Image: Zuma Press

Day, a 64-year-old retiree, made her first hole-in-one on the 149-yard third hole, then followed with her second ace on the 161-yard 13th.  Not bad for someone who has only been golfing for 10 years.

What may be even more amazing is that this is the second time this feat occurred that week.  At a Pittsburgh Pirates alumni golf tournament, former Bucs pitcher Steve Blass also scored a pair of aces, his coming in a span of 11 holes.

Post from: EveryJoe

British Woman Makes Two Aces in Same Round

The BCCI is unlikely to support any stringent action against Zimbabwe at the ICC’s annual meeting in Dubai next week, a top Indian board official has indicated.

This is regarding expulsion of the Zimbabwe cricket team. The Indian Cricket Setup has been known for ages as the perennial peer-helpers. The Indian Cricket Team toured Sri Lanka, South Africa and Bangladesh when they started or restarted their test journey.

So now, when the entire world (read England and South Africa) wants Zimbabwe to be kicked out of the ICC because they have a dictator who means no good (according to England and South Africa) to the world and to his own countrymen, India has taken the higher moral ground conveying that it is not the fault of the budding Taibus and Mazakadzas of the world that they are ruled by a dictator. India has also tried to convey that all teams needing practice are too bored of the ever confident Bangladesh.

Post from: EveryJoe

India to back Zimbabwe

Ain’t no use in Complaining
When You Got a Job to do!

So let me shoot away. I did see a lot of the first day’s play between England and New Zealand at Lords. Sidebottom looked sharp. I sometimes get the feeling England look a much better team when they are not playing India these days. Anyway’s, the new ball attack which the whiter shirts (England) dished out almost buried the White uniforms with Black Caps.

The major wreckers were Jamie “I love lords” Anderson (12-3-42-3) and Stuart :(666666) Broad (15-3-70-2). The NZs were reduced to 190 for 5 by tea. To tell you something, John Buchanan and Saurav Ganguly have a great eye for talent. If you think this statement is completely off topic, think again! They picked Brendon McCullum (though Mallaya wanted him too) and the rest is history. Coming back to the present, in walked McCullum. He played an innings which could only be described as…well….I would say careful! He left quite a few balls, but then if a batsman makes a run a ball 97 and still is called careful, you know the IPL has arrived to stay. Watch!

BB McCullum b Panesar 97(97) 13×4 2×6

New Zealand closed the day with 208 for 6. More tomorrow.

Photo: Cricinfo
Video : Youtube

Post from: EveryJoe

England vs New Zealand – First Test at Lords – Day 1

Sounds good. Would be great if there is stiff competition between the EPL and the IPL and ahem, the ICL about which player goes where. By the way, a little birdie tells me that Mr Stanford has plans to go against the IPL big time. The smile in his face tells you that this man gets what he wants. Who would like to give away 2o million dollars to the winner of one match? But then, these business people have a knack of defying cricket bloggers.

Laters

Photo Credit: Caribbean 360

Post from: EveryJoe

Texan Billionaire gets spending, wants to run Cricket’s EPL

England got pounded in to the ground by a rampaging Indian batting attack, that kept going all the way down to number 11. The highlight of the day was the maiden test century, after 118 matches, for Anil Kumble, scoring a delightful 110* to give India a massive 664. Any hopes that England might have had of levelling the series with a win here have been totally dashed and sadly it’s now a case of doing their best to avoid 2-0. That means England must bat for 3 days, a feat that seems well beyond the grip of the current England batsmen.

Matt Prior came in for yet more abuse from all and sundry. After dropping Tendulkar yesterday with a diving attempt to his right and, as a result, having the outcome of the match, not to mention his fledgling career, called in to question, he unfortunately did himself no favours by repeating the mistake, early on day 2. This time it was VVS Laxman and a diving attempt, away to his right, to which he went one-handed. What’s worse than dropping a catch like that is when it was destined to plop neatly in to first slip’s hand. Instead, it dribbled away to the boundary for four and Sidebottom was deprived another wicket.

In this instance, Prior was in the wrong but it’s not surprising that he was looking to assert himself after the amount of shtick he got the previous day. The commentators and journalists collectively remarked that the debate over the England wicket-keeper was likely to be reignited, failing to realise that they themselves were the catalyst. Derek Pringle in particular, seems to have forgotten what happens on a cricket field in suggesting that Prior would be having difficulty absolving himself of the guilt. Guilt? I’m sorry? Guilt should never have a place on a cricket field and anyone who has played the game knows what it is like to drop a catch – and it is the duty of everyone else to bring your head up, to help them you move passed it and give you the courage to take the next chance. If Prior was indeed struggling on day 2, it was only as a result of people like Pringle getting the claws in at the very first available opportunity. Prior was also lambasted for letting through 33 byes. Judging by some of the mush that England’s “bowlers” were chucking down, it should have been considerably more. Did anyone not see Kevin Pietersen’s first delivery? A ball which pitched around middle, turned and Prior took it a good couple of foot outside leg stump. Commentators were silent.

And where is Andrew Strauss’ abuse? So he has just fielded for a day (but his night watchman replacement James Anderson, who had also fielded for a day, not to mention bowling 40 overs managed it), but he is a specialist batsmen and his only job was to bat for 8 overs and set up day 3. But he couldn’t even manage that, holing out to another hook-gone-wrong. Strauss is a considerably more senior player than Prior, who is still on the back of a run of bad form, scoring few runs. Yet Ian Botham dismissed it as “bad form” and all he needs is some time in the middle. Why was Prior not afforded a similar reprieve? Arguably Strauss’ lack of concentration will be more expensive than Prior’s indiscretions.

England’s bowlers toiled as best they could, but with Sidebottom suffering a sidestrain, Vaughan turned to the likes of KP. I have always felt that if you have to turn to a “part-time” bowler for any significant number of overs, then there has been an error in selection. KP had 6 overs for 40 odd, although did somehow manage to displace a combusting Dhoni. But it was Kumble’s (and not Tendulkar, or Laxman or Dhoni) day. On a final note on the Prior saga – if a batting card reads like the Indian’s does – that is, everyone scoring runs all the way down to number 11 (Sree Santh scored 32), then you can’t pin that on any one person.

As it stands, England need to bat for 3 days. They have 19 wickets. Now would be a great time for Cook to find some form and a maiden test century for Jimmy Anderson. But on a deteoriating wicket, with a swinging and turning ball, with the likes of Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble to do the bowling, 2-0 is looking a likely outcome. I just hope Prior isn’t hung out to dry for it.

Post from: EveryJoe

Scapegoating can’t save England now

Matt Prior dropped Sachin Tendulkar on 20, missing a catch away to his right. Tendulkar is now not out on 48, so the drop has so far cost the side 28 (out of 316 scored on Day 1). Yet already, the hair is down and the gloves are off, Matt Prior takes the brunt for a lacklustre English display on a flat, slowish Oval batting track.

Derek Pringle writing for the Telegraph is particularly scathing – England made to rue Matt Prior mistake:

The edge flew to Prior’s right, but instead of taking a step and then the catch, his feet remained rooted to the spot… It was a bad miss… Prior’s footwork is poor on either side and even ignoring the catches he has fluffed, he has conceded more than 100 byes this summer…

Other commentators paint similar pictures that moreorless hand the entire day’s misery to the gloves of Matt Prior.

For starters, I would never classify the dropped catch as a regulation chance. Any catch where you’re diving at full stretch is not regulation. Secondly, he went with both gloves which is the first thing you are told as a young wicket-keeper. It seems likely that had he gone with just his right hand he would have caught it and would have been hailed a hero. (Of course, had he dropped it with one hand, he would have been berated for not going with both hands.) We have seen much easier chances go down, and they rarely raise up such a shitstorm. And finally, the drop in real terms has so far cost just 28 runs. That still leaves some 290 runs scored by the other Indian batsmen as a result of both good batting and uninspired bowling.

To heap such pressure on Prior is symptomatic of the way the English cricket system is working (failing?) at the moment. He has already received criticism for his constant chatter, but funnily enough there were no such criticisms when he was scoring centuries, nor when it seemed the question over the English wicket-keeper which has been a farce for so long had finally been answered.

And to heap criticism on him for the number of byes he has let through is outright ridiculous when you consider how many of them came from a genuine mistake as opposed to those that went pinging down 6 foot outside the leg stump from the consistently wayward bowling.

Sure, plenty of people have leapt to his defence, but in my opinion that should not be necessary, because criticism in this vein should never have been levelled at him in the first place. The perceived importance of the drop has been heightened due to it being Tendulkar which is wrong – Tendulkar is a shadow of his former self and is not scoring the sort of runs that made him so famous. A more important drop would have been Dravid or Ganguly.

In fact, we will only be able to gauge how important the drop was tomorrow, after we find out if Tendulkar goes on to make a big score. But it’s a no-win situation for Prior – he has already dropped the catch – so even if Tendulkar gets out first ball tomorrow morning he’s still had the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Should Tendulkar go on to score a hundred, then Prior will get the blame for England losing the series.

It’s hard enough being an England wicket-keeper without the barrage of garbage that come from these people. Judge first, think second.

Here’s to Prior winning this game for England and giving a big one fingered salute to all the doubters.

Post from: EveryJoe

Oh dear God – is it any wonder?

Giles was an oft-lambasted cricketer, especially in the follow-up Ashes series, where Fletcher preferred him over Monty Panesar in the opening couple of games of the series, which sealed England’s 5-nil Ashes-losing whitewash. Criticism of “Gilo” was arguably unfair, considering that he was simply doing what he wanted: to play for England, and that it was Fletcher and Flintoff who were selecting him to play, despite his having been out of action with the hip injury.

He was involved in a humourous incident, whereby a set of mugs that were supposed to say “King of Spin” had a typo, earning him the title of “King of Spain”.

No doubt Gilo will be on Sky Sports any day now.

Post from: EveryJoe

King of Spain retires from cricket

Elsewhere, some serious argy-bargy occurred between Kevien Pietersen and Zaheer Khan, after Khan noticed jelly beans appearing on the pitch whilst he was batting. Having cleared one off the pitch, more turned up, convincing him it wasn’t an accident. He then gestured toward KP, raising his bat in protest. KP didn’t back down and returned some verbals.

Such behaviour shouldn’t exist in any level of cricket, and that it is happening at the highest level is pathetic. There’s a difference between being competitive and cheating. Allegations that Santh was intentionally trying to injure KP are a little far-fetched, but England players putting jelly beans on the pitch in a bid to distract Khan is stupid behaviour from a team incapable of playing proper cricket. Fortunately, Khan was able to let his game speak for itself (despite brandishing his bat towards the England slip cordon), in scoring some useful runs and then taking a match-winning 5fer in England’s second innings. Such childish behaviour took the gloss off some otherwise thrilling cricket, including runs from Tendulkar and Vaughan and bowling from Sidebottom and Khan.

I sincerely hope that the event is investigated thoroughly and that any players found guilty of throwing jelly beans at the Indian players be properly reprimanded for bringing the game in to disrepute.

Post from: EveryJoe

Jellybeangate

Fickle weather in England looks set to completely disrupt the 2nd test between England and India. Day 1 didn’t get underway until 1500 and by close of play, England had managed to lose 7 wickets for a mere 170 rus. The Indian bowling was of a reasonable standard with a handful of unplayable deliveries, but really, the day was characterised by most batsmen getting a start but lacking the concentration and application needed to go and get a big score. Day 2 is likely to be disrupted similarly, with more rain forecast (not that the forecasts really mean a great deal at the moment) and with Tremmers and Sideshow Bob at the crease, it oughtn’t be long before India are batting. Considering how the ball is swinging, thanks mainly to the big clouds overhead and the decidedly soggy field conditions, England’s seam bowlers, in particular Siders, should enjoy themselves.

One low scoring game, coming up.

Post from: EveryJoe

Shaky start to 2nd test

Quite right too. There’s been so much fuss over the team recently and we’re finally getting some stability. Peter Moores is doing a good job at the top. Micheal Vaughan seems to be over the worst of his injury. Matt Prior has established himself as the England ‘keeper. And we’re absolutely overflowing with batsmen at the moment, so why should Tresco just waltz back in to the side?

Because he’s probably the best batsman in the country, that’s why. OK, so he deserves a place in the England side, but only when he’s absolutely sure that his pork pie is back on the picnic rug. Until then, he should be away from the England fold.

Which he is, so it’s all good.

Post from: EveryJoe

Tresco won’t tour yet