The excellent folk over at www.balancedsports.com asked me to contribute to their 'My Favourite Cricketer' series. Naturally, I jumped at the chance.
Check out my gushing tribute to New Zealand's best ever One Day bowler - Gavin Larsen. No seriously, he really is.
My Favourite Cricketer - Gavin Larsen
Check out the other articles in the series too. All better written and more informed than mine for starters.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Taylor defiant ahead of Australia series: “We might not lose both games by an innings”.
Black Caps skipper Ross Taylor has come out with some very confident words just days before the start of the two Test match trans-Tasman clash. Taylor, speaking to journalists at the Vettori Institute of Cricket, had been watching Australia’s display with the bat against South Africa and stated that this was New Zealand’s finest opportunity to sneak a draw in a generation.
“I was watching the panic setting in as they stumbled to 21/9 in the second innings,” said Taylor with a smile. “They will be worried about that lack of focus, and if it happens again then we might just chip away often enough for them to delay their inevitable declaration for long enough that we can bat out a draw.”
Taylor’s bold claims have been met with some negativity from cricket commentators around the world. “I’m all for captain’s saying that they are looking to bat for a draw. That is an admirable goal.” said former England captain Geoff Boycott. “But don’t get cocky. These Kiwi lads are best with their backs to the wall and with nothing to lose. All this confidence will come back to haunt them. Listen to me, I’m important”.
Another former England skipper, Tony Greig, was also quick to encourage the Black Caps to show more restraint. “I know a thing or two about making ridiculously confident claims before a big series. My advice is to not even talk to the media. Ever. About anything.” Reporters here at The Daily Beige are unable to pinpoint exactly which series he is talking about but it is suspected it refers to the 1976/77 tour of India which England won 3-1 despite Greig embarrassingly boasting of a 4-1 victory beforehand.
Eyebrows were raised further when New Zealand’s most successful Test opener in months, Martin Guptill, weighed in with a claim that he thought there was a great chance for the Australian’s to claim the lowest test total off New Zealand. Most commentators agree that it is possible the lowest score will be broken, but that it is unlikely to change countries any time soon.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The Beige Archives: Historic History: 1932 - Scientists outline ‘Fast Leg Theory'
This article first appeared on cricket-match-special.com on the 15th of November 2010.
Scientists from England were hailed as the heroes of the War of the Ashes fought between England and Australia in 1932-1933 after they published a paper on the ‘Unified Theory of Fast Leg’. In the run up to the Ashes conflict, scientists from both countries had been working round the clock to develop ways in which to gain an advantage over their opposition, and historians from both sides agree that England’s victory in the race for scientific dominance was crucial in undermining the power of Australia’s flagship destroyer, the HMS Bradman.
However, boffins from Australia were not impressed by the details of the theory and a formal response printed in the renowned ‘Australian Journal of Physics, Chemistry and Cricket’ stated that “this theory is based on a series of flawed assumptions and is not in the spirit of Newton’s second law of Thermodynamics”. Despite this, the theory was employed to great effect during the war and after each day the bodies of fallen Australians were laid out in a line, giving the theory its common nickname of ‘Lines of Bodies’. The invading English army was successful in their campaign and returned to England with their small urn-shaped spoils.
Throughout 1933, Australian scientists continued to provide evidence of algebraic irregularities proposed in the Unified Fast Leg Theory with General Stan McCabe saying “The Bay 13 infantry may break the odd rule, but even they know not to mess with Euler’s laws of rigid body motion”. The international scientific community eventually agreed and the universe’s physical laws were amended so that England’s Fast Leg Theory became illegal and ceased to be employed on the cricketing battlefield.
The fundamentals of the law were reused, however, in the Allies’ successful Battle of Britain campaign with a huge number of the Luftwaffe pilots falling for the leg side trap.
However, boffins from Australia were not impressed by the details of the theory and a formal response printed in the renowned ‘Australian Journal of Physics, Chemistry and Cricket’ stated that “this theory is based on a series of flawed assumptions and is not in the spirit of Newton’s second law of Thermodynamics”. Despite this, the theory was employed to great effect during the war and after each day the bodies of fallen Australians were laid out in a line, giving the theory its common nickname of ‘Lines of Bodies’. The invading English army was successful in their campaign and returned to England with their small urn-shaped spoils.
Throughout 1933, Australian scientists continued to provide evidence of algebraic irregularities proposed in the Unified Fast Leg Theory with General Stan McCabe saying “The Bay 13 infantry may break the odd rule, but even they know not to mess with Euler’s laws of rigid body motion”. The international scientific community eventually agreed and the universe’s physical laws were amended so that England’s Fast Leg Theory became illegal and ceased to be employed on the cricketing battlefield.
The fundamentals of the law were reused, however, in the Allies’ successful Battle of Britain campaign with a huge number of the Luftwaffe pilots falling for the leg side trap.
The Beige Archives: Draw with India leaves New Zealand fans 'confused'
This article first appeared on cricket-match-special.com on the 9th of November 2010.
The drawn test match between lowly ranked New Zealand against number 1 ranked India has left almost every New Zealand fan 'confused' as to how to react.
"Given the slightly below average performance in Balngladesh I was fully expecting India to crack the thousand mark in their first innings." said one life-long cricket fan in Auckland earlier today. "Me and my mates were watching and looking forward to being able to throw some clever and devastating insults at the Black Caps for a solid 5 days, but events on days 2 and 3 completely threw us off our stride and we got all confused and it wasn't enjoyable at all."
Worse was to come though as the Black Caps, inspired by a man dressed in a Chris Martin costume, took the advantage on Day 4 and were in with a great chance of stealing a massive upset going into Day 5.
This resulted in many fans throwing off their traditional mantles of doom and gloom and actually supporting their team for once in what has been described as the biggest show of unity in New Zealand cricket since angry mobs chased John Bracewell out of the country.
However, the final day belonged to just two players - Brendan McCullum and Ross Taylor who assured New Zealand cricket fans that the bowling woes were finally over. A couple of Indian batsmen also scored some runs.
As a result the fans new found optimism was quickly replaced by uncertainty over how the result was supposed to make people feel. The mood was summed up by a national paper's headline being "We Drew! Yay?". However, the article largely went unread as it was buried on page 28 behind 67 articles discussing the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
"Given the slightly below average performance in Balngladesh I was fully expecting India to crack the thousand mark in their first innings." said one life-long cricket fan in Auckland earlier today. "Me and my mates were watching and looking forward to being able to throw some clever and devastating insults at the Black Caps for a solid 5 days, but events on days 2 and 3 completely threw us off our stride and we got all confused and it wasn't enjoyable at all."
Worse was to come though as the Black Caps, inspired by a man dressed in a Chris Martin costume, took the advantage on Day 4 and were in with a great chance of stealing a massive upset going into Day 5.
This resulted in many fans throwing off their traditional mantles of doom and gloom and actually supporting their team for once in what has been described as the biggest show of unity in New Zealand cricket since angry mobs chased John Bracewell out of the country.
However, the final day belonged to just two players - Brendan McCullum and Ross Taylor who assured New Zealand cricket fans that the bowling woes were finally over. A couple of Indian batsmen also scored some runs.
As a result the fans new found optimism was quickly replaced by uncertainty over how the result was supposed to make people feel. The mood was summed up by a national paper's headline being "We Drew! Yay?". However, the article largely went unread as it was buried on page 28 behind 67 articles discussing the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
The Beige Archives: Cricket Journalism enters 'Golden Age'
This article first appeared on cricket-match-special.com on the 28th of October 2010.
Cricket fans have heralded the start of a ‘golden age’ of cricket journalism after a recent influx of insightful and detailed articles on the sport. A well known Cricket Information website lead the charge earlier this week with the headline “Broken Thumb hurts Katich”.
“This kind of intellectual rigour and analysis is what has been missing from the reporting of cricket stories,” enthused an ICC spokesperson earlier today. “Headlines like this are really putting cricket on the cutting edge of modern sports commentating”. Cricket has long languished well behind other sports in terms of eye-catching headlines, although the 2002 headline “Nobody Caresses Balls Like Vaughan” attracted a huge amount of interest and won the coveted “Article Not Quite Living Up to Its Promise” award.
In other news, the same website’s commitment to Top XI lists has been praised as comprehensive and vital. Their upcoming list of the top XI lists has been described as ‘the icing on the cake’.
However, not everyone is happy with a number of comments on forums expressing outrage that Sachin Tendulkar was not included in the top XI cricketers in the All-time lists for Australia or England.
Cricket fans have heralded the start of a ‘golden age’ of cricket journalism after a recent influx of insightful and detailed articles on the sport. A well known Cricket Information website lead the charge earlier this week with the headline “Broken Thumb hurts Katich”.
“This kind of intellectual rigour and analysis is what has been missing from the reporting of cricket stories,” enthused an ICC spokesperson earlier today. “Headlines like this are really putting cricket on the cutting edge of modern sports commentating”. Cricket has long languished well behind other sports in terms of eye-catching headlines, although the 2002 headline “Nobody Caresses Balls Like Vaughan” attracted a huge amount of interest and won the coveted “Article Not Quite Living Up to Its Promise” award.
In other news, the same website’s commitment to Top XI lists has been praised as comprehensive and vital. Their upcoming list of the top XI lists has been described as ‘the icing on the cake’.
However, not everyone is happy with a number of comments on forums expressing outrage that Sachin Tendulkar was not included in the top XI cricketers in the All-time lists for Australia or England.
The Beige Archives: Popular Soap Opera 'IPL' Starts Fourth Series
This article first appeared on cricket-match-special.com on the 11th of October 2010.
Popular Indian soap opera ‘IPL’ starts its fourth series soon and early indications are that it will rival the record breaking ratings at the end of the third season which were due in part to the ‘whodunnit’ storyline involving Lalit Modi (brilliantly played by journeyman character actor Lalit Modi).
However, there has been friction between some of the key players with both Rajasthan and Punjab expecting to be missing from the fourth series. Rajasthan, the surprisingly popular underdog from series one, has been inundated with job offers and rumours are growing that it will star in the new Harry Potter film.
Punjab’s agent is citing ‘creative differences’ and stated that “Punjab just doesn’t like the direction the creators are taking IPL and we believe the IPL is moving away from its roots”.
In a further twist, there is speculation that a third major participant might be missing from the hit show. Newcomer Kochi has been absent from recent rehearsals and sources inside the IPL studio say that it is possible the character of Kochi might remain, but could be replaced by a different actor. Commentators agree that the IPL series was long overdue for such a common soap opera tactic.
The IPL series is almost unique amongst soap operas in that it is still filmed in front of a live audience. Given how these audience numbers have dwindled since series one, this may soon change.
However, there has been friction between some of the key players with both Rajasthan and Punjab expecting to be missing from the fourth series. Rajasthan, the surprisingly popular underdog from series one, has been inundated with job offers and rumours are growing that it will star in the new Harry Potter film.
Punjab’s agent is citing ‘creative differences’ and stated that “Punjab just doesn’t like the direction the creators are taking IPL and we believe the IPL is moving away from its roots”.
In a further twist, there is speculation that a third major participant might be missing from the hit show. Newcomer Kochi has been absent from recent rehearsals and sources inside the IPL studio say that it is possible the character of Kochi might remain, but could be replaced by a different actor. Commentators agree that the IPL series was long overdue for such a common soap opera tactic.
The IPL series is almost unique amongst soap operas in that it is still filmed in front of a live audience. Given how these audience numbers have dwindled since series one, this may soon change.
The Beige Archives: Historic Moments in History - 1981: Chappell Invents Bowls
This article first appeared on cricket-match-special.com on the 22nd of August 2010.
On the 1st of February 1981, Australian brothers Greg and Trevor Chappell invented the game of lawn bowls during a one-day international cricket match against New Zealand.
When asked how he got the idea, Greg said "a number of my friends had been joking and asking me whether there was a slower and more boring game than cricket and it just came to me".
New Zealand batsman Brian McKechnie was to face the final delivery of the match when Trevor Chappell switched from cricket to bowls unexpectedly. McKechnie remembers the incident like it was yesterday. "I was thinking that I was going to have to hit a six and it would be a massive win for us. Then Trevor walked in and introduced the world to bowls. The first thing that went through my head was "man, I wish I'd invented that"".
The historic moment has had ongoing repurcussions for a number of the participants. Trevor Chappell has expressed his disappointment that he is remembered as "The Bowls Guy" and no-one remembers his distinctly average cricketing ability.
The story has a dark side unfortunately. The batsman at the non-strikers end, Bruce Edgar slipped into obscurity and suffers from depression. "Why does no-one remember my contribution to the game and the incident?" he said recently. "I had one of the best views of Trevor's technique but I never get asked to join any bowls clubs. And I was in the famous photo! I didn't even get a free meal out of that".
When asked how he got the idea, Greg said "a number of my friends had been joking and asking me whether there was a slower and more boring game than cricket and it just came to me".
New Zealand batsman Brian McKechnie was to face the final delivery of the match when Trevor Chappell switched from cricket to bowls unexpectedly. McKechnie remembers the incident like it was yesterday. "I was thinking that I was going to have to hit a six and it would be a massive win for us. Then Trevor walked in and introduced the world to bowls. The first thing that went through my head was "man, I wish I'd invented that"".
The historic moment has had ongoing repurcussions for a number of the participants. Trevor Chappell has expressed his disappointment that he is remembered as "The Bowls Guy" and no-one remembers his distinctly average cricketing ability.
The story has a dark side unfortunately. The batsman at the non-strikers end, Bruce Edgar slipped into obscurity and suffers from depression. "Why does no-one remember my contribution to the game and the incident?" he said recently. "I had one of the best views of Trevor's technique but I never get asked to join any bowls clubs. And I was in the famous photo! I didn't even get a free meal out of that".
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