Tabla de contenidos para January - February 2016 en Inside Cricket

Cricket rightly celebrates its illustrious, fascinating past. Because it does, we get a sharp sense of the old and the new, and how they meet; we feel sentimental for that past and new sentiment as we embrace young players and want to give them a revered place in cricket history. First, the past: we’ve been doing far too many of these lately. Two more great characters of the game, Frank Tyson and Lindsay Kline, passed since we last went to print. Normally we’d run a tribute page, but sadly, our 98 pages were planned and commissioned long in advance. Tyson (pictured) was, to those who saw him and experienced his bowling, simply the fastest bowler in history for a short time. He exploded like a flare star, momentarily casting an…

BATTING BEATINGS At one stage in the first Test between England and Pakistan in Abu Dhabi this October, 804 runs were scored for the loss of nine wickets, almost 90 (89.33) runs per batsman! Pakistan declared at 8 for 523 and England 1 for 281. The highest score by a team in Test history is 6 declared for 952 by Sri Lanka against India at Colombo in August 1997. This works out at 158.66 runs per batsman. But the record of most runs per batsman in Tests is 263.33 when West Indies amassed 3 declared for 790 against Pakistan at Kingston in February 1958. England captain Alastair Cook is the only batsman to play two Test innings of over 12 hours each: 773 minutes (12 hours and 53 minutes) when…

Don Bradman thought Barry Richards was as good a batsman as Jack Hobbs. Many suggest Bradman was damning him with faint praise, and Richards might have been almost as good as the Don, given opportunities at the top level. We had enough glimpses of him to learn that he was a freak. Richards averaged 72 in four Tests, before South Africa were banned from international cricket in the early Seventies. He spent the rest of his career smashing domestic attacks around the park, in South Africa, England and, briefly, Australia. During World Series Cricket, the toughest, most elite competition in history, he averaged 79 from five matches, better than his namesake, Viv, the Chappells and all the other WSC stars. How did a flowerpot stop you from making your Test…

1951-52 Australia and the West Indies were playing one-another for the first time in 20 years. Australia had already had a taste of Calypso cricket and liked what they saw. The West Indies felt they’d found a cricketing soulmate. But it took all those years to get another series together. Australia won this one easily, on paper, but in fact it set the tone for the slugfests of the future. The West Indies were an excellent team who’d just beaten England. The line-up included the original WWW – Worrell, Walcott and Weekes – about whom much has been written, and not enough can be said. Younger cricket lovers might be surprised to learn that it was the Windies spin attack of Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine that often bowled them…

When the very best batsmen attain full flow, they enter, and lead us, into a domain where they seem to be one with time, driven by a pulse that all at once seems unstoppable; a will so authoritative, it brooks no break in its rhythm. We suddenly get a feeling we’re watching something supernal. Remember Laxman in Mumbai, 2001? Gilchrist, Perth, 2006? Sobers at the MCG in 1971-72? Bradman saw it in McCabe in 1938. On these occasions, they achieve an invulnerability that suggests either resistance or attack is futile. All batsmen seek this state. Some naturally occupy it; some need a spell: to be stung first, by criticism or failure, or to have someone to impress. The latter type can be formidable when awoken. A wise opponent hopes, like…

The History Of The World Cup Cricket Collection Box Set compiles all of the highlights of the world’s most exciting cricket event. This collection includes extended highlights of all series through the years from 1975 to 2015. The tournaments of 1987, 2003 and 2007 have never before been released on DVD. Out now through JB Hi-Fi. SRP: $59.95 Between 75 and 90 percent of a child’s sports development comes from the use of vision and 30 percent of the brain is devoted to vision. Crazy Catch specifically targets this. The all-new Crazy Catch Upstart Pro has all the features of the traditional Crazy Catch, including the patented unpredictable rebound net. The new Pro version comes with a detachable frame and grab handles, so you can use one side of the…

There are many contenders for Australian batting places right now, but few as exciting as Chris Lynn. Lynn has proven that he excels with the blade in all forms of the game, but he takes particular pride in his batting in first-class cricket. A sensational catch brought Lynn to the world’s attention in 2014. He was playing for Kolkata against Royal Chargers Bangalore in the IPL and fielding square on the fence, when A.B. De Villiers got onto one and hoiked it savagely in his direction. There were three balls to go, six runs for the Chargers to win, and De Villiers’ six would have finished it. It was hit hard, but would have been a conventional catch, if a stinging one. Lynn moved in slightly from the boundary, then…

On February 7, 2016, the Bradman Foundation XI play the Massai Cricket Warriors at Bradman Oval in Bowral. “Massai” is not just some team emblem, like Proteas or Silver Ferns. These are the real thing: the Kenyan Massai, or Maasai tribe. The Warriors play mainly shirtless, in colourful headpieces, beads, robes and often sandals – though more modern footwear has, sensibly, begun to be used. Though the team’s main purpose is spreading awareness in their Kenyan community about HIV/AIDS and women’s issues, it began life as the brainchild of a South African woman, Aliya Bauer, who came into the Likipia region to research baboons. Isolated from her own society, she missed her cricket, and decided to introduce local schoolchildren to the game, using basic gear she’d had shipped from home.…

Justin Langer’s résumé is top shelf: accomplished Zen Do Kai fighter, fighting Australian opener, highest run-getter in Australian first-class history, half of the second-most successful, statistically, opening partnership ever. When he took over as Western Warriors and Perth Scorchers coach in 2012, WA cricket was mired in politics, plagued by behaviour problems. Upon his accession, it all stopped. He’s since helped them to two BBL titles, a Matador Cup and two Sheffield Shield finals. Listen to his wisdom. Aspiring players and coaches, devour the best advice you’ll ever receive, from someone who’s been there, done more than the average cricketer, challenged himself, and won – even when he’s lost! When I retired from playing, I said I’d probably find nothing as tough as the things I’d done so far. Well,…

In one of the summer’s best cricket books, Chasing Shadows – The Life & Death of Peter Roebuck, EJ Cartledge and cowriter Tim Lane attempt what no-one has done before: to break the taboo of exploring Peter Roebuck’s life in detail. The book opens, or allows us to peek into, barrels of worms. Roebuck had been an accomplished ex-county cricketer and highly esteemed author, commentatator and journalist when he jumped to his death from a hotel window in Cape Town, South Africa, in November 2011. Everything that happened before it is an enigma; everything since, a mystery. The book raises many questions, and the reader is left mainly with two: was Roebuck’s life really so complicated, or merely impenetrable thanks to his own machinations? Why did the case itself go…

Our regular “How To” section is written by the best in the business, Elite Cricket. The Head Coach and Director of Elite is none other than former Australian off-spinner Jason Krejza, who also took this month’s instructional snaps. Jason applies his vast experience working with the world’s best players and coaches to his own coaching. Jason had a historymaking Test debut when his 12 wickets for the match against India in 2010 included eight wickets in the first innings. Elite Cricket was started 14 years ago by former firstclass cricketer and Australia A representative, wicketkeeperbatsman Mark Atkinson. Since then, Elite’s innovative coaching methods have been designed to accelerate skill development, increase understanding and promote the fun of cricket. With this vision in mind, they provide individual coaching, school programs, junior…

MONOPOLY THE CRICKET EDITION GAME OF THROWS. RRP $69.95 Hey! It’s Monopoly, and it gets nothing but a good review from us! As kids, we’d sometimes have a game set up while the cricket was on the box. Now cricket comes to the great property trading game, with cricket tokens and cards. Once you get over the shock of Lord’s and the MCG being up for sale, and get used to “Howzat” and “Third Umpire” cards in lieu of Chance and Community Chest, this is as comforting as the old home ground, and still as edifying as ever. As the ad says, “Combine the game you love with…well, the game you love!” TEST MATCH CROWN AND ANDREWS RRP $59.99 Hey! It’s Test Match, and it gets nothing but a good…

“I wouldn’t be buying tickets for the fourth and fifth days.” Steve Waugh’s acerbic summation of the West Indies tour. The West Indies scored Tests in Sydney and Melbourne. "I don't think he needs to apologise. I just don't think he needs to do it in the future." Steve Smith on Mitchell Starc’s last-day explosion in the first NZ Test when he threw a ball at NZ batsman Mark Craig after Craig blocked one of his del iveries. "I'd describe it as a jigsaw with hal f the pieces missing." Kiw i coach Mi ke Hesson after the Kiw is refused to bat i n t heir tour match following Aaron Finch and Ryan Carters’ extraordi nary op ening stand and the CA XI’s declaration at 1-503. They had no…

For twenty years from the mid-Seventies, the West Indies were the scourge of every international team. Now they’re more like a punching bag for the major cricket playing countries. Despite the poundings handed out by those all-conquering West Indies sides, I haven’t heard one opposition player from the past gloating about their current plight. Instead I hear, “Isn’t it sad to see West Indies cricket in such a parlous state?” There are many reasons for the precipitous decline of the West Indies as a cricketing power. However, it can’t help that there has been constant bickering and outright animosity between the players and the administrators for much of that period. The fact that the energy wasted on in-fighting and constant carping hasn’t been turned into a determined endeavour to resolve…

W e’re sticking our neck out when we predict almost anything in the BBL, so why not stick it out further? Melbourne Stars will challenge for this year’s title, and we feel it’s time for an elusive zephyr of a cricketer to swell into a tornado. Glenn Maxwell’s various frustrations, his range of abilities – some conventional, some extremely odd – and his ambitions might all combine to create the perfect storm, for him and his team. We feel Maxy, whose trademark best performances so far have come in 50-over cricket, is about to blossom in the T20 variety. He’s a fast, destructive scorer of runs all around the wicket, but he hasn’t managed to marshal his legion of rebel talents enough to conquer the shortest form of the game…

Cricket between Australia and the West Indies has been so intense and uncompromising, it has given rise to memorable individual performances. Neither team ever likes giving an inch to the other, and when they force one another to the boundaries of performance, remarkable things tend to happen. It’s no mistake that three of our featured performances are from that first, sensational World Cup in 1975, as nothing since stands out in the memory more for those who witnessed it. Who knows what has really fuelled the rivalry between these two outstanding cricketing nations? Whatever it is, cricket needs more of it! CLIVE LLOYD LORD’S, 1975 WORLD CUP In 1975’s inaugural World Cup final, against Australia, Clive Lloyd set the template for one-day cricket batsmanship. His team looked to have made…

Elsewhere in this issue, we feature an article on the 1983-84 rebel tours of South Africa and their disastrous fallout. Our Game Changer was famously a victim of that fallout, yet he has never backed down from his stance that the tours did more good than harm, and the cricketers who took their $100,000 per tour performed many duties for black communities above and beyond playing cricket, educating the white population while they were at it. Frankyn Stephenson shared an honorary title with the late Clive Rice: “The best cricketer never to play Test cricket.” It seems he was certainly the best West Indian never to play Test cricket. Like Rice, Stephenson was a cricketer who damaged opposition teams, and he could do it in any capacity at all: with…

As any rusted-on lover of our great game knows, there’s an art to watching Test match cricket. You don’t watch every single second of the whole thing because you can’t. You’d go mad. You’d be incredibly bored. There are people who watch every second across six hours’ play. And these people are mad. And not to be trusted. No, to watch Test cricket, you focus on the action – bowler runs in, batsman does his thing, fielders field. And during the period of nil action that follows, when ball heads from ‘keeper to slip and back up to bowler, you please yourself. Talk to your mate, check out your phone, bet on the fifth race at Flemington. It is your call. It’s why cricket on the radio can be fun,…