Category Archives: shane warne

Rex in Q and A with Michael Hussey

Rex Clementine, in Island, 7 February 2019, with the title “Murali is Mr Cricket –Mike Hussey”

No batsman in Test cricket played Sri Lanka better than Australia’s Mike Hussey. Numbers prove it. His average of 110 against Sri Lankan attacks is better than that of Brian Lara (86), Virat Kohli (77), Sunil Gavaskar (66), A.B. de Villiers (62) and Sachin Tendulkar (60). Hussey’s average against Sri Lanka is the best by any Test cricketer.

 Rival players at one point, Muttiah Muralitharan and Mike Hussey went onto become great friends when they were team mates at Chennai Super Kings.

The Island caught up with the man who was nicknamed Mr. Cricket for his deep knowledge about the game. In this interview, Hussey opens up on his battles against Murali, his close relationship with the man who was once his opponent and later a team-mate. Dismissing Kumar Sangakkara in a Test match and the future of Australian cricket and lots more. Here are the excerpts. Continue reading

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“God Awful ODI Squad” says Shane the Warne

Abhishek Patil in Cricket Age, 4 January 2019, where the title runs “Shane Warne Slams Australian Selectors After ODI Team Announcement”

A fuming Shane Warne slammed the Australian selectors after the One-day International (ODI) squad for the upcoming three-match series against India was announced on Friday. The selectors axed five players — Travis Head, Chris Lynn, D’Arcy Short, Ben McDermott and all-rounder Ashton Agar — on basis of current form. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins were rested for the limited-over series while Nathan Lyon, Usman Khawaja and veteran Peter Siddle were brought back into the ODI setup.

  Khawaja  

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How Dubai training assisted Aussies in India: Nullifying Jadeja rather than Herath

Daniel Brettig, courtesy of ESPNcricinfo, where the title is “Australia enjoy fruits of Dubai detour”

The advantages derived from a visit to Dubai before the India Tests have become clear. Here’s how Australia ended up in the UAE, and what they had on offer there,
Australia had the chance to hit the ground running in India, after the time spent preparing for the series in Dubai © AFP

 

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Cricket Riveting Cricket!! Valentine and Ramadhin Rise Again at Pune

Gideon Haigh, in The Australian, 27 February 2017, where his chosen title is Pune shock a victory for the true believers”

This was one for the true believers, and it’s fair to say that these were heavily outnumbered in the vicinity of MCA Stadium last week, especially once the pitch, as dry and scarred as the lunar surface, was rolled out. When Steve Smith spoke warmly ahead of the first Test of “the great challenge” of playing in India, and of the future possibility of team members looking back on a series win as “the best time of our lives”, he was indulged, but sceptically. Young captains must say such things, mustn’t they? The forebodings of a chorus of greats resonated more loudly.

Australia's captain Steve Smith bats during Third day of the first cricket test match against India in Pune, India, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

Australia’s captain Steve Smith bats during Third day of the first cricket test match against India in Pune, India, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

But when Smith opined of his tough summer’s cricket that “you probably learn more from losing games than you do from winning”, it turns out he was not kidding. In Pune, he and his team evinced a quality in which Australian cricket has not always abounded: humility. Continue reading

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Enter Jeffrey Vandersay. In the Footsteps of Warne? Yeah … and Nay., Nay

Rex Clementine,  in The Sunday Island, 23 October 2016, where the title reads ” Fate has forced Vandersay to wait patiently”

With the exit of Shane Warne, for a few years, leg-spin looked a dying art. But Pakistan’s Yasir Shah has kept cricket’s most difficult art alive. Last year, as Pakistan won in Sri Lanka after nine years, the leg-spinner took 24 wickets. He became the quickest Pakistani to take 50 wickets in Tests and became the first leg-spinner since Warne to be ranked as world’s number one bowler. He is following on the footsteps of other remarkable Pakistani leg-spinners such as Abdul Qadir and Mushtaq Ahmed.

vanderasay   Leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay was out of cricket for more than six months and on Friday spun Sri Lanka ‘A’ to a series win over West Indies ‘A’ taking six wickets in the second innings at Dambulla.

But Yasir, unlike Warne, heavily depends on his stock delivery. Warne was outstanding because he had excellent control over his variations like the googly (one that turns the opposite way), the top spinner (one that doesn’t turn but dips sharpy and bounces higher), the flipper (one that skids through and keeps low), the slider (the faster one). Sri Lanka could provide the answer for the complete package of Warne as there’s a leg-spinner who is obsessed with Warne. Jeffrey Vandersay is his name. Continue reading

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Aussies have fared Well in Lanka — Four Reasons

Daniel Brettig, in ESPNcricinfo, 23 July 2016, 

Why do Australia, so often poor in Asia, never seem to lose in Sri Lanka? Here are four possible reasons
Sri Lanka’s tropical climate has always given some assistance to seamers, as Shane Watson discovered in Galle in 2011 © Associated Press

Either side of the disastrous Australian tour of India in 2013, much comment passed within and outside the team about the lack of experience contained in the first touring squad chosen after the retirements of Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey.

 

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Beating Verbal Intimidation at its Own Game

Mitchell Santner during his test debut against Australia. Photo / Getty
Mitchell Santner during his test debut against Australia. Photo / Getty

They say honesty is the best policy and it proved to be an effective strategy for Black Caps debutant Mitchell Santner. An obvious target for the Australians when he walked out to bat for the first time in the day-night pink ball test in Adelaide, Santner provided the perfect simple response to the inevitable sledging. “(Nathan) Lyon asked straight away, ‘Are you nervous?'” Santner told Radio Sport earlier this week. “I was like, ‘Ah yeah,’ and that stopped the (conversation).”

Santner’s tactics worked perfectly. He went on to be New Zealand’s top run scorer in the match with knocks of 31 and 45. And his response joins the list of memorable comebacks to sledges in world cricket.

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Arjuna Ranatunga under Siege

HIRUNIKA or WARNE? Kavuda Piliganney?

HIRUNIKA and arjuna warne and arjuna

What’s in A Twosome?

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Cricketing Feats at Galle over the years …. Mahela, Sehwag and company

Bill RicquIer, courtesy of The lsland, 115 July 2014, where the title is “Welcome to Galle

mahela at galle

The first Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa, which starts on Wednesday at the Galle International Stadium will be the twenty third Test to have been played at that iconic ground. Of the twenty two played previously, Sri Lanka have won twelve and lost four. The first Test played at Galle, in June 1998, provided what might almost be called a template, setting as it did a precedent that has been followed reasonably faithfully since. Continue reading

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Essaying Cricket: Sri Lanka and Beyond

Michael Roberts

warne hugs Arjuna

  • 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

Web:www.vijithayapa.com

Softcover: ISBN 955-1266-25-0   AUD $65 / pd 25

       Hardcover: ISBN 955-1266-26-9       AUD $90 / pd 35 

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