The beauty of art, it has been said, is the concealment of art; England’s right-handed middle-order batsman Mike Gatting and left-handed opener Andrew Strauss are certain to agree. Neither saw the threat Australia’s artful Shane Warne posed to his continued survival until it was too late. The first lost his …
Read More »Best revisits BC Lara’s Great GOAT Debate: The Don, Sachin T or me?
“A man of genius,” CLR James says, in writing of Garry Sobers, “is what he is, he cannot be something else and remain what he is.” There is another West Indian left-hander, born a generation after Sobers on May 2, 1969, to whom James’ encomium applies unadjusted. Superlatives abound in …
Read More »Media Monitor: The more thieves change in Australia cricket, the more they reverse the swing
“One seta friggin tief!” Amen, brother! More than 15 years ago in July 2001, Valentino Singh, former QRC cricket captain and later Guardian sports editor, headlined his regular Thinking Things Out column, “Best ‘cheats’ will continue to rule.” The “cheats” referred to were the Australian Test cricketers who, according to …
Read More »Dhoni, Sobers or Warne as World T20 skipper? Best looks at ESPN’s World XI Team
Neither Brian Lara with his multiple batting records nor Curtly Ambrose with his deadly destructive 20.99 ODI bowling average was deemed good enough to make the final ESPN World XI. Joel Garner, whose ODI strike rate is an impressive 50.8 and whose average is even more impressive at an incredible …
Read More »Lara makes no name for himself at Lord’s
“Indian fans declare excitement,” a pre-match tweet announced, “over chance to see Sachin and 21 other guys whose names escape me.” The source does not identify the tweeter but it could have been ESPNcricinfo Assistant Editor Allan Gardner, the writer of an online preview to yesterday’s pompously named Marylebone Cricket …
Read More »