The Surfer
Matt Prior chipping away at mentor Stewart
The story of England's one-day wicketkeepers boils down largely to one man
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
The story of England's one-day wicketkeepers boils down largely to one man. When it comes to run-making, Alec Stewart remains The Gaffer. He is still England's top one-day run-scorer. The rest are scrabbling around on the shop floor, trying to earn an honest living, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.
One representative of the shop floor made it to management level yesterday. In a list of England's top 10 scores by wicketkeepers, Matt Prior has had the audacity to creep in at No 9, courtesy of his 87 against West Indies. All the rest belong to Stewart. Not that The Gaffer will mind if Prior chips at his list; he is Prior's agent. This feels less like a shop-floor revolution than an appointment from above.
An unhappy tour for West Indies ended on an unhappy note at Edgbaston when for the second time in three days they were roundly beaten by a vibrant England side, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.
Andrew Strauss thus takes the honours to go with the recent Test series and before that the one-dayers in the Caribbean. For him the only real blemish on an otherwise competent performance in what seems to have been an interminable contest since February was an hour and a half of mayhem in the first Test at Sabina Park that ultimately cost them that series. England's general recovery since then has been first-class, the improvement in confidence evident by the match.
Show me the money
The IPL has failed to draw a line between the entertainment provided by the cricket and the entertainment from the singing, dancing, drumming and DJ-ing
Judhajit
25-Feb-2013
The IPL has failed to draw a line between the entertainment provided by the cricket and the entertainment from the singing, dancing, drumming and DJ-ing. The 20-over format is enough of an entertainment spectacle on its own without the rest of the junk that has accompanied IPL matches. But then the IPL's priority has never been the cricket, it's always been money and they certainly made a lot of that in South Africa in the last five weeks, writes Stuart Hess in iol.co.za.
...when television starts dictating the make up of teams you may as well ask Shah Rukh Khan to pad up and hit the winning runs.
When Gilchrist and the Chargers eventually lifted that ostentatious trophy the Wanderers was barely a third full. That's a damning indictment on Modi and the IPL for getting their priorities totally warped.
And in the Guardian, Dileep Premachandran has twenty things we learnt in the IPL.
Full postCaptaincy is not for everyone. Rahul Dravid seemed relieved and relaxed without it. Sourav Ganguly looked lost when deprived of its oxygen. Gautam Gambhir won every game when Sehwag was out injured. Sachin Tendulkar looked as weary as Atlas. Yuvraj looked bored. MS Dhoni wasn't always unflappable. Warne did what he could with a weak side. Kumble appeared to shed 10 years. Gilchrist was everywhere.
England happily getting to know Graham Onions
Graham Onions is well placed in the shake-up to be Andy Flower's fourth seamer for this summer's Ashes series, writes Donald McRae in the Guardian .
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Graham Onions is well placed in the shake-up to be Andy Flower's fourth seamer for this summer's Ashes series, writes Donald McRae in the Guardian.
He laughs when asked if Ricky Ponting has already claimed that the eye-watering rise of Bunny Onions is due to the six-week education he received in Australian club cricket? "Not quite. I saw that interview where he said, 'Graham Onions has done well but I expect Harmison and Vaughan will be back for the Ashes.' That's his opinion. But if I get the nod I'll be ready."
IPL's dream team
Hayden, Gilchrist, Raina, de Villiers, Dilshan, Duminy, Kumble, Ojha, RP Singh, Nehra and Malinga
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Hayden, Gilchrist, Raina, de Villiers, Dilshan, Duminy, Kumble, Ojha, RP Singh, Nehra and Malinga. That's Travis Hopkins' IPL dream team. Read why on Independent Online.
1 Matthew Hayden (Chennai Super Kings)
The standout performer of the tournament, it was Hayden's consistency that was most impressive. Having retired from international cricket at the beginning of the year, the opener was a picture of calm as he wrought destruction on opposition bowlers and finished top run-scorer in the competition despite missing several matches through injury.
2 Adam Gilchrist (Deccan Chargers)
Full postTwenty20 deluge gets under way
Today marks the beginning of the Twenty20 boom in England, starting with the domestic Twenty20 Cup and then the World Twenty20 in June
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Today marks the beginning of the Twenty20 boom in England, starting with the domestic Twenty20 Cup and then the World Twenty20 in June. Next year the England board plans to add a second two-divisional Twenty competition to the domestic calendar - P20 - to provide their version of the IPL including extra international players. In the Times Christopher Martin-Jenkins writes that the board is in danger of falling heavily between two stools: giving the new tournament a spurious glamour by encouraging the counties to pay a lot of money to overseas players, but, having rejected the franchise path, leaving them to find their own sponsors.
A league played either under lights on Fridays, or in sunshine on Saturdays, through the first two thirds of the season would have been attractive and better for the players than two competitions played to the same format. Home games for the clubs finishing top of the four preliminary groups would have been virtually certain sell-outs and there would have been a case for leaving the existing climax of the competition as it is, with semi-finals and finals on the same ground on the same day.
That way we would at last have got round to three county competitions - Championship, 50 over and Twenty20 . Thereby professional cricket in Britain might at last have achieved the tremendous and long overdue bonus of establishing a county fixture list that is coherent, that everyone understands and that leaves room for the recovery, practice and preparation that the players and coaches crave. Once again, in reality, they are not going to get it.
Full postNew Zealand upbeat ahead of World Twenty20
New Zealand's players may not exactly have been on top form during the IPL, but Dylan Cleaver thinks there's cause for optimism ahead of the World Twenty20 next month
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
New Zealand's players may not exactly have been on top form during the IPL, but Dylan Cleaver thinks there's cause for optimism ahead of the World Twenty20 next month. He writes in the New Zealand Herald:
Full postBecause the shorter the format, the more even the competition ... Because McCullum, undoubtedly New Zealand's key player, rediscovered his form after weeks of futility. Because Dan Vettori will give you four overs of quality spin. And because Ross Taylor can bat with a strike rate of 200 when the muse strikes.
Bitter for Kumble, sweet for Gilchrist
Anil Kumble's forlorn walk back to the pavilion was in contrast to the scenes after bowling his counterpart Adam Gilchrist in the first over of the game
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
Anil Kumble's forlorn walk back to the pavilion was in contrast to the scenes after bowling his counterpart Adam Gilchrist in the first over of the game. Is there anything more that he could have done? Is there anything that can get more heartbreakingly cruel than sport, wonders Ayaz Memon in Daily News and Analysis.
Indeed, the topsy-turvy nature of sport serves as a microcosm of life itself. The lesson in this -- for players, franchise owners, all of us -- is that success and failure are transitory, but hope must be eternal.
The big question before the organisers is not whether they can sustain the IPL’s insistent excessiveness to squeeze in two tournaments a year. It is whether they can prove the maturing of the IPL by showing that it adheres to sport’s pervasive norms. The Indian Express has this editorial.
Neil Manthorp says the IPL administrators have to be congratulated on their success in organising the tournament at such short notice. The Pro20 in South Africa can pick up a lot of tips from the IPL and if all goes well, South Africa can not only lead the way in 'crickertainment' domestically, but make a brilliant reality of the Southern Premier League (SPL) involving teams from Australia and perhaps New Zealand. Read on in Supercricket.
Full postIf the ability to market a sports tournament is usually a science, then the IPL and its South African partners raised it to art. The people saw IPL, they heard IPL and they read IPL - and they bought tickets and came to the IPL. Crowd figures exceeded all expectations and then exceeded all pre-tournament hopes, too.
Lewis a sporting underacheiver
In the Sunday Telegraph , Andrew Alderson charts the downfall of former England allrounder Chris Lewis, who was recently sentenced to 13 years in prison after being found guilty of smuggling cocaine into the country
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
In the Sunday Telegraph, Andrew Alderson charts the downfall of former England allrounder Chris Lewis, who was recently sentenced to 13 years in prison after being found guilty of smuggling cocaine into the country.
Full post[Lewis' friends and associates] characterised him as engaging, yet infuriating: a fading sporting star who, after one disappointment too many, appears to have embarked on a flawed gamble to try to maintain his wealthy lifestyle by putting more than 7lb of the liquid Class A drug inside tins of fruit juice placed in luggage on a flight from St Lucia to Gatwick.
Strauss set to keep captaincy for two years?
Scyld Berry writes in the Sunday Telegraph that Andrew Strauss should either have two more years of being England's ODI captain, or just the two games of the series against West Indies
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Scyld Berry writes in the Sunday Telegraph that Andrew Strauss should either have two more years of being England's ODI captain, or just the two games of the series against West Indies.
After the ... two-match series against West Indies, England have no more one-day internationals until early September, when they come thick and fast until early December.
As little over a year will then remain until the next World Cup, England cannot suddenly hope to find a new captain and a new opening batsman and expect them to be bed in.
And Vic Marks writes in the Observer that the one-dayers against West Indies give two players who have been out of favour in recent months, Ian Bell and Ryan Sidebottom, a chance to make their case for the rest of the England summer.
Full postGrown-up Clarke likely to be a handful
Michael Clarke may have had a forgettable Ashes when he came to England in 2005, but this time he will be a far more formidable opponent for the home side's bowlers, writes Steve James in the Sunday Telegraph
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Michael Clarke may have had a forgettable Ashes when he came to England in 2005, but this time he will be a far more formidable opponent for the home side's bowlers, writes Steve James in the Sunday Telegraph.
Full postMuch has happened to Clarke since 2005, when he performed only moderately. Not least that he has spent time out of the side. It did him good. The batsman, once dashing and instinctive, reassessed his game. A craving for early boundaries was curbed, a game more suited to the longer haul established. The return Ashes series in 2006/07 confirmed his reinvention. There were centuries in Adelaide and Perth, and 389 runs in total, at 77.80.