Cricket

Kevin Pietersen called Jacques Kallis the greatest ever player; 'It was a great compliment but you've got to look at it in context,' says Kallis. 'The stats might be there but we're playing a lot more'

Jacques of all trades, and the master too

Kallis is an old dog who has learnt new tricks thanks to T20 but blushes at Pietersen claim that he's the best ever

Inside Cricket

Morgan the great innovator sweeps all before him

Sunday, 15 November 2009

Sometimes, there comes along a passage of play which changes things. Such was the case on Friday at the Wanderers when Eoin Morgan of England via Ireland played an innings of true wonder. Over 44 balls of remarkable timing, controlled power and extraordinary improvisation, Morgan suggested that England have found a one-day batsman for the ages. His unbeaten 85 containing five sixes of breathtaking audacity was the highest for England in Twenty20.

On the Front Foot: Don't forget the Beeb's cricket coverage was a total turn-off

Sunday, 15 November 2009

Considering the hullabaloo created by the proposed changes in the televising of the crown jewels of sport, a proverb occurs. It is that you can take a horse to water but you cannot make him drink. One of the proposals is that home Ashes Test series are shown on free-to-air television. It is generally assumed that this means the BBC, home of all televised cricket until 1999. This presupposes, of course, that the Beeb would be remotely interested. It is conveniently forgotten in the rush to discredit Sky's coverage – because of its indubitably limited reach – that the BBC has demonstrated a complete disregard for cricket. On the last two occasions that the rights have come up, it has declined to bid for any cricket whatsoever, live or highlights. Perhaps it should also be recalled precisely how Test matches were covered in those halcyon days of free-to-air coverage. For instance, during the epic Ashes series of 1981, when the nation could hardly take its eyes off the action, it actually had no choice. On each day of the series, there were scheduled interruptions to play, for such delights as 'Play School', 'Chock-a-Block' and 'The Skill of Lip Reading'. When Geoff Boycott made his debut for England in the 1964 Ashes series, his fastidious progress was interrupted by 'Watch With Mother' (maybe more entertaining) and 'Middle School Mathematics'. In 1997, the last Ashes to be screened by the Beeb, the first day's play was scheduled to give way to 'Postman Pat'. In Channel 4's day, horseracing regularly featured during play. The first three days of a crucial Ashes Test at The Oval in 2005 were shared with 13 races from Doncaster. It was a funny way to handle crown jewels.