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Category Archives: Australia
Ripeness Is All
Relentlessly, the English medium-fast bowler James Anderson is climbing the list of all-time wicket takers (in Test cricket). At the time of this writing, he’s placed fifth (with 544), a mere 19 wickets below the great Australian quick Glenn McGrath, … Continue reading
The Thousandth Test
On March 15 1877, Charles Bannerman and Nat Thomson strode out to open the batting for Australia at Melbourne against an England team, in what is generally acknowledged to be the first “Test” match—a cricket game of two innings each … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, India, One-Day Cricket, Stadiums, T20 Cricket, Test Cricket
Tagged Alastair Cook, Charles Bannerman, Joe Root, Keaton Jennings, Ned Thomson, Virat Kohli
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Cricket Comes to Citi Field Revisited
The crepuscule of early November settles in Citi Field. The World Series is over, tho there are still faded signs stenciled outside the first-and-third-base lines proclaiming it. The mound has been flattened and covered, and there is a mostly dirt … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, India, Pakistan, Right Off the Bat Book, Right Off the Bat Website, South Africa, Sri Lanka, T20 Cricket, West Indies
Tagged Babe Ruth, Citi Field, Gil Hodges, Literature, Lou Gehrig, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ricky Ponting, rounders, Sachin Tendulkar, Shaun Pollock, sir curtly ambrose, Tom Seaver, World Series
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Kumar—Cricket’s Great Hope
Cricket may be losing a player of a generation, but it could be gaining one of its great administrators. Numbers do not lie. He was right up there with all the plaudits, marching proudly with the greats of any era. … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, India, Sri Lanka
Tagged Bishan Bedi, Cricket, Harbhajan Singh, ICC, Kapil Dev, Kumar Sangakkara, MCC, Rahul Dravid
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Peter Siddle: Australian Vegan
The news that the Australian medium-fast bowler Peter Siddle is a vegan was music to the ears of this particular blog. Evander is the editor of the famous feminist bible of veganism, The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams, a … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket
Tagged Animals Australia, Carol Adams, Edgar's Mission, Lantern Books, Penguin Foundation, Peter Siddle, The Ashes, veganism
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A Singed Phoenix
To England fans of many years (such as Martin), the team’s 3–2 victory over the Australians in the 2015 Ashes bears all the hallmarks of a very English success story—partial, inconsistent, worryingly incomplete: the eggiest of curate’s eggs. All the narratives proclaiming a resurgence … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Test Cricket, West Indies
Tagged Alastair Cook, Brendon McCullum, Ian Bell, Johnny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Kevin Pietersen, The Ashes, World Cup
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The Inside Scoop
Now that I (Martin) have turned fifty, my doctor has advised me to get a colonoscopy, and dutifully I have scheduled one for later in August. At a pre-operation, getting-to-know-you meeting, my surgeon, a dapper gentleman by the name of … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, Pakistan, Test Cricket
Tagged Kevin Pietersen, Shahid Afridi, The Ashes
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England Subside Again . . . and Again
It is a truth universally acknowledged that when England win a Test match against opposition against whom they are “meant” to have lost, there will be much talk of “new beginnings” and “resurgence.” What is less universally acknowledged is that, a few … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, New Zealand, Test Cricket, West Indies
Tagged Literature, The Ashes
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The Big Mo
In 2012, British distance-runner Mo Farah captured not only the 5000- and 10,000-meter gold medals in the London Olympics but the hearts and minds of the British public. His excellence, exuberance, and unabashed commitment to the country to which members of his … Continue reading
The Broad Identity
Among the plaudits being offered following the England cricket team’s trouncing of Australia in the first Test match of the Ashes series, one man, in the humble opinion of this blog, is not getting his due. We agree that it is … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Cricket, England
Tagged Alastair Cook, Ben Stokes, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Jimmy Anderson, Joe Root, Mark Wood, Michael Clarke, Mooen Ali, Stuart Broad, The Ashes
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Right Off the Bat 