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Bill Lawry's graceful broadcasting exit - ESPNcricinfo
"I've had a phone call or two, which is fair enough, and I said no because Channel Nine's been my home, I've been very happy there and I think when you've had such an enjoyable trip, at 81 years of age I think it's just the time to call it quits. My wife hasn't been well for probably five or six years so it was either call it quits or cut it short and Channel Nine have been very good. I certainly have enjoyed the Boxing Day Tests and the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, it's just a great atmosphere, the best cricketers in the world playing on the two best grounds probably in Australia, and it's just been a magnificent journey, almost a dream come true.
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.
ESPNcricinfo - Cricket Live Scores, Stats, Schedules, Fixtures & News
"See, coaches get sacked. The first thing you know when you stop playing and become a coach is that some day you are going to get sacked," he said. "That's the reality.
"As an India A and Under-19 coach, I know that someday I'm going to get the boot. Some football managers get sacked after two games, so that's the reality. Players are more powerful than coaches. We know that because we were more powerful than coaches when we played."
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.[…]
Ranji Trophy final: Sloppy Mumbai have only themselves to blame for historic loss to Gujarat
[…]When he eventually went, he was frustrated about not seeing it through till the very end, and walked back a dejected man. For context, he had scored 143 of the required 312 runs, and Gujarat only needed 13 to get past the finish line at that point. Mumbai’s gradual meltdown on the final day still feels barely believable, and, while with their inexperienced bowling attack this is still a creditable achievement, they are not a side who have ever settled for silver.
Ranji Trophy: Prithvi Shaw's authoritative innings is testament to Mumbai’s cricket talent - Firstpost
The hundred also makes him the second youngest first-class centurion for Mumbai after, hush hush, you-know-who.
If nothing else, this is a testament of Mumbai cricket’s place as a special outlier among India’s cricketing circles. Teenage prodigies are belted out from the school cricket production line with a frequency that only alarms the rest of the country. Kids post mammoth individual scores in tournaments that are covered extensively by local media. Not a day goes by without someone talking about the khadoos spirit that defines the sport in the city.
Australia vs Pakistan: Stern Boxing Day test for buoyant Misbah and Co at fortress MCG - Firstpost
The fixture itself, though, is a visitors’ nightmare, with only three wins in the past 20 years, since the end of West Indies’ lengthy period of dominance. In this period, only South Africa (once) and England (twice), have put it past the Australians, in front of intimidating crowds which Ian Chappell once memorably described as “an atmosphere so charged that it would make the Christians feel like the Coliseum was a home game.”
In the middle of the grand theatre that is the MCG, you can only empathise if visiting sides experience a vertigo inducing effect a la Paul Kelly’s Leaps and Bounds, shot not very far from the arena.
Ahmer Naqvi: The everlasting wiles of Mohammad Asif | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo
I asked him what he thought of AB de Villiers, a player who had spoken of how Asif troubled him, who was now at the cutting edge of batting's possibilities. Asif laughs dismissively, and then says: "[Back then] AB was already AB. Him, Kevin Pietersen, they are all my bunnies. I was the same before, I'll bowl the same way now if AB faces me. We can see what happens."
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. […]
'What have you done, Joe?' | Cricking
For a long while now, in every series, they have had a batsman or two in danger of losing his place in the side. Go back to Trott himself in the West Indies, trying to make a feeble comeback. Look no further than Cook’s opening partner conundrum. Remember Gary Ballance himself, going through a lean trot after a glut of hundreds. Do not forget Nick Compton’s sorry series of scores against a mostly innocuous Sri Lankan attack last month.
This time, though, it is hard to pinpoint who is in the most danger – is it Moeen Ali, in his confused batter-bowler state, losing his head, or is it a febrile Ballance looking desperately to rediscover his mojo at the highest level? Is James Vince even proven enough, what with his Second Division dominance for Hampshire? What of Jonny Bairstow, for whom cricket has no metric yet, to prove that his drop catches are costing England more than he can make up with the bat?
Ravi Shastri or Anil Kumble? Firstpost cricket experts pick Team India's next head coach - Firstpost
While Kumble has held various, diverse roles over the years, from being the President of the KSCA, overseeing the National Cricket Academy as its Chairman and mentoring the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Shastri, before being India’s Team Director, has largely traveled around the world in his role in broadcasting media. In addition, Kohli’s aggressive, win-at-all-costs approach would find the perfect complement in Kumble’s calm, level-headedness and tactical prudence. However, his previous run-ins with the BCCI (he quit as the NCA Chairman over "lack of alignment") are likely to tilt the scales in favour of Shastri.
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."
Jon Hotten on Shivnarine Chanderpaul's career and his retirement | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo
Put yourself in the shoes of the Bangladesh bowlers who met him when he was 40, batting undefeated through not just a match, but an entire series. Or imagine you were a bowler turning up for your game for the Transport Social Club in Guyana, and discovering that he was batting No. 3 for the Ghandi Youth Organisation side, with his son Tagenarine at No. 4, and sweating through the 30-odd overs in which they piled up 256 together - unbeaten, of course.
NZ 231/4 (35.0 ov, CJ Anderson 45*, GD Elliott 47*, M Morkel 2/47) | Live Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo
Sixty-seven off 48 now. Even 66 will do for New Zealand. Do South Africa know that?
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."
This Glenn Maxwell Quote Exemplifies Everything that is Wrong with Australian Cricket
By selecting Maxwell at three, Darren Lehmann and the selectors are basically giving the finger to old school test cricket values such as patience, strategy and technique.
The world is a silly place in 2014. We rely on smartphone apps to hook up sexual partners and upload photos of our food to social media in a bid to garner ‘likes’. Political disengagement has soared to new levels, while the threat of terrorism burns brightly in the background.
Society is fucked, sure. But please, let’s take a little bit better care of our cricket team.
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…
