The recent atmosphere in cricket circles has tended to leave a sour taste in the mouth so I thought I might try to highlight some positive elements this week. The first being the obvious improvement in fortunes for England's limited overs team. Their efforts in the 2007 World Cup conveyed a sense of disinterest by the management and players in the team but now they hold the 2020 trophy, they beat Australia and most importantly they have acquired a sense of confidence in their own game. The entry of players like Broad, Swann and Morgan plus the maturing of Strauss and Anderson as senior players has built a very balanced and aggressive team capable of performing against more opponents and in more conditions. You could have made this conclusion at the beginning of this season but the more recent development is the production of younger, aggressive and hungry players. As an example I will single out the keeper-batsman Davies who plays very much in the Adam Gilchrist style and with almost equal ability in my opinion. His contempt for the old school of English ODI cricket is both refreshing and a symbol of the current team attitude. With Trott set to become a solid no.3, this team can finally challenge the top ranks and shake off the depression set in by those two Wasim Akram deliveries in 1992 (see World Cup Final dismissals of Lamb and Lewis)
NEWS
- The Black Caps team for the Bangladesh tour has been announced (remember that it is made up of just 2020s and ODIs with the test moved to April next year) and with two important notes: Jesse Ryder returns after injury and Martin Guptill has been given a break from the top team (in the A team for Zimbabwe) in order to find some form again
RECENT RESULTS
- Although ENG were victorious in their first ODI against PAK the other night, it was clear that the visitors are moving past their recent troubles and they put up a lot more fight (as I type this they just posted over 290 in the second match)
ARTICLE OF INTEREST
http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/476079.html
This is from Peter Roebuck who is quickly becoming my favourite writer on cricket (just don't get him to write a coaching manual or you may find the words 'corporal punishment' appearing a little too often and in a little too positive light). Here he rightly says that the whole match fixing problem will come down to the players simply saying no. The piece doesn't focus as much on the negative and I found it a nice book-end to the beginning of this mess
OH and for anyone who ever wondered where Rudi Koertzen's 'slow death' raising of the finger came from:
"When I started to umpire, I used to stand with my hands in front of me. I remember my wife was watching a TV game one day where I was officiating and she said to me, "Take your hands away from your front and put them behind your back." I started doing that, but then I started to fiddle around with my hands - it's in my pocket, then it's on my side - so I decided to grip my left wrist with my right hand and hold it there so I couldn't move it around. Because I would hang on to it, it just came naturally that I would count one, two, three, think where the ball was going, and then have a slow release and start lifting it. It just stayed with me - I don't think it was something deliberate. I gave Daryll Cullinan out at the Wanderers one day and he gave me the name Slow Death. He said, "Why do you make me suffer and wait for that slow-death decision?" It just stayed with me. I had to laugh at one of the producers one day. They said, "Can't you just speed it up a little bit, because we struggle to fit it into the super slow-mo replays."
VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDgIhvmnN6k
...and if you can't watch that with a smile you're not a NZ fan (just ignore the Mark Richardson commentary)
Cricket has to be able to move on from the current problems and threats that it faces - and they are real and serious - I think being reminded of its best qualities helps the fight
Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again
It's good bye for now
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