tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32137954038154551272024-02-20T23:48:05.412-05:00The Silly Mid OffThoughts on cricket from my corner of BrooklynDavid Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.comBlogger287125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-18960296664147567542015-08-26T20:42:00.000-04:002015-08-26T20:42:02.519-04:00In the Name of the FatherJagmohan Dalmiya, the BCCI President, is ailing. When questioned by Judge Lodha and his panel earlier this year Dalmiya struggled to understand the questions and his responses <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/ipl-2015/news/SC-committee-finds-unwell-Dalmiyas-speech-incoherent-wonders-who-runs-BCCI/articleshow/47806830.cms">were</a> “incoherent and incomprehensible.” Other <a href="http://www.bangaloremirror.com/sports/cricket/Dalmiya-going-the-Dungarpur-way/articleshow/47820451.cms">reports</a> suggests that he no longer recognizes cricket officials whom he has known for decades and that his faltering mind has caused board meetings to become an embarrassment. <br /><br />It is, of course, sad when anybody’s mental faculties are reduced. That it is the mind of one of cricket’s most powerful people makes it a cause for public concern. <br /><br />The official response has been denial. “Falling sick is a temporary issue”, Dalmiya <a href="http://www.mumbaimirror.com/sport/cricket/Falling-sick-does-not-mean-one-cant-function/articleshow/47822844.cms">told</a> the <i>Mumbai Mirror</i>, “It does not mean that one cannot function.” Without his medical records we can’t know for certain the exact nature of Dalmiya’s illness but the evidence suggests that he is currently unable to carry out the basic requirements of his role. He did not, for example attend two hugely important meetings: the <a href="http://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/news/245716-jagmohan-dalmiya-unlikely-to-attend-ipl-governing-council-meeting">assembly</a> of the IPL governing council in the aftermath of the Lodha panel report and the <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report-n-srinivisan-to-represent-bcci-at-icc-board-meeting-in-barbados-2097469">ICC conference</a> in June.<br /><br />His ongoing absence has led to an unseemly power grab by various other big cheeses. The BCCI secretary, Anurag Thakur, was <a href="http://www.firstpost.com/sports/is-bcci-president-jagmohan-dalmiya-being-sidelined-in-the-board-2387414.html">described </a>by one insider as “working both as president and secretary in BCCI at the moment” and supposedly <a href="http://zeenews.india.com/sports/cricket/anurag-thakur-sidelined-jagmohan-dalmiya-during-ad-hoc-committee-formation-report_1645178.html">bypassed</a> Dalmiya in the appointment of members for committees to run cricket in Bihar and Uttarakhand. Meanwhile Narayanaswami Srinivasan was the BCCI’s representative at the ICC conference even though the Supreme Court forced him out of the Presidency. Another former President, <a href="http://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/news/238262-sharad-pawar-in-pole-position-to-return-as-bcci-president-arun-jaitley-may-play-king-maker">Sharad Pawar</a>, is rumoured to be taking a renewed interest in the game in anticipation of Dalmiya’s exit. <br /><br />It would be naive to reach for a fainting couch at the sight of the big men of Indian cricket hunting for some juicy tidbits. It is destabilizing but hardly shocking. What is more surprising is the role of Dalmiya’s son, Abhishek. The Lodha panel <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/ipl-2015/news/SC-committee-finds-unwell-Dalmiyas-speech-incoherent-wonders-who-runs-BCCI/articleshow/47806830.cms">allowed</a> Abhishek to accompany his father to their interview “on humanitarian grounds” and he proceeded to ‘translate’ Dalmiya’s mumbles for the judges. More than merely acting as an interpreter - assuming that Dalmiya’s speech was really interpretable - Abhishek reportedly handles all his father’s letters and calls. <br /><br />Is Abhishek a dutiful son allowing his father to continue in office with a modicum of dignity or a power behind the throne? Most likely it’s a bit of a both. He has certainly gone beyond opening the letters and listening to voicemails. He flew to the ICC conference in Barbados, for example, and <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/912647.html">represented</a> the BCCI in ongoing discussions with the West Indies Cricket Board about their abandoned series last year. He was also reported as attending a management committee meeting for next years World Twenty20 tournament. <br /><br /><a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/n-srinivasan-buries-hatchet-with-rivals-set-to-stay-icc-chief/">According</a> to <i>The Indian Express</i>, Srinivasan was livid when he discovered that Abhishek was effectively in day-to-day charge of Indian cricket. Oh the irony! The man who forced through a change to the BCCI constitution so that his family company could own an IPL franchise rails against nepotism. He who had the brass neck to tell the Supreme Court’s probe that his son-in-law was merely an enthusiast despite all evidence to the contrary can’t abide abuses of power. <br /><br />Such is the paucity of choice in the upper echelons of the BCCI. The former President who is suspended from the position but somehow keeps much of its power; an old politico known for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharad_Pawar#Links_to_criminals">fraternizing</a> with bad eggs; a young(ish) Secretary who <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/842147.html">selected</a> himself for a first-class match and ensured that an international stadium was built in his home patch. These are the men who got Indian cricket into such a fine mess. Now they have an elderly President whose unelected son has his hands on the levers of power. Some things change in the world but, despite the best efforts of the Supreme Court, the BCCI appears determined to repeat the sins of the past. David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-52694998555731027032015-07-08T06:49:00.000-04:002015-07-08T06:49:22.257-04:00Six Degrees of Paul CollingwoodObsession takes many forms but, when it comes to cricket, most of the time it starts with futzing around on <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/">ESPNCricinfo</a> or <a href="http://cricketarchive.com/">Cricket Archive</a>. <br /><br />So it was on one such occasion that I investigated the first-class debut of Shotley Bridge’s favourite son, <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/10772.html">Paul Collingwood</a>, nineteen summers ago. It was an early-season <a href="http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/62/62076.html">encounter</a> against Northamptonshire, who had just signed <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/12514.html">John Emburey</a> after 22 years spent with Middlesex. Collingwood took a wicket with his first ball; Emburey by that point was well into his fifth-decade and had <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/embureys-cool-reason-is-northamptonshire-asset-1345352.html">reportedly</a> turned down the opportunity to coach England for the dubious pleasures of the County Ground at Northampton. <br /><br />What if we go back another generation? Emburey’s <a href="http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/33/33419.html">first match</a> was against Derbyshire in Burton on Trent. The spinner’s mentor, who also often kept him out of the first eleven, was <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/21548.html">Fred Titmus</a>, but it must have been a spinning track for Middlesex selected both men and a googly bowler by the name of Harry Latchman. Perhaps the presence of Venkataraghavan for Derbyshire persuaded them to produce a bunsen burner but if so the plan backfired as Titmus took eight wickets and the match petered out into a draw. <br /><br />One of the very few cricketers who played first-class cricket in five decades and the only one who inspired a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuckin'_'Ell_It's_Fred_Titmus">song</a> by Half Man Half Biscuit, Titmus started out in 1949. So the careers of three cricketers span 66 years! But let’s not stop there. As Wisden’s <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/567392.html">obituary</a> of Titmus noted, he “began his first-class career when Clement Attlee was in office and ended it during the premiership of Margaret Thatcher.” But during his first game he played alongside a figure who belonged to another era. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/8515.html">Sir George Oswald Browning Allen</a> was many things including a <a href="http://thesillymidoff.blogspot.com/2013/03/two-scoundrels.html">racist</a>, committee-man par exemplar, scourge of chuckers, nemesis of Douglas Jardine, and one of the best all-rounders of his generation. Although he had all but given up the game in the years either side of the war, Allen returned to help out his beloved Middlesex for a few games in 1948 and 1949 and averaged in excess of 60, which included a first-innings knock of 93 in Titmus’ <a href="http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/18/18941.html">debut</a>. <br /><br />We can’t stop now. Although Allen’s first match back in 1921 was a dull draw it was full of figures from the championship’s Golden Age: Patsy Hendren, Jack Hearne, and Greville Stevens for Middlesex; Dar Lyon and Farmer White for Somerset. But it is the Middlesex keeper, <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/17753.html">Joe Murrell</a>, who takes up back into the nineteenth century. <br /><br />Murrell was the Middlesex wicketkeeper for two decades and before that was Kent’s reserve stumper. One can only imagine Lord Harris’ tantrum when Murrell upped sticks for London at given his fixation on residential qualifications. Murrell played six games for Arsenal in 1899/1900 season; the previous summer Murrell had <a href="http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/5/5240.html">debuted</a> for Kent, batting at number ten and not keeping wicket. Opening for the opposition, Nottinghamshire, was a legend of the game. <div>
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<a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/20179.html">Arthur Shrewsbury</a> was perhaps second only to W.G. Grace as England’s greatest Victorian cricketer. Indeed the bearded wonder replied “Give me Arthur” when asked who he wanted in his team. Shrewsbury topped the season’s batting averages seven times but, like Grace, his impact on the game was more than mere numbers. He played a critical role in taking the game from its murky origins to the point where it was the national game, demonstrating the popularity of the championship and the possibility of international contests. <br /><br />Given Shrewsbury <a href="http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/1/1930.html">debuted</a> in first-class cricket in 1875, our six players have taken us through 140 years. Between them they have: <br /><ul>
<li>Played 233 Tests and 2,706 first-class matches</li>
<li>Scored 90,690 first-class runs</li>
<li>Taken 5,379 first-class wickets</li>
<li>Only 56 toes (at least after Titmus’ run-in with a boat in the Caribbean on the 1967-68 tour.)</li>
</ul>
So that’s my Six Degrees of Paul Collingwood. Can anybody come up with a better one? The only rule of the game is that the link between the two players must be the younger man’s debut first-class match. Can six players join up to take us further back into cricket’s dim and distant past. Can we find six who played more matches, scored more runs, or took more wickets? Or had more interesting lives? </div>
David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-21885106138832812482015-06-22T16:37:00.002-04:002015-06-22T16:37:36.130-04:00Is Chris Gayle good for the game? Chris Gayle is a great batsman. Chris Gayle is brilliant box office. Chris Gayle is a misogynist. <br /><br />Let’s deal with these truths in turn. First, Gayle is the best batsmen in the short history of the shortest format. He has scored the <a href="http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/284267.html">most</a> runs with the <a href="http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283855.html">best</a> average (bar the strange anomaly of Chris Harris, a polar opposite of Gayle in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMT7O8VOcNM">so</a> <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/586096.html">many </a><a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket-world-cup/2299970/chris-harris-medical-rep-father-of-a-girl-with-disability/">ways</a>). Most tellingly, he has <a href="http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/305202.html">hit twice</a> as many sixes as anybody else. Gayle saw that an innings of twenty overs was not about nurdling singles but striking maximums and his muscular game allowed him to consistently hit bigger than anybody else over the first decade of Twenty20. <div>
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There are signs that he is slowing down - at least against top bowling - and that younger batsman are continuing the evolution of batting with reverse sweeps, switch hits, and ramp shots. But Gayle’s position in the pantheon is secure; in Jon Hotten’s <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/838691.html">words</a> he will go down in history as “a white-ball Bradman.”<br /><br />Gayle is not only an exceptional batsman but an iconic figure. His name on the team sheet brings in the crowds; his most recent club, Somerset, enjoyed not only Gayle’s runs but the full houses that accompany his celebrity. More than just bums on seats, any league in which Gayle turns out gains credibility. The IPL would flourish in his absence and the Big Bash League might survive without him but the rest need him more than he needs them. He is the centrepiece of the Caribbean Premier League, the biggest draw in the T20 Blast, while the Bangladeshi Premier League and the Zimbabwe T20 tournament are just grateful when the big man graces them with his presence. <br /><br />So we have established that Gayle is great - at the very least in Twenty20 cricket - and is a guaranteed box office hit. The grey area comes with his ‘brand’. A cursory Google search reveals that Gayle is a brand ambassador for <a href="http://cgshoe.com/">shoes</a>, <a href="http://lighthouseinsights.in/mcdowells-no-1-kwc-2013-social-media-campaign-review.html/">whisky</a>, <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report-chris-gayle-becomes-brand-ambassador-of-real-estate-firm-agrani-homes-1832185">real estate</a>, <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/slideshow-chris-gayle-promotes-wham-mobiles-at-the-jw-marriot-hotel-in-bangalore-on-wednesday-1983887">mobile phones</a>, and, more prosaically, <a href="http://www.allroundercricket.com/cricket-bats/all-our-cricket-bats/cricket-bat-brands/spartan-cricket-bats/spartan-chris-gayle-authority-cricket-bats">cricket bats</a>. These companies have chosen Gayle not merely for his successes with the bat but for the party lifestyle he showcases every day on social media. <br /><br />The self-proclaimed ‘World Boss’ or ‘Chris Lion’ is a man whose life - at least the one he portrays on Twitter and Facebook - sometimes feels like a parody of a gross-out movie. There is nothing wrong, of course, with such behaviour. It has clearly not affected his cricket and many other great players before him have done much worse. <br /><br />What is wrong, though, is his attitude towards women, who feature heavily in his social media world. It’s one thing for scantily clad models to be <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/richardhjames/west-indies-cricketer-chris-gayle-has-a-pretty-extraordinary#.lwokm3GrZ">draped</a> over Gayle like fashion accessories but his disdain for women has regularly surfaced. Last year he <a href="http://www.caribbean360.com/sports/chris-gayle-sexist-comment-draws-ire-antigua-womens-group">responded</a> to a female journalist’s question about the state of the pitch by saying “Well I haven’t touched yours yet so I don’t know how it feels”, and went to on to comment, “I like your smile; that’s nice.” It’s hard to imagine him complimenting Tony Cozier’s facial features. <br /><br />His Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/henrygayle">page</a> has included advice such as “All the single ladies, stop saying u should just give up and get a cat. If no man wants you, don't force an innocent cat to live with u!”; “Fat, single, and she’s still eating Pringles”; “women understand women and they hate each other”; and “Dear Girls, if a guy pauses a video game to text you … married him.” And, of course, there is the tale from early in Gayle’s career when he <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jan/13/the-spin-chris-gayle-hitting-six">asked</a> John Barclay “You get much pussy?"<br /><br />Should any of this matter? It clearly has not affected his sponsorships or stopped crowds from flocking to see him play. But there’s the rub. Gayle is a hero. Heroes, like all of us, are fallible and more than capable of setting terrible examples, and we shouldn’t react with faux horror whenever somebody in the public eye does something stupid. Yet fame should also not blind us to their ways. And the unyielding low-level sexism displayed on Gayle’s social media platforms along with his track record of misogyny means that Twenty 20’s poster boy is one I would not want on my child’s wall. </div>
David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-11403660248466408592015-06-07T15:42:00.002-04:002015-06-07T15:42:18.935-04:00Defending Twitter<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Back in the mists of time, or 2007, I took my American girlfriend to a match at Lords as part of an ongoing attempt to overcome her skepticism about the joys of cricket. That day my best evidence for cricket’s greatness was Middlesex’s captain, Ed Smith. Here was a man who had a double-first from Cambridge, played for England, wrote book reviews in the <i>Telegraph</i> for fun, and possessed possibly the squarest jaw-line ever seen on the hallowed turf. In other words a better version of me: handsome, a professional athlete, and effortlessly intellectual.<br />
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Eight years hence and the girlfriend is now my wife and Ed Smith has long since retired for the comforts of the commentary box. As his playing days move further into history, Smith’s literary output have shifted from the moorings of his cricketing experience to increasingly cerebral offerings. Where his first book was a diary that detailed the grind of a season on the county circuit, his latest tome was a rumination on the role of luck in sport and broader society.<br />
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Social media is <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/media/2014/06/social-media-important-journos-let-s-keep-things-proportion">the</a> <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2015/05/pietersen-poll-delusion-reading-election-and-tour-tony-cozier-s-barbados">latest</a> hobbyhorse for cricket’s own Malcolm Gladwell. He has repeatedly returned to its ills in his <i>New Statesman </i>column, with the theory that Twitter and below-the-line comments allow a disproportionate voice to a tiny minority. Not surprisingly Smith links this to the Kevin Pietersen saga with the claim that those who take Pietersen’s side on Twitter “are not representative of the entire community of England fans.”<br />
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Perhaps. But perhaps not, and Smith does not offer much by way of evidence to make his case. There is certainly, as Smith states, “a silent majority” who “would refuse to talk to a pollster, vote on a website or join a Twitter storm.” However it does not follow that these fans think differently from their digitally savvy counterparts. We just don’t know whether they share the broad convictions of those of us on social media or nod in agreement with the ECB. <br />
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The notion, as put <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/sport/2014/08/true-meaning-success-and-why-we-should-never-listen-impatient-mob">forward</a> by Smith, that the standing ovations for Alastair Cook at several Tests last year were proof of this silent minority’s leanings certainly does not pass muster. A group of people who can afford the time and money to attend Test match cricket seem considerably less representative than the masses on Twitter, with its low barriers to participation. <br />
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Social media does, of course, have considerable flaws and Piers Morgan is the walking, talking, Tweeting exemplar of its problems. He has repeatedly abused journalists, officials, and anybody with a different opinion to him regarding Pietersen’s exclusion. But Morgan is as typical to the average Twitter user as Alastair Cook is to an opening batsman in a village third eleven. Yet it seems at times that his is the image that Smith and others think of when they criticize social media. I’ve read a lot of mockery and a fair bit of scorn on Twitter but - outside of a Morgan-sized black hole - only a tiny amount of actual abuse. <br />
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The vast majority of online cricket fans I’ve read regarding Pietersen are, to use Smith’s phrase, “sick of the whole issue”, but they place the blame on a bumbling, incompetent ECB rather than the man himself. Most of us refuse to let it go not out of any particular solidarity with Pietersen - after all most of the great unwashed have the good sense not to follow Piers Morgan on Twitter - but out of anger with the ECB who made a mistake in insisting that Pietersen was unselectable and have subsequently regularly compounded that original sin.<br />
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If social media platforms such as Twitter encourage the occasional ad hominem attacks then the likes of Smith fan the flames. It is hard, for example, to see how his calling somebody who slagged off Cook and Andrew Strauss “an idiot” on a Radio Five Live phone-in helps roll back what he terms “infantilisation on a massive scale.” Similarly Mike Selvey has regularly complained of abuse in the below-the-line comments of his Guardian pieces but feels comfortable <a href="https://twitter.com/selvecricket/status/598480746555285504">calling</a> those views he does not respect "bilious inadequates." At some point it is less the medium and more the messengers on both sides of the divide who are responsible for the nature of the discourse. If Morgan has not helped Pietersen’s cause then several on the other side of the issue have helped foster a divisive atmosphere. <br />
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I don’t think many people believe, as Smith asserts, that, Pietersen’s exit was “the result of a bizarre Machiavellian plot”; rather it came from epically bad management that was poorly reported in large sections of the cricket media. As such Twitter, below-the-line comments and independent blogs have become an important corrective to the mainstream debate. Over the past couple of years it has done a great deal more in holding the powerful in the game to account than most journalists. They analyzed the dog days of Andy Flower’s regime; charged Paul Downton with incompetence; pointed out that Peter Moores was unlikely to turn things around; and remarked on the multiple hypocrisies emanating from the ECB.<br />
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Social media has a fair share of eejits. But it is the main channel available for those of us who care passionately about cricket. It represents the game’s beating heart. These days if I was persuading a skeptical American about the grandeurs of the game then I’d still take them to Lords but not before introducing them to cricket's Twitterati.<br />
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<!--EndFragment-->David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-44520362121434188692015-05-22T10:33:00.001-04:002015-05-22T10:33:29.376-04:00The strange story of Sikandar Raza Butt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPeDfGTlj-m8tQWSOplyjkKIn4bE9f2Vp_YTIkk7RfgJsHDKlrL9Q3gf-sUr3m0Zlontu4K4Z79GwaDMO-HxdwcTwfFtW1xXGG8wfwB8hBP2CpXBHilNBZ3xauq2qartxhsqAB7JBZQ64l/s1600/Sikandar+Raza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPeDfGTlj-m8tQWSOplyjkKIn4bE9f2Vp_YTIkk7RfgJsHDKlrL9Q3gf-sUr3m0Zlontu4K4Z79GwaDMO-HxdwcTwfFtW1xXGG8wfwB8hBP2CpXBHilNBZ3xauq2qartxhsqAB7JBZQ64l/s320/Sikandar+Raza.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Originally published in September 2014</div>
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Cricket is replete with players who have turned out for a nation other than the land of their birth. From Ranjitsinhji in the Victorian age to Kevin Pietersen at the dawn of the twenty-first century, and including 22 men who have turned out for two nations, cricketers have consistently proven the complexity of national identity. <br /><br />Sikandar Raza Butt’s story is unusual even among this group. Born in the Punjab region of Pakistan in 1986, Sikandar’s first ambition was not to forge a sporting career but becoming a fighter pilot. This goal appeared well on its way to becoming reality when he fought out 60,000 applicants for a place in the national Air Force College but a failed eye test dashed hopes of a life as an aviator. <br /><br />Even though he could no longer take to the skies Sikandar’s family insisted that he should stay in school. “It was all about education,” Sikandar has said, “my grandfather Muhammad Butt told me that the next generations starting with me should be educated.” So he enrolled at Langside College in Scotland, where he studied software engineering.<br /><br />It was during his time in Scotland that cricket became a central part of Sikandar’s life. He played for his local side Weirs, where he was known affectionately by his teammates as Sykes, and then for larger clubs including Prestwick, Renfrew, and Ayr. By the time he had graduated from Langside Sikandar was qualified to represent Scotland and was earning money from the game as a professional in the Western District Cricket Union. <br /><br />Rather than concentrate on establishing himself on the Scottish scene, Sikandar plotted an altogether different route. His parents had migrated to Zimbabwe in 2002 and he had played a few unremarkable first-class games in the country during 2007. But a new opportunity arose in 2010 with the introduction of franchises and a fresh injection of money. The Southern Rocks team offered him a Twenty20 contract and Sikandar soon found his niche as a hard-hitting opener. The following season he scored the most runs of any domestic player, which included an innings of 93 from 48 balls; in that same match he opened with the great Brian Lara and scored 78 of their 98 run partnership. <br /><br />Twenty20 soon led to a full contract and the small world of Zimbabwean cricket quickly took notice of this newcomer. The authorities fast-tracked his citizenship and Sikandar was drafted into the national squad. A one-day international debut came in May 2013, followed by a Test against Pakistan a few months later. <br /><br />To date his only match-winning performance has been a scintillating 141 against Afghanistan but the selectors seem keen to stick with their man. In the recent triangular tournament with South Africa and Australia he made a start in five of the six games but did not get past 35. International cricket is a tough nut but Sikandar - surely one of the few people who can speak fluent Arabic, English, Urdu, Hindu, and Shona – has earned his opportunity to crack it.David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-48253615144667556982015-03-28T12:32:00.000-04:002015-03-28T12:32:06.454-04:00How to speak (and drink) cricket in New YorkBruce Bergland of The All Rounder facilitated a delightful email-based conversation between Samir Chopra, David Papineau, and your humble blogger. Some excellent points on a great website. The full conversation is <a href="http://theallrounder.co/2015/03/27/how-to-speak-cricket-in-new-york/">here</a>. <div>
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Incidentally, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a New York <a href="http://thecricketersarmsnyc.com/">cricket-themed bar</a> last week. I traipsed out and enjoyed Old Speckled Hen on tap, cricket tat on the walls, and a pretty decent bar. Let's hope they make it a going concern. Now I have to try out the <a href="http://www.mccnewyork.com/">other cricket bar</a> in town. </div>
David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-18096638437735409652015-03-22T16:10:00.002-04:002015-03-22T16:10:47.728-04:00The Overlooked Leader<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Alastair Cook can’t go, we are told, because there is nobody to
replace him. No leader waits in the ranks. No strategic mastermind is hidden in
plain sight. No embryonic Brearley is waiting to break free.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Which might be true. But also might not be and definitely
represents a handy excuse for those who have bet the farm (or at least their
job) on the status quo. What we do know is that a senior member of England’s
team is not in the running for the role. A man with a decade of experience in
international cricket, with more than 100 Test caps and 150 ODI appearances. A
man with 13,000 runs for England and no question marks over his place. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And yet Ian Ronald Bell, for it is he, is never mentioned as a
potential replacement for Alastair Cook or Eoin Morgan. The reasons for this
oversight hint at the wider malaise affecting the national team. After all,
he’s had as much captaincy experience as anybody could realistically expect in
an era of central contracts. He skippered the England under-19 side many moons
ago, took charge of Warwickshire when Jim Troughton was injured, and led a
Lions side against Australia in 2009. He seemed to enjoy these brief spells in
charge of a team, <a href="http://www.ianbellcricket.com/news/1088/ian-bell-poised-to-take-warwickshire-captaincy-for-start-of-new-season">telling</a> the Birmingham Mail that he “loved doing” the job and
that “it’s nice to be able to get your mind thinking about the game, bowling
changes, field placings, tactics in general. Rather than just worrying about
batting.”</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We can’t, of course, judge Bell’s captaincy credentials on such a
small sample size but neither should it disqualify him. After all Cook’s
captaincy opportunities were similarly limited before he inherited the role. By
the time Cook took over from Strauss, though, he had long been anointed as a
Future England Captain. This was not, as it can appear now, some form of
conspiracy hatched because he came from the right family. Cook had taken to
Test match cricket as easily as anybody in the history of the game, with an
unflappable temperament, vast reserves of patience, and a granite mental
strength that made him the ideal opening batsman and seemingly a steady hand on
the tiller. From the outset Cook appeared destined to lead England and become
their record run scorer. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bell’s journey was far less straightforward. He also joined the
England team as a young prodigy but, after some easy initial outings against
Bangladesh and the West Indies, floundered in the Ashes series of 2005. There
was no disgrace in being blown away by a world-class bowling quarter but as the
series progressed it became clear that Bell could not hack the pressure. The 23
year old appeared more boy than man. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The stigma of that series, and Shane Warne’s Sherminator moniker,
remain firmly lodged in the public consciousness. No matter that a decade has
passed, that Bell is now a husband and a father, that he averaged 118 in Test
matches during 2011, that he scored three hundreds in the Ashes of 2013. To the
casual cricket fan he’ll always be the flaky batsman with an undeserved MBE. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Such mistaken assumptions are understandable among people who only
follow the sport from afar. Less forgivable is the position of those within the
heart of English cricket. Many in the England and Wales
Cricket Board still seem to think that Bell has a soft underbelly. The most
damning evidence of this view was a despicable leak to the <i>Daily Mail</i>’s Paul
Newman, who <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-2703435/Clamour-Joe-Root-England-captain-shows-dearth-leaders-county-game.html">passed on the gossip</a> that Bell made “a total hash of his leadership task” on a team bonding
trip before the Ashes and that this proved that he was not cut out for the
captaincy. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://dmitrihdwlia.wordpress.com/2014/07/24/you-sit-there-in-your-heartache-waiting-on-some-beautiful-boy/#comment-5652">Rumour</a> has it that this leak came directly from Giles Clarke but
whoever whispered unpleasant nothings into Newman’s ear almost certainly was part of the England team’s inner sanctum. This briefing against one of their
players - coming as it did in the middle of the Kevin Pietersen imbroglio - was an
unholy trio of irony, idiocy, and immorality. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was also a disturbing insight into the mindset of those in
charge of English cricket. Pietersen related in his autobiography that
when he told Andy Flower that Bell should be made vice-captain the coach disagreed
because Bell did not speak much. Yet Flower should have known that this was a
woefully superficial interpretation of Bell’s personality. After all, Flower
had instigated Bell’s transformation when - in one of his first acts as coach -
he dropped him after a particularly poor display against the West Indies. Rather than sulk about his omission, it <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/jan/10/ian-bell-england-south-africa">made</a> Bell realize that “I had to
become a tougher cricketer.” He started boxing and increased his time in the
gym. By the time he found his way back into the side this physical toughness
had translated into mental strength; the result was a Test average approaching
58 over the next two years. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pietersen summed up the problem: “</span><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">People
don’t give Bell the credit that he deserves. They’ve never really let him
speak. I mean, he’s a very quiet guy; he’s not going to force that space for
himself. The fact that he’s not over-confident doesn’t mean he couldn’t be a
good vice-captain. It probably means the dressing room should change in order
to allow quiet, thoughtful guys like Ian Bell the space to make a
contribution.”</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Would Bell be a good captain? I don’t know,
although a man who has battled through adversity, is comfortable in his own
skin, and is still crafting an impressive number of elegant runs seems a pretty
decent choice. Perhaps he does not even want the role but it seems unlikely he could
do a worse job than the current incumbent. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">England kicked out one star batsman because
they could not stomach his ego. But neither can they imagine any deviation from
the monocratic, alpha model of leadership. Cut out all the stats, all the
pyscho-babble, and the army of back-room staff and you are left with old-fashioned
prejudice against anything but the most comfortingly familiar personality
types. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-71998956294307483952015-03-01T20:40:00.003-05:002015-03-01T20:40:48.931-05:00End days for USACA? We can but <a href="http://blog.sling.com/international/the-beginning-of-the-beginning-for-american-cricket/">hope.</a>David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-39586568743931498852015-02-24T14:52:00.000-05:002015-02-24T14:52:05.337-05:00World Cup stuffI was feeling a tad jaded going into the World Cup but it's been an absolute delight to date. I even squeezed a few hundred words out of that <a href="http://blog.sling.com/international/smaller-teams-creating-a-festival-of-cricket/">sentiment</a>. I previewed the hell out of it <a href="http://blog.sling.com/international/what-makes-a-good-world-cup/">here</a>, wrote something moderately interesting on batting tactics <a href="http://blog.sling.com/international/batting-like-its-the-1980s-world-cup-reveals-changing-in-odi-strategies/">here</a>, and even added in a bonus piece about the miseries of <a href="http://blog.sling.com/international/the-miseries-of-misbah-pakistans-captain-criticized-after-loss-to-india/">Mishah</a>.<br />
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<br />David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-70075188153317283052015-02-11T09:07:00.000-05:002015-02-11T09:07:03.761-05:00A piece on Luke RonchiDoes what it says in the title. More <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/the-kiwi-who-was-an-aussie/">here</a>David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-13387345562697237022015-02-05T20:59:00.000-05:002015-02-05T20:59:20.425-05:00Staying humbleI've been too busy staying humble to link to much on here recently, although the full outpouring is available <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/">here</a>. <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/associate-nations-struggle-to-belong/">This</a>, on associates, is probably the best of the recent bunch.David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-66160052599214973552014-12-30T20:23:00.003-05:002014-12-30T20:23:45.964-05:00OopsApologies for the radio silence, caused primarily by a one year old with wobbly bowels. <div>
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For the completists out there, over at Dish we've had a <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/steve-smith-takes-over-captaincy-reins-in-brisbane/">new captain</a> (in Steve Smith), an <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/the-master-of-positives/">old captain</a> (in MS Dhoni), and an out of form <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/glenn-maxwells-unwise-leave/">biffer</a>. </div>
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By my count I wrote 101 articles in 2014. Which might just count as my first century. </div>
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David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-39078983867577237202014-12-16T06:38:00.001-05:002014-12-16T06:38:13.033-05:00First TestMore of the same, <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/signs-of-normality-at-adelaide/">please</a>.David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-60650156888910123502014-12-16T06:37:00.003-05:002014-12-16T06:37:42.782-05:00The team of the yearIt's getting towards the holiday season so celebrate in style with an <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/the-best-team-of-the-year/">ode</a> to New Zealand's great year. David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-8926765121436186442014-12-01T16:51:00.001-05:002014-12-01T16:51:26.291-05:00Phil HughesGod, it's hard isn't it? I don't really want to promote anything about Phil Hughes' death but - for the record - <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/phil-hughes-in-critical-condition/">here</a> is a piece I wrote while he was in critical condition, and <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/crickets-worst-week/">another</a> that came out today.David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-77178876280064272722014-11-21T09:58:00.000-05:002014-11-21T09:58:06.450-05:00Sachin's bookDon't buy it. I did, mainly for professional reasons. It's not that it is bad as much as it's boring. There are a few choice nuggets about how he survived for so long in such an odd world, which I tried to write about <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/a-year-on-from-sachins-exit/">here</a>, but it's really just a gentle trot through his career. Safe targets, like Greg Chappell, are firmly hit but anything controversial is simply omitted.<br />
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Also worth noting that <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=Part%20%202%2F2%20of%20Boria%20mazumdar&src=typd">according</a> to everyone's favorite disgraced Indian cricket administrator, Sachin's ghost writer used to be on the BCCI payrollDavid Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-65398699064859242392014-11-11T20:54:00.001-05:002014-11-11T20:54:18.471-05:00Pakistan (and New Zealand) ZindabadPakistan's transition from team everyone loves to hate (or at least Ian Botham hated) to hipster's choice is pretty great. Nobody notices New Zealand, but some things never change. More <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/pakistan-and-new-zealand-demonstrate-enduring-appeal-of-the-underdog/">here</a>.David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-8079090028025062132014-11-02T13:31:00.001-05:002014-11-02T13:31:43.613-05:00The greatest Sri Lankan batsman?One for the kids, this. But a guy who drank Sobers and Miller under the table, captained his national side against Bradman's Invincibles, and led two other countries into the bargain, and was stuck in the slammer for 20 months on baseless charges is worth <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/who-is-the-best-ever-sri-lankan-batsman/">remembering</a>.David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-60551612435874265802014-10-29T09:25:00.001-04:002014-10-29T09:25:02.676-04:00The Not Playing ElevenWhat's that? You'd like an eleven of players who really should be playing international cricket. Thank goodness I wrote <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/the-not-playing-eleven/">this</a>.David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-26489006028615374692014-10-29T09:23:00.002-04:002014-10-29T09:23:39.456-04:00Michael Clarke: from pup to old dogHe used to be the metrosexual who everyone loved to hate, now he's a slightly more attractive clone of Ricky Ponting. <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/when-pup-got-old/">More here</a>.David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-40496199567391458962014-10-19T13:21:00.002-04:002014-10-19T13:21:34.691-04:00The Dalai Lama, Indian politics, and a cancelled tourYes, its a bit of a mish-mash, but I hope it all makes <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/cricket-reaches-new-heights-in-dharamsala/">some sense.</a><br />
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As a thank you for reading, here's a picture of a deeply spiritual and great man (and good cook) meeting the Dalai Lama)<br />
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<a href="http://cache2.asset-cache.net/gc/98525185-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-meets-matthew-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=9QMziWNtBI6whP66vhs4oTPVrks4AUsd8CakenJfknDEy0jmvGZXcBL4joCKiCLf" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cache2.asset-cache.net/gc/98525185-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-meets-matthew-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=9QMziWNtBI6whP66vhs4oTPVrks4AUsd8CakenJfknDEy0jmvGZXcBL4joCKiCLf" height="241" width="320" /></a></div>
David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-13614927319190757382014-10-14T21:25:00.002-04:002014-10-14T21:25:35.766-04:00Coaches these daysThey just seem to <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/what-makes-a-good-cricket-coach/">come and go</a>.David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-68467510780673929512014-10-09T06:30:00.000-04:002014-10-09T06:30:04.358-04:00KP as the latter day BoycsKP is really just the greatest living Yorkshireman (unless you are David Cameron) in disguise. More <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/boycs-and-kp-peas-from-the-same-pod/">here</a>.David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-14432833142495650152014-10-01T20:35:00.003-04:002014-10-01T20:35:59.436-04:00When Geoffrey Boycott went to HollywoodAbout a year ago I bought a copy of the tour brochure commemorating Yorkshire's visit to North America in 1964. It was a delight, with some wonderful commentary from Trueman, Close, Sharpe and others. So I wrote a piece to mark the 50th anniversary of the tour, and <a href="http://www.theallrounder.co/">The Allrounder</a> - an excellent new website - agreed to <a href="http://theallrounder.co/2014/09/29/when-geoffrey-boycott-went-to-hollywood/">publish it</a>. Thanks to Bruce Bergland with the editing help and for getting the site off the ground.David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3213795403815455127.post-73653572690913058672014-10-01T20:30:00.001-04:002014-10-01T20:30:13.705-04:00Up, down, north, southA group of 30 souls, including Ashley Giles and Makhaya Ntini (who seems to laugh <a href="http://www.wisdenindia.com/cricket-article/mt-kili-diary-tents-altitude-sickness-ntinis-viagra/128899">a lot)</a> have trekked up Mount Kilimanjaro and played cricket just below the summit. Marauding gangs of eccentrics, explorers, and entrepreneurs seem to be playing games everywhere these days. More <a href="http://blog.dishworld.com/cricket/articles/cricket-on-top-of-the-world/">here</a>.David Muttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511578527474905481noreply@blogger.com0