The Surfer
India's amazing win proves Tests are thriving
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
An Eden Gardens thriller is the latest in a series of epic Tests that has had everyone enthralled – except for the administrators, writes Dileep Premachandran on his Guardian blog.
Gripping matches like this deserve the biggest stage and the unbelievable atmosphere at what is Indian cricket's theatre of dreams shamed the board officials who hadn't scheduled a Test here since December 2007 for a host of petty reasons. No one quibbles with one-day cricket and T20 being played in every corner of this antique land, but if Test cricket is to remain in rude health, Eden Gardens and Chepauk must get at least one Test a year. Playing in front of empty stands at Mohali and Nagpur merely mocks a great tradition. As a friend wrote to me: "Can you imagine England picking Grace Road above Lord's, or the Aussies Hobart over the MCG/SCG?"
In the Wisden Cricketer, editor John Stern is left wanting more after that Kolkata classic.
Full postA two-Test series is neither here nor there. This rubber is just warming up but now it’s over. India and South Africa were playing for the Jaypee Infratech Trophy - you what? No they weren’t. They were playing for the glory. Was Harbhajan thinking Jaypee Infratech when he did his Cristiano Ronaldo bit on the boundary? It was all about the glory. More than that. There was the status of No.1 side in the world.
Graveney's stroke of genius was a shot for the ages
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
Of all the great batsmen Mike Selvey bowled at or watched, none produced a shot as sublime as a legside boundary from Tom Graveney on a grey day in Worcester 42 years ago. Selvey recalls the day in the Guardian and how Graveney's unhurried, unflustered style was a delight to watch.
It is the second occasion, however, that carries a special significance for me. We were at New Road, myself and Surrey team‑mates, on the last day of August two years later, to play Worcestershire. This was only my fifth appearance in the County Championship and I knew nothing. There is no romantic recollection of it being an azure summer's day, with the cathedral shimmering and the Severn slumbering by. It was sweater weather and the pitch, looking at the card, must have been a green top of a kind that once offered rich pickings for Jack Flavell and Len Coldwell.
But it was on that day, from the New Road end, that I bowled to Graveney and was primary witness to a single stroke that defined everything that has followed for me since. The delivery, such as it was, contained no particular merit. It was on a length, lively enough in pace from a whippy youngster and not badly directed at around middle-and-off. At least it deserved respect. What followed is as clear as day.
Full postEngland slow on Twenty20 uptake
Lawrence Booth believes that the recent clash between Lalit Modi and the ECB over the Champions League dates, underlines England's standing in the Twenty20 scheme of things
Nitin Sundar
25-Feb-2013
Lawrence Booth believes that the recent clash between Lalit Modi and the ECB over the Champions League dates, underlines England's standing in the Twenty20 scheme of things. Writing in the Wisden Cricketer, he says that Modi’s attempt to reconfigure England’s domestic calendar is symptomatic of their apathy towards the format.
At almost every turn, England has treated Twenty20 like a necessary evil. Even when the format emerged on the county scene in 2003, it was regarded as a crowd-puller rather than a legitimate form of cricket. After all, left elbows are supposed to be high, not jockeying for position in a mascots’ race or levering oneself out of the pitchside Jacuzzi.
Ijaz Butt must be sacked to save Pakistan cricket
Ijaz Butt doesn't seem to have many friends these days
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
Ijaz Butt doesn't seem to have many friends these days. The latest to criticise Butt's term as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board is Col Rafi Nasim, himself a former PCB chief executive officer, who writes in the Daily Times that over the last two years Butt's management has made a thorough mess of the game as well as its administration. Such an astounding public demand for the removal of the PCB chairman and his partners, for bringing disgrace to the country, is absolutely legitimate, he adds.
Full postThe original Kolkata charmer
Twenty five years since Mohammad Azharuddin made a hundred on Test debut at Eden Gardens, Mudar Patherya looks back at the event, and the two successive tons that followed, in Mid Day .
Nitin Sundar
25-Feb-2013
Twenty five years since Mohammad Azharuddin made a hundred on Test debut at Eden Gardens, Mudar Patherya looks back at the event, and the two successive tons that followed, in Mid Day.
A hundred in your first Test. A hundred in your second Test. A hundred in your third Test. The English media uncorked the vintage. Not just about the quantum, but the quality. Robin Marlar predicted greatness based on just one Azhar stroke. Pocock to Azhar. A little outside the leg stump. Azhar hit the ball behind the wicket-keeper. Most would have done so with a horizontal or angled bat. Azhar did so with a straight one, bringing his bat down and into his body at the last instant. "I have often been asked to describe perfection in sport. This is it."
IPL's dangerous moves
The IPL's decision to move matches from Hyderabad and Vishakapatnam over the Telengana issue is criticised in this editorial in the Indian Express
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
The IPL's decision to move matches from Hyderabad and Vishakapatnam over the Telengana issue is criticised in this editorial in the Indian Express. The decision, the editorial says, has been taken by ignoring the situation on the ground and state government, and the overreach has damaged efforts to manage the security situation in the country.
But the board’s overreach is making the IPL unsafe for this country. Take the latest two-step. Sharad Pawar last week called on Bal Thackeray, at a time when the Shiv Sena stood at its most politically isolated, an isolation that threatened to also marginalise the NCP. But it was let out that Pawar was not calling on Thackeray in his capacity as an NCP leader, but in fact, to win the Sena chief over for the smooth conduct of IPL matches.
Shahzad out to intimidate people
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
Ajmal Shahzad, England's newest recruit, is not lacking confidence as he prepares to face Pakistan and Bangladesh. He tells the Guardian's David Hopps about breaking through barriers for Yorkshire and getting in shape for his country.
"Suddenly I enjoyed getting up at half past six to go for a run with the sun shining. Because I am from an Asian background, my mum makes a lot of fried food and curries and chapatis. I don't eat them any more. The penny dropped for me and I have cut them out of my diet for 18 months. I eat a lot of grilled food, although I still have to have a bit of spice in it. I have learnt what I need to put into my body.
"When you can see the results, you understand. In a year I went from 15 stones to 12 and a half stones. My body felt good, I felt lighter, just as strong, I could run further. I was a big lad as a kid as well. When Tim Bresnan got into the England side and I finally got a regular chance at Yorkshire, bowling long spells up the hill at Headingley, I knew I was fit enough to do it."
Full postEvil hovers over sporting competition
Inevitably sport will be shaken to the core by threats similar to the ones for the IPL
Judhajit
25-Feb-2013
Inevitably sport will be shaken to the core by threats similar to the ones for the IPL. But Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, believes sportsmen cannot be regarded as fair game and appeals to sceptics, who believe sport is not worth the bother.
Sport cannot possibly come to terms with these modern-day threats issued by medievalists. By and large it is played in the open, in fields, before crowds. The only gun sport knows is the starter's pistol, the only blood in sport comes from the boxer's nose and the only tears come when tragedy occurs, as it did in Vancouver a few days ago as a comrade was lost.
The Scholes and Rooney show at Eden Gardens
If Virender Sehwag's allround dominance at Eden Gardens was reminiscent of Wayne Rooney, then Sachin Tendulkar's restrained brilliance had shades of Paul Scholes, so thinks Sumit Mukherjee, who likens the Indian pair's effort to the Manchester United
Nitin Sundar
25-Feb-2013
If Virender Sehwag's allround dominance at Eden Gardens was reminiscent of Wayne Rooney, then Sachin Tendulkar's restrained brilliance had shades of Paul Scholes, so thinks Sumit Mukherjee, who likens the Indian pair's effort to the Manchester United duo, in the Times of India.
It was almost as if India were playing with a single striker like Manchester United do so often with Wayne Rooney these days. Sehwag, like Rooney, was having a blast when in walked Tendulkar to a standing ovation from the crowd. The Master Blaster quickly assessed the situation and his partner’s mood and slipped into a role that made Paul Scholes a legend at Old Trafford.
It is difficult to say whether Tendulkar, a self-confessed Manchester United fan, was inspired by Scholes’ exploits, but his craftsmanship en route to his 47th Test hundred bore an uncanny resemblance to the United talisman’s style of play. It was a wonderful exhibition of controlled aggression with a sublime touch.
Full postThe lucky omen
In his tour diary for Supercricket , Ken Borland admires two of the most dedicated fans of the Indian team - Sudhir Chaudhary and Dharamveer
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
In his tour diary for Supercricket, Ken Borland admires two of the most dedicated fans of the Indian team - Sudhir Chaudhary and Dharamveer. Both are considered lucky omens by the Indians and that inspires Borland to achieve something similar with his own team, like when he shadow-practiced with Alviro Petersen's bat before the Kolkata Test.
Of course I would have died of embarrasment if I had actually jinxed someone who I am delighted has finally made his test debut. And, surely, becoming just the third player to score a hundred for South Africa on debut means he was actually helped by my intervention? I believe lucky omen status is only fair. Although, for the life of me, I can't imagine what I did wrong during tea time on Sunday ...
Most Read
Writers