On The Trott

While it might be his first time as ICC Cricketer of The Year  it may well not be his last "sparkly red ball".

Meanwhile, Back At The Cricket ...

... Laurie Evans gets cleaned out by Simon Cook.

Despite all the angst and wailing currently taking place cricket will carry on. Those in charge had better get their shit together however, if they want to go with it.

Whether it is 20 overs on a Saturday morning in New Plymouth, tennis balls in the backyard in Melbourne or sticks and something round in Colombo or Karachi - people will play cricket. That gives cricket a strength that many other sports lack, as they have so many spectators and so few players.

We will keep playing cricket we just won't pay as much attention to what the "stars" and their backers are doing.

Give John The Job!

If there is one thing in modern sport that really gets me angry it is the twisted assumption that you have to have played at the highest level to have an opinion or know anything about it.

Now I am not one to jump quickly to the aid of my trans tasman cousins but for Zimbabwe to have any sway over the appointment (or not) of any official seems crazy. They need to get some actual cricket happening before they try and dictate what happens elsewhere.

The skill set required to run a country can't be too far off that needed to oversee the ICC and he did have his own team, which is more than Zimbabwe can say for the last few years.

And yes, he does look good in the hat.

A Long Table For A Long Room

All in all, I would rather be outside.

A Certain Calm

With the ICC in meltdown and the IPL in full scream I thought a little chocolate box image might be just the thing to calm things down.

Remember cricket? Used to be played on sunny days, in bucolic settings by young men dressed in white. The dominant smell was of cut grass not fireworks and afternoon tea did not require a round of interviews.

Big and Small

From the excellent blog by Nasir Khan comes the news that the Falkland Islands has become an affiliate of the ICC. Nasir also reported earlier this year on the Chinese Cricket Associations developments and targets, namely ;

2009: Have 720 teams across the country in a well-organised structure
2015: Have 20,000 players and 2,000 coaches
2019: Qualify for the World Cup
2020: Gain Test status

Now any student of the absurd can but wet their lips at the prospect of a country of 3000 people taking on one of 1.4 billion.

It also makes you wonder where the best site for Falklands Cricket Stadium might be - as you can see in the photo there is no shortage of open ground.