The Surfer
Bye bye Bracewell
John Bracewell's reign of just under five years draws to a close after the second Test against Australia, with enough bizarre goings-on and anecdotes to fill a book
Judhajit
25-Feb-2013
John Bracewell's reign of just under five years draws to a close after the second Test against Australia, with enough bizarre goings-on and anecdotes to fill a book. And that was just off the field. Mark Geenty in Stuff.co.nz takes a look at his tenure.
It was in coloured clothing where his players thrived as Bracewell relished the chance to manipulate tactics within a structured 50-over framework.
Fielding was his strength, and it only took one viewing of his legendary match eve fielding practices to appreciate that.
But while he was a master of spin in his playing days, his coaching public relations was decidedly average. And he didn't seem to lose sleep over it.
Symonds the ungracious
In the Australian Mike Coward writes about how Andrew Symonds has let down his captain Ricky Ponting with his behaviour.
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
In the Australian Mike Coward writes about how Andrew Symonds has let down his captain Ricky Ponting with his behaviour.
Symonds' ingratitude, especially to Ponting, defies belief. Many men who have led Australia in the past would not have been as forgiving as Ponting, who has expended so much emotional energy to mentor Symonds throughout his career.
Yet again Symonds has seriously disrupted and distracted the Australian team and the army of specialists attached to it before an important match. Again he has forgotten his debt to Ponting. And to make matters worse, this time his great mate and fishing pal Matthew Hayden is playing his 100th Test match and was entitled to be the focus of attention going into the match. Perhaps that fact also slipped his mind.
Full postThe closeness of danger
Terrorism, which is ever-present, becomes something more tangible when cricketers are able to contextualise: hotels they have stayed in, cafés they have drunk in and bars in which they might have whiled away a few hours before a rare day off,
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Terrorism, which is ever-present, becomes something more tangible when cricketers are able to contextualise: hotels they have stayed in, cafés they have drunk in and bars in which they might have whiled away a few hours before a rare day off, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.
In the same paper, Patrick Kidd writes that the tour must go on even if England take a break and return after Christmas.
England owe it to India and their fans to demonstrate that life must go on after such senseless carnage. The cliche about not letting the terrorists win can sound trite, but it is a valid one. England may seek sanctuary back in Europe, but others don't have that option. Even though reports suggested that the terrorists were seeking British and Americans, the bulk of those who died or were wounded were Indians. England should stay and compete as a mark of respect to them.
Sehwag one of the greats
Rob Smyth argues in the Wisden Cricketer that despite a 50-plus Test average and a mind-boggling strike-rate, Virender Sehwag remains relatively under-appreciated
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Rob Smyth argues in the Wisden Cricketer that despite a 50-plus Test average and a mind-boggling strike-rate, Virender Sehwag remains relatively under-appreciated.
Full postSehwag has been compared to Sachin Tendulkar, with whom he shares a bewitching little mastery, but a more relevant reference point is surely Lara. Like Lara, Sehwag scores monstrous hundreds at breakneck speed; like Lara, his form fluctuates wildly, surely a mark of the truest genius; like Lara, when the mood takes him there is absolutely nothing a bowler can do to avoid being pummeled.
Ed Smith's retirement is a loss to professional cricket
Without Ed Smith, the Middlesex dressing room, and by extension the professional game, will be that little bit more uniform, that little less diverse, writes Mike Atherton in the Times .
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Without Ed Smith, the Middlesex dressing room, and by extension the professional game, will be that little bit more uniform, that little less diverse, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.
Smith is too good a batsman to be lost to professional cricket at such a tender age. It is clearly a source of intense irritation to him that the focus is always on the other bits of his life. “When it came to cricket, I was never a dilettante,” he says. His record proves it: he averaged more than 40, scored 34 first-class hundreds and in excess of 12,000 first-class runs. With experience and youth on his side, he ought to be entering his prime years; another crack at international cricket should not be beyond him.
Exclusively Moles
Paul Holden in his blog Sideline Slogger reveals 10 things you never knew about New Zealand's recently-appointed coach, Andy Moles - including his English diet and legendary hospitality.
Judhajit
25-Feb-2013
Paul Holden in his blog Sideline Slogger reveals 10 things you never knew about New Zealand's recently-appointed coach, Andy Moles - including his English diet and legendary hospitality.
Full postSA fast bowlers lack Oz know-how
He’s understandably hogged the domestic cricket headlines over the past two or three days and I’m comfortable with South Africa’s decision to call up Lonwabo Tsotsobe for the three-Test tour of Australia, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24 .
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
He’s understandably hogged the domestic cricket headlines over the past two or three days and I’m comfortable with South Africa’s decision to call up Lonwabo Tsotsobe for the three-Test tour of Australia, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24.
The only thing that concerns me, if any of the Steyn-Ntini-Morkel strike trio, heaven forbid, gets crocked, is the lack of proven experience for near-unique Australian conditions among the Zondeki-Tsotsobe back-up. We cannot skirt the issue of what happened the last time Zondeki represented his country in Australia, even if he answered an injury SOS and was understandably badly undercooked when tossed straight into ODI combat in 2005-06 after the Test series had been surrendered 2-0. He was unceremoniously thumped for 106 runs in just 14 overs (one wicket), over the course of two appearances against Australia at Brisbane and Sydney.
JP Duminy was in the headlines again on Tuesday morning. This is not an uncommon occurrence for him. However, it was again about when he will finally get an opportunity at Test level. Having known the man since he was eight, Duminy was probably cringing at the question being posed yet again, writes Zaahier Adams on iol.co.za.
I have spent many hours debating with cricket people, the majority with exceptional cricket pedigree, (and by this I mean with Test-match playing experience), about what those options are. The consensus generally reached is that the only way for Duminy to be accommodated is for de Villiers to be handed the wicket-keeping gloves, with Mark Boucher dropping out of the team ...
Is Lee still No. 1?
Is Brett Lee's star fading as Australia's No.1 fast bowler
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Is Brett Lee's star fading as Australia's No.1 fast bowler? Robert Craddock asks former Australia bowlers about Lee's future and the rivals snapping at his heels in the Herald Sun.
In his column for the Australian, Australia's captain Ricky Ponting writes that Matthew Hayden will cook up something special against New Zealand in Adelaide. The second Test will be Hayden's 100th and Ponting says it is the most significant thing you can do in a cricket career.
Full postFlintoff's vision of the future is just a rehash of the past
Just to help those deluded enough to think that like sexual intercourse and Philip Larkin's 1963, cricket only began with the inauguration of the IPL, and that all skills and thinking prior to that were Neanderthal, here is a brief and by no means
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Just to help those deluded enough to think that like sexual intercourse and Philip Larkin's 1963, cricket only began with the inauguration of the IPL, and that all skills and thinking prior to that were Neanderthal, here is a brief and by no means exclusive list of things that were around in the misty past, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.
1. Yorkers Have players not heard of Ray Lindwall, Charlie Griffiths, or the Big Bird, Joel Garner? Have a look at footage of the 1979 World Cup final and marvel. You do not just decide to bowl a yorker and do so: it needs to be felt, as readily as a natural length. The change of length amounts to a third of a pitch. A top bowler should be able to shut his eyes and find a length. The same should apply to yorkers.
2. Slower balls A one-day staple, with increased variety and invention. But bowlers have always used them. Mine was crap, I admit, like Steve Harmison's, but even that has its moments. Three decades ago I was bowled out by Eddie Barlow with something that simply disappeared, while no one has ever bowled a more destructive slower ball than the Barbadian all-rounder Franklyn Stephenson.
The argument that IPL and Twenty20 have taken one-day cricket to a new level and England players are in danger of missing out is a cunning but false one, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.
Full postBring back Banger
There would have been pleasure at watching Marcus Trescothick win the £20,000 prize for his autobiography Coming Back To Me
Judhajit
25-Feb-2013
There would have been pleasure at watching Marcus Trescothick win the £20,000 prize for his autobiography Coming Back To Me. Yet, even as the applause rang round the room, the thought was inescapable: how the current England team could do with him back. Tom Fordyce in his blog on BBC Sport reflects on what a difference a fit, happy Trescothick could make to today's struggling line-up.
Trescothick is still only 32 years old, two years younger than Vaughan and a year younger than Ricky Ponting. By rights he should be at his peak.
Instead, he'll see out the remainder of his playing days at his beloved Somerset, determined to never again be more than a car journey away from wife Hayley and daughters Ellie and Millie. England fans can yearn all they like. He's not coming back.