ShreyasIyer

The message board I have frequented for the past five years ( http://cricketfansforum.net ) has recently been running a thread about cricketing quotes. That got me interested in the topic, and I have been tracking some of the better ones down to share over the next few days. "If they re-write the laws and saw that double-jointed people must not be allowed to play the first-class game, well, fair enough" - Harold Rhodes (1966) "An out-and-out thrower" - Uncle J Rod (2007) about Murali. Also, Dillip Vengsarkar (1991) about Manoj Prabhakar. "My unicycle has broken down and I've left my red nose in the box" - Ally Brown (1996). He had been compared to Coco the Clown by sections of the media after his debut ODI game for England. "The only fellow I've met who fell in love with himself at a young age and has remained faithful ever since" - Dennis Lillee (1997) describing Geoff Boycott. "Skipper, you seem to have forgotten your own instruc...

Apologies again for the delay on updating � I am struggling a bit at the moment with some health problems, but should now be over the worst. A quick update from some reading I have been doing recently � some interesting reports on reasons that games have been stopped. - In 1995, a game being played in Gloucestershire was officially abandoned by the umpires due to poor light. This decision was taken as the result of thick black smoke blanketing the ground from a nearby animal crematorium. - Also in 1995, Shane Warne�s favourite batsmen, Darryll Cullinan, hit a ball over the boundary for a six in a domestic match. As is commonplace in South Africa, a number of spectators had fired up a barbeque, and the ball landed right in the middle of a pan of hot fat. Play was delayed for over ten minutes whilst the officials firstly retrieved the ball, and then while they waited for the ball to cool enough to be cleaned of the oily coating. - England�s 1922-23 tour of South Africa was fairly unevent...

Apologies to all - I have been both unwell and away recently. I will endeavour to make up for the significant length of time since my last posting. ____________________________________________ In 1947, the law makers finally made the logical decision to combine Law 10 and Law 48. These were re-written as Law 26: �For a delivery to be fair the ball must be bowled, not thrown or jerked; if either umpire be not entirely satisfied of the absolute fairness of a delivery in this respect, he shall call and signal �no-ball� instantly upon delivery�. This change seemed to simplify the situation, and for the next decade there were few problems with chuckers in world cricket. However, the mid to late 50s saw a sudden explosion of bowlers with very suspect actions. The various administrators around the world experimented and trialed many different wordings and interpretations for the throwing law, but none seemed to be ideal. Precisely what defined a throw was proving difficult to put into...

With Murali�s success in the current test series against Australia (he has taken twice as many wickets in the series as any other Sri Lankan bowler, and in fact has taken as many wickets as all the other bowlers combined), there are a number of articles and blogs around at the moment discussing whether Murali is a chucker or not. This piece doesn�t argue that point at all, but is instead tries to provide a review of throwing since the laws of the game were first drafted. It gets a little long (which I accept is not normal for my posts), so I have split it into two parts. The laws of the game of cricket can be traced back to 1744, when a set of governing guidelines were developed. There were alterations and additions to this initial set of laws in 1755, but many historians argue the first legitimate and widespread laws were established in England in 1774. All bowling at this time was underarm, and there were no laws at all about throwing. In 1816, Lambert produced his �Cricketers� G...

I have been listening with interest over the past few days to the ABC radio discuss whether Brett Lee or Mitchell Johnson is the faster bowler. Largely, they are using the figures generated from the speed gun as a guide. Whilst velocity readings are very interesting, I don't think they come close to telling the whole story about how fast a bowler is. I admit that what I am going to say will probably confuse everyone but here goes; I don't think that the velocity of the ball is the same as the speed of the bowler. What I mean by this is that some bowlers are perceived by the batsman to be faster than others, even though the measured velocity may be the same. A few years ago Glen McGrath was measured as being slower than Greg Blewett. However, if you asked opening batsman which one was faster, I assume all of them would pick McGrath. My feeling is that batsman tend to find certain bowlers 'faster' than others on the basis of having to make a late adjustment when the b...

I was reading a cricket history book that had some extracts from the 1755 'The Code of Laws of Cricket'. The below are a few of the additions to the original version from 1744. Some are pretty cool. Laws for the Bowler If he delivers ye Ball with his hinder foot over ye Crease ye Umpire shall call No Ball though he be struck or ye Player is bowled out, which he shall do without being asked and no Person shall have any right to ask him. Laws for the Umpires To allow two minutes for each man to come in when one is out and ten minutes between each hand. To mark ye Ball, that it may not be changed. They are sole judges of all Outs and Ins, of all Fair and Unfair play or frivolous delays, of all hurts whether real or pretended, and are discretionally to allow what time they think proper before the game goes on again. In case of a real hurt to a striker they are to allow another to come in & ye Person hurt to come in again. But are not to allow a fresh Man to play on either side ...

Great left arm bowlers do not come along frequently, and this may be part of the reason why they are so successful. Variety is the spice of life, and likewise, a distinction between the types of bowlers in a team's attack is vital for success. This is where being left handed can be of great benefit. The natural angle across the right handed batsmen is an obvious advantage, but unless it is combined with swing, it can quickly become predictable and lose its edge. Alan Davidson may have been born left handed, but without an enormous amount of skill to go with it, he would never have developed into one of the finest all-rounders of all time, described by Richie Benaud, as "one of the best cricketers ever to play for Australia". Alan Davidson was born on the 14th of June, 1929 on the Central Coast of NSW at a small town called Lisarow. Cricket was part of his life from an early age, being supported and encouraged by his family. Alan recounted stories of sitting at his grandfa...

I must begin this book review with an admission that will come of no great surprise to readers of this blog; I am a cricket tragic. As an example of this characteristic, I actually enjoy reading books about cricket that are not a ghosted autobiography or diary of a current cricketer. One book I found fascinating was �True to the Blue� by Phillip Derriman which reviewed the history of the NSW Cricket Association. Derriman got access to the Association�s records, and he delved deeply into the interesting, and sometimes slightly murky, past of the body. I was therefore keen to read the recently released �Inside Story � Unlocking Australian Cricket Archives�. This story reveals the �behind-closed-doors� discussions and decisions made by the entity originally called the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket and currently known as Cricket Australia. Interestingly, this book was actually commissioned by the Cricket Australia, and it allowed the two nominated authors complete a...

When a country is first admitted into the family of test cricketing nations, they usually have a number of competent players without possessing the one or two truly great individuals who can lift the team from the bottom of the table. There are obviously exceptions to this rule, and Sri Lanka were fortunate to commence test cricket in the early 1980�s with a number of very experienced and successful batsmen. Whilst Sri Lanka did not have the bowling strikepower to win many games in their early years, the presence of Roy Dias in their top order ensured that their batting had a stability that most new teams take years to develop. Roy Dias was born on the 18th of October, 1952 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Richard Dias used to take all four of his sons, Roy, Phillip, George and Marshall along to watch local soccer and cricket games. Roy watched the inter-bank cricket matches with great interest, however Richard was more enthusiastic about soccer and pushed his sons in this direction. All his bro...

The first mention of the bat used in cricket can be traced as far back as the 1620s. Interestingly, this particular reference to the bat is in relation to the death of fielder during a game, and the inference is that the batsman had hit the fielder with his bat in order to prevent him catching the ball. This incident may have also served as the instigator of what is now Law 37 - Obstructing the Field. Bats at that time were shaped very similarly to modern hockey sticks; as the ball was delivered underarm and rolled along the ground this design made sense. The cricket bat commenced its transition to the now recognisable rectangular profile in the 1770s, when the laws of cricket changed to allow bowlers to �loop� the ball in the air whilst still bowling underarm. The change in law resulted in a corresponding change in batting technique, with players starting to use a more vertical swing of the bat, as opposed to the horizontal �sweeping� motion that was commonplace with balls rolled al...

The standard route for an aspiring player to reach test cricket involves performing at a suitably impressive level for the local club team, from there selection in the state or provincial side, and then, with luck and impeccable timing, being chosen for the national team. It is almost inconceivable now that a player could be chosen for England without playing regularly for one of the established county teams, however it has occurred on occasions. One of the few that have managed it regularly was Sydney Barnes, an imposing figure who preferred to play professionally in League cricket than in the County Championship. Sydney Barnes was born on the 19th of April, 1873 in Smethwick, Staffordshire. He was the second born of five children, three boys and two girls, all of whom were born and lived the majority of their lives in Staffordshire. Syd's father Richard was a typical working class individual, being employed by the same Birmingham firm for sixty three years. Syd did not play crick...