The Surfer

Flintoff on whales, snakes and how to eat wallaby

Carlyle Laurie — 2012-05-24T11:59:29+00:00

Former England allrounder Andrew Flintoff, is set to feature in “Freddie Flintoff Goes Wild”, a new series that will be launched by Discovery Channel later this week. Speaking to Chris Leadbeater from Daily Mail, Flintoff said that being involved in the series was like a dream come true.

“I did a programme for the Discovery Channel last year called Alone In The Wild, where I spent a week on my own in Botswana, in the Okavango Delta. While I was there, I filmed elephants, lions, giraffes and zebra outside my tent – just me, on foot. Each country offered different things. In Australia I went crocodile hunting, and in Tanzania we tried to find the wildebeest migration, which is slightly scattered these days,” Flintoff said. “Building a relationship with Thomas, a Maasai elder, was special. But spotting the pygmy elephants was a real highlight – just how close we got to them. There I was, standing next to a herd. I didn’t expect that.”

Catching his breath after African perils

Carlyle Laurie — 2012-05-24T07:42:24+00:00

Mike Hesson, who recently resigned from his post as Kenya’s head coach on security grounds, told Adrian Seconi from Otago Daily Times that though he and his family were targeted on a number of occasions, Kenya taught them a number of important lessons.

"I had a number of incidents in my own car when you'd get your wing mirrors smashed off and your windows punched in," Hesson said. "Those sort of things you just go, 'Oh, well, that's just Kenya, you have to toughen up a bit'.

"Kenya was also a great life experience for us and the kids. We patted some lions, we went on safari and were within metres of hundreds of different species of animals. In the end, Holly (5) was an expert on all sorts of things and learned a lot of Swahili."

What the 'Cobblers' want

Akhila Ranganna — 2012-05-24T07:35:38+00:00

Northamptonshire County Cricket Club have announced their intentions of becoming "one of the best non-Test grounds in the country", and in the Guardian, Mike Selvey writes that it shows a refreshing scaling down of ambition entwined with realism at one and the same time, rather as the club has been for ever.

It was a soulless place with an industrial feel but not so now. This is an airy but intimate ground, a proper county ground for county cricket without, as we now see, pretensions beyond its station or means. It does what it is supposed to do. The cricket centre that replaced the football stands is first class and Gallone's famous ice cream from the van at deep midwicket continues to be so. There are gatemen in white coats. And for us hacks a press box that has no frills or frippery and is rather tired, but offers a fine view and has a kettle. We are humble folk and ask little more.

He shunned chemistry to be consumed by cricket

Carlyle Laurie — 2012-05-24T07:15:29+00:00

Former India batsman Sudhir Naik is known for his gritty determination that helped him become the highest run-getter for India on the 1974 tour of England. Dilip Vengsarkar told Makarand Waingankar from the Times of India that authorities must recognise Naik's cricketing knowledge and acknowledge his yeomen service to Mumbai cricket in a manner that is befitting his stature.

"Sudhir and I have played many matches together for Tatas and Mumbai. I shared a lot of partnerships with him. As a batsman, I found him technically very sound and an excellent player of fast bowling. In my second match, I shared an opening partnership of 250 runs with him for Mumbai against very good Baroda attack. He was a typical Mumbai player: mentally tough and disciplined. He was good as a captain too; a good student of the game, he knew how to get the best out of his players. He played the game the hard way and expected others to do the same."

How Cricinfo got started

Nikita Bastian — 2012-05-23T15:24:06+00:00

Badri Seshadri, Cricinfo’s co-founder, talks about the site’s early days on Kiruba.com. “Early on, we were utterly and completely unfit to start a company; we had a lot of content on the site, but it was very ugly,” Seshadri says.

Solutions to West Indies cricket's problems?

Devashish Fuloria — 2012-05-23T12:56:09+00:00

The reasons for the decline of West Indies cricket have been discussed at length, but there is not much emphasis on finding a solution. Andi Thornhill in the Nation News writes that it is high time that the core issues are addressed for the revival of cricket in the Caribbean.

What are the factors to indicate that the board’s human resources policies will create a pleasant and comfortable environment for those who desire to function as true professionals? To start with, where is the respect for the board when they have lost every matter that went to abitration with the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA)?

Tendulkar's Rajya Sabha oath: What's the hurry?

Carlyle Laurie — 2012-05-23T12:00:52+00:00

Sachin Tendulkar’s decision to play in the IPL and delay an appearance in the Rajya Sabha to be sworn in as nominated MP has prompted some to criticise him. MJ Akbar says in India Today that there’s no reason for Tendulkar to hurry in to take his oath as his nomination did not come with a sell-by date.

Parliamentary fundamentalists are upset that Sachin has not rushed to eat sugared toast and drink semi-sipid coffee in Central Hall. But no one has answered a basic question: What's the hurry? His nomination did not come with a sell-by date. Nor is Sachin in any haste to shake the nation and wake the Government with fiery oratory on the impending collapse of telecom infrastructure.

'West Indies may struggle at Trent Bridge'

Carlyle Laurie — 2012-05-23T09:26:33+00:00

Former England captain Alec Stewart, writing for bbc.co.uk, said that though England played well in the first Test at Lord’s, he expects them to be stronger in the second Test at Trent Bridge, where they have won their last three Test matches - against India, Pakistan and New Zealand - by massive margins.

The West Indies will find the going in Nottingham even tougher than they did at Lord's because the ground is renowned as a swing bowler's paradise and in James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan, England have three of the best in the business. The Windies attack has plenty of pace but you wouldn't call them big swing bowlers, so conditions are likely to favour England heavily.

Mr. Perfectionist, from start to finish

Carlyle Laurie — 2012-05-23T09:00:57+00:00

Rahul Dravid's retirement from international cricket in March doesn't seem to have affected his famed work ethic. Karthik Krishnaswamy, writing in the Indian Express, reveals how he worked hard prove to himself that he could thrive as a batsman in the IPL, and also fill the voluminous boots of Shane Warne.

“One day he would ask only for left-arm spinners and get them to bowl over the wicket. The next day they would bowl around the wicket to him, and he would do the same,” says Zubin Bharucha, technical director, Rajasthan Royals. “Rahul, being Rahul, wanted to experiment with everything. He would ask for outswing bowlers one day, then bowlers who would bowl slower ones from the back of their hand, and so on.”

Cricket starts to make noise in the United States

Carlyle Laurie — 2012-05-22T05:45:33+00:00

Liz Clarke writes in the Washington Post that though a majority of Americans still don’t understand the rules of cricket, the sport is gradually gaining popularity in New York, Florida and Washington. Some have even said cricket is America's fastest-growing sport, with 15 million fans and an estimated 200,000 players.

To most Americans, cricket is a puzzlement. Even savvy sports fans know little more than it’s traditionally played in white trousers, involves a flat wooden bat and lots of running back and forth. Fewer still realize it has a rich tradition in the United States; it predates by 140 years the national pastime of baseball, which is cricket’s direct descendant.

But cricket hotbeds exist — particularly in New York, Florida and California — spurred in the late 1970s by immigrants from the West Indies, which ruled the sport at the time. It was fueled anew as a wave of workers from south Asia arrived for the tech boom of the late-1980s and ’90s.

Cook's unflinching resolve shines through

Siddhartha Talya — 2012-05-22T03:59:17+00:00

Alastair Cook's apparent fragility in the field is misleading, writes Vic Marks in the Guardian, for he looks in complete control while batting, and his presence in the middle - like at Lord's in the second innings - is reassuring to his team-mates watching from the dressing room.

He does not yet have the earnest authority of Strauss, the self-assurance of Michael Vaughan or the cunning ability to manipulate the subject matter of Nasser Hussain. He is co-operative, eager to please, but sometimes a little nervous. Yet this picture of apparent fragility is utterly misleading.

Ian Bell, too, had a rewarding Test at Lord's and his knock that helped England seal the run-chase indicated he'd put his troubles during the winter behind him, writes Tom Collomosse in the Independent.

That England were challenged by West Indies at Lord's could work out better for the hosts than a one-sided, three-day victory, writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail.

Cricket vs Taliban

Carlyle Laurie — 2012-05-21T08:11:28+00:00

Timeri Murari, the author of “The Taliban Cricket Club”, tells Fiona Fernandez from Mid-Day that he was inspired to write the book after the Taliban decided to promote cricket in Afghanistan, when all other forms of entertainment was banned.

In 2000, when I read that the Taliban regime was going to promote cricket, I thought it was totally surreal that a tyranny would introduce cricket into Afghanistan without any knowledge of a game that encourages and nurtures individuality, confidence, courage, defiance, within the democracy of cricket. The Taliban had banned every form of entertainment from music to movies, from clapping to chess. Then, out of the blue, the tyrannical regime announces cricket can be played. That Taliban announcement was the genesis of the idea, I played around with it, trying to figure the story.

How do you solve a problem like Chanderpaul?

Siddhartha Talya — 2012-05-21T03:33:05+00:00

Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been a source of trouble for England bowling attacks for a while but Simon Hughes, writing in the Daily Telegraph, spots a potential area of vulnerability that needs to be probed further.

Camped on the back foot, nurdling and squirting runs square of the wicket on either side, he has made a handsome living out of scoring ugly runs. Because of his back-foot preference, he looks instantly vulnerable to the fullish ball that swings in towards the stumps. But England were hampered by a cold wind and the ball largely refused to swing.

Pitching it up to Chanderpaul may provide an answer, writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail. Vic Marks weighs in on the matter in the Guardian.

Time for reconciliation

Devashish Fuloria — 2012-05-20T12:10:48+00:00

West Indies arrived in England with an undercooked top order to face one of the best bowling attacks in their home conditions. The youngsters could have benefitted had the senior batsmen like Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan been part of the squad. Unfortunately, the unresolved issues between the players and the board have come at a cost for the team, says Tony Cozier in the Trinidad Express.

Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, put forward another, far more unconventional, on the BBC radio commentary. It was for the team bus to stop through Leicester on its way north to Nottingham for the second Test that starts Friday and pick up Sarwan.

It won't happen, of course. Even if the West Indies were minded to ask him to return, it is doubtful whether he would for he remains resentful of the way he has been treated by the present dispensation.

Match fixing: Rot in the system

Devashish Fuloria — 2012-05-20T06:20:48+00:00

In the wake of recent spot-fixing controversy in the IPL, Sanjay Dixit in the Daily News and Analysis argues that the problem is systemic and goes much deeper than just the involvement of players.

Though the overt stake is much reviled, it is the covert system of riches on offer which is eating into the vitals of the system of Indian cricket. Apart from the hypocrisy of honorary jobs and non-profit character of different associations, the IPL has also brought a massive corrupting penumbra into the system which is not being acknowledged by most.