« September 2007 |
| November 2007 »
October 31, 2007
Posted on 10/31/2007 in Commentary
"Three key points of aggression in sport are: is it instinctive or conditioned? How closely related are instances of on-field aggression and crowd violence? And at what rate is aggression fed back into the system, with kids mimicking their heroes? These questions need to be addressed. They concern sport’s premise, they shape its future", writes S Ram Mahesh in the Sportstar.
Posted on 10/31/2007 in Indian Cricket
The perception that far too much of Indian cricket is about the individual has been proved again by Rahul Dravid's dropping. Rahul Bhattacharya in the Hindustan Times, writes that Dravid should be allowed the latitude of fallibility. And sooner or later he will be back, not because he is a saint, because he is that even rarer thing in Indian sport: a champion.
Sportspersons touch followers in a way that is unique. You watch them in strife and in glory, in unremarkable situations and dramatic ones, exposed always, unfolding slowly - most slowly and revealingly in cricket. Soon you let them into your life, consider them somebody you know well. That - the assumption of intimacy - becomes a premise that is in fact more accurately a reflection of how you see the world. And in the case of Dravid the verdict is unanimous: we see him as a saint.
Posted on 10/31/2007 in Stats
Western Province lost wickets on 111, 222 and 333 in the second innings of their South African Airways Provincial Three-Day Challenge match against KwaZulu-Natal in Cape Town last weekend. For more interesting details, read this post.
Posted on 10/31/2007 in Indian Cricket
In these times of celebrity journalism, exclusive stories and the need to give more than the competitors, the job of a reporter is not to be envied, writes Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times. Magazine feels the reporter is now forced to unearth more "inside" information, and that that may indeed compromise his or her integrity. The sooner they find the middle path, if there exists one, the better.
Posted on 10/31/2007 in Australian cricket
In the Sydney Morning Herald, Andrew Webster ponders whether after all those years in Shane Warne's shadow Stuart MacGill is now casting a somewhat larger shadow of his own.
As the eccentric leg-spinner nudged chicken skewers around a barbie and tipped expensive riesling down his throat at a sponsor's function in the mid-arvo sun, it was hard not to notice what some observers had murmured during the drawn Pura Cup match between NSW and Queensland. That MacGill was carrying more than the weight of expectation. "There is no doubt I am overweight," MacGill admitted to the Herald. "I don't know how far over I am. I just don't feel all that comfortable at the moment."
Meanwhile, in the Herald Sun, Jon Pierik rates MacGill and his rival for a Test spot, Brad Hogg.
And in the Age John Buchanan, who has a new book coming out, speaks to Martin Blake about his time as Australia’s coach.
Along the way, he dealt with the controversies and emotions that engulf modern cricket. He also dealt with the mavericks, notably Shane Warne, with whom he shared what appeared to be a mutual distaste. He says he stepped back from Warne after upsetting him by saying publicly in 2001 that he was overweight. "I feel I've always left the door open for him if he wanted to talk," Buchanan said.
October 30, 2007
Posted on 10/30/2007 in Australian cricket
|
|
|
Watch out, girls: here comes the cricket
© Getty Images
|
|
The Australian summer is upon us but not everyone shares the excitement of watching cricket day in, day out. For those cricket widows, Laura Demasi has provided a "girl's guide" to the sport at one of Sydney Morning Herald's blogs:
Cricket is like hay fever; a seasonal affliction that consumes its victims relentlessly; chewing up days and weeks of your life. And an obscenely unfair share of household TV time.
To me the game looks like little more than a bunch of guys wearing white lipstick, standing around a very large patch of grass doing a bad job of resisting the urge to itch their crotches, which, granted, must be mightily irritated in those polyester pants.
[...]
In an ideal world we could just run away to ... err (anywhere without a television will do) but unfortunately cricket's black hole-like qualities do make it difficult to escape its grass-stained grasp every single time.
So when life demands that you do cricket, we recommend you fake it. Your impressive knowledge of the sport will earn you serious brownie points, which can be leveraged to your advantage the next time HE complains about your dedication to shopping.
Posted on 10/30/2007 in Indian Cricket
Sandipan Deb examines why Rahul Dravid gave up the job of India captain and hopes Dravid's enforced absence from the side will help him get back to his best. Read the full piece in the Indian Express
But the batting masterclass that he thought he would be able to reach again now that the captaincy was off his back has not yet opened its doors to him.
But who knows, perhaps getting dropped for a few games will be the best thing that has happened to Dravid in a long time. It gives him time to relax, and get his mind back in order. For there is nothing wrong with Rahul Dravid except inside his mind. He needs a holiday and he’s got one.
In the Times of India, Bobilli Vijay Kumar wonders whether Dravid has become a victim of his own image.
Being left out from the team has also got Dravid thinking about the weight of his bat, reports the Sunday Express.
October 29, 2007
Posted on 10/29/2007 in Australian cricket
In the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck discusses Stuart MacGill's disappointing bowling effort for New South Wales against Queensland. Roebuck says MacGill was "as flat as yesterday's lemonade".
Stuart MacGill did not look much like taking a wicket until it was too late to matter, whereupon a lower-order man tried something more often seen on Moore Park. Admittedly the pitch was slow and the batsmen were set but a bowler of his class ought to trouble modest opponents battling to save a match on any surface. Instead, his work lacked sparkle and his opponents were able to counter him comfortably off front and back foot.
In the Daily Telegraph, Steve Waugh chooses his preferred Test XI for this summer and suggests Australia made a mistake by axing Simon Katich from the national contract list.
October 28, 2007
Posted on 10/28/2007 in Australian cricket
Just when Australia's selectors thought they could pencil in their Test batting order, Simon Katich has confused matters with 306 for New South Wales against Queensland, as Peter Roebuck reports in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Katich damn near scored 200 in a session. Feats of this sort are not supposed to be possible in this era of athletic fielding, slower over rates and persistent seamers. It was all a reminder that cricket does not change all that much. It is still a battle between bat and ball. A long hop remains a long hop whether delivered by in 1929-30 by Pud Thurlow or in 2007 by Mitchell Johnson (who must at times have regretted leaving his plumber's round). A flat pitch is still a flat pitch. And capitulation is still capitulation.
In the Herald Sun, Jon Anderson looks at the end of one of Australian cricket's longest feuds, between Rodney Hogg and Graham Yallop.
Posted on 10/28/2007 in Offbeat
Past and present cricketers talk frankly about their addictions as the Professional Cricketers Assocaition launch an initiative to assist their members. Watch on BBC Sport.
Also check out Sadiq Saleem's informal chat with Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik in the Dawn magazine.
Posted on 10/28/2007 in South African cricket
Taschica Pillay profiles Dolphins fast bowler Ugasen Govender in the South Africa based Sunday Times.
Also check out Colin Brydon's weekly round-up in the same newspaper.
Posted on 10/28/2007 in Indian Cricket
The GenNext of Indian cricket is coming from lesser-known places which makes their struggle to stardom all the more a difficult road, writes Chandresh Narayanan in the Times of India.
While Uttar Pradesh is turning out to be the big talent supplier, there are others like Mumbai left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah who have had to move out of this state to be noticed. Born in Azamgarh, Abdullah was spotted by his current coach, Mumbai-based Naushad Khan, in a club match.
Also read the story behind Praveen Kumar, the allrounder called up to the Indian one-day squad in the Indian Express and Cricinfo.
Posted on 10/28/2007 in New Zealand cricket
Chris Cairns analyses New Zealand's fast-bowling bench strength in the New Zealand Herald and introduces Hamish Bennett, a hope for the future.
Now built more like a reconditioned All Black forward than a fast bowler, Bennett's size and action has more than a passing resemblance to Englishman Steve Harmison - something not lost on Bennett's former age-grade team-mates who often referred to him as 'Harmy'.
Also read Richard Boock in the Sunday Star Times where he looks ahead to Daniel Vettori's first challenge as New Zealand Test captain.
Vettori, who will become the first front-line bowler since Harry Cave to be the country's fulltime test captain, can hardly wait for the Wanderers' match to arrive - despite the degree of difficulty expected. "I'm looking forward to it and I'll be trying to keep a fun element about it, even though we'll be deadly serious about trying to win."
Posted on 10/28/2007 in Australian cricket
Australia's cricketers rediscovered sportsmanship after a barrage of callers complaining about their behaviour reduced Cricket Australia's receptionist to tears. Read this AFP report for more.
Posted on 10/28/2007 in English cricket
Mike Atherton has lunch with the new ECB chairman, Giles Clarke, and finds a man who is anything but dull. “No safe pair of hands, he,” notes Atherton in The Sunday Telegraph, rubbing his own hands together and expecting an interesting ride. England fans, fasten your seatbelts.
October 27, 2007
Posted on 10/27/2007 in Australian cricket
'If cricket is a team game played by individuals, what does a coach do? The Australian cricket team has enjoyed an extraordinary purple patch over the past decade, and for much of it the man with the clipboard was John Buchanan. Meet him on the Sports Factor'.
Posted on 10/27/2007 in West Indies cricket
|
|
|
John Dyson's appointment as West Indies coach hasn't gone down too well with fans
© Cricinfo Ltd
|
|
Writing in the Jamaica Gleaner, Tym Glaser has criticised the decision of the West Indies Cricket Board to appoint Australian John Dyson as the national team coach, considering the failure of Benett King, also an Australian, when at the helm.
The WICB should well and truly have learnt the lesson by now that these Aussie imports simply don't get the Caribbean culture, let alone understand one word of Jamaican patois or the Bajan twang.
An editorial in the same newspaper, highlights the displeasure of the fans over an outsider being appointed as coach.
The West Indies has a long and rich history in the game, having produced a number of the world's greatest players. The West Indies team was once the best in the world and for a long time at that. The West Indies has produced two of the greatest captains the game has seen. In producing a former chairman of the ICC, they also produced administrators as good as any. The West Indies has also produced some of the world's outstanding professionals in other and various fields of endeavour. After playing the game at the highest level for 79 years, after being the best in the world, the West Indies must be able to find someone good enough to coach a cricket team.
Tony Becca says there is good reason for many to feel disgruntled over the appointment of a non-West Indian as coach, with the last major win for the team – the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004 – coming under Gus Logie, the last West Indian coach of West Indies.
Posted on 10/27/2007 in Television
Australia were keenly following the cricket when the team was playing in India, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
They [audience figures]show that the three most watched programs on pay TV in Australia last week were cricket telecasts from India on Fox Sports. In order, these were the sixth and seventh one-dayers, and the one-off Twenty20 match.
A pay-TV audience is considered pretty good if it exceeds 100,000, given that only 29per cent of Australian households have access to the product. The matches in India all topped 100,000 and some did much better.
Posted on 10/27/2007 in Australian cricket
Cricket in Australia hasn't moved beyond its traditional Anglo base and has not found a following among migrants to Australia from non-cricketing nations such as Greece, Italy and Holland writes Andrew Stevenson in the Sydney Morning Herald.
CA anti-racism officer Peter Young describes growing beyond the Anglo base as "an absolutely critical issue for us; it's a scary issue. There was a time a generation ago when it was just taken for granted people would just play cricket."
Young estimates that a quarter of Australians were born outside cricket's embrace, and he recounts the experience of CA chief executive James Sutherland attending a cricket clinic in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern with his six-year-old son.
"They were all from one background - his own," said Young "He said it was scary, one of those wake-up moments."
October 26, 2007
Posted on 10/26/2007 in Umpires
|
|
|
Frank Tyson: "Hair can probably quote you chapter and verse from every regulation in the Laws of Cricket"
© Getty Images
|
|
Following Darrell Hair's certain exit from the ICC's Elite Panel of umpires, Frank Tyson asks whether it is preferable to leave the destiny of a Test or a rubber in the hands of a “nice guy umpire” like Dickie Bird or in the fingers of one who is an immaculate interpreter of the game such as Hair. He writes in the Sportstar:
By the consensus of his colleagues there is no doubt that the portly umpire from central New South Wales stands proud in the front rank of international umpires. His competence is unquestioned and he is well acquainted with the Laws of Cricket from Lord Cowdrey’s Preamble to the last full stop of Law 42. Hair can probably quote you chapter and verse from every regulation — forwards, backwards, sideways and upside down; every full-stop, comma, colon, semi-colon and each and every punctuation mark. But irrespective of his knowledge about the interpretation of cricket’s regulations, Hair may yet find himself handed the cold mitt, unless his translation of the game’s rules is not diluted by humility and a little give and take on his part.
Posted on 10/26/2007 in Australian cricket
In a light-hearted article in the Guardian, the Australian sportswriter Mike Ticher predicts a rough ride is in store for Muttiah Muralitharan ... and his chief antagonist is likely to be none other than the country's Prime Minister, John Howard.
Howard is struggling to turn round ominous opinion polls, secure a fifth straight election victory and, most importantly, make sure he will still have the use of his personal RAAF plane to take him to and from the Boxing Day Test at the MCG (cost to the taxpayer last year a mere £5,700). He needs a distraction, a circuit-breaker such as the Tampa refugee crisis he exploited so successfully in the 2001 election. And at this desperate late stage there can be only one contender for the sports-mad PM: Muttiah Muralitharan.
Posted on 10/26/2007 in Sri Lankan cricket
"Far from smoking the peace pipe with Australian crowds, Muttiah Muralitharan ought to go on the offensive," writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Murali can go further in advancing his cause. Sometimes it is not enough to be polite. After all, he is visiting the country where he has suffered his worst experiences, the country where his action has been condemned on the field, the land where his most outspoken critics can be found. Moreover, he has not played Test cricket hereabouts for 12 years and is a few wickets shy of replacing the local champion at the top of the rankings. He is entitled to feel as relaxed as a lobster at lunchtime.
Posted on 10/26/2007 in
"At some point the fork in the path appears before every sportsman. Does he play to the gallery? Or does he play to his strength?" asks Harsha Bhogle in the Indian Express.
I think some of India’s players chose the gallery to their strength in the games against Australia. They were seen to be aggressive but that isn’t the same thing as being aggressive. I think the drama descended to being churlish sometimes but worse still, in trying to create the illusion of aggression, a couple of young men didn’t quite play to their strengths.
Posted on 10/26/2007 in New Zealand cricket
Mathew Sinclair is not terribly disappointed with not being picked in New Zealand’s squad to tour South Africa. Speaking to stuff.co.nz, he says,
“I haven't played any cricket over the winter and, from a selection point of view, I had no recent form to back my claims.”
Sinclair indicated that the contract with New Zealand cricket had been a boon.
"That was a little lifesaver really and has given me some stability financially.”
In another story, Gareth Hopkins, who made the team, says that the time spent with Glenn Turner helped him mould his batting.
"I remember one day I was in the nets and I asked him `did you ever have a couple of options for a ball when you were attacking the bowling?' and he just looked at me and said `yes Hoppy, three or four.’"
October 25, 2007
Posted on 10/25/2007 in Australian cricket
|
|
|
Are you Glenn McGrath in disguise?
© Getty Images
|
|
Glenn McGrath has gone, but the tradition of predicting series whitewashes has been passed on to Stuart Clark.
"It's going to be a great summer with Sri Lanka and India coming out," Clark said in the Herald Sun. "And hopefully the fans can come out and support us and we can bring home 4-0 and 2-0 series wins." Quizzed further on the prospect of a series whitewash against both India and Sri Lanka, Clark said: "I have just predicted 4-0 and 2-0."
The Australian’s Malcolm Conn writes about the moment Muttiah Muralitharan narrowly avoided a powerful drive from Kumar Sangakkara in the Adelaide nets.
October 24, 2007
Posted on 10/24/2007 in Australian cricket
Cricket Australia will meet with Sri Lankan officials to discuss what could happen between Muttiah Muralitharan and crowds over the next month, according to Alex Brown in the Age.
Other stories about the Sri Lankans arriving in Australia for the two-Test series are here and here.
Posted on 10/24/2007 in Miscellaneous
Narottam Puri, writing in his column in cricketnext.com, provides a historical overview of the evolution of cricket commentary on radio, and on the subsequent decline of the same.
History tells us that Test cricket began in Australia in the late 19th century when Australia played England. Few know that it was also in Australia that radio commentary originated.
This occurred in 1922 in a Testimonial match for Charles Bannerman [Test cricket’s first centurion] at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the first commentator being a gentleman named Lionell Watt. BBC introduced sport commentary in its repertoire only in 1927 when Teddy Wakelam did the commentary of an England Vs. Wales Rugby match. Wakelam was soon to be drafted to do first Football, and then Tennis at Wimbledon.
The same year, i.e. 1927, the first cricket commentary was broadcast on BBC in the Essex Vs. New Zealand match at Leyton. Plum Warner, ex England player became the first to do cricket commentary. He wasn’t a success and was replaced by F.H.Gillingham who as John Arlott wrote "had the ill luck to be announced for his first quarter hour when rain prevented start of play. He struggled on to fill his time out of nothing, proceeded to read out the advertisements on the hoarding."
Posted on 10/24/2007 in Australian cricket
In the Age an extract from Ricky Ponting’s new book, Captain’s Diary 2007, reveals how Ponting was told of Damien Martyn’s shock retirement while playing golf with Stuart Clark.
"After nine holes I decided to check my phone, which is where it all got a bit bizarre. I saw I had a missed call from Michael Brown, Cricket Australia's general manager, cricket operations, and immediately turned to 'Sarf' and said, 'I reckon Marto's retired.' I have no idea why I reacted to the message in that way, but sure enough that's what I was told when I returned Michael's call.”
Ponting says Martyn’s strange disappearing act left him in an awkward position.
"It's not for me to say whether Marto's decision to retire was right or wrong. I was disappointed because we had lost an excellent player, someone who'd bailed us out of difficult situations many times in the past," said Ponting. "I was frustrated because I was left answering questions about something I knew nothing about, when one media appearance by him would have cleared the air.”
October 23, 2007
Posted on 10/23/2007 in Australian cricket
Michael Clarke uses the stump-and-golf-ball technique employed by Don Bradman as a child to prepare for Australia’s home summer. In another clip of Cricket Australia’s “Hungry For It” campaign Nathan Bracken aims for a coin while fine-tuning his bowling.
Andrew Stevenson, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, tells of his fear as he faces Stuart Clark in the nets.
Posted on 10/23/2007 in Indian Cricket League
The nascent Indian Cricket League, and the opportunities presented by the Twenty20 format, have attracted the attentions of the authoritative international affairs magazine, The Economist, which explores how the game could be changed for good by the shortest version yet played.
The short format is more spectacular. It encourages batsmen to hit the ball out of the ground for a six, which spectators love. At the halfway mark, the Twenty20 tournament in South Africa averaged eight sixes per three-hour game. By comparison, a series of five test-matches between England and Australia in 2005, rated the most exciting in a 130-year rivalry, averaged less than two sixes a day.
Posted on 10/23/2007 in West Indies cricket
The West Indies Cricket Board has named a new coach for the West Indies team and, as good or as brilliant as John Dyson may be, I do not agree with it, writes Tony Becca in the Jamaica Gleaner.
The employment of a foreigner, an Australian, to coach the West Indies team, suggests, at least it does to me, that despite the achievements of West Indians with bat and ball and as captain, and even though a West Indian has been the president of the ICC, the Board has no faith in its own people, not to do a heart transplant, not to rid the world of a plague, but to coach a cricket team - their own cricket team.
October 22, 2007
Posted on 10/22/2007 in Australian cricket
In the Australian, Malcolm Conn speaks to Cricket Australia’s public affairs manager Peter Young about the decision to drop plans to use Andrew Symonds as the face of its campaign for better crowd behaviour this summer.
"There are a lot of elements to this [campaign]," Young said. "During the first one-day match in Melbourne last summer we had something like 100 people treated in casualty for wounds and injuries they received during the Mexican wave. That sort of thing is diabolical." Young also confirmed that a woman broke her jaw when a spectator went to punch a beach ball being thrown among the crowd and hit her by mistake. A seven-year-old child was also "squashed" when a spectator leapt to punch a beach ball and landed in the seat in front of him.
I wouldn’t condemn what happened with Andrew Symonds as ‘racism’, writes Ayaz Memon in the Daily News and Analysis.
Meanwhile, in an interview to NDTV, an Indian news channel, Symonds tries to play down the monkey chants controversy and feels the media has blown the issue out of proportion.
Posted on 10/22/2007 in Sri Lankan cricket
Sri Lanka's chairman of selectors Ashantha de Mel who has strong political affiliations with the president of the country has used it to his advantage causing great damage to the game in the country, writes Sa'adi Thawfeeq in the Colombo-based Nation.
The Sunday Times also discusses the controversy over Atapattu.
One may argue that Atapattu was originally selected and then he on his own opted to stay out because of his differences with the chief selector Asantha de Mel. But, we are talking about a thirty seven year old man who played his last Test match against India way back in December 2005, where he scored 40 and 16 in a match that Sri Lanka lost by 259 runs at Ahamedabad.
Posted on 10/22/2007 in Australian cricket
The post-Ashes concerns that Australia would need to find replacements for three Test stars have died down, with plenty of contenders pushing their cases. Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that the batting and fast-bowling vacancies are easy to fill but the spin position will be a tougher decision.
In the absence of compelling reasons to the contrary, Australia should continue to play with variety. Certainly a spinner must be included in the party. Mention has been made of the younger fellows but they are far behind the proven performers. Stuart MacGill has the track record but not recent form or fitness. Brad Hogg has been superb in India. Unable to read his spin, the batsmen have found it hard to line him up. If anything, Hogg relies too much on baffling the batsmen and does not take enough wickets with his main delivery. It is to his advantage that the game has been taken over by lefties. Often his stock ball is leaving the bat.
October 21, 2007
Posted on 10/21/2007 in English cricket
Omitted from the England Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka, Andrew Strauss, in his column for the Telegraph, feels it's time for introsepction. However, at the age of 30, Strauss believes his best years are still ahead of him.
It isn't that I have been completely out of form, unable to contend with the rigours of Test cricket, but rather that I have been caught in a limbo, where every decent innings seemed to be followed by a low score. Without nailing a couple of really substantial contributions to silence the doubters, the pressure has grown.
Posted on 10/21/2007 in Indian Cricket
India’s bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad unveils his blueprint for the hectic season ahead. And yes, he says, there is scope for a lot of improvement. Read his interview with Sandeep Dwivedi in the Indian Express.
"We have been trying various variations at the nets. There is the slower bowl and the bouncer besides the stock ball of every bowler. Various bowlers are trying different variations. Like RP Singh is developing a off-spinner and a leg-spinner. Zaheer has a great off-spinner. Irfan has shown great variety as he alters the line and length and uses the slower ball to great effect. Sreesanth has two kinds of slower balls: one is a leg-spinner and the other is released from back of the hand."
Posted on 10/21/2007 in Australian cricket
Andrew Symonds has used his column in the Sunday Herald Sun to say he doesn’t want to see any ugly chanting at India's players during Australia’s summer. Symonds was targeted during the one-day series but he received only boos during the Twenty20, according to AAP.
“Personally, I'm doing fine,” Symonds wrote. “What started off really as a bit of fun has become relentless. The media picked up on it over here and hasn't stopped. While it's certainly been a challenging chapter in my cricket career, it hasn't left me hurt or scarred. But I have been slightly embarrassed by it all."
The same paper reports the MCG will not separate supporters for the Boxing Day Test while Cricket Australia is planing a "Don't Go Ape" campaign.
In the Sun-Herald Will Swanton talks to Stuart MacGill about age, replacing Shane Warne and his fine series in Pakistan.
October 20, 2007
Posted on 10/20/2007 in Australian cricket
The Australian government are to invest $6.5m in a "cricket hall of fame" - two galleries showcasing cricket from 1970 onwards - to be built in Sir Donald Bradman's home town of Bowral. The Australian has the full story.
Work on the galleries at the Bradman Museum of Cricket would start almost immediately and should be finished by February 2009 to mark the 60th anniversary the cricketing legend's last game.
“My government support will ensure that the Bradman museum remains one of the best museums in the world,” New Ltd quoted Mr Howard as saying. Bowral is in the safe Liberal seat of Hume.
Posted on 10/20/2007 in South African cricket
When it’s life and death you’re talking about, runs and wickets don’t carry quite the same allure, writes Neil Manthorp in the Supersport website.
Meanwhile in News24.com Kass Naidoo believes a perfect opportunity exists for sponsors to help revive the flagging fortunes of domestic cricket in South Africa.
There is a huge opportunity for a sponsor (or an inspired group of them) willing to look further than 2010, personal gain or corporate strategy, to bring a version of a well-loved game back into our lounges, to create a buzz big enough to guarantee the interest of the national broadcasters.
Posted on 10/20/2007 in Australian cricket
|
|
|
Don Bradman: amazing batsman, unpopular leader
© Getty Images
|
|
Don Bradman’s leadership qualities were not universally admired by his team-mates. The new book Inside Story: Unlocking Australian Cricket's Archives, which has an extract in the Herald Sun, reveals complaints about Bradman’s rise to the captaincy after he took over from Vic Richardson.
Bradman said that Richardson "resented that like nobody's business", and also that a clique in the Australian team based around its "strong Catholic element" resented his appointment as Australian captain on November 30, 1936, favouring their co-religionist Stan McCabe.
Bradman disavowed any sectarian biases, saying that he "didn't care two hoots whether a man was a Catholic or a Mason", and denied being behind the complaint that led to Catholics McCabe, O'Reilly, Leo O'Brien and Chuck Fleetwood-Smith being arraigned before the board on vague charges of undermining their captain and being unfit.
He did, however, concede: "I don't think there is any doubt at all that there was a group of people, O'Reilly was one and Fingleton would have been one for certain, who wanted Stan McCabe to be captain instead of me.
From one Australian leader to another, Ricky Ponting writes in his column in the Australian about the team’s novel situation of playing against world champions. “I can't remember being in it since Sri Lanka won the one-day international crown in 1996.”
Posted on 10/20/2007 in Australian cricket
Peter Roebuck writes about the treatment of Andrew Symonds in the Sydney Morning Herald, offering insight into India and examining racism in cricket.
It has in some quarters been argued that Symonds and company are being precious and that, weary of accusation and bemused by their unpopularity, Australians are trying to show they are also sometimes victims. Darrell Hair's collapsed case against wrongful dismissal depended on racial prejudice. But is not the law open to all-comers? If Symonds, Hair or anyone else feels they have been mistreated owing to the colour of their skin then let the matter be investigated. Symonds has not railed against every provocation. Just this one.
In the same paper Andrew Webster writes a moving piece about the Western Suburbs club in Sydney and Soumya Bhattacharya says lunatic fringes should not define countries.
The Australian’s Peter Lalor, who has been criticised in India for his reporting of the monkey chants, takes an in-depth look at the past week.
Pity Andrew Symonds. Not that he wants your pity. Or, for that matter, attention. He is a man who has never courted publicity or plaudits. Yet here he sits, blinking and bewildered, in the middle of a storm that is not of his making or his liking. Symonds loves a scrap and can go as hard in a obscenity-laden exchange as anyone in cricket, but this sort of fight and this sort of debate sits as comfortably with him as a necktie.
In the reality show that is India today, there is every danger that the new, aggressive, young "superior" India could end up as a farcical entity, doing no good to itself and to those who wish it well, writes Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times.
Antara Dev Sen, writing in the sify website, explores the inherent rasicm in Indian society.
We disrespect dark skin, of course, even though we are primarily dark-skinned ourselves. Our attempts at whitening our faces have continued for centuries – through grandma’s remedies to today’s fairness creams. We even have fairness creams for men, a new trend in men’s style. But a lighter skin colour does not always protect you from taunts. We are downright racist and rude to the people we call ‘chinks’ – even if they are rich or powerful like the Japanese or Chinese. And it doesn’t stop with foreigners.
Also read Siddharth Saxena in the Times of India and Srinivasan Ramani in the Post.
Meanwhile Kaushik Sunder Rajan reviews the series on his DailyCric blog where he says India's solution lies not in youth, but in depth.
October 18, 2007
Posted on 10/18/2007 in Australian cricket
Ricky Ponting hopes there isn't a repeat of the chants directed at Andrew Symonds in Mumbai during the Twenty20 match in the same city on Saturday, reports AAP’s Tom Wald.
“I just hope it does not happen again in another cricket venue I play in because it leaves a bad taste in everybody's mouth,” he said. “I am sure there will be a lot of embarrassed people around this country, as well, to know this stuff has happened again at one of their cricket venues. It is done now. Hopefully in the Twenty20 match on Saturday it does not happen.”
In the Sydney Morning Herald Alex Brown writes about how the ICC has vowed to take action over the incidents in India. The Hindu's Nirmal Shekar urges the BCCI to take tough steps to combat the problem and says that India should stop pretending racism is something that happens in 'other' countries.
Back in Australia the game's administrators say there will be no place for any racist taunts at Indian or Sri Lankan players when the teams tour later this year. John Coomber, writing for AAP, reports security operations will be so good offenders are bound to be caught. A former homicide detective will be Cricket Australia’s match-day security officer, according to a story in the Courier-Mail.
Posted on 10/18/2007 in Indian Cricket
Was Rahul Dravid dropped or rested? Either way it was a decision that shocked some former Indian cricketers.
Sandeep Dwivedi has the inside story in Indian Express.
Kadambari Murali disagrees with the decision in Hindustan Times.
When India are struggling, he is pushed up the order; when India are doing well he is pushed down the order. He is replaced now with Karthik, who was not played when Ganguly was rested. What is the message being sent out?
In the same paper, Pradeep Magazine writes on the enigmatic side to Dravid, and how a person known for his impressive communication skills failed to control the disparate egos of his own team and the Ganguly-Chappell spat.
He had worked hard to cultivate the image of "Nice Man" in a world dominated by intrigue, skulduggery, backstabbing and all the negatives that can be ascribed to an establishment where cricket is seen as a ticket to fame and money. He had to take decisions. He had to deal with a coach whose brusque methods were making his players insecure & frustrated & he had to do what he liked doing, batting and making runs.
Posted on 10/18/2007 in New Zealand cricket
Geoff Longley of New Zealand's The Press looks back at the rollercoaster career of the big-hitting Craig McMillan and highlights the problems McMillan faced as a diabetes patient.
Having diabetes since 15 meant he constantly had to be conscious of his blood-sugar ratio in the middle.
Hence McMillan often had a supply of jellybeans with him out in the middle to lift his levels if he felt himself going low which was sometimes difficult to determine with the adrenalin pumping.
Playing big innings often took its toll and on occasion McMillan arrived at press conferences with his speech slurred and desperately in need of a glucose injection but unaware of his plight.
Meanwhile, in the Marlborough Express, John Alexander writes of former New Zealand offspinner Dipak Patel's search for spinning talent.
October 17, 2007
Posted on 10/17/2007 in Australian cricket
|
|
|
A section of the Mumbai crowd
© Getty Images
|
|
All of Australia’s major newspapers carry detailed reports of the racist abuse directed at Andrew Symonds during the one-day game in Mumbai. The incident occurred when Symonds batted, as covered by AAP and the Herald Sun, and Alex Brown writes in the Sydney Morning Herald there can be no denying of the issue now.
Peter Lalor outlines the story in the Australian and also looks at the denials in India, which range from the “ridiculous to the ignorant”.
The level of debate continually degenerates to "well, look at them, they're worse to us". But claims yesterday by the Vadodra police commissioner CP Thakur that the punters were praying to the monkey-featured Hanuman take the banana.
In the same paper Malcolm Conn writes about Australian administrators’ fears over the reception Muttiah Muralitharan will receive during Sri Lanka’s two-Test tour. “There will be tight security, including plain clothes police in crowd hot spots to act against spectators caught hurling abuse, particularly of a racial nature.”
Posted on 10/17/2007 in English cricket
|
|
|
Barnett wants to 'try to break the league batting record'
© Cricinfo Ltd
|
|
Kim Barnett might be 47 but that's not stopping him from playing regular club cricket. He has, however, decided to leave Leek but revealed he wants to continue and try to break the league record for the number of runs in a season.
"I have been working hard at my own fitness levels," he said. "My intention is to get back to the standards I set myself. It was not my aim to finish with 400 runs in a wet summer. It has been a difficult season for all batsmen, but in the five years I have been back playing locally I have scored 4,000 runs.
"I want to try to break the league batting record wherever I play next year. I want to continue playing for a further three years - I enjoy playing cricket.
"In an ideal world I will be playing as an amateur locally. I am still involved with Staffordshire and that is something I love.
"It is great to try to help younger players go on and make their mark."
Posted on 10/17/2007 in Indian Cricket
|
|
|
Twenty years ago, he was at the Wankhede
© Getty Images
|
|
Where was Sachin Tendulkar on this day 20 years ago? Read Clayton Murzello's Mid-Day story to find out.
Today, the MCA and BCCI will felicitate Tendulkar for becoming the first Indian in international cricket to figure in 400 plus ODIs. [But] October 17 will surely never be forgotten by international cricket’s greatest run accumulator.
In the same paper Lalchand Rajput and Dilip Vengsarkar look back at Tendulkar's Wankhede moments. Also read Steve Waugh's memories of one of the finest one-day innings at the Wankhede.
Dhananjay Roy, of the Mumbai Mirror, meets up with Perry Cross, a Australian fan who has come to see the last ODI. Perry was rendered immobile neck down while playing a rugby union game as a 19-year-old in 1994 but refused to give up.
Daily News and Analysis' Taus Rizvi speaks to a Wankhede groundsman who has seen Sunny, Sachin and Rohit Sharma play at Wankhede.
Posted on 10/17/2007 in West Indies cricket
Lawrence Romeo, of the Caribbeancricket.com, speaks to Robin Singh who has sought to make video and statistical analysis standard in regional First Class and List A cricket in West Indies.
Were you able to meet or work with Bennett King?
This was an unmitigated disaster, for myself and the video analysis program, after a ten minute meeting where I was taken aback by style and lack of class displayed by Bennett King, I knew we were in for a rough time in West Indies cricket.
Have you been able to have a direct impact on any player since you’ve been working with this program?
One of the most rewarding things about working in cricket is the friendships that develop, for instance in 2004 Trinidad were playing against Guyana at Albion. Imran Khan, then working as a sports writer for Stabroek news was Yelling "No ball" as Rayon Griffith was bowling. There was no doubt his action was flawed, the video evidence was there. I said nothing, but after the game I put all of his bowling on a CD and gave it to him along with my email and contact number in Trinidad, he contacted me 2 months later, we worked together for close to ten months to correct that action and in the process developed a strong friendship.
Posted on 10/17/2007 in South African cricket
When the incomparable, deeply respected and much admired CSA official statistician, Andrew Sampson, announced that he had started a blog, there was much 'logging on' amongst South Africans in Pakistan writes Neil Manthorp in Supersport.
Check out Samson's blog here :
Jacques Kallis likes batting in the 3rd innings of a Test when South Africa are setting up a declaration. His 107* in South Africa’s 2nd innings against Pakistan at Lahore yesterday is the 5th century that he has made in the 3rd innings of a match in which South Africa has declared. In all, he has batted 19 times in these situations and scored 1264 runs with 5 centuries and 6 fifties. With the help of 10 not outs, he averages 140.44 in these innings.
Also see Charles Davis' stats blog here.
Posted on 10/17/2007 in Commentary
Writing in cricketnext.com, Dr Narottam Puri laments the decline of radio cricket commentary in India and hopes private players would enter the market to shake things up.
The job of a commentator on radio is to transport the listener to the playing field. What is required is the ability to paint a picture, through your words, of the playing field, the weather, the crowd and above all of the play, so that the listener is transported to wherever the action is.
Posted on 10/17/2007 in Pakistan cricket
There was really never a moment in the entire series when Pakistan could have claimed to have put the South Africans under anything even remotely resembling pressure, writes former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal in News while revewing the recent series.
It is a sad commentary on Pakistan’s batting that its real strength, its fast bowling, has to be neutralised in order to protect the poor batting. Pakistan, it seems to me, has been forced to shy away from fast wickets and rely on spin for fear of what the opposition pace bowlers may do with our batting. That has meant a reliance on spin which, regrettably, has just not delivered.
Also read views on the same topic from Osman Samiuddin and Kamran Abbasi .
Meanwhile an unknown 13-year-old legspinner has caught the attention of the touring South African team, according to a PTI report.
Posted on 10/17/2007 in Indian Cricket
Amid all then discussion on racism in cricket, Rediff's Prem Pannicker feels all this on-field natter has very little impact on the actual game:
Someone needs to take Sreesanth aside and point out to him that since he has enough empirical evidence to quantify what makes for really bad bowling, maybe it is time he shut up and bent his energies to determining what really good bowling is all about; plumping the depths of bad behavior out of a spirit of scientific curiosity is not what he is being paid to do.
Also read Rohit Brijnath's piece in the Hindu. If India has chosen confrontation as a tactic, he says, then it isn’t working.
Golfer Stephen Ames suggested Tiger Woods’ swing was erratic last year before their world matchplay showdown, and Tiger’s response was a brutal seven birdies in the first nine holes.
When a young player mistakenly sledged Michael Jordan, his coach frantically pulled him off court but it was too late, and Jordan, inflamed, put on a show. Tendulkar is almost never sledged because his response is quietly savage.
Partab Ramchand has his thoughts in the sify website.
October 16, 2007
Posted on 10/16/2007 in Australian cricket
The reactions to the chants aimed at Andrew Symonds in India continue in the sports sections of Australia’s papers with differing reports. In Sydney’s Daily Telegraph Richard Earle writes under the headline “Indian official says we’re racist” after an interview with Ratnakar Shetty, the Indian board’s chief administrative officer.
Over at the Sydney Morning Herald Alex Brown reports on the ICC warning India to follow the anti-racism code and treat the incident seriously. The All Men are Liars blog on the Herald’s website looks at where Australians stand on racial comments.
Ricky Ponting, speaking to AAP, has defended Symonds against claims from Mark Waugh that the allrounder was being “precious”. The agency also carries a story by John Coomber saying racial abuse and vilification is commonplace in Australian sport.
Posted on 10/16/2007 in West Indies cricket
Tony Cozier looks back at the life of Stephen Alleyne who died a few days ago aged 47.
At a time when there is a distinct dearth of dynamic, dedicated leadership in Barbados, and the wider West Indies, not least in the one endeavour for which this region is most renowned, Stephen Alleyne's sudden death, at the age of 47, is a critical, inopportune loss.
Read the full story at Nation News
Posted on 10/16/2007 in Offbeat
There is one Aussie in Mumbai these days that the cameras never leave. And he isn’t even a cricketer, writes Sandeep Dwivedi in the Indian Express.
Gus Worland can pass off as just another happy fan from Down Under expecting a 5-1 scoreline at Wankhede but he's actually here for an observational documentary called An Aussie Goes Bolly that has Worland in the lead role.
Posted on 10/16/2007 in Offbeat
Australia's cricketers might well be beasts on the field, but their charity work off it reveals a more humane side, writes Dileep Premachandran in the Guardian.
Through his ceaseless work for Udayan in Kolkata, Waugh also opened their eyes to the good they could do. Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting and others have been quick to follow suit, and even though the current tour has been played out in a largely acrimonious atmosphere, the Australians have won hearts with their eagerness to promote worthwhile causes.
October 15, 2007
Posted on 10/15/2007 in Australian cricket
It’s a full paper in the Australian with Malcolm Conn covering the racist chants aimed at Andrew Symonds and Peter Lalor looking at Ricky Ponting’s subtle jibes at the opposition. The columnist Patrick Smith takes a global perspective by saying “world cricket is all but paralysed”.
The ruling body cannot make a decision that is not compromised. Bowling has been reduced to throwing, umpiring to the art of convenience, racial abuse to a point of view. Player behaviour teeters on the brink of violence.
Money is power and principle has no currency. Andrew Symonds continues to be racially abused. The Board of Control for Cricket in India scoffs at the accusation and Cricket Australia mumbles but does not act.
The Indian papers weren't short on opinion either. One shouldn't jump the gun on the racism angle, writes the Hindustan Times' Kadambari Murali, but it's time the Indian board took action against erring crowds.
Well, we do know he [Symonds] was taunted. What we don't know is whether the taunts were intended to be racist or a puerile and reprehensible way of upsetting an opposition player. Whatever it is, it is high time the BCCI took serious note of this. I doubt if the delinquents who taunted Symonds intended to do so because he was the team's only "black" member. Frankly, I doubt if that occurred to anyone. From an Indian perspective, he is viewed as just an Aussie — a member of a team having its way with India.
In the Mumbai Mirror Dhananjay Roy feels it's a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Posted on 10/15/2007 in Miscellaneous
Neil Manthorp, writing in Super Cricket, provides a fascinating account of the sights and sounds of Pakistan, along with a description of his meeting with a salesman in Lahore.
The only specific shopping commission I had was for pashmina shawls, a speciality of the region. Made from cashmere, silk or wool - or a combination of two, or even all three - it was an impossible task
[for me, anyway] to work out which were 'the real thing.'
Having attempted to bargain with stall holder Ashraf and his seven-year-ol | 
