The Surfer
England should throw caution to wind
Since 1994, when South Africa played England for the first time after readmission, every Test series win has been decided by a single match and this trend of tight and sometimes attritional cricket is likely to continue over the next five weeks,
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Since 1994, when South Africa played England for the first time after readmission, every Test series win has been decided by a single match and this trend of tight and sometimes attritional cricket is likely to continue over the next five weeks, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.
Whereas Australia, say, play with an attitude that a Test is there to be won from the first ball, England and South Africa have traditionally approached the task with a little more caution, reckoning that while a game cannot be won on the first day, it can certainly be lost. Positions are to be built brick by brick — victory to be strived for only when defeat is out of the question.
Rise and rise of skipper in waiting
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
Over the past three seasons of Test cricket Michael Clarke has quietly established himself as Australia's leading batsman and his rise is indisputable, writes Peter Lalor in the Australian.
Clarke's numbers have been imposing for some years now. If you push the starting date back to the start of 2007, Clarke has scored 2324 runs at 56.68 with eight 100s from 28 matches, Ponting 2133 runs at an average of 43.53 with five 100s from 29 matches and Katich 1923 runs at an average of 52 with six 100s from 22 matches. Raw figures are not always the best indication.
Openers will tell you their job is more difficult than anybody else's. The number three will counter it is theirs that is the toughest and few will argue with either statement. The number five, however, would be pushing credibility to mount such an argument.
Full postMeet the Pattinsons
Darren and James Pattinson are more than ten years apart but this week they became the first brothers to play together for Victoria in more than 20 years
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
Darren and James Pattinson are more than ten years apart but this week they became the first brothers to play together for Victoria in more than 20 years. Darren has already played Test cricket for England; James is touted as a future Australian player. Michael Horan tells their story in the Herald Sun.
More than a quarter of a century ago John Pattinson, a roof tiler just like his Dad, reluctantly acceded to his wife's wish to pack up their things and move, with their four-year-old son Darren, to Australia. Doveton, Victoria to be precise.
Being hauled off the roof was one thing, but carted Down Under was simply not on the radar for the pleasantly spoken, very English chap from Grimsby, Lincolnshire. If his profession was a family tradition, then so too was the unexpected, as he would discover with pride in his unique position of being the father of two Aussie-grown boys, born more than 10 years apart, who tread such different paths to attain their cricket dreams.
Full postThe new generation to lead New Zealand's attack
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
All the talk is of New Zealand's batting woes of late, but what about the other half of the game? Writing in the New Zealand Herald, David Leggat looks at the contenders to lead New Zealand's bowling attack in the immediate years to come.
A word around the country with some of the first-class coaches came up with some interesting names. Who had impressed them with an eye to the test team in the next couple of years? The obvious next in line is Tim Southee. He is 20 and swings the ball, but lost his way late last season against the batting might of India.
Then there is his Northern Districts colleague, Brent Arnel, who gets good marks for consistency and having had a couple of strong seasons, taking 33 wickets last season and 20 so far this summer.
Full postIndia need a bowling superstar to justify No.1 ranking
One doesn't need to look at the rankings table to identify a champion side, writes Simon Briggs in the Daily Telegraph
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
One doesn't need to look at the rankings table to identify a champion side, writes Simon Briggs in the Daily Telegraph. India, he says, have relied heavily on their batsmen to reach where they have, but their bowling attack is hardly comparable to Australia's when they had reached the summit, or West Indies' in the eighties.
You can almost see their Test cricket as an extension of their one-day skills. Virender Sehwag’s 293 was a 50-over innings that happened to go on for a whole day.
This is the modern way. But it is also an ancient way. The Indians are turning the clock back to the 1930s and 40s, decades when the giant score was the building block of every Test series win.
That was the last era when pitches were flat enough, and bowlers subservient enough, for a batsman (Sehwag now, Bradman then) to eye up the possibility of scoring 300 runs in a day.
Full postDo away with concept of neutral umpires
Mark Benson's abrupt exit from the Test series in Australia is an indication of the strain umpires experience by constantly travelling overseas, writes Simon Wilde in the Times
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
Mark Benson's abrupt exit from the Test series in Australia is an indication of the strain umpires experience by constantly travelling overseas, writes Simon Wilde in the Times. He argues that umpires should be allowed to officiate in matches involving home teams, for the referral system, despite its imperfections, can ensure there is less scope for any bias in decision-making.
Apart from anything else the repatriation of ICC umpires might encourage more good men to make themselves available for the elite panel, because there have been some – such as Peter Willey – who have been put off by the excessive travel. And with the role of the third official now of so much more importance, the more good men the ICC can call on the better.
The fact that Benson has felt it necessary to set up a second home in Florida to ease his amount of travelling says a lot. ICC umpires are not so much citizens of the world, as nomads. That in itself must be stressful and, ultimately, soul-destroying.
Full postAfter Ntini, who?
No sportsman in South Africa unites the nation as much as Makhaya Ntini does, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent , and there is much to celebrate when he plays his 100th Test on December 16
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
No sportsman in South Africa unites the nation as much as Makhaya Ntini does, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent, and there is much to celebrate when he plays his 100th Test on December 16. However, with the football team struggling and rugby union lacking the emotive pull of cricket, who will emerge as the next Ntini and what are South African authorities - both government as well as those associated with cricket - doing to find one?
There are two other major team sports in South Africa: football and rugby union. The former is the sport of the black man and the country is suffering from World Cup fever because of the event which will take place here next year. But the team is faultering and it does not bridge the divide as cricket does. Similarly rugby union, although it has a greater black representation than cricket, does not possess the emotive pull of cricket in this society for all its popularity.
When Ntini departs there will be a gap. The government and Cricket South Africa will insist that it is filled sooner rather than later. A national cricket team consisting of white and coloured players is not seen to be representative of the rainbow nation.
Paul Weaver, like Brenkley, makes a trip to Ntini's Eastern Cape Village of Mdingi, and tries to find out the steps being taken to find the successor to South Africa's first black Test cricketer. Read his article in the Guardian.
Full postEngland make their mark in ODIs
Mike Atherton, writing in the Times , says England are finally emerging from their limited-overs shadows with a series win in South Africa
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
Mike Atherton, writing in the Times, says England are finally emerging from their limited-overs shadows with a series win in South Africa. The result, he says, is due to their acceptance of the fact that athleticism is non-negotiable, and their increased emphasis on power-batting.
With England and one-day cricket, though, any success is worth celebrating.
It is with the management team that we must start, because Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower, captain and team manager respectively, have wrought, arguably, an even bigger improvement in England’s one-day fortunes since the drubbing by Australia than they did with the Test side after the debacle in Jamaica — a performance that led to a great deal of soul-searching and, thereafter, to greater honesty. An Ashes victory was the end game of that change in attitude; a World Cup showing better than any since 1992 now their aim in the limited-overs game.
Full postCurbing cricket clips on news channels
Cricket's governing bodies are looking into how they can cut down on the amount of match footage new channels can telecast during their bulletins
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Cricket's governing bodies are looking into how they can cut down on the amount of match footage new channels can telecast during their bulletins. Arun Jaitley, a member of the BCCI and one of India's top lawyers, chaired a two-day meet in October, also attended by ICC representatives, to look into the regulation of use of video clips. Ways to clamp down on illegal streaming of cricket on websites, a threat to the BCCI's planned online channel, were also discussed. The Mint has more.
Full postNo referral system foolproof
The Adelaide Test and the speculation surrounding Mark Benson's exit was an indication that the Umpire Decision Review System had its pitfalls, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
The Adelaide Test and the speculation surrounding Mark Benson's exit was an indication that the Umpire Decision Review System had its pitfalls, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian. He suggests the review system be used to increase the authority of umpires, rather than erode it.
I would like to see umpires given more responsibility as promoted by the review system. For example, why the square-leg umpire has never been required to adjudicate on height for lbws is beyond me. The training of better umpires, and the use of the best rather than a broad international spread, should be as important as the drive for correct outcomes. In fact, one ought to predicate the other.
But, if the ICC insists the technology is paramount, then it should be used not at the request of the players to query but of the officials to augment, as it was during the Stanford series in Antigua. There should be nothing wrong, either, with the third umpire interjecting if he sees something untoward: we all want the best decisions and, in particular, the elimination of obvious howlers.
Andy Bull, in his blog The Spin in the same newspaper, agrees with Selvey. He writes that the power to review decisions needs to be taken away from the players and must rest with the umpires, something Allen Stanford implemented in his tournament in the Caribbean but the ICC is yet to embrace.
Full postMost Read
Writers