The Surfer
Hick's struggle to go out on a high
Steve James, writing in The Sunday Telegraph , looks at the twilight of the career of Graeme Hick , one of the most talented batsmen of his generation, albeit one who failed to live up to the hype on the international stage
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
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"Difficult piece to write this, given my unashamed admiration for the man and the fact that, without even a hint of hyperbole, he will always be considered a legend of the county game. But I am worried about Graeme Hick. Worried that a glorious career might be heading for a less-than- glorious ending.
Opinion is divided among opponents as to Hick's current powers. "Nothing like he used to be, much less imposing at the crease," some say; "no different - he's just been caught on some poor pitches," others say. Only Hick himself knows."
Full postSing it like Shane
Shane Warne's life is a bit of a gift for scriptwriters everywhere
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Shane Warne's life is a bit of a gift for scriptwriters everywhere. No surprises, then, that he's about to be given the Broadway treatment. Coming to a theatre near you is Shane Warne: The Musical. More at the Sydney Morning Herald.
Full postThe Best of the West
V Ramnarayan looks back at the West Indies in their prime, and the joyous impact of cricket on their ever-faithful supporters
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
V Ramnarayan looks back at the West Indies in their prime, and the joyous impact of cricket on their ever-faithful supporters. Read the full piece in The Indian Express.
Full postTo me, the golden period of West Indies cricket was not the era of Lloyd, Richards and the four-man pace battery, but the journey that began with Worrell’s historic tour of Australia with his gallant men, and ended with Kanhai and Sobers (almost) bowing out in style with individual scores of 157 and 150 not out in the Lord’s Test of 1973.
So close, yet so far apart
It was one legendary toss of a coin which spelt out Eric Bedser's destiny
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
It was one legendary toss of a coin which spelt out Eric Bedser's destiny. For Eric and Alec Beder, twins almost joined in-the-hip, their lives couldn't have been more different. David McKie, in his moving obituary of Eric in The Guardian portrays a special sibling relationship without a trace of envy.
"Romantic egalitarians, a tribe to which I belonged in those days (and still do) grieved on Eric's behalf, even if Eric himself never displayed the mildest sign of resentment; and grieved even more for the knowledge that Eric's diminished role seemed to have turned on the toss of a coin."
And there is also an article we have found from The Cricketer in July 1943 about the emerging talents that they were at the time and their early days.
Full postPietersen 'better than everyone else'
Will
25-Feb-2013
Kevin Pietersen's obscene form this summer has forced Peter Lalor to devote an entire, fascinating article on him in Saturday's The Australian, which includes a number of quotations from Pietersen's former coach Rod Marsh:
Suggestions that Pietersen is a slogger without technique are greeted with scorn by Marsh.
The colour of money
First it was Kerry Packer
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
First it was Kerry Packer. Now Alan Stanford. Neil Manthorp analyses Stanford's ambitions in running cricket, like his revolutionary predecessor, starting with the Twenty20 international in Antigua. Read the full piece in Supercricket.
Stanford wants to see what happens to cricketers when they're playing for something real, something that might just affect the rest of their lives. Imagine what R550 000 would mean to Loots Bosman, for instance.
The Australian Cricket Flop
The morning after the first day of Ashes ticket-selling and the papers are full of sob stories from Cricket Australia’s "family"
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
The morning after the first day of Ashes ticket-selling and the papers are full of sob stories from Cricket Australia’s "family". In The Age there is a cartoon about how to prove you're a member and an interview with an English supporter who put his tickets on EBay.
Under the headline Barmy Army's guerilla ticket raid, Peter Lalor analyses the situation for The Australian while Queensland’s The Courier-Mail covered the fiasco in its editorial C’mon CA, c’mon.
In Melbourne the tabloid Herald Sun looks at why the series was not protected by scalping laws and Adelaide’s Advertiser reports of more disappointed fans. The West Australian focused on the the speed of the ticket sales and online scalping.
Full postAussies ready to go the full Monty
Monty Panesar will become a target for Australian crowds if he makes the Ashes tour, according to a report in The Age by Geoff McClure.
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Monty Panesar will become a target for Australian crowds if he makes the Ashes tour, according to a report in The Age by Geoff McClure.
The tour is still five months away but already the pundits are fearing the worst for Turbanator II because of his atrocious fielding, which is so bad that he is already being compared to two of the worst the game has known — Phil Tufnell and Bishan Bedi.
However, according to The Times, Panesar's problems could soon be at an end, thanks to a trip to the optician ...
Full postJamaican cricket - no longer No 1 but still alive and well
In the Jamaica Gleaner , Tony Becca reflects on the status of cricket on the island .
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
In the Jamaica Gleaner, Tony Becca reflects on the status of cricket on the island.
“In years gone by, in the days when almost every boy played the game in the backyard, in every open space, even in the streets and on hillsides, cricket was king. In those days, club matches in the city were well attended, village matches in rural Jamaica were well attended, matches involving Jamaica were well attended and there was no room at Sabina Park when a Test match was on.
“Today, however, that is not so. Today, all over Jamaica, football pitches outnumber cricket pitches, in contrast to cricket which attracts a few dozen spectators at local matches, football attracts thousands, and there is no comparison between a cricket match involving Jamaica and a football match involving the Reggae Boyz.”
But, Becca explains, that does not mean that cricket is dying on its feet, as many old timers might suggest.
Full post