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Everything's for sale
An American celebrity league, drop-in stadiums, and sponsored appeals
Scott Oliver
11-Jun-2013
Predicting the future is difficult. In cricket, the clairvoyants use many forms of futurology: divination by wagon wheel, by pitch map, by manhattan. And it's still nigh-on impossible. But not totally so. So, if you want to place a few heavy, cast-iron bets on the cricket, here's the second of our three-part series. You can read part one here.
Despite the world game undergoing its Great Schism - India and T20 on the one side, England and the reversion to timeless Tests on the other - there is, on both sides of the divide, a common thread: TV rules everything, which means a profusion of new gimmicks (because TV men assume that the game itself isn't interesting enough). Thus:
1) In the drive for "interactivity" and to make the game user-friendly, swathes of kidult gamers who last saw daylight in 2003 are now "allowed" (i.e. hoodwinked) to vote on bowling changes and moving the fielders. $2 per SMS. Bargain.
Full post'The urinal is the place to be!'
The hippest spots in town and more, in our perusal of the finest cricket has to offer on Twitter this week
Alex Bowden
06-Jun-2013
This week's Twitter round-up is bookended by two tales where prolonged spells of consistency have come to a sad end. One involves a board game, the other involves a restaurant. You've probably guessed that Nando's is involved in the latter, but how and who is the protagonist? So much intrigue. (ESPNcricinfo accepts no responsibility for the reader feeling a little bit underwhelmed once those questions have been answered.)
The winning streak
Graham Onions' perfect record has come to a sad end.
Full postGraham Onions' perfect record has come to a sad end.
Betting syndicate unveils new and improved fixing system
In the face of increasing corruption and probes into it, the gambling industry takes a radical step
R Rajkumar
03-Jun-2013
From: The Syndicate
To: XXXX XXXXXXXX (Name redacted)
To: XXXX XXXXXXXX (Name redacted)
Esteemed patron,
These are difficult times. The game that we all love and desperately want to manipulate for personal profit has taken a cruel and unexpected blow. Who knew that a ruse as artful and elegant (if we do say so ourselves) as spot-fixing could come undone so easily. For what it's worth, the syndicate would like to be the first to admit that we bear the brunt of the responsibility for all our recent troubles. The system just wasn't thorough enough.
Full postWhat does the future hold for cricket?
A host of new member countries, an even shorter format, and more such delights
Scott Oliver
02-Jun-2013
Predicting the future is difficult. Very difficult. Notoriously difficult, even with tea leaves, astrology charts, animal entrails and algorithms. In cricket, the clairvoyants use many forms of futurology: divination by wagon wheel, by pitch map, by Manhattan. And it's still nigh-on impossible (which is why assorted "game-outcome operatives" try and make things more predictable by bribing and/or blackmailing participants). But not totally so. So, if you want to place a few heavy, cast-iron bets on the cricket, or simply cannot be bothered waiting for events to unfold, then here's where the sport is heading.
The year-on-year growth of the IPL, the massive heft of both India and the BCCICC (Board of Control for Cricket in the Indian-Controlled Countries, formed from the merger of the BCCI and ICC) behind this format, and the search for even more TV-friendly forms, sees the continued proliferation and then miniaturisation of T20 cricket.
1-on-1 cricket is developed to fill the early-evening light-entertainment slot. It consists of a single super-over per side (re-named "over", then re-re-named "super-duper-over") with ad breaks between each ball and, for consenting bowlers, ad breaks within the delivery stride. R Ashwin and R Croft make a commercial killing. Tied games are decided with a super ball.
Full postGilchrist helped off pitch after final game
And other news you wish you had missed during the past week
R Rajkumar
24-May-2013
Fielder overcompensates for being caught picking nose live
A fielder caught picking his nose live on the big screen overcompensated for the embarrassment minutes after the incident.
A fielder caught picking his nose live on the big screen overcompensated for the embarrassment minutes after the incident.
Upon seeing that he was on the giant screen, the player in question - whose name this website has decided not to divulge as a mark of respect to his family - immediately withdrew his finger from deep inside his right nostril and proceeded to look nonchalantly into the middle distance.
He then appeared to go through a panicky series of motions, apparently designed to distract the viewer into forgetting what he or she had just seen, by alternately gesturing to his captain, clapping and shouting encouragement at his team-mates, and fidgeting with his collar, all the while returning a nervous eye to the big screen at regular intervals to see if he was still being shown.
Full post'Apparently I smell of wee'
Less-than-fragrant cricketers, and other oddities, in this week's Twitter round-up
Alex Bowden
23-May-2013
So many pressing questions are answered in this week's Twitter round-up. Which cricketer has strong feelings about aeroplanes, which cricketer smells of urine, and which cricketer hash-tags his own name no matter what he's writing about? (Hint: the last one's Tino Best).
The winning feeling
Stuart Broad can think of only one thing better.
Full postStuart Broad can think of only one thing better.
Bowlers speak out
The hardest workers on the field react to the spot-fixing scandal
Samantha Pendergrast
17-May-2013
PRESS RELEASE
Presspersons and fans,
We, the bowlers, the chaps who break our backs to make a lump of cork and leather move like an extra on Step Up Revolution, would like to make a statement regarding the recent spot-fixing scandal that has rocked the IPL.
Full postA little less vigour, please
It's only the first Test of the season after all
Alex Bowden
16-May-2013
This week sees the first Test of the British summer. Going entirely against recent tradition, there appears to be a somewhat unsettling trend where pretty much everyone involved is raring to go. This is not the way it is supposed to be.
New Zealand coach Mike Hesson said: "The term 'unfinished business' reflects how we felt after that final day of the third Test at Eden Park last month."
This has been a common sentiment from both sides. The feeling is that the two teams are involved in an ongoing battle and that it hasn't yet been decided. This is wrong. Everyone needs to pay more attention to the rules.
Full postCunning plans for Lord's revealed
Ambitious ten-point programme to refurbish HQ show MCC is getting jiggy with it
Alan Tyers
06-May-2013
MCC members have been getting very hot under the (correctly tailored, tie mandatory) collar over development plans for Lord's. The exact nature of the £200 million proposals have remained shrouded in some degree of mystery… until now, thanks to this leaked memo smuggled out of the iconic ground in the secret compartment of a hollowed-out copy of The Laws of the Game…
1) Increase capacity of ground (with £200 million investment) to the tune of one more seat. Total estimated cost per new seat: £200 million. We will probably have to hike the prices up a bit for the person sitting in the new seat.
2) A community outreach programme to build facilities attractive to inner-city youths could tick some handy Lottery Funding boxes. Suggest MCC offers opportunities to local teens in popular urban sports like real tennis, racquets, battledore and shuttlecock, falconry, and muttering about "the Tanganyika situation".
Full postA secret dossier on the state of Australian cricket
A look at the lessons Australia need to learn if they hope to regain the Ashes, by an undercover agent
Alan Tyers
26-Apr-2013
Undercover report from Agent J (Invers, could you make sure you keep my name off this because I don't want to blow my cover for future espionage work. Thanks mate.)
Hi Mr Inverarity,
I've done a ripper little dossier for you on the state of Australian cricket. Basically the Poms are a bit ahead of us now, despite their high percentage of pussies but, as we all discussed in the last meeting, we can get to where we want to be if we learn from them. It took them 18 years to win back the Ashes and with hindsight, a lot of the groundwork for that 2005 win must have been laid in the 1990s. Maybe we should look at doing some of the things they were doing back in that era.
Full post