Michael Roberts
- Articles on World Cricket, Sri Lankan Cricket politics, sledging and chucking
- Comments on partisan TV coverage and cricket team reactions to bomb blasts
- 35 Articles by Guest Authors including Harsha Bhogle, Peter Roebuck, Mike Coward, Mike Marqusee & Sambit Bal and a range of Lankan authors, names familiar as well as surprising
- A breathtaking collection of 157 photographs
Publisher: Vijitha Yapa Publications, Colombo, 2006
Softcover: ISBN 955-1266-25-0 AUD $65 / pd 25
Hardcover: ISBN 955-1266-26-9 AUD $90 / pd 35
PRELUDE
1. Bat, Ball and Foul Mouth in Cricket 01
2. Fundamentalism in Cricket: Crucifying Muralitharan 04
WORLD CRICKET & IT’S POLITICS
3. Cricket as Global as Honourable 06
4. Bomb Blasts in Pakistan and Cricket 09
5. Faint Hearts in Cricket, I 14
6. Faint Hearts in Cricket, II 17
7. Racism in Cricket? The Lehmann Incident 2
8. Match-Fixing by Death Threat? Exploiting Cricketer Paranoia? 26
9.Cricket, Politics & Zimbabwe during the World Cup 30
10. Fears of Africa in the World of Cricket: the Kiwis & Kenya 33
CRICKET UNDER SCRUTINY
11. The Falling Wicket: Its Failures 37
12. Uniformity & Difference in Cricketing Rules 40
13. Media Culpability in the Branding of Murali 44
14. Shoaib, Murali & the Australian Public 48
15. Moral Crusaders as Menace in Cricket 51
16.Weighted Cricket Commentary 57
17. Positive Proof? The Camera lies 63
18. Letters to the ICC on TV Cricket Commentary 66
19. The Power of Fame 71
20. Pollock’s Patronising Faux Pas 75
21. Blatant Discrimination in TV Commentary from South Africa 77
22. Transparent Justice: About Lozenges, Dravid and Camera Teams 79
23. Orwell & Technology to Rule Bowling Actions? 81
24. Monitoring the Monitors: ICC and Match Referees 8
25. Cricket Umpiring and Sri Lanka 92
ABUSE IN THE WORLD OF CRICKET
26.The Grunt, the Spit and the Snarl in Sports 96
27. Sin-Bin for Verbal Intimidation in Cricket 98
28. Letter to the ICC, 25 November 2002 103
29. Cricket Dirty Cricket 107
30.Abusive Cricket Fans: A Clarification 112
31. Legitimising the Bully-Boys on the Cricket Field 116
SRI LANKA & IT’S CRICKET POLITICS
32. Governing Sri Lankan Cricket: Sumathipala as Premadasa 120
33. Brickbats for Fernando, Stones for Johnston 123
34. Musical Chairs in Cricket Selections 126
35. Arjuna Ranatunga I 131
36. Arjuna Ranatunga II 136
SRI LANKA AT CRICKET
37. Choosing our Cricketers: The 1996 Syndrome 139
38. Await Embarrassment 142
39. ODI Teams: Messy Selections 145
40. From Debacle to Triumph at Cricket 148
41. Run-Out Cricket 151
42. Shortcomings in Sri Lanka’s ODI Cricket Team World Cup 2003 154
MISCELLANY
43. Twin Blunders in One Game 158
44. Travelling Cricketers, I 160
45. Travelling Cricketers, II 163
46. Sotheby’s Stumped by Stumps 166
47. Travelling India, with Cricket 168
48. Cricket Great, Cricketing Lords 173
49. Mahadeva Sathasivam, Playboy Cricketers and the Book of Guinness 175
GUEST ESSAYS
- Kamran Abbasi: Wanted: A Radical Rethink on Suspect Bowling Actions 179
- Seevali Abeysekera: The Sword of English-Speak as Lankans Tour 182
- Charlie Austin: A Cornishman in Colombo 186
- Sambit Bal: Dude, Where’s My Country? 188
- Harsha Bhogle: Cricket’s Odd Couple write a Winning Script 190
- Rohit Brijnath: A Man Apart 192
- Trevor Chesterfield: Cronjegate Aftermath: Conspiracy, Fact And Fiction 194
- David Colin-Thome: The Australian Juggernaut & Globalisation 198
- Ted Corbett: In Appreciation of Bill Lawrie 203
- Mike Coward: Old World Plays in New Age: Bradman and Tendulkar 206
- Tony Cozier: No Place in Cricket for Sledging 208
- Matt Deighton: The Ties that Bind Two Cricketig Nations 210
- Bandula de Silva: Introducing Dambulla and Rangiri Stadium 213
- Gideon Haigh: About Aravinda’s Aravinda 216
- Tissa Jayatilaka: The Politics of Cricket: World Cup and Beyond 218
- Stanley Jayaweera: What Ails Sri Lanka’s Cricket? 222
- Boria Majumdar: A Star is Scorned: C. K. Nayadu of India 228
- Mike Marqusee: Indian Cricket: Celebrate and Reflect 23468. Mark Nicholas: Dav Whatmore: Australia’s Downfall plotted by One of their Own 23769. Peter Roebuck: On Sachin Tendulkar’s Early Coaching 240
70. Nirgunan Tiruchelvam: Murali scales the Summit 242
71. J. Neville Turner: A TemporaryFracture or a Permanent Breach?
Australia & Sri Lanka at Cricket, 1998 245
72. Rohan Wijayaratna: Laying Some Myths to Rest 249
73. Mahinda Wijesinghe: The Best Allrounder Performance Ever: An Unlikely Comet,
Denis Atkinson 253
OVERVIEWS
- David Colin-Thome: The History of Tea and Cricket in Sri Lanka 258
- Dr. C H. Gunasekara: My Cricket in England: Early Twentieth Century 26376. Neville Jayaweera: Bradman and His Men in Ceylon 268
- Trevor Chesterfield: The Rebel Era: Winds of Change in South Africa 277
- Hanif Markar: The Games They Play 282
- Mike Marqusee: In Serarch of the Unequivocal Englishman: the Conundrumof Race and Nation in English Cricket 29280. Peter Roebuck: When Sri Lanka’s Greats Move On
- Sri Lankan Cricket on a Road to Nowhere 303
- Bernard Whimpress: Murali’s Chucking Episodes in Australia 305
- Sambit Bal: The Throwing Controversy: Save the Doosra 314
83. Glucka Wijesinghe: Murali and the Bowling Issue 317
84. Peter Roebuck: Secret Filming Reveals Extent of Bowlers who Chuck 321
Royal vs St. Peters Adelaide Scoresheet, 1928
teapot signed by Tendulkar
ASSORTED UNUSUAL
+ Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranaike’s Menu Card, from Dinner for Waddy’s Team, 1914 323
+ Facsimile of Cover of Book by S P Foenander, Sixty Years of Ceylon Cricket, 1924 324
+Original Scoring Sheets from tour of Sri Lanka by St. Peters’ College, Adelaide in 1928 325
Trinity College Scoresheet, Asgiriya, 13 Jan. 1928
St Thomas’ College scoresheet, SSC grounds, 19 Jan 1928
Royal College Scoresheet, SSC grounds, 17 Jan. 1928
SPC, Adelaide Scoresheet vs Dickoya at Darrawella, 10 Jan. 1928
- St.Peter’s College, Adelaide Tour of Ceylon in 1928 330
- Lucien de Zoysa: Royal College tours Australia, 1936 339+ Signature Card: Australian Cricket Team under Bradman, 1948 344+ Signature Card: Australian Cricket Team under Benaud, 1961
+ Scoresheet: India vs AllCeylon, Ahmedabad, January 1964
+ Signature Card: Australian Cricket Team under Lawrie, 1961
+ Thamil Militants’ Protest, Oval, London, June 1975
+ Signature Card, Sri Lanka Team for Inaugural Test, 17-22 February 1982
+ Copy of Post Card, Sri Lanka, in Commemoration of the World Cup Victory, 1996
+ Special Postal Cover in Commemoration of the World Cup Victory, 1996
+ Sri Lanka Stamps’ Cricket Collection
+ Etching of Aravinda by Joe Hoad
+ Etching of Chaminda by Joe Hoad
+ Etching of Murali by Joe Hoad
+ Etching of Mahela by Joe Hoad
+ Facsimile Copy: Hunter “Stork” Hendry to Rohan Wijayaratna,
+ Facsimile Copy: Hunter “Stork” Hendry to Rohan Wijayaratna, with caricatures
- Srilal Fernando: Test Cricket of a Different Kind,Englishwomen vs Ceylonese Women in 1948 357
- Cats Eye: Critiquing Cricket & its Fervent Nationalism — Bangles to the Captain 360
- Chandra Wickramasinghe: The Game 36890.The Bradman Collection, State Library of South Australia, Adelaide 370+ Ceylon & Lanka Cricket Crests 372
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