The Surfer
Dean Jones backs tour
While the Australian government has already delivered its final verdict on the tour of Zimbabwe, Dean Jones argues against it, stating that Australia have a moral responsibility by touring and inspiring youngsters to take up the game, rather than go
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
While the Australian government has already delivered its final verdict on the tour of Zimbabwe, Dean Jones argues against it, stating that Australia have a moral responsibility by touring and inspiring youngsters to take up the game, rather than go back to a life of crime.
When many of Australia's top cricketers took the blood money and went on the rebel tour of South Africa, Zimbabwe helped provide experience for our next generation to develop quickly. I was one of them.
It is worth remembering that Jones, who commentated on the previous Australia tour of Zimbabwe in 2004, said at the time: "I'm just there to watch the cricket and I don't give a rat's arse what he [Mugabe] does about his country."
Read the full piece in the Herald Sun.
Full postFlower lets notes slip
Andy Flower left some of his scouting notes behind at The Oval after he'd spent time watching Surrey take on Warwickshire
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
Andy Flower left some of his scouting notes behind at The Oval after he'd spent time watching Surrey take on Warwickshire. Charlierandallcricket.com reports that they were found by a cleaner although Surrey haven't confirmed the story. He was probably watching the performances of Tim Ambrose and Jon Batty, but with England naming Matt Prior as their wicketkeeper it's unlikely Flower's musings would have said too much of interest.
Full postMoores in at the deep end
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
The build-up to the opening Test of the summer at Lord's is well under way with England's squad announced. The players meet up on Monday and it will mark Peter Moores' first Test match build-up as coach. In The Sunday Telegraph Scyld Berry says he has all the right qualities to be successful.
Moores wore a white ECB shirt and black shoes which had been polished, but blacking had not been applied to that front part of the sole which scrapes the ground. The unpretentiousness, if that's what it is, continues in his choice of location: he lives in a Leicestershire village and has no plan to move his wife and children to brighter lights near the capital.
Pothas's Test ambition scuppered by Home Office
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
Poor old Nic Pothas. He’s scored a barrel load of runs this season – 231 without being dismissed – prompting his Hampshire captain, Shane Warne, to demand that he make his England debut in the first Test at Lord’s on Thursday. He will have to wait a little while longer, as the Daily Telegraph finds out:
A Greek passport holder who was born in South Africa, Pothas has almost come to the end of his four-year qualification period. Pothas is due to sit his British citizenship exam on Monday - a written test followed by an interview. If all goes well, he could get the green light that same day, which would then make him available for selection for the first Test. It could also take the Home Office up to five weeks to reach a decision. [..]
Pressure mounts over Zimbabwe tour
The fact that Australia are even considering sending their cricketers to Zimbabwe is inconceivable, according to Peter Roebuck, writing in The Age .
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
The fact that Australia are even considering sending their cricketers to Zimbabwe is inconceivable, according to Peter Roebuck, writing in The Age.
A hundred statistics could be produced to confirm the horrors Mugabe has unleashed upon his people. One suffices. Life expectancy among males has fallen to 36. AIDS and starvation by Government decree have taken a terrible toll, and hospitals lacking bandages and medicines are powerless to help.
Sporting boycotts have but a small part to play in the face of knavery on this scale. Mugabe and his thugs don't care whether Australia plays cricket in their country in September. Mugabe is an adroit politician capable of turning anything to advantage, including hunger, bankruptcy, mass murder and assassination. Nor must sport allow itself to be used as a substitute for substantive action.
In The Courier-Mail, John Coomber examines the four possible outcomes of the current debate: the tour goes ahead; the Australian government bans the team from going; Cricket Australia gives in and cancels the trip; or the series is called off because the safety of the players cannot be guaranteed.
Full postCricket sanctions won't cause Mugabe to shed any tears
The Zimbabwe Independent , an almost lone voice in a state-controlled media, has warned that Robert Mugabe would seize on the visit of the Australian side for propaganda purposes
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
The Zimbabwe Independent, an almost lone voice in a state-controlled media, has warned that Robert Mugabe would seize on the visit of the Australian side for propaganda purposes. It warned about the kind of story that would follow:
"Blair says Zimbabwe is a pariah state and everything has collapsed, but even the world cricket champions have enjoyed our hospitality. Go and tell Mr Howard back home that there is no war in Zimbabwe and the people are as happy and friendly as ever."
But it went on to say that a boycott would do nothing to harm Mugabe:
Anyone who believes Mugabe would shed a tear if Australia were to call off their scheduled tour of Zimbabwe might as well believe the veteran leader will spend the remainder of his old life in a monastery. If Mugabe has defied international pressure directed at his person for the past seven years, there is no reason to believe that cricket sanctions would make a dent on his conscience.
Why Rashid's box of tricks will turn heads
Yorkshire's promising legspinner, Adil Rashid has received praise from the master himself, Shane Warne, in The Times .
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Yorkshire's promising legspinner, Adil Rashid has received praise from the master himself, Shane Warne, in The Times.
He’s only 19 [Rashid], but he’s got something about him. He possesses all the little tricks and toys a good wrist spinner needs – a wrong ’un, a top-spinner and a slider – and he can bat as well as field pretty well. It’s now a matter of everyone not getting too excited, of letting him experience more first-class cricket and developing.
My sweet spot's bigger than yours
Stop press: an Australian has come up with an innovative way to help a batsman
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Stop press: an Australian has come up with an innovative way to help a batsman. No, it’s got nothing to do with Adam Gilchrist and his controversial squash ball and everything to do with sweet spots. Bigger is better, so they say, and the developers in question certainly believe this is the case, lovingly creating a huge sweet spot on their Smart Cricket Bat.
And there’s more to tickle your fancy – “Its innovative handle is equipped with electro-mechanical sensors and a vibration-absorbing synthetic material which converts shockwaves into heat and dampens vibration” - according to a report in The Daily Telegraph.
Full postZimbabwe boycott would be nothing new
Anthony Abrahams, the former Australian rugby union player who led a seven-player boycott of matches in southern Africa in 1971, has added his voice to the Zimbabwe debate
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
Anthony Abrahams, the former Australian rugby union player who led a seven-player boycott of matches in southern Africa in 1971, has added his voice to the Zimbabwe debate. Abrahams told The Australian a precedent had been set when Don Bradman cancelled South Africa’s cricket tour in 1971.
"I spoke with three [of the six other players] and we all think this is a harder issue than South Africa because there's no blanket exclusion of players from the Zimbabwe cricket team because of race or colour or belief," Mr Abrahams said. "It opens a Pandora's box because of the question of who else don't you play against because of their political regimes."
Malcolm Conn, blogging for the same paper, argues that the Australian government should back up its rhetoric with a formal ban.
The Age reports that cricket is now the most popular sport in Australia, overtaking swimming for the first time since Sweeney sports surveys began 21 years ago.
Full postHopping from medicine to business
Chris Rattue profiles Justin Vaughan, the newly appointed chief executive of New Zealand Cricket, in The New Zealand Herald
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
Chris Rattue profiles Justin Vaughan, the newly appointed chief executive of New Zealand Cricket, in The New Zealand Herald.
Full postInternational cricketer. Successful double Shell Trophy winning Auckland captain. Well travelled academic and businessman. Why not NZC chief executive then, for Dr Vaughan? Yet despite being a member of the NZC board, Vaughan didn't give the job a moment's thought after Snedden rang to say he was stepping down.