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Marsh stays calm amid Maxwell clamour - ESPNcricinfo

There is no escaping the fact that Marsh has had a charmed career. SOS, people call him - Son of Swampy. But it's another ABBA song that better sums up Marsh's journey: "If you change your mind, I'm the first in line, honey I'm still free, take a chance on me". Again and again the selectors have taken a chance on Marsh. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Never has he played more than five Tests in a row.

Why Shakib is the best Test allrounder going around today - ESPNcricinfo

And for those who argue that he has played a lot of his cricket against Zimbabwe, the numbers don't back that up, in Tests at least. Out of 50 Tests, only six have been against Zimbabwe. In these matches he averages 39.50 with the bat, and 23.26 with the ball. Exclude Zimbabwe, and his stats are still mightily impressive: a batting average of 41.25, and a bowling average of 33.52. It is tough to argue with numbers like those.

Chairman Vinod Rai on the first 100 days of the Committee of Administrators working with the BCCI | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

Recently I met Tendulkar when I was launching a book based on him. I took the opportunity to tell him: "My call upon on you is that you are an icon, a legend and Indian cricket has ridden on your shoulders for such a long time. People like you, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly, Kapil Dev must come forward and not only mentor players but also speak up for the cause of cricket." I asked him if he really believed that India should not participate in the Champions Trophy, to which he said we should. I told him then to please speak up and say what a terrible loss it would be for cricket in India if we did not participate.

Mullally's rally | The Cricket Monthly | ESPN Cricinfo

(There followed a scene, which I'll cut for brevity, where a toothy 55lb shark thrashed about on the deck of the boat, and Bumble leapt at Andy Caddick like Scooby Doo jumping into Shaggy's arms.) "… and when we got back I chucked it into the back of the pickup and Bumble's like, 'Ay up lad, what are you going to do with that?' And I said, 'You know what I'm going to do with it'… […][…] and I took it to the big fancy hotel reception and said, 'Excuse me, can I have Mr Atherton's room key?' I dragged it up through the elevator, it's still bloody and it stinks, I stuck it on his bed, I got a marker pen and a bit of paper and stuck a note on its pectoral fin. 'Athers, this is what you call a fish… '"

A hero prepares for his return to Gaddafi Stadium | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

Khalil was asked to park the bus in the hockey stadium across the street where he notified officials that personal items of players such as phones and chains were still in the bus. He was then taken to a police station for questioning. "Initially, the agencies took me as a suspect." He recalls that some Pakistan cricketers - including Misbah-ul-Haq - came to get him from the station and then took him to meet the Sri Lankan players. This happened, according to Khalil, because both Sangakkara and Muttiah Muralitharan had asked to see him. "They kept thanking me for saving their lives," says Khalil.[…]

Twitter round-up: 'Reading some horror stories about social media' | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

If there's one thing all sports stars agree on, it's that it's for some reason impossible for a human being to perceive flaws in someone else without having first mastered the activity in question themselves. Let's say a fireman for some reason added fuel to a fire rather than extinguishing it. By Pietersen's reasoning, only fellow firefighters would be qualified to take issue with that.

Andrew Fernando: Kusal Mendis' triumph over improbability | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

"He's one of our guys who really has a technique," coach Graham Ford had said of him last month. How rare that is in a nation where pure technique is a breakthrough, rather than a birthright. There were at least seven years in international cricket before Kumar Sangakkara worked out a set-up that satisfied him. Aravinda de Silva needed a summer with Kent to unlock his gifts. Yet, seven Tests in, and 21 years old, Mendis sees through the dip and away-spin from Steve O'Keefe in the morning. He milks the turn into his body from Lyon. He pushes away and picks off Hazlewood's full length. Then in the afternoon, when the ball begins to reverse-swing, the drives come fresh and flowing, like a scent on the breeze. […]

Sidharth Monga: Knocked-down Mitchell McClenaghan relishes scrapper's role for New Zealand | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

"When you get left out of the team, you have more bearing on the energy of the team than you realise," McClenaghan says. "If you mope around and act hostile, the team picks up on it. It is worse for the person who is in there in the spot, because they see. They don't want you to be upset. It can affect their preparation. It's all about making sure you quickly switch over to team mentality and support the person who is going to play."

Blogs: Andy Zaltzman: The World Cup is too long (or not) | Cricket Blogs | ESPN Cricinfo

Kumar Sangakkara could have been run out on 0, and should have been run out on 3. He then mercilessly punished Afghanistan for their errors, and put their bowlers to the sword. For one ball, which he smashed over cover. Three balls later, Hamid Hassan bowled him out. He made Afghanistan pay. But not very much. Loose change only.

Khurram Khan ready to savour MCG bow | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

Khurram said that a normal day for most members of the UAE squad involved getting up around 6 or 7am to go to a day job, working 9 to 5, then heading to training, which for some players a is 100-kilometre drive. Then its three to four hours of training, drive back home, get to bed at midnight, and do it all again. This happens four or five days a week.

No sentimental farewell for a practical man | Cricket Features | Australia v India | ESPN Cricinfo

India's most practical cricketer. He cared, we know, but not for numbers. He was 10 short of a 100 Tests, a landmark only 10 other Indians have reached. Nobody would have dropped him. We know what happened the last time a selector wanted to. He could have easily gone on. He could have easily rolled on for another Test or ruled himself out of the next one, and made the big announcement after the World Cup; there is a long way to go before India play a Test after this series.

From waterboy to warrior | Cricket Features | Australia v India | ESPN Cricinfo

He should have been the poster boy for the next generation. A domestic run-scoring machine who can conquer the moving ball in the north, beyond the wall, while playing his shots.

Melbourne: The G at the end of the line | Cricket Features | Travel Site | ESPN Cricinfo

A surprisingly cold metal turnstile will clunk open as you enter. You won't see many blades of grass at this point; you're still in the outer ring. You will see a lot of concrete. Then you'll go past the beer queues and be offered a hot pie by a seat-to-seat salesman until you're at Melbourne's best walkway. A walkway that allows you to wander around the thing you came to stare at. That magical sandy grass. You are there, right in front of it. A kid from nowhere place, in the world's greatest place.

Review: Australia: Story of a Cricket Country | Reviews | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo

Ian Chappell's colourful but clear-eyed assessment of Keith Miller, the cricketer and the man, is a particular treat. "Hall of fame footballer, ahem, hall of fame drinker, hall of fame shagger maybe," Miller said when Chappell rang to congratulate him for his induction into the Australian cricket hall of fame, "but not cricketer."

Blogs: Jonathan Wilson: Amateur cricket is about anecdotes, not numbers | Cricket Blogs | ESPN Cricinfo

I thought then that it might be time to give up. I just wasn't good enough. I was taking up a place in the team that would better be filled by somebody else. It was a decision I'd taken in hockey last season, reconciled to the fact that age had gnawed away at pace and fitness and, having only taken up cricket again last summer after a decade away from the game, it didn't seem like too big a wrench to knock that on the head as well. I planned another regretful column on bidding farewell: the weary batsman aghast at the upraised finger of a white-coated Father Time, the pebbles of the final over clacking in his pockets as the autumn sun dips in the evening sky…