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Remembering Lara's Everest moment
One series against the mighty Australians in 1999 tested the great West Indian's skill and mental resolve to the limit
Colin Benjamin
31-May-2015
After observing in awe the all-round skill of Keith Miller during the 1951-52 tour to Australia, the West Indies captain then, John Goddard, said: "Give us Keith Miller and we'd beat the world."
More recently, while West Indies continue to stumble along in the longer formats and administratively, their players' performances in the IPL and other T20 tournaments - especially the last two World T20s - show the Caribbean has the best T20 team and players in the world.
In the 2012 and 2014 World T20s, they met Australia in the semi-final and in the group stage, and the respective wins were probably their two most clinical performances in both tournaments. Growing up in the era of West Indies' decline as I did, it was very unusual to see West Indies topple Australia so convincingly in any format. Those T20 performances were of the kind that they produced regularly against the Australians from the late '70s to the early '90s -Australia failed to defeat West Indies in a Test series from 1978 to 1992.
Full postThat England, this England
A fan watches England take on New Zealand from the Edrich Upper Stand at Lord's 11 summers apart, and can't help drawing parallels - but back then, England were on a roll
Liam Cromar
24-May-2015
This summer is all about the Ashes. Not this year's, of course, but the '05 Ashes. Radio programmes, live shows, and written media all seem to be falling over themselves to either bask in the sunlit memories, to bemoan the wasted ten years, or both.
How many cast their minds back beyond that golden summer, to one year previous? Certainly on my return to Lord's on Thursday, I found myself recalling 2004 rather than 2005; my first experience of Test cricket in the flesh. Personal parallels are present, though not entirely coincidental. Opponents: New Zealand. Day attended: the first. The company: my father, and others. The tier: Edrich Upper.
I've retained few distinct memories of that day, perhaps thanks to the opening grind of Mark Richardson (93 off 266), unexciting though laudable. As an introduction to Test cricket, it wasn't gripping, although it was perhaps a just representation; the sort of day that commentators would, with a hint of euphemism, describe as "real Test cricket".
Full postLeft? Right? Both
In the run-up to the UK general election, two teams picked from either side of the political divide
David Dawkins
18-Mar-2015
Cricket just can't help but be political. Some players have sought out politics, others have merely been engulfed without much of a say in the matter. So in the run-up to the UK general election, here are two teams selected from both sides of the divide. The two teams have been pitted against one another and from the openers to the leaders of the attack, all positions are accounted for: there are wicketkeepers, international players, and each team has a spinner. But who would win?
Left XI
Openers
Somerset's Peter Roebuck achieved a double first in Law from Cambridge, and like most left-wing intellectual sorts he was described as having been untidy, awkward with women and, of speaking at high speed. Although off the field he might be considered the Slavoj Zizek of Somerset cricket, on the field he took a more substantial approach to run accumulation, scoring 17,558 first-class runs and 33 centuries during the golden years when Somerset won numerous one-day trophies and boasted Viv Richards, Ian Botham and Joel Garner amongst their talent.
Full postSomerset's Peter Roebuck achieved a double first in Law from Cambridge, and like most left-wing intellectual sorts he was described as having been untidy, awkward with women and, of speaking at high speed. Although off the field he might be considered the Slavoj Zizek of Somerset cricket, on the field he took a more substantial approach to run accumulation, scoring 17,558 first-class runs and 33 centuries during the golden years when Somerset won numerous one-day trophies and boasted Viv Richards, Ian Botham and Joel Garner amongst their talent.
Don't kill cricket in the Associate nations
How are kids to aspire to become cricketers if they can't watch role models from their countries on the biggest stage?
Duncan Allan
15-Mar-2015
February 24, 2003 was when I fell in love with cricket. Maurice Odumbe bowls Dilhara Fernando and Kenya beat Sri Lanka by 53 runs. The players, draped with Kenyan flags run laps around the Nairobi Gymkhana ground to thank the crowd. They need not have bothered. Most of the crowd was on the field, running laps with them in celebration of one of the World Cup's great cricketing upsets. I, an 11-year-old boy at the time, caught up in the atmosphere and euphoric scenes, was one of them.
This match and Kenya's thrilling run to the semi-final of the 2003 World Cup inspired me, as I am sure it did many other young Kenyans to want to play cricket.
Associate nations need the World Cup because it provides the opportunity to be seen on a world stage, to be watched on TV and to inspire young children back home to take up the game.
Full postNapier shows us World Cup joy
Outside the tournament venues, New Zealand is welcoming fans to enjoy its beauty and its cricket, nowhere more heart-warmingly than at Clifton Cricket Club
Will Macpherson
02-Mar-2015
We're entering the World Cup's third week, and while some towns have exhausted their share of the action already, Napier - cricket's most easterly outpost - has to wait until Wednesday for its first game, when Pakistan take on UAE. Hawke's Bay, however, has been embracing the game beyond the boundaries of McLean Park.
Last Thursday I was lucky to be one of more than 2000 people tucked away at Clifton County Cricket Club - amid arid and parched farmland barely fit for cattle to graze and rolling hills, at the end of a dusty and beaten path - for the Legends of Cricket Art Deco Match, where a Clifton team captained by Mark Greatbatch (a member of the club) took on Jeff Thomson's Rest of the World XI, containing Black Caps, All Blacks, TV personalities and honest local folk. In the preceding week, I had covered cricket in some aesthetically glorious spots - Nelson, Dunedin, Christchurch - but none as breathtaking as Clifton.
If you were feeling generous, you could term the on-field action "leisurely". For those interested, Thomson's team batted first and made 172 for 7, only for Greatbatch's lot to chase it down with three overs to spare. Thommo, now 64, slung it down off a few paces, Adam Hollioake described his performance as "horrible", while Chris Harris and Mathew Sinclair battered boundaries, and Dion Nash bowled tidily. Tickets were sold to watch these guys and they were treated like royalty - wined, dined, golfed and driven to the ground in vintage cars - by the highly impressive Hawke's Bay Tourism. But before the game had even begun, it was clear that this was about far more than them.
Full postWhy a strong T&T could bode well for West Indies
If the team can carry its limited-overs success into four-day cricket, the effect on West Indies' Test fortunes can only be positive
Colin Benjamin
09-Feb-2015
Two characteristics noticeable in the legendary West Indies cricket teams of the post-World War II era were depth and the dominance of one territory, which usually provided the core of the region's first XI. The first great West Indies team, from about 1963 to 1968 had a strong Barbadian influence, was captained by the legendary Frank Worrell and Garfield Sobers, and included the fast-bowling pair of Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith and key players like Conrad Hunte, Seymour Nurse and allrounder David Holford. Barbados even challenged a World XI in 1967. Not bad for a little island of 166 square miles.
The team of the 1976-to-1995 period alternated between a Barbadian and Antiguan backbone. Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner represented Barbados, while Vivian Richards, Curtly Ambrose, Richie Richardson and Andy Roberts came from the latter territory.
Can Trinidad and Tobago's recent Super50 triumph and resurgence in the longer version of the game have a similar impact on West Indies' cricket fortunes? In November 2013, after West Indies were embarrassed in the Sachin Tendulkar farewell series in India, the second vice-president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board, Lalman Kowlessar, stated that "only T&T can rescue West Indies cricket".
Full postAmir's ban a blessing in disguise
He may have saved himself from the physical toll that years of fast bowling takes on the body
Scott Oliver
08-Feb-2015
And so the prodigal returns. Seven months before his five-year ban was due to expire, Mohammad Amir is back in whites, shown clemency by the ICC due to his cooperation with the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, his admission of guilt, and his remorse. Not everyone is entirely over the moon about this, or indeed convinced his contrition is genuine.
A petition has been filed with the High Court in Sindh by Rana Faizul Hasan, a citizen, calling for the imposition of a life ban on the grounds that Amir "brought disgrace to the nation". Ramiz Raja, the former Pakistan opening batsman who unwittingly shared a dressing room with serial fixers exposed in the Qayyum Report, has written in these pages that Amir ought to be allowed his rehabilitation, just not in cricket. Each sees the youngest player in the history of Test cricket to take 50 wickets as a blight that ought to be purged from cricket's body, from its memory.
Wearing the humble colours of Lahore University of Engineering and Technology, Amir took 3 for 27 in his comeback game. He is now free to play domestic first-class cricket and, once the original five-year sentence passes, on September 2, to return to the international fold. With a T20 competition as his only opportunity for top-level domestic cricket before then, he has signed up for a Grade II stint with Omar Associates in Karachi, where he's likely to be watched by as many rubberneckers as well-wishers.
Full postWhat do we talk about when we talk about aggression?
Why do people seem to think players who get up in the opposition's faces also have aggressive approaches in their cricket?
Alex Bowden
25-Jan-2015
I can't say I feel terribly affected by the moral panic that has welled up in the wake of David Warner's latest misdemeanour, but I am interested in the way his behaviour is perceived by a lot of his supporters.
Ricky Ponting summed up a common view. In a recent column on this website, he wrote: "Darren Lehmann has said publicly that David is an aggressive character, and the Australian public love the way he bats, which goes hand in hand with the sort of confrontational approach he sometimes takes in the field."
What's interesting there is the assumption that Warner's "confrontational approach" is somehow linked to his batting, even though the incident that gave rise to all of this took place while he was fielding. This is a common theme.
Full postWhat West Indies can learn from New Zealand
The teams match up in terms of talent. The key area of difference, obviously, is player-board relations
Colin Benjamin
19-Jan-2015
During the glory days of West Indies cricket, one of the most interesting series was the 1979-80 tour of New Zealand, which was their only series defeat over a 15-year span.
That New Zealand tour is viewed as an aberration because of poor sportsmanship, and it was reported the West Indies players were so angry with the umpiring that they basically stopped playing, dropped catches on purpose, and let balls go to the boundary.
However, there is no second-guessing New Zealand's rise in the past 18 months - especially in Test cricket, and as a global cricket observer it is always great to see one of the financially weaker teams stepping up.
Full postThe no-ball's sinister hue
What used to be an innocuous infraction has turned decidedly different since 2010
Will Macpherson
17-Jan-2015
Kamran Abbasi's blog on the Cordon recently about Mohammad Amir's right to return set me thinking, again, about that unholy, mucky mess and the impact it has had on the game, nearly five years on.
What is its legacy? For me personally, that question was answered that very evening, as I sat up late watching the fourth Australia-India Test from Sydney.
It was answered when Ryan Harris, in the 30th and 32nd overs of India's first innings, delivered massive front-foot no-balls. Upon the second, Mark Taylor was unable to hide his shock, chuntering his surprise away and treating the oversteps as if Harris had caused minor offence to his grandmother. I felt equally perturbed.
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