24th March 2009. Mitchell Johnson has moved from newbie to pace-bowling spearhead cum hard-hitting No. 8 double quick, and the best part is, he’s not nearly done developing yet. Mitchell Johnson’s buccaneering innings at Newlands enhanced his reputation as an immensely talented cricketer likely to provide outstanding service to his team and rich entertainment to […]
13th March 2009. Cricket has been more vulnerable to discord and conflict than many sports, and the latest crisis may be the most serious yet. Cricket is enduring the toughest period of a colourful, contentious history. Of course all cricketers experience bad patches when form deserts them. Indeed it is part of the test provided […]
2 April 2011. 1. The Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan shaking hands. Sport cannot cure all the ailments of the world but it can open minds. Tensions had been high since the Mumbai bombings in 2008. Then India and Pakistan were drawn to meet in the semifinals of the World Cup. All sorts of […]
23rd February 2009. The win in Australia was an expression of hope; the potential needs to be taken to the next level now. South Africa start the forthcoming series, played on their own red soil, as red-hot favourites to beat the Australians and thereby replace them at the top of the Test rankings. Of course […]
12 February 2009. The signs are that Australia may have put the worst behind them. Australia has suffered its worst cricketing summer since the community was rent asunder by rebel tours, retirements and other upheavals in the early 1980s. In those days antipodean cricket was down in the dumps. Defeats piled up at the hands […]
29 January 2009. Humble, resilient, modest and unflappable, Hashim Amla has overcome plenty and emerged the better for it. Hashim Amla counts amongst the most serene of cricketers. Nothing seems to ruffle him. Along the way both life and cricket have tried to disturb his tranquility, only to be met with a mild smile and […]
02 April 2011. After long weeks of slow progress, India and Sri Lanka arrive weary and footsore in Mumbai with a single aim in mind – capturing the World Cup and so securing glory for their country and cricketing immortality for themselves. These entertaining and skilful sides have much in common, a reliance on spin, […]
14 January 2009. Hayden was typecast as a batting bully, but he was subtler than that, and the same divergence showed in his character as well. And so one of the last big guns has fallen silent. Only Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting remained from the team that pounded so many opponents into submission in […]
16 March 2011. Between them the Associate teams scored 523 runs on Sunday. Unused to facing top class bowling or playing in front of large crowds they still managed to give an excellent account of themselves. Nor were they playing the weaker sides. Canada reached 261 against the Kiwis. Kenya attained 262 against mighty Australia. […]
17 December 2008. Every now and then a Test match comes along that transcends the moment and lifts the spirit. Chennai was one such. If ever cricket needed to rise to the occasion it was over the last few days in Chennai. Emotion plays an enormous part in sport. Try as we might with computers […]
3 December 2008. New Zealand cricket has been reduced to its present low state chiefly by a lack of cohesion. New Zealand cricket is at low ebb. Although it may not return to the desperate days of the last century – when individual deeds were celebrated in the absence of any hope of victory, a […]
12 November 2008. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a forthright, straightforward cricketer unburdened by the baggage that generally accompanies a man onto the field, thereby restricting his outlook. At once he is intelligent and simple, aggressive and canny, tough and respectful. He did not come to cricket as a youthful dreamer but as a young street […]
5 March 2011. The crushing defeats suffered by Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in the latest round of matches confirm that the line drawn between Test and the rest is artificial and requires review. Certainly, it ought to revive debate about dividing the top 12 nations into leagues with promotion and relegation permitted. Granting Test status is […]
06 November 2008. Gangles was fun. Every now and then a fellow feels like tearing off his shirt and waving it around like Mick Jagger with a microphone. Of all places, Sourav Ganguly responded to the urge at Lord’s, holiest of cricketing holies. So much for decorum. He might as well have burped in St […]
19 February 2011. The decision to sack the Associates from the 2015 tournament counts amongst the worst taken by any sport. Forty years ago George Harrison organised a concert for Bangladesh. Bob Dylan and Ravi Shankar played, and the Indian maestro teased his American audience by saying that since they liked his tuning up so […]
29 October 2008. Memories of Australia’s last Test match at Kotla are hazier than the smog that holds the capital city in its grip. Certain things linger in the mind: the result, a catch, an opening batsman’s fate, two trenchant innings, and a wonderfully innovative and sustained piece of cricket writing, but all else has […]
22 October 2008. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ricky Ponting might as well come from the same street, the same school, the same suburb. They emerged from the backwaters and arrived on the cricket scene with sharp minds and hardened games. As time passed, both learnt to use the right words and sometimes to think the […]
12 February 2011. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has an immense task on his hands. Of course it is only a sporting task and not to be compared to clearing up Brazil after floods or Queensland after a cyclone. However, the challenge is not to be underestimated. Emotions are going to be pitched high. On paper India’s […]
16 October 2008. At stumps on the opening day of the Bangalore Test match the Australians were confident of winning. Already two significant advantages had been secured. Ricky Ponting had won the toss on a pitch expected to fall apart as rapidly as an American bank that has given mortgages to anyone with a dollar […]
8 October 2008. Let the games begin! After an eternity of speculation about pitches and selection and injuries and retirements, and with unsuspected newcomers eagerly sandpapering bats, and veterans anxiously oiling their joints, the Indian and Australian sides can finally get down to business. Everyone remembers the recent exchanges, the hot and the heroic, and […]
1 October 2008. Although he bounds around like an especially cheerful buck and retains in his eyes the brightness of youth, Michael Clarke has undertaken and almost completed his maturing. Insofar as any male ever does, he has put aside daring and given productivity its due. For a time his spirit rebelled against the cramping […]
29th January 2011. Eden Gardens is one of the game’s best loved grounds. In terms of fame and atmosphere Lord’s and the MCG stand as its only rivals. Every cricket player in every touring team yearns for the opportunity to play in that teaming amphitheatre with 100,000 Indians intently following every ball. To walk along […]
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