The Surfer
'Mollycoddled' cricketers unable to think for themselves
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
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John Morrison, the former New Zealand batsman, has attacked the modern culture of over-analysis (which was mentioned yesterday by Nathan Astle) and criticised New Zealand’s inability to think on their feet.
"I'm always worried when I go to a ground and see cricket coaches poring over laptops but the problem is, now if you say anything to the contrary you're called old and out of touch.
So instead we've created this industry of extras around the team who have to justify their existence by taking any decisions or responsibilities away from the players.
Full postHonouring the world's best bowlers
Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that naming the trophy in the Australia-Sri Lanka Test series after Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan was “a masterstroke”.
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that naming the trophy in the Australia-Sri Lanka Test series after Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan was “a masterstroke”.
It was also important to bring these spinners together. Rivalry had set them apart. Warne had been graceless, pointing out the number of wickets Murali has taken against weak nations, as if the Tamil had arranged the fixture list. Sri Lanka's supporters had responded by pointing at the skeletons in Warne's cupboard. Australians cast aspersions about Murali's action. The Lankans put it down to jealousy. All the more reason to unite the opposing factions.
In the Australian, Malcolm Conn argues that the inclusion of Ben Hilfenhaus in Australia’s Test squad is actually good news for Stuart MacGill.
And in the Daily Telegraph, Jon Pierik looks at whether players signing autographs while fielding on the boundary is a distraction.
Full postEnglish cricket's dysfunctional management
Simon Wilde analyses what the much-publicised extracts from Duncan Fletcher's autobiography mean
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Simon Wilde analyses what the much-publicised extracts from Duncan Fletcher's autobiography mean. Writing in the Sunday Times, he says that the most significant aspect of the book is "the picture it paints of dysfunctional management at the apex of English cricket."
True, the consequences of the investment of too much power in Fletcher were being felt, but elsewhere mistakes were made left, right and centre by senior figures seemingly more interested in leaking information to the press and minding their own backs than working for the good of the collective cause.
Back in 2005 it seemed England had created the best-run professional cricket system in the world. Even the Australians were asking for advice. But it seems England just got lucky, with a good set of players on a run free of injury.
Wilde also feels that Fletcher's failure to punish Andrew Flintoff was a sign of the coach not having enough control over the team towards the end of his reign.
Full postNo reason to think about my future: Tendulkar
"I have honestly not thought about playing only one version of the game to play the other longer," Sachin Tendulkar tells Bobilli Vijay Kumar in the Times of India
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
"I have honestly not thought about playing only one version of the game to play the other longer," Sachin Tendulkar tells Bobilli Vijay Kumar in the Times of India. "As I said earlier I am enjoying whatever I am doing at the moment. The moment I feel I am not enjoying myself, I will start thinking about it. Right now I am very happy with myself and my game."
Full postThe future's bright, the future's Broad
With the England Test squad for the Sri Lanka tour set to assemble for a training camp, among the (hopefully) sober and (presumably) well-rested players dragging their kitbags into the National Academy at Loughborough will be Stuart Broad, a young
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
With the England Test squad for the Sri Lanka tour set to assemble for a training camp, among the (hopefully) sober and (presumably) well-rested players dragging their kitbags into the National Academy at Loughborough will be Stuart Broad, a young man who might just have it in him to become England's next world-class allrounder. Simon Briggs of The Telegraph, caught up with Broad and writes why it's time for England to embrace such players with good potential.
Full postHis father has argued that he might have been better off spending the next six weeks with the Academy squad, who will be honing their skills in northern India. At least that way he would be guaranteed to get a game. But Stuart has no truck with such negative ideas.
The most important meeting
"It will be encouraging to see the Pakistanis walk on to the field in some of the great cities of India
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
"It will be encouraging to see the Pakistanis walk on to the field in some of the great cities of India. All divisions are artificial, a question of geography or colour or gender or faith and the other prejudices that set men apart," writes Peter Roebuck in the Hindu.
Full postHussey's harsh initiation
In the Sun-Herald , David Sygall speaks to Michael Hussey about his early days as a first-class cricketer – and some of the events that shaped his future.
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
In the Sun-Herald, David Sygall speaks to Michael Hussey about his early days as a first-class cricketer – and some of the events that shaped his future.
He was picked for Western Australia and received an introduction he will never forget. "I was 12th man and the only young fella in the team at the time," Hussey says. "Tom Moody told me he needed to take some pills for a backache. I told him I'd get some water, but he said, 'No. They're suppositories - and you need to apply them'. Everyone joined in on the act and I was about to scream as Tom dragged me to the toilets. Thankfully, they all burst out laughing and that was the end of it."
Daniel Lane writes in the same paper of Ricky Ponting’s most important partnership – with his wife Rianna.
Kerry O'Keeffe uses his Sunday Telegraph column to suggest that Stuart MacGill deserves a Test spot because “he could spend an off-season trapped inside a vat of riesling and still return match-winning numbers at his next appearance”.
Full postBrain-washing New Zealand's cricketers
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
New Zealand's cricketers run a form of "personality training" whereby the team are split up into groups to describe eachother, according to Richard Boock in the Sunday Star Times.
This is the much-trumpeted forum that as told in Nathan Astle's just released autobiography includes a session in which each player has to leave the room while the rest of side break into groups and dream up adjectives to best describe him, and a few things they believe he should try to brush up on.
Symonds develops into main man
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Andrew Symonds enters a Test series as a match-winner for the first time, according to Alex Brown in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Like his breakthrough one-day century against Pakistan at the 2003 World Cup, many within Australia's cricket community believe Symonds' innings of 156 against England at the MCG last December has marked a turning point in his Test career. And expectations are high ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka.
The late bloomer
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
In the past Chris Martin didn't always seem to be taking his cricket seriously. But now he has a target of 200 Test wickets, he tells Jonathan Millmow of the Dominion Post.
Martin is ninth on the New Zealand test wicket charts with 106 scalps, but a successful return in the upcoming two-test series against South Africa would see him overtake Bruce Taylor (111) and Richard Collinge (116)