The Surfer
A team of like axes
Waleed Aly writes of a Test that became a contest of no consequence.
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Waleed Aly writes of a Test that became a contest of no consequence.
The conventional explanation for their [World XI's] insipid exhibition has had much to do with players who are used to being the axis of their side having to learn new roles in a team of like axes.
Another must read: Peter Roebuck's analysis of Australia's dominance in the Super Test.
Full postA huge man, but no beast
If there's anything you didn't know about Andrew Flintoff, read Simon Hattenstone's piece at The Guardian
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
If there's anything you didn't know about Andrew Flintoff, read Simon Hattenstone's piece at The Guardian. You will no doubt be aware of most of it but there are some gems, not least from Bob Simpson:
Simpson says Flintoff was "pretty cuddly" at that time but he thinks the size thing has been overemphasised.
"He was a huge man, but he was no beast ... he moved beautifully."
Full postPonting's Irish cousin
The Royal Mail's commemorative Ashes stamps, released earlier this month , were launched by Ricky Ponting's cousin, Ben Adair, from Northern Ireland.
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
The Royal Mail's commemorative Ashes stamps, released earlier this month, were launched by Ricky Ponting's cousin, Ben Adair, from Northern Ireland.
Ben is the grandson of widow Betty Moore (73), who lives in the Loopland Fold at Castlereagh, Belfast, and Oz skipper Ponting (30) is the son of Betty's niece Lorraine and her husband Graham Ponting, in Tasmania.
"His grandmother is my sister Jean, who emigrated to Oz under her maiden name of McConnell when she was 15, just as World War II was being declared," says Betty. "She married a Tom Campbell and she is now 79 and, like me, enjoyed the cricket during the summer.
"In fact, her son Greg Campbell - Ricky's uncle - was once an Australian Ashes cricketer too."
Full postCricket is Pinteresque
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
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This year's Nobel Prize for Literature went to the playwright Harold Pinter. Only three playwrights working in English - George Bernard Shaw, Eugene O'Neill and Pinter's main influence, Samuel Beckett - had won the prize before him. And curiously (or not, depending on your point of view), like Beckett, Pinter has a love of cricket.
Beckett played two first-class games (check his player profile) for Dublin University against Northants. And while we've all known Pinter is a life-long cricket fan, Robert Winder reveals more in today's Guardian:
The game is not, however, a light-hearted social affair to him. He grew up awed by Len Hutton and co, and fell for cricket not as some raffish country house pursuit, but as a bold theatre of aggression. His cricket is not simply picturesque; it is Pinteresque, with glints of malevolence in its courtesies, steel beneath its smile.
Shakespearean tragedies and psychological torment
Russell Degnan writes of Test cricket's enduring appeal
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Russell Degnan writes of Test cricket's enduring appeal. It's worth a read, if only to reconfirm what we already knew...
The problem for people who don't understand cricket is that they really don't understand cricket. They see silly men dressed in white running around a field: characters speaking in pompous Victorian language. We see best laid plans, Shakespearean tragedy, heroism and psychological torment. Alas, 'tis their problem, nay ours.
(Via prolific emailer Zainub)
Full postAustralia's male sensitivities riled
Australian male pride has been aroused by the news that Cathryn Fitzpatrick, women's cricket's fastest bowler, has been drafted in by John Buchanan to help the men's side prepare for the Super Test.
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Australian male pride has been aroused by the news that Cathryn Fitzpatrick, women's cricket's fastest bowler, has been drafted in by John Buchanan to help the men's side prepare for the Super Test.
"I can't cop that," Terry Alderman said. "There are highly talented fast bowling coaches around the country who can't get jobs yet they get someone like that in."
And Dennis Lillee chipped in with tongue firmly in cheek:
"You never know ... if she paid attention to what I was saying, she might be able to add something of value."
Profits and losses
Harsha Bhogle writes in the Indian Express :
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Harsha Bhogle writes in the Indian Express:
[N]obody [in the BCCI] is taking a hard decision about television rights as well. Most people in the board are businessmen and I would be interested in knowing if they would start looking for vendors ten days before their product is to be launched.
Meanwhile, IS Bindra, an interesting man with interesting thoughts, says that, in the absence of a decision, he will team up with the six other associations staging one-day games against Sri Lanka and award their own rights because they are losing too much money.
I hope that is an ultimatum, an attempt to precipitate a solution (and not a deeper plan!) for otherwise the players could well turn around and say that if the board makes a loss, or a smaller profit, they lose too. Can they then say that they will award their own rights since it is their talent that brings in the money in the first place?
The age-old problem of ageing
An interesting article in The Age by Greg Baum highlights Australia's ageing problem:
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
An interesting article in The Age by Greg Baum highlights Australia's ageing problem:
The first problem is that the Test players almost never appear in the domestic competition. The 12 players who form the core of the national team played a total of 10 Pura Cup matches between them last season. Eight did not play at all. Some have not played for years. This must depress the quality of the competition. Shaun Tait dominated the Pura Cup last season, but looked far from Test ready when called up in the emergency in England. Cameron White was picked for the Super Series, but was trusted with only three overs in three matches.
England face similar problems, with many counties objecting to the strict restrictions imposed upon the players by Duncan Fletcher.
Full postSix days to save the world
As the ICC’s Super Test starts, the consensus in the media seems to be that only a dramatic match is likely to save what, despite the best efforts of the ICC’s marketing men, has generally been a very disappointing couple of weeks.
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
As the ICC’s Super Test starts, the consensus in the media seems to be that only a dramatic match is likely to save what, despite the best efforts of the ICC’s marketing men, has generally been a very disappointing couple of weeks.
It is summed up in The Guardian, where Gideon Haigh says that Smith has six days to save the world.
What looked such an easy sell on the marketing men's whiteboard now faces a stern six days of interrogation. A fully-fledged Test match that will even count in official records should be a somewhat different matter, but the World XI will have done well if cricket devotees are still talking about the series in a fortnight's time … at least everyone will be relieved when the teams take the field today, for the ratio of press conferences to actual days of cricket is in urgent need of redress.
And in the Caribbean, the Trinidad & Tobago Express follows a similar line:
Full postWhere have all the wicketkeepers gone?
Sanjjeev Samyal speaks to Darren Berry, one-time understudy to Ian Healy, who is upset at the quality of wicketkeepers today
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Sanjjeev Samyal speaks to Darren Berry, one-time understudy to Ian Healy, who is upset at the quality of wicketkeepers today. He says:
The name of the game is sacrifice glovemen for better batsmen — Andy Flower, [Adam] Gilchrist and Geraint Jones, who is terrible, — which is disappointing. Keeping has become a secondary option. Now, the selectors look at how many runs he can score.
Berry's advice to selectors everywhere:
Pick the best wicketkeeper and the best people to ask would be Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, because those are the guys who are going to suffer.
