Beautiful slow motion footage of Fidel Edwards...there are some other slow mos of medium pacers on the account which really show the difference between quick and medium.
Sunday 30 October 2011
Saturday 29 October 2011
Friday 28 October 2011
England get bummed
Plenty written on this, but this and this summarise my thoughts. Particularly struck by the line in Steve James' blog: 'to play a turning ball with a straight bat is to play across the line.'. When a spinner is bowling length and extracting big turn, clearly the gaps you need to be looking for are the ones in the direction it's spinning - when they get the length wrong you want to try and hit it into the ones that would be riskier off a length ball, usually against the turn. Another one of those little technical details that it's incredibly easy to forget when you're in bat and see the red floating towards, begging to be repatriated over the boundary.
Cricket is an odd game, in that players around the world play according to the conditions within which they're brought up. Would India ever produce a Vaughan or a Bell? Would South Africa ever produce an Ashwin? When all teams are relatively weak, as they are now, the status quo in favour of the home team - always a huge factor - is even more pronounced.
The truly great teams find ways around this, particularly in the bowling department. West Indies in the 80s did it through having fast bowlers of such quality they could take wickets on any track. Australia did it through having three freaks, essentially (and Gillespie was freakishly good - the fact he always seems to be remembered here for his poor 2005 tour is a bit of a tragedy).
Cricket is an odd game, in that players around the world play according to the conditions within which they're brought up. Would India ever produce a Vaughan or a Bell? Would South Africa ever produce an Ashwin? When all teams are relatively weak, as they are now, the status quo in favour of the home team - always a huge factor - is even more pronounced.
The truly great teams find ways around this, particularly in the bowling department. West Indies in the 80s did it through having fast bowlers of such quality they could take wickets on any track. Australia did it through having three freaks, essentially (and Gillespie was freakishly good - the fact he always seems to be remembered here for his poor 2005 tour is a bit of a tragedy).
Wednesday 26 October 2011
Great interview
Wonderful, pithy interview with Fanie de Villers. Great insights into the art of bowling, into apartheid and much-discussed failings of what was a very good team.
Monday 10 October 2011
'Great' sledges of our time
From Barry Hack's Bumper Christmas Book of Most-Likely Fabricated Cricket 'Funnies', Proctor and Gamble, 432 pp.
Glenn McGrath: Oi Brandes, why are you so fat?
Eddo Brandes: Because I play for Zimbabwe and don't have access to high-quality training facilities.
----
Shane Warne: I've spent two years waiting to bowl at you.
Daryl Cullinan: That's because you find it really easy to get me out.
----
Harbhajan Singh: You're a monkey.
Andrew Symonds: I plan to report you to the ICC Match Referee for racial abuse.
----
James Ormond: Your brother's better than you or something.
Steve Waugh: I'm sorry? I have literally no idea who you are.
----
Australian bowler: Something truly fucking hilarious about putting a Mars bar/pork pie on a good length.
Mike Gatting/Arjuna Ranatunga/whoever else this is allegedly directed at: Well that wouldn't work because the umpire would intervene.
----
Rodney Marsh: So how's the wife and my kids?
Ian Botham: Wife's fine, the kids are retarded.
CC: I'm sorry, but have you ever heard Ian Botham talk? You genuinely think he'd come out with something that witty? Really?
----
The Barmy Army: He bowls to the left, he bowls to the right, that Mitchell Johnson, his bowling is shite.
Mitchell Johnson: Yes, but I am an international sportsman unlike you bloated, good-for-nothing, loutish fucks.
----
All these gems and more will be coming my way in December when some sodding relative remembers I like cricket and gets me one of the many shit books dedicated to sporting 'wit' for Christmas. Yet another reason to hate Winter.
Glenn McGrath: Oi Brandes, why are you so fat?
Eddo Brandes: Because I play for Zimbabwe and don't have access to high-quality training facilities.
----
Shane Warne: I've spent two years waiting to bowl at you.
Daryl Cullinan: That's because you find it really easy to get me out.
----
Harbhajan Singh: You're a monkey.
Andrew Symonds: I plan to report you to the ICC Match Referee for racial abuse.
----
James Ormond: Your brother's better than you or something.
Steve Waugh: I'm sorry? I have literally no idea who you are.
----
Australian bowler: Something truly fucking hilarious about putting a Mars bar/pork pie on a good length.
Mike Gatting/Arjuna Ranatunga/whoever else this is allegedly directed at: Well that wouldn't work because the umpire would intervene.
----
Rodney Marsh: So how's the wife and my kids?
Ian Botham: Wife's fine, the kids are retarded.
CC: I'm sorry, but have you ever heard Ian Botham talk? You genuinely think he'd come out with something that witty? Really?
----
The Barmy Army: He bowls to the left, he bowls to the right, that Mitchell Johnson, his bowling is shite.
Mitchell Johnson: Yes, but I am an international sportsman unlike you bloated, good-for-nothing, loutish fucks.
----
All these gems and more will be coming my way in December when some sodding relative remembers I like cricket and gets me one of the many shit books dedicated to sporting 'wit' for Christmas. Yet another reason to hate Winter.
My favourite YouTube video title of all time
Is this.
Sorry, not much to blog about in the bleak midwinter. Go over to aljwhite.com and read about something else.
Sorry, not much to blog about in the bleak midwinter. Go over to aljwhite.com and read about something else.
Saturday 1 October 2011
Ouch.
Sorry, still on blogging holiday for a week or two. But in the meantime....same thing happened to me when I was about 13. It was in the nets, went for the caught and bowled but as I headed to the side the net got in the way and the next thing I knew there was blood everywhere. Didn't lose any teeth, but my upper lip still has a lump of scar tissue in it. Why the fuck we play this game I do not know.
Oh and also read a great quote from Rob Moody, he of the impressive YouTube collection, on some of the old footage, on Cricinfo:
"For me the attraction is an obvious one," he says. "The older footage looks more raw and real, no advertising, no plugging TV shows, no over-the-top commentary, just pure cricket. Such serene viewing. The other attraction is simply being able to see these classic players and form my own opinions about them. Sometimes you read so many endless comments from people that the truth gets a little distorted."
Oh and also read a great quote from Rob Moody, he of the impressive YouTube collection, on some of the old footage, on Cricinfo:
"For me the attraction is an obvious one," he says. "The older footage looks more raw and real, no advertising, no plugging TV shows, no over-the-top commentary, just pure cricket. Such serene viewing. The other attraction is simply being able to see these classic players and form my own opinions about them. Sometimes you read so many endless comments from people that the truth gets a little distorted."
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