The Buzz
It's all Dhoni on TV
According to a Forbes survey, MS Dhoni, the India captain, took home $8 million in endorsements last year
Akhila Ranganna
25-Feb-2013
According to a Forbes survey, MS Dhoni, the India captain, took home $8 million in endorsements last year. It should come as little surprise then, that Dhoni has topped the chart for celebrity endorsements on TV during the first six months of 2010.
Not only has Dhoni - who recently signed a three-year endorsement deal worth approximately Rs 2.1 billion ($42 million), which is now the richest deal in Indian cricket history - left behind the likes of Shahrukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar in his wake, he is also ahead of many Bollywood actresses, like Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Kajol and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. According to the Adex survey of TAM Media Research, Dhoni endorsed brands for 24 companies on TV between January and June this year, while Khan and Tendulkar were seen promoting the products of 16 and 15 firms.
Full postTendulkar takes to the skies
There aren’t many recognitions that have eluded India’s favourite sporting hero during the course of his high-flying career, and now he has made another addition to that list
Nitin Sundar
25-Feb-2013
There aren’t many recognitions that have eluded India’s favourite sporting hero during the course of his high-flying career, and now he has made another addition to that list. Sachin Tendulkar has become the first sportsman to be conferred with the honorary rank of Group Captain by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
“I'm extremely proud to be a part of IAF,” said Tendulkar, who lauded the Air Force’s commitment, concentration and dedication, during his induction ceremony. “All that I can do to come as close as looking like an air warrior, is wear my Aviator sunglasses.”
Tendulkar recalled his previous experience on a fighter plane - a ride on the Italian-made Aermacchi MB-326 'Impalla' military jet in South Africa - and hoped to relive that memory by flying in a combat jet. Indications are that he will not have to wait for long – Air Chief Marshal P V Naik, who welcomed Tendulkar into the force, said he was scheduling a training flight on a Sukhoi jet for Tendulkar to ‘earn his wings’.
Full postMohammad Asif cut from movie
It's not just Mohammad Asif's cricket career that has suffered because of the spot-fixing scandal surrounding the Lord's Test, his potential movie career has taken a hit too
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
It's not just Mohammad Asif's cricket career that has suffered because of the spot-fixing scandal surrounding the Lord's Test, his potential movie career has taken a hit too. Asif was offered a role in an Indian film, Mazhavillilinattamvare (Till the edge of the rainbow), but has been dropped after the News of the World sting.
"He is a friendly and nice guy. I was shocked to hear about the allegations, so I dropped him from the film," the director Kaithapram Damodaran Namboodiri told BBC. "He was to play a Pakistani cricketer who comes down to India to hold a coaching camp for Indian players.”
Namboodiri said he had initially contacted Wasim Akram for the role but was refused. He's now looking for a replacement for Asif.
Full postShaken Victorians survive flying scare
Victoria’s squad was forced into the brace position to prepare for a possible crash landing when its plane had problems on the descent into Adelaide on Monday
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Victoria’s squad was forced into the brace position to prepare for a possible crash landing when its plane had problems on the descent into Adelaide on Monday. The 17 players were coming back from a Twenty20 tournament in Darwin when told the pilots were unsure if the front wheels of the landing gear had come down.
“Very nerve racking!,” Andrew McDonald tweeted. “Just got down safely! Very shaken! Fire engines on run way.”
It was a bumpy landing but the players were home in Melbourne by the end of the night. Their next journey is to South Africa for the Champions League Twenty20 tournament, which starts on September 10.
Full postFake IPL player reveals himself
He wasn’t a player, nor was he an administrator, nor even a journalist
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
He wasn’t a player, nor was he an administrator, nor even a journalist. The Fake IPL Player, the anonymous blogger whose account of the 2009 IPL season created a media storm – and one within the league as well – has been revealed as Anupam Mukherji, a Bangalore-based techie. Mukherji told the TV channel Times Now that, contrary to speculation at the time, he had no source in any of the IPL teams and relied on the internet for information on teams, matches and the weather in South Africa – the tournament host.
Mukherji’s posts, which centred on a fictionalized version of Kolkata Knight Riders, were accurate enough in their “predictions” to provoke statements of denial from the Kolkata franchise, though he now says some of those predictions were “no-brainers”. The inspiration for the blog, he says, was a spoof Steve Jobs blog; it gained popularity once the media reported and commented on it and legitimacy from officials’ statements and generated enough buzz to prompt a book, The Gamechangers, earlier this year. He hasn’t revealed why he chose this moment to disclose his identity; indeed, there remains enough mystery round the Fake IPL Player’s real identity to suspect that the revelation itself may be a double bluff. Or wait - is he winding us up again?
Full postMCC to trial '5IVES' cricket
If you thought that Powerplays, Free-hits and the possibility of split innings in one-dayers were the height of cricketing innovation, think again
Liam Brickhill
25-Feb-2013
If you thought that Powerplays, Free-hits and the possibility of split innings in one-dayers were the height of cricketing innovation, think again. MCC is to trial a new form of cricket known as ‘5IVES’ next month, with MCC Universities playing MCC Young Cricketers in two 50-over games of 5IVES at Radlett Cricket Club on September 6 and 7.
The distinguishing feature of 5IVES is that both teams bat in multiple ‘innings splits’ - rather than the single innings split being trialed in Australia - where the not out batsmen at the end of an innings split resume batting at the start of their side’s next innings split. If that all sounds a bit confusing, it might be re-assuring to know that there are still 11 players in a side, the batting side is all out after losing 10 wickets, and the side with the most runs wins the game.
“What cricket needs is excitement and tension throughout the game, not just in the closing stages,” suggested Dick Wood, the South African inventor of 5IVES. “To achieve this you must be able to see who is winning now. 5IVES Cricket is the ultimate head-to-head limited-overs cricket contest. You can see who is winning the race, not a race against the clock. It brings the game alive creating the energy and atmosphere that sports fans crave, without compromising the integrity of the game.”
“After listening to Dick’s presentation to the MCC World Cricket Committee at Lord’s, we were keen to take the next step and see for ourselves how 5IVES operates,” explained John Stephenson, MCC’s head of cricket. “A key part of MCC’s remit is to provide research and development for the good of the game and, given our independence in world cricket, we are well placed to conduct such a trial. We look forward to seeing how 5IVES works in practice – it may succeed, it may not, but we won’t know until we’ve given it a go.”
Full postThe 'doosra' stumps all comers
It’s not just England’s batsmen that have trouble reading the ‘doosra’
Liam Brickhill
25-Feb-2013
It’s not just England’s batsmen that have trouble reading the ‘doosra’. A survey of a global network of linguists has concluded that ‘doosra’ – which means 'second' or 'other' in Urdu and refers to an offspinner’s variation that turns in the opposite direction to an orthodox delivery - is the single most untranslatable term in cricket. No less confusing to those who don't know their silly mid-off from their square leg, ‘googly’ came in second, followed by ‘mullygrubber’.
"Cricket is not just a sport but also a language in its own right,” said Jurga Zilinskiene, managing director of Today Translations's, the London-based language firm that carried out the survey. "Indeed, it is perhaps the world's most untranslatable language. Sometimes, the equivalent idea - like doosra or googly - simply does not exist in both cultures. I believe, for example, that cricket is now starting to catch on in France. Can you imagine? But don't worry. We at Today Translations are working on finding a good French translation for 'doosra'.”
Harold Pinter, the late English Nobel Prize-winning playwright, espoused the pleasures of cricket when he said: "I tend to believe that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on earth. Certainly greater than sex, although sex isn't too bad either. Anyway, you can either have sex before cricket or after cricket. The fundamental fact is that cricket must be there at the centre of things."
His feelings, no doubt shared and bemoaned in equal measure by cricket lovers and long-suffering partners around the world, have been backed up by studies of cricket's lexicon. "Cricket has generated a richer terminology than any other sport and - some would say - than any other human activity aside from sex,” added Zilinskiene.
Full postCricketers the highest paid sportspersons in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe’s cricketers are the highest paid sportspersons in the country, claims a report in local newspaper The Standard
Liam Brickhill
25-Feb-2013
Zimbabwe’s cricketers are the highest paid sportspersons in the country, claims a report in local newspaper The Standard. According to “a ZC insider”, Zimbabwe Cricket has put in place a graded payment structure for domestic cricketers. Top cricketers are in Grade X, and receive US$5,000 a month, those in Grade A US$3,500, Grade B Us$2,000 and Grade C US$1,500. At the bottom is the Rookie Grade, on which cricketers are paid a retainer fee of US$300.
The story names Gavin Ewing, Terry Duffin and Charles Coventry as examples of Matabeleland Tuskers players in Grade X, and also suggests that Mountaineers offloaded Tatenda Taibu and Stuart Matsikenyeri “in order to relieve the franchise’s huge wage bill”.
As a comparison, Zimbabwe’s club footballers – thought to be the second-highest paid group of sportsmen - are reported to be earning monthly salaries of between US$300 to US$800. Players also receive bonuses of between US$80 and US$200 for winning matches, and footballers with top clubs such as Dynamos taking home US$1,000 for winning a match at the African Champions League.
Despite their relative wealth in their home country Zimbabwean cricketers’ salaries still pale in comparison with those of the highest earning cricketers in the world. At the opposite end of the scale, a Forbes study last year stated that M.S. Dhoni was the world's richest cricketer with annual earnings of US$10m, followed by Sachin Tendulkar at US$8m.
Full postSound check for Redbacks
Can there be such a thing as over-preparation
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Can there be such a thing as over-preparation? The Redbacks of South Australia, currently gearing up for the Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa, may be pushing the boundaries. They have apparently been training under “high intensity conditions” with the recorded noise of vuvuzelas blasting through the speakers during the sessions in Adelaide Oval’s Indoor Cricket centre. This, at a time when the rest of the sports world – rugby leading the way – is shrinking from the ear-splitting din of the monotonous plastic instrument, which drove players, backroom staff, the media and even fellow spectators to distraction during the World Cup. It’s unlikely the Champions League Twenty20 will experience that sort of noise level, if only because the crowds will be smaller. Still, the Redbacks are taking no chances and have scheduled their last vuvuzela training session on Tuesday. Overkill? They may yet have the last laugh – but it’s possible that they will first have very sore ears.
Full postWatch out Brett, here comes Baz
The Butcher era is back
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
The Butcher era is back. Only, this time it will unfold on the stage instead of on The Oval pitch. After years of entertaining fellow brethren at the Professional Cricketers' Association annual bash with a vibrant mix of rock and soul, Mark Butcher has come out with his first album called Sun House. The album has been written, played and released by, yes, Baz himself. According to the Independent, Butcher has lined up several gigs around London to promote his album.
Butcher has always had the makings of a singer. He wrote and sang a touching ballad You're Never Gone at the memorial service for his team-mate Ben Hollioake. He might even have been humming one of his songs to himself during 'that' Ashes innings of 173 at Headingley in 2001, as he made short work of the target of 315.
He was seen doing duty for BBC Radio during England's third Test against Pakistan in a well-pressed grey suit and silk tie that did not quite go along with his rock star avatar. Butcher, who turns 38 on August 23, seems to be well on his way to challenging Brett Lee as cricket's ultimate rock star. Watch out Binga.
Full post