Commentary boxes aren't meant to fly
Ian Botham refuses to climb up into a high commentary box, Murali has his tooth re-positioned, and Dickie Bird unveils a statue of himself
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Ian Botham may have routinely sent the ball up in the air and out of the ground during his career but he was quite unwilling to send himself 100 feet up into the commentary box in Hamilton for England's second ODI against New Zealand. Botham arrived at Seddon Park to find the Sky television box was situated on top of 100-foot high scaffolding, whereupon he refused to sit there, saying, "I don't do heights."
Is the graphite rod being replaced by rubber? Not yet in matches, but the England team are using semi-rubber bats to improve their fielding drills.
Gareth Oakley of Victoria is the latest to be awarded the Adam Gilchrist Scholarship and he will get to spend a season playing cricket in England. Oakley, an offspinner playing at the Melbourne Cricket Club, was about to join university when he got the news.
These days several cricketers write autobiographies far too early in their careers. But this first-person account about a cricketer, and his off-field antics, couldn't have come sooner. Coralie Eichholtz, a New Zealand model, pictures of whom were published in a British tabloid showing her along with a second model in a hotel room with Shane Warne, all three in a state of undress, has announced she will reveal what really happened that night in her autobiography. Eichholtz, who was allegedly paid by the tabloid News of the World to get photographed with Warne, claims that, like Warne, she too was set up in the sex scandal.
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Former international umpire Dickie Bird unveiled a bronze statue of himself in his hometown of Barnsley in northern England. Bird said the moment was as memorable as standing in four World Cup finals and being awarded an MBE. He wasn't too happy initially with the first model of the statue, sculpted by Graham Ibbeson, as he felt it made him look too "stern". "Now Graham has got the stance just right, the Reebok trainers and my 'finger of fate' pointing in the air," Bird said.
Getting cricket scores on the mobile phone is convenient but the service comes at a cost, sometimes far more than you'd expect. The Lancashire Evening Post reported how businessman Stephen Richmond was banned from driving for six months after he was caught using his mobile phone to get cricket scores while driving. Alison Quanbrough, prosecuting, said: "At first he told the officer, 'No, I was listening to my radio.' He then said he had been using his mobile to get cricket scores from someone in India." Richmond was fined ₤100 with ₤60 costs and ordered to pay the ₤15 victims' surcharge.
Peter Foltyn was peeling potatoes when he was called to the hospital for an emergency. Muttiah Muralitharan's front tooth had been knocked back into his mouth while fielding against Australia in Sydney. Foltyn, a dentist, said it took him ten minutes to get to St Vincent Hospital and Murali arrived just as he got there. They began the operation at 6.18pm and by 7pm Murali was back at the SCG ready to bat. "He struck me as a very polite and humble person,'' Foltyn said. "We chatted light-heartedly, but obviously he was there for a reason.'' According to Sydney's Daily Telegraph, Foltyn is an expert at re-positioning front teeth because of the high rate of bashings in surrounding Kings Cross, Bondi and Coogee.
"He cannot bat. He is useless as a fielder."
Sunil Gavaskar is rather cutting about Munaf Patel's skills - or lack thereof
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at Cricinfo