2008 political awards

Some good ones in there.

http://laughlines.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/heres-your-08-comedy-s...

quote

In his case, I think we got him like free for something we bought."
TC Mathew, the Indian team manager for the tour of Sri Lanka, isn't impressed by Paddy Upton, India's mental conditioning coach

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John wright's book

- He writes about how he arrived for the first practice session with the th team. The playes left their bags in the bus, and porters came over and carried the kits out. They then went and sat on chairs where waiters served tea and biscuits. This went on for a half hour, after which Leipus had to spend another 30 mins taping players' fingers because our players only fielded with taped fingers. Wright slowly started getting rid of first the chairs, then the biscuits, and then the tea

- In nets, when it came to batting, it was impossible to stop our players. When it came to fitness, he says it was impossible to get them started.

- Our players were the slowest joggers he had seen. He told them that he had to keep rubbing his eyes to see them moving when they jogged.

- Though the players had biscuits and tea, there were no water bottles, nutrition drinks, healthy fod available for training (heh, even I carry a 1 ltr bottle when i go to the gym)

- When Aussies came to India in 2001, Wright went into the gym to see Ponting, Hayden and Slater working extremely hard. In the other part of the gym was an india player who was on an exercycle in his slippers, reading a newspaper and eating biscuits. The door opened and a waiter came in with a plate fo sandwiches. Wright looked across at Ponting, who gave him a quizzical look.

- The first time Wright saw a thin tiny guy batting, he thought this guy is good, must be our new openers, SS Das. Turns out it was Ajit Agarkar.

- Wright writes about how each player grew up. Sehwag's coach when he was a kid made him bat with a his bat case filled with sand, using only the left hand, in order to make his left forearm stronger. He would then place a bamboo slightly wide off the off stump and make sehwag practice his backlift so that the bat moved straight between the bamboo and the stump, without disturbing them

- Dhoni very early found out he could make the ball disappear. He credited it to the 1 litre buffalo milk he drank every day. Wright says the legend grew and soon became 6 litres, and Dhoni had graduated to milkshakes by the time Wright met him

- Sachin at the age of 13 (I Should have wrote this point first, because all of you have been scanning up and down to see what Wright writes about sachin, and have ignored the rest) used to bat in the nets for a couple of hours, then play a match at Shivaji Park, go to Azad Maidan and play another there, then come back and do two hours of nets, ending at 7. He played continuously for 55 days in his summer vacation.

- Kumble received no coaching

- When Dravid and another cricketer were given Myoplex, a protein drink (which all of us here in the gym drink regularly), Gaekwas saw it and created a ruckus that Wright was giving them steroids.

- Wright says he had a new manager for every series, because BCCI has to keep appointing different managers to do favors to their supporting parties. Some of the managers were weird. There was one Colonel who thought he was an yoga expert and once decided to conduct the warm-up. Another stole players' official jerseys.

- Wright says he hated dropping Laxman for the 2003 world cup, and this became a sensitive issue. Later, he was teasing Sehwag about some ads and asked Lax, 'Hey, why didnt you do any of those ads?' Sehwag gave him a weird look and said Because he didt play the world cup, John. Wright gave a sick smile, went to the toilet and banged his head against the wall.

- One  of the problems we have when we travel abroad is food - our players dont eat much as they want home-cooked food. Once, Nehra complained he was not feeling well. Leipus asked him what he had for breakfast. Nehra said, three biscuits, there was nothing else i could eat.

- Once when a player came out of the gym, Wright asked him how come he wasnt sewating at all? The player replied he had turned up the AC

- Also, the players could only jog on the ground, because if the jogged outside they would get mobbed

- Wright's exact words are, A tortoise with a double hip replacement would have jogged faster than these players.

- Wright talks about how a ten year old once came and sat opposite him in a restaurant and gave him a strong argument why Sachin should be sent back to the opening slot in ODIs

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quotes

If we can have BMW and Mercedes as separate companies why can't we have both IPL and ICL?"
Kapil Dev ponders why the feud of the 'leagues' should continue in India

Aug 6, 2008

"It's just like if you let a dog roam on the streets eventually they become fearless, you know? They are out on the streets, they know the streets, and you become fearless because you have been through so many downs. That is how I feel right now."
Ravi Bopara gets dogmatic about his impending Test recall

Aug 5, 2008

"I know I am worth much more. And based on my performances, I think I can easily get a million dollars, if not more."
Sohail Tanvir, who was bought by Rajasthan Royals for US$100,000 before going on to become the IPL's highest wicket-taker, realises his true worth

Jul 31, 2008

"I am sure, whatever he does, he wouldn't be able to hit me again for 36 runs in an over."
Netherlands' Daan van Bunge is ready for a possible rematch with Herschelle Gibbs should his side meet South Africa in next year's World Twenty20.

Jul 31, 2008

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elbow pop

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1044258/Pictured-The-horrific-moment-Olympic-weightlifter-turns-elbow-front.html

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I want to be phelps

Swimming sensation Michael Phelps has an Olympic recipe for success - and it involves eating a staggering 12,000 calories a day.

By comparison, the average man of the same age needs to ingest about 2,000 calories a day.

Phelps lends a new spin to the phrase "Breakfast of Champions" by starting off his day by eating three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise.

He follows that up with two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes.

At lunch, Phelps gobbles up a pound of enriched pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches slathered with mayo on white bread - capping off the meal by chugging about 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

For dinner, Phelps really loads up on the carbs - what he needs to give him plenty of energy for his five-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week regimen - with a pound of pasta and an entire pizza.

He washes all that down with another 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.


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KP

After Nottinghamshire were relegated in 2003, Pietersen requested a release from his contract, saying "I haven't been happy for a while....The pitch at Trent Bridge has been one of my problems... I could have done so much better if the wicket had been good."[39] This led to a public row with club captain Jason Gallian, where Gallian allegedly threw Pietersen's kit off the Trent Bridge balcony and broke his bat:
“During the game I told the captain that I was not happy and that I wanted to leave. After the game we spoke in the dressing room and then I went to have dinner. I got a call saying the captain had trashed my equipment. I was told the captain had said, 'if he does not want to play for Notts he can f*** off.' I have not spoken to Gallian since, nor have I received an apology.”

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Roebuck on KP

Upwards, kicking and screaming

Kevin Pietersen has always pursued greatness; England have been reluctant to. Now the two must rise together

Kevin Pietersen has not lost his Midas touch. Of course it is sheer folly to assess a captain's worth after a few matches played on home terrain against a waning opponent whose most accurate leather-flinger is sitting in a nearby commentary box. Still, Pietersen has grabbed the reins in the same way he has seized every opportunity. Far from shrinking under the weight of responsibility, the settler from Pietermaritzburg has put into practice the attitude that carried him from the second XI at Maritzburg College to the leading role in the country where bat and ball first fell into combat. Responsibility has not stopped him in his tracks. Instead he has kept powering along, aggressive in thought and deed, conveying conviction, confronting opponents, taking the game forwards. They say a man rises to the level of his incompetence. In that case Pietersen has a little further to go.

Pietersen's first act as captain boded well. Given the task of choosing a team for the Oval Test, he plumped for an extra bowler, a strategy that left his batting looking as short as a bulldog's tail. Already he knew that captains must not cower, must not try to cover weaknesses, but ought rather to identify strengths and play to them. As Donald Sutherland pointed out in Kelly's Heroes, positive thoughts have a power of their own. Pietersen has always known that, has trained himself to eliminate half thoughts and hesitations. Mind you, the bridge was blown up all the same, and Sutherland had to take his tanks on an even more hazardous route.

If anything, Pietersen's next moves were more telling. His elevation to the captaincy has had a marked effect on the performances of England's other crucial players, Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff. It cannot be coincidental. Both cricketers have in recent campaigns caused frustration and provoked criticism, most of it deserved. But a new broom must sweep clean. Pietersen did not allow past perceptions to affect his judgment. After all, pace bowlers and allrounders of this calibre are thin on the ground. Far from turning his back, he decided to challenge them. Doubtless he knows that few things inspire a man as much as a sense of importance.

Now Harmison is back playing both forms of the game, taking wickets, talking sense, and looking cheerful. Along the way he has been able to reduce his game to its bare essentials. People talk glibly about keeping things simple, but that requires an understanding of how things work. A sportsman sets out with natural ability, learns the hard way about limitations, and hopefully emerges wiser and better informed and therefore able to correct faults and avoid panic. It's not so much that Harmison was weak or sulky. He did not know enough, and was poorly placed to handle setbacks. It is not so long ago that he was sending them into the side netting off two paces. Actually it was just before the start of the last Ashes series.

Besides reassuring Harmison, the new captain has also shown faith in Flintoff by pushing him up the batting order. Flintoff is a fine cricketer who has never quite worked out how he takes wickets or score runs. Torn between hitting and playing, pounding and probing, he has performed below his highest capabilities. Pietersen has used him as an attacking middle-order batsman, giving him the license he needs to bat with gusto without making him think his wicket does not matter. Captains tread a fine line. Knowing that match-winners are precious, they want them to attack, but on the other hand they must not play like fools. It is a matter of driving at full pelt and wearing a seat belt; a question of backing them when they make a hash of it but not when they let themselves down.

Evidently Pietersen has understood his men. Both Flintoff and Harmison rise when England rise. Both respond to atmosphere. It seems that they lead the way, but it is an illusion. They need someone to let them loose. Both have responded well. Part of the reason Pietersen was the right choice was because he could coax the best from these patchy performers. And he is also ruthless enough to dump them and not look back.

And so it is a case of "so far so good" for the new man. England made the correct choice. Not that they had all that much choice in the aftermath of Michael Vaughan's timely withdrawal. Pietersen's appointment was the culmination of a long, bold and hazardous journey. Naturally he was delighted by his promotion. It had been a rough ride. In his early days in county cricket he was regularly forced to stand in a corner and sing "God Save the Queen". Anything to put the loud intruder in his place. He did not baulk at it, understood that he had to pay his dues. Later his kit was thrown over the balcony by his captain, and this time he retaliated. He has had his revenge on all who crossed him.

Recognition and a desire to be accepted have counted amongst Pietersen's driving forces. Throughout his time in England, he has done everything he can to demonstrate his commitment: scoring runs, tearing attacks apart, awakening the national team, helping to win back the Ashes. He knew it was not enough and so went further, adding patriotic tattoos to his body and displaying them to all-comers. It was an attempt to display permanence, to convince sceptics that he was not flying a flag of convenience, did not yearn for veldt and beach and braais and wors (though everyone knows he does). And he went even further, burning bridges with his former country, picking a fight with Graeme Smith, portraying himself as a victim (not an easy task for a well raised boy from a comfortable family, who attended a prestigious school). In his mind his country had let him down. Of course it was an oversimplification, but it has been a powerful motivating force.

His promotion to the captaincy was important because it meant he mattered. He needed England and they needed him. Throughout he has been forced to fight for the recognition he thought he deserved. Repeatedly the world told him that he was humdrum, and always he felt he was exceptional. England had the fortune to be his proving ground, the place where the upstart made his name. English cricket has been a beneficiary, not a prophet. And now it has had the sense to give him his head.

Throughout these first matches in charge, Pietersen has retained his aggression. Naturally he has batted in the same forthright, apparently extravagant and yet calculated, manner. There is nothing half-baked about him. Sometimes it gets him into trouble.

His dismissals tend to attract excessive censure. Pietersen tries to dictate the course of events, and that requires risk. Even his worst dismissals in the recently completed series can be defended. He was trying to impose himself. Another ten minutes and it might have worked. Meanwhile team-mates nibbled like aged hamsters. And anyhow there is a little groundwater between a breathtaking counter-attack at the critical moment in an Ashes decider and an assault on a seamer that might have changed the game. Not everything can be judged by its outcome.

Typically, too, Pietersen ended up on the winning side. That has always been his aim and his expectation. Apparently he lost only two matches in an undistinguished school career. College, as his seat of learning is generally called, much as Gandhi is Gandhi and Dylan is Dylan, does not like to lose and makes no apologies for the fact. Hard work, high standards and a rugged culture are the cornerstones of the school's ethic. Not long ago the entire student body gathered on the main field to protest about a demotion imposed upon a head boy for robustly punishing recalcitrant first formers. They were complaining about the oncoming softness. College is a tough place for tough people, and Pietersen thrived within its walls.

Yet his elevation to the England job was not universally acclaimed. Observers could remember Ian Botham's disastrous stint as captain, and worried that his equally brash successor might make the same mistakes. But Botham was young and reckless and self-indulgent. He convinced himself that he could take everyone along with him on his adventure. It was a fantasy that became a nightmare. Pietersen is more ruthless, experienced and individualistic. He is prepared to make unpopular decisions. Indeed his career tells of little else.

Considering his extraordinary feats it must seem that South African cricket blundered horribly when it allowed Pietersen to slip through its grasp. By no means is it as simple as that. Despite all the nonsense he has talked over the years, as a boy Pietersen was just another hot-headed hopeful. To his subsequent regret, his experienced school coach did not pick him to play for the first X1 till his final term. Previously Mike Bechet had preferred Matthew Cairns, a little legspinner who immigrated to New Zealand. Eventually Pietersen was chosen as a hard-hitting lower-order batsman and a useful offspinner. He was big and upright and gave the ball a thump. That did not set him apart; so did almost all of his team-mates. It is the College way. His bowling was tidy, but undemanding. In short, Pietersen seemed no more likely to make his mark than 50 others. But already he was a legend in his own mind.

After school Pietersen fought for his place in the KwaZulu-Natal side, but his performances were modest and his progress slow. Overall he played ten matches for various provincial teams, collecting 253 runs in 13 innings at an average of 25.3, and taking 23 wickets at an average of 33.13. He only scored two fifties, and one of them for the B side. It was hardly the stuff of legends. Yet belief did not wither. Next he represented KZN on a pre-season tour to Western Australia, and took five wickets in a warm-up match. Aggrieved that his performance had been ignored in the newspapers, he confronted the reporter and was duly told that he had bowled tripe and was lucky the batsmen were hitting out. Already he was impatient, confident and headstrong. In the words of Muhammad Ali, he was not "conceited so much as convinced". And yet there was one innings that might have rung bells. Playing against England in a four-day match in 1999-2000, Pietersen struck four sixes as he charged to 61 not out in 57 balls.

And so Pietersen went off in search of an opening. Already he had printed business cards introducing himself as "Kevin Pietersen - Professional Cricketer". In his mind his destiny was not in doubt, merely his location. It was a bold outlook. Men like him must rise or face ridicule.

Now comes the part of his career that has been rewritten more times than Russian history. Following in the footsteps of hundreds of young South African and Australian cricketers, he went to England to spend a winter playing club cricket. Clive Rice had seen him play at a school's festival, and invited him to sign for Nottinghamshire. Pietersen leapt at the chance to play competitive cricket for good money under a coach he respected. At this stage he was not thinking about changing allegiance, did not understand a choice had to be made.

Soon Pietersen's hand was forced. He consulted past players, talked to KZN officials and flew to Johannesburg to meet Ali Bacher, always seeking reassurances. None were forthcoming. It could hardly have been otherwise. Although a junior contract was offered, no promises were provided. And so Pietersen packed his bag for England. Nor did he go quietly, attacking South African cricket officials as he departed.

His remarks did not go down well. Nor were they justified. He was not rejected, he walked out. Other promising white cricketers stayed and proved their worth. Even so South Africa have been too harsh on him. He does not deserve to be singled out merely because he made it. Pietersen is not the only College boy, let alone KZN cricketer, to try his luck overseas. Ant Botha has been playing county cricket for years.

Pietersen joined Rice in Nottinghamshire, scored heavily in his first season, and stayed for three years. It was his first move in pursuit of the greatness he felt within, an extraordinarily willful and audacious step towards his destiny. Before anyone knew his name, he was shouting it from the rooftops. Back home he delighted in driving around in a car with "Kevin Pietersen - Nottingham professional" blazed on its bonnet. At least he brightened up a city described by novelist Tom Sharpe, once an inhabitant, as "half the size of a New York cemetery and twice as dead".

Seeking greatness, Pietersen continued to surround himself with it, pursued it in every arena. He worked hard and took no prisoners. When Nottinghamshire did not meet his standards, Rice having departed, Pietersen walked out with a year left on his contract. Eager to rub shoulders with Shane Warne, he joined Hampshire. From a distance it might seem that he was craving money and attention. Certainly he took every opportunity that arose. But it was not about glory or glitter. He wanted to be exceptional. It did not always make him easy company.

And now the boy from Pietermaritzburg has become captain of all England. Finally the radical has been made welcome. England's new captain has dared to explore, even to expand, his horizons. It is one of the most hazardous undertakings known to man. He went in search of the supreme. It is exactly the journey England have been so reluctant to undertake. Captain and country may not always like each other, but they will rise together

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Bethanie Mattek

This tennis player wears crazy clothes

http://sports.rightpundits.com/?p=204

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Ball tampering incidents

Man, how many aussies here?

Weapons of mass destruction

Methods players have used to doctor the cricket ball

Judhajit Basu

August 28, 2008

We look at 11 instances of tampering, proven and alleged, in which players have used a variety of implements - from cough drops to boot spikes - to alter the condition of the ball.

Vaseline
In the first Test at the Feroze Shah Kotla in Delhi on England's tour to India in 1976-77, India were reduced from 43 for no wicket to 49 for 4 on the second evening, thanks largely to John Lever, the Essex left-arm bowler, who swung the game England's way. He went on to take seven in the innings, and ten in the match.

By the third Test of the series, it was not just the Indians, down 0-2, who were sweating. The England team physio proposed a solution for his bowlers: strips of Vaseline-soaked gauze stuck on their brows to prevent the perspiration from dripping down their faces. During the course of the match, Lever at one point took off his gauze and threw it on the ground, where it was seized upon by the umpire. Bedi, the Indian captain, alleged that the bowler had, in effect, engaged in ball-tampering - not only in the game underway, but also in Delhi - by rubbing Vaseline on the ball, thus deriving the swing that destroyed India in both Tests. England for their part said that while there had been a technical breach of the law, the offence was totally unintentional, and pointed out that by the time the gauze strips were worn there was no need to resort to illegitimate means as the Indian innings was already on the rocks.

Soil
England captain Michael Atherton was at the centre of controversy during the first Test at Lord's against South Africa in 1994 after damning television footage caught him reaching into his pocket and then rubbing a substance on the ball. Atherton denied the charges of ball-tampering, claiming he was drying his hands on some dirt that he had in his pocket. "We were trying to get the ball to reverse swing and needed one side of the ball to remain completely dry," he said. Atherton was summoned by match referee Peter Burge and was fined £2000 for failing to disclose the dirt. Atherton claimed in his autobiography that he answered "No" when asked if he had anything in his pockets, believing Burge was referring to nefarious substances such as resin, lip salve and the like.

Concrete
Among Gloucestershire fast bowler Steve Kirby's claims to fame is that he once remarked to Atherton that he had seen better players in his fridge. Kirby burst upon the scene in 2000, just when it looked like his chance of county honours was on the point of passing him by and he would have to return to his other trade, selling industrial flooring. In 2005 Kirby found himself in hot water over flooring of another kind, when Glamorgan claimed he had scuffed the match ball against the concrete surface of the Sophia Gardens car park during a Championship game in Cardiff. The incident earned him a three-day ban and cost him £125 in fines subsequently.

Cough lozenge
This instance is possibly the closest to the Trescothick case. In the sixth ODI of the 2004 VB Series in Australia between India and Zimbabwe at the Gabba, the then Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid was caught by television cameras applying what appeared to be a cough lozenge on the shiny side of the ball. According to India's coach, John Wright, "the saliva was coloured with that sweet [he was eating] and he wiped it off because he knew immediately it was only supposed to be saliva or perspiration". Match referee Clive Lloyd, however, refused to accept suggestions that Dravid had "accidentally" tampered with the ball, and found him guilty of a Level 2 offence and imposed a penalty of 50% of his match fee for breaching the ICC code of conduct.

Spikes
South Africa captain Hansie Cronje found himself mired in controversy during the 1997-98 tour of Australia. Television pictures showed him rolling the ball along the ground with the spikes of his boots during a break in play caused by a crowd disturbance in a one-day match against Australia in Sydney a fortnight before the first Test. Cronje claimed later that he was distracted as order was being restored after members of the crowd threw objects at South African players. "The players wanted action and my mind was racing," he said. Bob Woolmer, the South Africa coach, and Alan Jordaan, the team manager, played down the incident after match referee Cammie Smith and the Australian board issued a clean chit. Woolmer even dismissed the affair as a conspiracy to unsettle the tourists ahead of the Test.

Bottle caps I
Imran Khan may have had a successful career in county cricket - he took the only hat-trick of his first-class career for Sussex at Old Trafford - but by his own admission not all of his bowling feats in England were entirely legit. As he revealed in his autobiography, there were numerous occasions when he scratched the side of the ball and lifted the seam. Only once, though, did he use an object, he claimed. "When Sussex were playing Hampshire in 1981, the ball was not deviating at all," he wrote. " I got the 12th man to bring out a bottle top." The upshot was that the ball began to move around as it had not done before in the match. Sussex won and the umpires emerged none the wiser.

Bottle caps II
After his side was outdone in the first two Tests on the tour of Pakistan in the autumn of 1990, mostly by prodigious reverse swing, New Zealand bowler Chris Pringle took matters into his own hands. The New Zealand players, most notably Martin Crowe, had been crying foul through the series. On the first morning of the final Test in Faisalabad, Pringle decided to put to use what he had learned while experimenting in the nets. He cut an old bottle top into quarters and covered the serrated edge with tape, leaving a sharp point exposed. At the first drinks interval the umpires did not ask to look at the ball, and with Pakistan making sedate progress, Pringle began to scratch the ball with the masked bottle top. The results were almost immediate. Pakistan crashed from 35 for 0 to 102 all out and Pringle finished with his best Test figures of 7 for 52. He recalled that as he left the stadium after the first day's play, a local dignitary tapped him on the shoulder and said: "Pringle, it is fair now. Both teams are cheating."

Fingernails I
Sachin Tendulkar's stellar career has had its fair share of controversy. One such instance came in the second Test of India's tour of South Africa in 2001, in Port Elizabeth, where six Indian players were sanctioned for excessive appealing and ball-tampering. Television cameras picked up images that seemed to show Sachin Tendulkar trying to lift the seam of the ball. In Tendulkar's defence it was said that he was attempting to clean the ball, which had gone muddy, and that that was being misconstrued as him trying to alter the condition of the ball. Match referee Mike Denness found the batsman guilty of ball-tampering and handed him a one-Test ban. Such was the furore over the decision that Denness was barred from officiating in the next match, at Centurion, and the ICC responded by withdrawing that game's Test status.

Fingernails II
Mick Lewis, the fast bowler from Victoria, was caught on camera applying his thumbnail to the ball during a Pura Cup game against Queensland at the Gabba in 2005. During the second day's play, Lewis had requested the on-field umpires, Norm McNamara and Dave Orchard, that he be allowed to clean the ball after it had been soiled by sand and dirt when retrieved from the boundary. Both umpires consented, and Lewis went on to apparently clean the ball with his thumb. Later in the day, he was seen to have applied his thumbnail to the ball. At the end of what turned out to be the first video review of its kind in Australian domestic cricket, the umpires said Lewis hadn't done anything illegal and let him off with a warning.

Fingernails III
In the Test series against Pakistan in 1992, England's four spectacular collapses - they lost their last six wickets for 42 runs in the first innings and 38 in the second at Lord's; their last eight for 28 at Headingley; and their last seven for 25 at The Oval - brought the Pakistani bowlers under the scanner. Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram made the old ball swing further than most people had ever seen it swing. Umpires Ken Palmer and John Hampshire made frequent inspections of the ball while the ICC match referee, Deryck Murray, was required to examine it at every interval. During the lunch interval in the fourth ODI of the Texaco Trophy at Lord's, the umpires and the match referee changed the ball for one of similar condition, leaving the reason for so doing open to speculation. There was no end to the confusion which followed and the accusations flew thick and fast. The row rumbled on until 1996 when Imran Khan sued Ian Botham and Allan Lamb, who had been among the most vocal with their allegations. Imran won and was awarded £400,000 by a British court.

Micro-trousers
The odd man out, and perhaps the only officially sanctioned aid to influencing the condition of the ball. A few eyebrows were raised over the "micro-trousers" worn by New Zealand on their 2008 tour of England. Developed under the supervision of Dipal Patel, a former engineering student at Loughborough University near Nottingham, the wonder pants claimed to improve an athlete's performance by 2.7%. The bowlers' version also includes a chamois-like patch to help shine the ball and make it swing. The manufacturer had initially looked at adding an abrasive material to the pants to help scuff one side of the ball in the hope of producing reverse swing but abandoned the idea so as not to get on the wrong side of the law-makers. Though pre-tested in the second Test at Old Trafford and "officially" worn by the players in the third Test at Trent Bridge, no advantage was visible as New Zealand went down 0-2. The MCC gave the trousers the all-clear on the grounds that they didn't break official ICC rules.

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Don Bradman anecdotes

Dennis Batchelor: During Bradman's second century I learned that he was suffering from ill-health. I fancy it was a touch of 'flu with a rising temperature. I dare say if he had had plague we should have got rid of him for 150.

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Was Larwood the fastest bowler you ever saw?

Don: No he wasn't. At his best he was very good, very fast, but the fastest bowler I've ever seen was Frank Tyson ... he wasn't a good a bowler as Harold but he was exceptionally fast.

----


A fanciful story from Michael Henderson on Don. Absolute Gem.
Nevertheless, I think I have a beauty. It was told to me by the great Australian batsman, Dean Jones, who positively swore on the head of his daughter it happened, and I have since been told that Merv Hughes also confirms its truth.

The scene is set at a Test match between Australia and the West Indies at Adelaide Oval back in February 1989. These were the days when the Windies were the greatest power the cricketing world had ever seen, the days when they used to select 11 fast bowlers in the team and a 12th man who was a fast bowler just to be on the safe side.

And it was into just such a furnace that the young bowler Mervyn Hughes walked - with bat in hand. Figuring fortune favoured the brave, Hughes wielded the willow like an axeman his axe, and somehow - after snicking fortutiously, connecting full-bloodedly, and missing entirely - he finished the day's play at 72 not out.

The tradition in Test cricket is that the batting side take a few beers into the fielding side's dressing-room afterwards, but not on this evening. Instead, Merv took an ice-box full of bottles, so keen was he to give the men of the Windies the full blow-by-blow account of every run he'd made. So it was that half an hour later, Jones - who himself had contributed 216 - and Hughes and several other Australian players were in the Windies dressing-room, when a sudden hush fell upon the gathering.

They looked to the door and there was Sir Donald Bradman himself, being ushered into the room by several South Australian cricket officials. The Don had expressed a desire to meet this mighty team, and now here he was.

For the next 15 minutes or so, the great man was introduced to the visiting players, with each West Indian standing up well before Sir Donald got to their position on the bench. Then, when their time came, they warmly shook his hand and had a few words.

This all proceeded splendidly until Sir Donald got to the last man on the bench, Patrick Patterson - the fastest bowler in the world at that time. So the story goes, not only did Patterson not stand, he simply squinted quizzically up at the octogenarian. Finally, after some 30 seconds of awkward silence, Patterson stood up, all two metres of pure whip-cord steel of him, and looked down at the diminutive Don.

"You, Don Bradman!?!" he snorted. "You, Don Bradman?!?! I kill you,
mun! I bowl at you, I kill you! I split you in two!"

In reply, Sir Donald, with his hands on his hips, gazed squarely back at Patterson and calmly retorted: "You couldn't even get Merv Hughes out. You'd have no chance against me, mate!"


-----------------
Bradman had a horror start as captain. He lost the toss at the 'Gabba, watched his main strike bowler Ernie McCormick break down and was out for a duck in the second innings on a sticky wicket. England romped home by 322 runs and won the second Test in Sydney by an innings, rain once again coming to its aid.

Things turned around for Australia and Bradman in the third Test in Melbourne. With rain a factor for the third time and England batting on a sticky wicket, the shrewd Bradman told his bowlers not to get England out. When Allen declared (too late, as it turned out) towards the end of play on Saturday, the wicket was still unfriendly. Bradman gambled and opened the second innings with tail-enders Bill O'Reilly and a stunned `Chuck' Fleetwood-Smith.

O¦Reilly was out first ball, but Fleetwood-Smith survived, joking that he had the game by the throat.

BY Monday the wicket had lost its fire and, with Bradman back to his fluent best with 270, Australia won. Bradman's improvisation had paid off. This time Allen's captaincy was under fire. He might have clinched the series 3-0 if he had declared England's second innings sooner and exposed Australia to the damp wicket. Australia won the next two Tests, the captain contributing 212 and 169, to retain the Ashes 3-2 and Bradman had come through his first baptism of fire with his reputation enhanced.

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Greig MacGillivray from South Africa : "I heard briefly on the news yesterday that somebody (a statistician?) had found somewhere, in some scorebook, an extra 4 runs which should have been credited to Sir Don, in a Test Match. Apparently these elusive 4 runs had been given to his batting partner at the time, but in fact, should have been his. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of his batting partner, nor the game in question. have you any further info on this?"

Yeah but no conclusive proof that the runs belong to Don. The partner was Jack Ryder. Charles Davis, the statistician, wrote this: "Is it really possible? Well yes it is, but unfortunately it is unlikely. Newspaper accounts do not mention an extra boundary to Bradman, and other possibilities, giving the runs to Ryder earlier in his innings, seem rather more likely." Read the full article here .


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Cricket quotes from the olympics

"I guess for once we've got to say to the Poms, 'Too good this time'."
Steve Waugh, part of the Australian contingent at the Beijing Olympics, applauds a rare loss to the old nemesis

Aug 21, 2008

"And one of my favourite cricketers in the world is from your way. I am a huge fan of Matty Hayden and he's a cool customer out in the middle and I like his style."
The fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt - also a huge cricket fan - wants to catch up with Matthew Hayden

Aug 21, 2008

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On dismissals

The most-common Test dismissal is actually "bowled Muralitharan" (158), closely followed by "lbw b Kumble" (152). c Marsh b Lillee occurred 95 times in Test matches, which remains the record for a bowler-fielder combination. Next come "c Gilchrist b McGrath" [90] and "c Gilchrist b Lee" [81], just ahead of the first non-Australian pairing, "c Boucher b Pollock" [79]. The leading double act that doesn't involve a wicketkeeper is "c Mahela Jayawardene b Muralitharan", of which there have been 66 instances in Tests to date.

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Taxing match fixing

There was also the team meeting in India in 1996 during which Cronje tried to persuade his players to accept an offer of $200,000 (about £130,000) to throw a one-day international. It took four meetings for the offer to be rejected, meetings at which (I have been informed by those who were in it) the essential distinction between right and wrong became blurred. One player asked, in all seriousness, whether the money would be taxed. Bob Woolmer, the coach at the time, was quoted as saying that he thought it was a sign that his team had finally "come of age" on the world stage, now that they were receiving the same kind of offers as other top teams. Thank God England were crap.

- Mike Atherton
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article4068535.ece

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Blasphemy- the new SRT

Recently they had announced Rahul Gandhi as Congress' Dhoni - now L K Advani should come forward as BJP's Shane Warne

"Harshad Pandit" <harshad.pandit@gmail.com>

"Harshad Pandit" <harshad.pandit@gmail.com> 03/06/2008 13:38

Also check out the name of the globosport VP...Anirban Das Blah
========================================================

He may have lost the IPL glory to Shane Warne in the last ball of the tournament, but Indian one-day team captain MS Dhoni, also the captain of Chennai Super Kings, has managed to cement his brand image post the series. Dhoni's valuation is expected to take a 25% to 50% leap from Rs 2.75 crore to Rs 3.5-4 crore.

"Post IPL, where Dhoni was juxtaposed with the old guards of cricket, he has reinforced his position. Dhoni is the new Sachin. If you look at Indian cricket today, Dhoni is the only sure and stable figure," said Globosport vice-president Anirban Das Blah .

MS Dhoni is being called the most sought after Indian cricketer, who has the advantage of captaincy, leadership, wicket-keeping, batting and consistent performance.

"He maintained his iconic stature and is the true representation of new India. For most brands, Dhoni will be the first choice, and post IPL, Dhoni will definitely enjoy a significant premium on brand endorsement." added Percept Talent Management COO Vinita Bangard.

Sachin Tendulkar falls in the Rs 3-4 crore bracket today while former skipper Rahul Dravid is a close second to Tendulkar in terms of endorsement fee. However post IPL, Dravid and Tendulkar may not be as hot as the younger players such as Dhoni and Yuvraj in the endorsement circuit.

It seems seniors face a tough challenge from youngsters on all fronts.


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Brendon McCullum

Christopher Mpofu Bulawayo, 2005
An out-and-out No. 11, even by Zimbabwe standards, Mpofu created an unwanted record in the first Test against New Zealand when he was stumped for 0 twice on the same afternoon. In the next Test at Bulawayo, he topped even that. As Blessing Mahwire took the single to bring up his 50, a delighted Mpofu completed the run and then trotted down the pitch to congratulate his colleague. Sadly, he didn't wait for the fielder to send in his throw, and when he did, Brendon McCullum rather sheepishly flicked off the bails with an oblivious Mpofu still celebrating at the non-striker's end. "It was a farcical end to a farcical series," Wisden lamented.

Muttiah Muralitharan Christchurch 2006-07
Eighteen months later McCullum was at it again - and this time the controversy raged for days. You would, however, have assumed that the man at his mercy, Muttiah Muralitharan, should have known better. He and Kumar Sangakkara had been engaged in a tense battle for survival in a low-scoring contest, and had added 27 vital runs for the tenth wicket when Sangakkara clipped Shane Bond down to fine leg to bring up an excellent century. Murali tapped his bat into his crease to complete the run, then turned at once to congratulate his partner. At the same instant, the return throw came in from the boundary, and McCullum didn't think twice about breaking the wicket and putting in his appeal. The ball was not dead, so it was a justifiable move (if not entirely in the spirit of the game), and when New Zealand lost five wickets in pursuit of 119 for victory, it assumed even greater importance in hindsight. The Sri Lankans were furious, and a week later translated that anger into a crushing series-levelling win - with their two protagonists sharing the spoils with ten wickets and 156 not out respectively.

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Quotes

"This is not cricket. This is the greatest divide between the rich and the poor. With that kind of money, you could have built another cement factory."
Jaswant Singh, leader of the opposition, criticises the IPL in the upper house of the Indian parliament

He actually sent me a text message this morning and said, 'I can't believe you're worth double what I am'."
David Hussey got one-up on brother Michael in the IPL players' auction

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Quotes

I think I will donate the money to Mother Teresa or something like that."
Shoaib Akhtar explains what he will do with the proceeds after auctioning his Kolkata Knight Riders helmet

"My team told me that they have yet to meet a better human being than me. This is a huge compliment."
Kolkata franchise owner Shah Rukh Khan doesn't have time for false modesty

"Had I been 21, I would easily have cracked this."
Rahul Dravid, 35, wishes Twenty20 had existed earlier

"I am as dedicated to my Knights as I am to my kids."
Shah Rukh Khan plays dad to his side

"I want to thank the crowd for their support. It was pretty one-sided for Mumbai. Just don't forget some of the Punjab boys also play for India."
Yuvraj Singh, the captain of the Kings XI Punjab, isn't pleased with the Wankhede crowd's behaviour

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Article on IPL captains

Different strokes

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan

The irony was striking. The IPL was supposed to symbolise cricket's future, but the winning captain openly sniggering at laptops. Twenty20 was supposed to be an instinctive form that didn't offer much time for thought, but the finalists were led by the two most charismatic leaders.

"If you walk up to a bowler and look worried, it gets to him," said Mahendra Singh Dhoni after the second semi-final. "So I act as if I'm not." At once it conjured up images of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar - anxious, nervous and hoping for the bowler to hold his nerve while appearing to be losing theirs. There was Yuvraj Singh, who seemed to holler louder as the tension increased, and Harbhajan Singh made a habit of chewing his fingernails.

Dravid made an interesting point after the daylight robbery Bangalore pulled off in Chennai, when an inexplicable collapse helped his side to a win against the odds. When asked about how well he had led, Dravid blushed. "When you win, every captain looks good. When you lose, whatever you do appears wrong."

Admittedly a lot of analysis of captaincy relies on hindsight, but the IPL made one thing clear: the shrewdest survived. Kolkata's John Buchanan wanted his side to approach every game as if they were confronting 240 individual battles, one for each ball. The depth of the planning was evident. Added to that was a demand for quickly adapting to the conditions and changing plans accordingly.

Shane Warne imposed himself. While hailing his leadership skills nobody should forget the value he offered as a player - no other captain played as many match-winning hands. More than one Rajasthan player has spoken of the boost the side received after Warne's sensational finish against Deccan Chargers, when he carted Andrew Symonds for 17 off the final over. One team-mate has said how his faith in the captain increased ten-fold that evening. Warne was in the middle in the final too and the crack through covers in the penultimate over, when 12 were needed off 7, set up the finish.

Rattling the Bangalore top order with a bouncer barrage on a lively Chinnaswamy pitch was a classic case of astute planning coming off. The sight of Warne alerting the fielders at fine leg to anticipate a catch will stick in the mind. So also, Warne giving his faster bowlers one-over spells against Chennai, in the second match between the sides, was another one of those little surprises that had a big impact.

Warne was also blessed with that enviable quality good captains usually need - luck. He won 10 of his 15 tosses, and even when some of his gambles misfired - like the promotion of Sohail Tanvir up the order - it didn't cost them too much. The punt on Swapnil Asnodkar came off spectacularly. And whenever a match went down to the wire, Rajasthan found that extra bit of magic to pull it off.

Dhoni was the other captain team-mates swore by. His batting made a difference in a few games but it was his ice-cool demeanour that stood out. His side were unstoppable at full-strength, but even after their Australians left, Chennai continued to upset strong teams in close finishes. The decision to hold back L Balaji for the final overs in the second game against Punjab proved a masterstroke, and the faith he placed in Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over in Chennai's first few games never backfired. Maybe he missed Joginder in the final over of the final too.

One wonders how things would have panned out if Dhoni had kept wicket in the second half of the tournament - he has admitted he leads better when he keeps, standing in a position where one can read the game best. He also might just have been more efficient than Parthiv Patel behind the stumps, especially when it came to batsmen taking off for byes to the keeper.

Yuvraj never really inspired with the bat but was fortunate to have Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene by his side - two allies he regularly turned to. Where Yuvraj did inspire, though, was in the field - he was at the centre of the cliffhanger in Mumbai, lambasting his fielders for every minor lapse. He bowled a tight over and clinched the win with a diving run-out straight out of the Jonty Rhodes album.

The decision to give James Hopes the final over against Delhi - in the rain-curtailed game - was a brave one, and one that made the eventual difference. And the continued faith Yuvraj reposed in VRV Singh was as surprising as it proved effective. Yuvraj was also fortunate to have the most balanced side in the tournament - one where overseas batsmen and Indian bowlers went about their jobs efficiently. Rarely did Shaun Marsh let them down, and the rest of the order always had a launch pad in place.

Early in the tournament Virender Sehwag appeared to have netted the best side among the eight. He had a new-ball pairing to die for and a top three that fired in every match; Sehwag could really run the ship on auto-pilot. But things started getting tough when Plan A didn't fall into place.

His move to bowl Amit Mishra in the final over against Deccan was inspired, and produced a hat-trick. While a smile was never too far from his face, even when the rest were suffering palpitations, Sehwag might look back on a couple of key moments - giving Shoaib Malik the final over against Chennai and bowling himself, instead of Glenn McGrath, in the crunch against Punjab. Both games slipped away and the road to the semi-finals got rougher.

The excessive faith placed in Malik was intriguing, especially when there was Tillakaratne Dilshan waiting in the wings. Sehwag could possibly have rejigged the batting order once it was clear that the middle four weren't striking the high notes.

Mumbai's three captains came with contrasting styles: Harbhajan Singh impulsive, Shaun Pollock measured, and Tendulkar fidgety. In a team with a number of unheralded players, Pollock and Tendulkar were figures to look up to. Abhishek Nayar and Rohan Raje spoke about how eager they were to pay back the faith that a legend like Tendulkar had placed in them.

Close finishes, though, were a bugbear for Mumbai. While Harbhajan entrusted bowlers who appeared off-colour - his confidence in Ashish Nehra proved costly against Bangalore - Tendulkar occasionally also under-used those who appeared on song: he left Pollock with one over to bowl against Punjab and not bowling Nehra in the final over against Rajasthan. "We didn't show enough common sense" was how Tendulkar summarised the last-ball defeat to Rajasthan. The same could have been attributed to several other close misses.

How Sourav Ganguly would wish he had found some form early in the tournament, especially after he inspired Kolkata to two wins late in the piece. Ganguly the captain is usually at his best when his batting clicks. He turned it on when he could with the ball, notably in his spell to thwart Bangalore.

What Ganguly might regret, though, is not getting his combination right for most of the tournament. Chris Gayle's injury was a big blow, especially after Ricky Ponting and Brendon McCullum left, but the amount of confidence reposed in Mohammad Hafeez was slightly baffling. Ajit Agarkar started well but didn't deserve the long rope he got. It was probably in their very last game that Kolkata got their right combination. By then it was just a bit too late.

Dravid, surprisingly, finished among the top 12 run-getters but it was never going to be enough with a faltering team. He did try and put up a brave fight and ended the campaign with a few smiles, but these were just a few positives from a forgettable campaign.

He may introspect on how Bangalore won just one game among the five where he won the toss. He said they were trying to come to grips with the nuances of the format and didn't really have a preferred option at the toss. The selections of a few XIs were puzzling, and they also made a habit of choking when the target was in sight.

Neither VVS Laxman nor Adam Gilchrist will look back on the IPL too fondly. Both watched one close loss after another and by the end one could almost see them coming. Laxman veered from too conservative to too experimental - against Punjab at home no bowler got to bowl two overs in a row - but struggled to strike a balance Things might have turned around had Warne not smashed Symonds for 17, but when it came to close finishes Deccan were always second best.

Gilchrist couldn't really express himself, with the knowledge hanging over him that a collapse was likely just round the corner. The rest of their overseas players sleepwalked through the series and it was left to Rohit Sharma and Venugopal Rao to earn a few consolation prizes.

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Dravid

For those who cried out that he cant's play T20 for nuts, he ended up in the top 12 run getters, with a good strike rate too
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Re: IPL fairness article

Saurabh Tendulkar <gillette206@yahoo.com>

Saurabh Tendulkar <gillette206@yahoo.com> 30/05/2008 18:13 Please respond to gillette206@yahoo.com

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ipl/content/current/story/352886.html

This guy doesnt have a fricking clue about mathematics or sports. What if all teams were 7-7 at the end of the competition?

"The second kind is the American league, and the dedication to Mammon dictates a convoluted finale that involves wild-cards and play-offs. Even there though, there's a sense of fairness, and reward for excellence during the course of the regular season."

This is utter bullshit. In american football, technically a team with a *losing* record can win the superbowl - this is impossible in IPL unless you have less than 8 teams (the diff is that american sports have divisions... if you arrange the teams only in terms of record like the IPL does, you cant have losers in the top half). Also, american football has one of the unfairest game rules in sports (*), that first to score wins in overtime -- which means the team who wins the coin toss gets to win ~2/3 times.

(*) ok, nothing compared to the pre-D/L highest scoring overs method.

saurabh





     


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IPL extract

If the corporate money pumped into the tournament gave it the profile, it also brought with it a grating intrusiveness. A six in the IPL, every 622 of them, was no longer a six, it was a 'DLF Maximum.' A sharp catch came branded as a 'Citi Moment Of Success'. Commentators tripped over each other to make these plugs. A future where a batsman executes a Toyota Front-Foot Drive against an Intel Faster One may not be the stuff of satire.

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Silence at Infosys

All of Infosys mourned in silence today at Chennai's loss. Most of Infosys, given their ethni-city, supported Chennai, the team from down under, and were on a high on Saturday after 'their team put them Punjabi north indians' in their place. The other two south indian teams had already been eliminated due to a dismal performance. But Infoscions took it very personally that their team was defeated in the finals 'by a team north of Bangalore'
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Chanderpaul

The Comeback
When Shivnarine Chanderpaul got hit in the back of his head by a Brett Lee bouncer in the Jamaica Test, he fell like a sack of potatoes. For about a couple of minutes he lay still, as a concerned Lee ran over, in the stands Chanderpaul's wife Amy cried, and Tony Cozier suggested on air that he might be unconscious. Then he slowly stirred, and the crowd came back to life as he put his arm-guard and gloves on and went back to batting.

The next over he faced, Lee ran in and bowled another bouncer first up. Chanderpaul ducked it, and then another, and then pulled one for a couple. The other Australian bowlers bowled their share of short ones, and while some might have complained about that, one can be sure Chanderpaul wouldn't have: pity is an emotion he never evokes.

He was on 86 when he was felled, with eight wickets down. As he went on to get to his century with a straight drive past Stuart Clark, a relieved Amy beamed in the stands, and the crowd went mad. Chanderpaul continued to chip away at Australia's first-innings total and was the last man out for 118.

quotes

I have never upset anyone in my life" - Miandad before the 1992 Pakistani tour to England

 

Apparently Taufel has said that sledging is ok, but originality is very important.