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Author Archives: rightoffthebatbook
The Debut to End All Debuts
You’re a batter who’s reached the age of twenty-seven, scoring freely and often in the minor leagues, and yet you’ve been prevented from entering the majors because the guy you’d be replacing is a slugger of such renown that to … Continue reading
Matt Prior—Unsung Hero
Like his teammate Jonathan Trott, England’s Matt Prior is not a sexy cricketer—not least because their stocky, balding frames makes them character-actors rather than leading-man material on the cricketing stage. True, Prior’s not as dour and workmanlike as Trott; but … Continue reading
Posted in Cricket, England, India, Sri Lanka
Tagged Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Matt Prior
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All-Day Games
Time was—say, fifteen or twenty years ago—that you had to wait until Summer to watch a game of cricket. Sure, you might be able to listen on the radio to a crackling broadcast of a game on the other side … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Bangladesh, Cricket, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe
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Do Your Homework
The longest and most deeply held rivalry in the history of cricket is that between England and Australia—a contest known as “The Ashes.” Since 1877, these teams have been duking it out: barring two world wars, when the countries were … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Baseball, Cricket, England, India, New Zealand
Tagged Alastair Cook, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson, The Ashes, World Cup
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Mariano Rivera Retires
Number 42 will be retired forever throughout Major League Baseball at the end of this season. It is the uniform number that Jackie Robinson wore: now on but one, with his own legacy. Mariano Rivera, who will be forty-four on … Continue reading
The Babe and the Don
It was a meeting made by Destiny: the greatest cricketer of his generation shaking hands with the greatest baseball player of his—Don Bradman and Babe Ruth. Both were transformative individuals who embodied a kind of excellence that was larger than … Continue reading
Dhoni Takes the Helm
The Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh (M. S.) Dhoni is a phlegmatic individual. But then you’d have to be, given that you bear the weight of 1.2 billion passionate fans’ expectations on your shoulders. Unlike many cricket captains today, Dhoni … Continue reading
Rwanda Gets a Cricket Pitch
In a further sign of Rwanda’s tilt away from Francophone to Anglophone cultural norms, a cricket pitch is being built near the scene of a massacre during the devastating genocide of 1994. Naturally, the chap building the stadium and pitch is … Continue reading
Happy Second Anniversary to Us!
Today Right Off the Bat celebrates its Second Anniversary. In the course of two years, we’ve managed to post 417 blogs (including this one), received 281 comments, and had 12,699 bits of spam intercepted by the good people and even … Continue reading
Posted in Baseball, Cricket
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