The Surfer
The pitfalls of a freelance Freddie
Andrew Flintoff's rejection of an England contract and his decision to become a freelance player is a worrying move, writes David Hopps in the Guardian .
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
Andrew Flintoff's rejection of an England contract and his decision to become a freelance player is a worrying move, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.
His decision leaves a lot of questions unanswered. If Flower wants a week's get-together at Loughborough ahead of a one-day series, will Flintoff feel obliged to attend? If England do not monitor his form and fitness, who does?
It might be natural for golfers or tennis players to travel the world on an individualistic search for personal fulfillment. But cricket demands a compromise between individual ambitions and team demands. Any perception that Flintoff had won special privileges would not rest easily in any dressing room.
Prem Panicker, in his blog Smoke Signals, says that Flintoff's decision comes as a consequence of the behaviour of national boards, especially some of the irrational decisions they have made with regards to scheduling. Flintoff, he writes, may have started a trend that could challenge the monopoly held by national boards over their players by way of contracts.
Full postVerily, we remember Verity
Paul Weaver in the Guardian takes a look at the 70th anniversary of a historically significant county match.
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
Paul Weaver in the Guardian takes a look at the 70th anniversary of a historically significant county match.
The cricketers of Sussex and Yorkshire and their supporters, preoccupied by worries of relegation as they enter today's crucial championship match at Hove, may not notice the elderly man in their midst who links them to a legend. Douglas Verity is 76 now, so was only six years old when his father Hedley, one of England's greatest cricketers, played his final game before going to war. He would not return.
When Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 county cricket was immediately cancelled as everyone prepared for war – except at Hove, where Sussex were playing Yorkshire. Rob Boddie, the librarian at Sussex who has organised a special exhibition at the ground in memory of Verity and the others, takes up the story.
"Yorkshire wired their captain, Brian Sellers, to suggest that the game be called off. It is to his and the Yorkshire players' immense credit that Sellers wired back to say that as it was a benefit match for Jim Parks the players would like to continue and that is what was agreed."
Full postDo not fear Freddie the freelancer
Andrew Flintoff was recently offered an incremental contract by the ECB but could reject it in favour of going freelance
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Andrew Flintoff was recently offered an incremental contract by the ECB but could reject it in favour of going freelance. As a freelancer, playing all IPL matches for the Chennai Super Kings, Flintoff could earn a million dollars a year, considerably more than what he'd earn if he stayed with England. But a lot of the star's earning power via endorsements is contingent on his being an international player. On cricket365.com Alan Tyers writes that England fans should say to Flintoff: thanks for all that you've done, now go off and earn your money as you see fit.
There will no doubt be plenty of people who will thunder that it is a disgrace anyone could even consider playing for Twenty20 franchises when there is a chance of an England cap on offer. To them I would say: it's only the England ODI side. A lot of people would pay good money NOT to be in the England ODI side at the moment, given the utter mediocrity and the endless slog of meaningless fixtures. If, for example, the ECB are trying to promote an ODI against West Indies with a weakened XI while Flintoff is simultaneously off earning a crust with the Durban Ringbinders or whoever, then they are indeed going to have problems. But maybe that is not the end of the world: if they can't sell the ODIs, maybe we will stop having so bloody many of them.
West Indies cricket falls apart
In the Trinidad & Tobago Express , Peter Simmons argues that West Indian cricket has become an international laughing stock, and that public disappointment and disdain is at its zenith.
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
In the Trinidad & Tobago Express, Peter Simmons argues that West Indian cricket has become an international laughing stock, and that public disappointment and disdain is at its zenith.
When the players eschew the efforts of distinguished jurists from the Caribbean Court of Justice putting their skills and sagacity at their disposal as arbitrators acting in their personal capacity, we despair. Mind you, the cynics will say the players are behaving just like those governments which have failed to sign on to the court's jurisdiction. Monkey see, monkey do!
The over-arching incompetence of the board is demonstrated in the Viv Richards Stadium fiasco, the repeated tardiness in providing retainer contracts for the players or sending John Dyson a contract for signature with his predecessor's name and address. The overwhelming conclusion is that the board endorses the ethos that the way forward is through error compounding error.
Full postA fire alarm, and some football
Andrew Strauss relives the victorious Ashes series in his autobiography Testing Time
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Andrew Strauss relives the victorious Ashes series in his autobiography Testing Time. In this extract published in the Daily Telegraph, Strauss talks about being woken up at 4.45am by the fire alarm on the day of the Headingley Test, the problems of playing football as part of training and missing Flintoff.
There has been a lot of talk about why we play football, but most cricket teams around the world play a game that gets their legs moving and switches the players on, and football has always been the most popular. After a couple of injuries we implemented a no-tackling rule, and we will obviously have to look at the subject again if there are further injuries. In any event Matt Prior’s back went into spasm as he went down the wing in our game. About 15 minutes before the toss was due to be made England’s wicketkeeper was barely able to move.
A title-winning performance?
Prem Panicker writes in his blog, Smoke signals , that the Player-of-the-Match award in the final of the Compaq Cup should have gone to the curator of the R Premadasa because the nature of the pitch was so influential in deciding the outcome
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Prem Panicker writes in his blog, Smoke signals, that the Player-of-the-Match award in the final of the Compaq Cup should have gone to the curator of the R Premadasa because the nature of the pitch was so influential in deciding the outcome. He says that it was not a Cup-winning performance from India, who were helped by the conditions to overcome Sri Lanka.
Full postIndia in the field did its utmost to lose the game, and was foiled by prevailing conditions.
The fielders — Yusuf Pathan and Virat Kohli in particular — dropped sitters. MS Dhoni uncharacteristically [uncharacteristically not because he is the best keeper currently playing, but because his glove skills have visibly improved since his entry into international cricket, and he is now a 'safe' keeper] missed a relatively simple stumping off Raina.
The overall standard of ground fielding was ordinary at best, creating such confidence in the opposition that batsmen repeatedly ran singles to short positions on the on and off
In defence of the one-day international
The general consensus is the England-Australia series has been a poor advertisement for 50-over cricket
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
The general consensus is the England-Australia series has been a poor advertisement for 50-over cricket. Matthew Hayden in the Independent writes that the series has been too long but ODIs still have their place and the format should not be tinkered with.
It's ridiculous that England and Australia are engaged in a seven-match one-day series. It is not what this summer needed or deserved. But two caveats. It's fine for us to walk around and run down these one-dayers because, ultimately, there are so many of them and we're on the road and see them every day. Well, tell that to these spectators who are filling grounds. It is their only day at the cricket, so that must be borne in mind.
And say that it's too many to Ravi Bopara, who's trying to get back into form, or to Adil Rashid, the young all-rounder, desperately trying to get back into England's side regularly. You can learn a lot and you have to keep this in perspective. Playing one-day cricket for your country is a wonderful experience.
Simon Barnes in the Times argues that the problem with ODIs is that the players have worked it out and teams form a sort of non-aggressive pact during the middle 25 overs of an innings.
Full post'Imran always backed his team-mates'
Former Pakistan batsman Mudassar Nazar talks to Pakpassion.net on his playing days, playing under Imran Khan, his stint as a coach with the ICC and the NCA in Lahore and gives his opinions on the upcoming stars in Pakistan cricket
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
Former Pakistan batsman Mudassar Nazar talks to Pakpassion.net on his playing days, playing under Imran Khan, his stint as a coach with the ICC and the NCA in Lahore and gives his opinions on the upcoming stars in Pakistan cricket.
Full postI came across Sohail Tanvir in 2005/06 at the Academy. He was offered some league cricket in England and I advised him to stay at the Academy so we could work with him in areas that we felt he needed to improve upon. Unfortunately and in no way would I criticise him, Sohail opted to go to England and earn some money there. Sajid, you know I would never criticise any cricketer from earning money as some of the boys are the sole breadwinners and there are some very sad stories out there. I feel that Sohail needs to work on his fitness. If I was still at the academy I would have him there with a strict fitness regime and I would be working on his batting, as he has the ability to bat properly, but he doesnt seem to be batting that way these days. I think Sohail is someone who should be part of the T20 squad.
Down with dead rubbers
The baseball World Series has the right idea in ending a best-of-seven series when one team wins four matches, writes Patrick Kidd on his Line and Length blog in the Times
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
The baseball World Series has the right idea in ending a best-of-seven series when one team wins four matches, writes Patrick Kidd on his Line and Length blog in the Times. England have already sunk to a 4-0 loss in the one-dayers but there are still three inconsequential matches to go before the series ends, leaving both teams little time to rest before the Champions Trophy, he says.
Full postStrauss on captaincy
The Daily Telegraph is running extracts from Andrew Strauss's new autobiography Testing time
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
The Daily Telegraph is running extracts from Andrew Strauss's new autobiography Testing time. In today's extract, Strauss talks about the pressures of being England captain, and details how he got to be at the helm of the England side early this year after the tussle between Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores.
Full post... my biggest priority was to find out how the players viewed what had gone on between Moores and Pietersen. The newspapers had made out there was a big division between the players, with some supporting the coach, some the captain. My impression, however, was that they did not want to be involved in this personality clash; and that the most extreme positions were taken up by Moores and Pietersen, while the players were somewhere in the middle. The first thing I did was ring up every player to find out how he felt, did he feel let down, what were we doing right as a side and what badly. And a general theme quickly became apparent: the players wanted to move on and get England back to winning.
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