Submitted by rickeyre on
It has been 112 years - two years longer than an Allen Stanford prison sentence - since two club sides from Great Britain and France played what, to date, has been the one and only game of cricket at the Olympic Games. We may not have to wait so long again for the sport to return to the modern Games, but there will be many hurdles to overcome first.
Submitted by rickeyre on
Fifteen days till the opening of the Games of the XXX Olympiad and time for me to get serious about yet another Olympic Games blog. It's not actually the start of my blog posts tagged "London 2012" as you'd be able to see but let this entry be a means of introduction.
Submitted by rickeyre on
It's an unusual name but a great concept. RebelMouse launched recently and I have a cricket-specific page at rebelmouse.com/rickeyrecricket.
RebelMouse can, and has, been described as a visual mix along the lines of Storify, Pinterest and Paper.li all thrown together. Still in beta, but looks very exciting at this stage, so please check out my contribution as, and if, it develops.
That address again: rebelmouse.com/rickeyrecricket.
Submitted by rickeyre on
One of the biggest tasks for David Richardson when he takes over in July as chief executive of the ICC will be to secure the best possible rights deal for 2015-2023. The future of the ICC’s development programs will be financially secured, but could the evolution of the sport be locked away for eight years?
Submitted by rickeyre on
The 2011-12 season saw the transformation of Australia's state-based "Big Bash" competition into the franchise-based Big Bash League. Here are a few points which I think can be taken away following the inaugural Big Bash League:
My second column for iSportConnect can be read in full at http://www.isportconnect.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11342&catid=74&Itemid=193
Submitted by rickeyre on
Over and above all the usual tiresome attempts at April Foolery, this two-minute video from the England and Wales Cricket Board is one of my favourites this year (along with 8-bit Google Maps). An "innovation" almost plausible enough that it wouldn't surprise me if the IPL tried to adapt it for real.
Here's the ECB's accompanying statement on the balldogs innovation, post-edited to partly wimp out of the April Fool's joke.
Submitted by rickeyre on
It's not quite as ground-breaking as my creation of aus.sport.rugby-league seventeen years ago, but I've set up a discussion group for LinkedIn members interested in the NRL and Pertinent League Matters in the Australasia/South Pacific basin.
I launched "Rugby League in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific", to give its descriptive title, because I believe it fills a niche that hasn't been catered for on LinkedIn to date.
Submitted by rickeyre on
Sachin Tendulkar is surely cricket's greatest batsman of the past twenty years, and maybe (in competition with Vivian Richards) the best of my lifetime. His genius, longevity and durability have given him records that may prove impossible to break. But the farcical pursuit of his "100th international hundred", which climaxed at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, Mirpur yesterday, is a blight that his illustrious legacy can do without.
Submitted by rickeyre on
Rahul Dravid is to Sachin Tendulkar what Bill Ponsford was to Don Bradman and Rohan Kanhai was to Garfield Sobers. Dravid, who announced his retirement from international cricket on Friday, was that exceptionally talented and prolific batsman who just happened to be playing for India at the same time as one of the sport's very best.
Submitted by rickeyre on
(The following is a press release issued by the England and Wales Cricket Board on 8 March 2012. It is reproduced here, in its entirety and uncut, except that I have inserted line breaks so that it may be read as blank verse. As surely it was intended to be. The original can be read here).
