The Surfer
Tait ready for another crack at Test cricket
Shaun Tait is recovering well from his injury and met Chloe Saltau in The Age :
Will
25-Feb-2013
Shaun Tait is recovering well from his injury and met Chloe Saltau in The Age:
"Coming back from injury, it's hard to know where you are. The selectors rang me up not long after the surgery to see how things were going but I'm not really sure, to be honest … My throwing at the moment is not 100 per cent, and they're not going to pick me if I can't throw.
"But if I get my throwing back in the next couple of weeks and bowl well, there's no reason why I can't get picked again."
Full postFlexible rules
Last week Shabbir Ahmed became the first bowler to be banned for 12 months under the new bowling review regulations
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Last week Shabbir Ahmed became the first bowler to be banned for 12 months under the new bowling review regulations. It is all rather complicated, and a mathematics and biomechanics degree wouldn't go amiss in trying to fathom what is going on. Here, Stephen Brenkley talks to some of those involved in the process.
Full postMissing McGrath and jolly Jayasuriya
The Daily Telegraph’s Tim Morrissey complains about Glenn McGrath’s resting from his home-ground and asks Cricket Australia to revisit its rotation policy
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
The Daily Telegraph’s Tim Morrissey complains about Glenn McGrath’s resting from his home-ground and asks Cricket Australia to revisit its rotation policy. “The decision robbed Sydney fans of the chance to see a local New South Wales hero.”
Peter Roebuck praises Sanath Jayasuriya in the Sydney Morning Herald after his stunning century.
No pirate roaming around in the seven seas could have created more mayhem than did Sanath Jayasuriya at the SCG yesterday. He might as well have put a knife in his mouth, worn an eyepatch, raised the Jolly Roger and swung from the rafters and been done with it. Within a few minutes of his arrival on the scene, the bowlers were quaking in their boots. Nor did he content himself with a few shots across the bows. Instead, he slashed and carved and eventually grabbed a rope and took charge of the opposing vessel.
Harold 'Dusty' Rhodes
Stephen Brenkley writes an interesting article on Dusty Rhodes , who played once for England in 1959 and who was called for throwing:
Will
25-Feb-2013
Stephen Brenkley writes an interesting article on Dusty Rhodes, who played once for England in 1959 and who was called for throwing:
Rhodes, who played for England in 1959, had his life changed forever on 7 May 1960. The umpire Paul Gibb no-balled him six times for throwing (imagine that now). "Until then, it had never crossed my mind. But that started it all off." The next year, he was reported after one match and called by Gibb again in another.
Don't ignore history
Mike Atherton comments in the Sunday Telegraph that modern players are increasingly ignorant of the players that came before them
Will
25-Feb-2013
Mike Atherton comments in the Sunday Telegraph that modern players are increasingly ignorant of the players that came before them. This was highlighted recently by Virender Sehwag. After his 254 against Pakistan, he admitted not knowing "Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad, the two Indian openers whose record opening stand of 413 Sehwag and Rahul Dravid fell three runs short of breaking." Atherton, a history graduate, feels the game's past is an important aspect of its future:
Therein lies the importance of an understanding of the past for today's sportsman. It won't make him a better player, but it gives him a link with both the past and the future; it provides some context and some meaning, so that, long after the bones have stiffened and the eyes have gone, it still matters. He is simply one link in the chain.
The Australians tend to look over their shoulder more than we do. The cult of the baggy green, the presentation of honours by former players, the lionising of The Invincibles and the custom by which a current player must give a talk on a former are all part of cherishing the past. They also go too far. When the 2001 Australians sat at Wimbledon in their baggy greens, it was enough to make you puke.
When the last two touring parties paid their respects at Gallipoli and the Western Front, they did so too conspicuously. Rather than respecting fallen heroes, it looked as if it was intended to polish their own image.
Full postWill Warne be a good Neighbour?
Shane Warne’s life really will be a soap opera when he makes a guest performance on Neighbours .
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Shane Warne’s life really will be a soap opera when he makes a guest performance on Neighbours.
He has also defended international umpires, although he told ABC Radio their standards needed to improve.
Full postThe Big Interview: Andrew Flintoff
The Sunday Times have a "Big Interview" with Andrew Flintoff
Will
25-Feb-2013
The Sunday Times have a "Big Interview" with Andrew Flintoff. Such gems include:
We enter the suburb of Bowden and his mind returns to a frantic afternoon he once spent in a park here with his pet boxer dogs, Fred and Arnold. Why did he buy two boxers? Because he read in some book that they are “alert and sharp with a lifelong puppyish behaviour” and thought it sounded a bit like him.
So he has just taken charge of them and they’re out in the park on this gorgeous afternoon when, wild with excitement, they charge into a stream and, wild with excitement, he followed them in. Why? He can’t explain it. It just seemed a good idea at the time. He was splashing around with the dogs, and having great fun until they spotted this guy walking a golden labrador and decided to take off. He pulled himself from the stream and set off in pursuit, but the dogs were all over the guy and going absolutely mental when he finally caught up. “I had to pull the pair of them off him,” he says, “but he couldn’t have been nicer about it. ‘That’s all right mate’, he said. I looked up and it was Roy Keane. He hadn’t a clue who I was.”
Full postIf you lose to Pakistan, I will kill you: A fan to Contractor
Nari Contractor looks back at the 1960-61 series he played against Pakistan and talks about the pressure of playing against the arch-rivals.
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Nari Contractor looks back at the 1960-61 series he played against Pakistan and talks about the pressure of playing against the arch-rivals.
Full postTrading the bat for a shovel
Fancy your coach digging graves to make ends meet
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Fancy your coach digging graves to make ends meet. Mike Haysman takes us through some of the most bizarre secondary careers of cricketers in the 'less fortunate' era. Where would life be without cricket, you'd have to wonder...
Many to this day will have nightmares of what could have been. Often as a fledgling sportsman trying to make the grade, you are forced to roll up the sleeves and seek employment to make ends meet whilst spending whatever spare time you have forging a career in your chosen sporting field. Often that secondary career choice is suspect.
Lifeless surfaces kill the contest
Peter Roebuck criticises the pitch at Lahore and hopes Faisalabad doesn't present a curate' egg
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Peter Roebuck criticises the pitch at Lahore and hopes Faisalabad doesn't present a curate' egg.
Full postBland surfaces drain all the life from the contest. A restaurant that serves only dull curry will not last long. Honesty is needed or the game cannot progress. Let's face it, the Lahore Test was boring and the pitch was a stinker. It must not happen again or the series will be a dud.
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