Tour Diary
London: a fan's paradise
Nowhere else in the world can a global tournament can find such diverse, impassioned support as in cricket's historic capital
Andrew Fidel Fernando
19-Jun-2013
Lord's cricket ground in London's St John's Wood bears the title of the "Home of Cricket". Across town, in more working-class environs, The Oval does not feel so self-important, but situated as it is in a city that represents virtually all of Britain's old empire, it can more than share the tagline with the sport's most prestigious venue.
The press box at The Oval is situated right above the bowler's arm, at the Vauxhall End, and to avoid distracting batsmen, journalists work behind two layers of tinted glass, in a room that can only be dimly lit. The result is a working area that not only shuts out the clamour of an often colourful crowd, but also feels disconnected from the cricket itself.
For years, cricket writers have found a way around the sterility of The Oval press box by using the overflow media areas, which are located outside. It gets cold, even in the summer, and it is annoying when rain begins to fall and laptops must be picked up and moved under better cover. But when play has begun and the ground is humming, there are few more interesting offices in the world.
Full postBangladesh's tiger suit fan
Shoaib Ali, Bangladesh's most passionate fan, will be a regular feature throughout the course of the Zimbabwe tour, and will surely provide much amazement and energy for all supporters alike
Firdose Moonda in Harare
26-Apr-2013
Harare Sports Club seems to have a hangover at the start of every day. It wakes up slowly and groggily, wiping last night's make-up from its eyes, as it squints to adjust to the brightness. Every morning is a lazy Sunday morning so you can imagine the jolt of surprise when Friday's one was greeted with a roar so piercing it rung around the whole ground for hours.
Shoaib Ali, Bangladesh's most passionate supporter, had arrived, complete with his Tiger suit and giant flag. He spent all the time on his feet, shouting. "Shabash, Nasir bhai, Shabash," was his cry as Nasir Hossain took the total close to 400.
His level of energy was extraordinary, especially when considering he had spent most of Wednesday night in the airport. A problem with his papers meant that he could not get through immigration and it was up to the Bangladesh team manager to rescue him.
Full postStuart Carlisle's other sporting passion
Stuart Carlisle, the former Zimbabwe batsman, on why he has established a sports shop in Harare
Firdose Moonda
22-Apr-2013
Ask most cricketers what their favourite sport is and they are likely to say golf.
When Jacques Kallis brought up his first double hundred against India in the Centurion Test, he was awarded a lifetime membership to Leopard Creek Country Club. Ricky Ponting has confessed to wanting to play golf seven days a week if he could, and Viv Richards claimed he would rather have been a golfer than a cricketer. So when the Test match between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh ended a day early, it seemed only natural to head to the Royal Harare Golf Club to catch the final round of the Zimbabwe Open.
The course is right next door to the cricket ground, which makes it convenient for those who want to fit in a round after practice. But this weekend, it was not about the wannabes. The Zimbabwe Open is part of the Sunshine Tour, which makes it an important event on the international calendar. Former winners include Vijay Singh and Nick Price, the uncle of spin-bowler Ray Price.
Full postRear-ended in Hambantota
ESPNcricinfo's relationship with Hambantota is already a storied one. Several reporters have had adventures there, and Andrew Fernando joins the list
Andrew Fidel Fernando
26-Mar-2013
ESPNcricinfo's relationship with Hambantota is already a storied one, despite its relative brevity. In December 2010, I was en route to what would have been the first international match in the ground, when we heard the series could be postponed. After two u-turns and several official phone calls that assured us the match would go ahead, we arrived at a stadium under construction to be told that the matches would not happen for almost two months.
When Kanishkaa Balachandran was here for the Pakistan tour in June last year, a snake slithered up the French window near where he was working, prompting a seemingly well-rehearsed reptile response plan to be sprung into action by the hotel staff. A month later, the vehicle Abhishek Purohit was in was charged by an elephant on the way back to the hotel, well past midnight.
After the first ODI against Bangladesh, a separate group of journalists and photographers hit a sleeping water buffalo with their car in the black of night, killing the buffalo on the spot and wrecking the vehicle. It's just that kind of place. Cricket journalists are a pampered breed, for all our complaining, but on a tour to Hambantota one must be prepared for adventure.
Though we dodged our share of sleeping cattle and monitor lizards on the roads, our tale this time was of the more mundane variety, and we are perhaps lucky it occurred in one of the more far-flung regions. Having woken up at around midday, after a late night's work, Bangladesh correspondent Mohammad Isam and I headed out for some lunch in Embilipitiya town. We had heard good things about a restaurant in the middle of town, but as we were about to turn right into the car park, a tipper-truck slammed into the back of our car, crushing the right side of our boot, taking out the lights, and sending our bumper scraping along the tarmac.
Full postRoar that follows the tigers
Shoaib Ali Bukhari can shout all day, in the heat, and not have a care in the world about where the next meal will come from or whether there will be a bed to sleep on. Sounds like just another crazy cricket fan that we have all encountered in life - or h
Mohammad Isam
21-Mar-2013
Shoaib Ali Bukhari can shout all day, in the heat, and not have a care in the world about where the next meal will come from or whether there will be a bed to sleep on. Sounds like just another crazy cricket fan that we have all encountered in life - or have been ourselves. But even by Bangladesh standards, he stands out for his willingness to go that extra mile - literally.
He is in Sri Lanka now, supporting his favourite team, and he has just watched nine days of his favourite kind of cricket - Tests. On the day we met, Shoaib was screaming his lungs out as the Bangladesh batsmen fought to stay alive in the second Test in Colombo. As the batsmen walked back for the tea break, he cried out the name of every player that walked into the dressing room. From one of the higher stands, someone tried to compete with his vocal strength. That man laughed and gave up after three tries of "Shabash Sri Lanka".
At the end of the day's play, Shoaib headed to a nearby garage in Khettarama, where he spent the night courtesy a mechanic he met at the R Premadasa Stadium. This is how it is for the man who is called Tiger by the Bangladesh players. He hasn't come to Sri Lanka with a lot of money in his pocket, and didn't seem too perturbed by it. "Yesterday some of the urchins here took away my food. I think it is okay, at least it's food," he says. There was a packet nearby, which he confirmed as food. "I will eat properly today, because I think I can sleep at the garage today too."
Full postMatara cricket in good hands
Matara is no different from the usual coastal towns in Sri Lanka, be it the sun, the curved coconut trees, the humid air or the recovery from the 2004 tsunami destruction
Mohammad Isam
05-Mar-2013
Matara is no different from the usual coastal towns in Sri Lanka, be it the sun, the curved coconut trees, the humid air or the recovery from the 2004 tsunami destruction. The delightful little town has several fishing villages lined up side-by-side, giving it a slightly more rounded appeal. On the sports side, the recovery from the large-scale damages from the tsunami is almost complete - Bangladesh is the first international team to play here since 2001-02 . But the team is staying 26km away in Dikwella. There are not many resorts or five-star facilities yet in central Matara, but the roads from the west or to the east (towards Dickwella) are excellent.
Bangladesh's cricketers will find Matara familiar - it is very similar to Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh's most visited tourist destination. The difference is in the cricket. Though Cox's Bazar has better beaches and more hotels than Matara, and an airport, it lacks a proper cricket stadium and, indeed, a cricket culture. The only international cricketer from Cox's Bazar, Mominul Haque, is a product of BKSP, the country's biggest sporting institute where he has been studying since he was 13. Things may change for Cox's Bazar since the government has recently granted land to the BCB to build an international cricket venue there; this should make it Bangladesh's most attractive sporting destination, and could be a launchpad for the region's cricketers.
In Matara, however, things are already in place. Cricket is not only well followed but taken quite seriously by the schools, the country's main source of cricket talent. The importance of the age-level tournaments is such that the Uyanwatta Stadium is booked months in advance to host these matches. There is a large following and the alumni take detailed care of the various teams within the school, down to the appointment of trainers and physios.
Full postMaking music on the sidelines
Matches involving hosts India in the Women's World Cup drew crowds of around 2,000 to the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai
Abhishek Purohit
25-Feb-2013
Matches involving hosts India in the Women's World Cup drew crowds of around 2,000 to the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The turnout has been about a tenth of that figure for non-India matches. On a Sunday morning, with Australia playing Sri Lanka, the upper tier of North Stand saw two groups of schoolchildren, a family or two, a handful of men, and a Sri Lankan band.
The drum beats and tunes emerging from a corner of the stand sounded distinctly Sri Lankan and it turned out that the group of 15 were a bunch of navymen from the country on a training assignment in Mumbai for a few months. They had a set of bass drums and a side drum. A trumpet would have completed a basic papare set but "we forgot to bring one," Rohan, wearing a Sri Lanka team jersey, said. The noisy band managed to create quite an atmosphere for the few who had bothered to come.
They kept singing one Sinhala song after another, and took time out between songs to shout 'Come on, Sri Lanka' and assorted encouragements in Sinhala. Their side did not make too many runs but, as it happens back in Sri Lanka, there was no let-up in the enthusiasm of the group. A wicket brought barely a pause to their merrymaking and a boundary sent their voices and drumbeats soaring in intensity.
Full postSearching for civilians in Palam
The Palam A Ground is a bit old-fashioned, one Mumbai man saying it reminded him of an English league venue
Sharda Ugra
25-Feb-2013
The Palam A Ground is a bit old-fashioned, one Mumbai man saying it reminded him of an English league venue. It is open on all sides, its proximity to the Delhi's domestic airport means there is no high-rise interference to the weather. Traffic tootles around the ground, Delhi's horn concerto sounding intermittently and aircrafts routinely take off at either end of the wicket. In the morning session, flights of all sizes fly over the single-storey pavilion. In the afternoon, the larger commercial aircrafts take off from the old domestic terminal and soar over the far end of the ground.
On day one, a brass band sounded as the teams warmed-up at the start of play. The Air Force men said it was the army band practicing for the Republic Day parade. On day two, they were not to be heard, they could have headed out to a dress rehearsal in other parts of the city's vast cantonment. The frisky rain and miserable light conditions on Thursday meant there were no aircrafts to be sighted over Palam in the morning, as Ajit Agarkar and Aditya Tare tried to give the Mumbai innings any lift-off in the semi-final.
Palam's open elements are diametrically opposite to the ground's other rules: as it is a part of the Air Force cantonement, it is shut off for civilians. The only manner of civilians allowed inside the compound where Services and Mumbai are playing their Ranji Trophy semi-finals are the players, their support staff, match officials, and journalists. Whenever foreigners turn up at the gates, like South African 'exchange' umpire Adrian Holdstock for this game, the BCCI must get approvals and permissions sorted out in advance. The last time the Indian team trained here, the BCCI had to supply the paperwork, scanned passport copies etc, for all its overseas support staff well in time.
Full postNew looks for Australian cricket grounds
Before the iconic arc of Moses Mabhida held up the Durban sky, there was a grotty grey concrete block masquerading as a football stadium in its place
Firdose Moonda
25-Feb-2013
Before the iconic arc of Moses Mabhida held up the Durban sky, there was a grotty grey concrete block masquerading as a football stadium in its place. It was so nondescript that I can barely remember it. But I have vivid recollections of how the new stadium grew each time I went back to Durban. Over three years from 2006, what started as a building site turned into a gleaming white façade.
All over the country, works of art were being erected. Not far from my home in Johannesburg, the calabash shaped Soccer City was being sculpted, in Port Elizabeth the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium was taking the shape of the Sydney Opera House, and in Nelspruit giraffe-shaped supports held together the Mbombela Stadium. It seemed as though the whole country was under construction.
The ten theatres of dreams that were being refurbished, and in some cases created, were for the 2010 Football World Cup. Australia's Cricket World Cup is still three years away, but there is building going on at three of the four grounds I've visited on this tour, and only in Perth is the construction because of cricket.
Full postComptons connect across Indian Ocean
Cricket tours are like mazes - mazes of tunnels actually. Weeks are spent in a foreign country, discovering new things and working hard. The hours melt into days which spill over into weeks.
Firdose Moonda
25-Feb-2013
Cricket tours are like mazes - mazes of tunnels actually. Weeks are spent in a foreign country, discovering new things and working hard. The hours melt into days which spill over into weeks. It is exciting and challenging at the same time and you get completely absorbed into what you are doing. Save for the odd phone call back home, glances at the morning news or meals out with colleagues, there is little time or space for anything else, especially not any other cricket.
But on this Australia tour, at least one mind has wandered elsewhere. Patrick Compton, a journalist with the South Africa's Independent Newspaper Group, is the uncle of England's new opening batsmen Nick. He has been following the series in India with much interest, fielding many questions about his nephew's background and journey and is always happy to share.
The Compton family are well-known and well-respected. Denis' triple-century in Benoni is the stuff of legend and both Patrick and his brother, Nick's father Richard, are much admired for their roles in non-racial cricket in Natal. Nick, though born in Durban, had his destiny mapped out for him in England early on when he was offered a cricket scholarship to Harrow school in London at the age of 15.
Full post