Whichever prism of experience you view the game through, whatever it is you wish to glean from it, it is important to understand different perspectives even if you cannot relate directly to them. At least, it is important for long-serving reporters. South Africa play India in three T20 Internationals starting on Sunday and, for a […]
It’s hard to keep up with the number of domestic T20 leagues around the world these days but the number is certainly over 20 – including the State leagues in India, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh etc. Another was scheduled to start this week but the Euro T20 Slam was stillborn leaving cricket fans in Scotland, Ireland […]
Remember ‘the line’? We haven’t heard much about it in the last year or so. The one which the Australian cricket team never crossed – the one they could draw wherever they liked to demarcate acceptable behaviour from the unacceptable. Before ‘the line’ cricketers were guided by ‘Mother Cricket’ and the respect (or fear) they […]
Many good men and women from the worlds of both cricket and medicine deserve credit for the fact that cricket has finally addressed one of the oldest and grubbiest taboos in its history. Among them is Makhaya Ntini, albeit inadvertently. It was April 1st, 2006, the second day of the third Test between South Africa and Australia […]
It has to be one, which you’ve actually seen, and almost certainly live. A batting exhibition, which made you feel different about the player, the game in general and about the bounds of what was possible. To rethink everything you had thought before. The context and consequences of the innings are also significant. Graeme Smith […]
Last week Dale Steyn had no doubts about the future. He believed he was strong enough and determined enough to continue playing all three formats of the game and to remain available for national selection. The idea of retiring from one form of the game was unpleasant enough to be upsetting. He was quite clear. […]
The launch of the Test Championship took place this week with the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston kicking off a two-year competition which, it is hoped, will add much needed vitality to the game’s greatest format and provide context to the lower profile bilateral series as well as encourage players to stay longer in international […]
A lot of people were left with a hangover after the World Cup final and it is taking a long time to get over it. Not the physical sort induced by champagne celebrations or commiserations, but an emotional hangover induced by the unprecedented unfairness of it all. Eoin Morgan was the first of the players […]
I’ve been asked about it on and off for much of the last 20 years but, with the World Cup returning to England for the first time since 1999, there has been a glut of revisits to the most infamous run out in World Cup history. Poor old Lance Klusener and Allan Donald. They would […]
The cricketing world now has its collective focus on the World Cup. But for Eric Simons and many thousands of Chennai supporters, the pain of losing the IPL final by just a single run is still lingering. I do not think I have ever been in a quieter change room after a match than the […]
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