-
Recent Posts
Archives
Baseball
Cricket
Author Archives: rightoffthebatbook
Little Red Scooter
To Martin’s Broad Agonistes, I note two Major League Baseball parallels: and our Right off the Bat is thus chockablock, many being downright spooky. On the night of May 7, 1957, left-handed ace Herb Score—called by Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, … Continue reading
Posted in Baseball, Right Off the Bat Book, Right Off the Bat Website, Yankees
Tagged American League, Bob Feller, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Gil McDougald, Herb Score, Jack Hamilton, Major League Baseball, Mickey Mantle, National League, New York Mets, Tony Conigliaro, Yogi Berra
Leave a comment
Pakistan Accomplish the Impossible
You’d have to have the hardest of hearts not to feel for this Pakistan cricket team. Not only did they make the worst start to an inning in World Cup history, losing their first four wickets for only one run, but they managed … Continue reading
Posted in Cricket, Pakistan, West Indies
Tagged Hamlet, Literature, Misbah-ul-haq, Polonius, Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, World Cup
Leave a comment
Broad Agonistes
Many years ago, I (Martin) was bowled by Sarfraz Nawaz, the Pakistan fast bowler. This is my greatest claim to fame as a cricketer. Our opposition—a team of modest talents if not attitude—paraded the genial Sarfraz before us with (I thought) an unseemly enthusiasm … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Baseball, Cricket, England, New Zealand
Tagged Phil Hughes, Sarfraz Nawaz, Stuart Broad, Varon Aaron, World Cup
Leave a comment
Oh, England!
It is now with great regret that we are compelled to talk about the England cricket team—soundly trounced, thrashed, taken to the cleaners (choose your metaphor) by New Zealand in the World Cup on Thursday. Now don’t get me (Martin) wrong; … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Bangladesh, Cricket, England, New Zealand, One-Day Cricket, Sri Lanka
Tagged Afghanistan, Brendon McCullum, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, Scotland, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, World Cup
Leave a comment
In the Beginning
To affirm that hope springs eternal, as the thermometer dips to 2 degrees F, a New York City/Right off the Bat HQ record for any February 20, teams are assembling to begin Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues training. Yesterday and today! … Continue reading
Game Changer
As our colleague Parth Taneja notes in this blog, the rivalry between India and Pakistan—fraught with religious, regional, historical, and political overtones—is one of the most passionate and freighted in world cricket. Cricket has been the vehicle for the most bigoted forms of nationalism and yet … Continue reading
Erin Go Bragh
The easy victory that the Ireland cricket team achieved today over the West Indies in the 2015 World Cup would, only a few years ago, have been greeted with gasps of astonishment from Ireland fans and lamentation from those of the West Indies. However, … Continue reading
The Spectacle of an India v. Pakistan World Cup Game
It was projected that over 1.1 billion people would watch the World Cup game between India and Pakistan, which took place on February 15th. (By contrast, the most recent Super Bowl was watched by somewhere in the vicinity of 100 million people.) Indian fans will always … Continue reading
Posted in Cricket, India, Pakistan, Right Off the Bat Website
Tagged Sachin Tendulkar, The Ashes, World Cup
Leave a comment
The Cricket World Cup: Day 2
Martin here: We’ve now had four games in the World Cup 2015 and the shape of the tournament is already pretty clear (at least in my judgment). Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and India are, barring miracles or meltdowns, going to cruise through … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe
Tagged World Cup
Leave a comment
A Great Supporting Player: Misbah-ul-haq
Sport, unlike anything else we know, provides us with so many heroes and antiheroes. But there are also character actors—actors that never become the A-list, yet have served their roles with the same or generally a better level of equanimity … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket, India, One-Day Cricket, Pakistan, T20 Cricket
Tagged Choke in Mohali, Glenn McGrath, Misbah-ul-haq, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, T20, World Cup
Leave a comment
Right Off the Bat 