Kumar Dharmasena was a member of Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup winning squad … and may even have a wicket as trophy …. and Yes he served as Umpire in the Finals of the 3015 World Cup at the MCG on 29th March 2015
Category Archives: cricket and life
Yes Tiger? No Tiger? The Chanderpaul Conundrum
Tony Cozier, courtesy of http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/873325.html
To use the contemporary idiom, there will be an elephant in the room when Clive Lloyd and his fellow selectors choose the West Indies team for the first Test against Australia in Dominica, from June 3 to 7. Since it applies to a player with the nickname of an altogether more ferocious animal, the expression may be somewhat incongruous but, however much the panel finds it difficult to determine the immediate future of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, a cricketer with an outstanding past, the issue cannot be dodged.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s form against South Africa and England was poor. And his forthcoming opponents are not going to make things easier © WICB
The questions to be answered are obvious. Do Lloyd and his colleagues interpret the sudden, dramatic slump of the one, consistently reliable West Indies batsman during the continuing period of decline as the immediate end to his extraordinary career? Continue reading
Windies dig a grave for Colin Graves
George Dobell, courtesy of ESPNcricinfo, where the title is “West Indies shake off ‘mediocre’ perception”
They were labelled ‘mediocre’ by Colin Graves before the series began, but in drawing this series 1-1 West Indies have shown both discipline and confidence, a cocktail that has rarely been present in equal measures in the Caribbean of late. It may not be remembered with quite the infamy of Tony Greig’s “grovel” comment, but Colin Graves’ pre-series suggestion that West Indies were likely to represent “mediocre” opposition seems sure to pass into cricketing folklore.
Gehan Mendis: Lost between England and Lanka
Janaka Malwatta, courtesy of ESPNcricinfo where the title is “What might Gehan Mendis have been?”
Gehan Mendis = An attacking batsman who made a name for himself on the county circuit in the ’70s and ’80s, he could have played for Sri Lanka or England but finished without an international cap.
Gehan Mendis belonged to the golden era of the overseas county cricketer © PA Photos
The English county cricket season has cranked creakily into gear. Sparsely filled grounds have seen the reappearance of that quixotic creature, the county cricketer. The more fortunate among them have returned, like migratory birds, from southern winters. One and all, they have donned thick sweaters against crisp April mornings, rubbed life into cold hands, and taken to the field. Continue reading
Don Bradman meets Babe Ruth — Cricket in America, 1932
Arunabha Sengupta
In 1932, Arthur Mailey organised a party of Australian cricketers to embark on a voyage of North America. The star attraction of the tour was obviously Don Bradman – billed in United States and Canada as cricket’s Babe Ruth. Arunabha Sengupta traces the quaint and enjoyable visit, ending with the seminal meeting of The Don and The Babe.
The Don’s Dilemma
It was early 1932 and Don Bradman was in a quandary.
Obviously, it had nothing to do with his cricket. The previous season had seen him score 1403 runs at 116.92 and in a non-First Class game at Blackheath he had hammered 100 from three eight-ball overs.
He was about take on a new job — a three way post with Associated Newspapers, 2UE Radio Station and FJ Palmer & Son Ltd, men and boys outfitters. Additionally, he was set to marry his childhood sweetheart Jessie Menzies on April 30. And around this time he was approached by Arthur Mailey, the former Australian leg-break googly bowler and one of the most colourful characters to have played the game.
Adelaidian Indians And Pakistanis in Friendship Cup
Courtesy of the South Australian Cricket Association and its magazine STUMPS
Local Indian and Pakistani community celebrate an inaugural SACA cricket event.
Friendship Cup makes history as World Cup excitement hits fever pitch
The excitement of one of the biggest cricket matches in World Cup history is not lost on the local Indian and Pakistani community and was celebrated in an inaugural cricket event run by SACA in January. More than 1000 people turned up to Kilburn Cricket Club on 18 January to celebrate the inaugural Friendship Cup played between Indian and Pakistani community teams.
The Friendship Cup Twenty20 match was a collaboration of the Multicultural Sports and Community Club (MSCC) and the South Australian Cricket Association, and brought together two of the world’s biggest cricketing nations, India and Pakistan, ahead of Adelaide’s blockbuster ICC Cricket World Cup clash between the two sides on Sunday 15 February.
Filed under backyard cricket, child of empire, cricket and life
Russel Arnold: Sri Lanka’s Forgotten ODI Star
Michael Roberts, courtesy of Islandcricket.lk … http://www.islandcricket.lk/columns/michael_roberts/421850214/sri-lankas-forgotten-odi-star
During the course of the World Cup 2015 watchers were occasionally served up statistical tables of leading run-scores in the history of World Cup or ODI cricket. Sri Lankan fans would have been especially attentive to those featuring Sangakkara’s stellar career and record breaking levels. On one such occasion I was intrigued to see Russel Arnold’s statistics appear at the tail-end of an august list of names.
Primed by Arnold’s appearance as a TV commentator and his impeccable performance in this role, I proceeded to do some research on the topic and began with a statistical picture of a comparative kind that is quite revelatory. This picture raises issues about media-hype and our very own memory banks. Continue reading
TW Roberts and His Cricketing Moments
Michael Roberts** courtesy of http://www.islandcricket.lk/columns/michael_roberts/420700206/the-bajan-in-Ceylon … where the title is different
Thomas Webb Roberts was born on 27th April 1880 at Black Rock in Bridgetown, Barbados. He was an only son of Thomas Clarke Roberts by Isabelle Marshall following their marriage in 1869. Of slave lineage, TC Roberts (1840-1927) had a leather goods shop which soon expanded into a furniture store. The family must have belonged to the numerically small Black middle class of his time. This conjecture arises from three facts: (a) Thomas Clarke himself was at one stage a church warden at St. Michaels Cathedral in Bridgetown; (b) they were able to send their son TW to the prestigious elite school of Harrison College where the fees were steep[1] and (c) Isabelle Roberts accompanied her son to England and Europe before his entry into Oxford, though unfortunately receiving a leg injury in Paris which must have turned into septicemia because the wound killed her.[2]
“Thank You, Brendon … How to Play Cricket Fair –As Father to Son
Jonny Gilling
“I Would have Failed as a Father if my Sons Grew up to be like
Australian Cricketers David Warner, Mitchell Johnson, James Faulkner and Brad Haddin,”
Grant Elliott cops a mouthful from Brad Haddin, James Faulkner and substitute Pat Cummins
To Brendon McCullum, the Black Caps and their coaching staff, I want
to say thank you.
My wife and I moved from New Zealand to Africa just under three years
ago to be the directors of an orphanage. While it was never our plan
(my idea was to devote several years to something good and then come
home and get on with my own life plan), because of the need where we
are, we ended up taking a baby into our home.
The Voice of Our Endless Summers falls Silent
Peter Lalor, in The Weekend Australian, 11/12 April 2015
Flags flew half-mast on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and at cricket grounds around the world, pilgrims attended his beckoning SCG statue, and in all corners of the globe players and fans — young and old — realised that the sound of summer had been extinguished. Everywhere the game of cricket is played, people yesterday stopped to remember Richie Benaud and contemplate what has been lost and is left by his passing. It is immense.
The former Australian captain, brilliant all-rounder and godfather of the commentary box died, aged 84, after a battle with skin cancer. Benaud had been the voice of cricket at the Nine Network since World Series Cricket days in the late 1970s.
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Filed under Australian cricket, baggy green, cricket and life, cricketing icons, performance, peter lalor, richie benaud, television commentary, tower of strength, unusual people