Category Archives: performance

August 18, 2020 · 12:22 pm

“A Sri Lankan XI To Die For in My Time” — THILAN

Mohamed Isam with Thilan Samaraweera, in ESPNcricinfo and its CRICKET MONTHLY, August 2020, where the title is “My Best XI: The Lords of Sri Lanka’s Golden Age”

Thilan SamarawThe lords of Sri Lanka’s golden age”eera, who played 81 Tests with 12 centuries and two double-hundreds, was one of Sri Lanka’s middle-order mainstays. In a career spanning 12 years, he played alongside two generations of his country’s finest cricketers in five-day cricket – from among whom he picks an all-time XI.

Jayawardene, Sangakarra, Atapattu: that’s just short of 30,000 Test runs right there

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August 9, 2020 · 1:18 am

Super Fightback Win by England in Test Match vs Pakistan

Valkerie Baynes, in ESPNcrickinfo, 8 August 2020, where the title runs thus “Chris Woakes, Jos Buttler lead England home in memorable fourth-innings chase”

England 219 (Pope 62, Yasir 4-66) and 277 for 7 (Woakes 84*, Buttler 75, Yasir 4-99) beat Pakistan 326 (Masood 156, Azam 69, Broad 3-54) and 169 (Yasir 33, Broad 3-37) by three wickets

A fighting century stand between Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler carried England to a stunning three-wicket victory over Pakistan in a thrilling opening match of their three-Test series. Buttler’s gutsy knock of 75 from 101 balls in the face of mounting criticism over his place in the side, combined with Woakes’ new-found form with the bat, handed England an unlikely victory and broke their run of five consecutive series in which they had lost the first match.

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August 5, 2020 · 5:28 pm

The Fighting Irish down England in High-Scoring ODI

Matt Roller, in ESPNCricinfo, August 2020, with this title “Paul Stirling, Andy Balbirnie set up famous chase as Ireland hunt down 329″

Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie shared a second-wicket partnership worth more than 200 runs PA Photos via Getty images

ireland 329 for 3 (Stirling 142, Balbirnie 113) beat England 328 (Morgan 106, Banton 58, Willey 51, Young 3-53) by seven wickets

Ireland pulled off their second win against England and their first ODI victory against major opposition since the 2015 World Cup, with Kevin O’Brien, the hero of Bangalore, hitting the winning run after centuries from Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie had laid the foundations.

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July 28, 2020 · 6:30 pm

Dhanasiri Weerasinghe passes away in Melbourne

ONE: Elmo Rodrigopulle in Daily News, 15 July 2020

The death of any outstanding personality in any form of life saddens many as was the passing away of Dhanasiri Weerasinghe a cricketer who in his own unique way and style contributed to make cricket what it is in the country today.

DHANASIRI WEERASINGHE passed away last week in Melbourne, Australia after an illness bravely borne. Cricketers of an era gone by – the 1950s and the 1960s – will mourn Weerasinghe who made his bat talk and his intelligent captaincy brain tick with great efficiency.

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July 13, 2020 · 5:19 pm

Jermaine Blackwood stands up for the Windies

Nagraj Gollaupadi, in ESPNcricinfo, 12 July 2020, where the title reads “Jermaine Blackwood writes history in his own way”

Dom Bess mocked him in the first innings. Jermaine Blackwood had charged England’s offspinner on Friday to hit hard into the hands of James Anderson at mid-off. Bess imitated swinging a golf club, as if out of a bunker in the golf course adjacent to Ageas Bowl. Blackwood’s audacity was not to the Englishman’s liking.

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July 13, 2020 · 4:56 pm

Test Cricket to Savour: Tests commence again with a Wham-Bang!

‘What a Test match to herald the return of cricket’ – Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara’s Tweet among the Host of Tweets: “What a test match to Herald the return of cricket. Steely determination from @windiescricket both @benstokes38 and Jason Holder have shown themselves to be exemplary leaders.
9:18 AM · Jul 13, 2020
Mark Wood floors himself as Jermaine Blackwood’s lofted drive beats mid-off

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July 10, 2020 · 4:54 pm

Partnership Kings in Test Matches: Sanga among the Elite

Bharath Seervi, in ESPNcricinfo, 10 July 2020, where the title is  “Which batsman has been involved in the most partnerships in Test history?”

32,039 The total number of partnership runs Rahul Dravid was part of in his 286 innings, the most by a batsman. Sachin Tendulkar is next with 31,245 runs in 329 innings. Steven Smith has the highest average partnership runs per innings – 115.90 (15,185 runs in 131 innings). Partnerships involving Ricky Ponting have had the highest average runs – 52.83 (27,105 runs in 513 partnerships).

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July 4, 2020 · 3:27 am

Remembering Everton Weekes: Cozier and Chappell Speak

ONE:  Tony Cozier in 2015: “Ninety years of Everton Weekes,” 26 Feb 2015

Of all the numbers stacked against the name Everton de Courcy Weekes in scorebooks the world over, 90 carries an unfortunate significance.

   

It was his score in West Indies’ first innings of the fourth Testagainst India in Chepauk, Madras, now Chennai, in January 1949. Ten more runs would have extended his overall record of five successive Test hundreds that has never been surpassed; he was cut short by a run-out decision by the square-leg umpire that Weekes now euphemistically describes as “rather doubtful”.

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June 30, 2020 · 4:34 am

Our Cricket Reporters at the SSC….. 2018 or so

 

the BREW that sustains them all

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June 28, 2020 · 5:52 pm

Some Assessments of Muralitharan as Cricketer … and Philanthropist

ONE = Simon Barnes: “Muttiah Muralitharan as Cricketer of the Year 2006″

writing in 2007 on the year 2006 =  https://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/350915.html

The time has come to grasp the nettle, to remove the mental and†, to reject the frown, the shrug, the pursed lips and the quizzical look. Muttiah Muralitharan was, without qualification, the finest cricketer on the planet last year and, by implication, is one of the best cricketers that have ever played the game.

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