Jimmy quits, Modi rules & cricket's Ted Lasso
Best Cricket Stories of the Week, 11th to 17th May 2024
“Anderson's first four years of Test cricket were some way short of being even a qualified success…which left even his moments of relative triumph - such as a starring role in England's famous win in Mumbai in March 2006 - feeling like happenstance rather than due reward for an inherently skilful display”; ESPNcricinfo’s Andrew Miller has the best tribute to departing James Anderson, and his transformation from momentary magician to Test cricket puritan.
“Piggybacking on the Indian team, they [the BCCI] treated the tournament as a vehicle for jingoism and exceptionalism, repeatedly trumpeting the BJP’s pet tropes: hyper-nationalism, and anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim sentiment.”; Wisden’s Sharda Ugra reports on Narendra Modi’s unique politicisation of the Indian cricket team.
“Even when facing attacks that he should’ve been bossing for fun, Rohit has flattered to deceive, which has been the theme to the curious career of an anomaly, a strange, strange player who is clearly too good not be dominating but continues to undergo a sustained blip and inconsistency, and churns out woeful numbers season after season”; Kashish Chadha analyses the numbers behind Rohit Sharma’s spiralling T20 career. I just discovered him, but Chadha is becoming a favourite statistical writer.
“Could DC, for example, have not signed Kushagra and spent some of that 7.8 Cr on the best analytics department in the tournament?”; Dan Weston has a fantastic article on the IPL players that have had the largest impact this season, including the cost per ball involvement. For example, Kushagra has cost DC ₹1.1 crore per ball faced. That’s just a ridiculous waste of resources.
“Are all County clubs struggling financially? If yes, how bad are their situations? I wanted to get to the bottom of this. So I researched all 18 Counties’ (and MCC’s) Annual Reports & Financial Accounts”; Broken Cricket Dreams’ Nitesh Mathur has perhaps the best financial article I’ve ever read on cricket where he goes through every county teams’ annual reports to understand the health of English domestic game.
“Qualification in jeopardy, The Netherlands needed to beat the West Indies in the final match of the group stage. To support the playing XI, the Electric Eels had an idea. Noah and Kyle went and got a comically large BELIEVE sign made up - another nod to Ted Lasso - and it arrived just in time for the mammoth Dutch run-chase of 374”; The Boundary Rider’s Andrew Young reports on how the Dutch built a successful culture of support that drove their miracle World Cup run, based off the hit Apple TV show Ted Lasso (a show I can’t personally stop recommending).
“The Twenty20 World Cup will be the first major international cricket competition in the USA, but the centuries-old English game has been flourishing in the far-flung corners of metro New York for years, fuelled by steady waves of South Asian and Caribbean immigration”; AP’s Philip Marcelo writes on what an American World Cup means to the local immigrant population in New York City’s suburbs.
James Anderson speaks for himself as he announced the decision for the Tailenders podcast that he hosts with the BBC. [Apple Podcasts]
The Wisden Cricket Weekly crew discuss the new structure of English Women’s cricket with a select few teams given the privilege of running a Women’s team in a bid to improve the funnelling of resources. [Apple Podcasts]
Full Quota’s Mpho Mutloane & Tim Dale Lace discuss the departure of South Africa Women’s head coach Hilton Moreeng after 11 years in charge. [Apple Podcasts]
Ravichandran Ashwin sits down with Ravi Shastri to discuss all things IPL and reminisce on their time together as player and coach for Team India.
The always excellent 6ixandout have a fantastic new mini-documentary on India’s 2004 tour of Pakistan, and their goal of winning their first season on their neighbour’s soil.
Harsha Bhogle talks to Ian Bishop about his popularity in India, how his past as an elite player helps him be an elite commentator, & his thoughts on cricket analytics role in the modern game.
talkSPORT’s Jon Norman has a roundtable with Jarrod Kimber and David Lloyd to discuss how prominent match-fixing is in cricket.
Editor’s Note
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