New on Sporting Life.com - "WARNE 6/1 FOR ASHES COMEBACK"

You have to laugh. It must be a serious beat at the moment, being an Aussie.

lol @ Warne comeback. He's a winner, he's not gonna join a bunch of also-rans.

Anyone watching the 4th ODI between India and NZ? Fantastic knock at the end by James Franklin to set a stiff target of 316, but India off to a decent start in pursuit. Should be entertaining

Reminds me of when Bradman was asked what his average would be against modern fast bowlers. He said somewhere in the high 70s. The questioner said "so you wouldn't get 99.94 in the modern game then?" Bradman: Well I am nearly 80 years old you know.

The questioner happened to be Sachin Tendulkar who went for Bradman's 90th birthday

The way i heard that story was dean jones asking the great man around 88 or so. Jones was averaging around 75 that summer and asked bradman the question, and got the same answer. He felt confident being within x runs of the don, until the age bomb was dropped. Still a great story....

Sorry, should have checked my facts first - was just doing it from memory.

Nit question. On the TMS podcast (I think) the other day they were discussing Trott's average, whcih is over 60 putting him in the top 5 or so batsment of all time. They said that one could start taking averages seriously once the batsman had more than 20 innings. Trott has 26.

I'm not sure I agree that 20 is sufficient to get an idea of just how good a batsman is or what his career average will be. I could easily see Trott dropping down to 50 or even 45 after 80 innnings. I'd be surprised if he ends up with a better average than Viv Richards, Tendulkar, Ponting etc.

What do we think is a sufficient number of innings to be able to say, yep this guy really can bat at an average of 60 (orw/ever)?

Hussey was averaging 70 for a while before dropping down to under 50. Downswings hit them all(but Bradman), including Trott.

I'd say over 50..

Ganguly averaged over 65 through his first 20 innings and Azharuddin had a similar average (made 3 centuries in first 3 tests). I'm sure there are tons of batsmen who have averaged 60+ in the first few tests and later went on to average <50..



Looks like the latest India NZ one dayer is gonna be decided by Duckworth Lewis. This system needs to be revamped, for example India still has a powerplay left which it doesn't take into account. I'd say normally India would be 35% to win from here but with a pp it's more like 45%..

I have no idea how they could take something like that into account in a mathematical model (it most likely can't be with any accuracy) but as it stands I think it favours the side that batted first if the match is called off..

Computers have advanced so much since this system was introduced I'm surprised there hasn't been more statistical analysis done using all the one dayers played as a sample to try to develop a better model..

ICC is pretty lazy though so this dopesn't surprise me.

yup, more importantly weaknesses are found. Both Ganguly and Vinod Kambli had there tests average severly bought down because people found out they sucked vs short pitched deliveries (ending the latter's test career even though he averaged > 50). Daryll Cullinan iirc had a pretty sparkling career as well until Warne rocked his world.

To average >50 in the modern game longterm you have to be a great all round batsman..

Don't think anyone else is watching the one dayer but that was one of the biggest sixes I've ever seen..

Sick run chase

no sachin, sehwag, raina or dhoni while chasing 316? no problemo...

only way india not win this world cup is if they choke

I liked this story

http://blogs.espncricinfo.com/thebuzz/

Ian Botham and Ian Chappell resumed their 30-year feud in spectacular fashion during the second Test in Adelaide, when they had to be pulled apart by their respective Sky and Channel Nine colleagues following a dust-up in the car-park at the close of the fourth day’s play.

Despite their regular stints in adjacent commentary boxes, neither man has spoken to the other in three decades, with the root of their feud lying in an incident at the Hilton Hotel during the Centenary Test in Melbourne in 1977, when the then-uncapped Botham claimed to have punched the recently retired Chappell off his bar-stool in response to his disparaging remarks about the English.

On Monday, the two came close to blows once again when, according to The Daily Mail, Chappell muttered something provocative in Botham’s direction, before both men dropped their bags and went for each other’s throats. “They might be aged 55 and 67, but neither of them are the type of people to give an inch in the face of conflict,” said a source at Channel Nine.

However, Chappell defended his position: "There was some words spoken in the car park and I am being painted as the instigator," he told 3AW. "I would accept 50 per cent of the blame but certainly wasn't the instigator and as far as the rest of the rubbish is concerned about having each other by the throat and having to be pulled apart that is one of those fairytales I just talked about."

maybe my second all-time favourite cricket quote after eddo brandes sledging vs glenn mcgrath, tms hilarity excluded

lol chappelli

Yea that Eddo one was awesome..

There's also an exchange between Mark Waugh and some random english cricketer who was playing in his first match,

Waugh : "**** me, look who it is. Mate, what are you doing out here? There's no way you're good enough to play for England."

Him : "Maybe not, but atleast I'm the best cricketer in my family."

Also :

Fred Trueman - While bowling the batsman edges and the ball goes to first slip,and right between Raman Subba Row's legs. Fred doesn't say a word. At the end of the over, Row ambles past Trueman and apologises sheepishly. "I should've kept my legs together, Fred". "So should your mother," he replied.

Cullinan to Warne still the best sledge ever.

Actually forgot Brandes.

Atherton's when in rome pretty solid too.

arjuna ranatunga biscuit call is pretty awesome too

Biscuit is Brandes isn't it?

arjuna used it as well, maybe first but dont know...

i thought brandes was mars bar on a length but w/e

No mention of Sarwan to McGrath? One that actually worked and got McG utterly furious.

Brandes used the biscuit one against Mcgrath..

Didn't Ganguly make three centuries in his first three tests too? IIRC he made his debut in England, this was right around the time I was getting into cricket.

2 centuries and a fifty..