The Surfer
My memories of a golden World Twenty20
Seventeen days just wasn't long enough, was it
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Seventeen days just wasn't long enough, was it? Or maybe that question proves it was just right: the World Twenty20 has left us wanting more, and for once the next edition - scheduled for spring 2010 in the Caribbean - can't come round quickly enough. To keep you going, here are some quickfire thoughts about the past fortnight and a bit, writes Lawrence Booth in the Guardian.
9) Our desire to classify Ajantha Mendis has led to one comparison that just doesn't seem right. England used to play Anil Kumble as a slow-medium inswinger, and the tag has shifted inexorably to Mendis. Yet most of his deliveries go straight on, and two of his wickets against New Zealand came courtesy of leg-breaks. The search for Mendis's dictionary definition goes on.
10) Weren't the crowds great? We've always known India and Pakistan can pack out grounds in England, but the Sri Lankan presence for their semi-final at The Brit Oval was overwhelming. The only sadness was the lack of Caribbean flags at a venue that was once their home away from home. But if we didn't know it before, we know it now: no cricket country on earth does multiculturalism as well as England.
Full postSouth Africa didn't choke
South Africa were outplayed by a better team on their day, and didn't choke as the general perception suggests, writes Arthur Turner on the News24 website .
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
South Africa were outplayed by a better team on their day, and didn't choke as the general perception suggests, writes Arthur Turner on the News24 website.
The Proteas lost a closely contested match by seven runs and to term them chokers based on that performance is harsh. Sri Lanka, like South Africa, also only lost one game in the tournament - the final. The performance of the West Indies in the second semi-final looked more like a team choking to me.
No guarantees for out-of-sorts Hussey
In his column in the Times , Shane Warne argues that England have made a mistake by leaving Michael Vaughan out of their Ashes training squad and he believes Michael Hussey's position in Australia's side should no longer be guaranteed.
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
In his column in the Times, Shane Warne argues that England have made a mistake by leaving Michael Vaughan out of their Ashes training squad and he believes Michael Hussey's position in Australia's side should no longer be guaranteed.
Mike Hussey has been a really good player, but he didn't have a great winter and may be under pressure. To me, there are places for two of Hussey, Shane Watson and Marcus North. People in England don't realise how good Watson can be. He is like Brad Haddin - if the two of them didn't bowl and keep wicket they would be frontline batsmen. Watson would be good enough for No 3, if it came to it.
What I am saying is that Hussey needs a score over the next fortnight to cement his place. The onus is on the others to push him out, yes, but if Watson and North get runs it will be an interesting decision. As with the bowlers, you have to pick on form rather than reputation. I don't think Hussey's place should be guaranteed.
In the same paper, Michael Atherton looks at Vaughan's omission as a major crossroads in the career of the former England captain.
Full postCricket vs the Taliban
Will a glorious sport rescue Pakistan from the Islamists
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
Will a glorious sport rescue Pakistan from the Islamists? Thats what Tunku Varadarajan wonders in Forbes magazine. The cricket victory is the best news that Pakistanis have had since the departure from power of their military dictator, Pervez Musharraf, says the writer.
Full postHow moving it is that three Pushtun players contributed most to Pakistan's victory: the team's captain, Younis Khan, who is everything this once-proud nation ought to want to be: competitive, yet deeply gracious and good-humored; Umer Gul, their fast-bowling spearhead; and Shahid Afridi, the team's match-winner in the semi-final and final. What a very valuable example these three men provide the young in Pakistan
Who's Ashraful fooling?
Mohammad Ashraful is not the most popular man in Bangladesh at the moment
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
Mohammad Ashraful is not the most popular man in Bangladesh at the moment. Harangued by irate fans when he landed home a couple days after Bangladesh's first-round exit from the ICC World Twenty20, Ashraful's captaincy and batting have been under severe criticism. Bishwajit Roy, of the Dhaka-based Daily Star, wonders how a batsman of Ashraful's calibre could express satisfaction with an average of 23.00 in 139 ODIs and little over 23.00 in 48 Tests in his eight-year long international stint.
Full postDespite all the statistics, if someone expresses the kind of satisfaction Ashraful expressed recently, it's really alarming for our cricket. It could be dangerously infectious for the other players because he is now the most senior member in the team. It's always good to be confident but before that one should realise his position first.
'My vision is to stay ahead of Australia' - Arthur
Mickey Arthur, in an interview with Kolkata's Telegraph , says that fours years of coaching South Africa has been a treat and a major accomplishment
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
Mickey Arthur, in an interview with Kolkata's Telegraph, says that fours years of coaching South Africa has been a treat and a major accomplishment. He credits his hitting it off with Graeme Smith as crucial to his job and his relationship with the team, and admits that everything he does is with a transformation bias. Excerpts:
How have you handled pressure?
(Smiles) It has been an enjoyable journey... I’ve grown as an individual and I’ve seen respect for me grow... When I got the job, it was ‘Mickey who’?... It’s rather different now... I see myself as a cricket thinker and my degree is cricket... I backed myself when I got the job and I’ve continued to back myself. Pressure comes with the territory.
The captain, quite clearly, is the boss...
Ultimately it’s the captain, yes... Of course, the coach too is accountable. Within the South African team, Graeme and I are clear about responsibilities... I run the show till the match-eve team meeting, Graeme takes over from there. I become his assistant.
Full postUltimately it’s the captain, yes... Of course, the coach too is accountable. Within the South African team, Graeme and I are clear about responsibilities... I run the show till the match-eve team meeting, Graeme takes over from there. I become his assistant.
Homeless and hounded but defiant to the glorious end
Despite all the troubles and setbacks that Pakistan have had, their fighting spirit has shone through, writes David Hopps in the Guardian
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
Despite all the troubles and setbacks that Pakistan have had, their fighting spirit has shone through, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.
Putting national sentiments aside, Pakistan's victory in World Twenty20 was the most joyous outcome imaginable in a tournament replete with happy, vibrant, adventurous cricket, a statement that the sport is so imprinted upon Pakistan's national consciousness that even the awful prospect of a nomadic existence for several years to come, playing Twenty20 in temporary homes around the world, will not break them.
In his blog in the same newspaper Andy Bull writes that Pakistan's carefree approach worked wonders and reminded us of what we've been missing. Younis Khan was ridiculed for saying Twenty20 was 'just entertainment', says Bull, but a laid-back attitude served his team well.
In the Times Simon Barnes says a game of cricket between Sri lanka and Pakistan is a refreshing outbreak of triviality and, as such, something for us all to cheer.
Muhammad Ali, writing in Pakistan's Daily Times, says cricket has always been a big binding force in the country and the team’s success in the World Twenty20 has helped lift the spirits of the people.
Full postNow we can lose the Ashes twice
A team of young Aboriginal players is retracing their steps in England with a tour that will honour the trailblazers of 1868 - nine years before the first Ashes series established cricket's oldest rivalry - and play at many of the same venues
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
A team of young Aboriginal players is retracing their steps in England with a tour that will honour the trailblazers of 1868 - nine years before the first Ashes series established cricket's oldest rivalry - and play at many of the same venues. Kathy Marks has more in the Independent.
Full postAdil Rashid's rapid rise provides Test debate
The World Twenty20 is nearing its end and Scyld Berry is eager to look ahead to the Ashes and the promising 21-year old legspinner Adil Rashid who could become England's second spinner against Australia, behind Graeme Swann and ahead of Monty
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
The World Twenty20 is nearing its end and Scyld Berry is eager to look ahead to the Ashes and the promising 21-year old legspinner Adil Rashid who could become England's second spinner against Australia, behind Graeme Swann and ahead of Monty Panesar, who makes England's tail too long. He writes in the Sunday Telegraph:
For a 21-year-old leg-spinner born and brought up in England, Rashid has come on exceptionally quickly: not since Ian Peebles bamboozled Don Bradman with his googly in 1930 have England, or in the latter case Scotland, had such a promising wrist-spinner at so tender an age. Rashid's first-class figures stack up for a Test career sooner or later: 150 wickets already at 33 runs each, a bit expensive but largely offset by a first-class batting average of 32.
Unorthodoxy at the home of purists
Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the finalists for the World Twenty20, have between them four unorthodox spinners and two extraordinary fast bowlers in Ajantha Mendis, Muttiah Muralitharan, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Lasith Malinga and Umar Gul, writes Simon
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the finalists for the World Twenty20, have between them four unorthodox spinners and two extraordinary fast bowlers in Ajantha Mendis, Muttiah Muralitharan, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Lasith Malinga and Umar Gul, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times.
Afridi is the only one of the four who bats and if Pakistan win he might again be named player of the tournament, as he was in the inaugural event in 2007. His semi-final performance against South Africa was typically outrageous; the kiss he blew Jacques Kallis as he smashed him to all parts summed it up. I’m here to get under your skin, he was saying. He really is the cock of the walk. To stress the diversity of skills on parade, imagine the scene 25 days from now when the next big match takes place at Lord’s, the second Ashes Test. England will probably field an orthodox off-spinner in Graeme Swann and Australia may pick no spinner at all. This may be the last chance for a while to savour the truly exotic, unless Mendis signs for a county, as well he might.
The World Twenty20 has been fast, fun, furious and highly skilled, writes Steve James in his review of the tournament in the Sunday Telegraph.
Shot of the tournament
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