I was reading through old cricket articles today and thought that on the day of the IPL auctions that this was quite an interesting read:
Kevin Pietersen once more raised the thorny subject of player burnout as he appealed to the England board to do something about the almost non-stop schedule imposed on the team.
England have hardly had a break since late 2005 - their last meaningful rest came after the Ashes series that summer, although some players such as Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff had to take part in the ICC's Super Series in what was a six-week lay-off. The last two winter tours have ended after the English season has started, so the England players have returned and gone straight into the home season without any time off.
"When I said I was tired in the summer nobody said anything to me, nobody backed me at all," Pietersen shrugged. "It would be nice to have the decision taken out of my hands.
"It's always a very tricky question. I would find it very hard to miss a tour because I love playing cricket. When I broke a rib in the winter and had to go home, I got really frustrated watching the one-day games on television because I wanted to be out in Australia playing.
"I want to play for another nine or ten years and the schedule we have got is tricky. I have not missed a Test match since I made my debut. I am not sure about missing whole tours, but I do believe there is scope for certain players to be looked after and certain players need to be looked after."
Hugh Morris, in Sri Lanka less than a fortnight after being appointed as managing director of English cricket, offered some hope to Pietersen and his colleagues.
"Resting players is on the table, for sure," he said. "I want to discuss it with the management team and the players. There is a serious amount of international cricket being played and we need to ensure that our best players are fit and raring to go. But we have to balance the need to play the right amount of cricket with commercial considerations."
Less than 18 months later, England are in the West Indies, they then have a five week break before the start of a summer programme of series against the Windies (again) and the much anticipated Ashes series, with a Twenty20 world cup sandwiched in between. The side then play the rearranged Champions Trophy before embarking on a tour to South Africa. And the only break for the players is this five week window in April and May, but burnout is no longer an issue as the guys head off to the heat and humidity of the sub continent, following today’s IPL auction in Goa. Of course we cannot blame them, it’s a $1million after all, we’d do the same. If your employer said “right we need you to work extra hours and here’s a million dollars” you’re not going to say no. I just hope two things: 1) KP doesn’t repeat any of the above, as it's funny how money talks and 2) Freddie doesn’t get injured prior to the Ashes, because looking at our attack so far in the Windies we’ll be stuffed.
My big gripe however, is the apparent 'unhappiness' that the players have to give 10% of their IPL salaries back to their counties. You know, the one's that developed them, or in KP's case the ones that helped him get out of Notts. Players are being rewarded handsomely for their IPL involvement, good luck to them, but to begrudge their counties, and their county's members who look forward to seeing their heroes once or twice a season before the international summer begins is, in my opinion, an act of selfishness.
Friday, 6 February 2009
Sunday, 28 December 2008
Test Cricket is dead :-)
Test Cricket is dead, Twenty 20 is the future of cricket. We may have lost the Test series in India, but the series showed once against Test cricket still remains the pinnacle of our great game. The first Test in Chennai had everything, ok we lost the match, but full credit to India for chasing down such a huge total. Throughout, the Test had everything, the pendulum kept swinging and this is something you just do not get in Twenty 20 cricket, one bad spell and you’re out of the game. In a way it is perhaps a good thing for the game that India are starting to enjoy success in Test cricket with back to back series wins over Australia and England. Many feel they are the powerhouse of the game at the moment, so it is perhaps a positive thing they are starting to enjoy some sustained success in Test cricket. After all, it was India who only jumped upon the Twenty 20 bandwagon after they’d won the World Twenty 20 competition last year.
The current series down under in Australia is also flying the flag for Test cricket. The 1st Test in Perth saw South Africa chase down a total in excess of 400, and now in this Boxing Day Test in Melbourne South Africa after a positive first day, and a miserable second day, have fought back on the third day with a wonderful innings from JP Duminy as the South Africans went from 190 odd for 7 to a score in excess of 450. But remember boring Test Cricket is dead and old school!
Tomorrow the touring team for the Windies is announced. Ian Bell, Steve Harmison and Monty Panesar will be having sleepless, nervous nights tonight. There is big debate over bringing back Michael Vaughan. Get him back in. All this ‘what has he done to deserve a recall’, the guy just needed a complete break from cricket. Vaughan is a class act and without the pressures of captaincy he can be a real key ingredient for the Ashes. Remember what did Andrew Strauss do to deserve a recall to the side last year? He wasn’t selected for Sri Lanka had a complete break and came back into the side in New Zealand scored a highest ever Test score and since then has averaged late 40s with the bat. Vaughan can do the same.
As for the other selections, Ian Bell, is in need of the rest. His confidence is rock bottom, give him the break, let him go back to Warwickshire and rediscover his form out of the spotlight. Monty is the same, at this moment in time Swann has overtaken him and Rashid is worth looking at as a back up. Both Monty and Bell will come again. As for Harmy, the great Enigma. Answers on a postcard what would you do?
The current series down under in Australia is also flying the flag for Test cricket. The 1st Test in Perth saw South Africa chase down a total in excess of 400, and now in this Boxing Day Test in Melbourne South Africa after a positive first day, and a miserable second day, have fought back on the third day with a wonderful innings from JP Duminy as the South Africans went from 190 odd for 7 to a score in excess of 450. But remember boring Test Cricket is dead and old school!
Tomorrow the touring team for the Windies is announced. Ian Bell, Steve Harmison and Monty Panesar will be having sleepless, nervous nights tonight. There is big debate over bringing back Michael Vaughan. Get him back in. All this ‘what has he done to deserve a recall’, the guy just needed a complete break from cricket. Vaughan is a class act and without the pressures of captaincy he can be a real key ingredient for the Ashes. Remember what did Andrew Strauss do to deserve a recall to the side last year? He wasn’t selected for Sri Lanka had a complete break and came back into the side in New Zealand scored a highest ever Test score and since then has averaged late 40s with the bat. Vaughan can do the same.
As for the other selections, Ian Bell, is in need of the rest. His confidence is rock bottom, give him the break, let him go back to Warwickshire and rediscover his form out of the spotlight. Monty is the same, at this moment in time Swann has overtaken him and Rashid is worth looking at as a back up. Both Monty and Bell will come again. As for Harmy, the great Enigma. Answers on a postcard what would you do?
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
Ashes Ticket Prices
Every day you can sit back put a DVD on and rejoice in the switch hitting of Kevin Pieterson, the six hitting of Freddie, and the bouncing bombs from Harmy, but where will the next generation of England stars come from, and what about the next generation after them?
When SKY won the rights for live coverage of England games, I was of course disappointed. Maybe I’m an old traditionalist at heart and feel the cream of our sports should be free to watch on television. But in fairness to SKY they have done, and continue to do, an excellent job with their cricket coverage. And my moan today isn’t about SKY, but as someone who is a regular supporter of the England cricket team I am aghast to see the prices being charged for next year’s Ashes series. Tickets at Lords, Cardiff and Edgbaston over £70, Oval and Headingley over £50. With SKY having recently renegotiated their television contract, Vodafone continuing to be an excellent sponsor, and Adidas newly on board as kit manufacturers, I am struggling to see the justification in such huge hikes in ticket prices. Are we not in a credit crunch? Yet once again the ECB are doing their best to keep the general person on the street away from our beautiful game.
So my question to Giles Clarke is: where do you see the next generation of England heroes coming from when the average person in the street may not be able afford SKY and certainly cannot afford the ticket price for a Test match. 2005 was a wonderful spectacle for English cricket, it’s just a shame that in 2009, some four years later, the series will not be free to air and entrance prices will in a lot of cases have been doubled. Let’s enjoy KP and Freddie while we can.
On a more positive note, the England players today have announced they will be donating half their match fees to victims of the terror attacks in Mumbai – a fantastic gesture.
The next few weeks shall be interesting, we have a mountain to climb against this Indian side and with no preparation that mountain will be even higher to climb. However, it was refreshing to hear KP insist England will not hide behind the turmoil of the Mumbai terror attacks should results not go our way. KP has come out of these last few weeks with huge credit, the team clearly respect him, and despite my initial reservations regarding KP as captain, I am happy to place on record I was wrong. KP has shown incredible leadership qualities and I have this sneaky feeling that we may come away with a win in this series. The unity in this squad has got even stronger over the last few weeks and I think we may surprise a few people over the coming weeks, none more so, I hope than the Indians. I just wish I was there :-(
When SKY won the rights for live coverage of England games, I was of course disappointed. Maybe I’m an old traditionalist at heart and feel the cream of our sports should be free to watch on television. But in fairness to SKY they have done, and continue to do, an excellent job with their cricket coverage. And my moan today isn’t about SKY, but as someone who is a regular supporter of the England cricket team I am aghast to see the prices being charged for next year’s Ashes series. Tickets at Lords, Cardiff and Edgbaston over £70, Oval and Headingley over £50. With SKY having recently renegotiated their television contract, Vodafone continuing to be an excellent sponsor, and Adidas newly on board as kit manufacturers, I am struggling to see the justification in such huge hikes in ticket prices. Are we not in a credit crunch? Yet once again the ECB are doing their best to keep the general person on the street away from our beautiful game.
So my question to Giles Clarke is: where do you see the next generation of England heroes coming from when the average person in the street may not be able afford SKY and certainly cannot afford the ticket price for a Test match. 2005 was a wonderful spectacle for English cricket, it’s just a shame that in 2009, some four years later, the series will not be free to air and entrance prices will in a lot of cases have been doubled. Let’s enjoy KP and Freddie while we can.
On a more positive note, the England players today have announced they will be donating half their match fees to victims of the terror attacks in Mumbai – a fantastic gesture.
The next few weeks shall be interesting, we have a mountain to climb against this Indian side and with no preparation that mountain will be even higher to climb. However, it was refreshing to hear KP insist England will not hide behind the turmoil of the Mumbai terror attacks should results not go our way. KP has come out of these last few weeks with huge credit, the team clearly respect him, and despite my initial reservations regarding KP as captain, I am happy to place on record I was wrong. KP has shown incredible leadership qualities and I have this sneaky feeling that we may come away with a win in this series. The unity in this squad has got even stronger over the last few weeks and I think we may surprise a few people over the coming weeks, none more so, I hope than the Indians. I just wish I was there :-(
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Will they, Won’t they?
This is a question that has effected a number of us England fans who have been waiting with baited breath. Here we are days before the 1st Test and we still don’t know. Personally, I have made the decision to cancel my trip. After a lot of thought and consideration I took the decision that I would still make the trip to India to follow the boys. India is a fantastic country with the most passionate cricket fans in the world. However, with only days until the 1st Test we still do not know with any certainly whether the team will travel and what they venues will actually be. First the Mumbai test is changed to Chennai, then Chennai becomes the 1st Test venue with Mohali becoming the venue for the 2nd Test. Then we hear there are concerns over Mohali.
The events in Mumbai hit us all and I think anyone who would have had the pleasure to have visited the wonderful Taj Hotel will have been hit especially hard. I visited the hotel on the 2006 tour and it’s very sad to think of the events that happened there a few weeks ago. The players have been put in a very difficult position, do they or don’t they travel back to India. Everyone has their own thoughts and whatever those thoughts are, they have to be respected. But, the group of people who seemed to have been forgotten, is us, the England supporters.
Personally, I have lost a decent amount of money on this tour, but I know a lot of people have lost a lot, lot more, but not once over the last few weeks have we heard any sympathy from official or the media towards the supporters who have lost huge amounts of money - money which we can ill afford to lose in a time of such economic uncertainty. Wouldn’t it be great if the ECB would make some kind of token gesture to every England fan that had bought tickets for the India series?
In closing, I would like to thank my insurance company for not paying out despite the foreign office advice that we should not travel due to high risk of terrorism. Isn’t great taking out travel insurance!
The events in Mumbai hit us all and I think anyone who would have had the pleasure to have visited the wonderful Taj Hotel will have been hit especially hard. I visited the hotel on the 2006 tour and it’s very sad to think of the events that happened there a few weeks ago. The players have been put in a very difficult position, do they or don’t they travel back to India. Everyone has their own thoughts and whatever those thoughts are, they have to be respected. But, the group of people who seemed to have been forgotten, is us, the England supporters.
Personally, I have lost a decent amount of money on this tour, but I know a lot of people have lost a lot, lot more, but not once over the last few weeks have we heard any sympathy from official or the media towards the supporters who have lost huge amounts of money - money which we can ill afford to lose in a time of such economic uncertainty. Wouldn’t it be great if the ECB would make some kind of token gesture to every England fan that had bought tickets for the India series?
In closing, I would like to thank my insurance company for not paying out despite the foreign office advice that we should not travel due to high risk of terrorism. Isn’t great taking out travel insurance!
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Mushy, Twenty 20 and good old Graeme Smith
Earlier this week Mushtaq Ahmed announced his retirement from first class cricket. Along with Warne, Murali, and Kumble he was one of the modern day great spinners. The day before his retirement he did a stint with Charles Colville in the Sky commentary box and an interesting fact mentioned was that in Mushtaq's first class career he has bowled over 90,000 legitmate deliveries, toss in the odd no ball etc and that's quite an achievement. I remember in my bowling days I was shattered four balls into my first over so a personal 'fair play' to the great man. How he'll be missed by Sussex.
Other interesting news this week was Ricccckaaaay Ponting throwing his weight behind getting Twenty20 as an Olympic sport by 2020 (an apt year). For the first, and hopefully only time, I actually agree with Ponting in that the administrators really do need to get a grip on this Twenty20 bandwagon, I genuinely do fear for the longer forms of the games in years to come. What of course would be interesting is we'd be known as Great Britain rather than England, a topic for an interesting debate, particularly if we had to have a quota of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland players - actually come to think of maybe not a bad idea if they have a wicketkeeper looking for a game??
One day series continues tomorrow and Graeme Smith ruled out, tennis elbow apparently, he's had the condition all the summer, it's ok when his team are winning, a few defeats and it flares up by all accounts. No need to worry though Kallis is going to captain, I'm sure his experience in the 'quicker' form of the game will be a lesson to his team. Win the toss, bat first 50 for 0 off the first 45 overs, I'm looking forward to it Jacques! Mark Boucher has given Kallis his backing "I know he gave up the vice captaincy a little while ago because there were a few issues there and there probably still are a few issues" Yes, you bat for yourself and not the team and you're too flippin slow!
Other interesting news this week was Ricccckaaaay Ponting throwing his weight behind getting Twenty20 as an Olympic sport by 2020 (an apt year). For the first, and hopefully only time, I actually agree with Ponting in that the administrators really do need to get a grip on this Twenty20 bandwagon, I genuinely do fear for the longer forms of the games in years to come. What of course would be interesting is we'd be known as Great Britain rather than England, a topic for an interesting debate, particularly if we had to have a quota of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland players - actually come to think of maybe not a bad idea if they have a wicketkeeper looking for a game??
One day series continues tomorrow and Graeme Smith ruled out, tennis elbow apparently, he's had the condition all the summer, it's ok when his team are winning, a few defeats and it flares up by all accounts. No need to worry though Kallis is going to captain, I'm sure his experience in the 'quicker' form of the game will be a lesson to his team. Win the toss, bat first 50 for 0 off the first 45 overs, I'm looking forward to it Jacques! Mark Boucher has given Kallis his backing "I know he gave up the vice captaincy a little while ago because there were a few issues there and there probably still are a few issues" Yes, you bat for yourself and not the team and you're too flippin slow!
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Welcome to my blog!
A warm welcome to 'Sailing over the boundary rope'. It's always one of life's challenges to come up with a name that will engage people. On the tour of South Africa I was nicknamed Freddie, not actually sure why, particularly as my batting is probably closer to Matthew Hoggard's i.e. a nurdly little git who was always difficult to get out, but I guess 'edged through the slips for four' didn't have the same ring to it and we all dream of hitting that winning six don't we?
I have to take my hat off to KP. When Vaughnie resigned I spent 24 hours texting everyone I know saying what a disgrace the English media are for driving the finest England captain for a decade into stepping down. That Sunday evening I started thinking about possible replacements, I re-texted people saying how KP would be completely the wrong choice as England capatin, even though there was no real alternative. As I pen this first blog, KP is being lauded as a capatincy sensation. A hundred in a captaincy debut test win followed by a 90 odd in the first one dayer of the series and today he has backed that up by losing the toss and seeing his bowlers destroy the South Africans for 80 odd all out with some inventive field placings.
I guess that's why I should stick to the village cricket field - despite my batting failings - and say well done Vaughnie for the right decision and well done the ECB for an excellent appointment. I still refuse to take down my enlarged photo of Michael Vaughan holding the Ashes aloft from my front room though.
Talking of the Ashes, not far away now, tickets are already on sale - I will get on to ticket prices and choice of venues another time! I spoke to an Australian at a house warming party last Sunday he seemed to think England had a genuine chance. A lot of negativity from that camp. Ricccckaaaaaay seems to be continually injured, Brett Lee is more interested in logging on to match.com than play against Bangladesh, Stuart MacGill couldn't face any more stick from England fans and thought it best to quit early, they have no quality spinner and they're back up quicks haven't looked threatening in recent games. Wow, maybe we do have a chance. Well maybe we do, but we need to sort our selections out, and pick our BEST side.
Credit to the selectors for trying to keep a consistent side after we beat New Zealand, but did they not realise it was a very poor New Zealand side? It was no surprise to me we got turned over in the test series by South Africa, but no use in looking back, you can't change the past. But we can change the future (and the wicket keeper). It's going to be interesting times under KP and was one of the reasons for this blog - let the journey commence...
PS, congratulations to Windsor 4th X1 on a fine result against Slough on Saturday, a result which secured them a well deserved league title. Nothing better than achieving success against any team, in any sport from Slough.
I have to take my hat off to KP. When Vaughnie resigned I spent 24 hours texting everyone I know saying what a disgrace the English media are for driving the finest England captain for a decade into stepping down. That Sunday evening I started thinking about possible replacements, I re-texted people saying how KP would be completely the wrong choice as England capatin, even though there was no real alternative. As I pen this first blog, KP is being lauded as a capatincy sensation. A hundred in a captaincy debut test win followed by a 90 odd in the first one dayer of the series and today he has backed that up by losing the toss and seeing his bowlers destroy the South Africans for 80 odd all out with some inventive field placings.
I guess that's why I should stick to the village cricket field - despite my batting failings - and say well done Vaughnie for the right decision and well done the ECB for an excellent appointment. I still refuse to take down my enlarged photo of Michael Vaughan holding the Ashes aloft from my front room though.
Talking of the Ashes, not far away now, tickets are already on sale - I will get on to ticket prices and choice of venues another time! I spoke to an Australian at a house warming party last Sunday he seemed to think England had a genuine chance. A lot of negativity from that camp. Ricccckaaaaaay seems to be continually injured, Brett Lee is more interested in logging on to match.com than play against Bangladesh, Stuart MacGill couldn't face any more stick from England fans and thought it best to quit early, they have no quality spinner and they're back up quicks haven't looked threatening in recent games. Wow, maybe we do have a chance. Well maybe we do, but we need to sort our selections out, and pick our BEST side.
Credit to the selectors for trying to keep a consistent side after we beat New Zealand, but did they not realise it was a very poor New Zealand side? It was no surprise to me we got turned over in the test series by South Africa, but no use in looking back, you can't change the past. But we can change the future (and the wicket keeper). It's going to be interesting times under KP and was one of the reasons for this blog - let the journey commence...
PS, congratulations to Windsor 4th X1 on a fine result against Slough on Saturday, a result which secured them a well deserved league title. Nothing better than achieving success against any team, in any sport from Slough.
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