Cummins' rising star, ADHD as superpower & Warner's second home
Best Cricket Stories of the Week, 4th to 10th May 2024
“Cummins, the skinny, rangy kid who cut his teeth at Glenbrook-Blaxland Cricket Club and mastered control over the cricket ball in his family home’s slippery muddy backyard, has finally found his feet in the IPL in Hyderabad”; Cricket8’s Jarrod Kimber & CS Chiwanza report on the arrival of Pat Cummins, IPL superstar.
“Five other RCB batters have made 200 or more runs against spin in the first 16 overs of the innings since IPL 2020, all five of them have a better rate of scoring than Kohli’s 107.34”; Kashish breaks down the stats behind Virat Kohli’s problems with spin in the IPL since Covid, including what RCB have done to try and help him.
“Former KKR team director Joy Bhattacharjya recommended an “opt out card” for the cricketers. He suggested that the cricketer should have “the right to say no to one franchise” at the auction”; Wisden’s Abhishek Mukherjee wonders what can be done about the nature of IPL employment after the disgraceful public rebuke KL Rahul received from the LSG owner this week.
“As soon as you went into the dressing room and saw Josh’s locker, you just expected him to be there”; The Guardian’s Ali Martin reports on Worcestershire’s first nets practice since Josh Baker’s death last week.
“County cricket is broke. Private equity is rich. It sounds like a natural fit, like hammers and nails, predator and prey, greed and hubris. This is “money coming into the game”, to use the generically evasive phrase. And who doesn’t like money?”; The Guardian’s Barney Ronay does a good job of explaining why the proposal for private investment in The Hundred deserves more scrutiny than it is currently getting.
“Walter was explaining why his squad for the men's T20 World Cup in the United States and the Caribbean in June included only one black and five brown players. Or why 60% were white in a country where the white population is estimated at 7.3%”; Cricbuzz’s Telford Vice reports on what can be done to address the broken administration & selection systems in South Africa that still rely on a version of the old boys network.
“This is a better side than the one which struggled at last year’s T20 World Cup in South Africa. Yet they will now join the list of Irish teams of recent years watching the world’s best compete without them next autumn; a brutal reality brought about by one solitary batting collapse sparked by a side against whom Ireland have a good record”; The Part-Timer’s Nathan Johns has a fantastic analysis of what happens now that the Ireland Women’s team failed to qualify for the T20 World Cup.
“Glenn Phillips, the New Zealand all-rounder and a former teammate of Howell’s at Gloucestershire, also has the condition and describes his ADHD as “a little switch that flicks me above the rest when I have to bring out the energy”; The Guardian’s Jo Harman has a fascinating article on how ADHD is more prevalent among elite athletes, and how it’s a blessing and a curse for pro cricketers.
Willow Talk’s Adam Peacock catches up with Jake Fraser-McGurk to discuss his whirlwind 18 months, and why he understands that he has not achieved enough to be selected for the World Cup squad yet. [Apple Podcasts]
Red Inker’s Jarrod Kimber talks to Giles Ebor about the original ladies of cricket from 1800s England, and the book Ebor has written about them. [Apple Podcasts]
Ravi Ashwin interviews David Warner about Australia’s IPL-based World Cup victory in November, his problems with SRH’s management, & how India has become a second home.
Backward Point’s M. Nazar Syed & A. Bashaar evaluate all the World Cup squads that have been released so far.
Full Quota’s Mpho Mutloane & Tim Dale Lace have an interesting chat with South Africa Cricketers Association chief Andrew Breetzke about how the players feel about the changes to domestic cricket, starting with the SA20.
Editor’s Note
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