Cricket’s unqualified success story (with qualifications)
The moral complexity in supporting AFG, Stokes is Ian Botham's true heir, & Sangakkara's stint in village cricket.
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Cricket’s unqualified success story (with qualifications)
The moral complexity in supporting AFG, the making of Darren Sammy feat. his mother, & US are actually…underperforming?
India beat Afghanistan by 47 runs. Indian Express’ Sriram Veera says that Suryakumar Yadav’s shot-making - and a particular six he hit in the 17th over - prove his mettle as India’s No.4, while his colleague Venkata Krishna B advocates for replacing Shivam Dube with Sanju Samson.
ESPNcricinfo’s Sidharth Monga writes about the elephant in the room; how can you whole-heartedly support this exciting, dark horse Afghani team when you know how their administration has persecuted the Women’s team?
Cricbuzz’s Bharat Sundaresan spends a day with Darren Sammy’s family to understand how his mother’s Christianity and the poverty he grew up in shaped the man who could be described as St Lucia’s best.
Dream Cricket USA’s Peter Della Penna has the best take on a seemingly overachieving American side; their “stars” aren’t playing well, their captain’s been injured for two weeks, a couple of their best players weren’t even selected for the tournament, and the players are getting paid less than $350 per game - and yet, they’re giving as good as they get every game.
ESPNcricinfo’s Sambit Bal brings the media full circle as he praises the virtues of T20 cricket that requires batters to embrace strokeplay and gives bowlers a fair whack on an equal playing surface.
The all-rounder that no-one could follow, and the all-rounder that did
Stokes is Ian Botham's true heir, PAK-W can’t deal with leg spin, & the PCB is rejigging their selection committee (again).
Arrangements of White on Green’s Jon Hotten has a fantastic look back at the turbulent, brilliant career of Ian Botham, and how Ben Stokes has stepped up as his true spiritual heir as an incarnation of the fans’ desire on the pitch.
Crossbatted’s Eman T writes about the Pakistani Women’s kryptonite; leg spin. They can’t bat against it, they rarely bowl it, and it has been the cause of their downfall for years.
ESPNcricinfo’s Danyal Rasool reports that the PCB is set to re-jig their selection committee yet again after Pakistan’s abysmal performance at the World Cup.
The BCCI has unveiled the dates and venues for the Bangladesh, New Zealand & England white ball tours of India from September to February.
Hanuma Vihari has flip-flopped again; after complaining about the Andhra Pradesh team for months, finally getting a NOC to switch teams, and linking up with the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association for the new domestic season - he’s only gone and ghosted Madhya Pradesh.
Former India pacer David Johnson has died at the age of 52 in Bengaluru.
Hafeez’s love for “selfish” Kohli
Hafeez takes on Vaughan in person, Scotland’s plans, & Sangakkara's stint in village cricket.
Club Prairie Fire give former Mohammad Hafeez a platform to talk about his team as Pakistan team director, and remind us all about the stupidity of the Internet as they have a laugh about the social media “battle” between him and co-host Michael Vaughan.
The Stumped podcast hosts Steve Snell, the Head of Performance at Cricket Scotland, to talk about where the associate nation go now after narrowly missing out on qualification from a group with reigning champions England and perennial champions Australia.
Wisden Cricket Weekly have a lot of segments in their pod this week, with one gem thrown in there; former Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara talks about why he had to bat at No.5 for his village team because he “wasn’t proven at that level!” Sangakkara’s interview starts at the 48:44 mark. [Apple Podcasts]
Editor’s Note
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