These were photos taken by a friend, Ian Geddes walking around the boundary from the 2011 ODI cricket fixture between Scottish Saltires and 1996 world cup champions Sri Lanka.
Lasith Malinga took 4 wickets, all bowled and hit 32 runs off 18 balls. Game over. SL won by 183 runs!
The assassin:
The controlled assault:
The moment of truth :
The release and follow through:
The result:
Filed under scottish cricket
The recent Sydney test has really raised interest, with Michael Clarke scoring a memorable 329. He likes batting against the Indians, scoring 151 on debut against them in 2004. IThere are signs of an Australian resurgence, as veteran batsman Ricky Ponting registered his fortieth century with a classy 150 and Michael Hussey hitting magical 3 figures which can strengthen the Aussies batting stock in the coming year.
Jacques Kallis made a statement with a test best 224 against the Sri Lankans in Durban. He now sits on 41 test tons, second place behind Sachin Tendulkar in the all time centurions list. It’s testament to the greater skills on show, and imaginative strokeplay the modern day batsman bring to bare with each innings.
On the bowling front, James Pattinson has taken 25 wickets at 18.12 in just 4 tests during the summer. He’s scored a few runs also. Pat Cummins is out with a heel injury. Australia’s real weakness in recent times, has been a lack of penetrative bowling attack. It will be interesting to monitor the make up of Australia’s bowling attack with next year’s Ashes beckoning.
Filed under Australian Cricket
Between 1999 and 2011, England have marked a meteoric rise up the ICC world rankings. The dramatic turnaround in English cricket’s fortunes, has coincided with some major changes in the structures within the ECB. Not least the Schofield review that was conducted after the 2006/07 Ashes whitewash which introduced the English Lions, which has since provided an excellent breeding ground for future English cricketers.
The dark days of the Nineties, when England could barely buy a result, seem a dim and distant memory and a Barmy Army inspired England team reign supreme now. The familiarity of another defeat in the Ashes series is nothing but a dim memory.
Phil ‘the Cat’ Tuffnell has been covering the halycon days from the relatively safe position in the commentary box. He symbolises English cricket in the 1990′s, a truly talented player, who was allowed all too often to go off the rails.
Under the Flower/Strauss regime, England’s players have turned into a polished outfit, epitomised by the organised bowling unit. Tim Bresnan has enjoyed an extended run in the test side, but one wonders if he would have been given access to such finely tuned planning, from eyewear, to sports nutrition. The characters from the 1990′s can only look on with admiration, but must take credit in creating the legacy of English cricket’s 2011 ascendancy to the top of the ICC rankings.
Filed under Uncategorized
Scotland boast a younger team since the retirement of senior players, Gavin Hamilton, Colin Smith, John Blain, Craig Wright, and Douglas Lockhart. Kyle Coetzer, the Durham player showed his dedication to the national team with some inspired batting in the recent win over Holland.
Majid Haq top scored against Holland in the drawn 4 day Intercontinental Cup tie (89). Better known for his off-Spin Majid could be a dangerous pinch-hitter in the one day game.
Sri Lankan danger men include Lasith Malinga, retired from test cricket in April and arrived on the UK tour late from IPL duty. Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan is leading the team now, and has been compared to Sanath Jayasuriya in terms of his shot-making ability. Much like English cricket’s search for the next Ian Botham, it appears the Sri Lankan public are too keen to find a match winner with the bat, but Dilshan’s famous scoop shot is no match for the great Jayasuriya.
The Sri Lankan batting order looks dangerous, so Scots bowlers had better be on top form to counter the innovative and pinch hitting stroke-makers at the top of the innings.
Filed under Uncategorized
The use of technology in cricket, in particular UDRS – A couple of other emails sent into Sky Sports news, illustrates my strong feelings on test cricket being the crown jewel event in the game, despite all the fanfare that surrounds Twenty 20 cricket.
TV companies rely too heavily on replays, leaving very little to the viewers imagination. Isn’t the whole attraction of watching the game, is to discuss afterwards the injustices of Umpiring decisions, not the over-use of replays. Cricket players around the world maintain that the good decisions ultimately balance out the bad ones anyway.
Sports media organisations will continue to validate technology with the increasing coverage given to Cricket, a 365 days a year sport now at International level.
An email discussing cricket’s lost art of test cricket.
http://www.facebook.com/v/423066884281
An email aboout the over-dependency and erroneous nature of technology and camera angles.
http://www.facebook.com/v/423060334281
Filed under ICC, Test Cricket, Twenty 20
Reading Geoffrey Boycott’s book, it’s discovering that Boycott wasn’t alone in hitting fewer sixes. The earlier batsmen were more hampered with lighter bats, uncovered pitches and playing less international cricket . The modern batsman is blessed with beautifully manicured wickets, where the ball plays true on the bounce.
Chris Cairns of New Zealand (87 sixes) retired in 2004 with a Test batting average at number seven (44.02) is the 5th best average for that position of all time. Compare his sixes hitting with Botham’s (67 x6) and you’ve got an interesting comparison.
Adam Gilchrist the record holder (100 sixes). Fastest double hundred (212 balls). This was eight balls quicker than Ian Botham’s innings against India at The Oval in 1982.
Brian Lara scored 88 x6′s, the difference with Lara was that he was a selfish player who enjoyed converting his fifties into 34 big hundreds, hence his higher run aggregate. However, these guys all play far less cricket for their counties and more or less play internationals all year round.
In summing up which era could claim to have the greatest players, then it’s a case of balancing up the relative performances in all first class cricket. Modern players play far more ODI’s and therefore have impressive strike rates. Post war players, expressed themselves, see Keith Miller’s exploits for Australia. In my eyes, the older players shade it, because they played on uncovered pitches.
Filed under ODI cricket
Currently tied 2-2 with England in the ODI series, Sri Lanka’s tour takes them to Manchester for the final ODI then there will be a tri-nations tournament with Scottish Saltires and Ireland to satisfy ICC associate cricket development programme.
The Scots recently defeated Holland 2-0 at Mannofield in Aberdeen their first ODI win this year. Durham player, Kyle Coetzer has returned to fold and made an immediate impression against the Dutch.
An unbeaten 89 from Kyle Coetzer guided Scotland to a five-wicket win and a 2-0 clean sweep of their one-day international series against Holland.
Scottish Saltires met Sri Lanka in the 2007 World Cup Warm-up Fixture in Barbados.Sri Lanka won by 159 runs
Sri Lanka 294/7 (50 overs), Scotland 135 (41.2 overs)
After the Tri-nation tournament in Edinburgh, Sri Lanka will host Australia, the first T20 starting on August 6th followed by 3 tests, and then head to South Africa in December.
Sri Lankan cricket has been rocked recently by some revelations from former Skipper Kumar Sangakarra, during his MCC Spirit of Cricket lecture at Lords, in which he slammed corrupt Sri Lankan officials
Filed under Uncategorized
The ODI series is poised at 2-2. Captain Cook is enjoying a
purple patch, and always good to see the openers knock off the 1runs for victory to win by 10 wickets. With Sri Lanka coming up to Edinburgh it’s a good chance for England to help the Scots by denting the Sri Lankan’s confidence, although the history of ODI series between the 2 countries is fairly one-sided until recently when England have made some progress.
Sri Lanka whitewashed England 5-0 in 2006. England got their own back in 2007, with a Paul Collingwood inspired 3-2 series win in Sri Lanka.
The match in the Caribbean when Sri Lanka famously got past England in the 2007 World Cup, with England needing 3 runs off the final delivery, bowler Dilhara Fernando stopped mid delivery, and totally put Ravi Bopara off. He came back in, and Bopara couldn’t score the required runs, England later went out of the Cup, Michael Vaughan retired soon after, and Peter Moores short-lived reign as coach came tumbling down.
Expect the final one day internation at Old Trafford to be a juicy encounter.
Filed under World Cup
English cricket board has agreed to to play a series of matches to recoup Sky sports lost revenue from the 2008 Stanford Super Series fiasco.
An estimated 22% of Sky TV revenue goes back into grassroots cricket, but there’s a worrying dependence on Sky revenue to fund to fund the domestic game, and the central contracts. The English cricket and Sky Sports 2010-2013 partnership much like Scottish Football’s over-dependence on TV revenue in the 2000′s, seems destined for collision course.
Ultimately it was the domestic game that suffered as the Television deal collapsed in 2009 leaving Scottish Fc’s reeling and in debt, with attendances at an all time low due to inflated ticket prices.
The 2013 Ashes free-to-air debate should be put back on the table now, as ECB’s reputation is on the line once again. Not only is county cricket in a poor state, with very few international stars allowed to play during the season, that cricket’s true fans are being alienated.
When the ICC’s meet in Hong Kong later in the month, they must allow associations nations into the 2015 World Cup and send a message to the cricket community that no-one team or player is bigger than the game.
Filed under Ashes Cricket, Associate Cricket, County Cricket
The measure of star quality that is attracted to Scottish game, is epitomised by Perthshire cricket club. They were the oldest club, 175 years in existence.
Originally established in 1826, this is a club that can claim to have fielded some international stars. Australian cricketers Justin Langer, and Adam Gilchrist have spent time in the middle with Perthshire. A fact that was recognised when these stars of the international game were presented with an award when Australia’s cricketers played the ODI against Scottish Saltires in 2009. Sadly this coincided with the club’s closing down due to lack of funds and players.
The demise of Scotland’s oldest cricket club was a combination of lack of popularity of the sport, and lack of funding. Similar to the decline in West Indian cricket, the competition of other more popular sports is a continual struggle in Scottish cricket, where football the perceived national sport, appeals to the youngsters that is necessary to grow the sport.
Filed under Saltires Cricket, scottish cricket
FccricketsBlog
