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« Previous EntriesFlintoff: should he, shouldn’t he?
By Will Saturday, last week, 9 Comments »
Apologies for the lack of updates. I’ve been down in sunny, rainy, windy Hove. While I was down there, much discussion took place in the press box about Mike Atherton’s debut as The Times’ chief cricket correspondent, namely his interview with Michael Vaughan. The England captain alluded to the likelihood of Andrew Flintoff returning for the first Test against New Zealand, which most media outlets picked up on.
I think it’s both inevitable that it will happen, and a positive for England. I am less convinced he will survive the whole summer - on landing, his ankle still points awkwardly and unnaturally away to the off side, which can only exhaserbate the problems he has had - but I’d rather he broke down playing for England than Lancashire. He’s bowled well enough for his club so far this season, and although he’s not scored any runs, his influence with the ball is still great enough to warrant his inclusion. Hell, Justin Langer - no stranger to OTT remarks - still considers him the best fast bowler in the world, though that was on the back of receiving a battering from Flintoff last week.
So where do you stand? Should Fred play the first Test, or bide his time with Lancashire until the South Africans arrive? Leave a comment and vote at the site.
9 Comments »Is 50 the new 40?
By Will 2 months ago, 7 Comments »
I don’t listen to TMS nearly as much as I used to, as we’re usually plugged into Sky (for obvious reasons), so it’s been like welcoming back an old friend this Test, flicking it on for the first session. One statistically-minded listened just wrote into Aggers and co wondering why they (and the media in general) gripe and moan about our batsmen when each of them averages 40 - the benchmark of a fine player. Or is it?
My colleague and I have debated this for some time, and agree that 50 is now the new 40. Flatter, covered pitches; big, powerful bats and, most importantly of all, the standard of bowling nowadays is not what it once was. Vic Marks made a good point, that averages can’t be compared cross-generation…and I agree, to an extent. But look at someone like Mike Atherton who averaged 37.69. Had he made his debut ten years later, would he have averaged under 40? Unlikely.
But the most intriguing angle of all this is to wonder how the likes of Ian Bell (averaging 43.15) would have coped a decade or 20 years ago…
7 Comments »MCC ‘more human, not so aloof and distant’
By Will last year, mid-December, 2 Comments »
Mike Atherton meets Mike Brearley, the former England captain who was named as MCC’s new president in May. In a wide-ranging piece, Brearley looks ahead to the future - and Atherton is convinced the MCC could not be in safer hands:
“The appointment of Keith Bradshaw [the Tasmanian chief executive of the MCC] could not have happened 20 years ago. He’s very forward-thinking and keen to keep Lord’s and the MCC relevant. In short, the MCC has become, I think, more obviously human, not so aloof and distant.”
Read the full piece at the Sunday Telegraph.
2 Comments »Atherton moves to The Times
By Will last year, at the end of October, 2 Comments »
Mike Atherton has been announced as The Times’ chief cricket correspondent, replacing Christopher Martin-Jenkins. Atherton is the foremost player-turned-writer and, at 39, quite young to hold such a prestigious post.
He’s by some distance my favourite writer, as he marries a deep knowledge of the game during his time as a player with the detachment required to write about it. The Times is also my favourite paper, so now there’s no reason to waste any more money on The Telegraph.
2 Comments »Warne’s 50 greatest cricketers
By Will last year, at the end of August, 10 Comments »
Shane Warne has run out of ideas for his Times column and, like a Channel 4 producer bereft of inspiration, is producing a list. But it ought to be far more entertaining than those interminable countdowns (”100 greatest romantic moments” etc), so take a look. In today’s (50-41) are Mike Atherton (43) and Alec Stewart (44)
10 Comments »Dying embers
By Will last year, mid-July, 3 Comments »
Even the Lancashire dressing room of my time was inhabited by half-a-dozen or so. Nick Speak, Graham Lloyd, Phil De Freitas, Wasim Akram and Graeme Fowler all paid constant homage to nicotine. Early season Benson and Hedges games, when sponsors not only provided loot but product as well, produced a terrific scramble for those distinctive yellow bricks; even the non-smokers were known to hoard a packet or two to bargain with. How about a few half-volleys in the nets then, Daffy?
Phil Tufnell and Wayne Larkins were the culprits on my first England tour. Because I was a first-time tourist, and because I have no sense of smell, I was forced to room alternately with ‘Tuffers’ and ‘Ned’ for the whole five months.
Another cracking piece from Mike Atherton in The Sunday Telegraph.
3 Comments »If…with Mike Atherton
By Will last year, at the start of May, 13 Comments »
Has anyone else listened and watched Sky’s advertisement for their all-consuming coverage this summer? It’s fronted (for want of a better word, as it’s a voice over) by Mike Atherton. Now then. Athers is many things, but a voice-over artiste he is not. He sounds about as enthused as a prisoner who’s just been told that, yes, today he is allowed one hour of sunlight as opposed to the usual 45 minutes.
Athers recites Rudyard Kipling’s If and it’s as sickly and inappropriate as it sounds. (not Athers’ fault of course, but Sky’s ferocious marketers)
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!
Incidentally I came across some viewing figures on the Beeb yesterday which make make interesting reading. I put them on CI…will dig them out later.
13 Comments »Atherton on England’s “blind faith”
By Will last year, mid-April, 8 Comments »
Another supreme piece from Athers in today’s Sunday Telegraph:
England can beat South Africa and the West Indies, but it would be almost a miscarriage of justice if they found themselves in the semi-finals. And in terms of learning lessons for the future, it might not do English cricket much good at all to know that you can turn up relying on hope and blind faith and still go all the way
Read the full thing here.
8 Comments »“Wait there, mate”?
By Will last year, mid-April, 31 Comments »
Michael Clarke does it. Andrew Symonds utters it far too regularly. Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting have been known to do it too. I’m talking about a new phenomenon creeping into Australia’s cricket: appending “mate” to the end of every “yes,” “no” or “wait” call from the batsmen. Symonds’s laissez faire “nah, mate” was a particular lowlight this evening. Are these pampered prancers playing an international sport or having a Sunday knock around in the park? Granted, with James Anderson and Sajid Mahmood sending down wide after no-ball, it’s hard to tell the difference. But standards are standards; respect is respect and, with my English cap firmly on, I do not like it.
On a similar topic, I always enjoyed the calm, crisp calls from Mike Atherton - my hero as a youngster. There was no mateyness back then - oh no. Just a firm yes, no, or wait. When he really hit his straps, nudging one behind square for a gluttonous two, he’d call “running” to the non-striker which conveyed a batsman in control of proceedings. But still - there was no “yeah mate, two there”.
Outlaw such verbal sloppiness immediately, else ban Australians from playing any form of sport internationally.
NB: potential solution. We stupidly let the whole world speak English - we should’ve rented the language to countries on an annual contract. This is clearly a brilliant idea. Misuse would incur financial penalties and we, as Britons, could charge people for improper use. I need to stop writing this now.
31 Comments »Sport’s glorious futility
By Will last year, at the end of March, 4 Comments »
No, there is little to be gained by cancelling. Indeed, surely the whole point of sport is to act as a necessary counterpoint to the grim realities of life. We know that death is a part of life because we see it, in one form or another, every day. Like drugs and alcohol, sport provides an escape from the routine absurdity of everyday existence - and thankfully without any of the side effects.
It gives us the chance to experience the best that life has to offer, usually without serious consequences. We win, we lose, and then we go home and get on with life.
We submit to sport’s arcane rules and regulations and rituals. We recognise that we will need to show courage and skill, and we train hard for the event knowing that we are undertaking an ultimately futile task. It is this futility that explains sport’s universal appeal, that and the desire to satisfy a basic human urge to play.
Sport loses its appeal when it is invested with fake importance. This is why English football engenders scant respect: the managers who snarl and spit at players and officials from the sidelines; the players who confuse competitiveness with sometimes vicious intent; and the supporters who cannot cope with the fact that in sport there must nearly always be a loser.
They have all clearly forgotten that Bill Shankly had his tongue firmly planted in his Scottish cheek when he said that football was more important than life or death.
Sport is not more important. And it won’t help to bring Woolmer back, but it might help us to cope.
One of the most insightful, and certainly the most reasoned and balanced article that I’ve read so far on the Woolmer murder and why cricket must go on. But it also re-enforces the often forgotten notion that cricket is a game. Predictably, it’s by Atherton, and it’s a superb read.
4 Comments »Andrew Strauss in line for captaincy
By Will 2 years ago, mid-June, 1 Comment »
As soon as he hit a hundred on his debut in 2004, Andrew Strauss was talked of as a future England captain. Since then, despite a recent minor-blip in form, many have spoken that he should have taken over from Michael Vaughan when he missed England’s tour of India and not Andrew Flintoff.
Following England’s defeat in the final Test against Sri Lanka, Flintoff’s “follow me, lads” style of captaincy has received criticism from Mike Atherton, among others, and it’s noteworthy that Strauss has been chosen. This surely represents the first signal that it is he, rather than Flintoff, that Duncan Fletcher and co. want to lead England in the post-Vaughan era (which could come sooner than we think).
England face Ireland tomorrow for the first time, at Stormont, before a Twenty20 against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl on Thursday ahead of the first one-dayer at Lord’s on Saturday.
1 Comment »The clapping seal
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of June, 3 Comments »
Jenny, my colleage at Cricinfo, has had two rather good days in the past week. Firstly, during the final Test at Trent Bridge, she spent a day with David Gower, Nasser Hussain, Ian Botham and the other Sky commentators. Naturally she’s in love with every single one of them (our ears are bleeding) but they all sound like great fun (and they have a lot of fun, too). David Lloyd (”Bumble”) is as you would expect him to be: sharp, constantly witty and an allround top bloke. Anyway I can’t spoil her piece; she’s writing it up and it’ll be published at Cricinfo quite soon.
As if that couldn’t be topped, today she faced an over (I think) at Shane Warne! And interviewed him and other stuff. So that’s two fairly cool (and unique) things you should keep an eye out on Cricinfo.
3 Comments »It’s gone for a maximum
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of March, 6 Comments »
Bloody one-day cricket. It’s ruining commentators. No sooner has Mike Atherton shamed his colleagues with an effortless and elegant description of a boundary (”Languidly stroked for four”) than another screams “Oooh oh, it’s gone for a maximum”. I hate that expression. What’s wrong with “It’s gone for six”? Pah.c
6 Comments »“India, you selfish big beast, you!”
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of January, 9 Comments »
Well well well. Mike Atherton, whose excellent column you can read at the Sunday Telegraph, has branded India the ‘big beasts’ of cricket following their withdrawal from the Champions Trophy in 2007, and their general mucking around of the Future Tours Programme (FTP). I’ve written it up on Cricinfo, so will summarise:
“India’s announcements last week as to their future playing arrangements, meekly confirmed by England, has left no one in any doubt who is now master and who is servant,” Atherton wrote.
Atherton added that India’s behaviour toward the ICC conveyed an image of a country `acting as superpowers tend to act: self-interest first and last and bugger the rest.’
“Last week, Malcolm Speed, the chief-executive of the ICC, found himself in a position much occupied by Kofi Annan and the United Nations in recent years: being bullied by a superpower for whom the notions of international law and collective responsibility have long ceased to have any meaning.
“He needs to stand his ground and we need to support him.”
A very strongly worded and angry attack, which will make for a fascinating response by the BCCI. Or indeed, any Indian cricket fan…
(ducks)
9 Comments »The last Sunday before the last Ashes Test
By Will 3 years ago, at the start of September, 6 Comments »
Quite a sad feeling, really, that it’s suddenly all come to an end for another 18 months. It does feel like yesterday that the Lord’s Test was getting underway, yet we’ve had four Tests squeezed in a matter of a few weeks. On the up side, there are but 15 months until the 2006/7 Ashes series begins; will England be defending them, for the first time in 18 years? Or will we be, once again, trying to wrestle them from Australia’s vice-like grip?
Frankly, we ought to be defending them when we next meet Australia. We’ve been the better side for the majority of the summer, bar a McGrath blitz at Lord’s. Another McGrath and Warne show might yet upset me, and the millions of English fans now hooked on the great game. Caged animal, backs to the walls, etc…buyer beware!
On what is the last Sunday before the last Ashes Test of the summer, there have been a veritable feast of words written in the press which I’ll briefly summarise…
Andrew Strauss’ diary for the Telegraph seems to get longer each week, and this week he’s written a very extensive and insightful piece.
Looking back, the first morning of the series, at Lord’s, seems like an age ago, but what is still very clear is the reception we received as we made our way slightly nervously on to the field that morning. Walking through the Long Room, we were met by the most incredible roar from members full of hope and expectation that this series was going to be different from its predecessors.
And
If I had been lucky enough to play in three Tests like that over the course of my career, I would retire very satisfied, but to have three in a row is astounding. All 22 players know that we have been part of something incredibly special over the past six weeks. One of the greatest series of all time is being played out, and it has created the best possible advert for the game.
That’s what has struck everyone who has seen this series: one after the other, each Test has matched and bettered its predecessor. You half expect one or two Tests to be rained off, or piddling out to a draw. Every bloody game has been painfully brilliant to watch; imagine what it’s like for the players involved!
He ends - not quite tempting fate, but… - with:
Regardless of the result, we will be determined to enjoy what could be the defining Test of all our careers.
Mike Atherton continues his excellent form (honk!) with a piece about Freddie. Jonny Wilkinson, David Beckham, and now Andrew Flintoff.
Rugby and football blossomed in the afterglow, much as cricket is doing now, but Wilkinson and Beckham have been in slow decline ever since. Wilkinson because his body cannot cope; Beckham because he cannot cope.
Regardless of the result at the Oval, Andrew Flintoff now walks in such company. Maybe he is not earning the dollars (yet) of the other two, but in terms of profile and popularity he bends his knee to no one at present.
Too true. Giant performances in the last three Tests, he will almost certainly be named as one of the men of the series - if not officially, then certainly by his teammates and the Australians. England needed something special from him, but I don’t think anyone quite expected he’d have such a country-binding affect. Oh to be seven or eight years old and have a hero like Flintoff to aspire to…
Meanwhile, Scyld Berry mentions something, and someone, we’ve all forgotten about: Duncan Fletcher.
More than anyone else, more even than Michael Vaughan, this England team are Fletcher’s creation, although he will always be first to give the credit to the players. Just as much as Jack, Fletcher can look at the England team and say “this is the house I have built”. The position which he took up at the climax - after sitting on the dressing-room balcony for most of the match - said so much about his approach. Close to them, but not of them. Ready to hand. ‘There’ - and Giles looked in for a chat before batting - but not imposing.
His influence cannot be underestimated, and should not be glossed over here so briefly. So I’ll do a post on him this week. But Scyld’s article comes with the depressing news that Fletcher has been turned down British citizenship. A win or a draw at The Oval might just persuade the Government to change their minds.
So, on to Thursday - and the weather is set fair (at the moment). Tell your friends; invite them over; crack open a beer / coke / tea / water; get your prayer-mats out!; “renew” your incontinence pants; change the nappies; charge your mobile phones in anticipation of “This is going down to the wire mate ru watchin?” type messages; don’t allow anyone with a heart condition near The Oval, or your TV; polish your voodoo dolls; tell everyone to come here and comment & chat like the crazed cricket-addicted fools we all are; are we in for another nailbiter?
May the best side win.
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