Tabla de contenidos para December 2017 en Inside Cricket

The day after MCC cricket law 41.5 was passed in September, Marnus Labuschagne of the Queensland Bulls broke it. The law states, “It is unfair for any fielder wilfully to attempt, by word or action, to distract, deceive or obstruct either batsman after the striker has received the ball”. Labuschagne was penalised five runs for pretending to throw the ball when he’d actually failed to pick it up. Former MCC committeeman, the august Right Hon. Lord Percy Ridgewell Blitherington-Prigg, approves of the ruling: “Labuschagne?! Trust some bally Frenchman to turn our game into a dashed mockery! We all know what those knife-wielding alley-dwellers used to do to splendid Englishmen who went for honest, virile ways of sorting matters out! “Pretending to throw a ball! When he didn’t even have it…

How important was the 2005 Ashes, to you, personally? ‘05 was massive, it defines my career. When people talk about me and that summer it was because of the way that series went. What was special about that England side? The team was like a family. Not many changing rooms you walk into and it feels like home, particularly at international level. There was no envy and no-one was trying to outdo anyone. We played to win as a unit, but enjoyed each other’s success. It was a really relaxed environment. Newspapers weren’t allowed in the changing rooms. No negative press. The pace bowling attack was pretty good. As a bowling unit, everyone knew that someone would always put their hand up. But not just the quicks. Ashley Giles, for…

“Like Botham and Flintoff before him, Stokes is a full-throttle competitor with a self-destructive streak.” – Alan Gardner, ESPN Cricinfo “With me coming to England, he should stay on the boundary when I’m batting, as far away as possible.” – Marlon Samuels before the ODI series against England in September 2017 “People have said to him there is only one person who can ruin your career – and that is you.” – Former England skipper Michael Vaughan “England have no more committed team man than Stokes. But nobody has let England’s cricket team down more than Stokes appears to have.” – Scyld Berry, Telegraph UK cricket correspondent “That video shows a dickhead trying to bottle @benstokes38 and getting his just desserts in my opinion.” – Graeme Swann on Twitter “If…

Forty years after the first ball was bowled, Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket, is remembered as one of the most significant moments in the game’s history. Bob Willis: “My opinion has changed, over the years. Clearly, it was exactly what cricket needed. Over 250,000 people watched the Centenary Test and the Australian players were paid $250 for their efforts. After Packer, our pay went from £275 per Test to £1000, overnight. So he did everybody a favour in the end. Gordon Greenidge: “It was a time when players needed to have more say over their careers. The establishment ran things and the players didn’t have a voice. The establishment would make decisions which affected our welfare and we’d just go out and play. World Series Cricket changed all that, but…

Ian Chappell versus Ian Botham They rarely played against each other, but their relationship has featured plenty of fun and games over the years. Their first clash took place during the 1977 Centenary Test, when Botham, in Australia to play district cricket, reportedly pushed Chappell off a bar stool. Each has a different version of subsequent events. In the meantime, on those occasions they opposed each other on the field, there were fireworks. Botham has since made the odd half-conciliatory comment, but Chappell won’t have a bar of it. In 2010, they reportedly resumed hostilities when Chappell made a remark as their paths crossed in an Adelaide carpark, and they had to be separated. Chappell denies this, and continues to accuse Botham of fabricating stories to suit himself. Donald Bradman…

Rodney William Marsh always understood how to remove barriers to winning cricket, his judgement, unlike that of other ex-players, unhindered by self-regard. Straightforward but complex, conservative on one hand, revolutionary on the other, brusque yet compassionate, he was often misunderstood. From the beginning of his first-class career, when he scored 102 against the West Indies in 1968-69 but was a long way from being Australia’s best wicketkeeper, Marsh held deep respect for cricket’s traditions, and yet had decided the game he loved should go about things differently. Indeed, he knew he himself needed to. Within a time after his disastrous Test debut in 1970-71, he’d turned better-performed rivals for the national job into admirers. It took time for Marsh to marshal all the powerful components of his bulk and become…

CRICKET OUTLAWS INSIDE KERRY PACKER’S WORLD SERIES REVOLUTION. AUSTIN ROBERTSON. PAN MACMILLAN. RRP $44.99 Cricket is a marvellous generator of stories with a legacy of great raconteurs. Sometimes it gets a little too fond of its own voice, when all the keen fan really wants is to know the full story. You won’t get a fuller account of the great apostasy called World Series Cricket than Robertson’s book. Because he himself was at the centre of the entire show, his knowledge of the events and the dramatis personae, from leading characters to bit-players, is intimate. Through its protagonists and their first-hand accounts, Robertson delivers the entire picture. The title of each chapter is the name of one of the characters. The first part is Robertson’s introduction and explanation of the…

THE SECCOMBE ELEVEN Former Queensland wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe has been appointed the state’s new coach after his predecessor, Phil Jaques, announced he was returning home to New South Wales. Seccombe played 115 first-class matches until 2005 and was Queensland’s all-time leader for wicketkeeping dismissals across all formats until Chris Hartley beat his record last summer. He also toured England with Australia’s Ashes squad in 2001 as Adam Gilchrist’s understudy. Since his retirement as a player, Seccombe has served as Queensland youth coach, assistant coach to Darren Lehmann at Queensland and Brisbane Heat, and Australia’s fielding coach. “Wade had an enviable record and gilt-edged reputation as a player, for his skill level as an individual and his dedication to the team environment”, Queensland Cricket chief Max Walters said. “After his playing…

The England and Australian sides meet at a fascinating juncture. Each is in the ascent; rebuilding in a sense. Each features the leadership pairing of a captain who happens to be one of the best four batsmen in the world and an experienced advisor who happens to open the batting; each of those openers has been considered the most accomplished in his position in world cricket. Both teams are struggling to mix the iron of time-honoured champions with the clay of transitory tyros. England, in fact, has the edge in experience, while Australia possesses a fast-bowling arsenal that should be the winning difference. Each team has a captain who is happy by nature but hard-nosed by necessity. Aussies will be naturally intrigued as to what form the inevitable irruption of…

December 2011 – Arrested and cautioned for obstructing police in a drinkrelated incident in the UK. February 2013 – Sent home from England Lions tour for breaking team curfews and drinking. January 2014 – Fined and reprimanded for on-field outburst in an ODI match against Australia. March 2014 – Breaks wrist punching a locker after being dismissed in a T20 against West Indies. September 2015 – Controversially given out for obstructing the field during an ODI against Australia, only the seventh player in the history of international cricket. April 2016 – Openly feuds with Marlon Samuels during World T20 final at Kolkata and later dispatched for four sixes in four balls by Carlos Brathwaite. November 2016 – Receives second demerit point for offensive language during Mohali Test. August 2017 –…

During the recent World Cup, when Australia’s captain Meg Lanning was rested, Alex Blackwell, her incumbent vice-captain, didn’t meet me out in the middle for the toss. Instead it was Rachael Haynes who strode out with team sheet in hand. In all my time playing and following this game, I’d never seen the vice-captain overlooked to step into the role as captain – certainly not by a player who hadn’t yet played a game during the tournament. When it happened for a second time and it became increasingly evident that Lanning’s shoulder was hanging by a thread, my thoughts quickly turned to the Ashes: “Are we seeing the audition for the next Australian captain?” Therefore, when Cricket Australia announced that Haynes would be taking over the reins whilst Lanning recovered,…

“In limited-overs cricket, I thin k Virat is ahead of Steve, but just by that much. Smith I believe is a better Test batsman.” Michael Clarke, assessing the relative merits of Kohli and Smith ahead of the September/October one-day series in India. “World record, thank you. Somebody needs to hold it.”Morne Morkel, graciously accepting his world record for the most w ickets lost to no-balls (13) after he bowled Ben Stokes on ly to see the extended arm of doom. “Ussie’s an unbelievable player. If Test cricket was easy, everyone would do it, that’s the thing that you’ve got to remember. We’re facing quality bowlers. I’m supporting Ussie 100 per cent ... I’m backing Ussie to bounce back and have a massive summer for Australian cricket.” Nathan Lyon giving unconditional…

The recent acrimonious dispute between the Australian Cricketers Association [ACA] and Cricket Australia [CA] was a sharp reminder of the battle of wills that these two groups indulge in from time to time. From the infamous “Big Six” withdrawing from the Australian touring side of 1912 to the most recent dust-up, there have been many examples of the ongoing distrust between players and officials. These disputes have ranged from a 1912 punch-up between Australian captain Clem Hill and a board member, to players of the ilk of Victor Trumper (one of the Big Six) withdrawing their services, to the wholesale revolt by players that resulted in the establishment of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket in 1977. These occasional dust-ups have been over many things ranging from selection to the appointment…

Joe Root, a cheery bloke, is not averse to the sort of pragmatic hostility that translates into victory. He’s a shrewd tactician who’ll be looking to jump the Aussies in that very place where fear and loathing are born anew every four years, Brisbane – a town that rarely fails to deliver Australia a soaring start to a Test series. Australia does have a strange habit of either ambushing the English when they come here (witness 1974-75, 2006- 07 and 2013-14) or being meekly submissive at the outset (1970-71, 1985-86, 2010-11). Steve Smith seems to be finally imposing his form of benevolent dictatorship on the side as he realises they actually need it. The Hobart Test of last summer was manifestly a turningpoint. After being sent home from the Sri…

1. IAN BOTHAM (1977-1992) With the bat: 161 innings, 5200 runs, HS 208, ave 33.54, S/R 60.7, 14 hundreds, 22 fifties With the ball: 21815 balls, 10878 runs, 383 wickets, ave 28.4, best bowling 8/34, S/R 56.9 2. TONY GREIG (1972-1977) With the bat: 93 innings, 3599 runs, HS 148, ave 40.4, 8 hundreds, 20 fifties With the ball: 9802 balls, 4541 runs, 141 wickets, ave 32.2, best bowling 8/86, S/R 69.5 3. BEN STOKES (2013-) With the bat: 69 innings, 2429 runs, HS 258, ave 35.7, S/R 63.8, 6 hundreds, 12 fifties With the ball: 5734 balls, 3224 runs, 95 wickets, ave 33.9, best bowling 6/22, S/R 60.3 4. ANDREW FLINTOFF (1998-2009) With the bat: 130 innings, 3845 runs, HS 167, ave 31.77, S/R 62, 5 hundreds, 26 fifties…

Len Pascoe: “Viv Richards was the batsman I feared the most. Bowling to him, finishing two-thirds of the way down the wicket after your followthrough, if you pitched one up too far, you’d likely get a bowler-killer’ straight drive coming back at you.” Clive Rice: “Garth Le Roux was fast and would have got 200 Test wickets really quickly. He’d have been a fast bowling legend if he’d played Test cricket. Dennis Lillee was magnificent, never gave up. Although he didn’t much enjoy coming out to bat. He was always going to get a few (bouncers) back.” Kepler Wessles: “Both the Chappells were amazing and had a big influence on my career. Ian, you just wanted to follow into battle. He would take the pressure off you and put it…

So often a series becomes known for a dominating performance by one man, with bat, ball or both. With apologies to the powerful all-rounders who conquered all by themselves, we present, in this issue and the next, those who owned entire Ashes series using one implement, this month with the ball, next with the bat. The statistics don't always tell the story. Overwhelming figures sometimes tell of overwhelming dominance, but sometimes, as in the case of Dennis Lillee and Terry Alderman in 1981, they simply mean a losing team would have looked a lot worse without them. ALEC BEDSER, 1953 Who knows how Alec Bedser’s career might have unfolded had World War II not interrupted his career in 1939? He made his Test debut in 1946 at 28, and in…