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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
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Watch out, girls: here comes the cricket
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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
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John Dyson's appointment as West Indies coach hasn't gone down too well with fans
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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
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Frank Tyson: "Hair can probably quote you chapter and verse from every regulation in the Laws of Cricket"
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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
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Are you Glenn McGrath in disguise?
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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
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Don Bradman: amazing batsman, unpopular leader
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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
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A section of the Mumbai crowd
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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
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Barnett wants to 'try to break the league batting record'
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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
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Twenty years ago, he was at the Wankhede
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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-old nephew, Ephraim, it soon became apparent that it was not a fair contest.
Ephraim was there because he knew more English than his fiercely bearded uncle but it made little difference.
Ashraf knew immediately that I was his for the taking. Having secured three shawls [all of which felt as soft as cashmere to me] for the princely sum of Rs. 110, Ashraf looked a little crestfallen - and revealed his knowledge of English wasn't as sparse as he made out. "You only tourist today, nobody come here now. Business no good."
And with that he handed me another shawl with the words: "Take and give your friends, you tell that is good place here...Smith must come to see."
October 14, 2007
Posted on 10/14/2007 in Australian cricket
Malcolm Conn’s column in the Australian questions Cricket Australia’s response to the racist crowd chants directed at Andrew Symonds in India on Thursday.
Cricket Australia must come out from behind its shroud of protocol and publicly support Andrew Symonds in the racism row that has engulfed world cricket. Whatever the fine print may say in the ICC's anti-racism code, Symonds deserves better. CA's silence on the painful issue of racism gives the distinct impression that it is once again kowtowing to India to protect its lucrative relationship with cricket's wealthiest country.
In the Sydney Morning Herald Alex Brown speaks to Trevor Bayliss about life in Sri Lanka since taking over as coach.
Posted on 10/14/2007 in Pakistan cricket
The manner of Inzamam-ul-Haq’s exit has somewhat tainted what otherwise would have been a truly rich and sublime legacy, writes Humair Ishtiaq in the Dawn magazine.
Regardless of what the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the man himself say in public, the manufactured sendoff, especially the financial part of it, has only tarnished the very image that the so-called ‘deal’ tried to salvage
Though the PCB has categorically denied having offered Rs 10 million to Inzamam to bring down the curtain on his career, those close to the happenings insist otherwise, citing former Pakistan captain Saeed Anwar as the man who made it all happen after he was approached by the PCB bosses in view of his close association with Inzamam. More than that, the way the episode unfolded itself clearly tells a tale that is much different from the official version.
Posted on 10/14/2007 in English cricket
In an age of empty memoirs, Ian Botham's Head On reminds us how big an inspiration a sporting hero can be, says Tim Lewis in the London-based Observer:
One thing that Head On makes clear is that Botham is next to useless as a role model for aspiring cricketers. Throughout his life, he felt claustrophobic playing in the nets (that's what he claimed) and, as a result, he admits: 'There was probably no one in English professional cricket who practised less than I did.' He disliked watching the sport, apart from his great friend Viv Richards and David Gower, and he never had any interest in analysing statistics or collecting souvenirs. Regular viewers of BBC's A Question of Sport, on which Botham was a long-time captain, will remember just how little interest he appeared to take in his profession.
Posted on 10/14/2007 in New Zealand cricket
While perhaps the average speed of the Black Caps attack has increased in the past few years, do not think for a moment that a potent New Zealand test match bowling attack can do without Bond, writes Mark Richardson in the New Zealand Herald.
In the same newspaper Paul Lewis speaks to Chris Martin on the challenges that lie ahead:
I think the first time I played them, it was a case of me realising that I could play at that level. The next time I played them, I had been out of the game pretty much for two years and I had a point to prove.
Posted on 10/14/2007 in Australian cricket
Mike Hussey has revealed how he feared he'd lose his wife and premature daughter this year. Braden Quartermaine reports in the Herald Sun.
Only two days after her husband helped Australia win cricket's World Cup in the West Indies in May, Amy Hussey was taken to hospital with serious complications 25 weeks into her pregnancy.
While Amy spent three weeks in hospital before giving birth to Molly, Australia's star middle-order batsman visited her every day while looking after daughter Jasmin, 3, and son William, 18 months, at home by himself.
Posted on 10/14/2007 in Indian cricket
"In any relationship breakdown, nobody is right 100 per cent, and nobody is wrong 100 per cent," Greg Chappell tells Ajay S Shankar in the Indian Express.
“Movement needs change. The Ashok chakra is about movement and change, it’s the centre of your national flag. It’s perfectly apt for the flag, it’s perfectly apt for what we are trying to do here. We need these kids to move on, move forward, and to do that, you need change. That’s what the wheel is about,” he says, unusually animated now, his hands cutting huge arcs in the air, inside his office at the stadium, amidst a pile of practice cones, plastic ropes, cricket bats, bastketballs, stumps, posters and CDs.
October 13, 2007
Posted on 10/13/2007 in Indian cricket
"India must rethink its fifty-over team," says Peter Roebuck in the Hindu. "At present the side is trapped midway between the Test line-up and the T20 outfit. Trying to combine the experience of the established Test batsmen and the dash of the twenty-over fellows has not worked."
The time has come to thank the senior players for services rendered and to tell them that hereafter they will be considered only for Test matches. No longer can India afford to give away thirty runs a game with poor fielding and slow running between wickets. Dhoni, Sreesanth and company are not the problem. They are the solution, and with a little help from Sachin and, yes, Sehwag, the future must be built around them.
Rahul Dravid has been going through a lean patch with the bat after he relinquished the captaincy. Amit Gupta, of the Mumbai Mirror, seeks the former India coach Anshuman Gaekwad's views on the issue.
“His body language is very cold. The aggression is missing and he has gone even more quiet. The only reason I see is that he has been sort of sidelined from the team. He is being shunted in the batting order ..."
Posted on 10/13/2007 in Australian cricket
"The glint in his eye betrays the flecks in his hair. Brad Hodge is discussing his plans for the summer and, more specifically, his bid for Justin Langer's vacated Test berth," writes Alex Brown in the Sydney Morning Herald.
As with everything in Hodge's career, it won't come easily. Phil Jaques, believed to be his main rival for Langer's former post, is a seasoned opener and in tremendous form, returning from Australia A's tour of Pakistan with two centuries and an average of 123.33 from two unofficial Tests. But, across the Indian Ocean, there is evidence to suggest Hodge might be nudging his way to the front of the queue. Despite posting three low totals in the one-day series against India, the selectors have seen fit to persist with him at a time when Brad Haddin can't help but score runs.
Posted on 10/13/2007 in New Zealand cricket
Daniel Vettori will soon become New Zealand's 26th Test captain when he leads the team on a tour to South Africa. Geoff Langley, of the Press, caught up with the new captain.
You haven't done much captaincy before at first-class level, have you?
No, just a handful of games. The biggest thing for me is I've always wanted to captain the side and I need to find out that I can do it. I think I can. I'm going to captain a test side with little experience in leading at first-class level but a lot of experience at playing the game. Hopefully that wealth of knowledge accumulated over 10 or 11 years of test playing cricket will stand me in good stead.
Aren't you worried having Stephen looking over your shoulder?
I don't see having Flem there as a problem. I can understand people's concerns about that but I think Stephen's alleviated those about what he wants to get out of the game now. He wants to score runs, lead the batting side and be a huge asset to me for the one or two years while his playing is as good as it can be. That's exciting for me to hear that.
October 12, 2007
Posted on 10/12/2007 in Australian cricket
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Stuart Clark
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Stuart Clark speaks to the Australian’s Peter Lalor about what it’s like when Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, gives you a call.
Clark answered the phone. "Stu, it's Andrew Hilditch." Bugger. "Can I come up and see you for a minute." Yeah, right. Don't forget to bring a blindfold and last cigarette. As Clark said later: "You know Hilditch isn't ringing to catch up for a drink." Hilditch needn't bother making the trip, or saying another word, but he is supportive and reasonable.
In the same paper Malcolm Conn looks at Jason Gillespie’s new book: he talks about the new law that suited Murali and reveals a few team secrets.
Posted on 10/12/2007 in Indian cricket
If India’s success at Twenty20 is an argument for phasing out seniors, then it is a flawed one writes Harsha Bhogle in the Indian Express.
Sambit Bal and Anand Vasu have also written on the similar issue in Cricinfo.
Indians revere victory more and love sports less. Their loyalties shift with success. It was once hockey; it is cricket now, says Prafull Goradia in the Pioneer.
Check out S Anand's encounter with Joginder Sharma in Tehelka magazine.
In his column in indiainteracts.com R Mohan talks of Indian captaincy being a poisoned chalice.
A cricketer at the helm must feel a Middle East peace broker stands a better chance of succeeding in bringing factions together in the West Bank. It can be an exasperating experience just to handle the destabilisation process that begins the moment a new captain gets through his honeymoon period with his team, the media and the bigwigs of the BCCI.
Newpostindia reports that Australian actor cum producer Brendan Cowell is heading for India to make a feature film about the funny side of cricket. Meanwhile the Screen magazine talks of a South African film crew set to land in Mumbai to shoot the final schedule of Hansie, the movie.
Posted on 10/12/2007 in English cricket
The Times' Simon Barnes looks at a phenomenon that is common to all three of England’s principal ball-playing teams: rugby union, football and one-day cricket.
There is a phenomenon that money-men call the Dead Cat Bounce. The term is used when the price of a share falls calamitously, disastrously, terminally – and then, for some unfathomable reason, rises again. Not very much, and not for very long, but it bounces.
October 11, 2007
Posted on 10/11/2007 in Australian cricket
Three players were recognised by the Sport Australia Hall of Fame on Thursday: Steve Waugh, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. Ron Reed reports for News Ltd Warne and McGrath received “The Don” award while Waugh was an inductee.
Posted on 10/11/2007 in Twenty20
Twenty20 transformed what originally had become a boring traditional English medieval game into what, with aggressive marketing, could be an immediate and gratifying entertainment, writes former England fast bowler Frank Tyson in Sportstar.
Twenty20 is simply the descendant of the game played by Medes and Persians. Man throws a ball, another man hits the ball with a stick, runs around a marker and scores a notch! — and the team registering most notches wins the contest. Simple! In this regard, however, it is worth remembering that democratisation can make a sport too coarse — or too lacking in the refinements which underlined an innings by Tendulkar or a spell by Bishan Singh Bedi.
After all, in the words of the poet Dryden, one should not blindly accept popular standards simply because they are those accepted by the majority. As Dryden wrote: “The most may err, as grossly as the few.”
Posted on 10/11/2007 in Sri Lankan cricket
The handling of the Attapattu affair does not inspire confidence that the authorities are treading this path, says an editorial in the Sri Lanka based Daily News.
Also check out Suni Perera's open letter to the Sri Lankan board in lankaweb.com.
...despite the perks and incentives of cricket at the zenith of competiton there could come a time of crisis for Sri Lanka Cricket if players with a strong sense of integrity decided to be loyal to their axed fellow players and stood by them and refused to participate until there was some kind of redress and damage repair to the situation at hand and one need not look too far as the case of Zimbabwe Cricket stands out!
Posted on 10/11/2007 in Offbeat
Botham is nothing if not a rogue, as well, and the interviews he did with the British newspapers this week in the lead-up to the bestowing of his knighthood tell a tale or two, writes Martin Blake in the Melbourne-based Age.
Posted on 10/11/2007 in English cricket
Mike Selvey ponders in the Guardian if Mark Ramprakash will return in England whites for the Tests against Sri Lanka.
There is a strong rumour doing the rounds that when the England squad to contest the Test series against Sri Lanka is announced tomorrow week, the name of Andrew Strauss will be missing and in its place will be that of Mark Ramprakash. It would, were it to happen, be another stunner in a sporting autumn that already has had more turn-ups than a Savile Row clearance sale.
October 10, 2007
Posted on 10/10/2007 in West Indies cricket
The inclusion of Combined Colleges and Campuses (CCC) in the KFC Cup, West Indies' 50-over domestic competition, has led to protests that there were too many teams in the competition which led to fewer matches for each side over the season. But Vaneisa Baksh believes there is an entirely different reason for the strong opposition to CCC's entry. She writes in carribbeancricket.com:
It is as if embracing young cricketers within academia is dangerous to the development of West Indies cricket.
The principal of the Cave Hill Campus pushed for this inclusion, not only at the regional level, but within the Division 1 level of Barbados cricket. His perspective encompassed the crisis of young males falling by several waysides, and sought to draw them into an environment that could give them two, three legs to stand on.
"At the moment, the Caribbean is the only place where young boys have to choose between education and cricket. It makes no sense," said Professor Hilary Beckles as he made his case.
Posted on 10/10/2007 in Indian cricket
Dilip Vengsarkar's public criticism of the Indian team in the middle of a tough series against Australia has not gone down too well. Here's what Pradeep Magazine has written on it in the Hindustan Times.
The chairman of the selection committee, Dilip Vengsarkar, reacts like a TV anchor and not like someone who should know and be more responsible in what he says. Almost every second day we have Vengsarkar in an ‘exclusive’ interview berating his team.
Magazine also bemoans the Indian fans' fickle nature and hopes the contributions of the experienced trio of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly won't be forgotten in the hysteria of the World Twenty20 victory.
Posted on 10/10/2007 in ICC
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Darrell Hair walks to the High Court in London ahead of his employment tribunal
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| Lawrence Booth, writing in the Guardian, feels that the ICC has lost face despite Darrell Hair’s decision to drop his racial discrimination case against them.
The truth, though, is that neither side has emerged with reputation enhanced. Hair's allegation of racism - based on the fact that he, a white Australian, was in effect sacked from the ICC's elite panel, while Billy Doctrove, his Dominican colleague at The Oval, was not - has been exposed as groundless. But his grievance forced the ICC to do its dirty-linen washing in public, and the game's governing body now faces serious questions after seven days of testimony at a London employment tribunal in which its handling of the case was shown to be amateurish at best.
Meanwhile, the Australian's Peter Wilson reveals that the chairman of Cricket Australia, Creagh O'Connor, went along with the ICC's decision to prosecute Hair, despite feeling that "Darrell should be allowed to continue to umpire."
Posted on 10/10/2007 in Indian cricket
Rohit Brijnath, writing in the Hindu, elaborates on the art of stumping, with specific reference to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's stumping of Ricky Ponting in the fourth ODI in Chandigarh. He also highlights the importance of skill in sport.
Stumping is an elaborate, high-speed composition, a sort of symphony of movement, where Dhoni was bending, rising, collecting, watching Ponting making a decision, his hands responding, so alert and quick that it would have earned him instant membership in any union of pickpockets.
Sport is so cluttered these days, the air so thick with allegation and controversy (in the middle of the series the Indian chairman of selectors and team manager are fencing), that skill tends to get lost, or somewhat under-appreciated. The craft of the athlete apparently is not news, it doesn’t sell. In cricket, we add runs, divide them, mark out averages, list strike rates, but these days we mostly forget how these runs are made.
October 9, 2007
Posted on 10/09/2007 in Australian cricket
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Star quality: Brett Lee
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Brett Lee is the most popular of Australia’s players in India, Alex Brown reports in the Sydney Morning Herald, and once his cricket career is over he hopes to make a Bollywood movie.
Images of Lee can be found emblazoned on T-shirts, billboards and magazines across the country, and his deeds on the pitch are analysed and dissected in infinitesimal detail on India's cricket-devoted television channels. Lee feels neither overwhelmed, nor overexposed, by these developments. In fact, he plans to increase his presence in India over the next 12 months. Following the chart success of his debut single with Asha Bhosle last year, Lee plans to record and release his first studio album in India during breaks in Australia's schedule.
In the Herald Sun Mark Taylor pays tribute to Matthew Hayden, who has become the first Australian to score 1500 one-day runs in a calendar year.
Posted on 10/09/2007 in English cricket
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Ian Botham on the attack at Headingley in 1981, his innings a clear message to the selectors: 'Bollocks to you. I don't need any of you'
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| Ian Botham will receive his knighthood tomorrow after a career of remarkable triumph and trouble. The Guardian's Donald McRae speaks to the man who would be knight:
Botham's candour, however, can be moving rather than just amusing. He contemplated, with rare seriousness, the prickly selfishness and contrasting selflessness which underpin not so much his knighthood as his life.
And Botham is as blunt-talking as he has always been, and he cannot resist a swipe at the establishment at the way he was fired as captain in 1981.
When I announced my resignation Alec Bedser [the chairman of selectors] said, 'We were about to fire him.' I thought 'You plonker!' To be brutal, the establishment was never happy some guy from an ordinary school in Somerset was captaining England. They were glad to see the back of me.
When the press asked me who should take over I said 'Bring back Mike Brearley.' They listened to me but bloody Bedser took the praise for that. The cheek of the tosser! How did he ever get a knighthood? So at Headingley I put up my finger at the establishment and the press and I came back into the dressing room after the fourth day, having scored my century [off 87 balls], and got out a cigar and had a smoke. I was knackered but, as for Bedser and that lot, I thought bollocks to you. I don't need any of you.
Posted on 10/09/2007 in English cricket
Writing in the Guardian, David Hopps thinks Stuart Broad has the potential to take on the mantle of being an allrounder.
Stuart Broad is not the new Andrew Flintoff, so do not even imagine as much, but as he proves his ability to win one-day matches for England in tight situations, he is looking a young cricketer of substance, a fast bowler who might one day gain the mantle of a genuine all-rounder.
Posted on 10/09/2007 in Indian cricket
Tendulkar is back, which is news to some, although wiser heads never believed he went away, writes Peter Lalor in the Australian.
Granted, the greatest god in the Indian cricket pantheon was looking perilously mortal as late as the first 15 overs of yesterday's match, but Tendulkar, like Steve Waugh before him, has delighted in proving the critics wrong.
October 8, 2007
Posted on 10/08/2007 in Offbeat
Should Inzamam-ul-Haq fall just shy of Javed Miandad's record, he will be in good company. In his Times Online blog, Patrick Kidd draws up a list of 11 cricketers who needed just one more game.
Ian Healy, 395 dismissals: The Australia wicketkeeper has been overtaken by Mark Boucher and may soon be passed by Adam Gilchrist but he could have been the first to 400 dismissials
Posted on 10/08/2007 in Sri Lankan cricket
Sri Lanka's Sunday Times comes down hard on Sri Lankan selectors' handling of Marvan Atapattu.
While reading the autobiography by former opener Roshan Mahanama or attending the tearful press conference given by allrounder Upul Chandana I felt that with a little more thoughtfulness those cases could have been handled better ... Even Sri Lanka’s most noteworthy No. 3 batsman Asanka Gurusinha left the game in sheer disgust soon after he had played a prominent role in Sri Lanka’s maiden World Cup triumph in 1996.
Read Sa'adi Thawfeeq's interview with an angry Atapattu in Cricinfo.
Meanwhile the Daily Mirror's Maxie Kariyawasam pays tribute to Mahes Rodrigo, a cricketing legend of yesteryear was not honoured at a recently held felicitation ceremony for Sri Lankan legends.
Also read Daminda Wijesuriya's interview with Dimitri Mascarenhas in Sunday Times.
October 7, 2007
Posted on 10/07/2007 in Australian cricket
Do you think Brad Hogg can replace Shane Warne as Australia’s Test spinner? Richard Earle, writing in the Courier-Mail, believes he can and speaks to Australia’s coach Tim Nielsen about the move.
"He has done himself no harm at the moment, his performances in the first couple of games have been fantastic," Nielsen said. "It will be interesting to see when they sit down to select that first Test team what they take into account."
Posted on 10/07/2007 in ICC
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Darrell Hair arrives for the first day of the tribunal
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| Darrell Hair’s legal action against the ICC claiming racial discrimination reached the end of the first week in London with some remarkable claims by Ray Mali, the ICC’s interim president. But it has also exposed the ICC’s hierarchy and the media has not been overly impressed with what has been seen.
Simon Wilde in The Sunday Times says that Friday was the ICC’s bad hair day:
Malcolm Speed must be offering up a silent prayer of thanks that next year he is getting out of the surreal world of cricket administration after the mauling the ICC has taken at the London Employment Tribunal …
Whatever the outcome, the case has highlighted serious issues for the wider game of cricket. First, the ICC needs to be run by a smaller executive with powers to act decisively and swiftly without recourse to an unwieldy and politically hamstrung executive board. And officials need training in sports administration.
Former England captain Michael Atherton uses his Sunday Telegraph column to put forward similar opinions:
If the ICC have many more disastrous days, such as they endured on Friday – the start of, in David Cameron-speak, 'The Great Darrell Hair Fight-Back' – it might be a seminal moment for the future of the administration of the game.
It was the turn of three of the ICC directors – Sir John Anderson (New Zealand), Inderjit Singh Bindra (India) and Ray Mali (then the South African director, now the president) – to face cross-examination by Hair's lawyer, Robert Griffiths QC. What a time of it Griffiths had! Turning to the gallery with a malevolent grin every time a point was scored, he revealed completely the vacuum of leadership at the heart of the organisation that purports to run the game.
One by one these well-meaning, certainly not racist but undoubtedly bumbling and, on this evidence, incompetent administrators shuffled to the front of the room, raised their right hands and promised to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. One by one they were sent packing, lacerated from head to foot by Griffiths's ordered mind and razor tongue.
Posted on 10/07/2007 in English cricket
There is a bit of an animal theme developing on the Dambulla leg of this Sri Lanka tour, writes Alison Mitchell in the Test Match Special blog in BBC.
Walking back down from the caves it is impossible to miss the inevitable sellers making the most of the visiting tourists. We happened across a snake charmer, who hastily began piping a haunting tune which brought forth two swaying cobras with intricate diamond patterns on the back of their heads.
I was happy enough to watch from a distance but was less enthused when the chap shut the cobras back into their wicker basket and approached me with a python in his hands, which he seemed eager for me to touch, hold, hug, kiss, you name it.
Posted on 10/07/2007 in Pakistan cricket
The Sunday Telegraph's Scyld Berry bids adieu to Inzamam-ul-Haq:
For all the comic appearance of his Falstaffian exterior, he was a serious batsman. A rare few, at their peak, have an answer to every ball that is bowled at them: Allan Border was one, at least when England were bowling, Steve Waugh another, and Brian Lara. On England's last tour of Pakistan in 2005, Inzamam was the same, a barrier, a mountain preventing travellers reaching the plains.
Nadeem F. Paracha offers a contrarian view in Dawn's weekly magazine.
Inzamam's Raiwind regime may have turned the Pakistan cricket team into a (seemingly) well-knit unit, but its many critics accused the captain of operating at the expense of ostracising talent that refused to bend to the religious dictates of his regime. Many also believe that Inzi's religious zeal actually softened the team's innovative and competitive nature, a nature that was rigorously nourished and encouraged by the likes of former captains like Imran Khan, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram.
Posted on 10/07/2007 in English cricket
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Graeme Swann celebrates his maiden international wicket
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Refreshing openness as Peter Moores brings back trio from international graveyard, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent on Sunday.
Moores and the selectors seem to have rescued the international careers of at least three players: Ryan Sidebottom, Owais Shah and Graeme Swann.
Scyld Berry, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, also recognises the value of Moores.
Of the six permanent coaches that England's cricket team have had – Micky Stewart, Keith Fletcher, Ray Illingworth, David Lloyd, Duncan Fletcher and Moores – the first and last could most easily pass as football managers. Stewart, the father of Alec, and Moores have the same sort of lingo and demeanour as their winter cousins. Nevertheless, when Moores spoke in Dambulla yesterday, a keen cricket brain was apparent behind the football-speak.
Meanwhile Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka's vice-captain, talks of his side's adaptability in the Sunday Telegraph.
This predictability and failure to embrace spin – as a scoring opportunity and a wicket-taking option – are some of the reasons why England have not been successful in the one-day game. The truth is that they should have won much more than they have ... I suspect it all stems from the English system, at the grass roots and in county cricket, which over the years has placed a great deal of emphasis on uniformity ...
Posted on 10/07/2007 in Indian cricket
Mahendra Singh Dhoni took charge of a team with three former captains, Mohammad Azharuddin, India's former captain, had more, writes Sandeep Dwivedi in Indian Express:
To understand the team mechanics and dressing room atmosphere of the present team, one spoke to several coaches and players who were part of the last significant power shift in Indian cricket — the men who saw closely the new-captain-on-the-block Azhar’s Daddy’s Army. While there was a consensus that Dhoni isn’t as naive as Azhar, at the same they all agreed that it isn’t easy for a captain to keep the flock together and assert himself when those around him include commoners who were kings once.
In the same newspaper former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif, who led a team of five former skippers, tells Dhoni to take bold decisions.
Meanwhile Peter Roebuck, writing in the Natal Witness, compares India's on-field attitude to South Africa's.
Posted on 10/07/2007 in Australian cricket
Glenn McGrath's retirement has given Brett Lee a new role as the senior pro in the Australian bowling attack. In an interview to Malcolm Conn of the Australian, Lee talks about his battles with injuries over the last few years and fatherhood.
Brett Lee believes he is a changed bowler, at least in part because he is a changed man. For all the joy Lee experiences as the new leader of Australia's attack in the post Glenn McGrath era, it is the mention of his 10-month-old son Preston that sparks the biggest smile
In the Herald on Sunday, Muttiah Muralitharan isn't just content with beating Shane Warne's record, with 1000 Test wickets in sight.
The Daily Telegraph reports that New South Wales opener Phil Jaques is close to earning a Test spot.
October 6, 2007
Posted on 10/06/2007 in Offbeat
In the Sydney Morning Herald Alex Brown writes on his Indian experience: fascinating, frustrating and more than a little intimidating, this country is a 24-7 sensory barrage and a direct challenge to all you thought you knew about life and its possibilities.
On the flight from Bangalore to Cochin the pilot spent five minutes taking photos of the Australian cricketers. And that was on descent. Still, no real surprises: cricketers here can't take a breath without several scores of people documenting their exhalations on camera phones.
In the Melbourne-based Age Chloe Saltau writes on Chris Davies' return to Victoria:
Nearly four years after crippling shoulder and elbow injuries ruined the South Australian's career as one of the country's most promising batsmen, Davies has re-emerged in Victoria and will make his comeback when the Premier Cricket season starts today, alongside Mick Lewis, as captain-coach of Melbourne.
Posted on 10/06/2007 in English cricket
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Michael Vaughan put away his bat and brought out the golf clubs this week
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As England's one-day side moves between an endless cycle of matches, it feels a long time since they have played in whites. The man who leads them in Tests, Michael Vaughan, is enjoying a rare break from cricket and this week has been bringing out strokes of a different kind in the Dunhill Links Championship. Mick Dickson, from the Daily Mail, caught up with him after his round and talked about a range of issues from Paul Collingwood's captaincy, Twenty20, and Andrew Flintoff's ankle.
He understands the kind of turmoil Andrew Flintoff is going through as he grapples with the ankle problem that has required three operations.
"I am concerned about Fred," said Vaughan. "I'm not sure I could go through another operation and all the work required afterwards again. It's more tiring than playing."
He will surely be deprived of Flintoff's services in Sri Lanka but looks forward to teaming up again with Collingwood, with whom he has been in regular contact.
Might it not be worth suggesting that, as England captain, his friend stays out of 'inappropriate' South African bars? Vaughan smiles wryly: "I doubt you'll be finding him in that kind of establishment again."
Posted on 10/06/2007 in West Indies cricket
In the Jamaica Gleaner Tony Becca feels that the West Indies need a home-grown coach:
West Indies cricket and West Indies cricketers need a local coach, it is as simple as that, and whether it be Gus Logie or Roger Harper again, David Williams or Phil Simmons, Eldine Baptiste or Otis Gibson, James Adams or whoever, until that happens, until West Indies players are assisted by their own, West Indies cricket will never return to or even near to its former glory.
In the same paper Anthony Foster disagrees with the appointment of Chris Gayle as Jamaica's captain, saying Tamar Lambert would have been a better choice.
Also check out Vaneisa Baksh's piece in Caribbeancricket.com. She rewinds to 1932 when a ship carrying Learie Constantine returned to the West Indies.
Learie had foreseen the inability of Test cricket to fit practically in a world with less leisure time and more impatience. Aghast at his imaginings, he cast his not-quite-cricket thoughts aside, but he could not escape their unavoidable return.
Posted on 10/06/2007 in Indian cricket
Australia will not be subdued by sound or fury, writes Peter Roebuck in the Hindu:
Sreesanth and Harbhajan need to think again about how to handle success and how to play against the Australians, and could start by observing the widespread affection shown down under towards proven champions like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble. Has any of them ever displayed anything except unshakeable resolve?
Meanwhile Rohit Brijnath writes in BBC Sport on the perils of aggression:
India are not going to beat, or impress, or scare Australia by behaving in an aggressive manner but by playing in an aggressive manner. Not by tough talk, but by putting six balls in the right place; not taking a step towards the opposition, but by taking singles constantly; not by a shoulder bump, but by fielding sharply.
October 5, 2007
Posted on 10/05/2007 in Pakistan cricket
The retirement of Inzamam-ul-Haq marks the end of an era and the game will miss his larger-than-life character, writes Lawrence Booth in the Guardian.
He gave new meaning to the phrase "economy of movement", mainly because he wasn't fussed about using his foot, either at the crease or between the wickets ... His attitude to practice would have driven Duncan Fletcher to distraction. His press conferences were tedious (Vic Marks called them "much Urdu about nothing"). Yet few could match him. He was the lumbering antithesis of modern sport's obsession with bleep tests, energising drinks and fat-free diets. Perhaps he encouraged us to think we had a chance too.
Also read Osman Samiuddin's tribute in Cricinfo.
Posted on 10/05/2007 in Indian cricket
Cricketers struggling with form must have a door to knock on, writes Harsha Bhogle in the Indian Express
If the BCCI can create franchises for its Twenty20 competition, why can’t it do the same with the Ranji Trophy teams? A market driven operation, more often than not, creates a meritocracy; the good get rewarded better and they are not at the mercy of insensitive associations that do not need to be good to be rich. There are terrible stories of players being promised one thing and delivered another floating around.
Meanwhile Dileep Premachandran writes in the Guardian that the breeding-grounds of Indian cricket have moved from the cities to the country, where power-hitting is put before technique.
Posted on 10/05/2007 in Pakistan cricket
Neil Manthorp, in Karachi for the Pakistan-South Africa Test and writing for the Supercricket website, finds the people friendly, but also notices the security officers with their machine guns lurking everywhere.
On the roof there were two snipers with extremely powerful weapons and telescopic sights, one permanently trained on the road leading to the main gate and the other towards the field of play. There were 10 more Rangers with them on the roof and they were not slacking. All were armed. Reality kicked in once again.
A more pleasant aspect of the stay in Karachi was a dinner party hosted by former Pakistan batsman Zaheer Abbas.
Zaheer Abbas and his wonderful, equally gracious wife Samina ("call me Sam, everyone does") live in a house so elegant, so cleverly designed to beat the heat, and so stylishly decorated that one could rightly call it a small palace. He is revered in Pakistan, and rightly so.
October 4, 2007
Posted on 10/04/2007 in Indian cricket
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Sreesanth hopes he learns fast
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Alex Brown, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, looks at the contradictions of India’s Sreesanth.
Eccentric, forthright and always unpredictable, a conversation with India's newest fast bowling star is every bit as interesting as a match in which he is playing. Incite on the field. Insight off it.
"I am a child," Sreesanth said, responding to Andrew Symonds's recent criticisms. "They are all legends. It is a dream come true to play against Ricky Ponting or Matthew Hayden. I am a child of the game, I am still learning. I am sure most of them went through things when they were inexperienced like me. Hopefully I learn faster."
Steve Waugh hopes Sreesanth doesn't go over the top - read his thoughts in the Courier-Mail - while the Age's Chloe Saltau says the bowler's antics in the second ODI gave Australia the moral high ground.
Posted on 10/04/2007 in English cricket
Ottis Gibson, England's new bowling coach, can help the bowlers keep things simple and focus on the basics, says Mike Selvey in the Guardian.
In the second innings, Gibson recalled, he [Malcolm Marshall] came and stood at mid-off. "What are you going to do?" Marshall queried after Gibson had bowled a rare dot-ball at the start of an over. Gibson remembered his response. "'I'm going to bounce him' I said, and Malcolm would just say 'Why don't you just do what you did again?' And I did and it was another dot-ball. 'Now what are you going to do?' 'I'm going to york him.' 'No, do the same thing again'. And so he talked me through the first maiden over I bowled in first-class cricket. He taught me to construct an over."
There you have it then, in a nutshell: the simple art of bowling
Posted on 10/04/2007 in Indian cricket
Nirmal Shekar, writing in the Hindu, terms Sreesanth's behaviour in the ODIs against Australia as "boorish and boring". He feels that unlike Sreesanth, champions such as Roger Federer and Pete Sampras knew it was not possible to be charged up during an entire match and knew exactly when to psych themselves up.
Akshay Sawai of the Hindustan Times advises Sreesanth to calm down and wants him to realise that he is a role model for impressionable youngsters.
October 3, 2007
Posted on 10/03/2007 in Offbeat
Patrick Kidd has a few interesting thoughts in his Times Online blog:
All the big guns from the ICC are here and will presumably take the stand: Malcolm Speed, the chief executive, Ray Mali, the acting president, David Richardson, the general manager, and Sir John Anderson, the New Zealand representative on the board who was so engrossed by discussion today that he spent much of the afternoon working his way through a bumper book of Su Doku puzzles.
Posted on 10/03/2007 in English cricket
Seven years on, Duncan Fletcher's bete noire has a chance to shine under Moores, writes David Hopps in the Guardian. There's more on Swann from Stephen Brenkley in the Independent and Simon Briggs in the Telegraph.
Posted on 10/03/2007 in Indian cricket
Sachin Tendulkar writes his first-ever signed piece exclusively for the Hindustan Times. You can read more from Tendulkar here and here.
Posted on 10/03/2007 in Indian cricket
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Aggression or foolishness?
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Sreesanth's antics in the second one-dayer at Kochi have brought forth reactions:
The Times of India's Joseph Hoover feels it's time Sreesanth curbed his aggression.
As if this act of brutishness was not enough, Sree again crudely remonstrated, after accepting a return catch from Symonds. Celebration is one thing, behaving disrespectfully is another. Perhaps, Sree wouldn’t care. Playing in front of his home crowd, could have pumped him up. Also, the Aussies, who are masters at sledging, could have baited him, but Sree had no business to do what he did.
S Dinakar has a similar view in the Hindu:
He has had his match fees docked, been spoken to by the umpires, but does not seem to have learnt his lesson. He is so much the better paceman when his mind and body are in harmony. Once Sreesanth loses his cool, he is not the same force as a bowler.
The Melbourne-based Age headlined the match report 'Sreesanth takes on Australia' while the Australian newspaper came down hard on the bowler with 'Sreesanth disturbs the peace'.
R Kaushik, though, makes a pertinent point in Deccan Herald:
The fact of the matter is that holier-than-thou is an easy cloak to wear. As Gilchrist showed when, having seen on the giant screen that umpire Shastri had made a wrong no-ball against James Hopes, he charged down the pitch to forcefully make his point. Determined, of course, to keep the spirit of cricket going.
Posted on 10/03/2007 in South African cricket
The overwhelming support that India received in the World Twenty20 event has triggered a raging debate on racism in South Africa, reports the Press Trust of India .
Kass Naidoo, the South African broadcaster, puts forth her view in the News24 website:
Everything is hunky-dory, until we lose. When we win, we pump out our chests and feel so proud to be South African, and when we lose, we start fighting over quotas, the captaincy, and chewing gum.
Posted on 10/03/2007 in Australian cricket
Queensland’s players have adopted an unusual training method – batting while wearing glasses that have had their bottom half blacked out and others that have been blurred. As Robert Craddock explains in the Courier-Mail, the aim is to improve the batsmen’s concentration.
"I felt they were quite useful," experienced batsman Martin Love said. "With the blacked-out glasses you lose sight of the ball three or four metres before it gets to you so you start reaching for the ball and hitting it in the air. Eventually you adjust and start waiting for the ball to come to you and hit it later. When you give the glasses away you tend to hit the ball later. That is what we are trying to achieve."
October 2, 2007
Posted on 10/02/2007 in Pakistan cricket
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A beleaguered Shoaib Akhtar will now face a disciplinary hearing on October 6
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| Neil Manthorp, writing in Super Cricket, gives his take on Shoaib Akhtar's suspension from the Pakistan team for hitting Mohammad Asif with a bat. But before that, he provides an account of the incident.
The script went something like this:
Shoaib and Shahid Afridi sitting alone in the Pakistan change room.
Shoaib: "I have the same status in Pakistan cricket as Imran Khan..."
Afridi: [convulsive laughter]
Enter Mohammed Asif
Afridi: "Listen to this [laughter] he says he has the same status as Imran Khan!"
Asif: [muffled giggle].
Shoaib chases after Asif and swings his bat as hard as possible hitting Asif on the thigh.
Pakistan's administrators deserve no criticism for the action they have taken now.
They deserve criticism for ever allowing Shoaib's ego to become so hopelessly out of control, for allowing him to make his own rules for so many years and to get away with serial misbehaviour before it ever came to this.
If they couldn't control him, or didn't want to, they should have delegated that responsibility for the sake of Pakistani cricket. And if he really was uncontrollable at least they would have known six or seven years ago.
Posted on 10/02/2007 in Indian cricket
Come Wednesday and Yuvraj Singh will complete seven years as a big league-cricketer. The Telegraph's Lokendra Pratap Sahi speaks to him on the journey:
Now everybody is calling me 'Mr Six' ... It’s nice to have such a label, but the way out is not to treat the high expectations as added pressure ... I’ve got to respond to situations, not expectations ... Of course, I’m aware of the need to be consistent.
Also check out Prafull Goradia's piece in the Daily Pioneer where he says Twenty20, a logical evolution of cricket, is a fielder's game.
October 1, 2007
Posted on 10/01/2007 in Pakistan cricket
After the cataclysms of the year just gone, Pakistan are still celebrating and berating equally, writes Osman Samiuddin in the Indian Express.
... what else is there in this nation if not cricket, politics and cricket’s politics? Hockey dies anew each year, only to keep people vaguely interested, it does so spectacularly. (“Lost to China? No worries, we’ll lose to Japan this time.”) Squash is less sport, more memory, a glory long gone. (“Isn’t that a drink?” I heard a child say recently). Cricket survives because nothing else did.
Posted on 10/01/2007 in English cricket
Sir Ian Botham has a new autobiography coming out later this week and The Times is serialising it this week. In the first extract, Botham describes his match-winning innings against Hampshire in the 1974 Benson & Hedges Cup in which he won the Man-of-the-Match award but lost several teeth in the process.
I dropped my bat and backed away, cursing and spitting blood, then realised that I was spitting bits of teeth as well. Two teeth had been knocked out and another two broken off at the gum line. Even more alarmingly, they were on opposite sides of my mouth and the ones in between were noticeably looser than they’d been a few moments before.
[Andy Roberts] turned to pace back to the end of his run-up, ready to deliver the next thunderbolt. As he did so, I spat out the last fragments of tooth, took a few sips from the glass of water that the twelfth man had brought out and then let him assess the damage.
Believing that the game was lost, he and some of the crowd wanted me to retire hurt to avoid further punishment, but that had never entered my mind.
The doctor who examined me after the game told me that I had suffered mild concussion from the blow, which might explain the curious sense of detachment I felt as I brushed off the twelfth man’s restraining arm, picked up my bat and walked back to the crease.
Posted on 10/01/2007 in Indian cricket
Kochi too seems equally frantic to receive the rare cricket star from this football country, writes Sandeep Dwivedi in the Indian Express.
The jovial Eranakulum Cricket Association president KP Satish makes an interesting observation about the blooming of a cricket star in the football fertile land. “Sreesanth is like chicken biryani in a brahmin restaurant,” he says as he points to the changing cricket scene in the state.
R Kaushik has some thoughts in the Deccan Herald:
The Hindustan Times' Akshay Sawai meets those behind Sreesanth's rise.
While Sreesanth jets around the cricketing world making those theatrical appeals to the umpire, his people back home make pleas to the great umpire up above. Said Dr Joshi Dev, his neighbour who had accompanied his parents to the temple on Sunday, “We had a big puja here before the World Cup in the West Indies. India did not even reach the second round then. But our prayers have been answered now.”
Posted on 10/01/2007 in Offbeat
Ian Botham said his 1985 trip to Hollywood turned him into a joke. But here his former agent tells Observer Sport's Monthly's Nick Greenslade how close the cricketer came to being the next Stallone.
With his action-man physique and blond locks, Botham, Hudson argued, could become a star to rival Sylvester Stallone and Charles Bronson, whose Death Wishseries Golan had produced. Unlike Stallone and Bronson, he could deliver significant audiences not only in Britain, but in India, Pakistan and Australia.
The movie mogul looked Botham up and down ('Well, he's better looking than Tom Selleck') and laid down his terms: if Botham stayed in town for six months and had acting lessons, then there was a real possibility that he could break Hollywood. There was just one problem. In the January of 1986, the all-rounder was due to fly out to the Caribbean for England's three-month tour of the West Indies.
Posted on 10/01/2007 in Indian cricket
Leading Indian news magazines have celebrated India's Twenty20 triumph.
The stunning victory in South Africa was no fluke. Dhoni’s men beat the world’s best teams on their way to the Cup, writes Shantanu Guha Ray in Tehelka magazine.
In the same publication S Anand feels that no other sport is as advertiser-friendly as cricket.
Where does the faster format leave Sachin, Sourav or Rahul, asks Alam Srinivas in Outlook while R Rajaraman, in the same magazine, wonders how Twenty20 is going to change Indian cricket.
The Week's Neeru Bhatia hails the heroes while providing a few snippets from behind the scenes:
Ahead of the semi-final match against Australia, team masseur Ramesh Mane, or kaka as he is fondly called, told Robin Uthappa, while giving him a rub down, to ignore all calls on his mobile phone and just focus on his game. But the Dude-as the Bangalore batsman is nicknamed-smiled and told him, "Kaka, tenshun lene ka nahin, dene ka hai (Don't feel tense. Pass the tension to the opponents)."
Posted on 10/01/2007 in Indian cricket
Saad Bin Jung, writing in the Asian Age, condemns the treatment meted out to former cricketers who had come to watch the first ODI between India and Australia in Bangalore.
The secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association is a former Test player with most members of the organising team having played some form of cricket or the other. Yet when I arrived in the stadium I saw two former Test players Syed Abid Ali and the greatest off-spinner that India has produced, EAS Prasanna without a place to sit.
Not a single person was bothered if they had family with them.
No one cared for their comfort. Does an international game give the organisers so much self importance that they forget their basic etiquettes to senior players? This disrespect and abuse of our senior cricketers has to stop. After all it is our seniors who carry the wisdom of cricket with them, irrespective of whether they are with the BCCI or the Indian Cricket League.
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