The Surfer
Strauss should be Twenty20 captain
England should not panic after their defeat on Tuesday, believes the former coach Duncan Fletcher, though the split captaincy is a cause for concern
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
England should not panic after their defeat on Tuesday, believes the former coach Duncan Fletcher, though the split captaincy is a cause for concern. Andrew Strauss will not be involved in the Twenty20 games against South Africa but he should be, writes Fletcher in his Guardian blog.
Strauss is an underrated limited-overs player. He is England's leading run-scorer in one-day internationals this year. Many people would never guess it, but in that time he has also scored more boundaries than anyone else in the team, too. Tactically he is an extremely shrewd judge of how to pace an innings.
Those skills should cross over. There is not much difference between the structure of 50-over cricket and Twenty20. It is just that the windows which make up the different phases of the match are tighter. Strauss is the ideal man to cement the innings together. Essentially, in the ODIs England have played this year the team have been batting around him. Leaving him out is a little like pulling the keystone from the arch.
Full postCall for Tests to be free could bowl a googly
The Crown Jewels affair has kicked up quite a storm, what with sports chiefs threatening legal action against ministers over a plan to reclaim the Ashes for free-to-air television
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
The Crown Jewels affair has kicked up quite a storm, what with sports chiefs threatening legal action against ministers over a plan to reclaim the Ashes for free-to-air television. Proposals are for one list of live sport that must be shown on non-subscription channels, with the secondary list of events that must be available as highlights being scrapped.Taking the Ashes on to free-to-air only means that the ECB will have to sell its rights to cash-conscious terrestrial broadcasters, and that's not gone too well in certain quarters.
Former England spinner Ashley Giles writes in the Guardian that broadcasters should be given a fair hearing.
In the Times, Dan Sabbagh says the financial impact on cricket will be significant.
In the Independent, Robin Scott-Elliot says other sporting bodies will be similarly affected.
Full postA tale of two captains
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
After a successful year the Bangladesh cricket team looks like a settled one. With India and Sri Lanka visiting in January for a tri-series, followed by a Test series against India, the BCB have one crucial question to answer - who will be captain of the national team, Mashrafe Mortaza or Shakib Al Hasan? In the Daily Star, Sakeb Tahsin Subhan attempts to answer the question.
Full postBoth players are equally deserving of the position. Shakib has put his name in the hat through the successes that Bangladesh has enjoyed in the past year, as well as his own individual performances. Mashrafe has impressed all and sundry throughout his career as a committed player who commands the respect of his team. The momentum is with Shakib having led the team well in successes, but it is Mashrafe's team that he led in the fast bowler's absence.
Not a run machine
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
As November 15 comes around, much of the Indian cricketing fraternity and media is recalling their first memories of seeing Saching Tendulkar bat at the international level. On that day Rajdeep Sardesai, now CNN-IBN's editor-in-chief, was glued to the TV watching a 16-year-old Tendulkar with curls and rosy cheeks take on Pakistan’s fast bowlers. Twenty years later, he says, the locks are showing a hint of grey but Tendulkar is still doing what he does best: score runs for India. Read on in the Hindustan Times.
Full postHis real achievement is beyond the boundary. We live in an age of instant stardom and mini-celebrities, where fame is an intoxicant that can easily consume the best of us. Sachin, remarkably, has been almost untouched by the fact that he is contemporary India’s biggest icon, arguably bigger than even an Amitabh Bachchan or a Shah Rukh Khan. As Khan revealed in an interview, at a party there was a big noise when Big B entered. Then, Sachin entered the hall and Bachchan was leading the queue to grab hold of the cricket champion!
A gloomy summer comes into view
Peter Roebuck, writing in the Age , says Australian cricket is facing its most deflating summer for decades.
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Peter Roebuck, writing in the Age, says Australian cricket is facing its most deflating summer for decades.
Following hard upon the feckless nomination of Chris Gayle as leader of the West Indies, the news that Younis Khan had stepped down as Pakistan captain is a hammer blow. Pakistan and the West Indies are the summer's main attractions but both will arrive as fractured outfits. Whether the Younis decision or Gayle's reappointment is the bigger calamity is a matter of opinion. It's a close-run thing. All the evidence suggests that it's going to be a long summer and a hard sell.
In the Australian Malcolm Conn says Test cricket continues to be devalued, with a chronic oversupply of largely meaningless one-day games robbing most Australian players of any match preparation before the West Indies series.
Full postTendulkar's 20th year
"We all regard Test cricket as No
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
"We all regard Test cricket as No. 1, compared to one-day and Twenty20 cricket, so the match fees and income from playing Test cricket have to be significantly more than from T20s. Then people will want to play more Tests than other formats," Sachin Tendulkar tells Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times.
Full postLife at the bottom of the hill
In all my years involved in cricket I don't think I have ever seen an international cricketer of long-standing and considerable achievement have his career at the top level terminated so ruthlessly, in the middle of a series as well, as Matthew
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
In all my years involved in cricket I don't think I have ever seen an international cricketer of long-standing and considerable achievement have his career at the top level terminated so ruthlessly, in the middle of a series as well, as Matthew Hoggard, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.
But now he has a new challenge. Last week he agreed a three-year contract with Leicestershire, as captain. In so doing he goes from the top of the hill, with England, to the bottom. He will go with optimism that he will be the one to make a difference. On one level, he can be the kid in the sweetshop, bowling when he feels like it (which will be mostly), to the fields he wants. No one will be in his ear.
Hayden goes north to spread cricket’s word
Matthew Hayden is passing on the message that anyone can play cricket and Larine Statham reports in the Daily Telegraph on his trip to the Tiwi Islands.
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Matthew Hayden is passing on the message that anyone can play cricket and Larine Statham reports in the Daily Telegraph on his trip to the Tiwi Islands.
Hayden wants more Aboriginal kids to embrace the baggy green and to become professional cricketers. "I'd love to see an indigenous player playing what is a really great game," he said. "It has been a sport that has really only been among mainstream Australia and I think there is a massive opportunity to change that."
Time for revenge
South Africa have much at stake when the ODI series against England starts at the Wanderers later this month
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
South Africa have much at stake when the ODI series against England starts at the Wanderers later this month. The old rivalry and the recent spat between the two captains will also spice up the occasion, writes Arthur Turner on Sport24.
Another aspect that is important for coach Mickey Arthur is to start developing a squad for the next World Cup that is now less than two years away. There are certain positions that he will have to get clarity on before the tournament. A good example of this is the role of Albie Morkel. Will he be considered as an all-rounder or as a batsman?
Selectors spring Sreesanth surprise
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Anand Vasu writes in the Hindustan Times that's it's a pity Indian selectors aren't allowed to explain their decisions, because they would have found it virtually impossible to defend the recall of medium-pacer Sreesanth, who has done little of note to return to the national fold.
In 2009, Sreesanth has played nine first-class matches, taking five wickets in an innings only once, for Warwickshire against Yorkshire, and even there he conceded more than six an over. In total he had 24 wickets at 35.58, conceding 854 runs from 232 overs.
On his blog Smoke signals Prem Panicker wonders whether selecting Sreesanth, a player who was given a final warning last month for a series of disciplinary problems, sends the right signal. He also analyses the inclusion of S Badrinath and M Vijay.
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