Tour Diary
The ground which gave cricket Kumar Sangakkara
There is one international cricket ground where it is okay to make schoolboy errors. That's because the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy is home to the teams of Trinity College, who have played at the picturesque location chiseled out of the hillside for almost
Alan Gardner
14-Dec-2014
There is one international cricket ground where it is okay to make schoolboy errors. That's because Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy is home to the teams of Trinity College, who have played at the picturesque location chiseled out of the hillside for almost 100 years.
Asgiriya was the venue for Sri Lanka's second home Test, in 1983, and saw Muttiah Muralitharan break Shane Warne's record for the most Test wickets in 2007, but it has not hosted an international match since then. With Trinity's numerous age-group sides all vying to play there, SLC decided that rather than studying the college timetables, they would build a new stadium down the road in Pallekele.
When I arrive, a school match is underway, Trinity's second XI against their equivalents from Maris Stella College in Negombo. The curator, Abhayasena Wijeweera, is happy to chat about the ground and its history, which he knows well despite only being in the job eight months, having moved from the nearby Dharmaraja College. The pitch, he says, is still good for international competition.
Full postNot a shot you just get on with
Australian cricketers and the public are known for their certainty and clarity when it comes to cricket. That has gone missing as they struggle to come to terms with Phillip Hughes' death
Sidharth Monga
01-Dec-2014
I have been looking forward to coming back to Australia since the day I left the country in March 2012. Over those 78 days of cricket in that summer, I saw cricket being enjoyed like nowhere else. With humour, passion and ruthlessness. With hard cricket played on hard, sunburnt pitches. Australia is a tough terrain, and Aussies are tough people, befitting that tough terrain. A majority of Australians will agree they have felt what Paul Kelly has written in his song about the anticipation of the Boxing Day Test, "Behind The Bowler's Arm".
Oh it's been a hard, hard year/ Pushing shit uphill/ But shit happens all the time/ And I guess it always will
In the song, he gets on with it, and makes a promise he will always be ten rows back at the MCG, right behind the bowler's arm. That's what Aussies do. They get on with it. They got horrible decisions in the Kolkata Test in 2000-01, becoming part of a result that turned a cricket team's future around. They got on with it. Their legends start losing their powers, they get on with it and start working on new legends. At 30 for 3, if you block an over out, you'll hear someone from the crowd, with a beer too many down his system, shout, "Have a go, you mug. Get on with it."
Full postCatching practice with South Africa
South Africa train Sri Lankan schoolchildren to raise money for the country's blind team
Firdose Moonda in Colombo
22-Jul-2014
"Let's try to get 10 catches without anybody dropping the ball," Kyle Abbott said to kick off a little game. He promptly went on to look directly at one of the participants and throw the ball the other way, catching the person he was aiming it at unawares. Ball met floor instead of hand and there was a delicate moment of silence soon broken by a giggle and Abbott's booming voice. "Okay let's try again. I'll do it properly this time."
One, two ... nine, ten.
"Let's see if we can get to 20 now," Greg King, South Africa's fitness coach, said. They managed 15 before letting it slip again and their efforts received warm applause from Abbott and King.
Full postOld address, new home for Usman Afzaal
Usman Afzaal's new restaurant Slumdog, located bang opposite Trent Bridge, is all set to witness a Test match for the first time
Sidharth Monga
05-Jul-2014
The day Usman Afzaal was selected for England, he phoned Nottinghamshire at 10pm, had the doors unlocked, brought along a posse of bowlers, and practised in the indoor nets until 1am. That wasn't a one-off. Mick Newell, now the Nottinghamshire coach and then the manager of the second XI, had been quoted as saying, by Daily Mail: "He's forever turning up at 10 or 11pm with a crowd of mates willing to bowl to him."
Even then Afzaal owned a flashy sports car, and was, according to his ESPNcricinfo profile, "a cocky, bare-knuckle batsman," who was "at his best against pace and straight-drove like an angel".
Reality struck soon, though, and on his first day of international cricket, Afzaal was bowled through the gate by a Shane Warne legbreak that turned a foot. England, as expected in those days, lost the Ashes, and Afzaal couldn't add to the three Tests he played. He was selected for the New Zealand tour, but according to his profile on ESPNcricinfo, "incurred the wrath of the coach, Duncan Fletcher, when he reported in New Zealand above what was considered to be his best fighting weight and has been out of favour since".
Full postA background score to idle afternoons
Musings about cricket in England, randomly thought, reread and rewatched on the nine-and-half-hour flight from Mumbai to London
Sidharth Monga
01-Jul-2014
Things about cricket in England, as randomly thought, reread and rewatched on the nine-and-half-hour flight from Mumbai to London.
"I knew one once," says Major Gowen of women. "I must have been keen on her because I took her to see India. At The Oval. Fine match. A marvellous finish. Sunny had to get 33 in about a half an hour." BBC has taken out the racially offensive follow-up joke from the re-runs of Fawlty Towers, but the rest must sum up the place cricket holds in lives of Englishmen.
Its unobtrusiveness. Like the mild gentle applause at its grounds, the cricket coverage hardly ever screamed for attention or commitment. For an Indian kid you didn't have to wake up early (Australia and New Zealand), stay up in the night (the West Indies), worry about exams (South Africa) or miss school (India). During the summer days, it was there, a background score to idle afternoons. A reassurance that all was fine with the world.
Full postService with a smile
Bangladesh's cricket team may not have impressed many, but their team of volunteers at the World T20 has
Mohammad Isam
06-Apr-2014
Apart from the opportunity to see the world's best, the World T20 has also provided Bangladesh's youth a dose of international exposure. Nearly 500 volunteers have been at work during this tournament, many of them from the country's top colleges and universities.
The first ones you will interact with are at the gates, helping out with every bit of information as you enter. Then there are volunteers inside the galleries and various seating areas. There are volunteers for the media, rights protection (or ambush marketing), hospitality, grounds, broadcast, store, ICC team, sponsors, gallery, medical, ticket, and lost and found.
The hours can be brutal, with two matches every day, in the afternoon and evening. This means the volunteers arrive at the venues around mid-day - even earlier on many days - and stick around till midnight, well after the players and fans leave.
Full postThe anthem's call
Do you feel a pull when you hear the song of another nation?
Abhishek Purohit
26-Mar-2014
There is something about a national anthem playing in a crowded stadium that can move you deeply. If it is your country's national anthem, the major feeling is obviously patriotic. But what if it is that of another country and you can still relate to it for some
reason?
Just before Bangladesh's opening World T20 match against West Indies, I went to the top level of the media centre at the Shere Bangla Stadium in Dhaka. I wanted to see how the cricket-crazy crowd reacted to their team walking out and lining up for the national anthem. I also wanted to listen to the anthem along with the rest of the crowd, not from behind the thick glass wall of the press box. As expected, there was a huge roar when the Bangladesh players appeared on the field, even though the stadium was just over half full, with people still making their way in.
Suddenly the roar turned into absolute silence when it was announced that people should stand for the anthems of both sides. It was so sudden, the silence seemed to reverberate louder than the roar. A short burst of cheering followed the end of "Rally Round the West Indies" before the silence returned.
Full postSoothing and familiar Dhaka
ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent Andrew Fernando discovers the cuisine, language and residents of the capital of Bangladesh reminds him of home
Andrew Fidel Fernando
01-Feb-2014
A curry brimming with coconut cream, shocked with an army of red chilli; a palm-lined beach and a blast of baila on the bus - anyone who travels, especially for work, knows the occasional craving for home comforts, even when their surroundings are vibrant and fascinating. But for a Sri Lankan, there is something soothing and familiar about Dhaka, which seems a monumentally weird thing to say at first glance, but bear with me.
Sri Lankans like to think we are a very welcoming bunch - we don't think we are merely good, we feel we are unbeatable. Olympic-level hospitality: the Michael Phelps of looking after guests. Even beyond the constant offers for food and tea though, Dhaka residents might give Sri Lankans a grand run for their money when it comes to warmth towards outsiders.
Smiles, like directions, are given up easily and generously. Conversation is free and friendly. The press-box jokes begin before play and flow rapidly until well after stumps. Someone is always around to offer a translation, so as the sole foreigner I can keep track. In my week in the city, I've also been adorned with gifts and invited into homes and out to dinner.
Full postFresh graduate cashes it in
A 22-year-old from the town of Te Aroha went home with NZ$100,000 after taking a one-handed catch on the Seddon Park grass bank
Abhishek Purohit
22-Jan-2014
After Michael Morton, it's Jatinder Singh. The 22-year old from the town of Te Aroha became the second person to win NZ$100,000 offered by a beer company after taking the 'catch' of Corey Anderson on the Seddon Park grass bank in the second ODI between India and New Zealand. Morton had done it at the same ground in an ODI against West Indies recently.
The promotion requires people to purchase an orange t-shirt and lanyard with the company's logo on both and take a clean one-handed catch during any of the international limited-overs matches in New Zealand this summer, with the first person to do so at each game raking it in.
Jatinder's chance came in the 39th over of New Zealand's innings as Anderson swung Ishant Sharma over the long-on boundary. A gaggle of spectators converged towards where the ball was about to land, but Jatinder was somehow able to clasp on to a somewhat awkward but safe take with his right hand. He had a friend to thank as well, for the latter, wearing an India jersey and not an orange one, appeared to go for the ball before pulling out late.
Full postSupporting WI for almost 50 years
West Indian supporters have been few and far between in New Zealand, but in the shade on the Hamilton boundary one recalls his years of following the team
Andrew McGlashan
20-Dec-2013
Being a West Indies supporter these days tests patience and faith. One moment they are offering the teasing prospect of improvement, the next they are crashing to a three-day innings defeat.
There are plenty of fans, though, who don't give up. Two of them were sat under shady tree at Seddon Park, offering plenty of advice to Darren Sammy. Ray Walters and Trevor Williams have travelled from London and have been at all three Tests alongside Brenda Boyce, the widow of former West Indies fast bowler Keith Boyce who has come across from Barbados.
They have a West Indies flag draped over their legs. They have become something of minor celebrities in Hamilton. West Indies supporters have been few and far between at the grounds for this series. It's a heck of a long way to come. There's a lone Jamaican flag on the other side of the ground and Trevor points out the Trinidad colours as well. They are excited to hear that Franklyn Rose was at the ground. "I have a message to pass onto him," Trevor says curiously, "but I'll have to do it myself."
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