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By Richard Seeckts 4 days ago, in the early morning, No Comments; be the first!
MCC’s latest missive to members begins, “As members will be aware, this year’s match between MCC and the Champion County, Durham, will be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.”
Without a hint of irony, it continues, “There will be no ground admission charge for the match…..”
No mention of the extra 3,397 miles members will have to travel beyond Lord’s, although they thoughtfully offer a MCC Supporters’ Tour for a piffling £1,885 per person (£600 single supplement).
Er…thanks a lot.
No Comments »Test Mach Special
By Will 6 days ago, in the late evening, 2 Comments »
There was a frivolous and fun game on Twitter a few months ago, the hashtag being #radio4minus1letter, and they produced some gems.
“lose ends” an invited panel have to find the end of the sellotape roll ·
A look at Judeo-Roman history through one woman’s obsession with a charioteer: Woman’s Hur
The Shipping Forecat – a daily nautical report from a feline stowaway
But this is particularly good. Because it’s about cricket.
Geoffrey Boycott and Blowers travel supersonic in the world\’s fastest planes – Test Mach Special !
Suggestions welcome…
2 Comments »Idiocy epitomised
By Will Tuesday, last week, 2 Comments »
A couple of weeks ago, a friend went ballistically excited on me having just met Shahid Afridi. She is easily pleased, but nevertheless I began briefly to put aside my cynicism over Afridi. All that talent, bravado and bombast contrasting with, well, his inner demons. Will it go for six or will he sky it? That, in essence, seemed to be the way he conducted his life, not just his batting.
Captaincy could have changed him; he’s no spring chicken these days, after all, and Pakistan have a lot of impressionable young players to whom Afridi must be something of a demi-god. And then he bites a cricket ball with all the cameras zoned in on him, discarding years of experience, dispensing with maturity and utterly wringing his hands of professional responsibility, personal pride and common human sense. Were it not so ludicrously stupid, it would be a beautiful thing to watch in years to come.
Of all the players to do it, it had to be Afridi. Of all the countries to be afflicted by an act of such lunacy, it just had to be Pakistan. They are taking hold of this decade and ensuring they begin it right where they left off in the noughties. The only redeeming feature from the whole escapade was (apart from the ensuing nauseous hilarity that it even took place) Mark Nicholas’s sober, yet startled, opinion. “Woops. Wwwwwwwwoops!”
Idiocy epitomised. Thank you, Afridi, and a very good night.
2 Comments »Cricinfo now supports Facebook Connect
By Will Tuesday, last week, No Comments; be the first!
A little project I’ve been working on. When you go to a Cricinfo story which is commentable, you can leave your thoughts while logged in as a Facebook user. It’s one of a raft of features we have lined up that we hope will make talking with Cricinfo, and our other sites, a lot easier.
No Comments »Good luck, Ottis
By Will Sunday, last week, No Comments; be the first!
Ottis Gibson has left his position as England’s bowling coach to become the head coach of West Indies, according to the UK’s Daily Telegraph.
West Indies slay their coaches like a scythe lopping dandelion heads. Another poor mug into the fold, then, for the most poisoned of chalices. Good luck, Ottis.
No Comments »The female Bradman
By Rich Abbott Sunday, last week, No Comments; be the first!
The golden rule of Australian sports writing this week has been to point out that Andy Murray is Scottish, not English. I can only assume that failure to mention this fact – whether writing about tennis, cricket or Aussie rules football – is a sackable offence. That he’s unmistakably British, and a country who places much emphasis on place of birth is pinning its tennis hopes on the young shoulders of teens Tomic and Berman, neither of whom were born in Australia, are facts lost on this population, and, of course, I’m far too diplomatic to bring them up.
However, a piece by Melbourne-based Greg Baum did catch my eye – and not just for its Murray dig-free content. It marks the passing of an Australian Test great, about whom, I confess, I knew nothing.
Betty Wilson was know as “the female Bradman”, and with good reason – the great man himself was a fan. Averaging 57.46 with the bat, and 11.80 with the ball, her status as a genuine all-rounder is something of an understatement. Her CV includes a 77 minute century, a number of ‘firsts’ in women’s cricket – first to make a century and take 10 wickets in a match, first hat-trick – and the retrospective award of a baggy green cap. A career worth marking.
Maybe the next time an Aussie tells me I bowl like a girl during a game of beach cricket, I’ll take it as a compliment. Then again, maybe not.
No Comments »Australia win another World Cup
By Rich Abbott Sunday, last week, No Comments; be the first!
Australia have won the Under-19 World Cup. Of course they have. In doing so, they unearthed a host of promising performers – including the new Glenn McGrath – and demonstrated an eerily familiar ability to peak when it matters. Not bad for a team coached by an ex-member of Westlife. So, we can pin green and gold to the senior trophy for 2015 and 2019 (providing it still exists), right?
Well, yes, probably. However, a similar move after England’s Under-19 triumph in 1998 would not have proved wise. Here’s the team that defeated New Zealand in the final of that tournament:
SD Peters
RWT Key
PJ Franks
OA Shah
GP Swann (whatever happened to him?)
CP Schofield
GR Haywood
GR Napier
JC Powell
NJ Wilton
RJ Logan
Only three of that victorious mob could be said to have gone on to enjoy senior international careers of note, and both Key and Shah will feel they only offered glimpses of their best. By my reckoning, four of those players are no longer playing county cricket. Paul Franks is, but, as Andy Bull noted a few months back, his is arguably the most unfulfilled talent on the list.
Colt success does not always translate to the pinnacle of the game, and few things are guaranteed in cricket. However, young Mitchell Marsh and his team can console themselves with the fact that Australian dominance usually is.
No Comments »KP, Fred; talent, love, respect
By Will 1 month ago, No Comments; be the first!
Great piece from Andrew Miller on the differences in public perception of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff.
No Comments »Yet Pietersen’s devotion to excellence is the very same attribute that alienates him from a fickle British public. From the days of Henry Cooper through to Eddie the Eagle and Frank Bruno, plucky and personable underdogs have always trumped sportsmen with genuine claims to greatness.
“It is peculiar how Pietersen is portrayed,” says a media colleague who has worked with him at close quarters. “He claims not to read the papers but that is definitely not the case. He takes criticism very personally and he is certainly not happy about it. I suspect the South African link will never allow him to be the Freddie-esque man of the people he so craves to be.”
According to Paul Burnham, founder of the Flintoff-worshipping Barmy Army, Pietersen’s persona is a direct challenge, for better or worse, to everything that British sports fans hold dear. “At the moment we are what we are as a culture. Personally I love it and wouldn’t want to change it, even though it isn’t what you want if you want to win all the time,” he says. “Freddie is old school and England’s fans can relate to that, whereas Pietersen is probably the most misunderstood cricketer there is. He’s got a really friendly personality but for some reason people don’t like his body language. He exudes confidence but it comes across as arrogance.”
“I think Fred comes across exactly the same as me,” says Gough. “He’s a bit of a joker who likes a drink and he plays his cricket in the right spirit. KP is slightly different. He’d take a wine bar over a pub any day, and that’s not a knock at him. He just enjoys that buzz and that edge about being a top-class sportsman. But because he wasn’t brought up in this country he still doesn’t quite understand how things work and how people look upon celebrities. It can be a difficult place if you make it a difficult place.”
Indian Premier League live on Youtube
By Will 1 month ago, 3 Comments »
This caught everyone by surprise. The IPL will be streamed live on YouTube, a feat which could revolutionise the way sport is broadcast and consumed. If that’s too bold a statement, it will certainly have TV executives shifting uncomfortably in their leather-upholstered swivel chairs. Google are game-changers, and so is Lalit Modi – like him or loath him – so it’s a fascinating partnership. As a fan, I am over the moon and excited by the impact it could have on TV’s monopoly. This could open up the industry, certainly for live sporting events.
The only question which remains is whether they’ll run pre-roll ads or rely on Google Adsense.
3 Comments »An upside of the UDRS
By Will 1 month ago, 3 Comments »
I even hate the acronym. Anyway, my colleague Brydon Coverdale reports that the decision to have neutral umpires in Tests may be scrapped for the Ashes, so confident is the ICC in the UDRS. For all its flaws, this may be a welcome consequence of the system’s continued use.
The ICC could allow Australian and English umpires to stand in the Ashes series later this year as its confidence with the umpire decision review system continues to grow. Despite the controversial video-official judgments in the Johannesburg Test over the past few days, David Morgan, the ICC president, said the UDRS was proving successful enough for the ICC to consider scrapping the neutral-umpire system.
“The decision review system is making good progress,” Morgan told Cricinfo. “There have been problems at the Wanderers that I can’t go into because that’s being investigated by the International Cricket Council. But I think the progress with the DRS has been extremely good indeed, to the extent that I think we should be thinking about the best umpires being appointed to Test match cricket irrespective of whether they come from the participating teams or not.”
I have missed English umpires in English series. Fans (particularly in England, I felt) grew fond of their home umpires. Dickie Bird, Peter Willey, David Constant and, of course, David Shepherd all lent the game an air of fun, occasionally humour, but most of all authority. Players respected them. Perhaps it’s easier for an umpire of the same country to give one of “his” players a ticking off. Perhaps, too, players listen to those umpires more readily than they might an official from another, distant country.
I hope it happens.
3 Comments »Well done, Rich
By Will 1 month ago, 5 Comments »
Warm and hearty applause to Rich Abbott, a young and aspiring journalist-in-the-making who paid for his own fare out to South Africa and produced some damn fine copy for the blog.
More of the same from Australia please, Rich, before someone snaps you up. Three cheers. Hip hip.
5 Comments »Strauss deserves a break
By Rich Abbott 1 month ago, 2 Comments »
Not just from the cricket, but also from those criticising the move to rest him for the upcoming Bangladesh tour.
This time last year, England were in some disarray. Having waded through the debris of the Pietersen-Moores debacle, confirmation of their struggles was about to manifest itself in the form of a Test series defeat in the West Indies. The one plus of this trying period was the form of Andrew Strauss, which improved with his newly-acquired captaincy.
With the hundreds flowing – including three consecutive tons in the West Indies – he proved a strong and popular leader. His influence on the Ashes last summer was as great as Flintoff’s in 2005, and achieved without anywhere near the same level of help from his teammates. As England’s only reliable batsman at this time, he returned to the ODI set-up, in a move that will see him lead England at the next World Cup. In South Africa, England lost only two matches under his charge, but at last signs of weariness began to show – mainly in his batting.
He’s had a hell of a year, and but for him, England may have had the year from hell. With no commitments until the start of the county season, his batteries will be suitably recharged for another packed summer, not to mention the next Ashes, only ten months away.
The life of any England captain is finite. Strauss’s is likely to end through tear-stained eyes at some press conference in the future, and England need to prolong that date for as long as possible. Cook will have a chance to lead the side against Bangladesh, which makes sense, because as Atherton himself hints, it would be nice to have an indication that England have a replacement ready for when Strauss finally does call it a day.
2 Comments »Outclassed but not outfought
By Rich Abbott 1 month ago, 3 Comments »
That’s my assessment of England’s series, in a nutshell.
1-1. A lucky draw, should have been 3-1? Or, a plucky effort against a superior side? Only passed 300 in two out of seven innings? Or, only lost all 20 wickets in one out of four matches? There are several ways you can view this series.
What can’t be argued, is that that’s won two*, drawn one, lost one for the two Andys (not that Strauss could ever be an Andy) in Test series now. Improbably – out of series including Australia and South Africa – the defeat came last year against the West Indies.
England certainly aren’t winning for fun yet – only three Test wins in their last nine – but they’re proving difficult to beat, and building up a sizeable collection of final ball match saving efforts.
How was the series for you? And, with Bangladesh, Pakistan and Australia still to come this year, how would you assess England’s progress?
* One of those victories came at the start of the English summer in a two-match series against a group of cold and confused tourists masquerading as the West Indies cricket team.
3 Comments »Bowlers’ revenge
By Rich Abbott 1 month ago, No Comments; be the first!
As I boarded a British Airways flight to Cape Town three weeks ago, my excitement about gauging exactly how good this South African side is, was largely batsman-fuelled. But, as I prepare to leave the country, my thirst for excellence has mainly been quenched by bowlers.
An attack which begun the first Test featuring an arguably past-it veteran of 100 caps, a relative unknown, a young quick in indifferent form, a non-spinning spinner and no Dale Steyn, ended it with a young quick in inspired form, two handy debutants, a genuine allrounder-in-the-making and Dale Steyn. Not bad going for one month’s work.
The bowling of Steyn and Morkel in the Cape Town and Jo’burg Tests was thrilling to witness, and has an air of longevity about it. Morkel had played 20 Tests before this match, and with some success, but since the new year, his performance has matched his promise.
Skiddy pace and aggression at one end, bouncy pace and aggression at the other – South Africa now boast opening bowlers to match the quality of their strong batting line-up.
No Comments »Jo’burg, day four: SA level the series
By Rich Abbott 1 month ago, 2 Comments »
South Africa brought an excellent series to a close today, and in doing so added a touch more reality to the series scoreline.
Paul Collingwood was the sole reason to be cheerful for England fans, as the home side wrapped up proceedings before lunch. The Durham man was England’s life raft, but no one else was able to cling on with him. The South African supporters have a lot of respect for Collingwood – indeed, the ones I was sitting next to were unable to relax until he was out, and he fell for the ninth wicket. They admire his fighting mentality, and, with Smith, Kallis and Boucher in their team, can be considered experts on the subject. On a highlights programme for the day one action, a home commentator even described Collingwood as “the dangerman of the England side” – testament to both his form this series, and an outsider’s view of his importance to the team.
Pietersen’s forty minutes at the crease were in keeping with his form since Centurion, and his dismissal brought Ian Bell into the action. It says much for his form this series that he brought with him genuine hope, but the examination of character and reflexes that he received from Morkel proved too rigorous – as it would have done for most batsmen.
Ironically, at the end of a long tour, it is England’s two South Africans whose minds seemed to be focussed on home. Both Pietersen and Trott have demonstrated a strange metal detachment from proceedings at the Wanderers.
It’s hard to believe that this was only the third time South Africa have taken 20 wickets in a match in their last seven Tests, and only their second win in that time. But the past year has been something of a transition period for their attack. By successfully blooding De Wet, McLaren and Parnell in this series, they have found cover for the experience and wickets lost in the departure of Makhaya Ntini. The holy grail as far as their bowling attack goes, would be to turn JP Duminy into a genuine allrounder, thus being able to dispense with Paul Harris and finding an off-spinner to utilise the pitch marks left by Parnell’s narrow bowling run-up.
That may or may not happen, but to an extent, it doesn’t matter – the recent form of Morne Morkel, who was quiet last year against Australia, suggests that South Africa have found a worthy partner for Dale Steyn. Aptly, the twin pace threat shared the man of the match award, but at the end of a series, the feeling with those two, especially the less-established Morkel, is that this is just the beginning.
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