The Buzz
Who you gonna call? Shahid Afridi
It's common nowadays for international cricketers to interact with fans via social networking platforms like Twitter. Shahid Afridi has taken it one step further by announcing a special mobile number to stay in touch
Umar Farooq
08-Sep-2013
It's common nowadays for international cricketers to interact with fans via social networking platforms like Twitter. Shahid Afridi has taken it one step further by announcing a special mobile number to stay in touch, and not surprisingly, he was inundated with calls and text messages an hour after the number went live. According to Afridi, he had received as many as 80 calls and 275 messages. He intends to chat regularly with his fans during his spare time. "I have opened an account to keep in touch with my fans around the world and I took this step as hundreds of fans meet me and complain that they can't reach me to show their sentiments," Afridi said. Afridi, who has been a crowd-puller since his Pakistan debut in 1996 at 16, recently opened his official Twitter account and now has over 35,000 followers.
Full postHappy Birthday John Wisden, love from Google
John Wisden, who gave the world the definitive record on cricket, had his 187th birthday celebrated in a Google doodle
ESPNcricinfo staff
05-Sep-2013
Google has a tradition of using its homepage to celebrate significant events with a funky doodle that incorporates the word "Google". Anniversaries, national days, and other dates of importance - such as the last day of the Canadian penny - are commemorated. Birthdays are also given a special place on the world's favourite search engine and today was the 187th birthday of John Wisden, the man who gave us the red brick bible that has become the definitive record of cricket. Why his 187th birthday was chosen remains unclear but Wisden joins Jackie Robinson (94th) - the first black player to play Major League Baseball - and Cecilia May Gibbs (136th) - the Anglo-Australian author and illustrator - to have obscure milestones celebrated in a sketch.
Full postSachin, Yuvraj and Sehwag as siblings
Residents of a village in Tamil Nadu have reflected their passion for cricket and WWE by naming their children after their favourite players and wrestlers
ESPNcricinfo staff
28-Aug-2013
Where would you find Steve Waugh and Matthew Hayden rubbing shoulders every day - on the field and off it - with Sehwag, Sachin and Yuvraj? In Thangachimadam village, about 550 km from Chennai, whose good folk have reflected their passion for cricket by naming their children after their favourite players. "In a recent cricket match, I hit a sixer off the last ball when we needed just one run to win," Steve Waugh, a class eight student, told Times of India.
Sehwag, Sachin and Yuvraj are siblings named by their father George after his favourite cricketers. "Everyone in the village and in the school knows my sons only by these names," said George.
Not just cricket, the net's been cast farther to WWE as well. "When my nephew was born a year ago, I suggested he be named after Irish wrestler Sheamus," Castober, a 20-year old from the village, said. "My brother-in-law is very pleased with the name." Sheamus will have Big Show for company.
Names, though, are no guarantee of sporting excellence. Sachin, for example, has showed zero interest in cricket. "I hope Sehwag and Yuvraj will not disappoint me," their father says. Big Show has similar news: "I don't know whether it is because of my name, but I am not good at cricket like my friends Steve Waugh and Hayden."
Full postBotham to set off on eight-day walk for charity
Ian Botham will walk from Killinochchi to Seenigama in Sri Lanka to raise money to provide sports equipment and facilities for youngsters in the north and east of the country.
Andrew Fidel Fernando
16-Aug-2013
For a man who was famously averse to unnecessary exertion during his playing career, Ian Botham has chosen a charitable pursuit that doesn't quite fit the 'Beefy' legend. For almost 30 years, Botham has undertaken walks for charity, and while it's not quite like hitting a hundred while hungover, it has proved worthwhile enough for Botham to announce he will embark on another, this time in Sri Lanka. The walk, lasting eight days, will start on November 1.
Having teamed up with the Laureus Foundation, the Foundation of Goodness and Tharunayata Hetak (A tomorrow for youth), Botham will walk from Killinochchi, in the heart of Sri Lanka's former northern war-zone, to Seenigama - a village ravaged and rebuilt after the 2004 Tsunami. Proceeds will go towards providing sports equipment and facilities to young Sri Lankans in the north and east of the country.
"Walking through the 40 degrees heat and the humidity will be a great challenge, and it will be a testing factor," Botham said in Colombo on Thursday. "It's going to be like nothing I have ever attempted before and it's going to be my most demanding ever.
Full postBracken looks to trade dressing room for political office
Nathan Bracken announced that he would be running as an independent in the Central Coast federal elections for the New South Wales seat of Dobell against former Labor MP Craig Thomson
Anuj Vignesh
13-Aug-2013
Having spent eight years of his life swinging a cricket ball for the Australian cricket team, Nathan Bracken has now set his sights on a different pitch: politics.
Bracken, who is Australia's second highest wicket-taker among left-arm quicks in ODIs, announced on his Twitter account on Sunday that he would be running as an independent in the Central Coast federal elections for the New South Wales seat of Dobell against former Labor MP Craig Thomson.
''I guess it got to the point where I didn't want to be the person that sits in the cafe saying 'oh jeez I wish I'd done this', or 'this should change','' Bracken said, according to Australian newspapers.
While he has Champions Trophy and World Cup medals in his kitty, Bracken remained wary about his chances of registering similar levels of success in the new arena immediately, while identifying youth unemployment and high school drop-out rates as among the issues that need addressing.
Full postFinally, Bangladesh get their trophy
Bangladesh won the ICC Trophy in 1997, but just only received a replica of the trophy, 16 years later
Rohan Sharma
13-Aug-2013
The 1997 ICC Trophy win represents an important stepping stone in Bangladesh's cricketing journey, as it allowed them entry into the 1999 World Cup in England. Their wins over Scotland and, more notably Pakistan, during the World Cup were the catalyst in their achieving ODI and Test status in 2000. So one would imagine that the trophy would find prime space in Bangladesh's trophy cabinet. However, as New Age reported, it has only just arrived on their shores, 16 years after the fact. Media reports suggested the trophy had been stolen from the trophy cabinet but the BCB then said it hadn't received it in the first place. And that's not the only snafu, as the Bangladesh Cricket Board has also been landed with a bill of 5000 dirham (approximately $1300). A small price to pay, perhaps, for the trophy that set them on their way.
Full postSteyn swings it in Hollywood
Dale Steyn will play a South Africa cricketer in Adam Sandler's upcoming movie Family Moon
Alagappan Muthu
05-Aug-2013
Dale Steyn's rhythmic run-up, his skills at shaping the ball both ways to leave the batsmen in a tangle and his angry celebrations are sheer theatre for cricket fans. But now the fast bowler is set to take it to another level. Steyn spent the last week shooting for Adam Sandler's new movie Family Moon, also featuring former basketball player Shaquille O'Neal.
"I was probably more nervous than playing in front of a packed cricket ground," said Steyn who plays a South African cricketer in the movie directed by Frank Coraci, due to release next year.
His tryst with tinsel town also included a dinner at the Sandler home where Adam was waiting with the perfect welcome. "When I walked in he was wearing the Proteas shirt. That was pretty cool," Steyn said. "It was an amazing experience and I would enjoy the opportunity if it came my way again."
Full postCricket administrator borrows Ganguly's face
Assam Cricket Association secretary Bikash Baruah has discovered just how difficult it is to step into former India captain Sourav Ganguly's shoes
Alagappan Muthu
23-Jul-2013
Assam Cricket Association secretary Bikash Baruah has discovered just how difficult it is to step into former India captain Sourav Ganguly's shoes. Baruah had reportedly distributed a picture of himself sharing a dais with Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. Newspapers in Guwahati had run the picture with a caption that quoted Baruah as saying he had asked the actors to set up an IPL team to represent India's northeast.
Upon further investigation, though, it was revealed that Baruah had doctored the picture. The original had featured Ganguly with the two actors, and Baruah had had his face superimposed on Ganguly's. For his canniness - or that of his Photoshop expert - all Baruah ended up with was an FIR, filed against him by India's Freelance Journalists' Association.
Full postGermany v Australia?
ESPNcricinfo staff
22-Jul-2013
Australia are copping it from all sides. If it's not bad enough being 2-0 down the Ashes, with some of your batsmen barely able to score a run, now they are being offered a game by Germany who believe they are more at Australia's level.
In a light-hearted tweet from The Deutscher Cricket Bund the offer was made for Michael Clarke's team to make the short trip over.
"#Ashes #ReturnTheUrn" slightly optimistic with that hashtag chaps. If you fancy a competitive game we are only an hours flight from London
— Cricket Germany (@Cricket_Germany) July 21, 2013
Mostly recently, Germany have been playing in ICC World Cricket League Division 7 against the likes of Ghana, Nigeria and Bostwana. By Monday, the message had been retweeted more than 700 times although one of Germany's batsmen, André Leslie, was slightly less taken by the suggestion.
Full postBatting for a Rwanda playing field
Alby Shale batted non-stop for 26 hours to break a world record and raise funds for a cricket stadium in Rwanda
17-Jul-2013
At the end of it all, 22-year-old Alby Shale simply collapsed out of exhaustion. He had batted non-stop for 26 hours at The Oval to break a batting world record, and even had the British prime minister David Cameron line up to bowl at him.
Shale, who broke the previous record of 25 hours held by Australian batsman Jade Child, was raising awareness and funds for the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation, which is planning to build a cricket ground in Kigali, Rwanda.
The existing cricket field in Kigali had been the site of a massacre in 1994 and remains were found when the tall grass was mowed to create a pitch in 2002. The idea to raise funds for the cause came from Shale's father, Christopher, who died in July 2011.
An exhausted Shale said: "We've seen first-hand what cricket can bring to a country and we decided. He [his father] said to me there, 'Listen, we need to build a new cricket pitch for Rwanda.'"
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