The Surfer
Sachin Tendulkar, who became Monty Panesar's first Test victim at Nagpur last week, has signed the very ball for Panesar :
"I've seen replays of my celebration on TV and I'm not sure how it looked. But I didn't know how to react because I simply didn't expect to take Sachin's wicket as my first in Test cricket. It was a really special moment and I got Sachin to sign the ball afterwards because he's been my role model, which was very kind of him."
Damien Martyn’s plans to attend U2’s Melbourne concert have been scrapped, as Alex Brown reports in the Sydney Morning Herald .
Such was Martyn's belief that his 61-Test career had expired, he had planned to take in a U2 concert and play for his grade club during the three-match series in South Africa. But an announcement aboard the Australian team bus in Durban by selector-on-duty Andrew Hilditch changed all that, ensuring South Perth must find an extra batsman and a pair of U2 tickets will be heading for eBay.
The selectors might well be right. But surely Hodge was entitled to another couple of opportunities to prove himself before he was cast out. Who can say on the sample of five Test matches? Hodge is dead unlucky, make no mistake about it.
An amusing opening paragraph was written in the obituary for John Junkin, a TV scriptwriter and actor, who died yesterday.
In October 1998 a letter in The Times from John Junkin read: “May I confess to not being quite as upset as many people at the loss of first-class cricket by BBC Television, principally because it will give viewers a chance to see the three new series I have devised.
Shane Warne has talked about his impending divorce and admitted that his behaviour in the past has cost him the chance of leading Australia
"I've had a few one-night or two-night stands or whatever you want to call it … I've never fallen in love with anyone."
In his weekly email, The Spin , Lawrence Booth sums up his opinions on Andrew Flintoff’s captaincy of England .
Last week ... the Spin wondered whether Andrew Flintoff really needed to add the captaincy to a list of tasks that includes middle-order hitter, first-change battering ram, second slip bucket, the face of Sky Sports's trailers, and impending father-to-be-for-the-second-time...
Matthew Hoggard reveals, in his column for The Times newspaper , that he is delighted that Andrew Flintoff has taken over the captaincy for the short-term, because it means that the burdens bowlers face are sympathised with quite nicely - and not
It made a nice change to have a fellow fast bowler as captain. Usually, the captain is a batsman who doesn’t really understand what pain we poor fast bowlers have to enhdure, ploughing through our long spells in the extreme heat. Andrew understands all too well and would say: "You’re hurting now, aren’t you? Have a break." It was nice to have a bit of sympathy for a change.
The Australian Cricketers’ Association’s new Legends Tour hits the Queensland outback town of Longreach, where Mark Taylor tells The Courier-Mail Glenn McGrath’s current lay-off could be helpful , and Rodney Hogg supports his bowling brother.
"He never shirked training in his life,” Taylor said. “He is a super competitor ... Only Glenn knows how long he can play for. Eventually there are those who have to step up."
Far more mature than his age, Pathan agreed in an interview to Chandresh Narayanan of Times News Network that he feels older than 21 and the hard grind of international cricket had something to do with it.
Was Lou Vincent really dropped, or did he simply talk himself out of the Test side to play the West Indies?
Was Lou Vincent really dropped, or did he simply talk himself out of the Test side to play the West Indies?
The Daily Telegraph has a remarkable report on how cricket is making a big comeback in Cuba after disappearing for almost 30 years
In the late 1990s, the game was confined to the traditional east of the island, but it soon spread to Havana, where there are more than 500 players now. "Thanks to someone in Argentina, we've got the rules of cricket translated into Spanish," Miss Ford told a journalist.