Loved rehab, but I still got it right: Hair

Daryl Hair has been through a 'man management course' as a part of his rehabilitation after he got demoted following the Oval controversy. Reports the Sydney Morning Herald. But after the course is complete, Hair still believes that what he did was right.

"It's easy to say, look, if I'd known how to deal with that sort of issue, the communication and management issues then, if I knew then what I know now I may have done things differently.

"But I don't believe so because there's a certain limit to what the umpire needs to do under those circumstances and I believe that both the umpires fulfilled those obligations both with the ball tampering and the refusal to play."

He also defended his claim of a severance payment from ICC.

Click here for the story

Cricket explained by Hugo Weaving

Received this on e-mail. It sure is the funniest description of cricket I have ever heard:

Cricket is a game in which you have two sides,
one out on the field, and one in,
each man thats on the side thats in...goes out,
and when he's out, he comes back in,
and the next man goes in, until he is out.
When they're all out,
the side thats been in...goes out,
and tries to get those coming in, out.
When both sides have been in and out,
that's including the not outs,
thats the end of the game!

- Hugo Weaving, Bodyline, 1984

Eight teams will play in Asia cup 2008

According to this cricinfo report, as many as eight teams will participate in the Asia cup 2008. India, Pakistna, Srilanka and Bangladesh are the obvious four. I am interested to see who are the other four. The game is spreading really fast.

Drugs and cricketers

The Maninder Singh incident was shocking. We have known some films stars to be drug addicts but its the first time that an Indian cricketer has been arrested for possessing drugs. He had 1.5 grams of cocaine and he admitted to be in the habit of consuming drugs consistently. He has been granted bail and will spend some tough time now defending himself.

Cricketers and ex-cricketers across the world have had a history with drugs. Some of them did it during or before games as well.

Shane Warne couldn't pass the drugs test in 2003 world cup.

Phill Tuffnel was accused of cosuming drugs in 1996-97, denied the charges- got away but didn't turn up for a random drug test and was suspended for 18 months with a fine of 1000 pounds.

Ian Botham was banned for 63 days for consuming drugs.

New zealand's Stephen Fleming, Dion Nash and Matthwe Hart were banned and fined for consuming cananabis in 93-94.


South Africa's Roger Telemachus, Andre Nel, Paul Adams, Justin Kemp and physiotherapist Craig Smith admitted to consuming drugs in a party celebrating a win and were punished.

Pakistan's Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Aqib Javed and Mushtaq Ahmed were arrested by West Indian police in 1993 for possesing marijuana. They were arrested along with two British female journalists. The PCB strongly protested and as the matters reached Diplomatic levels, the Prime Minister intervened and got the four out of the crisis.

Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif failed to pass an internal drug test just prior to the last Champions Trophy. They were immediately withdrawn from the tournament. A panel of judges banned the cricketers but then PCB formed another Panel which over ruled the decision and set the players free.

The above list does not include all the names. Now, an Indian's name is also included in that. I hope we will get to see fewer such cases....specifically with current cricketers. Those who are caught should be punished to set an appropriate example.

References:
Cricinfo
Hindustan Times
DNA India

Magic pictures

Rain spoiled the game...

You played really well dada



Celebrations for Bangladesh

Sunday game washed off

I have been busy with work for the entire last week. Waited desperately for Sunday to come so that I can catch the India-Bangladesh match on tv and make some entries in this blog. But Alas! the days game has been called off and the match seems to be heading towards a draw.

I want to see India blast some very quick runs in the first session and then get Bangladesh out twice. But then who knows.....we might not have any cricket tomorrow either.

A Bangladeshi friend tells me that the time and the venue are bad. Monsoon is due in Bangladesh and the venue is one where monsoon hits first. If thats true, its the mistake of the organizers. Whats the point in organizing matches when you know that the chances of rain are high?

I am happy to see Sachin and Ganguly get their centuries. Specifically Sachin. Its his opportunity to play freely without pressure and get back to form. I hope to see him hit a few more of those tons in the matches to come against tougher opponents.

Cricket joke

The Devils challenged the Angels to a game of cricket.

"But we've got all the cricketers," said the Angels.

"Yes. But we've got all the umpires!" exclaimed The Devils.

The most strange umpiring decision I have ever seen

I received this youtube link on mail and was shocked to see what happens there. I replayed it again and again to find out whats the matter but am still clueless. Can someone explain whats happening here?

Gilchrist cleared

Does the tiger need any accessories to kill the lesser animals in the jungle? Certainly not. The roar kills half of them and those who have the heart to survive the roar are torn apart by his claws.

Gilchrist did tear the Srilankan bowlers apart on the world cup final. Bad losers on the south Asian island cried foul over a squash ball inside his gloves. How instrumental was that in his performance? Well....the kind of form he was in, he probably could have scored all those runs with just one hand. But a complaint is a complaint and must be addressed. The law makers opine that Gilly did nothing unethical by inserting that squash ball in his gloves.

Read the story here.

No confidence motion for Speed?

If you are one of those who think that the world cup wasnt spicy enough, here is more spice for you. The fight between BBCI and ICC has been quite an interesting story. Its now threatening to become a formal war. No points for guessing that Speed hasnt been a hero for BCCI.Both's financial interests keep conflicting and they keep fighting all the time.

Now, Niranjan Shah, the Indian board secretary has hinted that BCCI might bring a no confidece motion against Speed in the next available opportunity. Shah thinks that things are getting more and more bureaucratic and that Speed has employed too many people thereby wasting money. He thinks that the game of cricket is being ignored.

Cricket Joke

Mrs Jones : I'd like my son to be excused playing cricket. I don't think he should mix with that sort of person.

Teacher: How d'you mean?

Mrs Jones: Well; I distinctly heard him say that the man in the white coat was a vampire!

Mandira Bedi's Saree

Indian cricket hardly stays out of controversy. The latest one involves Mandira Bedi. On the final, in the pre-match discussion show, co-anchor Mandira Bedi wore a Saree that sported national flags of all 16 participating nations and the Indian flag, which was the largest one, was placed below her knee- close to her feet.

Indian people didn’t like it and where the web was immediately flooded with objections (thanks to web2.0 interactivity), Sony Max, the channel also started getting calls. In the lunch time, when the show resumed, Mandira had changed her Saree and immediately apologized to the audience. She said that she didn’t mean to hurt anyone.

Indian law does not allow anyone to display the national flag of India on one’s clothes. This is a serious offence and where I can understand that Mandira wasn’t aware of the law, I am surprised that Puneet Nanda, the designer of the Saree wasn’t aware of the law either. And also I am surprised that Sony’s legal department allowed that to happen.

Mandira’s apology didn’t really calm people down. Two complaints have been registered against her and a court in Kozhikode will hear the case on 10th of may. Mandira and the designer of the Saree face upto three years of imprisonment for showing disrespect to the national flag. But I think they will get much milder punishments as the disrespect was not intentional.

Mandira Bedi has been quite a controversial character ever since Sony appointed her as a co-anchor for the match discussion shows. Her knowledge of cricket was as good as nothing and her comments many times put off the audience. Now that she has built some knowledge of the game over a long period of time, she still continues to be in controversy for something or other. Lets see where this onegoes.

'The South Africans are my personal favourites' - Bob Woolmer

Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer says in this article in cricinfo that the South Africans are his personal favorites. I am not very sure if this comment will go down very well with the Pakistani cricket fans.

New Brian Lara Cricket 2007 Demo Available

Those who love to play cricket on the screen have a news to be happy about. Now its not only a new world cup on your tv screen, but also a new one on your computer screen as well. The Brian Lara cricket 2007 demo is being made available.

Read story here.

Search begins for 'World's Sexiest Cricketer

Well, this also had to happen. Its world cup time. The cricket fever is catching up fast. So Star News, an Indian 24-hours news channel decided to bring some entertainment for the female audience as well. How?

Star news is soon launching a weekly program called 'Crazy Kiya Re--World's Sexiest Cricketer'. The program is being produced by International Management Group (IMG) Media in association with STAR News. There will be 13 episodes.

The most strange thing to notice in the program telecast timing- 9:30 AM every saturday. When is it starting? 10th March.

11 players will be voted by the public as the "sexiest 11" and then out of these 11 nominees, the sexiest cricketer will be chosen.

Given that the program is Indian and Dhoni's popularity in India, I believe Dhoni is a strong contender for this one. But then popular players like Sachin, Sourav and Dravid also stand a chance. I doubt anyone from outside India will win this one though.

Read the full story here.

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World Cup trophy damaged in India

The one thing after which every one is crzy these days, the world cup trophy has been damaged in India and has been sent back to

"The lower gold ring of the World Cup was detached from the wooden base when the trophy was received from the ICC," the statement said. "ICC policy does not allow anyone except the official trophy makers to repair/polish the trophy. "Therefore, LG (sponsors) received the trophy with the lower ring detached from the wooden base."

Click here to read the story on cricinfo.

Naved-ul-Hasan and Pakistan have a reason to worry

Fine, Pakistan has won the first warm-up match against Canada. But there is one point that attracted my attention - the bowling figures by Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Naved gave away 43 runs in 7 overs at an economy rate of 6.14. In a match in which Canada made a total score of less than 200 runs, this economy rate stands out as a less than ordinary performance by Rana.

Shahid Afridi also conceded at a rate of 5.33 which is niot very impressive. While Rana got one wicket, Afridi got none.

The worry for Pakistan is that if the bowlers are not able to bowl tight against the weak batting line-up of Canada, will they be able to do it against stronger sides?