If you’ve had a topsy-turvy schedule like me, you probably don’t know what’s happening in the world of cricket. And you’ve missed all the action. But don’t worry, that’s what the round-ups are for.

The Sehwag Ouster: Virendar Sehwag, India’s only triple centurion, has been kicked outta door. This is a big blow to all us Veeru fans. Go rant and cry for justice.

India v. Pak: I’ve only watched the afternoon session today, mainly because it’s Sunday (and that’s good excuse for procrastination). The only thing I observed was that the pitch was pathetically slow, and the ball wasn’t coming on to the bat on most occasions, and that Ishant Sharma is having a bit of a problem with his line and maybe also run-up. Someone said there’s nothing in this match for a bowler. Well, actually there is. Irfan Pathan cracked out a ton. See? For more, I went straight to Sam (again) and Tcwj.

My favorite reads are the rants kind, because I do them so very often myself. Anyway, at Cricket with balls, they are telling us why South Africa stinks. That’s a dahling topic with them. After Gary Kirsten’s appointment as captain, I’ve suddenly started taking interest in these sort of discussions big time.

I’ve yet to discover a good English cricket blog, so to feed my curiosity on SL-Eng, I’d usually hop to Cricket Next. Stuart Broad made his much-awaited test debut. Someone out there must be very happy. Oh, just figured that would be me.

Chris Cairns crafted a record 50 in an ICL match. Things like this sometimes make me want to follow ICL.

Ottayan, as we know has insider info on all things cricket and always beats us all to it, while Pankaj, aka Pan, is my friend because he likes Murali.

Now who managed to finish reading this in just 10 seconds?

Post from: EveryJoe

Around the (cricket) world in 10 seconds

Scorecard

Glad Anderson came into his own. With Stu (ahem, get used to Stuart Broad being called by that nickname, here) continuing to impress (ladies) by constantly taking wickets and handling pressure well (good comeback, btw, after the T20 thrashing at the hands of Yuvraj Singh), and Cook regaining his focus, things are looking up for England. They have won the series 3-1 with one more match to go.

*Ian Botham received knighthood. Good for him. I have just got my copy of his autobiography. Hope to get started on it as soon as I see through Warney’s My Illustrated Career.

*The Darrel Hair trial has created lots of waves lately, but it certainly failed to catch Six’s attention. So did some obscure, meaningless series being played out in a distant corner of the earth where guys are doing more bickering with each other than playing. That’s not cricket. And Six doesn’t like it.

Post from: EveryJoe

Heads up: Look Who’s Winning

Yuvraj Singh

The six straight sixes he hit has sealed his name in the Indian cricket history. And he can also keep the fastest fifty record to himself for a while.

Brett Lee

Wow, Brett “Brute” Lee is back. I think we need to give him kudos for the superb hat-trick, which also happens to be the first in Twenty20 Cricket, against Bangladesh. Remember, he also has a ODI hat-trick to his name.

Watch it here:

Post from: EveryJoe

Friday Special: Heroes of the Week

Stuart Broad on debut got a useful 2fer with a first ball scalp of Younis Khan. And although the kid looks about 12 (even though he’s 20), it’s pretty clear he’s got a promising England career ahead of him. And at 6′6″ and still growing (he’s projected to be 6′9″) he’ll make a worthy bowling partner to Steve Harmison. Assuming Harmy can get over his injury. When Shahid Afridi made it to the wicket, on Broad’s hat-trick ball, rather than a sensible block or dab, Afridi heaved the youngster back over his head. And he didn’t look like stopping, spanking Mahmood for 22 off his first over. Afridi finally departed, after scoring 28 of just 10 balls, an astonishing strike rate of 275. Not before a smirk of irony breached my face – Afridi put a Mahmood long hop out of the small Bristol ground which meant a box of balls had to be brought in to find a replacement. Fortunately, before one could be chosen the original had been retrieved, and although undoubtedly scratched and scruffed from its brutal treatment, they continued using it.

From there, the game was won, and all Pakistan had to do was run it out. Which they did. Comfortably. England’s newbies had a good day, but Darren Gough’s triumphant comeback was hardly the triumphant comeback he (or most people) would have wanted. No, 8 wickets and a brisk 50 would have been much better. It was not to be though. KP’s failure was no doubt an embarassment for him – perhaps the hype of being England’s lynchpin is getting the better of him.

A 5 match one day series of proper cricket kicks off on Wednesday at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff.

Post from: EveryJoe

England get stuffed