The Surfer
Call up Ramps for England
As Ryan Sidebottom was handed an unlikely call, the case for Mark Ramprakash to return to the Test arena has been made yet again
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
As Ryan Sidebottom was handed an unlikely call, the case for Mark Ramprakash to return to the Test arena has been made yet again. This time, it’s David Fulton in The Times who notes, that among other things:
The angst and desperate desire to succeed has been replaced by the relaxed confidence of a man at one with his work.
Presidential power-struggle looms
The unexpected death of Percy Sonn leaves the ICC in an awkward position, trying to agree on a replacement just months after extending Sonn’s term, writes Malcolm Conn in The Australian .
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
The unexpected death of Percy Sonn leaves the ICC in an awkward position, trying to agree on a replacement just months after extending Sonn’s term, writes Malcolm Conn in The Australian.
The world governing body is in such turmoil that those in charge around the board table could not even decide who should run the organisation. It doesn't bode well for an organisation that can't run a decent showpiece event, the World Cup, or set acceptable standards for international cricket following the continuing freefall of Zimbabwe, when it can't even find a leader.
Sarwan's injury opens a door
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Brian Lara may have retired from international cricket but you can bet his name will come under consideration this week as the West Indies decide what to do about Ramnaresh Sarwan's shoulder injury, writes Simon Briggs in The Telegraph.
Also in The Telegraph, Martin Johnson says "No wonder England selected Ryan Sidebottom for this Test. When the chairman of selectors talked about the need to "add variety" to the attack, he wasn't so much talking about Sidebottom being a left-armer, as the fact that he was liable to confuse the West Indian batsmen by aiming the ball at the stumps."
Full postHorsing around
Kevin Pietersens run glut has meant that comparisons to another Africa-born Englishman, Graeme Hick, have been made for quite some time
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Kevin Pietersens run glut has meant that comparisons to another Africa-born Englishman, Graeme Hick, have been made for quite some time. Although Pietersen has forged ahead of Hick by making it in the international scene, The Guardian's Micheal Henderson dwells on the differing personalities of the run machines, making it pretty clear who he admires.
One man values restraint; the other is a show pony, with the rosettes to prove it. It is hard to imagine Hick leaping on a batting partner as Pietersen leapt upon Michael Vaughan when the England captain completed his century last Friday. But then Pietersen clearly imagines he is "the skipper's mate" (he isn't, actually) just as he was "Goughy's mate" when his English papers came through, and he is "Warney's mate" at Southampton.
The country boy who became an Invincible
Bill Johnston, the left-arm fast and finger-spin bowler who was Australia's equal leading Test wicket-taker on the 1948 Invincibles tour, died on Friday aged 85
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
Bill Johnston, the left-arm fast and finger-spin bowler who was Australia's equal leading Test wicket-taker on the 1948 Invincibles tour, died on Friday aged 85. In The Australian, Mike Coward describes Johnston's path to the big time.
Although passionate about the game as a schoolboy at Ondit and Colac High Schools, his early cricket was played on the family dairy farm and for the Beeac town team - especially during country week - and he did not see a Sheffield Shield match before he made his debut against Queensland at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in December 1945. And he had seen just one Test match before being chosen for the inaugural series with India in 1947-48 when he took 16 wickets at 11.37 to assure himself of a trip to England in 1948. Ace slow bowler Bill "Tiger" O'Reilly once quipped: "As a bowler he has one failing - he hasn't a temper."
Men against boys
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
England's batsmen have enjoyed themselves against a weak West Indies attack, with seven centuries already in the series. In The Observer Mike Brearley looks at the power of the modern player and the differing styles of Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen.
England's Test team look - against all but Australia - to be full of modern batsmen, in this sense, and their two centurions at Leeds are great exemplars. Michael Vaughan's trademark shots are the swivel-pull and the off-drive, and each feeds off the other. When a bowler finds that a slightly short ball is pulled wide of mid-on for four, he tends to pitch the next one further up, thus risking the drive. And vice versa.
Game needs to heed warning signals
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
One of the alarming features in world cricket is the lack of cutting-edge bowlers. The current Test at Headingley is a prime example with West Indies' pacemen hovering around the 80-mph mark and being thrashed at four-an-over. England have had to trawl the county scene for fit bowlers while most of the world's best fast bowlers are suffering injuries due to the amount they play. In The Sunday Telegraph, Scyld Berry delves into the problem and says ICC must take note otherwise the game is in major trouble.
Bowlers around the world - and not just in the West Indies and Bangladesh - are endangered, and the feebleness of the West Indian batting yesterday did not invalidate the point. One look at the ICC Test rankings should have been sufficient to tell the CEO as much.
To London by police car
Ireland aren't having much luck with coaches - the four-wheeled, not two-legged variety
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
Ireland aren't having much luck with coaches - the four-wheeled, not two-legged variety. Their vehicle to take them to Grace Road for their Intercontinental Cup final against Canada was delayed...and yesterday, en route to London, their team bus broke down. Fortunately, the local constabulary were nearby.
The Ireland squad arrived in London yesterday afternoon on a police bus, after their coach from Leicester was impounded at a service station just north of the capital.
Instead, they were guided into the London Gateway service station where the police told us they were carrying out a vehicle inspection check. This took place while the squad had an impromptu lunch. However, on their return, they were told the driver was "over his hours" and would not be allowed to drive for another 24 hours and the two rear wheels on the coach were found to be defective.
So much for a day off. Ireland play Surrey in a Friends Provident Cup match at The Oval on Sunday.
Full postInside the Schofield Report
Writing in The Independent , the former England seamer turned journalist Angus Fraser explains why he accepted an invitation to join the Schofield Committee that investigated the failings of England's cricket team in the Ashes and World Cup, despite
Andrew Miller
25-Feb-2013
Writing in The Independent, the former England seamer turned journalist Angus Fraser explains why he accepted an invitation to join the Schofield Committee that investigated the failings of England's cricket team in the Ashes and World Cup, despite disapproval of his decision from some quarters.
"I agreed because I wanted to help. It would have been easy to say no, but I felt that it would be wrong for me to sit back in the safety of the press box and pour scorn on what was taking place when I had been given the chance to do something to improve the situation."
Full steam ahead on broadcasting deal
In The Australian , the ICC enjoys its right of reply to Malcolm Conn’s article that questioned whether ESPN Star Sports could afford the gigantic sum it offered for broadcasting rights.
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
In The Australian, the ICC enjoys its right of reply to Malcolm Conn’s article that questioned whether ESPN Star Sports could afford the gigantic sum it offered for broadcasting rights.
"Both parties have met all obligations agreed when they signed the agreement in December and it is full steam ahead for both ESS and the ICC and any suggestion to the contrary is a lie, plain and simple," an ICC spokesman said.
Meanwhile, in the Herald Sun, Grant McArthur asks Simon O’Donnell how his battle with cancer 20 years ago affected him.
In November 1987, O'Donnell was still celebrating being part of Australia's first cricket World Cup win when he suffered severe aches and pains that were diagnosed as cancer. While he overcame it, O'Donnell said he still lives with knowledge and fear of it. "Cancer no longer is a death sentence, but it is a life sentence," he said. "Once you have experienced the trauma of being diagnosed, gone through the battles of treatment and come out the other end, it is firmly entrenched as a part of your life."