Chanders, football and teeth

dcsiva — Sat, 24 May 2008 21:52:00 GMT

Sean points out that Chanderpaul's record over the last year puts him in Bradman territory. He was pretty unorthodox too, of course. Vir Sanghvi writes about the European Cup Final, club loyalties, and what's inevitably in store for cricket, via the IPL:

One objection could be that it blurs loyalties. How can the citizens of Bombay believe that Sanath Jayasuriya or Shaun Pollock truly represent them?

I don’t know. But clearly they do believe that. If the IPL fever has taught us anything, it is that fans will love any player, no matter what his race, religion or nationality, as long as he plays well.

That’s true of the Premiership too. No Chelsea fan cares that the only connection such players as Florent Malouda or Claude Makelele have with their city is professional. As far as they are concerned, they are all Chelsea players now. Manchester fans applauded Cristiano Ronaldo when he scored United’s only goal in the Moscow final. He was as much a player in their team as the very English Wayne Rooney (who ended up being substituted towards the end of the game).

And, with James Anderson's bouncer taking out Daniel Flynn's teeth, here's a report on county player Dave Fulton nearly losing his eye from a bowling machine bouncer.

Chanders and big hitting

dcsiva — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:23:00 GMT

An astonishing result in the West Indies vs. Sri Lanka series, as Lanka collapse but keep going, and the Windies start slow, collapse, then recover with some big hitting from Chanderpaul. Island Express points to the beginning of the West Indies innings:

Yesterday, the struggle against the Vaasdomination continued, with Gayle prepared to leave almost everything outside off against Vaas, and continue his buccaneering ways against whoever was bowling at the other end. Vaas swung the ball, well into the second powerplay, and Gayle continued to wait, gleefully accepting his luck on the way. Amarasinghe got some stick and Gayle got himself a fifty in what was in the final analysis, a captain's knock.

Samir Chopra says it's the first time ever that a six was needed and delivered off the last ball:

Sorry, Pakistan fans, the Miandad six doesn't count. Four were needed then. And neither does the Mujtaba six. Seven were needed then.

The Atheist notes that Fifty50 might have some life left in it yet.

Cover Points : Shivnarine Chanderpaul

Chanders, football and teeth

Chanders and big hitting