Guest post by Heather Green.
For many years, the popularity of cricket has seemingly been isolated to very specific regions of the globe, usually those that experienced a great deal of British influence during the Colonial Era. In the last decade, cricket is becoming more popular in European countries outside of England.
France Crazy For Cricket
Perhaps the most surprising addition to the newly cricket crazy country list is France. Traditionally, the French have sported a barely-hidden disdain for this traditional pastime of British elites. Today, their enthusiasm for the sport places its popularity nearly on par with America’s recent rediscovery of lacrosse.
Educational Incentive
It all started with a school program introducing children from 200 French schools to cricket. Students now have the opportunity to join one of the only 69 cricket clubs in the country of France as junior members. The initial government program will fund cricket in the public schools for eight years. During this time, schools will be provided with funding earmarked for the development of cricket teams.
A French Future
More young players will potentially translate into an intimidating lineup of French cricket players on the world tour circuit in the coming years. It wouldn’t be the first time the French have stepped up to bat (to borrow American baseball terminology). Some have even argued that the word “cricket” is derived from an old French word. Archeological evidence indicates that cricket was played in France as early as the 1400’s.
Official Participation
While France Cricket, the only regulatory organization in France devoted to cricket, only reports 850 registered players in the country, this statistic has slowly been increasing over the decades. In the past, members of the organization were generally transplanted foreigners from cricket playing countries. Recent years have seen a reverse of this trend as more young people rediscover this ancient pastime.
Heather Green is a freelance writer, mother, professional model and the resident blogger for An Apple a Day... blog, a free informational website offering tips and advice on online nursing schools.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Events of the last few days
- Daniel Vettori, a big fish in a small aquarium, wins three prizes at New Zealand Cricket awards.
- What is Ravindra Jadeja doing in Board President's XI squad that takes on Australia?
- Spot-fixing controversy - a big blow to cricket. Who's to blame?
- Champions League started off with a Mumbai Indians' loss thanks to their poor bowling. Somehow, I feel it's not worth following CLT20.
- IPL-4 format and number of matches have been announced. Do you think player retention will help the teams?
- No Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) for India-Australia series. Will BCCI ever allow UDRS?
- It's all Dhoni on TV. It's no wonder Mahendra Singh Dhoni regarded as the superstar of commercials. It's better he concentrates on his game rather than these commercials.
- Really really surprised to see Mohammad Yusuf in Pakistan's T20 team.
- Sachin Tendulkar has become the first sportsman to be conferred with the honorary rank of Group Captain by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
An interesting stat: Muttiah Muralitharan is fifth on the all-time list of Sri Lankan Test match six-hitters.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Chances of each team for World cup Cricket 2011
The stage is all set for the biggest contest of modern cricket and the countdown has already begun. ICC Cricket World Cup is to begin on the 19th of February, 2011, hosted by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Earlier, Pakistan was to co-host the tournament; however, thanks to an attack on the Sri Lankan Cricket team in 2009, they lost their rights.
Below are the fourteen teams fighting for the cup, divided into two broad groups. Both the groups are to have their individual league matches, where each team would have to play versus each other. The top four teams based on points awarded or in case tied based on their Net Run Rate, would proceed to the next round i.e. Quarter Finals.
Here on, the knock-out begins and it would drill down to the Last Men standing.
A prediction in terms of who can win might be a tough job as the teams have evolved over the past four years and quite a few of them have started to make good progress. Let’s take an analytical crack at this.
Below are the fourteen teams fighting for the cup, divided into two broad groups. Both the groups are to have their individual league matches, where each team would have to play versus each other. The top four teams based on points awarded or in case tied based on their Net Run Rate, would proceed to the next round i.e. Quarter Finals.
Here on, the knock-out begins and it would drill down to the Last Men standing.
A prediction in terms of who can win might be a tough job as the teams have evolved over the past four years and quite a few of them have started to make good progress. Let’s take an analytical crack at this.
Group A League Matches:
Undoubtedly, Australia would be the hot favorites but might end up taking the second and third slot considering the fact that they don’t play as well on the sub-continental pitches as they do outside. However, Sri Lanka should come out victorious in the league table, definitely because they have five home matches out of the six that they are supposed to play.
Pakistan should either trail Sri Lanka or Australia with some of the key players back to their squad. They have a nice blend of youth and experience on their side which might come in handy on the sub continental turfs. The Kiwis however can be very unpredictable and on a given day can beat any team in the world. They should end up third or fourth on the chart.
Kenya has been a developing team for quite a while and have shown occasional sparks but their performance have not yet established a strong belief in the mind of cricket followers. The same can be stated about Zimbabwe. However, to infer, both the teams don’t have enough fuel to outclass teams like Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand. Canada is still an amateur in this sport. They should be happy to win a match or two on a good day.
Undoubtedly, Australia would be the hot favorites but might end up taking the second and third slot considering the fact that they don’t play as well on the sub-continental pitches as they do outside. However, Sri Lanka should come out victorious in the league table, definitely because they have five home matches out of the six that they are supposed to play.
Pakistan should either trail Sri Lanka or Australia with some of the key players back to their squad. They have a nice blend of youth and experience on their side which might come in handy on the sub continental turfs. The Kiwis however can be very unpredictable and on a given day can beat any team in the world. They should end up third or fourth on the chart.
Kenya has been a developing team for quite a while and have shown occasional sparks but their performance have not yet established a strong belief in the mind of cricket followers. The same can be stated about Zimbabwe. However, to infer, both the teams don’t have enough fuel to outclass teams like Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand. Canada is still an amateur in this sport. They should be happy to win a match or two on a good day.
Group B League Matches:
This is the Group of Death. Other than Netherlands and Ireland, all other teams are capable of making it through to the Quarters.
India has quite a few players capable of single-handedly butchering the opposition. Home advantage alone can play a big role in their success story. Also, unarguably, the best batsman in the world, Sachin Tendulkar would be creating history playing the sixth World Cup. His inclusion in itself is a massive confidence boost.
The South African side has been phenomenal in terms of adapting to various playing conditions. They seem to have what it takes to win the cup, leave aside their chance of making it through to the Quarter Finals. A lot of their players have been playing in the Indian Premier League giving them a lot of comfort.
Bangladesh and West Indies are highly unpredictable in terms of their approach but I would like to keep Bangladesh ahead of West Indies due to their home advantage. They have a lot to play for and history suggests that they are capable of making huge upsets.
The English team is quite unstable and is capable of losing matches from winning situations. However, it’s hard to rule them out as well. They have quite a few match winners in Kevin Peterson, Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood. However, their strong swing attack might find it tough to adjust.
Possibilities and probabilities might be endless but, what all should be looking at is a competitive series and not something like the previous one.
This is the Group of Death. Other than Netherlands and Ireland, all other teams are capable of making it through to the Quarters.
India has quite a few players capable of single-handedly butchering the opposition. Home advantage alone can play a big role in their success story. Also, unarguably, the best batsman in the world, Sachin Tendulkar would be creating history playing the sixth World Cup. His inclusion in itself is a massive confidence boost.
The South African side has been phenomenal in terms of adapting to various playing conditions. They seem to have what it takes to win the cup, leave aside their chance of making it through to the Quarter Finals. A lot of their players have been playing in the Indian Premier League giving them a lot of comfort.
Bangladesh and West Indies are highly unpredictable in terms of their approach but I would like to keep Bangladesh ahead of West Indies due to their home advantage. They have a lot to play for and history suggests that they are capable of making huge upsets.
The English team is quite unstable and is capable of losing matches from winning situations. However, it’s hard to rule them out as well. They have quite a few match winners in Kevin Peterson, Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood. However, their strong swing attack might find it tough to adjust.
Possibilities and probabilities might be endless but, what all should be looking at is a competitive series and not something like the previous one.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
How good will the split innings format of ODIs be?
With the 2011 ICC World Cup round the corner, a new rule is under the scanner of World Cricket – some in favour and others not. Though, it seems like an interesting ploy to make One Day cricket more interesting and dynamic. With Twenty-twenty cricket being a prime attraction today, one day cricket had to change to draw more attention.
This new concept however was once proposed by Sachin Tendulkar in September 2009 after the rain-hit Champion’s Trophy 2002 Finals between India and Sri Lanka, where both the teams played for two days – 110 over, yet ending up with a draw.
The rules of this new version are as exciting as it sounds. There would be four innings, each of them to be played alternately by both the teams. The first innings played by both the team would be of twenty overs, while the second one would be of twenty five. It seems to be like a test match, however limited. The most interesting aspect of this version would be – one player gets to bat twice in a single match. This gives a clear idea that the matches would be very high scoring and any team can make a come-back and win.
To make it clearer, below are the basic rules being drawn out:
Today, people love to watch something which would give a result and a quicker result. In fact, there would be a higher chance of getting a result in this new style, even if half the match has been played. The intensity would be higher since the players would get two lives in a single match, which would lead them to take more risk and play more aggressively. Apart from that, captains would have a massive role to play in terms of strategizing on the field.
Looks like, cricket is moving in the right direction, provided ICC realizes that a revolution is required at the earliest – what better than implementing it during the upcoming World Cup!
This new concept however was once proposed by Sachin Tendulkar in September 2009 after the rain-hit Champion’s Trophy 2002 Finals between India and Sri Lanka, where both the teams played for two days – 110 over, yet ending up with a draw.
The rules of this new version are as exciting as it sounds. There would be four innings, each of them to be played alternately by both the teams. The first innings played by both the team would be of twenty overs, while the second one would be of twenty five. It seems to be like a test match, however limited. The most interesting aspect of this version would be – one player gets to bat twice in a single match. This gives a clear idea that the matches would be very high scoring and any team can make a come-back and win.
To make it clearer, below are the basic rules being drawn out:
- Fielding restrictions would be only for the first five over of all four innings.
- There is a big change in terms of the maximum number of overs allowed to one bowler. They are now allowed to bowl twelve overs instead of ten.
- The bowlers seem to be getting a lot of advantages here. They would be allowed to bowl two bouncers here instead of one. So, we can expect a lot of fireworks around.
- The team who leads the first innings would be awarded a point even though they end up losing the match.The One Day Internationals would be having twelve players instead of the conventional eleven. However, only eleven players out of them can bat in any given innings.
Today, people love to watch something which would give a result and a quicker result. In fact, there would be a higher chance of getting a result in this new style, even if half the match has been played. The intensity would be higher since the players would get two lives in a single match, which would lead them to take more risk and play more aggressively. Apart from that, captains would have a massive role to play in terms of strategizing on the field.
Looks like, cricket is moving in the right direction, provided ICC realizes that a revolution is required at the earliest – what better than implementing it during the upcoming World Cup!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
India Needs a Genuine Pace Attack
Success of a team in cricket is in the hands of opening batsmen and also the pace bowlers. The role of pace bowlers is as important as they can disturb the opponent batsmen with their pace and swing. Indian bowling department is not as impressive as it was in the past. Kapil Dev, a legend, is the best bowler of Indian cricket. In his captaincy India won the world cup in 1983 and it’s purely because of a bowler who cleaned the opponent. Few decades back Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad were the pace bowlers and they were the successful opening bowling pair for Indian cricket. The variety in their bowling fetched quick wickets and they were responsible for victory.
After their retirement from international cricket the bowling department of India was found helpless. Zaheer Khan is the most reliable pace bowler at present and he is prone to injuries most of the time. The left arm pacer is a perfect attacker with new ball and also expert in reverse and in swing yorkers that can surely clear the defense of a batsmen. There were many bowlers like Ajit Agarkar, Debasis Mohanty, Aavishkar Salvi, Sreesanth and Ashish Nehra who were in the team but couldn’t mark their presence permanently in the squad due to the loss of variety. Indian team suffered a lot without quality bowlers and faced many loses. Javagal Srinath carried the bowling till 2003 world cup. After his retirement there was no strong bowling attack in Indian team.
Irfan Pathan stepped in to the squad as a bowler and surprised everyone with the ability of swinging the ball into the batsman. He was successful in fetching quick wickets but lost his form and is out of squad for long time. Ishanth Sharma and Munaf Patel are the other bowlers picked for Indian squad who were admirable at the beginning but as days passed on they too failed at important situations.
On a whole the team fully relies on Zaheer Khan and his absence is noticed in all series. RP Singh has not found permanent place in the squad and Praveen Kumar is being impressive till now with his ability of swinging in air and troubling the opponent. Mithun another pace bowler has the ability to bowl well and he must be developed to be a star bowler for the team. Pace bowlers are the key players in any match and if players like Praveen Kumar, Mithun, Ishanth Sharma are trained well they could be the best in sharing the bowling attack with Zaheer Khan.
What are your views on Indian pace attack?
After their retirement from international cricket the bowling department of India was found helpless. Zaheer Khan is the most reliable pace bowler at present and he is prone to injuries most of the time. The left arm pacer is a perfect attacker with new ball and also expert in reverse and in swing yorkers that can surely clear the defense of a batsmen. There were many bowlers like Ajit Agarkar, Debasis Mohanty, Aavishkar Salvi, Sreesanth and Ashish Nehra who were in the team but couldn’t mark their presence permanently in the squad due to the loss of variety. Indian team suffered a lot without quality bowlers and faced many loses. Javagal Srinath carried the bowling till 2003 world cup. After his retirement there was no strong bowling attack in Indian team.
Irfan Pathan stepped in to the squad as a bowler and surprised everyone with the ability of swinging the ball into the batsman. He was successful in fetching quick wickets but lost his form and is out of squad for long time. Ishanth Sharma and Munaf Patel are the other bowlers picked for Indian squad who were admirable at the beginning but as days passed on they too failed at important situations.
On a whole the team fully relies on Zaheer Khan and his absence is noticed in all series. RP Singh has not found permanent place in the squad and Praveen Kumar is being impressive till now with his ability of swinging in air and troubling the opponent. Mithun another pace bowler has the ability to bowl well and he must be developed to be a star bowler for the team. Pace bowlers are the key players in any match and if players like Praveen Kumar, Mithun, Ishanth Sharma are trained well they could be the best in sharing the bowling attack with Zaheer Khan.
What are your views on Indian pace attack?
Monday, July 26, 2010
Royal Challengers Bangalore's Fanatic Fans Challenge
RCB's Fanatic Fans Challenge 3:South Africa is the sequel to the Fanatic Fans Challenge 2 which took place during IPL 2010. They are having 3 positions to fill out this season. A blogger, a photographer and a podcaster.
Well, your job as a Chief Fanatic Fan would be to cover the CLT20 and the masalas and the local enthusiasms, everything that cricket & the CLT20 touches in South Africa and update it on the RCB site for your fellow RCB fans back home. The idea behind sending the best there is so everyone through their words, pictures and voice would feel as though they are in South Africa and not missing a thing.
How will you prove you can do that? Every category has 2 questions – one to prove you have a passion for cricket and can generate content on that topic (so that you don’t go there and watch the game without understanding why so many men running after 1 ball) and the second question to prove that you can make a story out of nothing (so we know you can add masalas and make a dull story interesting for the audiences)
Write out your application, send it in and then start collecting votes, you have until 11th of August to collect votes! If your application is one of the best, that they think can stand a chance to win, they will feature it. A featured application is also an example of what it will take for a fan to win this challenge. So for those of you who don’t have your applications featured, you can pick up a few pointers from the Featured Apps list. You can edit your application until the 9th of August.
Here is the entire flow of the process at RCB.
7 winners will be shortlisted from each category on the 12th and then they will go to Bangalore for the final audition (dates for which will be confirmed).
So if you think you have it in you, to be a Chief Fanatic Fan, travel to South Africa for the CLT20 while you work for RCB – Apply Now!
Well, your job as a Chief Fanatic Fan would be to cover the CLT20 and the masalas and the local enthusiasms, everything that cricket & the CLT20 touches in South Africa and update it on the RCB site for your fellow RCB fans back home. The idea behind sending the best there is so everyone through their words, pictures and voice would feel as though they are in South Africa and not missing a thing.
How will you prove you can do that? Every category has 2 questions – one to prove you have a passion for cricket and can generate content on that topic (so that you don’t go there and watch the game without understanding why so many men running after 1 ball) and the second question to prove that you can make a story out of nothing (so we know you can add masalas and make a dull story interesting for the audiences)
Write out your application, send it in and then start collecting votes, you have until 11th of August to collect votes! If your application is one of the best, that they think can stand a chance to win, they will feature it. A featured application is also an example of what it will take for a fan to win this challenge. So for those of you who don’t have your applications featured, you can pick up a few pointers from the Featured Apps list. You can edit your application until the 9th of August.
Here is the entire flow of the process at RCB.
7 winners will be shortlisted from each category on the 12th and then they will go to Bangalore for the final audition (dates for which will be confirmed).
So if you think you have it in you, to be a Chief Fanatic Fan, travel to South Africa for the CLT20 while you work for RCB – Apply Now!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The blog is open for guest posts
You can now submit guest posts to Cricket Crazy. Visit 'Write for us' for more details.
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