The Buzz
Australia's cricketers go walkabout with lions
Filling the hours and days between games can often be quite a chore for cricketers on tour, but the Australian A squad have been treated to some remarkable experiences on their trip to Zimbabwe
Liam Brickhill
25-Feb-2013
Filling the hours and days between games can often be quite a chore for cricketers on tour, but the Australian A squad have been treated to some remarkable experiences on their trip to Zimbabwe. Ahead of the four-day game against Zimbabwe XI in Harare, they spent a day and a half at Antelope Park in the central highveld, Mitchell Starc describing the experience of walking through the bush with lion cubs in his tour blog.
Such an amazing, beautiful animal, these two lion cubs played with each other, climbed trees and wandered through the bush as we walk side by side with them. The experience is definitely one I’m sure none of us will ever forget. After all who can say they’ve walked through the bush side by side with the King of Beasts!
A great weekend for the Chanderpauls
Shivnarine Chanderpaul is not the kind of player for whom things come easy
Dustin Silgardo
25-Feb-2013
Shivnarine Chanderpaul is not the kind of player for whom things come easy. He spends inordinate amounts of time at the crease for his runs, grinds down the opposition rather than flattening them with silky strokes and even after 17 years of cricket, is not always mentioned in lists of Caribbean greats. The adulation he received during the Dominica Test must have felt almost a little disconcerting for the workman-like Chanderpaul. Becoming West Indies’ most-capped Test player drew attention to his contribution to Caribbean cricket, he was cheered even when he came on to bowl, and after he helped save the Test with a second-innings century, the prime minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, declared Chanderpaul an honourary citizen of the country.
If all that wasn’t quite enough for Chanderpaul, on Saturday, while he was compiling the first half of his 23rd Test hundred, his son Tagnarine Chanderpaul top-scored for the Guyana Under-15 side, against Jamaica in the WICB Under-15 tournament. Chanderpaul junior scored 37 out of a score of 95 at Honeymoon Park. Perhaps West Indies will not have to look too far to replace Shiv.
Full postAustralian smashes 358 in 40 overs
Vithushan Ehantharajah
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Vithushan Ehantharajah
Ashley Gray, a 19-year-old batsman from Queensland, smashed 358 not out in 40 overs, and a clutch of records in a cup match last month in the Home Park grounds of Windsor Castle.
Her Majesty’s grounds were treated to an onslaught from her Australian subject, who helped his team – Royal Household Cricket Club – beat Tambler Valley Ramblers by the small matter of 334 runs.
Full postMaking Malinga look conventional
Sri Lanka are known to produce bowlers with the most unique actions, but few know about the ones that got away
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Sri Lanka are known to produce bowlers with the most unique actions, but few know about the ones that got away. Delivering the Cowdrey Lecture at Lord's on Monday, Kumar Sangakkara mentioned two such characters to illustrate how the team management thinks out of the box in their search for talent. "A district coach had discovered a volleyball player who ran to the crease slowly but then delivered the ball while in mid-air with a smash-like leap", Sangakkara said. "His leap would land him quite a way down the pitch in the follow-through". Unfortunately, despite an interest shown by the national selectors, the high-flying bowler didn't quite make it beyond his first screening. The reason? Bowling for half an hour in the nets – his longest spell ever – had strained his back.
And then there was the story of the monk. "A letter postmarked from a remote village in Sri Lanka had the writer claiming to be the fastest undiscovered bowler in Sri Lanka. A district coach investigating this claim found the writer to be a teenage Buddhist priest who insisted upon giving a demonstration of bowling while still dressed in his saffron-coloured robes." As Sangakkara put it, cricket in Sri Lanka tempts even the most chaste and holy.
Full post<i>Kaptaan</i> Imran on the silver screen
Moments from the life of Imran Khan, arguably Pakistan’s most charismatic cricketer, will soon appear on celluloid
Akhila Ranganna
25-Feb-2013
Moments from the life of Imran Khan, arguably Pakistan’s most charismatic cricketer, will soon appear on celluloid. Faisal Aman Khan, a Britain-based independent filmmaker has directed an independent film titled ‘Kaptaan’ (captain) which focuses on Imran’s political life as well as glimpses of his relationship with ex-wife Jemima Khan. The film is currently in post-production, and Faisal met Imran several times while researching the project to get his endorsement. “Imran Khan was reluctant at first and claimed that it was more important to focus on other aspects of the country," Naveed Anwar, the film's assistant director and screenwriter, told the Express Tribune. “We wanted to make a film that would project the positive side of Pakistan. It was hard as there are very few personalities in Pakistan that who have a global appeal.”
Anwar said the film traces Imran’s entry into politics and juxtaposes his struggle for Pakistan's future with that of Mohammad Ali Jinnah's, the country's founder. Pakistan model Abdul Mannan, who reportedly bears an uncanny resemblance to Imran, will play the title role. Pakistani-American mode Saeeda Imtiaz, plays Jemima and her role looks at the various challenges Jemima faced while living in Pakistan as Imran’s wife and the various complexities of their relationship. The film has a cast of 107 actors and while the producers are yet to reveal its release date, they plan to screen the film in Pakistan and abroad. A film on his cricketing life is awaited – and no one can play his role better than the man himself.
Full postDogs deflate the Kotla's new device
It’s almost become a part of the experience of watching cricket in the subcontinent to see a dog saunter onto the field right in the middle of a match
Dustin Silgardo
25-Feb-2013
It’s almost become a part of the experience of watching cricket in the subcontinent to see a dog saunter onto the field right in the middle of a match. It gives the fans a bit of comic relief and the photographers a chance to get some offbeat photos. But the dogs at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi, could, apparently, have had a more telling influence on matches during the 2011 World Cup. The BCCI pitch and grounds committee had ordered balloons, which were to be used to bring on the covers in case of any rain. However, according to a report in the Hindustan Times, the groundstaff noticed the balloons had been torn up by stray dogs even before tournament had started. Luckily, the balloons were fixed in time, and it didn’t rain during any of the matches.
The balloons themselves have caused a stir as the Kotla curator, Radheshyam, said they take 10 minutes to inflate, which would delay the covers being brought onto the pitch. He also said that when filled the balloons cover a part of the advertising hoardings on the ground, which are an important revenue stream. The BCCI pitch and grounds committee chairman, Venkat Sundaram, though, said the balloons were an effective method and the ground staff just needed to be trained in how to use them. And of course they have to be kept out of the way of hungry dogs.
Full postWarne 100th in list of most-trusted Australians
Are you surprised Shane Warne was never trusted with the Australian captaincy
Nitin Sundar
25-Feb-2013
Are you surprised Shane Warne was never trusted with the Australian captaincy? This might help. He’s come in 100th in a Reader's Digest survey of Australia’s most trusted people for 2011. Warne’s consistency at the bottom (he was 97 last year) is one of the more predictable aspects of the survey of 1350 Australians from all walks of life, in which sex workers fared better than politicians, taxi-drivers and journalists.
Warne’s bowling partner, Glenn McGrath, was at 32, making him the top-ranked cricketer, though it was a come down from his ninth position in 2010. Richie Benaud was at 34, while Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting were 68 and 83.
Public health specialist Fiona Stanley topped the survey, followed by the biologist Elizabeth Blackburn, Australia’s first female Nobel laureate. Oscar winner Mel Gibson (96) and Prime Minister Julia Gillard (97) were the other notables giving Warne company at the bottom of the list.
Full postSheldon Cotterell: Up close with a dream
It’s been an exciting few days for military man Sheldon Cotterell
Nikita Bastian
25-Feb-2013
It’s been an exciting few days for military man Sheldon Cotterell. A left-arm fast bowler from Jamaica, he got as close to the international cricket action as he could, standing guard at Sabina Park’s pitch with other army personnel during the innings break of the final West Indies-India ODI. The experience left him picturing himself “in the maroon colours”. Then, a couple of days later, he did that fantasy no harm, making several of India’s Test team jump around in the nets ahead of the tour’s opening Test at the same venue.
“It was just like me seeing the future to tell you the truth,” Cotterell, 21, told the Jamaica Gleaner of his time out in the middle during the ODI. “Just being out there and seeing the fans gave me a thrill and seeing the West Indies and Indian team warming up. When I was out there I was picturing myself in the maroon colours warming up with the guys.”
On Saturday, he had a bowl in the nets against India and had opener M Vijay in trouble, hitting him on the left hand. While Vijay was attended to by India’s physio, Cotterell impressed with his pace, troubling nearly all the Indian batsmen, ESPNcricinfo’s Sriram Veera reported from Kingston.
Cotterell, who has been playing cricket from the age of nine, bats right-handed and does so as effectively as he bowls. He was the top all-rounder with 317 runs in the 2010 edition of the Senior Cup, a domestic tournament. This season, he made 173 runs in three innings in the competition. What next, then? Well, he’s working towards breaking into the West Indies team within 18 months.
Full postStyris’ orange shoes hit the red light
So you think Twenty20 cricket is all about things innovative, gimmicky and unconventional
Nikita Bastian
25-Feb-2013
So you think Twenty20 cricket is all about things innovative, gimmicky and unconventional? Not always. Scott Styris has hung up the bright orange boots he wore in the Friends Life t20 for fear of running foul of the law. The shoes were apparently just not white enough, and did not meet the ECB’s Clothing and Equipment Regulations. “I think the thing about Twenty20 cricket is that we are fighting against this gimmick tag and we are trying to make sure that this form of the game doesn't become too much of a gimmick,” ECB spokesman Steve Elworthy, reportedly told the Brentwood Gazette. “We have to make sure that cricket is at the heart of the game and we are trying to keep that balance.”
Styris, who plays for Essex, got wind of the news last Wednesday ahead of a game against Sussex. But the story has a happy ending: the shoes have since been sold through Twitter to raise money for James Foster’s benefit year.
Full postTendulkar on top of the world
On May 22 this year, former New Zealand wicketkeeper Adam Parore became the first international cricketer to reach the summit of Mount Everest
Akhila Ranganna
25-Feb-2013
On May 22 this year, former New Zealand wicketkeeper Adam Parore became the first international cricketer to reach the summit of Mount Everest. But did you know that Sachin Tendulkar had beaten him to the top of the world’s highest peak by two days? Well, his poster certainly did.
Haryana's Narinder Singh, a staunch Tendulkar fan, had vowed to honour his idol should India win the World Cup. India lifted the trophy at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on April 2 and on April 16, Pawan Grewal, who hails from Bhiwani in Haryana, handed Tendulkar's poster to Singh who was at the Everest base camp. Armed with the motivation to see Tendulkar on the summit, Singh battled a leakage in his oxygen cylinder, and made the final push to reach his goal without the cylinder. Having fulfilled his wish, Singh reportedly remained on the summit for an hour without the cylinder. “Sachin is my inspiration and that only kept me moving even when I was without an oxygen cylinder," Narinder told the Hindustan Times. “Hopefully, I will be presenting my photograph, holding Sachin's poster on the summit, to the Master.”
Full post