Cricinfo Select
Everything is illuminated
Osman Samiuddin on Lara's outstanding innings against Pakistan in the second Test at Multan
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
by Osman Samiuddin
The few spectators who came down today didn't know it, but they actually had a choice of two games to watch at the Multan Cricket Stadium. One was the second Test between Pakistan and the West Indies, where the tourists were pushing for control against a disciplined attack. Aggressive seven-two fields, with three slips, were set for the batsmen and Pakistan clawed back some ground by taking four wickets. On this track, that many in a session takes some doing and with still a lead and Dwayne Bravo in, lower-order to follow, ostensibly the game hinged.
Full postSarwan shocker
Tony Cozier says that by dropping Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara's message was loud, clear and long overdue
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
by Tony Cozier
 |
|
The shock at Ramnaresh Sarwan's omission from the eleven for the second Test yesterday was surpassed only by Brian Lara's frank explanation for the decision.
"It's a time for Sarwan to reflect and come back strong," Lara told the world at the toss. "He is one of our main players. We know that. There's no doubt about it. It's an opportunity for him to spend some time off the field and see what it's like and come out back into the middle maybe more energetic and more purposeful."
Full postBetter the devil you know
Steven Price in Harare
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
Steven Price in Harare
The news that Peter Chingoka has survived the internal firestorm of the last year to emerge still as the chairman of the new, improved Zimbabwe Cricket is about as surprising as Robert Mugabe winning the last/next presidential election. In Zimbabwe it's more who you know than what you stand for that matters.
Chingoka's tenure as ZC chief - well into its second decade - has hardly been a success. Admittedly - and even his critics acknowledge this - up until about 2003 he could justifiably claim to have done a decent job. But, mirroring the decline of Zimbabwe as a whole, the last few years have been a catalogue of failures. The exodus of talent, the collapse of established internal structures, allegations of financial mismanagement and intimidation have all been to the fore. On the field, the side has become an international joke, and not a very funny one at that. And much of the blame for that must rest with Chingoka.
So how come Teflon Pete remains at the helm? The key is that he has friends in high places, both inside and outside the country.
Full postWhen the cricket did all the talking
The 2006 edition provided enough good games, clear trends on which teams and players are on the rise and which are on the wane, and plenty to talk about
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Anand Vasu
The Champions Trophy is a much maligned tournament. The fact that it was created with the sole purpose of making money to plough back into the system irks some. Others suggest that it takes the shine off the World Cup. For certain people just the fact that it is a one-day tournament makes it a waste of time. The 2006 edition provided enough good games, clear trends on which teams and players are on the rise and which are on the wane, and plenty to talk about. To me, it was West Indies' tournament, which Australia won.
The noise and the chatter
When the tournament began there was a very real danger that the rumbling spat between the ICC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) would blow-up into a full fledged crisis. With the Indian board either taking shots at the ICC, or replying to remarks made by the ICC, in the media, there was the chance that sports pages would have been filled with Malcolm Speed and Lalit Modi, rather than hard cricket. That this tournament began with a qualifying round - and this inevitably yields one-sided matches, meant that it took some time before the cricket was hot enough to push out the officials from the sports pages. Once things began to fall into place, though, it all changed.
Full postWhen the tournament began there was a very real danger that the rumbling spat between the ICC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) would blow-up into a full fledged crisis. With the Indian board either taking shots at the ICC, or replying to remarks made by the ICC, in the media, there was the chance that sports pages would have been filled with Malcolm Speed and Lalit Modi, rather than hard cricket. That this tournament began with a qualifying round - and this inevitably yields one-sided matches, meant that it took some time before the cricket was hot enough to push out the officials from the sports pages. Once things began to fall into place, though, it all changed.
Cheating?! In cricket? Unthinkable
The notion that a cricketer would cheat has always been seriously at odds with the supposed spirit of the game, and too unpalatable to contemplate
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Kevin Mitchell
The notion that a cricketer would cheat has always been seriously at odds with the supposed spirit of the game, and too unpalatable to contemplate. It is a naive
view and it ignores both history and human nature.
Full postAustralia roll in the heavy artillery
Peter English
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
Peter English
Australia's selectors have unveiled their forceful plans to liberate the Ashes urn. Ricky Ponting will have six fast men to choose from for the first Test after he was handed an artillery-laden squad of 13. The heavy-handed approach shouldn't come as a shock - the tactic is currently very trendy among powerful Western leaders - but it's hard to remember even West Indies teams of the 1980s rustling up so much firepower.
Full postTrescothick tires of the treadmill
Andrew Miller
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
Andrew Miller
A career in cricket is the ultimate life in a goldfish bowl. For six or seven hours a day, your soul is bared to all and sundry, scrutinised and analysed to an extent that is matched by no other sport. At the very highest level, the mindgames - mental disintegration, as Steve Waugh famously dubbed it - can be all-consuming. A timely sledge here, an untimely dismissal there. And no place to hide when the crowds and the cameras start to get on your case.
Contrary to popular perception, international cricket is not a glamorous lifestyle. The demands of the modern calendar have sucked almost all the spontaneity out of its participants. When it's not a match, it's a training session. When it's not a training session, it's another internal flight. And when it's not an internal flight, it's another bout of navel-gazing in another soulless hotel.
Full postPlaying for pride
Top professionals, as the Indian team are, must be inspired by something other than the lucrative financial incentives the BCCI is planning
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Jayaditya Gupta
Money can't buy you love, and it didn't need Malcolm Speed to remind us that it doesn't guarantee success. Yet the Board of Control for Cricket in India is sticking to its first principles concerning money: More begets more. And so the changes they are proposing - emerging in bits and pieces in the media -- in the system of contracts for Team India's cricketers revolve around this very premise.
Full postSad but we had to make an example of Shoaib - Alam
Intikhab Alam, one of the three-member panel that recommended the ban on Shoaib Akthar and Mohammad Asif, said he was sad but had no regrets about the decision
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Intikhab Alam, one of the three-member panel that recommended the ban on Shoaib Akthar and Mohammad Asif, said he was sad but had no regrets about the decision.
"We didn't have any doubts in our minds about what we have announced," Intikhab, the former Pakistan captain, told Bigstarcricket. "They were not able to convince us of their innocence. It was crystal clear. They admitted themselves that they had been taking dietary supplements. They are both adults and players have to be responsible for their own actions. Sometimes you have to take these decisions. We have done a good job."
Intikhab was certain that the tough, albeit sad, decision had to be taken as it would set an example for the young cricketers of the future. "It's sad that it happened but now the youngsters coming up will be very, very careful. We had to set an example.
Full post