The Surfer
Smith and Warne told to end gutter battle
Greg Baum asks in The Age where is the management in the gutter battle between Graeme Smith and the Australians
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Greg Baum asks in The Age where is the management in the gutter battle between Graeme Smith and the Australians?.
It began in the Australian summer when Smith made it policy not to let Australia trample over his team in any forum. At one stage, Warne called Smith an unimaginative captain, and Smith retorted by calling Warne a frustrated captain. So to the gutter they went, the provocateur and the provoked, and evidently in the gutter they intend to stay.
But that is not good enough, for any of those involved, nor for the game of cricket. A standard is in operation that would not be acceptable in any schoolyard. Smith's intention might be laudable, but he has neither the experience nor the class to wage this war with dignity. The Australians know better, and so are even more culpable.
In Ricky Ponting’s column in The Australian he says the players are switching on to Test mode.
Full postA man who refuses to give in
Peter Roebuck pays tribute to the latest entrant to the 500 club - Anil Kumble
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Peter Roebuck pays tribute to the latest entrant to the 500 club - Anil Kumble.
Full postKumble is a remarkable competitor. Dressed in civilian clothes, he counts amongst the most patient and thoughtful of men. Clothed in whites, he becomes a veritable firebrand. Woe betide the dozing fieldsman.
Patience brings rewards for Flintoff
Despite losing the second Test against India, Mike Selvey comments that Andrew Flintoff is the one England batsman whose technique has withstood India's spinners:
Will
25-Feb-2013
Despite losing the second Test against India, Mike Selvey comments that Andrew Flintoff is the one England batsman whose technique has withstood India's spinners:
Andrew Flintoff is learning and fast. He played two fine technical innings here that had about them much more of the front-line top-order Test batsman he aspires to be than the great crowd pleaser he has been. Innings of 70 and 51, eked out while the batting was failing around him, speak volumes of his development: 121 runs that took him more than 6½ hours. On another day he would have had 300 by then.
More at The Guardian
Full postWhere does cricket go from here?
Tom Eaton wonders , post the greatest match of 'em all, in the Mail and Guardian
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Tom Eaton wonders, post the greatest match of 'em all, in the Mail and Guardian
Until Sunday, cricket's distinctions were clear. Tests were beautiful, subtle and - to the layman - excruciatingly dull. Fifty-overs games produced the odd thriller, but by and large were rendered plodding by those damned middle overs of nudge and trot. Twenty-overs stuff was good for a laugh, if you were into that sort of thing: the cricketing equivalent of flowers squirting water and revolvers belching out little flags labelled "BANG!".
When Boycott posed as WG Grace
Frank Keating in The Guardian looks back at the 1981-82 England tour when Boycott moaned; Willis read the complete works of Wodehouse and Gower and Botham were on perpetual lookout for "something drinkable"
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Frank Keating in The Guardian looks back at the 1981-82 England tour when Boycott moaned; Willis read the complete works of Wodehouse and Gower and Botham were on perpetual lookout for "something drinkable".
Full postIt seemed as vivid as yesterday when my friend, with a chuckle, recalled the moment we first met - sniggering at Geoffrey Boycott at the tour's official welcoming party off Marine Drive's dramatic lamplit curve, alongside the ocean, which they still call Queen Victoria's necklace.
Jones injured, England bleed
The man whom England missed more than any other was Simon Jones , writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins.
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
The man whom England missed more than any other was Simon Jones, writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins.
And Simon Hughes, of The Daily Telegraph, is surprised, not at the English loss, but at the delay in Indian win. "Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this series is how long it has taken India, with nearly 500 Test appearances between them, to exert their supremacy.
Simon Barnes, of The Daily Times reckons there were too many obstacles even for Captain Fantastic to overcome.
Full postSix reasons not to become an opener
This day, 25 years ago, Geoff Boycott was at the receiving end of perhaps the greatest over ever bowled
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
This day, 25 years ago, Geoff Boycott was at the receiving end of perhaps the greatest over ever bowled. Cricinfo's All Today's Yesterday, records it thus: The six balls that Michael Holding bowled to Boycott at Bridgetown, only the second over of England's innings, were absolutely chilling in their ferocity and pace. So much for looseners: each ball was quicker than the last, until the sixth swung in and sent Boycott's off stump flying.
Click here to read Martin Williamson's piece on that dramatic episode.
Michael Parkinson wrote on that over.
In the folklore of cricket, those six balls have acquired the reputation of the most lethal over ever delivered. It is not something you can prove except to say that anyone who witnessed what happened, as I did, is bound to say they never saw anything quite like it.
Boycott admits he still has nightmares about that over. Holding smiles
at the memory and says 'If you believe Geoffrey, England would have
been six wickets down without scoring had he not been batting'.
Full postJohannesburg '06 was the greatest
Peter Roebuck says in the Sydney Morning Herald it was the greatest one-day match ever played .
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Peter Roebuck says in the Sydney Morning Herald it was the greatest one-day match ever played.
Here was a tale so far-fetched that no sensible person could conceive of it. Here was a chase so absurd that it might as well have been abandoned before it began. Here was a day on which 30,000 spectators of all hues rejoiced in the ferment of the moment and in the glory of an inspired victory.
Andrew Ramsey writes in The Australian the record-breaking loss shows up the country’s bleak bowling prospects.
After a summer of experimentation that was supposed to yield some finality about Australia's bowling stocks for next year's World Cup, the only certainty is one that was widely known before the season began. Without Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, the world champion's prospects with the ball are undeniably weak. In failing to defend a world record limited-overs total of 434 against a team missing its in-form big hitter - Shaun Pollock, who was a pre-match withdrawal because of back pain - Australia received its most sobering reminder yet of life beyond its two ageing champions.
The greatest one-dayer ever ... or was it?
On Sunday, South Africa and Australia took part in the greatest one-dayer ever
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
On Sunday, South Africa and Australia took part in the greatest one-dayer ever. Or did they? "This match should not receive all the plaudits as being the greatest game of one-day cricket ever," thundered Surrey’s website because, they claim, there’s another match which deserves similar attention. No prizes for guessing which team was involved, mind you.
Full postFleming spoof interview embarrasses Sky TV
The New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming has attacked his former opener, Mark Richardson - he of sprinting in a leotard fame - for comments made after the fourth day's play against the West Indies at Auckland
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
The New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming has attacked his former opener, Mark Richardson - he of sprinting in a leotard fame - for comments made after the fourth day's play against the West Indies at Auckland. Before anyone gets too excited, Martin Crowe, Sky's executive producer of cricket, was quick to issue a statement explaining that all was not as it seemed. "The interview was a spoof in which Stephen has a crack at Mark about his commentary. It was scripted and not real although it has appeared on the internet as a news item."
The transcript read:
Richardson: OK, thanks, good luck
Fleming: Thanks mate (interview ends). Yeah, you're an idiot, that's ridiculous, seriously that's just ridiculous. Two things, you've forgotten who your mates are, some of your comments in the changing room? And the other thing is you're just an idiot talking about scoring rates and picking up the ... uh ... the tempo of games, you were one of the most boring players to watch and from what I've seen so far in your commentary position is crap. You're forgetting who your mates are mate, about six months ago you were with us.
Full post