Quotehanger

  • "I was not fast enough. But I was good at running. Some of my friends used to make fun that my run-up to the crease was faster than my deliveries."
    The world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, wanted to be a cricketer before he took up sprinting

    Sep 5, 2008

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    Articles tagged as: kepler-wessels

    Changing nations

    By Jonathan Liew 8 months ago, 9 Comments »

    According to Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph, England’s best hope of winning the Ashes in 2009 is to play two spinners and prepare some turning pitches.

    It’s a seductive idea, but who on earth do you have as the second spinner? Graeme Swann? Adil Rashid? Gary whatsisface from Lancashire? Or England’s very own Greg Rusedski?

    I was at Lord’s in about 1998 when Saqlain Mushtaq took a hat-trick against Middlesex. He’s top drawer, and certainly turns the ball more than Gareth Batty. But somehow the thought of Saqlain in an England shirt seems wrong - a little like seeing your mum in a catsuit. Of course, he’s legally resident and pays taxes and all that. And these days, the country of your birth can be shaken off like an itchy cardigan, and frequently has been. But the difference with the likes of Hussain, Pietersen and Shah is that they never stepped out to play a World Cup final for their home country. Saqlain is, to everybody but the ECB and the Home Office, a Pakistan player. Whatever he does in an England shirt won’t change that.

    I’d be interested to hear the thoughts of any Australians reading about Kepler Wessels, a similar case, who’s a little bit before my time. Was he welcomed into the fold as a class player, or did his appearance in a baggy green smack of opportunism?

    9 Comments »



    What do Prince Charles and Ganguly have in common?

    By Will 2 years ago, mid-June, 1 Comment »

    Plenty, according to Andrew Flintoff. He and Sourav shared a dressing room in Lancashire a few years which was one of the more acrimonious friendships going around. It’s safe to say they’re not bosom pals.

    Anyway, Mr Ganguly is back in county cricket - this time for Northamptonshire. Paul Coupar, the assistant editor of The Wisden Cricketer a few desks behind us, went along to the press conference today where he said Ganguly was very humble and difident. He assured us it was, in fact, Ganguly there and not his double.

    So go and read Paul’s piece.

    1 Comment »