Refugee cricket, that yorker, & the PSL's youngest GM
Best Cricket Stories of the Week, 3rd to 9th February 2024
“The project has already achieved so much since its inception in 2018, but there are bigger plans in place. Not least the possibility that the young Shatila cricketers of today could form the basis of a Syrian cricket team in the future”; The Independent’s Richard Edwards writes about the unbelievable cricket program in a refugee camp housing some of the worst-affected kids in the Middle East.
“No coup de grace seems so final as the ball darting beneath and below a late-arriving bat to disarrange a wicket”; Gideon Haigh eulogises about the brilliance of the yorker after Jasprit Bumrah bowled Ollie Pope with one of the most beautiful variants we’ve ever seen.
“And then there is Yashasvi Jaiswal. I know 30-year-olds who don’t know what they want to do with their life. I know 15-year-olds I wouldn’t trust to get the groceries from the local shop. At 10, he crossed his country to make his dream come true”; Good Areas’ Jarrod Kimber writes about the extraordinary stories behind the extraordinary players that have beaten the odds to play for India.
“The kinship and positive atmosphere cultivated by Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum has won over plenty, including two of England’s most gnarled and grizzled Test captains of the modern era – Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain. Both are effusive about the current regime, no doubt recognising that the dressing rooms they ran were probably much tougher environments in which to make your debut.”; The Guardian’s James Wallace writes about the fantastic team culture underpinning Bazball’s success.
“They are impressive numbers, but do they vindicate the Hundred's start-up costs and its effect on the rest of the English summer? “The honest answer is I don't think we'll know for 10, even 15 years”; ESPNcricinfo’s Matt Roller has a fascinating conversation with Manchester Originals chairman Mark Chapman about the past, present and future of The Hundred.
“Kwena Maphaka was 15 years old when he played his first Under-19 international, just six when he played for his school's Under-9 team, and three when he first picked up a cricket ball and realised he might know what to do with it”; ESPNcricinfo’s Firdose Moonda has a great profile of the the young Proteas pacer that lit up the U19 World Cup.
“That’s what domestic cricket does when it’s done right. And even with no final and semi-finals, the 30 group games represented domestic cricket finally done right in Pakistan women’s cricket. It wasn’t exactly the tournament I dreamed of…but it was the closest we got to perfect in the last five years”; Grassroots Cricket’s Eman T writes about the surprising step forward Pakistani Women’s cricket took with the National Women’s T20 Tournament last month.
Harsha Bhogle goes on The Vaughny and Tuffers Cricket Club to discuss the ongoing England-India series, plus why switch-hitting gives batters an unfair advantage. [Apple Podcasts]
The No Balls podcast have a unique insight into the life of cricketers this week, as Alex Hartley gets ready to coach in the Pakistan Super League, while Kate Cross is preparing for the Women’s Premier League. [Apple Podcasts]
Grassroots Cricket’s Behram Qazi hosts Machel St Patrick Hewitt to talk about the disparity in Test cricket, with perspectives from Pakistan and the West Indies.
Grassroots Cricket’s Ariha Fatimah speaks to Multan Sultans’ glass ceiling-shattering, 28-year old, female general manager Hijab Zahid to discuss the new PSL season.
Jarrod Kimber has a fantastic reminder of the plight of the Afghani women’s team that seems to have just been forgotten by the global cricket community, especially after comments by Azmatullah Omarzai claiming that everything is back to normal earlier this week.
Editor’s Note
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