< 1 minute read One of the more interesting one-day series has just finished with Bangladesh emerging 4-0 winners over New Zealand. There are two types of people when it comes to gauging Bangladesh’s progress: the people who look at the scorecards and the people who look at the results. Those of us in
Continue readingMonth: October 2010
James Anderson gets hurt by the ECB
< 1 minute read Complete this well-known phrase: “You boys stop fighting or someone’s going to get…” The ECB are normally so keen to cotton wool their cricketers that the poor sods can barely take a slash without someone checking they don’t direct the stream into their own eyes, blinding themselves. With that in
Continue readingLaurence Elderbrook acclimatises
< 1 minute read Having arrived in Perth, I quickly find myself a cricket club. The grade system is meritocratic and I will have to work my way up from the bottom, but that should be no trouble for Laurence Elderbrook. At my first net practice, few if any of the players appear to
Continue readingShane Watson, Andrew Symonds and the scented candle – an abbreviated anecdote
< 1 minute read Watson thought the changing room stank and lit a scented candle. Andrew Symonds gave him shit for it. Andrew Symonds comes out of this well; Shane Watson less so. This tale comes from Matthew Hayden’s autobiography. We hope we get a review copy. Buying Matthew Hayden’s autobiography would effectively mean
Continue readingDoes a Test championship need a final?
2 minute read The ICC have announced that there will now be a four year Test championship. At the end of the cycle, the top four teams enter play-offs and then there’s a final. We do understand the significance of a final – the two best teams pitted against each other is always
Continue readingNathan Hauritz – number one Australian spinner
< 1 minute read Shane Warne said that Nathan Hauritz was being given a crap field by Ricky Ponting today. Being as Hauritz went for 76 in 12 overs on a fifth day Indian pitch, we’d guess that Ponting was only using four or five fielders. Hauritz is currently said to be Australia’s number
Continue readingAndrew McDonald endures a duck and then scores a hundred
< 1 minute read Andrew McDonald hit 163 off just 116 balls for Victoria this week, despite a duck before play. “We walked too close to the ducklings and the old father duck attacked me. He got on top of my backpack and started chipping away at my head. It was a savage attack
Continue readingOff season cricket training – another senseless attempt to make people laugh
< 1 minute read We’ve not had any high-minded criticism of our latest Cricinfo piece yet, which is a bit disappointing. In case you’re wondering what it’s about, it’s about two of our greatest interests: gravy and depression. If we could have squeezed ‘worrying about whether we’ve offended somebody by accident’ in there too,
Continue readingTaking Sachin Tendulkar for granted
< 1 minute read It is so easy to take Sachin Tendulkar for granted. He’s 191 not out against Australia. You see that and you think: “Of course he’s 191 not out against Australia. Why wouldn’t he be?” The statistics are everywhere. Picking some pretty much at random, this was his eighth hundred in
Continue readingKings and Royals shunted from their IPL thrones
< 1 minute read There is only one acceptable way to get a royal title: by going along with what everyone’s calling you because you can no longer be arsed explaining that Brian Lara’s the king, not you. Royalty through exasperated resignation. Any other route to a title is flat-out wrong. If you self-apply
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