The Surfer
Sir Richard Hadlee, New Zealand's greatest player, tells the Observer's 's Will Buckley that Test cricket should never be compromised by the shorter versions
'The players we have are more suited to one-day cricket. We have made five World Cup semi-finals and the Twenty20 semi-finals. Tactically we are pretty good in the one-day game. We believe we can go and win. But in Test cricket we are inconsistent. You have to bat time, not overs, in Test cricket, whereas in the one-day game you bat overs, not time. We might score well in the first innings, but then be bowled out for a paltry score in the second innings. We may surprise, but England are hot favourites.
John Bracewell has repeatedly called the current tour the second part of a six-match series and right now I can't see anything other than 5-1.
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From the moment he arrived at Middlesex as a precocious 17-year-old in 1987 and won the man-of-the-match award in the 1988 NatWest Trophy final, he has always been English cricket's 'Special One' writes the Daily Telegraph 's Simon Hughes of his
Viv Richards came up to me in 1994 and said: 'You seem to have just about everything, but there's something missing. I feel you don't quite believe you're good enough to play at this level.'
Four of eight teams in the ongoing Twenty20 are owned or managed by individuals with links to either BCCI or IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, writes Shriniwas Rao in the Indian Express .
One of the owners of Kings XI Punjab is Mohit Burman of the Dabur family. His brother Gaurav, who is based in UK, is Modi’s step son-in-law. When contacted, Mohit Burman said: “It’s not just me alone, there are three other investors and naturally they won’t be putting their money because I am related. The IPL is a good business opportunity and the relationship with Modi is a mere coincidence.”
In rushing through with an anti-doping code, the IPL has exposed younger domestic players to some risk.
With his IPL success, Rohit Sharma has jumped the queue to take the tag of Indian cricket’s ‘next big thing’
In the Age , Chloe Saltau meets Beau Casson, Australia’s second spinner on their Test tour of the West Indies.
Casson started bowling leggies for a simple reason — Warne — and with three brothers and three sisters was never short of someone to try out his new tricks on. "I tried everything, bowled a few offies, but I just found leg-spin a bit more exciting. We could almost play a Test match out the back of our house. I loved it," he said.
The real action will begin from the next edition in 2009. That is when the franchisees will get a grip on the concept and build on the experience of the first year.
Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, was a fine batsman in his time but also proved a shrewd leader, most notably for tossing offspinner Dipak Patel the new ball during the 1992 World Cup and for telling Mark Greatbatch to belt the cover
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The Indian selectors, in particular, have made a smart move by appointing Dhoni as the one-day captain… This will allow him to grow into the full job step by step… Dhoni has charisma and has a manner… He’s learning from the Sachin Tendulkars… New Zealand Cricket should’ve done the same thing as India instead of rushing and giving Vettori everything all too soon. Fleming could’ve been the Test captain for a couple of years more. Definitely one year, if not a couple… England have Paul Collingwood in the ODIs… He’s a fighting cricketer, yes, but is tactically inept… Tactically, I haven’t seen a worse captain but he’ll try and make up for that by fighting performances.
Most cricket fans love watching Ricky Ponting on television and the batsman has joined the craze
"It's the first time I've used that, it is the best little coaching session you can have," Ponting said. "It's good to have a coach or someone standing by that knows your game. But to have it explained to you is one thing, to see it for yourself and be able to identify yourself what you are doing during a shot is fantastic."