tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2012:/thebuzz//145 2012-02-07T06:15:51Z Movable Type 3.34 tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2012:/thebuzz//145.27332 2012-02-07T05:58:06Z 2012-02-07T06:15:51Z

Mouthwash or tobacco? That’s the big question facing Cricket Australia, and they’ve decided to play it safe: the Australian board has pulled Hindi advertisements displayed at the grounds during the series against India, after being alerted that they could be...

Nikita Bastian robin News Limited newspapers. "The government is taking the allegations very seriously and has written to Cricket Australia seeking detailed information about the advertising."]]> tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2012:/thebuzz//145.27141 2012-01-25T11:58:24Z 2012-01-25T12:45:08Z

In Abu Dhabi, the rules are slightly different © Getty Images
There will be no skin on show at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, where spectators have been told to observe a strict dress code during the second Test between Pakistan and England. The message was clearly spelt out – “Dress code is very simple. Just keep your clothes on.” That means the 500-strong Barmy Army, particularly those in the grass banks, will not be able to enjoy a tan at the driest Test ground in the world. The rules had been more flexible in Dubai, the venue for the first Test. Nevertheless, the Barmy Army wasn’t complaining. "The fans from England will follow and respect the rules," said Barmy Army Colts tour operator Mark Stears. "They will not be taking their tops off like they do elsewhere in the world because of the dress code."]]> tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2012:/thebuzz//145.27023 2012-01-17T19:29:14Z 2012-01-19T14:06:16Z

Andrew Strauss recently said England needed to start winning cricket matches in all conditions, all over the world. A group of British explorers have taken that rather literally, and have beaten a Rest of the World side at the South...

Dustin Silgardo BBC he organised the match in honour of Scott because cricket was “quintessentially British and I wanted to do something that does not happen down here very often, if at all.” In sub-zero temperatures, the players had to bat, bowl and field in the kind of gear Jonathan Trott would take a few hours to adjust. “Obviously it was very cold and difficult with all the bulky clothing to bat and bowl and slide around in the field to catch the ball but we managed it fine,” Laughton said. The good news is that any time a cricketer complains he’s got cramps because of the humidity or that his fingers are numb because of the cold, he can be asked to stop whining and have a look at Laughton and his men. The bad news is that if ever you want to send a particular player to the South Pole, the teams are already full. ]]> tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2012:/thebuzz//145.26945 2012-01-12T13:16:51Z 2012-01-12T14:14:48Z

Abhishek Purohit Sorry, but when did I walk out to bat? © AFP
Australia opener Ed Cowan is everything but your typical cricketer. He can write, he can tweet, he can do fancy finance stuff. He’s even fielded in a Test match before he made his first-class debut, against Pakistan in 2005. But he cannot remember walking out to bat in the second innings of his debut Test at the MCG last month. Cowan had been so enthusiastic in doing warm-ups on the second morning of the Boxing Day Test that he got a sore back, which required a generous dose of painkillers. “Having hurt my back, I now know what it is like to bat high, because I had so much codeine in my system I cannot remember walking out to bat,” Cowan told TripleM Sydney radio. Cowan then went on to reveal that he was also down a few beers down when he was called out of the SCG Members Bar as a substitute Test fielder in 2005. “I had had a few earlier that morning, but that was later that afternoon,” Cowan said. “I was sober - I would have been able to drive home. They did ask me if I had been drinking, I said no. It was only six balls and I did not touch one so there is no need to get too carried away. “So I have done both. I have fielded with a few beers under the belt, and batted with a few too many Panadeine Fortes in the system.” Now that is an achievement that will take some downing.]]> tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2012:/thebuzz//145.26828 2012-01-04T12:37:15Z 2012-01-04T13:40:52Z

Alex Winter awinter The Benaud fan club hope day two at the SCG can become a permanent celebration of the former Australian captain © Getty Images
Jane McGrath day is established on day three of the New Year's Test at the SCG to raise awareness of breast cancer but a group of ardent fans want the second day of the match to raise awareness of something quite different. A group of fans hope their efforts can turn day two into a celebration of Richie Benaud. The fan club come decked out in Benaud attire - beige suits, silver wigs - and with microphones in hand, hoping to turn a drinking game into support to honour Benaud. "Richie was a great cricketer and captain of Australia but also a great journalist and commentator," Michael Hennessy, leader of the fan club, told the Sydney Morning Herald. "I''ve only really seen him at his best commentating but if you look back he was a flamboyant allrounder, great leggie, an aggressive batsman and you just love him more and more." The fan club has doubled in numbers each year since 10 fans first donned Benaud-dress in 2009. They aim to fill an entire bay at the SCG to celebrate the great Australian. ]]> tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2012:/thebuzz//145.26809 2012-01-03T10:11:44Z 2012-01-03T11:22:45Z

As India’s batsmen continue to struggle in Australia, most would agree they could do with a lesson in patience - in ‘playing the waiting game’. Well, the whole team was subjected to one prior to Monday’s pre-match function at the...

Nikita Bastian robin Sydney Morning Herald reported, and were made to wait outside the gates. They turned up at 1.45pm, the newspaper reported, 15 minutes before the function was due to begin. However, it had been pushed to a 2.10pm start, and the receiving room and Gillard were not quite ready. So a short wait in the afternoon sun followed, before the players were cleared by security. ]]> tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2011:/thebuzz//145.26747 2011-12-29T06:03:30Z 2011-12-29T06:15:39Z

By Mohammad Isam Players arriving for Twenty20 matches in a helicopter is an often-used gimmick. But for Shahriar Nafees, Mushfiqur Rahim and Alok Kapali, a chopper will actually be necessary to get them to the logo unveiling ceremony of the...

Cricinfo Mohammad Isam Players arriving for Twenty20 matches in a helicopter is an often-used gimmick. But for Shahriar Nafees, Mushfiqur Rahim and Alok Kapali, a chopper will actually be necessary to get them to the logo unveiling ceremony of the Bangladesh Premier League on time. The three players are icon players for their respective sides in the upcoming Premier League but will all be involved in matches in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League on December 29, and could have less than an hour to make it to the Radisson hotel in Dhaka for the Premier League event. Mushfiqur will be playing at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium, 40km south of Dhaka, for Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club while Nafees and Kapali will face off at the BKSP, to the northwest of Dhaka, for Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club and Gazi Tank Cricketers respectively. Since the logo unveiling programme begins at 6:00pm and the Premier Division matches could end as late as 5:30pm, the commute from both venues to Hotel Radisson by road will be impractical given Dhaka’s traffic situation, which is particularly bad on Thursday afternoons. "It is practically impossible for them to reach the event on time, so we will have a helicopter pick them up from one ground and then go to the other. They will be dropped off at the Army Stadium near the hotel," BCB media committee chairman Jalal Yunus said. The players will still have a mile to cover after arriving at the Army Stadium. Since hardly anything moves on the Airport Road at that hour, they may be late for the ceremony anyway. ]]> tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2011:/thebuzz//145.26671 2011-12-22T06:56:59Z 2011-12-29T06:13:01Z

Brydon Coverdale A statue of Shane Warne has been unveiled outside the MCG © Getty Images
It’s hard to imagine that Shane Warne could look any more bronzed than he does at the moment. But it has been achieved by the sculptor Louis Laumen, whose statue of Warne has been unveiled outside the MCG. The first in a series of statues to be known as the Avenue of Legends, the Warne likeness sits outside the members’ entrance. Warne was on hand on Thursday to reveal the sculpture, which he had not seen himself until the grand unveiling. The statue shows Warne in his classic delivery stride, ready to let rip with a legbreak. “It looks like a legspinner,” Warne said of his action, “so Daryll [Cullinan] would struggle with it.” Back in 1997, a much chubbier Warne was unimpressed when asked by a journalist at a touring Madame Tussauds exhibition in Melbourne if he wished he looked a bit more like his slimmer wax likeness. The MCG statue shows Warne at his playing weight, complete with earring, and Warne joked that “It’s 300kg, the statue, so I’m a little bit lighter at 78kg.” Warne’s fiancée Liz Hurley was at the ceremony, along with the couple’s collective four children, and Warne’s parents and brother Jason, a man who Warne admits he has still never dismissed in the nets. Warne reflected on visiting the MCG with Jason when they were kids, heckling Norman Cowans as he ran through Australia’s batting line-up in the thrilling 1982-83 Ashes Test, won by England by three runs. As a player at the ground, his highlights included a hat-trick against England when Devon Malcolm came out wearing so much padding “he looked like Robocop”, but it was an early MCG memory that Warne said stood out the most. “I think back to 1992 Boxing Day Test match, the West Indies needed about 300 or so that day to win,” he said. “Phil Simmons got a hundred and played really well. Just before lunch I bowled a flipper to Richie Richardson and bowled him. We won the Test match and I got 7 for 52. It was a pretty amazing experience. I remember Dad down in the dressing rooms with Molly Meldrum and Merv squirting champagne and David Boon singing the song. It’s nearly 20 years ago now.” Time flies, but the statue means Warne will be forever immortalised at the MCG. ]]> tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2011:/thebuzz//145.26660 2011-12-21T08:27:44Z 2011-12-29T06:13:12Z

Anyone who thinks a cricketer’s life is easy and slow-paced should ask Mushtaq Ahmed. The former Pakistan leggie, currently a part of the England support staff, is now busy organising his wedding banquet – 18 years after he got married!...

Umar Farooq 18 years after he got married! Mushy, as he’s known, married Uzma Jabeen in December 1993 but was soon involved in a whirlwind of cricket, beginning with a home series against Zimbabwe. Four children later, it seems, they’ve finally decided, on the advice of family elders, to have the walima, an important part of Islamic wedding rituals. The kids will all be part of the ceremony, to be held in Lahore on Boxing Day, and so will a lot of team-mates who missed out on the feasting back then – including Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Moin Khan and Inzamam-ul Haq. Better late than never, says Mushy. Perhaps the missus should demand a well justified second honeymoon too! ]]> tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2011:/thebuzz//145.26575 2011-12-16T08:33:49Z 2011-12-29T06:13:24Z

Matthew Hayden made a splash with his promotion of the Mongoose during the IPL but he’s gone back to the old-fashioned bat for the Big Bash League. Well, not quite. Old-fashioned bats don’t cost five-figure sums, which is what Hayden’s...

Sydney Morning Herald. The four bats Hayden will use during the BBL have their backs painted by a Tiwi Island artist. And when the tournament is over, they will be auctioned to raise money for a school.]]> tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2011:/thebuzz//145.26564 2011-12-15T08:56:04Z 2011-12-29T06:13:36Z

Maybe it’s the spirit of the season, maybe it’s age, maybe it’s just empathy, but when Harbhajan Singh asks critics to lay off Ricky Ponting, it does raise eyebrows. "I don’t think Ponting is finished and I think people are...

Jayaditya Gupta Partha Sarathi Banerjee Maybe it’s the spirit of the season, maybe it’s age, maybe it’s just empathy, but when Harbhajan Singh asks critics to lay off Ricky Ponting, it does raise eyebrows. "I don’t think Ponting is finished and I think people are making a big mistake by writing him off," Harbhajan said in response to calls for Ponting to be dropped for the upcoming Test series against India. "Australian fans should not put pressure on Ponting. He is only one innings away from finding his top form." Bowler and batsman have previous, of course; Ponting was Harbhajan’s bunny when they were both in their prime and the offpsinner was at the centre of the controversial Sydney Test four years ago that almost led to the tour being called off. Now they are in almost the same boat - Harbhajan is out of the side, dropped for this tour because of poor form, and Ponting’s career is clearly in its last few overs. The true test of the new-found love will come when the festive season is over - or if Harbhajan and Ponting come face to face in the ODIs. tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2011:/thebuzz//145.26529 2011-12-12T17:06:10Z 2011-12-29T06:13:48Z

Shane Warne’s cooking injury, a burnt finger that has put in doubt his Big Bash participation, has made him one of many who will suffer kitchen-related incidents over the festive season. Springing on the opportunity for some publicity, the London...

Shane Warne’s cooking injury, a burnt finger that has put in doubt his Big Bash participation, has made him one of many who will suffer kitchen-related incidents over the festive season. Springing on the opportunity for some publicity, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) have asked Warne to help push their Christmas safety campaign. Following his accident, which Warne revealed on Twitter, he posted another message: “Ps no more trying to be a master chef! Stop and by a bacon roll on the way to the ground next time - silly Shane !" And the LFB responded: “@warne888 we agree you should have got a bacon roll instead! Back our xmas 'Have a takeaway' campaign.” Ron Dobson, the LFB commissioner, said: “I’m not for one minute suggesting that Shane Warne had too much to drink when he burnt his hand but we know that many people will start fires or have accidents in their kitchen this Christmas after having a few too many drinks. If you’ve had too much to drink, don’t go home thinking you’re on MasterChef. “Too many fires start when someone has passed out, leaving a pizza in the oven or a pan on the hob and it can be fatal. If people are planning a big night out, they should plan on having a takeaway on the way home. Shane should back our campaign so that he can help prevent other people being as silly as him.” tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2011:/thebuzz//145.26474 2011-12-09T11:23:42Z 2011-12-29T06:14:01Z

Those watching Australia’s pre-Test nets at the Bellerive Oval on Thursday could have been forgiven for think Waqar Younis was giving the Australian batsmen a workout. It was in fact umpire Aleem Dar, a dead ringer for former Pakistan fast...

Jayaditya Gupta Partha Sarathi Banerjee Waqar Younis was giving the Australian batsmen a workout. It was in fact umpire Aleem Dar, a dead ringer for former Pakistan fast bowler, who was sending down a few fast ones at Michael Clarke and David Warner. You could call it an unequal battle, given the fact that Dar is third umpire for the Test, and he was treated with due deference – Warner even curbing his instincts to pull the couple of bouncers he received. Dar, officially the world’s best umpire, is more than a Sunday bowler. He bowled legspin in a 12-year first-class career in Pakistan and has a full-fledged Astroturf nets on the roof of his house. But bowling in the Australia nets is possibly tempting fate, the rate at which Aussie bowlers are getting crocked - there could be a strong temptation to pull in a Waqar lookalike and hope for the best. ]]> tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2011:/thebuzz//145.26445 2011-12-07T11:25:06Z 2011-12-29T06:14:14Z

India’s love-hate relationship with Andrew Symonds continues, with the former Australia allrounder becoming the latest participant in Bigg Boss, the Indian version of the reality show Big Brother. Symonds was vilified in India for his role in the ‘Monkeygate’ affair...

Jayaditya Gupta Partha Sarathi Banerjee India’s love-hate relationship with Andrew Symonds continues, with the former Australia allrounder becoming the latest participant in Bigg Boss, the Indian version of the reality show Big Brother. Symonds was vilified in India for his role in the ‘Monkeygate’ affair four years ago but redeemed himself somewhat by helping Deccan Chargers win the second season of the IPL. Now he puts it all on the line with his stint in Bigg Boss House, where his fellow inmates includes an American porn star. There’s no talk (yet) of Harbhajan Singh, the other protagonist of Monkeygate, joining the fun but the spinner’s exclusion from the Australia tour offers hope of an intriguing alternative to the on-field action. Symonds, though, is upbeat about the state of their relations. “We are great friends,” he told rediff.com. “We party, we get sloshed.” The Indian cricketer he’d like to see in the house: Rohit Sharma. And his expectations of Bigg Boss? “An opportunity to showcase Australian culture, which involves fun activities like barbecues and throwing people into the pool.” Just as well many in India have already seen the other side of Australian culture, most recently via the Masterchef series. tag:blogs.espncricinfo.com,2011:/thebuzz//145.26414 2011-12-05T12:29:07Z 2011-12-29T06:14:26Z

Having become two of Sri Lanka’s leading cricketers of all time, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene now hope to use their culinary tastes to become some of the country’s best restaurateurs. The pair have teamed up with restaurateur Dharshan Munidasa...

Alex Winter awinter Island reported. The restaurant will serve the best of Sri Lanka’s sea food and a signature dish of export-quality crabs, not usually available in Sri Lanka. Former captain Sangakkara has been interested in food for a long time and during a spell in England with Warwickshire, cookery shows became his favourite TV programmes. Another former Sri Lanka captain had dabbled in the culinary world. Aravinda de Silva entered the restaurant business with an establishment specialising in Sri Lankan cuisine but has since disposed of his interest.]]>