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| Taking sides »
June 17, 2008Posted by Sambit Bal on 06/17/2008 in Sambit Bal
Outside edge
Professional journalists are sometimes a little envious of the unconditional freedom enjoyed by self-published literary crusaders on the Internet, but the truth is, only the good and credible get read. One of the wonderful things about wandering online is discovering new writers and new ideas: original, startling, delightful, provocative, and sometimes all of those together.
Different Strokes is a modest attempt at finding some of these voices and bringing them to you. None of the contributors here are professional cricket writers. And it is an advantage. They carry none of the cynicism that familiarity can breed, nor are they inured to the foibles of the game. Distance can bring wonder, as it can bring perspective. We don’t expect their views to always match ours, but we do expect their voices to enhance our offering to you.
A couple of our contributors are teachers, one is an amateur cricketer, and another is a database consultant. More are expected to join them soon. We’d like to regard them as enlightened lovers of the game we all cherish.
Sambit Bal is Editor, Cricinfo
Posted by: Azad Ahmad at June 19, 2008 10:52 AM
Crusaders hmmmm....At least think a little before you use infuriating words like these.What with editing of your website already reaching abysmally low standards, with Asif news on the Home page for days and days and Sreesanth antics not even deserving a little mention. I should not be surprised an iota if you don't allow this comment either.
Posted by: Prabhakar at June 19, 2008 5:11 PM
Great job Sambit. I always admire you for the kind of novelty you keep adding to the site.
Posted by: Apurva at July 23, 2008 12:40 AM
Azad, I'm sure that Sambit wasn't referring to the war between Christians & Muslims when he used the word "Crusaders". That word does have a more general meaning in the 21st century.
Anyways, if you think that the events surrounding Sreesanth are nearly as disturbing and newsworthy as the ones surrounding Asif (and there have been more bad news since you posted your comment), then you are really losing it. I'm assuming you are from Pakistan and I'm wondering why you guys are so obsessed with everything Indian? Why don't you worry about the Asifs & Akhtars and not think about the Sreesanths and Harbhajans? You guys have a similar inferiority complex to the one that African-Americans have.....only, you guys have it worse. Stop blaming others for the bad things that happen to you.
Posted by: Ska at September 23, 2008 3:41 PM
How do you pick the writers? I'm interested in writing .. do I have to be as qualified as them or having average cricketing knowledge and all issues surrounding it qualification enough?
- Shanaka Amarasinghe
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Shanaka Amarasinghe Possessing the best disguised googly in Sri Lanka (because no one has ever really seen it), Shanaka is the finest legspinner to never have played top-level cricket. He is a popular cricket analyst and host of The Score, the No. 1-rated, if slightly infamous, sports show on radio in Sri Lanka. While in England playing rugby, he earned his LLM at King’s College and is a lawyer by training if not inclination. He is also an actor, a journalist, a writer, and thinks he is a comedian.
- Mike Holmans
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Mike Holmans, a database consultant by profession, has spent thirty summers (and a few winters) going to the cricket. Brought up in one and working in the other, his dearest wish is for a season to end with Yorkshire winning the county championship by beating runners-up Middlesex by one wicket with five minutes to go. If it’s also a summer when England win the Ashes, so much the better.
- Michael Jeh
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Michael Jeh Born in Colombo, educated at Oxford and now living in Brisbane, Michael Jeh (Fox) is a cricket lover with a global perspective on the game. An Oxford Blue who played first-class cricket, he is a Playing Member of the MCC and still plays grade cricket. Michael now works closely with elite athletes, and is passionate about youth intervention programmes. He still chases his boyhood dream of running a wildlife safari operation called Barefoot in Africa.
- Saad Shafqat
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Saad Shafqat takes special pride that his cricket-watching life began during the three-month interval between Javed Miandad's debut Test in Lahore and Imran Khan's 12-wicket haul at Sydney. Although a practicing neurologist based in Karachi, cricket has never been far from his activities. He has co-authored Javed Miandad’s autobiography Cutting Edge and has been a contributor to Cricinfo since 2005. His regular column Reverse Swing appears fortnightly in Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English daily.
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