Top Brass Hypocrisy

After the recent Mumbai bombings, England have opted out of the seven match ODI series and the scheduled two test matches, It can be said the ODI series is irrelavant as England were totally outclassed, and were trailing 5-0, with two games left.

The England players and staff got on the first plane home and are most likey not to return to India for the time being, from the outside it seems the most logical and reasonable thing to do, for some the only option they had was to evacuate as soon as possible, but if you take into account that the England Cricket Players were situated in Bhubaneswar when the attacks commenced, The distance between the two cities is around 850 miles, which is roughly the distance from London to Rome!

The reason i find the decision to abondon the tour so hypocritical is because England were in the same situation during the 2005 Ashes, England beat Australia in their opening match of their ODI series, which was on the same day as the July bombings, and England reassured Australia that all security measures will be ensured for their safety.

In addition to that the England camp had their security increased to the highest level, it can also be said that they had more security personnel then the majority of the citizens inside Mumbai, could it be said that cricketers are more important then the citizens of Mumbai who are in the line of fire?

The Cricket Monopoly ( A detailed Lesson on the History of Cricket)

Cricket is a sport invented by the British in the 15th century, Cricket was first regulated by the MCC, who at that period of time where known as the Marylebone Cricket Club by members of the white conduit club, a sport which was segregated from non white participants until 1721 when the British Raj introduced the game in India, where they would play the Indians in order feel more superior, oh how the tables have turned. Currently Indian Cricket brings in 90% of the revenue that the ICC receives.

Think back to 2003 when the England and Wales cricket board introduced T2o cricket, great idea, but history does repeat itself, as England failed at another sport they invented, one of the main reasons why you ask? Because the English like to invent sports, then learn from other nations on how to play the sport that they invented!

Your probably thinking I’m being uncontrollably biased, but I will clearly back up my points, for example, who is the nation that plays the best football and has won the World Cup several times? No, it’s not England, its Brazil, and for many years has the English and others tried to play with Brazilian flair or play samba football, or try to be the next peel or the next Ronald, I could go on, but I can already smell the napalm.

Back to cricket, mainly focusing on International Cricket, the West Indies dominated for over two decades, showing unbelievable natural talent which stemmed from beach cricket, West Indies played the game hard but Fairland made everybody want to bowl fast. The next nation to dominate cricket was Australia, for over a decade, emphasis was put on team spirit, organisation, preparation, and critically analysing every single detail about cricket! Now Cricket is dominated by the Indians who play a very natural game, their batsmen are very fluent and wrist, there fast bowlers can swing the ball both ways as well as possessing the art of revere swing, and who can forget the great legacy of Indian Spin bowling.

As England continued to struggle to come to terms of why they were coming unstuck so frequently at an own sport, what was the question of most English cricket pundits, fans etc... How to play the Australian way, this lead to England having the largest coaching staff of any nation, but having endless analysts still surprisingly has not helped England become the best!


Fast forward to the current day and the bocce, the Indian Cricket board have requested the ebb to delay the first test match by a single day, in order to accommodate the Indian Captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni, a further days of rest, this will lead to the England players going home later, and possibly missing Christmas eve! What is your feeling to towards this dramatic change to one of the most traditional sports in history?

Squeaky Bum Time

We are currently in the most unpredictable Premiership season so far. Never have so many football pundits been proven wrong. Almost every football pundit predicted that the three clubs promoted from the championship, will be relegated without a doubt. Hull are currently one point behind the mighty Manchester United, Stoke have beaten both arsenal and Spurs away from home, West brom are sticking to the football that has got them promoted, even though their points tally doesn't match their performances.

Even the resilient Manchester United defence have conceded seven premiership goals in two games against Hull and an arsenal side without Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin Van Persie. More or less the same defence that did not concede a single goal against Barcelona in both champions league semi final games last season. Even though Liverpool top the league most bookmakers still have them down as third favorites. Who do you think will win the 08/09 Premier League?

Changing of the Guard

After 20 years of dominance, Australian crickets empire is crumbling before our eyes. The once proclaimed invincibles now seem like meek mortals. This should not come as a huge shock as they have lost champion cricketers, who took the form of army generals, to retirement. Now that their reign at the top is over and the changing of the guard has already taken place, how will the cricketing world respond to the this new era......