 |
July 6, 2008
The delicate balance of a newspaper columnist
Posted 9 hours, 34 minutes ago in New Zealand cricket
Scott Styris fired a salvo of harsh text messages at Mark Richardson, a former New Zealand opener turned journalist, because of what the allrounder thought to be a negative article written by Richardson. Read Richardson's response in the Herald on Sunday.
I've no doubt this attack came about due to the delicate balance an ex-team member faces when they step out of the dressing room and straight into the media. I believe the player involved would not have been motivated to approach the likes of a professional journalist in the same way they did me when they were angered by what was written. Within the group you see things similarly and, even when disagreements arise, the dynamics on the inside are vastly different than dealing with disagreements that arise between the team and outside media. When you leave that pack, I believe it is easier for the person leaving the group to sever ties than for those who remain to cut that person loose.
The summer picks up speed
Posted 9 hours, 56 minutes ago in South Africa in England 2008
|
|
|
Kevin Pietersen: Bring it on...
© Getty Images
|
|
It's time to wave goodbye to New Zealand's trundlers and welcome Dale Steyn and his charismatic chums. South Africa's pace attack should inspire their English counterparts to crank up their pace, which means more fast bowling thrills and hostile spells. Kevin Pietersen's duel with the fast bowlers will form a vital strand of the series, writes Steve James in the Sunday Telegraph.
A pace attack of Steyn, Makhaya Ntini, Morne Morkel and Jacques Kallis merits careful consideration. It not only has gas, but variety too: the skiddy, swinging Steyn; the wide-of-the-crease, hitting-the-pitch-hard Ntini; the unadulterated bounce of the 6ft 6in Morkel and the sparingly used Kallis, with know-how of when best to release an increasingly creaky handbrake.
In the same paper, Scyld Berry feels England need to be wary of Neil McKenzie, South Africa's new opening batsman whose Test career has entered a refreshingly-new phase.
The obvious option would have been to emigrate to English county cricket, and the pound sterling, but McKenzie saw Test cricket as the ultimate; and he has more roots, more depth. "It would have been easy to run away, and at Somerset there were some talks about 'Kolpaking'. But the will to play for South Africa and the unfinished business - I'd let myself down giving my wicket away and averaging only early-mid thirties."
In the Sunday Times, John Stern looks forward to an exciting duel between Dale Steyn and Pietersen.
There has been so much water under the bridge, so much trash talk, so many ego clashes that this contest cannot fail to move. This will not be a goalless draw. In one corner is KP himself, his star back in the ascendant after a moderate winter. In the other corner is Dale Steyn, the irresistible force of world cricket, the fresh-faced 90-mile-an-hour quick who has taken 78 Test wickets at 16 since the start of May last year and the rightful heir to Allan Donald’s “White Lightning” throne.
In the same paper, Simon Wilde compares the two captains - Graeme Smith and Michael Vaughan - and feels Smith's side has a more settled look.
Smith has matured greatly since Vaughan last crossed swords with him in the Test arena. In those days, Smith exhibited the insecurity of a young man who had been catapulted into the captaincy. He went out of his way to convince everyone, not least himself, that he was worthy of the job. But now, Smith has plenty of younger players under him prepared to follow his lead unquestioningly.
In the Observer, Allan Donald chats with Will Buckley on the forthcoming series, his famous duel with Michael Atherton at Trent Bridge, South African cricket post readmission and the fateful final over at Edgbaston which cost South Africa a shot at lifting the 1999 World Cup.
"It was the most disgusting thing that could happen. A shocking place to be. Not a lot of people came up to me and said "bad luck". 'To get over it I had to watch it. And I watched it again and again and again.' The headlines in South Africa were not friendly. 'There was one saying "Donald, don't bother coming home". And when I arrived back the first person I met at one of the gates looked at me and said, "What are you doing back here?" That's how serious it was.
Selling conscience for votes
Posted 10 hours, 7 minutes ago in ICC
In the Observer, Kevin Mitchell writes: "What matters to the ICC is they have been saved from making a judgment call (which they would have fudged by suspending Zimbabwe temporarily because 'they are not good enough'), and England don't lose their big-money gig. While England and South Africa suspended cricket relations with Zimbabwe last week, the ICC, their strings pulled by the Asian bloc, are adamant Zimbabwe will keep full membership and funding. All that has been saved is a tournament. Nothing else changes."
"The stand taken by the ICC to save the savage Mugabe’s Zimbabwe from being expelled from the international cricketing fraternity is something that may be easy to understand and explain. But, is it desirable and justified? And shouldn’t India, which never loses an opportunity to flex its financial clout to ride roughshod over many cricketing decisions, be the last country to say politics and sport never go together?" asks Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times.
"England and India are engaged in a struggle for power and influence which will determine the direction of the sport. They are fighting over its soul," writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent on Sunday.
To observe this titanic clash unfold at the International Cricket Council's annual meeting was both enthralling and disturbing. Two bulls locked horns, suddenly aware of their own strength and unprepared to cede ground. The primary tussle, a narrow win in a bowl-out for England, concerned Zimbabwe. England wanted them out, India wanted them in: they are out of next year's World Twenty20 in England but still in (for now) the ICC.
Click here to read more on the Zimbabwe issue.
Imran and Kumble impressed with Dhoni
Posted 11 hours, 38 minutes ago in Indian Cricket
"There are some captains who remain captains, and there are some who grow into the role of a leader," writes Imran Khan in the Hindustan Times. "Dhoni belongs to the latter category. I was impressed that he has started coming up the order, playing sensibly rather than explosively, and is able to set an example for his team to emulate."
Anil Kumble was also "impressed by the manner in which Mahendra Singh Dhoni has used himself in a floating position up and down the order".
Also in the Hindustan Times, Kumble says: "Bowlers have to be assigned clear roles and if someone’s job is to take wickets, then the captain needs to back him even if he goes for runs. On these pitches, you can’t succeed if all five bowlers are just looking to restrict the batsmen. You have to find a couple of bowlers who can pick up wickets. In times like this strategy becomes very important, because taking wickets is the only way to keep the run-rate down."
"The last few months have seen an amazing churn. With the selectors moving beyond Dravid and Ganguly, the new generation has steadily changed, both, the team's look and outlook," writes Bobilli Vijay Kumar in the Times of India. "The most significant development, though, has been the coming together of Sehwag and Gambhir."
July 5, 2008
The test against speed
Posted 1 day, 10 hours ago in South Africa in England 2008
"Over the years you begin to realise that your life is not in peril every time you walk out to bat against the likes of Donald, Walsh, Ambrose or Malcolm Marshall. A blow to the ribs, knuckle, shoulder or elbow can be mighty painful but fast bowlers don't kill you, they just chip bits off you," writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.
During the next five weeks it will be just such contests that dominate the sporting landscape here and it will be the ability of Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood to handle South Africa's hostile and much vaunted pace attack that will ultimately decide the result of the four-Test series. If England defeat the Proteas they can look forward to next summer's Ashes with confidence. Lose, and the international future of a couple of players in Michael Vaughan's side must be in doubt.
Meanwhile, Lawrence Booth meets Allan Donald and talks to him in the Guardian about how South Africa are seeing Ian Bell as a threat in the Jacques Kallis mould.
'The ICC should just write out a cheque for $10m to Mugabe'
Posted 1 day, 11 hours ago in Zimbabwe cricket
|
|
|
Relieved man: The new ICC president David Morgan
© Getty Images
|
| The ICC elite might be congratulating themselves on a satisfactory compromise, but the initial reaction from the media indicates they are less impressed.
In The Age Alex Brown writes that “the outcome might amount to a triumph for politicking and face saving, but it will do little to improve the standard or appeal of international cricket.”
Cogniscant of the British government's threat to ban Zimbabwe from the tournament, the ICC's executive committee moved to avoid a potentially fractious fall-out by leaning on the ZC to withdraw its team. The ZC's reward was to retain its current level of funding and full voting power, which will almost certainly ensure India's virtual hegemony on the council for years to come.
In the Australian, Malcolm Conn described the ICC’s solution as an “embarrassing backdown”.
“The ICC continues to pour millions of dollars into Zimbabwe. There are serious questions about where the money ends up, with cricket at all levels in Zimbabwe destroyed and the administration closely aligned to dictator Robert Mugabe. One frustrated member of the cricket establishment yesterday told The Australian: "The ICC should just write out a cheque for $10m to Mugabe.”
Continue reading "'The ICC should just write out a cheque for $10m to Mugabe'"
July 4, 2008
A bad precedent
Posted 2 days, 7 hours ago in Pakistan in England
Simon Barnes, in the Times, criticises the ICC for changing the status of the controversial Oval Test in 2006 from that of a forfeited match to a draw.
Certainly, it [the ICC] has decided that history can be undone and put together again in a new form. In a strange, and rather disturbing, precedent, it has said that the match between England and Pakistan at the Brit Oval in 2006 was not, after all, a win for England. It was a draw.
Julius Caesar lives, Pyrrhus survives and the history of the world is thereby changed for ever. It’s a bizarre business, the more so because on one level, the ICC seems to have got it right. That match in question ended when Darrell Hair, acting on a half-baked hunch and an overcooked sense of his own importance, called the match off.
The Bedsers' lucky escape in World War II
Posted 2 days, 11 hours ago in English cricket
Alec Bedser, who turns 90 today, narrates his recollections about him and his brother Eric's battlefield experiences in World War II to the Telegraph's Simon Hughes.
They were called up in September 1939 to join the Royal Artillery at Didcot. "For some reason, we got a note cancelling it. So we joined the RAF instead. We were pretty lucky. A lot of those Didcot chaps I was at school with were caught at Dunkirk."
The Bedsers were posted to a squadron on the Belgian border. "We were being bombed by the Germans, they were coming through. All we had was a Colt 45 and six rounds of ammunition. There was an air raid and someone said get out, so we ran away - me, Eric and another bloke - in to a field. This German bomber came at 500 feet and strafed us. The bullets went between us, and then we got up and ran off. I never knew what happened to the other bloke. Never saw him again. Then, about seven or eight years, I ago got a letter from him, saying he was the other chap and he was now living in Newcastle. Incredible."
Experiences such as this, and the twins' last-ditch rescue from the side of an occupied French road in a rickety van driven by a Surrey member who recognised them, explain why Alec was so relaxed on his England debut in 1946. "All that - it gives you a different perspective," he says
Age not a factor for Jayasuriya
Posted 2 days, 11 hours ago in Sri Lankan cricket
Harsha Bhogle, in his column in the Indian Express, praises Sanath Jayasuriya for continuing to play the game despite being 39 years old.
It’s funny how your view of the world changes once you stop playing. But Jayasuriya hasn’t stopped playing even though there are some in his country who believe he should. Instead, he is still taking attacks apart and thrilling his legion of admirers. One of them is writing this article.
He must enjoy it. That must seem a strange statement because surely everyone enjoys playing cricket. Not quite true. Often time dulls the instinct, selectors and administrators take the fun away, children tug at the heart, training becomes a chore, injuries seem to hurt a bit more and muscles take longer to recover. It is a battle most people lose by the time they are 39. And while Jayasuriya has had a few arrows aimed at him, he is still up and around, taking on young kids, sometimes closer to half his age. Yes, he must enjoy it.
July 3, 2008
Zimbabwe - No team, no structure, no hope
Posted 3 days, 10 hours ago in Zimbabwe cricket
In the Times, Michael Atherton says that on cricket alone, the situation in Zimbabwe is a complete disgrace. The first-class structure has fallen apart, wicketkeepers don't have enough gloves, there are no lunches or teas provided and there is no diesel to fuel the tractors and mow the outfields.
So what has happened to the millions of dollars given to Zimbabwe Cricket by the ICC? If only we knew. On the ICC's website there is a mission statement of values, one of which, under the heading “Openness, honesty and integrity”, reads: “We work to the highest ethical standards. We do what we say we are going to do, in the way we say we are going to do it.” Presumably, because the ICC is simply an amalgam of its constituent parts, these constituent parts sign up to such mission statements, too. But Zimbabwe Cricket has issued no accounts for public consumption since 2005.
The reading habit
Posted 3 days, 10 hours ago in Miscellaneous
Just how important is education in a sportsman's career? Brian Moore writes in the Telegraph, writes that better educated athletes are easier to coach, understand quicker and have a longer attention span. They make better team players and leaders. He gives the example of the controversial run-out of Grant Elliott at the Oval, when several England players failed to think sensibly and alert Paul Collingwood to reconsider his decision to continue appealing. Education teaches you to think independently, but unfortunately it wasn't evident that day.
One of the reasons why the Australian Institute of Sport has been phenomenally successful is that it insists on its athletes studying properly alongside their training regimes. They have no difficulty ensuring athletes study because it is a captive market; all the athlete wants to do is play sport and they are prepared to do whatever is required of them; including reading books.
In the Times, Stuart Broad says he loves Test cricket, despite his friends telling him all the time that it's boring. He also talks about his formative years and relationship with his parents.
“To be fair, my mum's been the one who watched most of my cricket when I was younger. She is the one who carted me around the country. She'd be sat there in a deckchair all day watching and then drive me home. So she's the one who has always watched my development.”
July 2, 2008
Exceptional situations call for exceptional measures
Posted 4 days, 10 hours ago in Zimbabwe cricket
Andy Burnham, Britain's secretary of state for culture, media and sport, in the Telegraph, explains the government's instruction to ask the England board to sever ties with Zimbabwe Cricket.
This direct intervention in the affairs of a sporting body was not one I took lightly. I firmly believe that sport should operate autonomously from government, and intervention is a last resort. The government had previously called on the International Cricket Council to reconsider their rules to allow teams to forfeit tours to countries, such as Zimbabwe, where serious human rights abuses are occurring. Unfortunately, the ICC have declined to do so
But the serious human rights abuses in the recent election, and the close ties of the Zimbabwe cricket team to the Mugabe regime, presented the kind of exceptional circumstances that justified exceptional measures.
As a result, the ECB announced they were to sever relations with Zimbabwe's cricket authority, and the tour was cancelled.
It is, perhaps, indicative of just how far Zimbabwe has descended into despotism that there has been barely a murmur of disagreement since.
The Guardian brings out the opposing views of former Zimbabwe cricketer John Traicos and Goolam Raja, the South African team's general manager, on whether sports-based sanctions have an influence on politics.
July 1, 2008
Steyn's deadly combo of swing and speed
Posted 5 days, 9 hours ago in South African cricket
Dale Steyn has had a phenomenal year in Test cricket and is now getting ready for his first tour of England. Bigstarcricket.com caught up with him for a chat.
Everybody can bowl the ball 135kmh and put it in the right areas. You can go and get a school kid nowadays to do that. But if anyone can run in and bowl 145 or 150k’s is something special especially if you can swing the ball at the same time. Pace is definitely my biggest weapon but pace combined with the swing is deadly. And we have a few guys who can do that like Makhaya (Ntini) and Morne Morkel. It’s important to me that I am always outwitting the guy next to me and staying a step above those guys because it raises the bar all the time. It’s healthy competition within the team. The more they are pushing the better I have to become so it doesn’t allow you to relax, it means I am always fighting for a spot. I have always got to be better than the guy next to me.
New Zealand's stand on Zimbabwe
Posted 5 days, 11 hours ago in Zimbabwe cricket
The ICC is set to meet this week in Dubai to discuss, among other things, whether Zimbabwe should remain a Full Member or not. New Zealand's prime minister, Helen Clark, has said the government would prefer that New Zealand Cricket cancelled its tour of Zimbabwe next year. Paul Holden, the Sideline Slogger, says it's not possible for the team to just no show up for the tour.
If NZC decide to bite the hand that feeds and pull the pin on the tour for an unacceptable reason along the lines of: “Sorry chaps, we find Zimbabwe a morally reprehensible place to play”, they will be staring down the barrel at an initial fine of US$2m from the ICC. Then there will be a killer blow: an obligation to pay Zimbabwe Cricket millions more as reimbursement for any losses incurred as a result of our no-show. If you sucked US$10m out of NZC, that would cripple the organisation and the sport of cricket in New Zealand. Hardly a practical option.
On the other hand, the players are contracted to NZ Cricket and must make themselves available for each and every tour - as much as some of them would like, they cannot pick and choose. Even if there were some allowances made for players who wanted to opt out on moral grounds, a New Zealand team of some description would still be obliged to front up in Harare.
A labour of love
Posted 5 days, 11 hours ago in Australian cricket
|
|
|
Shaun Marsh bats with his special gloves
© Getty Images
|
| Alex Brown of the Sydney Morning Herald reveals Shaun Marsh's source of inspiration.
Should Marsh find himself short of inspiration, he need only glance at his batting gloves.
There, scrawled in black marker pen, is the word "Chemo" - a reference to the bond he has forged with several young cancer patients in Perth.
For more than a year Marsh has worked with "The Chemo Club", a joint initiative between Aspire Gym and SolarisCare which encourages those undergoing chemotherapy to exercise in a bid to help their recovery. Justin Langer also has close ties to the group.
For Marsh the simple five-letter message on his gloves serves not only as a tribute to the kids with whom he is particularly close, but also as a source of inspiration. "To me it just keeps things in perspective," Marsh said. "No matter how hard I might think I have it, I only have to look at the gloves and that message and think about what they're going through, and know that what I face is really nothing."
Memories of Donald
Posted 5 days, 13 hours ago in South Africa in England 2008
|
|
|
'The man was a champion'
© Getty Images
|
|
Michael Henderson, in the Guardian, reminisces about Allan Donald's performances in '98 while looking ahead to the Test series between England and South Africa.
How beautifully Donald bowled that summer. The bare bones reveal that he took 33 wickets at 19. They do not tell you how fast he bowled, for so long, in all conditions. His performance at Old Trafford, where Shaun Pollock was absent, and where injuries robbed him at different times of the support of Lance Klusener and Jacques Kallis, was one of the great feats of fast bowling in the modern age.
However well the South Africans bowl this summer, and Steyn in particular looks primed, they will do well to rival the Donald of '98. He was a magnificent athlete, an admirable competitor and, yes, a great fast bowler. Sometimes, when people reflect on the outstanding fast men of the past three decades, of whom there have been so many, his performance can be overlooked. It shouldn't be. The man was a champion.
June 30, 2008
A blessing in disguise
Posted 6 days, 6 hours ago in English cricket
|
|
|
Kevin Pietersen advises Stuart Broad during his first match as England captain
© Getty Images
|
|
Derek Pringle, in the Telegraph, says Kevin Pietersen's losing start as England's ODI captain may be good for him in the long-term.
Kevin Pietersen will probably not agree, but both he and England cricket could benefit from losing his first game as England captain. Players possessed of great natural gifts need to be reminded occasionally that the world does not always march to their beat, and losing to New Zealand on Saturday should prove a powerful mnemonic.
One game is not enough to judge a man's leadership qualities, but there were revealing moments to his captaincy at Lord's. Like Michael Vaughan, whom he described beforehand as an "absolute legend", Pietersen cuts a commanding figure in the field. This is partly due to his height (he is 6ft 4in), but there was also a briskness and authority to his decisions and field settings you simply don't notice with Paul Collingwood.
However, the Guardian's Kevin Mitchell is impressed with Pietersen's captaincy.
Cynics might have imagined that England's stand-in captain, Kevin Pietersen, who struggles to convince people he really is a team man, would be a dodgy conciliator. As it happens, there were no incidents to test his mettle the way Paul Collingwood had his equilibrium disturbed at the Oval. The job seemed to fit him like a glove. He was less showy than normal, thoroughly engaged and marshalled his side with military correctness from mid-off. He made some thoughtful field changes and hurried his men to their places between overs (his careless push to gully for six after 23 balls wasn't so clever).
Funny side to being hit for six
Posted 6 days, 7 hours ago in
It's something of a shock to the system to be pulling the whites on this week and playing a game that lasts for four days rather than three hours, writes Matthew Hoggard, who describes his Twenty20 Cup experience in the Times.
There was one real disappointment for me during the Twenty20 Cup, when a proud record of mine was wiped from the books. Until Graham Napier went berserk with the bat for Essex against Sussex last week, I had the distinction of holding the record for the most expensive analysis in the competition ... Now that we're back in the County Championship, Durham have turned up at Headingley with Paul Collingwood in their side. It was nice to see him again, but I did have to inquire as to whether he should really be playing while he's been banned from appearing for England. And when he bats, I'm wondering whether to shoulder barge him to the ground when he goes for a quick single, then ask him whether we should run him out or not. I'm sure Colly will see the funny side.
ICC's creditability goes on the line
Posted 6 days, 7 hours ago in ICC
What is the point of the ICC? The question will be answered this week when its annual conference takes place in Dubai, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.
Despite the pressure from England and South Africa, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has yet to indicate that it favours action against Zimbabwe, and because a two-thirds majority is needed for any such action, it is inconceivable that anything could happen without its say-so. The BCCI said over the weekend that only a directive from the Indian Government would force the issue ... Zimbabwe will grab the headlines, but an equally important matter is how cricket moves forward after the Twenty20 revolution.
Grip that got Chandra
Posted 6 days, 9 hours ago in Indian Cricket
India has been mourning the death of Field Marshall Manekshaw, the hero of the 1971 Bangladesh war. Writing in Mid-Day, Yajurvindra Singh, the former Indian batsman, remembers the day when members of the national side met him.
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar was one member of our team the Field Marshal was very keen to meet. He wanted to shake his hand to recognize his big-hearted feats for India. His hawk-like eyes instantly focused on Chandra and a quick march had him at hand-shaking distance.
At the heart of our game lies the contest between bat and ball and when that is imperiled, the game is imperiled, writes Harsha Bhogle in the Indian Express with regard to the Kevin Pietersen switch-hitting controversy.
June 29, 2008
Neil McKenzie is Mr Superstition
Posted 1 week ago in South African cricket
South Africa’s Neil McKenzie has ended his bizarre pre-game rituals and is ready to take on England, finds out Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times. Wilde questions McKenzie about his oddities, which range from taping bats to the ceiling to decreeing toilet seats be closed before he left the dressing room, and finds out that McKenzie is cured. There's also his views on South Africa's tour of England, which McKenzie feels "is going to be hard work".
In the Observer, Vic Marks says that for England's batsmen, the honeymoon is over. Because Dale Steyn and South Africa are in town. Marks traces Steyn's rise to stardom and finds a tearaway fast bowler just wanting to run in and bowl.
Steyn also chats to Stephen Brenkley in the Independent on Sunday.
Greed before grace
Posted 1 week ago in Commentary
|
|
|
The Elliott-Sidebottom collision at The Oval
© AFP
|
|
With millions on offer, winning at all costs has become de rigour. Richard Boock, in the Sunday Star Times illustrates that point with the controversial run-out of Grant Elliott at The Oval, an incident where New Zealand were entitled to be furious. And we should prepare ourselves to witness more such ugly scenes.
Collingwood might have apologised for his antics in London last week but the mere fact he didn't immediately appreciate the correct course of action speaks volumes. Clearly, in his book, the end justifies the means. There is no such thing as honour, much less dignity.
The more money being ladled into the game, the less principled the contestants appear to become. The old saying about some people knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing has never seemed so accurate.
Photography's loss is Essex's gain
Posted 1 week ago in English cricket
After Graham Napier's record-battering 152 not out for Essex against Sussex in a Twenty20 match, it's easy to forget his struggles at the start of the season, when he struggled to find a place in the championship side and had to try out for the second XI. James Root of the Observer caught up with Napier, who by now should have already caught the eye of the IPL scouts.
'I'm going to make sure that I'm on top of my game because it certainly was a low for me and I thought, "Right, what am I going to do? I need a plan here to get back in the side or to have something to fall back on if cricket doesn't go too well this summer." I had a few ideas, photography is one area that I would like to get into - I even sat down with some of the photographers at the ground to gain a bit of experience.
In the Sunday Times, David Walsh catches up with Darren Gough before his last county season. Gough talks about the dizzying heights of Strictly Come Dancing, the current England team, Twenty20 and his captaincy stint with Yorkshire, gushing with the pride of being a 'people's person.'
Difficulties in their personal lives, off-the-field problems and they have always said that at Yorkshire, there was nobody to talk to and they kept things bottled up. The last person they had here wouldn’t have listened. I listen, I let people go back to their country for a break, I let people stay at home with their family when they’ve been having problems and I let them know I’m there for them, through thick and thin. And I know they’re desperate to do well for me and that’s the only difference I’ve made. But the lads here knew what I was like, they wanted me to come, many of them rang, Anthony McGrath said, ‘If you come back, I stay; if you don’t, I’m leaving’.
Smith comes of age
Posted 1 week ago in South African cricket
|
|
|
Graeme Smith today is a mighty impressive man
© Getty Images
|
|
Steve James charts Graeme Smith's progress as South African captain since his last tour of England five years ago. He writes in the Telegraph:
On the occasion of his debut he had already irked the Australians by revealing the truth behind their tactics of so-called 'mental disintegration' - all manner of abuse, he said. But now Smith chose to indulge in some of it himself. By the time England visited South Africa in 2004/05 his puerility was becoming tiresome ... Not exactly Mr Popular then. But, talking to Smith at Taunton last Friday, none of this washed. To meet him for the first time was to meet a mightily impressive man. "I was quite impulsive before because a lot of people were challenging me, questioning whether I was good enough to do the job. Opposition teams were feeling I was a weakness and taking me on. You keep feeling you have to prove yourself or show you're strong. And you can get too strong and say the wrong thing. I'm much quieter in many ways now. I'm really enjoying the captaincy and enjoying being who I am."
Old school, new beginnings
Posted 1 week ago in Indian Cricket
For 20 years, the MRF Pace Academy has been shaping uncut stones into fast bowling gems. But the future looks uncertain after the BCCI cut off all links with the home of fast bowling in India. The Indian Express' Sandeep Dwivedi travels to Chennai to find out how they’re dealing with the snub.
With or without the stars, it’s business as usual at the MRF Pace Foundation. There is certainly a feeling of hurt about the BCCI snub, but S Senthilnathan, who took over from Sekar, puts fears about the institution losing its relevance to rest. “This institution came into existence 20 years back with the intention of producing fast bowlers. And it will continue to do so. If we can train players who will make it to the Indian team, that’s all we want. That’s our only aim,” he says. It’s quite clear that his posture isn’t aggressive as he repeatedly refers to the BCCI as the parent body. “In case they want us to help them in the future, we will welcome the move with open arms,” says Senthil, with a grin this time.
June 28, 2008
India must show it cares about more than money alone
Posted 1 week ago in Zimbabwe cricket
In his Sunday Times column, David Gower has a clear message for the ICC and the Indian board.
[The ICC] is an organisation with a reputation for dodging the big issues, of preferring to rule by consensus and has done its best over the years to avoid confrontation.
India has been a supporter of Zimbabwe for years and has in return been assured at all times of Zimbabwe’s vote whenever needed. But surely this is no time to allow a blinkered view of world affairs to affect their judgment. It is one thing to claim politics and sport should not mix but the BCCI are past masters in the politics of sport and are world leaders when it comes to the business of sport. Their coffers are fuller than all others and if they wish to be a major power, they should assume the greater, wider responsibilities that come with that power.
It would be a scandal if that part of the world were to put its own interests first. India has the perfect opportunity to show it does care about more than just the money.
Should the BCCI take a political stand?
Posted 1 week, 1 day ago in Zimbabwe cricket
Commenting on the move to revoke Zimbabwe's Full Member status, Anand Vasu in the Hindustan Times asks why should the BCCI take a stand when other boards have followed government directives? He highlights two problems in case the Indian board and the ICC indeed do the right thing and strip Zimbabwe of its status.
Firstly, if the ICC was to go after Zimbabwe cricket for its political problems, then what will happen of their plans to take cricket to China and USA, one country with a woeful human rights record at home and another which holds hundreds indefinitely without any rights whatsoever at an off-shore detention centre?
Secondly, Morgan’s taking the moral high ground is a touch disingenuous, for the ECB has made its move only after receiving a letter from their Culture, Media and Sport secretary, thereby safeguarding them from the $2 million fine that the ICC could have levied had they unilaterally snapped ties with Zimbabwe.
Hussey vs Hussey
Posted 1 week, 1 day ago in Australian cricket
Alex Brown of the Sydney Morning Herald catches up with the Hussey brothers, Michael and David, and reveals that they were competitive even as children.
The Husseys make no attempt to sugar-coat the situation. As children, adolescents and even young adults, the brothers didn't care much for each other. Acerbity and antagonism marked their relationship. The Bradys, they weren't.
"I just felt as a kid everything was competitive - in the backyard, playing cards , playing dice, whatever," Michael said. "I'd generally lose my temper, because he'd try to bend the rules a bit, and I'd try to drive him into the dirt. We weren't friends, definitely not. I just saw him as the enemy and had to win. And he was much the same coming from the other way."
Michael does not use the term "enemy" flippantly. The older and more naturally gifted of the brothers, Michael viewed David not so much a brother, but an opportunity to flex his athletic superiority. And for David, Michael represented a figure to be defeated by any means necessary, underhanded or otherwise.
Brown also meets Andrew Symonds, who talks about how he tries to deal with being a celebrity, as well as his cricketing prowess. Click here to read the article.
June 27, 2008
Collingwood disappoints
Posted 1 week, 2 days ago in English cricket
Geoffrey Boycott, in his column in the Telegraph, joins the chorus of those criticising Paul Collingwood for going ahead with the controversial run-out appeal against New Zealand’s Grant Elliott, and recalls an incident during his debut Test.
It was so obvious that Paul Collingwood should have called Grant Elliott back after the New Zealander had collided with Ryan Sidebottom after setting off for a quick single.He should have done it instantly. That's part of the spirit of cricket. It's all there, in the preamble to the Laws, written by the great Colin Cowdrey. And if Collingwood hasn't read it, as an England captain, that's a major oversight.
I remember a similar incident in my first Test, against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1964. Neil Hawke ran into Freddie Titmus and knocked him over. But when Hawke threw the ball to Wally Grout, the wicketkeeper, Grout threw it right back to him without breaking the stumps. That's an Australian team we're talking about, a team who do not give an inch to anyone.
Writing in The Times, Richard Hobson believes that Collingwood has suffered a stain to his reputation that will take some expunging.
By apologising immediately after the game he scores points for admitting a mistake. We should take him at his word and accept that it was meant sincerely rather than a public relations exercise. Yet the fact that, under pressure, he took such a flawed decision in the first place raises major questions about his ability to lead the side.
However, writing from the opposite side of the world, and the opposite point of view, David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald believes that Collingwood has been unfairly singled out in an era when the spirit of cricket has long since lost its meaning.
Had the positions been reversed, would Daniel Vettori have reached a different decision? New Zealand would be wise to keep their own counsel on any issues of spirit. They have a few skeletons rattling about in the cupboard down the years.
Certainly Vettori's predecessor, Stephen Fleming, was no shrinking violet when it came to playing hardball. Like it or not, this is the age where you make use of any advantage you can crib.
Elsewhere, the Guardian's Lawrence Booth seeks out the opinions of former cricketers on the controversial run out.
June 26, 2008
Grenada prepares for more hostile invaders
Posted 1 week, 2 days ago in Australian cricket
Alex Brown takes a drive around Grenada, which is hosting the second Australia-West Indies ODI on Friday, and writes in the Sydney Morning Herald of an island of struggle – “a land witness to many a hostile invader”.
At Carib's Leap, a sheer cliff face on the north coast, a memorial has been erected to the band of 40 Carib Indians who, having been cornered by French colonisers in 1651, jumped to their deaths rather than surrendered. Further south, Grenadians of an older vintage sit around the foreshore of Carneage Harbour and regale tourists with tales of the US invasion of 1983.
Still, there is a more obvious example of Grenada's struggles with an invasionary force, albeit a meteorlogical one. A stroll around the bustling capital of St George's reveals a city still recovering from Hurricane Ivan, which pulverised the island on September 7, 2004. Even now, almost four years on, buildings lie in rubble, churches remain gutted and rooves are in disrepair. The winds may have eased, but the battle remains ongoing for the locals.
Imran disagrees with Malik's two-year tenure
Posted 1 week, 3 days ago in Pakistan cricket
|
|
|
Shoaib Malik should be handed the captaincy on a series-by-series basis, insists Imran Khan
© AFP
|
|
While impressed with the 'young and fearless' Indian side under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain, is not too pleased with the state of affairs across the border. He writes in the Hindustan Times:
The same optimism cannot be shown as far as Pakistan is concerned. Right from the moment Inzamam-ul Haq forfeited the Test match in England, Pakistan cricket has gone from one crises to another — World Cup exit, drug scandals, Shoaib Akhtar’s ban and now Mohammad Asif’s detention.
...
At a time when talent is hard to find in Pakistan, Asif’s case has been a serious blow to the team. I am also not in favour of Shoaib Malik being given a two-year tenure as captain. Even when I was established as captain, I was always made captain only for the series ahead. Such long-term planning is another example of how high-handed and arbitrarily cricket is run in Pakistan.
A moral stand on Zimbabwe
Posted 1 week, 3 days ago in Zimbabwe cricket
The ECB has suspended all bilateral agreements with the Zimbabwe board and cancelled England's tour to Zimbabwe next summer and the Guardian's Andy Bull welcomes the decision for sport and politics are inseparable, so the government's stance on Zimbabwe is the least one should expect.
It is a damning indictment of the previous regime's handling of the issue that the letter from Andy Burnham to the ECB stating that England should not be playing cricket against Zimbabwe should seem to be so refreshingly direct an approach. That clarity of thought and action is the very least we should expect from a government which has been so keen to use sporting success for its own political advancement. Having been repeatedly shafted by the government's wavering over the years, it's childishly satisfying that one England player urinated in the garden of No10 Downing Street, while another called Blair a wally during their drunken post-Ashes party.
In the Times Mike Atherton criticises the ECB for taking the decision to suspend ties with Zimbabwe only after being assured there would be no financial penalties.
After receiving Burnham’s letter, the ECB released a statement stating its concern over the “lack of human rights in Zimbabwe”. Only now, after years of human rights abuses, has the ECB found the courage to speak. It appears that it is fine to be moral, as long as it does not cost you money.
Atherton has another piece in the same paper, this one about his embarrassment at a photo of him taken with Robert Mugabe:
Why should I be embarrassed about a 12-year-old photograph? Partly, I think, because of my slightly deferential body language. For someone who has never been impressed by status, power or money, it’s puzzling to see that I’m not quite bowing, but nearly.
Also read Sambit Bal's piece in cricinfo.com urging the ICC to end years of indifference by suspending Zimbabwe's Full-Member status.
Messing with the spirit of the game
Posted 1 week, 3 days ago in English cricket
|
|
|
Paul Collingwood took the easy option
© Getty Images
|
|
The England-New Zealand ODI at The Oval was marred by controversy as Paul Collingwood decided not to recall Grant Elliot who had been run out after colliding mid-pitch with Ryan Sidebottom. Richard Hobson writes in the Times that Collingwood took the easy option:
England pride themselves on being a tough side, but there is a huge difference between making themselves hard to beat and messing with the spirit of the game. Collingwood sought victory at any price, little realising that its value would be diminished.
According to Mike Atherton, writing in the same paper, England lost the match, but, more important, a good deal of self-respect in that moment.
Imagine, though, if England had won. It is difficult to imagine how Collingwood could have apologised with a straight face; difficult, too, to envisage how the New Zealanders might have felt able to accept it. When Graeme Swann’s errant throw missed the stumps and evaded four England fielders, the cricketing gods rendered a judgment of their own.
Simon Hughes writes in the Telegraph that when a man as decent as Paul Collingwood gets drawn into temporarily seeking a win at all costs, it is just further confirmation that cricket has sacrificed any right to the moral high ground.
Meanwhile Mark Richardson, the former New Zealand opener, said the collision was "harmless". He said to stuff.co.nz:
Richardson said New Zealand should be careful about "throwing stones" and being hypocritical.
He said the incident was similar to when Sri Lanka's Muralitharan was run out during last year's tour to New Zealand. Muralitharan had walked down the pitch to celebrate his partner Sangakkara's century, while the ball was being returned to the wicketkeeper, and he was dismissed. "We were happy to take that decision," he said.
Paul Holden, the Sideline Slogger, feels there are differences in the two incidents.
I agree that it was a very aggressive move for New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming not to recall Murali, and was arguably a contravention of the spirit of cricket. However, let’s also remember that it was also pretty dumb. In this morning’s case, unlike Murali, Elliott was not at fault. He was not being stupid or naive, he was injured and had been flattened, and unlike the Sri Lankan he could not and unlike the Sri Lankan he could not be accused of failing to value his wicket sufficiently.
The New Zealand Herald has a collection of English press reactions from the incident.
Border's baggy green up for sale
Posted 1 week, 3 days ago in Australian cricket
Allan Border’s baggy green is being auctioned in Melbourne and it’s expected to fetch around AUS$20000. Phillip Derriman has the full story in the Sydney Morning Herald:
This would be a bit higher than the recent going rate for baggy greens, but, given that it is reportedly the first of Border's baggy greens to go on sale, the price may well be realised. When and how this status was achieved is the subject of an interesting new book, The Baggy Green, co-written by Michael Fahey and Mike Coward.
A table in the book listing baggy green sale prices year by year suggests that collectors have lately been attaching almost as much value to the baggy green as the players who wear it. Average prices have shot up in the past few years, although no recent sale has come close to matching the $425,000 paid five years ago for Don Bradman's 1948 baggy green.
June 25, 2008
Zimbabwe left in isolation by long overdue response
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago in Zimbabwe cricket
Cricket South Africa should be applauded for suspending its bilateral agreement with Zimbabwe Cricket, a move that should finally force cricket's administrators to abandon their association with the country, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.
It is about time a group of administrators took action in response to what has and continues to take place in Zimbabwe; it is only a shame that it was left to CSA, Zimbabwe's closest allies, to make the decision and not the British Government, ICC or ECB. Zimbabwe has been a maggot-infested open wound sitting on the face of cricket for quite some time, causing huge embarrassment to anyone who places the moral integrity of the game ahead of money, the commodity cricket cannot get enough of these days. One of the only non-Zimbabweans to have taken a moral stand in recent times is Nasser Hussain, the former England captain. Hussain refused to take his side to Zimbabwe at the 2003 World Cup, a brave and admirable move that ultimately ended England's chances of winning the tournament.
Next week the ICC executive will sit down and discuss the future of Zimbabwe. As their choices narrow, Cricinfo's Martin Williamson looks at the three options on the table.
It's not all about slap, bang and wallop
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago in Commentary
|
|
|
But what Saturday's match showed vividly was that the longer form of one-day cricket, although by nature restricted compared with Test cricket, still gives allowance for the true fluctuations of a real match
© Getty Images
|
|
Two contrasting limited-overs matches this week have caused me to rethink and wonder whether, in terms of the entertainment being offered (forget the dosh for a moment, if you can), Twenty20, cricket's zeitgeist, is being hyped beyond its unquestionable worth, and that by contrast 50-overs-per-side ODI cricket is being written off prematurely as a relatively unattractive option," writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.
Then came Saturday's riveting international at Bristol. For a while, as the Black Caps scrabbled to get a grip on things, it looked like being a replica of the midweek domestic non-event. But they rallied, played with purpose, got a workable total, and in turn made England struggle, running out worthy winners. Some commentators, more attuned to biff, bang and wallop apparently, declared this a grinding bore. To me, it was a match of ebb and flow, in helpful bowling conditions for a change, and thoroughly absorbing, I would have thought, for anyone interested in cricket beyond a very superficial level. Certainly it didn't look as if the ground had emptied as Paul Collingwood dug deep to try and haul his side over the line.
Fuller Pilch's grave blocks concert hall plan
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago in English cricket
Fuller Pilch, a Victorian cricketing hero who bamboozled opponents with a pioneering style of batting that became known as the “Pilch poke”, is proving as troublesome in death as he was in life, writes Jack Malvern in the Times.
Building work in the churchyard of St Gregory’s, in Canterbury, cannot proceed until his remains, along with the remains of about 200 others, have been disinterred and reburied away from the site of the proposed music centre. The trouble is, the planners have no idea where he actually is.
Goodbye Jane McGrath
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago in Australian cricket
|
|
|
Glenn McGrath with his children at his wife's memorial service
© Getty Images
|
|
Australia farewelled Jane McGrath in Sydney today, with Glenn McGrath wiping away tears and his children blowing bubbles, according to news.com.au. Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden were among the players to pay their respects.
To see the photos of what happened outside the service go here.
Long Room celebrations
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago in Indian Cricket
It was 25 years ago that India won the World Cup at Lord's and the team of '83 has planned a get-together at the Long Room to celebrate the triumph. In the Hindustan Times Sunil Gavaskar recounts how the idea of a Long Room party came to him:
Last year at the ICC chief executives committee meeting, I was leaving the venue that is next to the Long Room and found a table-plan for that evening's charity dinner. Going through the list, I found there were some famous names who were to attend the dinner and as I checked the dates, it was, thankfully, in June, when India won the World Cup 24 years earlier. It struck me that it would be fantastic to celebrate the silver jubilee of that fantastic win with a dinner at the Long Room.
Kapil Dev relives some of his memories of that day in an interview with the Kolkata-based Telegraph.
I’d been somewhat upset on seeing a significant amount of grass on the Lord’s wicket... Out of disgust, I even told some of my teammates that the conditions just weren’t fair... The state of the wicket also put paid to all the planning we’d done the previous day. .. Soon enough, though, I realised that we had to make the best of the conditions... We didn’t have a choice... Then, with the ball swinging like nobody’s business, we felt we’d definitely be in with more than a shout that afternoon. We had a ball, as it turned out.
R Mohan writes of the rivalry that existed between Kapil and Gavaskar in the Asian Age.
More stuff in the Hindu. V. V. Subrahmanyam writes on the relationship between the two stars.
“Come on, Sunil, it’s time you score runs”. That’s exactly the then captain and India’s greatest all-rounder ever Kapil Dev did in the 1983 World Cup edition to Gavaskar. Then the retort: “Come on, maan, if you feel I am not good enough to play, drop me as you have done in the league matches.” A visibly startled Kapil was taken aback by the reaction but fortunately England captain Bob Willis slipped into the dressing room to invite Kapil to come out for toss to save further embarrassing moments for these two cricketing greats.
In 1983, Indians were not pleased with me at all, writes David Frith in DNA. I had written in Wisden Cricket Monthly that unless India knuckled down to the one-day game it might be better if they withdrew from future World Cups.
So I sat in the press-box at Lord’s, with a glass of red wine at hand, and devoured the offending words, risking poisoning by newsprint but glad nonetheless to cleanse my soul. I was actually genuinely delighted for India, and began to realise that probably my words had been penned in the hope that they would now take their task seriously. Why else would I have attempted to do a discreet banghra of my own in the hotel foyer? The pleasant tailpiece to all this came with a letter from my correspondent: he referred to me now as “a gentleman and a sportsman”. He had not even expected his first letter to be published. He even apologised for the intemperate tone of some of his words, and invited me to join him for a drink if ever I was in New York. I still hope that day may come. A decent drink is hopelessly spoiled when mixed with printed paper.
Also read Cricinfo's full coverage of the World Cup win.
June 24, 2008
Riches await Ali, if he wants them
Posted 1 week, 5 days ago in English cricket
I think he felt talent alone would be enough to get him to the top and it is only now he is realising that areas such as discipline, fitness and mental strength will play a pivotal role in moving him from promising youngster to top-class performer.
That is the assessment by Nick Knight of his former Warwickshire team-mate, Moeen Ali, the 21-year-old batsman who now plays for Worcestershire. Knight explores Ali's potential and future in The Guardian, where he says he still has the ability to play for England - and could become a "very successful and wealthy player".
June 23, 2008
The joy of six: cricket innovations
Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in Commentary
From games of Twisti-Twosti to scraps of tarpaulin, Lawrence Booth lists six moments of invention that really changed the sport.
1) The googly
2) Bodyline
See the full list in the Guardian.
An English rose who inspired
Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in Australian cricket
Writing in the Courier Mail, Robert Craddock shares his memories on the relationship between Glenn McGrath and his wife, Jane, who succumbed to cancer yesterday.
Once on a South African tour, Glenn made her heart melt when he told her how lonely he was and how much he was missing her. "And I've gone into the kitchen and put the kettle on and put the news on, and the sport was on," Jane said. "And there he is coming down this water chute in his swimmers with his arms in the air going 'wooohooohooo' and I could have absolutely killed him. "I rang him straight back and said: 'I'd hate to see you when you're happy if that's depressed'. He hasn't done that again."
... "I've decided to take up the piano and learn one song . . . for Jane," said McGrath, who later bought his own piano.The song was Richard Marx's heart-tugging melody Right Here Waiting For You.A cold, ruthless fast-bowling enforcer on the field, McGrath had a soft, romantic touch beyond the boundary when it came to his wife and family.
Also, have a look at a 2004 Enough Rope interview where Jane and Glenn McGrath spoke of how they met and dealt with the devastating news of her being diagnosed with cancer.
You met in 1995. When you first met, did the sparks fly?
Glenn McGrath: Yes. Sort of think back to a few years ago now. A nice little nightclub in Hong Kong called Joe Bananas. We've often thought about heading back there sometime, it was an interesting place to meet, to say the least. But, some good memories.
... Jane McGrath: ... We were walking through Cronulla, and people were shouting, "Hey, Glenn," and "Oooh, ah," and I thought, "God, he's a popular chap. He's got lots of mates." And that was the bit... I just thought he was a popular bloke, had a lot of friends, and then we went to a friend of his that were having a barbecue, and the girl said, "So, what's it like going out with Glenn McGrath?" And I said, "What's it like going out with your boyfriend?" And she goes, "Yeah, but Jane, Glenn's a superstar!" And I was just dumbstruck. I said, "What do you mean, a 'superstar'? I said, "Like Ryan Giggs?" He's a soccer player in the UK. And she's, "Jane, Glenn's as famous as Robert De Niro." Which he's never let me forget!
How John Bracewell threw away the script
Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in New Zealand cricket
In the New Zealand Herald Dylan Cleaver lets rip against the recent New Zealand debacles.
New Zealand are now in the process of writing a grim tale: How to turn a sport from boom to bust in five easy steps.
1. Make the players look like money-hungry frauds
Whichever way you slice it up, the Indian Premier League ended up being an almost unprecedented PR disaster for New Zealand Cricket.
2. Have a coach who doesn't know when to talk or when to shut up
Boys vs Women
Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in West Indies cricket
Ezra Stuart of the Nation thinks the Barbados women's team being allowed to play in an Under-15 schools competition is a bad idea.
While the women may benefit from match play prior to the regional tournament in Jamaica, it could be detrimental to the boys in the long run.
Just imagine, hard-back women playing against little first and second form boys. Will the lads handle the taunts from their peers after being struck for a number of fours and sixes or being dismissed for a "duck" by a woman?
This could have adverse effects on these boys and such an unnecessary development is one which school principals and parents should address, especially since Rule 20 of the competition states: "Only schoolboys under the age of 15 years on September 1 in the current year are eligible to play"
Memories of '83
Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in Indian Cricket
Harsha Bhogle, in his column in the Indian Express, writes about his memories of India's historic triumph in the 1983 World Cup.
And, as I read through an amateur analysis I had made for the Deccan Chronicle on the 4th of June, 1983, I discover that Kim Hughes had labelled India the dark horses. The fan in me had tried to make out a case for India to qualify for the semi-final and, the day after the article had appeared, an elderly man laughed at my youthful optimism. “Semi-final, ha!” he said as if I had suggested that the left might go along with the nuclear deal.
Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN catches up with the legends of that victory.
Sandeep Patil: When we started the tour and room partners were assigned, I was lucky but my room partner was so unlucky to have me as a room partner. Fortunately or unfortunately it was Sunil Gavaskar, who shared the room with me. That was the reason why Gavaskar did not score runs. I kept him awake, I kept him out and I don't know how and where he used to spend time. I clearly remember me bombarding him with questions. In fact, I asked him if would be able to even see the balls of West Indians. He asked me what do you mean by 'the balls of the West Indians?' I told him the cricket balls that will be bowled by Marshall. I had not faced West Indians then and Sunil told me that you have faced Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson; you will be able to see the balls. I saw the ball and I hit a six.
|
