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ian-chappell
Sehwag the new Bradman?
By Will 2 months ago, 10 Comments »
A slightly sensationalistic headline for Ian Chappell’s latest column at Cricinfo, but he has statistics to back up the outlandish claim:
10 Comments »Sehwag has often said he doesn’t think too much when he’s batting. A wise man. After years of speculation about what, apart from his enormous skill, made Sir Donald Bradman so great, I’ve come to the conclusion that a crucial attribute was his ability to bat with an uncluttered mind. That’s not all Sehwag has in common with Bradman. They are the only batsmen to surpass 290 three times in Test cricket. They also comfortably have the best strike rate among the high scorers of their generation. This leads to an interesting thought on batsmanship: should greater consideration be given to stroke production rather than technique in moulding young batsmen? After all, efficient run-scoring is not just a statistical exercise, it’s the first rung on the climb to victory
The longest spat
By Will 3 years ago, at the end of October, 2 Comments »
I keep meaning to praise Ian Botham and Ian Chappell’s continued spat which reared its cheerful head the other day. Botham attacked Chappell in his book; Chappell heard about it and responded to a local radio station. And loop. I’m going to steal the quotes from Rob Steen’s blog as I’m too lazy to find them elsewhere (thanks Rob):
The way Mallett tells it, when the two Ians, by now fellow commentators, were interviewed on Channel 9 in Australia a decade or two later, “the bad blood between them was obviousâ€. Recalled Chappell: “At the end of it, I’ll never forget, Ray [Martin] said to Botham, ‘Oh well, you’ll still have a drink at the end of a day’s play.’
“And Botham said, ‘Yeah, that’s cricket, mate. You sit down and have a beer, or wine.’
“Ray turned to me and said, ‘You’ll be having a drink with him after the commentary is over?’
“I said, ‘No, Ray. I can find plenty of decent people to have a drink with. I won’t be drinking with him.â€
Storm in a dusty old teacup? Much ado about nowt? Sure, it’s a pity two such admirable cricketers continue to lower themselves by perpetuating something that should have been forgiven and forgotten long ago. On the other hand, this is a grave time in our planet’s history. An age where, courtesy of the expansion of the media, the ability of gossip to spread at the speed of light and the evolution of litigation, the number of durable and entertaining feuds feels perilously close to an all-time low. (Oh my Oasis and my Blur of not all that long ago.) The giggles, therefore, are not unwelcome.
Quite so, and long may they feud.
2 Comments »Notes from the pavilion for October 23rd
By Will 3 years ago, at the end of October, 2 Comments »
Links of note from the past 24 hours:
- English cricket to assist addicts –
- Chappell attacks Botham. Again – Children, children…
- Geoffrey Legge – Brilliant line in this Almanack obit: ‘Lt. Geoffrey Bevington Legge, Fleet Air Arm, suffered death while flying in November, aged 37′
ICC cops it again
By Scott 3 years ago, mid-April, 2 Comments »
The ICC cops another serve, this time from Ian Chappell. When everyone except people on your payroll are telling you that you are doing a lousy job, then you are doing a lousy job.
Speed is always at great pains to spread the gospel that cricket is in good shape. However, you start to wonder if working in Dubai, where a ski resort is plonked in the middle of the desert and a hotel built in the ocean, hasn’t affected his grip on reality.
As if the litany of disasters at the World Cup isn’t evidence enough of a game in need of a re-think, there have been numerous other warning signals in the lead up to the tournament.
In the recent past there was the appalling handling of Zimbabwe’s predicament, the first ever forfeit of a Test match and the two prestigious one-day tournaments have been played within six months of each other.
Then there is the preposterous dilution of standards that has occurred under this regime. To have a match anointed as “official” appears to require nothing more than an assurance there are more than eleven registered cricketers in both countries participating in the match. This has led to a plethora of one-sided matches in both forms of the game.
And we haven’t even mentioned corruption, which the England captain thinks is still prevalent in the game or the mind numbing mess that now constitutes the laws of cricket.
Thank goodness Ian Chappell never tells ME what sort of job I am doing!
2 Comments »Ian Chappell on West Indies’ victory
By Will 4 years ago, mid-October, 1 Comment »
Belting match today between West Indies and Australia, a cracker. Since I was away, seems we're now doing audio at Cricinfo – and Ian Chappell offers his thoughts on today's game which you can listen to here or download here. Pretty slick I reckon.
1 Comment »Chappell on Lillee and Thomson
By Will 4 years ago, mid-August, 2 Comments »
Thursday is Archive day on Cricinfo, and we’ve dug out a piece from Wisden Cricket Monthly of Ian Chappell on captaining the two terror twins, Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. Check it out.
2 Comments »