Cricinfo Select
The politics of colour
If Loots Bosman's skin wasn't a golden brown colour, his appearance in the middle on Thursday afternoon would not have raised any eyebrows
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Dileep Premachandran
If Loots Bosman's skin wasn't a golden brown colour, his appearance in the middle on Thursday afternoon would not have raised any eyebrows. Had it been Neil McKenzie or Jacques Rudolph walking out to replace Boeta Dippenaar, there would have been no talk of quotas or targets.
Full postGayle: The heavyweight beast
Instead of a seaming pitch and timid batsmen intimidated by the short stuff, South Africa found themselves up against a man who brooks no answers when in the mood
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Dileep Premachandran
Having used the short ball to such lethal effect while annihilating Srim Lanka and Pakistan for a combined total of 230 runs, South Africa must have walked out for the evening session quietly confident of defending 258. But instead of a seaming pitch and timid batsmen intimidated by the
short stuff, they found themselves up against a man who brooks no answers when in the mood. Chris Gayle's early mauling was decisive, and after that, the game petered out into an ending as predictable as the average Hollywood love story.
Full postShoaib: What an almighty waste
The sight of Shoaib spreading his wings in celebration of a kill will become the stuff of legend, a DVD classic, a spook story that mothers will tell their would-be superstar children
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Kamran Abbasi
Icarus flew too close to the sun but he had nothing on Shoaib Akhtar. The Rawalpindi Express, the world's fastest bowler, the world's flashiest cricketer. The man who flew too close to the sun too often has finally set fire to his wings and will fly no more. The sight of
Shoaib spreading his wings in celebration of a kill will become the stuff of legend, a DVD classic, a spook story that mothers will tell their would-be superstar children: "Lose touch with your humility,your senses, and your mortality, and you will end up like him, the man from Rawalpindi, whose pride knew no bounds and whose stupidity knew
no limits."
Full postCricket at the crossroads
This weekend's meeting of the ICC executive in Mumbai is likely to be one of the most important - and possibly rancorous - in its 97-year existence
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
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This weekend's meeting of the ICC executive in Mumbai is likely to be one of the most important - and possibly rancorous - in its 97-year existence. It could also change the ground rules for the way the game is governed.
In one corner is the ICC itself, in the other the Indian board. The two have been at each other's throats - in the veiled language of the diplomatic world - ever since Jagmohan Dalmiya's downfall in September 2005. Of late, however, the gloves have come off and the Indians have adopted an increasingly belligerent approach
Lalit Modi's comments in the last fortnight will not have helped either. Increasingly, it appears as if he is being used as a tactical loose canon, allowed the freedom to fire off in every direction to make the core of the BCCI itself look far more reasonable. Bindra himself has acknowledged the "excessive zeal and volatility [Modi] occasionally exhibits when the other side is refusing to see reason". Modi, however, will not be at the meeting and his comments will have little relevance.
Full postFirm but fair
After reading the report few can argue that in accepting the tribunal's recommendations of a two-year ban for Shoaib and a one-year one for Asif, the correct decision has been taken by the PCB
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Osman Samiuddin
In the run-up to the final verdict of the drugs tribunal on the charges laid against Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, few bets were placed on the outcome. Some predicted harsh punishment. Others, cynically mindful of the nature of internal inquiries, thought lenient judgments would emerge, based possibly on technicalities and legal loopholes. After reading the report, however, few can argue that in accepting the tribunal's recommendations of a two-year ban for Shoaib and a one-year one for Asif, the correct decision has been taken by the PCB.
Full postWhy the cricket has been fun this time
So what's been the Champions Trophy's secret
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Tim de Lisle
The other night, outside Baker Street station, I bumped into the Guardian's sports diarist, Paul Kelso. After a few minutes we somehow got on to the subject of cricket. "The Champions Trophy," he said, "has been good fun, hasn't it?" My instinct was to disagree - that, after
all, is what fellow journalists are for. But then it dawned on me that he had a point.
Full postEngland fans: It's the Ashes all the way
Andrew Miller
25-Feb-2013
When England's cricketers arrive back in London this week at the end of a dismal Champions Trophy campaign, it is likely that they will be greeted by a chorus of indifference. As we have suspected all year, there's only one contest in the pipeline that matters to English fans, and it has nothing to do with one-day cricket.
A survey conducted by Cricinfo has revealed that a massive 91.3% of English respondents would prefer their country to retain the Ashes than win the World Cup. Only 8.4% believed that the World Cup, which takes place in the Caribbean in March and April next year, was the more significant tournament.
Full postA brain-dead bowling display
by Dileep Premachandran
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
by Dileep Premachandran
This rout summed up India's season so far. For most of it, the bowlers have acquitted themselves with credit while the batsmen have been clueless. Today, when the batsmen played smart cricket, the pace bowlers had a collective brain failure. Having strained every sinew to post 249 against the most formidable attack in the world, India gave it away within the space of 14 appalling overs that cost a whopping 101.
Full postEngland end the drought
Andrew Miller
Cricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Andrew Miller
Hang out the bunting and kiss me under the mistletoe. England have won a game of one-day cricket! It's debatable whether the achievement - their fifth in 20 matches since the start of 2006 - merited the thunderous fireworks fusillade that greeted Sajid Mahmood's winning boundary, but a win is a win is a win, especially for a side as desperately unsuccessful as this.
When taken in isolation, and given the rash of low scores that this tournament has thrown up, it seemed a pretty impressive performance from England's cricketers and Kevin Pietersen in particular - doubtless he'll be first off the plane, strutting his stuff as if the World Cup is already in his hands, when the team skulks back into London later this week.
Full post