The Buzz

Time catches up with Victorian cricket pavilion

25-Feb-2013

It has stood since W.G Grace was still plying his trade as a wily 40-something cricketer, but age and infirmity may soon catch up with a Victorian cricket pavilion in Buckinghamshire, which has been named as one of the 10 most endangered buildings in England and Wales. The Bletchley Cricket Pavilion was built in the 1890s but has been separated from its cricket pitch since it was sold by Bletchley Grammar School and is now separated from the playing area by a large hedge. Thieves have stolen bricks and timber from the structure, weakening it further, and the Victorian Society has said that it "needs urgent work to reverse years of decay". The society said it hoped the building, which is in the process of being sold, would find a new owner who was prepared to incorporate the pavilion into any new development, although it’s unclear if the structure will ever serve as a functioning cricket pavilion again.

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Bets 1, Debts 0

Ever longed for a quick fix for all your debt issues

Nikita Bastian

25-Feb-2013

Ever longed for a quick fix for all your debt issues? Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan found a unique solution: betting tips. In his new book, Pakistan: A Personal History, Imran talks about using his vast cricketing knowledge to help his brother-in-law, Ben Goldsmith, place bets on an England-South Africa Test; in exchange, Imran got some money to help clear his political party Tehreek-e-Insaf’s debts.

“It took me a year to clear the debts the party had incurred during the [2002 parliamentary] elections,” he wrote. “I cleared our last remaining debts in an unusual way; I was with my family in England, and my brother-in-law, Ben Goldsmith, kept asking me about what would happen in an England-South Africa Test match.

“I discovered his interest came from his 'spread-betting' on the game. I decided to watch the match, and that every pound he made … would go towards clearing my party's debt. I have never gambled in my life and have never understood its attraction, but for the sake of clearing my party's debts I watched the Test match with Ben for the next two days, telling him what to do and when.”

And yes, the pair was quite successful – so successful, in fact, that the bookie’s interest was piqued. “At one point the bookie asked, ‘Mr Goldsmith, you don't happen to be sitting with your brother-in-law, do you?’”

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Archery at the home of cricket

You’ve probably heard several cricketers gushing about being on the Honours Boards at Lord’s and heard all about the heaps of tradition behind the ground

Nikita Bastian

25-Feb-2013

You’ve probably heard several cricketers gushing about being on the Honours Boards at Lord’s and heard all about the heaps of tradition behind the ground. Could the hallowed turf be special to a Korean archer though? Now, with the English domestic season complete, it is.

South Korean Olympic gold-medallist Im Dong-hyun broke his own world record at Lord’s on Monday, in an archery tournament designed to be a test run ahead of next year’s Olympics. In September, Lord’s had been designated as the Olympics archery venue. The archers will have to shoot over the square, with the famous pavilion as the backdrop. Touches of William Tell at the village square then?

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Smith inspires Lorgat Jr.

While Graeme Smith was making his comeback from injury in a club match, his opening batting partner suffered a reversal of fortune

Firdose Moonda

25-Feb-2013

While Graeme Smith was making his comeback from injury in a club match, his opening batting partner suffered a reversal of fortune. Zaheer Lorgat, son of ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, had an enjoyable time at the crease with the South African Test captain, but a nasty time in the field.

He dived to save a boundary and landed against the sightscreen, cutting his knee open in the process. Dr Shuaib Manjra, who is head of CSA’s medical committee, and was attending the match to assess Smith’s fitness, found himself with another job to do. He took Lorgat to the hospital and saw to it that he received a dozen stitches.

Lorgat said his son was in severe pain having sustained quite a big gash, but enjoyed the experience of being the in the same XI as Smith. “He was very excited to play with Smith and it shows what the big names can do to inspire young players,” Lorgat senior said.

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Jonty's in the house

Dustin Silgardo

25-Feb-2013

If cricket purists raise their eyebrows at South African players entering England squads, they’re probably shaving them off at the thought of Jonty Rhodes, one of South Africa’s biggest post-Apartheid sporting heroes, entering the Bigg Boss house in India. Bigg Boss is India’s version of the reality show Big Brother, and places a group of celebrities in a house where they live for a certain number of days with no connection to the outside world. The guests are largely Indian but in recent times the producers have tried to include foreign celebrities with the actress Pamela Anderson spending three days in the house last season.

This season Rhodes could be joined in the house by Colombian pop star Shakira and boxer Mike Tyson – and, closer home, by former India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, whose end-career fielding earned him the nickname Jonty Singh. “I am sure that we two reasonable fielders will gel just fine on the show,” Rhodes joked in an interview with the Hindustan Times. He is one of the few characters left in the game of cricket, either on or off the field, so it should be an entertaining time.” Rhodes, currently in India with the Mumbai Indians for the Champions League Twenty20, said he hoped to learn Hindi during his stint in the Bigg Brother house. There’s no confirmation yet, though, on how long Rhodes will spend in the house or what tasks he will be made to perform – Pamela Anderson had to learn to dance to a Bollywood song.

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French cricket?

How do you say 'leg before wicket' in Dutch

Dustin Silgardo

25-Feb-2013

How do you say 'leg before wicket' in Dutch? Is there a German word for byes? These were perhaps just some of the problems ICC Europe and the MCC would have faced while translating the Laws of Cricket into seven European languages. The 2010 edition of the Laws are now available in French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Italian and German.

The project was undertaken to help promote cricket in Europe, but took longer than expected because there were several terms, taken for granted as part of the language by cricket-lovers, completely untranslatable in other languages. “We initially underestimated the complexity involved with translating the Laws into so many different languages as many of the cricket terms just did not exist,” Richard Holdsworth, the ICC regional development manager, Europe, said. The Laws are also being translated into Romanian and Finnish.

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McGrath's painful praise

Glenn McGrath, the man who never gave England a chance when he was playing, has admitted that they deserve the No

Andrew McGlashan

25-Feb-2013

Glenn McGrath, the man who never gave England a chance when he was playing, has admitted that they deserve the No. 1 Test ranking and has even stopped short of predicting a 5-0 win for Australia in the next Ashes.

“As much as it kills me to say that England are the number one in the world, I think they actually deserve it,” he told TalkSport. "They’ve got a great bowling attack, it’s very consistent, and they are doing an exceptional job. And the rest of the team is working well around that.”

We’ll see if he’s still saying the same thing in a couple of years time ahead of the 2013 Ashes series.

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Fast bowlers gather for celebration at Lord's

Twenty-three of the world’s greatest living cricketers will be gathering together at Lord’s on Wednesday for a one-off lunch, organised by the Lord’s Taverners, in celebration of the art of fast bowling.

Andrew Miller

25-Feb-2013

Among the attendees will be Sir Richard Hadlee, Curtly Ambrose, Alan Davidson, Glenn McGrath, Courtney Walsh, Jeff Thomson, Andy Roberts, Clive Rice, Colin Croft, Mike Procter, Devon Malcolm, Makhaya Ntini and Kapil Dev.

Several of the bowlers (McGrath, Ambrose, Walsh, Malcolm and Ntini) will also be visiting Lambeth school in the shadow of The Oval. Some of the West Indian heroes will speak with the kids, in a school where the demographic is 95% black, about their experience of access to sport in London and have a coaching session with Cricket 4 Change. The Lord’s Taverners will donate some cricket kit to the school.

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Lt. Col. MS Dhoni

Things may not be going swimmingly for India captain MS Dhoni on the winless tour of England but that hasn’t stopped the awards from rolling in

Akhila Ranganna

25-Feb-2013

Things may not be going swimmingly for India captain MS Dhoni on the winless tour of England but that hasn’t stopped the awards from rolling in. The latest comes from no less than the President of India, who has made Dhoni an honorary lieutenant-colonel of the Territorial Army, a voluntary unit of the armed forces. Last month, he was made an honorary Doctor of Letters by the De Montfort University in the United Kingdom for his sporting achievements, and earlier this week he won the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for his decision to recall Ian Bell after his controversial run-out during the Trent Bridge Test.

The citation says Dhoni and Abhinav Bindra, a gold medallist in shooting at the Beijing Olympics, were honoured “for their outstanding contribution in the field of cricket and shooting respectively, and their commitment to the Army on various occasions.” Dhoni joins the ranks of Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar as honorary military officers. Now if only he can marshal his forces into a winning unit once again.

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