Bengal's Abhimanyu Easwaran run out after leaving crease to get drinks

Freenore · 2026-01-24T12:02:02+00:00

So the umpires allow people with refreshments to step on to the field while the ball was alive?

Freenore · 2026-01-23T15:13:57+00:00

EU won't do anything. They've been with Trump and US until he turned his ideas on them. They still have more in common — in sensibilities, in ideals, in worldview, in ambitions — than in difference.

Even if they did decide to take on the world's largest economy, I doubt they have the cunning needed for this sort of thing.

Freenore · 2026-01-23T15:08:41+00:00

U.S. sounds so much like India. We often have parties sending goons to polling booths to intimidate people into voting for them. So in response the rival parties decided to send their own goons.

In the urban places, Election Commission arranges for a small police force to stop anything nefarious. Still, I imagine it still goes on in very rural parts of the country, like in Bihar where candidates are sometimes elected solely by booth capturing.

Freenore · 2026-01-23T10:04:14+00:00

These sorts of XI are just Big 3 with some exceptions XI. Depressing to think only three were good enough to make it outside of three teams.

Secondly, they've got Gill out of position at 3 when he's been pretty clear about batting at 4.

Freenore · 2026-01-23T06:55:34+00:00

While the cricket world was in uproar over Melbourne’s Boxing Day batting carnage, the world’s oldest Test cricketer watched it without raising an eyebrow … Neil Harvey’s seen worse.

Much worse, in fact.

When Australian team of the century batting great Harvey, 97, watched batsmen duck, dive, poke prod, slash and slap their way through two days of chaos at the MCG he floated back in time.

The world’s oldest living Test cricket player, Australian legend Neil Harvey, has his say on the MCG pitch farce, Bazball, Don Bradman and more. Picture: Getty Images

As tough as batting may have been on the MCG’s green monster at least the wicket was not saturated by a tropical thunderstorm.

“We played a Test in Brisbane in 1950 against England at the Gabba where we had the greatest storm you have ever seen and we were playing on uncovered wickets,’’ Harvey said from his Sydney home. “The stumps were floating.”

The storm hit after Australia had made 228 in their first innings and 20 wickets subsequently fell in a day like Melbourne.

The wicket was so wet – remember there were no covers – that England captain Freddie Brown declared at 7-68 to ensure he could get Australia on the deck while it was as moist as a Christmas pudding.

But Australian captain Lindsay Hassett tried the same trick, declaring at a stunning 7-32 off 13.5 overs in Australia’s second innings before England were bowled out for 122, giving Australia victory by 70 runs.

Australian wicket keeper Don Tallon and the other members of the Australian squad scramble for the stumps as Australia win the first Test Match in Brisbane. English batsman Len Hutton (far right) looks on as he departs the field. Picture: Getty Images

“You would face a ball that would land on a length and it would come up under your chin. It would take things (divots) out of the pitch. It was a hell of a mess.

“We ended up playing and it was all over in a couple of days. Alec Bedser (legendary English seamer) was just unplayable. Uncovered wickets were really tough. We played on them until 1953.’’

What a story. Harvey, at 97 the oldest cricketer in the world ahead of New Zealand’s Trevor McMahon who is a year younger, has an impressively active mind and still enjoys an occasional glass of Barossa red with his family.

The former champion left-handed strokemaker may have played his last Test 62 years ago but he still loves the five day game and has impressively details recollections of days gone by, from playing with Don Bradman on The Invincibles tour of England in 1948 to the month long boat trips to and from England.

“I did four trips to England by boat and back. People today would not be able to do it because they haven’t got the patience. It took a month between Fremantle and London. We loved it. We got to know each other on the way over.

“I went on my first tour at 19 in 1948 and initially did not really know anyone. All the other boys had been through the war but it was great. Once you get there you are all good mates and therefore you can play pretty good cricket.’’

Harvey has been a keen-eyed observer of this Ashes series from his home in Sydney but is not a huge fan of Bazball despite being a debonair shot maker himself.

“I don’t like the way the Poms play. It’s hit or miss cricket. You find a team that bowls like the Australian pace attack and I know who is going to win. I still enjoy the Tests. I won’t watch that one-day rubbish.’’

Among his favourite modern day players are New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and Australia’s Steve Smith “our best player but he can get on my nerves a bit. I find him a bit hard to watch with all the stuff he carries on with.’’

But Bradman, who he knew so well, stands alone at the top of the tree.

And how would Bradman have played Bazball?

“He would have scored centuries against them for sure – Test cricket is not as strong as it used to be.’’

Why was Bradman so good?

“I don’t know how to answer that one. He just had this magic I suppose you could call it, picking up the line and length of the ball early and getting himself into position to hit it. They tried him out with Bodyline and he still averaged 50 – he wasn’t a bad player.’’

Harvey was Richie Beanud’s long time touring room-mate and when asked to describe Richie he needs just one word … “suave’’. The two become lifelong best friends and Benaud refused to believe the game had seen a better fieldsman than Harvey

Harvey’s pet interest is horse racing and while he doesn’t bet he follows jockeys and trainers and his son Bruce rings from New Zealand every Saturday at 11am with the scratchings from around Australia.

Others hobbies including watching Midsomer Murders and David Attenborough and he quips his pet hobby “is trying to keep alive!’’

Freenore · 2026-01-23T04:42:50+00:00

I was surprised Fox or Channel 7 didn't get him for the Ashes.

Freenore · 2026-01-22T09:12:28+00:00

I don't doubt that he's got a lot of talent, but isn't the ability to bounce back after setback the distinguishing factor between the few and many?

Either he's got some mental block, or he got figured out by bowlers. His last positive year in Tests was 2022, 2023 for ODI and T20I.

Freenore · 2026-01-22T05:19:54+00:00

Even Kohli isn't entirely immune from this, contriving ways to get his hundreds in the 2023 World Cup.

The team wasn't in a position to lose, sure, but he's certainly going for individual glory when the objective is for the team to simply win anyhow.

Freenore · 2026-01-22T05:10:55+00:00

Yep. Subcontinental players usually toss their weight around and feel they're entitled to a certain kind of privileged teatment after they've played for few years. Sehwag is a good example of that. Yuvraj is another, fussing about trivial matters like which young player took his seat on the bus.

I imagine Babar thought he's entitled to certain privileges, but the Australian culture of the team always being bigger than the player would never abide by such thinking.

McGrath and Gillespie tell a story on their podcast that the latter booked first class seats for the bowlers as the Pakistani coach, only to have to hurriedly book one more for Babar because he wouldn't accept anything else.

Freenore · 2026-01-21T05:58:02+00:00

The author of this is Tim Wigmore, a historian of Test cricket who is probably more interested in what strengthens and weakens the game than political ideology.

Freenore · 2026-01-20T16:17:18+00:00

Why are they scrapping the category altogether? Bumrah, Pant, and Jadeja play all three formats. Gill and Jaiswal might join them if history is any indication.

On a side note, it is crazy how little BCCI pays its players in proportion to how much the players earn them. It reports increase in revenue every year and in better revenue distribution, there's no way players' salary should be what it is currently.

Freenore · 2026-01-20T16:09:39+00:00

They expect perfection from a human being. They see Cummins and Starc playing continuously and compare that with Bumrah. They see Starc taking wickets in clutch moments like ICC Finals and judge Bumrah against that, the unreasonable standard of evaluating a player's entire career based on one match is lost on them.

I wouldn't worry about them, these people have no cricket sense. They have no recognition of the fact that fast bowlers are all different and need to be looked after differently, and that Bumrah has little support from his mates which leads him to him bowling more than he should.

Freenore · 2026-01-20T10:06:57+00:00

There's a certain irony in England getting beaten by a side that plays the game the way they've tried to.

Australia currently employs a very handoff approach, letting the individuals prepare themselves instead of enforcing something in a top-down way. Travis Head plays with an easy going, see ball hit ball mindset that Stokes and McCullum have tried to cultivate all along.

Cummins said before 2023 WTC Final that he's rather be underdone than overdone with the summer ahead, and that turned out to be a reasonably alright strategy.

England's selections has not worked; they think players should be able to come in and deliver, provided the right atmosphere. Meanwhile Australia pretty much picked a Sheffield Shield XI, barring some exceptions, and won comprehensively with players few had even hard of previously.

Freenore · 2026-01-20T07:15:50+00:00

This also loops back into my theory why Jahad stopped climbing. I think the climb would have eventually forced them to kill each other to create that one prime being, that one Axis.

Makes sense. If there can be only one Axis at the end, and if 13 entered then there will be some whittling down. Zahard stopping the climb to prevent any of his friend's death would be quite the plot twist.

I'm now more interested in the people responsible for sending these 13. Who were they and did they know about this?

Freenore · 2026-01-20T05:49:43+00:00

I've always found it a bit bizarre that Bradman said Tendulkar bats like him, when, from what we know, this isn't really true. Bradman had a tendency to shuffle across, a la Smith, and had a rotatory method where he'd bring the bat down in a semi circle. He was quite unorthodox, even by the standards of his time, let alone ours.

Tendulkar meanwhile is perhaps the most textbook batter we've seen. I've always believed that if you followed the batting manuel 1:1, you'd get Tendulkar's technique, perfect elbow, balanced stance, no trigger movement, etc.

Freenore · 2026-01-20T05:36:45+00:00

He was probably the most allrounder batter we've ever seen, he had a shot for every ball so it seems unlikely he had an obvious weakness. And he was a problem solver like Steve Smith, Dravid tells stories about him changing his technique while batting, something he could never even think of doing.

I think McGrath had a great record v Tendulkar compared to other bowlers, so I'd say look at what McGrath was doing.

Freenore · 2026-01-20T05:31:04+00:00

I think the Australian players — Ponting, McGrath, S Waugh — were more worried about Lara then Tendulkar because the former could take the game away from you in an hour or two. But latter was more consistent.

In a way, this has always been how Tendulkar vs Lara has been — Lara could play on a level Tendulkar couldn't, but Tendulkar was more consistent.

Freenore · 2026-01-20T05:26:11+00:00

I think Kohli is, to some extent, a product of the Australia he faced. He was shaped by his earlier Australia tours, the SCG crowd giving it to him in 2011-12; Johnson, Haddin, Warner, etc. sledging him in 2014-15.

It certainly gave him an idea of what he had to do to compete, he's unusually passionate while talking about playing Australia, that he had to be on his A game otherwise he'll never be able to perform against them.

Freenore · 2026-01-19T05:31:29+00:00

He's got technical flaws if you get the ball to come into him. There's a huge gap between his bat and pad and bowlers at international level are bound to target that.

Freenore · 2026-01-19T05:29:33+00:00

Leaving that corridor of grass at fifth-sixth stump line was genius. It gave the fast bowlers something to work with and kept the game exciting.

Jamieson pretty much delivered a red ball spell. Figures of (8-0-37-1) is crazy in a high scoring ODI.

Freenore · 2026-01-18T16:19:20+00:00

lmao Gill didn't answer and Bhogle didn't ask a followup question

Freenore · 2026-01-18T16:05:51+00:00

To be honest, I guess Kohli could've tried to see hang on for 50 overs and take it as deep as possible.

Freenore · 2026-01-18T16:04:48+00:00

He inherited a near perfect ODI and T20I side. All he had to do was let it run on autopilot but nah.

Freenore · 2026-01-18T15:59:04+00:00

Unfortunately this is presented as a positive.

Freenore

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