In the second post of this series, I’m looking back at another shocking event in cricketing history. Perhaps not in the same category as the Bodyline tour, where bowlers set out to deliberately injure batsmen, but this episode is just as despicable. So despicable, in fact, that Australian legend Richie Benaud described it as the most disgraceful thing he had ever seen. That says it all.
Well, actually, this video says it all…

Shocking stuff.

Congratulations to Shane Warne who became the first man to take 700 Test wickets. It really was the dream setting: home ground, 90,000 people, last test and 700 wickets. Andrew Strauss played all around a flighted top spinner. Shane took off for a celebration, which ironically seemed to be copied from the new boy of the spinning world, Monty Panesar. The ground erupted, and the applause lasted for several minutes.
Whilst watching it, I actually became a little saddened that he’s leaving the game. He’s been the nemesis of, well, virtually every International cricketer for as long as I can remember, …read more

As we all begin to salivate uncontrollably at the prospect of the Ashes, I caught a conversation at the WAT forums about “Test battles” – that is, some of the big rivalries that have existed in cricket.
The one that sprang immediately to mind was Mike Atherton (England) versus Allan Donald (or is it the other way around?) of South Africa in 1998. A frighteningly pant-staining over of bowling, that somehow Atherton survived.
Good ol’ YouTube has come up trumps again. Enjoy!