The Surfer
Ian Botham said his 1985 trip to Hollywood turned him into a joke
With his action-man physique and blond locks, Botham, Hudson argued, could become a star to rival Sylvester Stallone and Charles Bronson, whose Death Wishseries Golan had produced. Unlike Stallone and Bronson, he could deliver significant audiences not only in Britain, but in India, Pakistan and Australia.
The movie mogul looked Botham up and down ('Well, he's better looking than Tom Selleck') and laid down his terms: if Botham stayed in town for six months and had acting lessons, then there was a real possibility that he could break Hollywood. There was just one problem. In the January of 1986, the all-rounder was due to fly out to the Caribbean for England's three-month tour of the West Indies.
The jovial Eranakulum Cricket Association president KP Satish makes an interesting observation about the blooming of a cricket star in the football fertile land. “Sreesanth is like chicken biryani in a brahmin restaurant,” he says as he points to the changing cricket scene in the state.
Mark Richardson, the former New Zealand batsman, writing in the New Zealand Herald , offers his views on the team selected for the tour of South Africa
If you're Sinclair or Vincent where do you bat for your province? Do you open, hoping for the usual test incumbent failures or do you patiently position yourself? The simple answer is to bat where you score the most runs. But that just enhances the problem for both these two because for Sinclair that's three and Vincent it's four.
Peter Roebuck believes Anil Kumble would make a good Test captain for India
As a cricketer, Kumble has surpassed expectations. It might be the same as a tactician and leader. On the rare occasions this unsmiling tweaker has directed operations he has shown the sort of flexibility and aggression supposedly absent in contemplative types.
The Telegraph ’s travel section contains a piece about what England fans may find when they travel to Sri Lanka this winter… and a hint as to whether or not Galle will be ready for 18 December
Saad Bin Jung, writing in the Asian Age , condemns the treatment meted out to former cricketers who had come to watch the first ODI between India and Australia in Bangalore.
The secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association is a former Test player with most members of the organising team having played some form of cricket or the other. Yet when I arrived in the stadium I saw two former Test players Syed Abid Ali and the greatest off-spinner that India has produced, EAS Prasanna without a place to sit.
Times of India 's Joseph Hoover comes down hard on Rahul Dravid's decision to resign from the Indian captaincy.
He is known to be an astute cricketer, a fine judge of the line of the ball, shouldering arms to deliveries which are a shade outside off stump. He is a good timer of the ball and is known to be careful about everything he does and says. But he timed his resignation poorly. It probably must rank as one of the most dastardly getaways in Indian cricket.
Slowly the job would have eroded Dravid. Captaincy unwittingly compels you to focus on things you may not really want to. For instance, he cared very much for what appeared in the media and this was a mistake. It was apparent to see that his impatience with the press had been growing.
Munaf Patel, not picked in the Twenty20 side and dropped from the one-day team, is hurt by the constant questioning of his fitness and lack of intensity
My family, my parents, two sisters, we used to survive on Rs 1000 a month. And for people like me, there are only two ways to reach there — Bollywood or cricket. But after earning a lot of money, you feel a bit numb about it, inside. That’s when you realise that what’s really important is your izzat, the respect. You don’t get that with money, any amount of money. Cricket has given me the money, and the respect. But now, with all this talk of lack of fitness and intensity, it’s a question of my izzat. And that’s really hurting.”
It seems filmmakers have spotted potential in Sreesanth, known for his on-field antics and drama
Abu said Sreesanth's role would be more than just a cameo.