so small.
"I'm not saying we are rowdy people but we are accustomed to taking our own food and drink and enjoying ourselves. Visitors are saying to me they are not getting the Caribbean feel."
Posted on 03/31/2007 in Australian cricket
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Shaun Tait has discovered how to channel his energies into high-class fast bowling
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In The Age, Chloe Saltau profiles Shaun Tait, who grew up in a small town in South Australia and still has that country aura about him.
The new spearhead of the Australian attack is stretched out on the turf of the Antigua Recreation Ground, home of one his fast bowling heroes, Curtly Ambrose. He is as natural and as uncoached as a modern international cricketer can be. As Phil Tait [his father] puts it, "he's not up himself".
It seems there was a lot of fast-bowler aggression in Tait from a young age.
His dad recalls an under-12s game abandoned after Tait broke the cheekbone of an opponent, and a week-long suspension from school after a kid picked a fight with him, and paid the price with a busted eye-socket
Ricky Ponting’s column in The Australian focuses on Matthew Hayden’s meticulous planning. He says Hayden showed a healthy respect to Makhaya Ntini, Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell but targeted other bowlers in his two most recent centuries.
Robert Craddock reports in the same paper that Glenn McGrath believes Shane Watson has the ability to be one of the great allrounders in modern cricket.
March 30, 2007
Posted on 03/30/2007 in Miscellaneous
Batsmen may be happier and safer wearing helmets, but, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, they prevent fans seeing the batsmen's faces, which, market research has found, makes it hard for them to relate to the players.
But, as Philip Derriman notes, it’s not all gloom.
If they're bad for TV, they're about the only thing in cricket that is. In other respects, cricket is a broadcaster's dream. It lasts all day; the main action is concentrated in a smallish area; it's essentially a one-on-one (bowler-against-batsman) contest; the game lends itself to endless analysis by commentators; and the short breaks between overs are ideal for slotting in commercials.
Posted on 03/30/2007 in World Cup 2007
Andrew Flintoff is still having a tough time in the West Indies, according to David Hopps in The Guardian.
The nets at the Providence Stadium were under water a few days ago, not quite deep enough for Flintoff to dream of some more late-night watersports but damp enough to make them dangerously frisky as England practised ahead of their opening Super Eights game against Ireland. When one delivery went through the top, Flintoff stalked into a different net. The next ball flew off a length and struck him on the glove as he took evasive action. He immediately abandoned his net session and threw his bat 10 metres into the side netting.
March 29, 2007
Posted on 03/29/2007 in World Cup 2007
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'It is perhaps time to reflect on just why this event has captured the imagination of absolutely no one on the entire planet who doesn't live in Bangladesh or Jamaica'
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He's finding it more difficult to care by the day, but ESPN.com's Page 2 cricket corespondent is compelled to reveal his Super Eight at what he terms the "never-ending" World Cup.
Michael Davies, a British-born television producer, feels the World Cup shouldn't have gone on after Bob Woolmer's death, but then offers ten satyrical reasons not to care about the tournament.
Sample this:
This is beyond tragic; it is sickening. I have no idea about the motives for the killing, but I can guarantee this. If Woolmer's death is related to cricket, then his killer hated sports. Had no appreciation of sports. Knew nothing of sports. To kill someone in the name of sport is to kill sport itself. This event died the moment that Bob Woolmer died.
with this:
Despite now having lived half of my life in America, despite the fact that I now pronounce schedule "skedule," shower every day and visit the dentist regularly, despite having been exposed to the pure joy that is the NFL, the NBA, the Little League World Series and even NASCAR, I still love marmite, and I still love cricket. Even if I have to watch it in a window the size of a postage stamp on my computer.
Davies doesn't care if Bangladesh beat Ireland in the final, but hopes England win.
Posted on 03/29/2007 in Indian Cricket
A lot of people are taking potshots at the Indian team following their World Cup debacle. Greg Chappell's future is the debate of endless newspapers, television channels and tabloids. Rahul Dravid's credibility as captain has been questioned. Irate fans have stoned houses and burnt effigies. Javagal Srinath, writing in the Hindustan Times, just questions what is best for Chappell.
Should he, given an opportunity, continue and try to implement his 'processes', or should he leave in a dignified manner? If he quits, the next question would be, who should replace Greg? India's premature exit has opened up a Pandora's Box.
March 28, 2007
Posted on 03/28/2007 in World Cup 2007
Robert Craddock, writing in The Australian, says the lack of support for West Indies in Antigua has given the World Cup another black eye.
The opening of the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium proved an anti-climax with the 20,000-seat structure barely half-full. The Antigua government did all it could to make yesterday's game a promotional hit by declaring a national holiday. But local fans have become incensed at the rules of the tournament which do not allow food, drink or musical instruments to be brought into the ground.
Chloe Saltau takes up a similar theme in The Age.
Viv Richards, who was sitting in his own stadium, praises Matthew Hayden after his 158 against West Indies. "He is a guy on top of his form and he's peaking at the right time,” Richards told AAP.
The Tonk, the Sydney Morning Herald’s blog, wonders if it has been too harsh on Hayden.
Posted on 03/28/2007 in World Cup 2007
Writing in The New Zealand Herald, Chris Rattue rues the ICC's decision to continue with the World Cup in the aftermath of Bob Woolmer's death.
Cricket remains in a dark cell; its showpiece a sham, feels Rattue. Sport, in the end, is supposed to be enjoyable, yet its top table invariably involves a distasteful feast.
The ICC chose to continue with this tournament in the aftermath of Woolmer's demise.To have scrapped the tournament, to have so publicly succumbed to the evils that permeate their game, would have been a disaster to their minds.
A close and difficult call, but it has given the good people of cricket, in other words the majority, a deserved chance to bring their planning to fruition. It should, unfortunately, be their last chance, although who would bet on a sport having the gumption to fully admit to its problems by scrapping this gigantic sham.
Where did world tournaments go wrong? Because they surely have.
Click here to read more.
Posted on 03/28/2007 in World Cup 2007
The problems of Guyana’s Providence Stadium have been well documented. In The Times, Christopher Martin-Jenkins revealed that while all looks polished on the surface, underneath things are far from finished.
The West Indian reputation for getting things right only at the last minute has been taken to extremes here. At first glance the Providence Stadium, built in partnership with the India Government in a suburb on the East bank of the Demerara River half an hour’s drive from the capital, Georgetown, is a splendid facility.
So is the handsome looking “Buddy’s International” hotel that has sprung up next to it. Those staying there, however, do not, as intended, include the teams, rather guests who speak of damp cement on the walls and pneumatic drills working through the night. Across the road, the press box has poor visibility and all the signs of a desperate race to be ready on time.
In The Daily Telegraph, Simon Briggs discovered that the media might have a few problems in covering the game itself.
It takes more than a nicely tended outfield to make a decent cricket ground, however, and problems are expected with the incidentals: things like power sockets, phone lines and broadcasting facilities. The BBC team turned up to find nothing in their booth but a table and chair. Unless equipment can be shipped in from St Vincent, their commentary could end up being broadcast over crackly mobile phone lines.
And in The Age, David Hopps confirmed that all was not well.
Outside the stadium yesterday, the car park consisted of pools of water standing in tons of sand. A merchandising tent stood forlornly next to a concrete mixer and a pile of pallets. Diggers lay idle; you could spot World Cup employees by their official uniforms and harassed expressions.
Posted on 03/28/2007 in World Cup 2007
In The Age Chloe Saltau writes the game is in danger of branding itself out of existence.
Australia and New Zealand will host the game's most prestigious tournament in 2015 and you can be sure it will look pretty much the same as this one, except the signs will change slightly. Like world cricket's governing body, Cricket Australia is on the warpath to ensure cricket is played in "clean venues", which means ridding the grounds, the spectators, the skies, the loos, for goodness sake, of anything that might put the noses of its commercial partners out of joint. Authorities will make no apologies for bullishly protecting their sponsors but they should not play the game's fans for fools, either.
Andy Roberts says in the Herald Sun nobody should interfere with Shaun Tait’s raw action.
The Australian’s Peter Lalor has been blogging over the government’s talks of boycotts for Australia’s tour to Zimbabwe in September.
March 27, 2007
Posted on 03/27/2007 in Australian cricket
Shane Warne is getting married again ... but this time it’s for the television comedy Kath and Kim. For a full run down of the episode head to the Daily Telegraph, but here’s a sneak preview.
Warney weds sporting tragic Sharon Strezlecki, played by Magda Szubanski, in the next series and filmed his romantic turn at St Kilda's Luna Park in Melbourne. The cricket legend has been referred to as Sharon's "unrequited love'' in previous episodes, but in a plot twist, Strezlecki is forced to wrestle her "dream man" from best friend Kim Craig.
Posted on 03/27/2007 in World Cup 2007
Rajan Bala writes about the text messages he received from Greg Chappell which reveal that the Indian coach was not happy with the World Cup squad.
On February 16, after an article of mine appeared in this paper Greg sent me a SMS, which I am reproducing for the sake of the public. "Excellent article. Almost spot on. Even to the last selection meeting. I fought for youth. The senior players fought against it and the chairman went with them out of fear of media, if youth didn’t perform. Kartik will be a very good batsman and by the way is a potential leader. You are very right about Yuvi. Regards, Greg."
It was the morning of the ODI against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam. The time the SMS was received — 08.16.31. For those who did not read the article, it would be helpful for their comprehension of the situation in a context.
As far as Dinesh Kartik is concerned, I had hinted he should not be taken as a second wicketkeeper, implying he be should taken as a batsman and called as such. Hence Greg’s explanation. About Yuvraj Singh I had written, "For heaven’s sake, let nobody consider Yuvraj Singh as a future captain."
Posted on 03/27/2007 in West Indies cricket
In an candid interview in the Jamaica Gleaner with Barbara Ellington, Powell talks about his career, future plans and reason for choosing to live in Trinidad.
The much talked about move to Trinidad was entirely Powell's decision. Many people think he moved there because his wife is Trinidadian.
"My life outside of the Jamaica Cricket Board and the West Indies Cricket Board was not respected. I was once suspended for indiscipline because during an out-of-town training camp, my wife came to spend a weekend with me that included Valentine's Day. I did not play much after that, I felt disenchanted and my career went downhill. I was making fairly good money but I could not get a mortgage without a contract," Powell said, adding that at the time he had a son on the way, a daughter plus a wife, and had to think of the future. "I decided to make it family first and now my priorities include our business."
But he said he had been getting offers from Trinidad before the move and continues to have tremendous opportunities in his adopted home. "I was welcomed with open arms. Don't get me wrong, cricket opened many doors for me for which I will always be grateful," he said.
March 26, 2007
Posted on 03/26/2007 in World Cup 2007
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Brian Lara rates Glenn McGrath as highly as McGrath rates Lara
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After 12 years of battles Brian Lara and Glenn McGrath prepare for what may be their final meeting by swapping a series of compliments.
"He was definitely the toughest fast bowler," Lara said in News Ltd papers. "He just didn't give you opportunities to score … Series after series, Glenn came at me with the same plan. He has been an outstanding competitor. Players like myself and Sachin (Tendulkar) want to be dominant, but he is one of the bowlers you don't want to face."
McGrath, who has dismissed Lara 15 times, was also generous in his praise for a man he first met on the 1995 Caribbean tour.
"I would have to rate him the best I bowled to," McGrath said. "Technically, Tendulkar was more correct but Lara was genuinely more dangerous. He has all the shots and could be very destructive. I always loved the challenge of bowling to him."
Posted on 03/26/2007 in ICC
In a no-holds-barred column in The Daily Telegraph, Mark Nicholas has launched a stinging broadside at the ICC and the way it handles the world game, which, he says, is based on greed overruling good sense.
“It is a cliche to say that the ICC are toothless. Often this is so because, as a deeply political body, they choose to be. The list of unanswered questions is an embarrassment. Corruption, throwing, ball-tampering, doping, cheating and the use of technology, Zimbabwe, Darrell Hair and the Oval Test, are all issues over which the ICC have come to no firm conclusion.”
And as for the terrible murder of Bob Woolmer, Nicholas is not even sure that will be satisfactorily sorted.
“Cricket and cricketers live in their own vacuum. Visitors are amazed by the size and breadth of the clique. Sometimes this makes us blind. Already there is a view that the case will be swept beneath the veil of the clique, perhaps even that "murder" will become "accident" in some form or another. Certainly, commentators already feel that a scapegoat will be found elsewhere.”
Posted on 03/26/2007 in Offbeat
The USA’s ABC News reports how China has used the World Cup to score diplomatic points over rivals Taiwan. The Chinese involvement in building various stadia in the Caribbean has been well documented, but it appears the knock-on effect has been more wide reaching:
China gave Antigua a $55 million grant to build the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium. It gave $30 million to Jamaica for a new Trelawny stadium. St. Lucia has both a cricket and a football stadium courtesy of Beijing. The 70,000 people of Dominica have received the aid equivalent of $1,600 per person in the form of a cricket grounds, new drains for the capital and better roads.
The immediate reason for this largesse is Beijing's determination to diplomatically isolate Taiwan. Says Harry Sung of the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington, D.C.: "Their top priority is to isolate Taiwan. Most of the remaining countries that recognize Taiwan are located in the Caribbean and Latin America."
China's cricket diplomacy led to two West Indian countries, Grenada and Dominica, derecognizing Taiwan as an independent country. Of the remaining 24 countries that recognize Taiwan, four are in the Caribbean and two of these play cricket.
Posted on 03/26/2007 in Indian Cricket
A shocking first-round exit meant that India ended the World Cup with more questions than answers.
R Kaushik writes in the Deccan Herald about a set of individuals who failed to play as a team.
The distinct lack of cricketing communication between those that have been around for a decade and more, and those who are just cutting their teeth in international cricket left the latter confused and a little disillusioned. The wealth of knowledge and experience gained through hours of battle remained unshared, and that has always been one of the great tragedies of Indian cricket.
Meanwhile, in the Daily News and Analysis, Kumar Shyam writes an open letter to board president Sharad Pawar.
Mid-Day's Khalid Ansari sees only one solution: Windows of the mind must be opened to let in refreshing winds of change. Heads MUST roll at the BCCI, its selection committee, coaching staff and in the team itself.
Posted on 03/26/2007 in World Cup 2007
Chloe Saltau writes in the Sydney Morning Herald about Australia’s smooth entry into the Super Eights while Robert Craddock reports in The Australian about the success of targeting Shaun Pollock.
Mark Ray, the former captain, writes in The Age about Tasmania's development from interstate rivals to Pura Cup winners.
March 25, 2007
Posted on 03/25/2007 in Indian Cricket
The knives are out after India's debacle in the World Cup. The critics are having a field day.
Pradeep Magazine, writing in the Hindustan Times, says tough questions need to be asked.
Why has a team that was once being thought of rivalling Australia (in Tests) as the best in the world, disintegrated into one that is disjointed, filled with insecure players ill at ease and suspicious of each other.
Things like scribes being sent text messages or emails about players (and it getting back to them), haven't helped. Many, from players to officials, blame Chappell for this insecurity, saying his "divisive methods" made almost every senior distance himself from the team's collective vision. A stage was reached this month when some alleged the coach had told them that Tendulkar was "more interested in becoming captain" and Ganguly was "aloof and disinterested".
Ashok Malik, of the Pioneer, believes sweeping changes need to be made.
This world cup was supposed to be the grand farewell of Indian cricket's "Greatest Generation"; instead it became the whimpering valediction. Retirement beckons, and well before the 2011 world cup in the subcontinent.
Kunal Pradhan reckons the " laptop vision has failed miserably and ... it’s about time India rejected the process and its architects."
Posted on 03/25/2007 in World Cup 2007
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Dwayne Bravo: allround talent
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Cricket has taken a backseat this week, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, but the matches have gone and the players have thrilled the crowds. What this World Cup now needs is a 'good' story, and there would be non better than the home nation claiming the trophy. So far it has gone to plan, three wins out of three for West Indies and into the Super Eights with two points. One of their key players is the allrounder Dwayne Bravo, someone who has a long and impressive future ahead of him. In The Observer he gives a long interview to James Root about his childhood, his early career and his dreams.
Cricket is, and always has been, Bravo's obsession, although this is not unusual for a young West Indian. He has used what he calls his God-gifted talent to attain every one of his goals to date. 'I have always played cricket, no matter what,' he says. 'If I had a piece of stick or an orange in my hand I would always play. I loved shadow batting. I used to pick my own team. I would pick a West Indies team - in the days of Desmond Haynes, Richie Richardson, Carl Hooper and those guys - and an England team and they would compete against each other.
Posted on 03/25/2007 in Bob Woolmer
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There has only been one story in the cricket this week
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The Sunday broadsheets continue to try and make sense of Bob Woolmer's murder. In The Independent on Sunday, Nick Townsend says that the game Woolmer loved so much has been pushed firmly into the background. He also extends the theory that perhaps Woolmer knew too much about the darker side of the game.
From a World Cup of tantalising possibilities, it has become a Cup of Woe. Rather like the feeling of emptiness and despair which overcame us when the 1985 European Cup final proceeded while the bodies were still being removed at the Heysel Stadium, does anyone really care about the cricket?
Also in the Independent on Sunday, Stephen Brenkley gives a very personal tribute to Woolmer.
But his greatest virtue had nothing to do with his cricketing prowess. It was that he had time for everybody. There was no side to Bobby. In the high-pressure world of big-time cricket, he did not seal himself in a bubble. He wanted to embrace the whole world.
A common theme is also that Woolmer should have been England coach, probably back in 1999 when David Lloyd took over, and, even at the age of 58, would have commanded an interview to take over from Duncan Fletcher. Simon Wilde, in The Sunday Times, looks at Woolmer the coach
Meanwhile, in the Sunday Telegraph Mike Atherton insists the ICC can no longer decide the game’s future with the focus solely on money.
There is no suggestion that Woolmer's murder has anything to do with corruption. Even so, it is time for the administrators of the game to take note; time to put the game's long-term interests first, rather than the need to make decisions with purely money in mind, no matter what the consequences.
Just ask yourself why we have seen so many mis-matches in the opening week of the tournament and why there are more teams, 16, than ever before, even though some of them would struggle to beat a good London club side. With Ireland and Bangladesh going through to the second stage of the tournament, the ICC should be careful what they wish for.
The the same paper, Lord MacLaurin, the former chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has called for a major review of the ICC.
Posted on 03/25/2007 in World Cup 2007
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The return home will be unpleasant for Dravid and his team
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India are (almost) out of the World Cup and the press back home has just begun sharpening the knives for the slaughter. The next few weeks ain't gonna be pretty for the Indian team
The Hindustan Times reports the Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, claimed that villagers like him could play better cricket than the team. Lalu raged:
"It's shameful to see such underperformance. They all should be sacked and fresh faces must get a chance to play for the country. The top order batsmen have really been playing poor cricket."
The Times of India probed into what was wrong with Indian cricket, taking apart the players, the coach, the captain, the selectors, the board and the fact that there is too much cricket.
A system that breeds mediocrity, over-hyped stars who could put Bollywood to shame, a plethora of cricket 'academies' that spin money, but don't teach kids how to spin a ball, an army of self-proclaimed coaches with dodgy records and a variety of officials who know as much about cricket as we know about PILCOM accounts
The Telegraph, a Kolkata-based daily, puts its sarcastic foot forward and does not take kindly the fact that India's remote chance of remaining at the World Cup depends on Bermuda beating Bangladesh.
We’re familiar with the Bermuda Triangle. But, now, the eternal optimists are looking for a Bermuda Miracle! If we’ve got to depend on Bermuda to bale us out, then we may as well not play top grade cricket.
Posted on 03/25/2007 in Bob Woolmer
This World Cup will always be remembered as the Bob Woolmer murder World Cup, writes Vic Marks in The Observer. Cricket, he writes, has long since lost its innocence, particularly in the subcontinent and England have no idea how lucky they are.
Play badly and Michael Vaughan's men will receive flak in the press and some grumbles from former players, while the Barmy Army defiantly supports them come what may. As Woolmer used to say on the golf course when his opponent deposited the ball into the water: 'The ball's in the lake; nobody died.' Some sense of perspective remains.
But play badly for Pakistan or India and the consequences can be more severe. It is not only effigies of fallen heroes that can be burnt; so, too, can their houses. In Ranchi, Mahendra Dhoni's home has been damaged after India's defeat by Bangladesh. And it may be that a stunning defeat for Pakistan caused a madman to assault the coach. This is serious stuff - we are no longer in pedalo territory.
March 24, 2007
Posted on 03/24/2007 in World Cup 2007
Glenn McGrath says in his News Ltd column the organisers made the right decision to keep the World Cup running despite Bob Woolmer’s death.
I can understand the feelings of people who say the World Cup should have been abandoned out of respect to Bob but, being a great cricket man, he would have wanted it to continue and at least now we have the chance to honour his memory.
Mark Waugh takes aim at Sunil Gavaskar and defends Australia’s on-field behaviour in his Sun-Herald column.
The Australian teams I played for, and those I've watched since retiring, play hard but fair. They play within the rules while other teams, especially those from the subcontinent, don't mind pushing the rules. I cite such things as their preparedness to call for runners when maybe the batsman doesn't warrant one, or by fielding specialist fieldsmen as substitutes, as not being in the spirit of the game. And then there's examples of ball tampering.
Posted on 03/24/2007 in Betting/Corruption
In The Daily Telegraph, Peter Foster looks at the bookmakers who still stalk cricket, seven years after the ICC set about rooting corruption out of the game.
From the back-streets of Karachi and Mumbai to the gleaming towers of Hong Kong and Dubai, cricket's bookmaking underworld is still operating. Chief among those nations are the sub-continental rivals of India and Pakistan where, despite betting on cricket being illegal, millions of pounds regularly change hands over a single game. Annually, the profits can be counted in billions.
But the nature of gambling has changed, forced to adapt from the brash efforts to influence entire teams to a far more subtle approach.
It makes grim reading. In the same paper, Simon Hughes gives a first-hand report from the subcontinent.
On a trip to Pakistan some years ago, I stopped by an anonymous club match one afternoon. Two batsmen were slowly playing themselves in. After one apparently featureless over, a gaggle of spectators suddenly engaged in an unseemly scuffle. When some time had elapsed and peace was restored, I ventured over to investigate what had happened. It emerged that one man had bet another the over would be a maiden. When a leg-bye was run off the last ball of the over, they couldn't agree who had won the wager (despite the extra it still constituted a maiden) and fists flew.
Posted on 03/24/2007 in World Cup 2007
Michael Henderson, never one to take the safe option, writes a long article in The Daily Telegraph on Pakistan cricket and its place in the modern game.
“While India have the money to confront the old order, the Pakistanis like to portray themselves as maligned outsiders, an image their players have reinforced in the past three years by favouring a hard-line Islamic faith.”
And he finishes with a swipe at the ICC and its reaction to calls for the tournament to be scrapped.
“The ICC will disregard him, of course, arguing that the show must always go on, if only to avoid shelling out millions to compensate the television companies covering this bloated tournament.”
Posted on 03/24/2007 in Indian Cricket
No, we're not talking about a particular player, rather these gold and diamond-encrusted cricket balls. Yours for a snip at £35,000 each:
Each ball is comprised of 295.6g of yellow gold and is studded with 5,728 natural diamonds with a total weight of 31.5 carats. The lady weighing this one up is Bollywood actress Mahima Chaudhary.
Reportedly, two will be presented to India's best player of the World Cup and their "best interim player", whatever that means. Blingtastic.
Posted on 03/24/2007 in World Cup 2007
Ricky Ponting speaks in his column in The Australian about the rivalry between Australia and South Africa.
“We have been staying at the same hotel as South Africa for the past nine days yet haven't had much contact. I don't make a point of stopping to spend ten minutes chatting with Jacques Kallis or Herschelle Gibbs. There are plenty of nods and glances."
Robert Craddock writes Ponting is keen to give “nightmares” to some of South Africa’s younger players.
Peter Roebuck’s column in the Sydney Morning Herald looks at Bob Woolmer’s death.
How did it come to this? How did we allow a game to become a murder scene? A respected son has been cold-bloodedly killed under the noses of the game's greatest players, in the middle of the game's most prestigious event. Until these past few days, it could hardly be imagined that any game could suffer such a loss.
March 23, 2007
Posted on 03/23/2007 in World Cup 2007
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St Lucia will hope for a large crowd like this one when it hosts the semi-final on April 25
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The editors of the Jamaica Observer hope that the massive publicity generated by the murder of Bob Woolmer has not hurt the image of the nation.
We hope that now that strangulation has been confirmed, our authorities will move with all dispatch to find out and disclose who is the culprit or culprits, if they have not yet done so.
Nobody needs us to spell out how important it is to the image of Jamaica that the real culprits be found as soon as possible, to prevent us from being blamed unnecessarily for something we did not do.
Meanwhile the tourism boom expected across the Caribbean islands hosting the World Cup is yet to kick off and the locals are getting worried. The Voice, a Jamaican website based in UK, reports that the turn-out has been poor following the opening game between West Indies and Pakistan.
Prior to the start of the tournament, St Lucian’s had expected the vast majority of supporters to come from England but the consensus is that having spent a small fortune on the recent Ashes tour of Australia not as many fans would be able to afford the journey to the Caribbean.
The situation has left many feeling frantic about what the immediate future holds. With St Lucia scheduled to host a semi-final match on April 25, many will have considered themselves to have missed out if there is no change before then.
March 22, 2007
Posted on 03/22/2007 in World Cup 2007
Chloe Saltau speaks to Trent Johnston, the Ireland captain, who is staying four rooms down from the one Bob Woolmer was found in at the Pegasus Hotel in Jamaica.
"It's sort of spooky," Johnston said in the Sydney Morning Herald. "There wasn't too much sleep had last night after the press conference where they escalated the investigation to the level they have. It's lock your door and that sort of stuff.
"The police were down the hallway today, and it looks like the forensic guys are in there turning the place upside down. It's a strange feeling to have excitement one moment [at beating Pakistan] and then to find out that someone who was actually part of the game has passed away. It's unbelievable."
In cricket news Robert Craddock writes in the Courier Mail the South Africans want to target the spinner Brad Hogg at St Kitts on Saturday.
March 21, 2007
Posted on 03/21/2007 in World Cup 2007
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Mark Shields is the deputy commissioner of Jamaican police
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Robert Craddock looks at the developments of the Bob Woolmer investigation in the Courier-Mail, asking a number of questions and profiling Mark Shields, the deputy commissioner of police.
Shields is known as a man of understatement in his dangerous home city, one who does not light fires for the sake of it. Shields knew the instant he walked into a press conference and announced there was suspicion that Woolmer had been murdered that he was destroying Kingston's Cricket World Cup.
He was detonating cricket's version of an atom bomb and sentencing match events to small print. Suddenly, nothing else mattered in the tournament.
News Ltd papers quote an unnamed South African player saying: “If they lay a murder charge, they may as well call the tournament off.”
The Guardian’s Omar Waraich runs through some possible causes of Woolmer’s death, but in the same paper Neil Manthorp says his passing is unlikely to be connected to the upcoming release of a new book.
In England’s Daily Telegraph Ben Fenton looks at the role of Shields, a former Scotland Yard detective, in the investigation.
Cahal Milmo of The Independent writes Woolmer made little effort to disguise his rapidly growing dissatisfaction with the side he managed.
Chloe Saltau writes in The Age about a real-life Caribbean mystery.
The Australian carries a report of the suspicious circumstances of Woolmer’s death and who they expect will be interviewed.
March 20, 2007
Posted on 03/20/2007 in World Cup 2007
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Going easy on the minnows?
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| TV viewers might have noticed that commentators have been very chartable to the so-called minnows during this World Cup so far. For example, when Zimbabwe were in the Caribbean in May, the experts made no attempt to hide their feelings that they were not fit to play international cricket. But even when they tied with Ireland on Saturday, there was hardly a critical word. And even when Bermuda and Netherlands, for example, have been slaughtered, the men in the box have been remarkably jolly about them.
Robert Craddock, writing in The Australian, thinks he knows why.
It is understood commentators have been told by Global Cricket Corp producers that it frowns on them denigrating the minnows. However, it is deemed acceptable for commentators to call an event a mismatch but not to say some of the nations do not deserve to be in the tournament.
Some commentators who agree with the directive and feel the minnows are a necessary part of global expansion are happy to abide by it. Others, who feel the tournament has been devalued by their presence, would rather speak their mind.
And Craddock concluded by saying that some of the players themselves are aware of the real picture.
The widespread feeling that the minnows are enjoying every moment of their matches against the big boys is wide of the mark. Several Dutch players privately conceded they feel embarrassed by their team's efforts.
Keep your eyes and ears open and see if what you are watching tallies with what you are being told.
Posted on 03/20/2007 in Obituaries
In the Hindustan Times, Pradeep Magazine pays tribute to Bob Woolmer. He shares his memories of the man, the first time they met, and the subtle intricacies he noticed in a man dedicated to the game.
Posted on 03/20/2007 in World Cup 2007
A golden duck wasn't exactly the cricket World Cup debut Ross Taylor wanted but as the Englishman who spectacularly caught him later discovered, worse things happen at sea.
Lows like that have been more than compensated by an inordinate number of highs among a career still in its formative stages – a maiden century, a century against Australia and the joy of an unprecedented Chappell-Hadlee series win over world champions Australia.
Speaking to Chris Barclay for the website stuff.co.nz, Taylor says he's enjoying anonymity despite the West Indies' reputation as a passionate cricketing destination.
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116 kilograms of pure athleticism!
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Another headline screams, 'Cricket's cult figure takes off' - at closer inspection, we see its that man Dwayne Leverock, who yesterday proved that fat men can jump when he plucked a one-handed catch at slip, diving full stretch to his right.
"Amid the shock of Bob Woolmer's sudden death, British tabloid fury at "Freddie" Flintoff's drunken shenanigans and sub-continental teeth-gnashing at underperforming superstars, Leverock has become the rolled-gold feel-good hit of the Caribbean summer." writes Kai Chen.
Click here to read more.
Posted on 03/20/2007 in World Cup 2007
Ryan Watson, Scotland's stand-in captain, is best known as Graeme Smith's former captain while in school in South Africa. But it was one defining moment which forced him to rethink his future in the country and settle down elsewhere, one which was literally a matter of life and death.
As a 23-year old, Watson was held at gunpoint by robbers at home in - you guessed it - Johannesburg, where he was pushed into a closet, after which the thieves robbed his car. Watson recounts those chilling moments in The Scotsman.
The incident put me off a little bit, and I also didn't get a contract [in provincial cricket] that year and there were some other problems. I might go back some day, but I just live on the mentality 'see what happens'.
March 19, 2007
Posted on 03/19/2007 in World Cup 2007
Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, says Bob Woolmer lived and died a cricketing man.
By and large the relationship was mutual because cricket enriched, almost defined, the Englishman's existence. To reflect upon his contribution is to observe its constancy and extent. In a career spanning several decades, he served in many capacities and did not fail in any of them. Had he been asked to prepare a pitch or stand as an umpire he would have agreed. Cricket was his canvas and his laboratory. Fatefully, it also became his life.
Posted on 03/19/2007 in World Cup 2007
In the Caribbean, The Indian Express' Sandeep Dwivedi finds out that Paul Davey, an Irish film-maker, has about ten hours of exclusive footage that tells the incredible story of 15 no-hopers who have caused one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.
Davey now plans to make a film out of Ireland's surprise success story.
Though he plans to edit his work to about 50 minutes for the festival circuit and eventual television release in cricket-playing countries, the heart-warming and still-evolving storyline could interest even big producers, Davey hopes.
Posted on 03/19/2007 in Obituaries
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Bob Woolmer played, coached and commentated on the game all of his life
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Tributes from the cricketing world have poured in for Bob Woolmer, the deceased Pakistan coach and ex-England Test player.
Neil Manthrop, a close friend of Woolmer, has a lot of memories of the man outside cricket - whether it was planning a surprise for his wife on their silver anniversary or playing a round of golf. He writes on Supercricket website:
There they stood, wine glasses in hand, having enjoyed a meal of which few could remember better. Seconds passed before, slowly but surely, a silver sports car was driven amongst us. It had an enormous, silk bow tied around it and a card which read: "Happy Anniversary - love you always, Bob."
The whisper had alerted everyone to the surprise, everyone that is, but the recipient. The whisper had told us that the lady had dreamed, all her life, of driving an open-topped sports car with the wind blowing in her hair and the scent of the Cape filling her senses.
From England batsman to international innovator, he was always admired, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.
He was among the pioneers of video analysis as a coaching aid, now an accepted part of the game. He recognised the extent with which information technology would revolutionise the game. He always preferred to guide rather than dictate and a gentle, caring and always humane approach to life was regularly evident.
Writing in The Times, Ivo Tennant recalls the times spent with a close friend; a student in love with the game, too generous with his time, and whose door was open to everyone.
I shall miss his flow of e-mails, his kindness, his coaching tips to my son and, above all, his zest for life. There was no such thing as a difficult moment with him: the relationship between the star coach and the “ghost” of his columns and his autobiography was an even one — even though he had given so freely of his time that sometimes he could not recall that he had made a particular observation. It did not matter because these were usually spot-on. No one cared more about the game, or understood it and those who peopled it, better than Bob.
March 18, 2007
Posted on 03/18/2007 in World Cup 2007
Dav Whatmore, speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, says the wins of Bangladesh and Ireland should be a lesson to the knockers, who include Ricky Ponting.
"It goes to show, given an opportunity, certain teams will grasp it if they've got some talent. It should be a bit of a lesson to everyone who is a knocker of this sort of thing. The Australian captain comes from Tasmania, and Tasmania got some good help along the way, I might add, going back.”
Robert Craddock writes in The Australian about Ireland’s upset over Pakistan and he also says teams are starting to show their true colours.
Posted on 03/18/2007 in World Cup 2007
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A disastrous day for Pakistan
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Pakistan's three-wicket defeat to Ireland had fans and former players in shock and though editorials are yet to be written on the performance International Herald Tribune got together a collection of quotes from ex-players and people of Pakistan
An outspoken former test fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz termed defeat as the "worst ever point in Pakistan's cricketing history. "While watching the match live on TV, I was just cursing myself and saying, 'What's going on?'" Pakistan had lost to Bangladesh in 1999 in another upset results of the World Cup, but Nawaz said Saturday's loss had no match of it. "The wicket was suitable for seamers and Ireland won the crucial toss, but we lost fair and square without putting up a fight," he said.
Meanwhile New Zealand are celebrating almost as much as the Irish as they will no longer meet Pakistan, as they had expected, in their Super 8 tie on April 9 in Guyana. But after Ireland's performance, is it wise to celebrate? Lindsay Crocker, the New Zealand manager, hastens to explain that is not the case. Read the Herald on Sunday for more
"It shows the danger in counting your chickens, everyone looking at the groups assumes the two big teams will go through," Crocker said of Pakistan's exit. You just can't count your chickens."
Posted on 03/18/2007 in Zimbabwe cricket
Amid all the celebrations at Ireland’s fightback to tie with Zimbabwe last Thursday, what many overlooked was that the result was another major blow to Zimbabwean cricket. A Test nation, with an income from the ICC of many millions of dollars, should not be humbled by part-timers … although Pakistan showed two days later that lightning can strike twice.
In The Sunday Telegraph, Sycld Berry argues that restoring Zimbabwe’s Test status in November – which is what the Zimbabwe board are telling anyone that will listen will happen – would not only be bad for the game but also bad for the standing of the sport inside the country itself.
Quite apart from the ethics involved in allowing a nation which has Robert Mugabe for head of state to participate in the world community, Zimbabwe seem to be even more unfit for Test cricket now than when they were suspended.
The last of Zimbabwe's Tests was one of their better performances too: they lost by no greater margin than 10 wickets. Their previous seven Tests against countries other than Bangladesh were all lost by an innings and large amounts of runs, South Africa winning one Test in two days.
If the ICC want to help, the world body should organise and fund three years of competitive cricket for these Zimbabwean cricketers. They need to gain the experience of winning; they need a batting and bowling role-model in their side to learn from, and that can only mean an overseas player unless Streak returns. Being plunged again into the deep end of Test cricket from November will do them vastly more harm than good.
Posted on 03/18/2007 in Australian cricket
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Normally you would bet on the Australians, but...
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In the Sun-Herald Peter Roebuck tips South Africa and New Zealand for the Caribbean decider.
Australia will take a lot of beating. Their batting remains
formidable. Ricky Ponting is the best batsman around, Michael Hussey is
resourceful and Brad Hodge is dangerous. Much will depend on the openers. If
Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden fire, the rest will fall into
place.
Mark Waugh says in the same paper Australia will need to be flexible throughout the campaign.
In The Age Darren Berry writes Victoria's batting let them down in the domestic summer.
March 16, 2007
Posted on 03/16/2007 in World Cup 2007
In his column in The Age Greg Baum looks at the relationship between Australia and India and wonders if “the gap can ever be bridged”.
Former Australian prime minister and cricket enthusiast Robert Menzies wrote once that Englishmen and Australians were of such like minds that "thankfully, we don't have to be too tactful". Between Indians and Australians, it is not so simple.
Jon Pierik writes in The Australian about Daryll Cullinan’s doubts over Michael Clarke and Shaun Tait.
"I would be very, very worried if [Clarke] was batting in my top four," Cullinan said. "Temperament wise, it's going to be a make-or-break World Cup for him, because there is going to come a moment where the pressure and the focus is going to be on him."
Posted on 03/16/2007 in World Cup 2007
"Why is nobody asking any questions about the political situation in Zimbabwe?" asks Andy Bull in The Guardian.
Cricket is the only activity in which Zimbabwe has an international presence. If the ever-deteriorating social, economic and political situation there is going to get any wider attention it is now. Why, then, is the silence on the matter so complete? Partly it is because most sports journalists like to keep sport and politics in separate boxes: "It is not my concern, it is not my area of knowledge and it is not my job".
Posted on 03/16/2007 in World Cup 2007
"A common criticism made of top-flight sportsmen is that they lack perspective. Trapped in their mollycoddled little world, most have very little idea of what is taking place outside the confines of their team. Such an appraisal cannot be aimed at Shane Bond," writes Angus Fraser in The Independent.
"As a policeman you are constantly in uncomfortable situations and have to deal with them," said Bond. "It is the same as a sportsman and learning to deal with these is a bonus from doing the job. I remember doing a few raids at gang houses that weren't particularly nice and going to mortuaries. It puts bowling at someone like Kevin Pietersen into perspective."
March 15, 2007
Posted on 03/15/2007 in World Cup 2007
Jon Pierik reports in the Herald Sun Glenn McGrath is set to finish his career at first change.
In a comment piece Pierik writes World Cup officials should be ashamed of the high ticket prices for local supporters in St Kitts.
Barely 3500 fans were at Warner Park Stadium, which has a capacity of 10,000. The average wage in St Kitts is about $US120 a week yet Hill tickets cost $US25 per adult, and more than $US50 for a family.
Posted on 03/15/2007 in World Cup 2007
It may not have happened in St Kitts yesterday, but it has happened once before in history. The Herald's correspondent, Neil Drysdale, reflects on the moment in 1882 when the world order was turned upside-down.
The occasion is worth celebrating, not least because, exactly a month later, the majority of these same Australians were involved in one of the most significant acts in sporting history when they beat England at The Oval and proved the catalysts for a subsequent 125 years of ferocious Ashes rivalry
Posted on 03/15/2007 in World Cup 2007
According to some, he is the best-ever batsman never to realise his full potential. Lawrence George Rowe remains the biggest enigma of West Indies cricket. Mid-Day's Sanjjeev K Samyal caught up with him in Jamaica.
It was the beauty of the strokes… the flair, the timing, good hands, good feet, good eyes that co-ordinate the kind of ease against fast bowling that makes it look slow; the nimble footwork to get down the track to spinners like (Bishan) Bedi, (Erapalli) Prasanna and (BS) Chandrashekar and play them with ease. I think that’s what made the crowds come and see me. In this stadium (Sabina Park, Jamaica), I have played probably more memorable knocks than any other batsman in the West Indies.
March 14, 2007
Posted on 03/14/2007 in Australian cricket
"Sunil Gavaskar's increasingly puritanical tone reached new levels of ridiculousness when he said Australia's cricketers would be in danger of being belted if they carried on in a bar as they do on the cricket field,” writes Chloe Saltau in The Age.
"The former Indian captain and apparent moral guardian of the game made a second outburst about the behaviour of Ricky Ponting's team in response to the skipper's objection to his earlier criticism - that the Australians are disliked around the world because of ugly on-field behaviour."
Allan Border and Darren Lehmann are also upset.
Jon Pierik writes in the Herald Sun pressure is mounting on Australia to stop their tour to Zimbabwe in September.
In the Sydney Morning Herald Trevor Marshallsea speaks to Nathan Hauritz about his move to New South Wales, who play Tasmania in Monday’s Pura Cup final.
Posted on 03/14/2007 in World Cup 2007
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'All in all, the Jamaicans don’t care what he does after the game, they just want their favourite son to rock them at the ground'
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Was it planned, or is it a symbolic fluke that today's Caribbean cricket carnival begins on the 40th anniversary of Sir Frank Worrell's death? Frank Keating, in the Guardian, fondly looks back at the
Caribbean influence in the most rich and significantly memorable passages of his cricket watching.
The West Indies today, and for the next two months, unites as a single entity - as it only does in its cricketing - to show its collective soul and spirit. You could say that no man was a more crucial catalyst than Sir Frank in establishing and stabilising the very cohesive essence of West Indies cricket, which is actually made up, of course, from a scattered comity of islands in the Gulf of Mexico each with disparate governance, character and cultures.
And in Mid-Day, a Mumbai-based tabloid, there's talk of how torchbearers of Kingston’s Melbourne Cricket Club are keeping the faith in their star player Marlon Samuels. They believe that their beloved Samuels can do no wrong and will never be involved in any activity that will harm his team, and no one knows Samuels better than the people out here.
March 13, 2007
Posted on 03/13/2007 in Australian cricket
Andrew Symonds has started throwing cricket balls and remains on track for Australia’s group match against South Africa, according to Jon Pierik in the Herald Sun.
"If the second game was South Africa we might have looked at rushing him a bit more," Ricky Ponting said. "If you listen to him, he thinks he is ready to play now. We just have to look after him.”
Tasmania are gearing up for their first Pura Cup final at home and in Hobart’s Mercury, Cameron Hodgkins, the Bellerive Oval curator, describes the pitch he is preparing.
South Australia finished the season with only one win – from their last game – and Richard Earle writes in The Advertiser that Wayne Phillips, the coach, might be in trouble.
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