The Buzz
Blogger bounces Knight Riders
Things just aren’t going right for the Kolkata Knight Riders
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Things just aren’t going right for the Kolkata Knight Riders. After the captaincy controversy and a disastrous first game, they now have to deal with bouncers and googlies of a different kind - the writing of a mystery blogger, who claims to be a member of the team and seems determined to out every team secret, warts and all. The jury’s out on the blogger’s identity – he blogs as ‘Fake IPL Player’ - but the writing indicates a keen knowledge of the team’s working and the typical daily grind of an overseas tour. Few players are named but the nicknames are unambiguous – the blogger’s “team-mates’ include a former India allrounder called Kaan Moolo, an opener called Calypso King, a former captain in Lord Almighty and an opening bowler called Little John. The other characters include a team-owner called Mr Batlivala, a team coach/captain called the Sheikh of Tweak and a TV commentator called Kishen Kanhaiyya.
The posts describe what the blogger claims are team meetings, arguments between coach and team members, post-match parties and pre-match strategy. Hours before KKR’s first game he wrote that “Skipper” would open with “Calypso King” and Lord Almighty would come in one down. For the record, McCullum and Gayle opened with Ganguly coming in one drop. His prediction for Tuesday’s game? Skipper won’t keep and either the Bangla Tiger (a fast bowler) or the spinner Junta Tormentor will beef up the bowling. And Fake IPL Player? He says the team management - which, in an official reaction, called it "poison pen writing of the dirtiest variety" - has vowed to out him in 24 hours.
Full postIPL's hidden, hungry fanbase
Reports of the IPL’s dwindling popularity in Season 2 are grossly untrue - just ask the prisoners in Kolkata’s Alipore Central Jail, who have gone on a hunger strike in protest against not being allowed to watch the tournament
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Reports of the IPL’s dwindling popularity in Season 2 are grossly untrue - just ask the prisoners in Kolkata’s Alipore Central Jail, who have gone on a hunger strike in protest against not being allowed to watch the tournament. The protest by the 500 prisoners began after guards rejected their demands, on the grounds that the matches are being broadcast on a private channel - security concerns allow only state-run television to be shown in Indian jails. In the gloom there is good news, though: The prisoners can count themselves lucky they missed Kolkata Knight Riders’ abysmal performance on Sunday. And as for the IPL suits, they now know whom to tap if the ratings fall.
Full postSmith wants to go to Chelsy
Cricket is likely to make the pages of OK and Hello is the coming weeks after the revelation that Chelsy Davy, former partner of Prince Harry, has been “spending time” with South Africa’s captain Graeme Smith.
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
Cricket is likely to make the pages of OK and Hello is the coming weeks after the revelation that Chelsy Davy, former partner of Prince Harry, has been “spending time” with South Africa’s captain Graeme Smith.
As often happens, Davy seems to be strikingly similar to Smith’s previous high-profile girlfriend, the model Minki van der Westhuizen. "Chelsy is so like Minki and they have the same friends in South Africa. Chelsy and Graeme have been to the Bang Bang club together twice and she has had Graeme over at her apartment. They are extremely close," reported the Daily Mail. "Chelsy is still very fond of Harry but she can't go on waiting for ever.”
Should anyone be concerned about the heir to the crown, he too is said to have moved on and is being linked to “glamourous TV presenter Caroline Flack”, so the paper says.
Full postThere's R450,000 here!
The IPL is clearly making its presence felt in South Africa, sometimes in unconventional ways, as a local businessman found out to his utter surprise
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
The IPL is clearly making its presence felt in South Africa, sometimes in unconventional ways, as a local businessman found out to his utter surprise. When Stephen Blewett checked into his hotel room in Port Elizabeth, he found a stash of R450,000 in the locker. It emerged that the room had been previously used by the Kings XI Punjab team, which had camped in the city to train. The money was meant to cover day-to-day expenses. "It is not common for us to carry that amount of money but we have a lot of costs and the money was not yet distributed to the players," the team's liaison officer, Arvinder Singh, told the Times. For a country that normally attracts negative headlines over crime rates, this was a refreshing change indeed.
Full postMorkel steps into Ntini's shoes
Judhajit
25-Feb-2013
It was literally a case of stepping into another's shoes for South African fast bowler Morne Morkel. He had to train in teammate Makhaya Ntini’s shoes on the eve of the fifth ODI against Australia after a bag containing all his equipment disappeared from the team hotel at Fourways in Johannesburg.
The bag, with three pairs of Puma bowling shoes, all his batting accessories and one-day clothing was tracked down in Cape Town on Thursday afternoon. “One moment my bag was still in the hotel lobby and the next it was nowhere to be found,” Morkel told News24.com. “One of the hotel workers had been spotted with it and somehow it landed on the same bus as the baggage for the Deccan Chargers.”
Full postWas royalty bestowed on Warne by chance?
The best thing that happened to the Rajasthan Royals, the inaugural IPL champions, might have occurred by chance
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
The best thing that happened to the Rajasthan Royals, the inaugural IPL champions, might have occurred by chance. They never intended to buy Shane Warne at the auction but ended up with him because he was the first player on sale - or so say the authors of an upcoming book 'IPL - an inside story'.
The book has what it says is an eye-witness account of the first auction by the CEO of a franchise. "Warne's was the first name that came up as the 78 players' names were picked up. But no one was willing to pick him up at the reserve price. The auction was headed for disaster within the first few minutes.
"Since [Lalit] Modi has some interest in the Jaipur team, he made eye contact with [Manoj] Badale and Co. and nudged them to start bidding. Jaipur raised the placard, hoping other teams would jump into the fray. But no other team bid for Warne. Jaipur, it seemed, was saddled with Warne." Less than four months later Jaipur had the last laugh, and the others were left looking foolish, as Warne reinvented himself with spectacular success.
Full postFrance v England in cricket
Question: Who are the current Olympic silver medalists in cricket
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Question: Who are the current Olympic silver medalists in cricket? Answer: France, and they want a re-match against England, who won gold at the Paris Games in 1900. France Cricket, the governing body for the sport in the country, is preparing to issue a challenge to England - a return game in Lille ahead of the London Olympics in 2012.
"It would be a one-day game," Maxime Parent, spokesman for France Cricket, told the Independent "I don't think that the French public is quite ready yet for a Test match stretching over five days. Perhaps, one day, who knows? Cricket is advancing quickly in France but it needs a match like this to capture the imagination of the public. France v England is always a big event in France, whatever the sport."
Cricket in France has come a fair way since it was banned as an "alien" sport in 1940 by the Vichy government. There are now ten clubs in France's super-league and about one-third of its players are French. It might have been very different if the MCC had gone ahead with its first foreign tour - to France - in 1789. They had to cancel because of the French revolution.
Full postEverest match drowns in red tape
It's good to know that the prevalence and strength of red tape isn't affected by altitude
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
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It's good to know that the prevalence and strength of red tape isn't affected by altitude. The British group that was flying, driving and trekking for 11 days to play cricket on Mount Everest – see the Buzz entry two blogs ago – has been turned away by Nepalese conservation officials.
They were aiming to play a Twenty20 match more than three miles above sea level in what would be the highest altitude recorded for an organised field sport. But the touring party has been refused access to the Sagarmatha National Park and was told nobody was allowed to play cricket inside the protected area.
It seems the Brits have been caught in the middle of a power struggle between the Minister for Forest and Land Conservation, who said they could play, and the national park’s management, which said they couldn’t. The match was due to go ahead next week, which means the players have a few days to try and sort out the bungle.
Full postDirty Harry to be at IPL opening ceremony?
The celebrity quotient during the opening ceremony of the inaugural IPL may have been provided by biggies from Bollywood but the tournament's shift to South Africa could lend it an international flavour this time around.
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
The celebrity quotient during the opening ceremony of the inaugural IPL may have been provided by biggies from Bollywood but the tournament's shift to South Africa could lend it an international flavour this time around.
Reports suggest Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman - who are working on the Human Factor, a film on how Nelson Mandela used the 1995 rugby World Cup win to help heal post-apartheid race relations - are among the headliners at this year’s ceremony. If true, one of the organisers’ tasks will be to stop them from doing a Groucho Marx (asking “When does the game itself begin?” while watching the match). Pop star George Michael and alternative rock band Snow Patrol are other names being bandied about - though curiously no mention has been made of cricket's biggest rockstar fans, Mick Jagger and his fellow Rolling Stones. Ah well, you can't always get what you want...
Full postCricket on Everest
How far would you go to play cricket
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
How far would you go to play cricket? A group of 50 people set out from Lord’s on Friday to play a Twenty20 match on Mount Everest in the Himalayas, the Times reported. They’ll get to their venue, a frozen lake near an Everest base camp called Gorak Shep (“dead raven” in the Sherpas' language), after 11 days of flying, driving and trekking to reach a plateau more than three miles above sea level - the highest altitude recorded for a field sport.
The teams – appropriately named Hillary and Tenzing – will use wooden stumps and bats, a pink leather ball, and an artificial pitch. The thin air is expected to make the player’s hearts beat 30% faster than usual and after their efforts they will take a proper British cricket tea and raise the Union Jack in the Queen’s honour. And oh, the game is being played for charity, with over £250,000 expected to be raised for the Himalayan Trust and the Lord's Taverners.
Full post