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Andy Zaltzman’s BBC show, “Yes It’s The Ashes”
By Will yesterday, about 9ish, No Comments; be the first!
Andy Zaltzman - comic, Bugler, cricket blogger - starts his own BBC radio show tomorrow, at 11am on BBC Radio Five Live. It’s called either “Yes It’s The Ashes” or “Andy Zaltzman’s Alternative Ashes”, I’m not sure which.
He’s slightly lining his underwear about it, but I’m sure it’ll be sharp, different and entertaining - so lend your ears tomorrow morning, or download the podcast shortly afterwards.
No Comments »Ashes YouTube clips
By Will yesterday, mid-afternoon, No Comments; be the first!
A potted cartoon history; memories of 2005; and1953; and the Bodyline tour. You want stellar performances too? How about Jim Laker’s 19 wickets in 1956? Or Michael Vaughan’s 183 at the SCG in 2003? Or David Boon murdering Once In A Lifetime? And to finish it all off, some of the greatest Ashes catches ever.
Courtesy of The Guardian.
No Comments »Proof that Bob Willis has utterly lost the plot
By Will yesterday, mid-morning, No Comments; be the first!
Further to his extraordinary alter ego, Bobby’s Dazzlers, I’ve further proof that Bob Willis has now utterly lost it. Saj Mahmood just lost his wicket when Brett Lee hammered one in, the ball smacking him on his back then rebounding into his stumps.
And here’s Bob’s version. Get this man his own show immediately.
No Comments »Taylor’s all-round class powers England win
By Will 3 days ago, in the wee hours, No Comments; be the first!
Sarah Taylor’s sublime 120 led England to another convincing win over Australia
Taylor’s all-round class powers England win - Read the rest of the piece at Cricinfo.
No Comments »Hoggard on Vaughan
By Will 4 days ago, late at night, No Comments; be the first!
No Comments »Before I crack on with my eulogy to Michael Vaughan, there is one thing I’ve got to get off my chest: he ain’t a Yorkshire lad, he’s from fricking Lancashire!
Taylor hundred powers England
By Will 4 days ago, about 9ish, No Comments; be the first!
Sarah Taylor stroked a fluent third one-day ton in the second of five ODIs against Australia
Taylor hundred powers England - Read the rest of the piece at Cricinfo.
No Comments »Hair company boss sets Camden council Ashes wager
By Will 5 days ago, in the late evening, 2 Comments »
This made me chuckle. The Ashes always produces little news gems like this, so I whacked it into our Buzz blog with feverish intent.
2 Comments »He may not be playing for Australia any longer, but the shadow Shane Warne casts still looms large – as, indeed, does his face.
A six-foot high poster of Warne appeared on a bricked-up window of Advanced Hair Studios, the company to whom Warne is their now-hirsute ambassador. With depressing predictability, Camden Council have told them to take it down, but they hadn’t banked on the chairman of the company being an Australian, and a feverish cricket fan to boot.
So Carl Howell has set the council a charitable challenge. “I’m prepared to offer the council a wager,” he said. “If England win, we will take it down and pay £5,000 to the Camden Mayor’s Charity Trust Fund. If we [Australia] win, we can keep the poster up. The history between the Aussies and England is based upon having a good laugh together at the end of the series regardless of who wins.”
Councils are not, however, renowned for their sense of cheer and jollity, and it remains to be seen whether the poster will be pulled by the fun police.
Warne, never one to let a jibe pass, said: “Camden Council should be relieved I’m not playing”.
Cricket bridges gaps in communities in New York
By Will 5 days ago, in the late evening, No Comments; be the first!
Talking of New York, I put this up on Beyond the Test World an hour ago. Nice little story.
No Comments »Police Officer Jeff Thomson from the NYPD first got in contact with us a couple of weeks ago, and since then his force have staged a family day to launch their season.
But it is cricket’s global appeal that can forge ties locally. With the game so popular in south asia and the Caribbean, those two communities in New York who sometimes struggle to integrate are given a vehicle to do just that.
“The Muslim community is not a community we had great outreach to in the past,” said Deputy Inspector Amin Kosseim, who runs special projects for the department’s Community Affairs Bureau.
And so the police decided to experiment with cricket, a game with a huge following across the Caribbean and South Asia. The response has cut across community lines. Tuesday’s opening match pitted the SuperStars — made up largely of players from Guyana — against the KnightRiders, a predominantly Pakistani team.
Where and how to watch the Ashes in New York
By Will 5 days ago, in the late evening, 4 Comments »
Sadly, I don’t have the answer. This is a plea that someone might know. New York must have hundreds of cricket fans and Nancy needs your very urgent help:
How about watching the 2009 Ashes series (well, parts of it) live on TV at a bar, or other public place, in NYC? Daily coverage begins at 6 am, our time - know of anyplace that’s making a special effort?
Hurry - she hasn’t much time to plan her days off before the series of all series gets underway…
4 Comments »A day of British sporting success
By Will 5 days ago, in the late evening, 2 Comments »
What a day it’s been. Andy Murray spending hours and hours under the roof - the second player in history to complete a match under the new, modern, brilliant covering at Wimbledon’s centre court - preceded by England Women’s thrashing of Australia.
The ladies deserve publicity, at last. The women’s game has implored media and public alike to come and watch them, but really, only in the last six months have they warranted it. Only since England stretched their lead ahead of the pack. When I went to Lord’s in 2006 I was impressed by Claire Taylor - who isn’t? - but the overall impression was underwhelming. Not so now. They field like tigers, bowl quickly and with supreme skill, and this England team are highly gifted and mostly still very young. England’s wicketkeeper, Sarah Taylor, is 20-years-old and pulled off an oustanding snaffle to her right, along with a stumping and 68 authoritative runs. Holly Colvin is a year younger, yet a veteran it seems. It’s all damn encouraging and exciting, and how often have we had cause to say that about women’s cricket? Not often.
Then Murray iced the cake with the gutsiest of performances, though was doorstepped by the BBC before he’d even flung his bags over his shoulder. Inevitably, he showed all the enthusiasm and charisma of an envelope, but we won’t hold that against him.
Unless he loses, of course.
2 Comments »Brunt and Taylor lead clinical England win
By Will 5 days ago, about 9ish, 1 Comment »
Women’s cricket has struggled for publicity and attention for years, but if England’s world champions continue to produce performances like today’s, beating Australia by nine wickets, they will have to get used to the limelight and subsequent accolades
Brunt and Taylor lead clinical England win - Read the rest of the piece at Cricinfo.
1 Comment »Vaughan to retire
By Will 6 days ago, in the late afternoon, 1 Comment »
To steal Nasser Hussain’s comment today: Vaughan, a wonderful timer of a cricket ball, appears to have timed this announcement rather well too. Ignored by the England selectors last week, it seemed highly likely he’d call it a day, and we can expect a formal announcement this week to end the career of England’s greatest-ever captain.
Farewell, Michael. I hope he is put to good use, either by England or by other sporting bodies in his retirement.
1 Comment »The Duckworth Lewis Method on Frank Skinner
By Will 6 days ago, in the wee hours, 2 Comments »
I’m a bit of a Frank Skinner fan, and have been pestering his agent for an interview for several weeks to talk about his love of cricket. Alas, you’ll have to wait a little longer for that, but in the meantime you can listen to the Duckworth Lewis Method on his Saturday show.
Their album is available to pre-order. Publicists, agents, similar people - whack me over a copy and we’ll advertise the pants off it.
2 Comments »Australia: flat, unconvincing, undecided
By Will Saturday, last week, 3 Comments »
Four days against Sussex hasn’t helped Ricky Ponting decide on his lineup for the first Test. Have a read of my colleague’s bulletin, the whirlwind and unstoppable force that is Alex Brown:
These are worrying times for the Australians. A flat final day performance on a flat Hove pitch has given Ricky Ponting few signposts as to the composition of his best bowling attack 11 days out from the first Test in Cardiff. Only seven Sussex wickets fell on Saturday - a concerning development for a team containing five specialist bowlers - as Carl Hopkinson, making his maiden first-team appearance this season, raised a stirring century that ensured a draw, and almost forced a famous victory.
The only comforting thought for Ponting ahead of the practice match against Ian Bell’s England Lions on Wednesday is the availability of Mitchell Johnson, the ace in Australia’s pack. Peter Siddle will almost certainly partner him in Cardiff - Tim Nielsen, the Australian coach, described him as a “lock” selection on Saturday - but the make-up of the attack thereafter remains unclear and, in the absence of strong performances in Worcester, could be determined by conditions on the day.
The lack of a frontline spinner has upset their balance something horrible. Intriguing, wonderful, fascinating week coming up.
3 Comments »Jackson’s dead. Let’s talk about Hauritz and Flintoff
By Will Thursday, last week, 3 Comments »
Yeah, so Michael Jackson’s dead. Why isn’t the world talking about the big news of the day, that Nathan Hauritz - Australia’s only specialist spinner - was carted all around Hove like a rag doll in a strong breeze?
I can’t help find it funny. Sure, Australia may blitz us with their four-pronger at Cardiff, but the fact remains they have a hopeless spin attack for the first time in years and years. Most of my life was spent worrying about Warne and his flipper and what it did to our hapless batsmen, so spare me this brief foray into chuckling at his rather less scary replacement.
I’m sure he fields and bats better than Monty, though.
In other news, Alastair Cook cracked a 100 from 57 balls - yes, Alastair Cook of all people - while Flintoff’s found form with 93 from about four balls. I watched a bit of Wimbledon when I got home this evening, and in it Leyton Hewitt was (inevitably) asked about the Ashes. This damned, brilliant series just gets under everyone’s skins. It’s omnipresent - I almost prefer the build-up and the anticipation to the matches themselves. Much in the same way that Christmas Eve was always better than the 25th…
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