Posts Categorised: County Cricket

0Sachithra Senanayake Mankades (try saying that after a few beers!)

Crick­et is a sport in which most fol­low­ers expect their her­oes to adhere to a high­er stand­ard of fair play and sportsmanship.
The recent incid­ent of ‘Mankad­ing’ (who on earth coined that phrase?) – when Sri Lanka’s Sachi­thra Sen­anayake ran out England’s Jos But­tler who had strayed out of his crease at the non-striker’s end at a key point in the final and decid­ing ODI in the series was dis­ap­point­ing to see and thank­fully remains very rare.
The last incid­ent I can remem­ber is when Kapil Dev ran out South Africa’s Peter Kirsten, appar­ently without warn­ing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzbFy_elb8k
Dif­fer­ing accounts of Tuesday’s shambles say Sen­anayake warned But­tler twice or just the once. Either way, it wasn’t crick­et. The bowl­er shouldn’t have done it and the cap­tain should have over-ruled the appeal. He didn’t, it happened so we are left to count the cost of a strain on the game.
What I don’t like, how­ever, is Eng­land using this unsa­voury con­tro­versy to shield yet anoth­er highly mixed per­form­ance dur­ing a ODI series.
Sri Lanka are a decent side – but without the wick­et tak­ing machine that was Mut­ti­ah Mur­a­lithar­an in the line-up and home advant­age you would have expec­ted Eng­land to win the series.… Read Full Article

0Dickie Bird to officiate over native Yorkshire

There’s an old anec­dote in the crick­et­ing career of Har­old ‘Dick­ie’ Bird in which he hit a cen­tury for York­shire in one match and found him­self dropped for the next.

With an aver­age just over 20 his first-class career was hardly spec­tac­u­lar but as an inter­na­tion­al umpire he went on to argu­ably be the best in the business.

He was well liked and enter­tain­ing, bring­ing his nat­ive York­shire straight talk­ing no non­sense approach to the pitch. Dick­ie was also seen as com­pletely neut­ral who­ever was play­ing, des­pite a deep-rooted love of both county and coun­try.… Read Full Article

0England v New ZealandEngland vs New Zealand: First Test, Day 1

It was sup­posed to be oh so simple wasn’t it?

The Kiwis over as the apéri­tif for the forth­com­ing Ashes clash later on in the year. So one day in to a sum­mer of anti­podean crick­et and with the home side win­ning the toss and elect­ing to bat, surely Eng­land have raced away at 3+ an over against a second rate attack?

Not exactly. Steady pro­gress dur­ing the 80 over of play. Hardly an A+ score but a reas­on­able C grade. Eng­land still have wick­ets in hand with the two York­shire boys (Tim Bresnan was left out from the final XI) at the crease.… Read Full Article

0Earth Cricket BallToo many Overseas Players?

As I write this I am try­ing to find the right prose that doesn’t make me come across as some silly and nar­row minded ‘little Englander’ who sees all ‘them for­eign­ers’ as some­thing to be feared and hated.

World class over­seas play­ers such as Curtley and Court­ney and the Mas­ter Blaster Viv Richards have helped to light up the county cir­cuit in pre­vi­ous sea­sons and brought joy to mil­lions. All fans want to see the best qual­ity play­ers on show – myself included.

But I do want to have a little grumble about the extent of the abuse of the spir­it of the term ‘over­seas’ play­er.… Read Full Article

1Yorkshire County Cricket ClubYorkshire CC Venues — Or Lack Of!

When I were ‘nowt but a lad’ as they say round me I used to sneak out of the house to watch my beloved York­shire at nearby Abbey­dale whenev­er they came to town.

Know­ing the ground well I used to hide in a clear­ing in the hedge and would then base myself there for the rest of the morn­ing and afternoon.

Home tal­ents includ­ing Dav­id Byas, Richard Stemp, Richard Blakey and a young Michael Vaughan (who is a little older than me– I’m not that old!) would wow the crowds with their play.

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