All Out Cricket Goes Digital - video interviews and more...

Posted: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 by Sanya Michelangelo in Labels: , , , , , ,
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You'll no longer miss out on All Out Cricket since you can have it, right here, on your computer! The 14 page 4th issue will give you insights on the PCA Awards, pictures from the boot camp that I hadn't seen before, video interviews with technically sound Ian Bell and hotties Steven Finn and Stuart Broad. And also the chance to buy  bats and other cricket accessories for a less than usual price.

Check it out here!

You can win a track day with Jaguar, the official vehicle supplier of the England team, if you are over 18. However, participants at the track day must be 28 or over. You must also be a resident of UK. So I cannot enter the contest, not like I'm into cars anyway.

Click here to enter the contest!

Win a bat signed by the England team

International 2011 tickets on sale!

Click here to watch Maximuscle Steven Finn Video Interview

Steven Finn has taken over James Anderson in my heart. By the way, Stuart Broad is on twitter (@stuartbroad8) and Matt Prior (@mattyp635) had joined twitter but left after just one tweet.

Watch Stuart Broad Maximuscle Stuart Broad Interview

Remember, you heard it here first! Don't forget to subscribe to the blog so that you don't miss out on things like these in the future!

Related Posts: Stuart Broad Wallpaper
                      England cricketers off the field
                      England cricketers on twitter!

Stuart Broad Wallpaper

Posted: Saturday, October 23, 2010 by Sanya Michelangelo in Labels: , , , , , , ,
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How KP fared up at SA and who knocked out Jimmy Anderson

Posted: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 by Sanya Michelangelo in Labels: , , , , , ,
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Much to England's adversity, Kevin Pietersen's bad form continues. A 48 ball 36, after which he said that he is "feeling like he used to play" was followed by a second ball duck. But he always faced challenges, battered the best so I still expect him to come out good in the Ashes. Many had felt that he used to be good, blah, blah...I think he is still good, just struggling at the moment. Though it was still good to hear that he was feeling like he used to play because let's face it, he was a basher back then. And it might have to do something with things other than his batting, like the change in his personality, hairstyle, attempt to play a long innings and helping England draw Tests. Though as far as I can remember, he hasn't really helped much when it comes to draws.

I was a bit confused about South African domestic cricket until I did my research today. I had heard there are only 6 teams in their domestic cricket, like Australia, but there are different competitions and different teams play in them. Like, 13 teams play in CSA Provincial Three-Day Challenge and One-Day Challenge but yeah, 6 teams in SuperSport Series (4-day matches), MTN40 and Standard Bank Pro20 Series. I had read that KP will play for Kwa-zulu Natal some time ago but he actually played for the Dolphins.

John Buchanan, who is working with England this Ashes series, has said Pietersen "has the potential to be fragmentary and an individualist" and could be a "major problem". As you may have imagined by my past comments, I don't agree with this and whether or not he is true or not, I've never appreciated someone criticising its own players. It's good to tell someone personally what's wrong with them so that they can improve but since Buchanan is working with England, speaking publicly like this is not ideal. Strauss on the other hand, said:

Kevin Pietersen has never been a problem for the England cricket team. Buchanan is off the mark to say that - I'm sure Kevin will come to the party.

He also said that there is no chance of dropping Kapes for the 1st Ashes Test, no matter what happens in the warm up matches.

Despite Jimmy Anderson's injury, he defended the boot camp saying that they gained a lot from it.
We weren't expecting injuries and the guys taking the course were told to make sure that did not happen, but things do happen. We are professional sportsmen and you are going to get injuries, whether it is in the nets, the gym sessions or on one of these camps.

Andrew Strauss on James Anderson acquiring an injury during the boot camp in Germany.

Yeah we all know sportspersons can get injured even when they are not playing, like Nel  was at his own home when he opened refrigerator and then a water filled bottle fell on his toe. He got injured so much that he could not play that series. But we shall do our best to avoid injuries, shan't we? Chris Tremlett was the one Jimmy was boxing with. Oh, that's a good way to make his way to the team but he might have to injure other bowlers too. Just joking.

Cheers.

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Blow to the Ashes - Jimmy Anderson to miss first 2 Tests

Posted: Friday, October 15, 2010 by Sanya Michelangelo in Labels: , , , ,
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Just as I was busy tweeting people about my post, What causes more death than war?, @Ellaw638 informed me that James Anderson has broken his ribs. I freaked out a bit and wondered how it could have happened since England are on a break. How it happened? Well...on the boot camp in Germany. In my post The 'Secret' Bonding Camp I wrote that this wasn't the right time for a boot camp. After a long, tiring (both mentally and physically) controversial summer, the last English cricketers needed was boxing, hiking and abseiling. Jimmy hurt his ribs while boxing and is almost certain to miss the first 2 Tests. Yorkshire's Ajmal Shahzad, whom I reckon should have made to the team, is likely to replace Anderson. If Shahzad plays in any of the first 2 Tests and succeeds, England will have to choose between Anderson and the other bowlers who would play in the first 2 Tests. There have been quite a few times when someone, doing well in county cricket, was selected for England 16 member squad but didn't play any match. I hope they don't do that to Shahzad, he would be better off with the Performance squad, rather than sitting on the sidelines in Ashes. Swann, Broad, Finn will be the obvious choices for the 1st Test so England would have to choose between Bresnan, Tremlett and Shahzad. I so deeply hope they don't play Bresnan.

15:14 (BST)
Turns out that Jimmy Anderson might actually play the 1st Test and the injury is not as serious as it was reported to be. I thought it might prove to be a blessing in guise if Shahzad plays or England might lose/fail to win from a good position if Bresnan plays. I've always doubted Broad's ability to take wickets in Tests and although he has improved, I'm not too sure about him so I would go for Jimmy, Finn, Swann and Shahzad but England probably doesn't agree with me. Earlier today, newspapers and top sites like Dailymail reported that Anderson is almost certain to miss the first 2 Tests. Bizarre.

Until next time, take care. Cheers.

More..

What causes more death than war?

Posted: by Sanya Michelangelo in Labels: , ,
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Water scarcity is an issue you must have read about in your school books but you can't imagine how much it effects the world. On 11th October, I received the weekly newsletter from change.org, a site which raises awareness about important causes and empowers people to take action. I came across change.org when I was searching about Jimmy Anderson's photoshoot for gay magazine Attitude. When I started reading the newsletter, there were some shocking revelations, it said,

more people die each year from contaminated water than all forms of violence and war combined.


The newsletter also notified me about Blog Action Day 2010, held every October 15th. The goal of Blog Action Day is to take a single day out of the year to focus the world's attention on one important issue. 13,000 bloggers took part in it last year. The United Nations voted recently to make access to clean water a human right. But it will take some time and effort for this to be implicated. What we can do, is generate awareness on this issue.

90% of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions are to children under five years old. Many of these diseases are preventable. Clean water alone can reduce water-related deaths by 21%. Sanitation alone can reduce water-related deaths by 37.5%. Handwashing alone can reduce water related deaths by 45%. These numbers are staggering but just talking and shocking will not be enough. This calls for a need for good hygiene. People often ignore washing hands after using the toilet, before and after eating, before touching their eyes or using eye drops. These are the basic hygiene guidelines.



1 in 8 of us lack access to clean water

True, alone we cannot provide water to nearly 1 billion people worldwide who rely on bacteria-infested water. But together by making small contributions, we can change the current scenario. Developed countries use far more water than poor countries. In the United States alone, on just one average day, more than 500 billion liters of freshwater travel through the country’s power plants—more than twice what flows through the Nile.

Why water is important.

According to a report dating back to 1999 and sponsored by the UN Development Program, fighting over limited resources as the scarcity of water, over the next 25 years, will possibly be the leading reason for major conflicts in Africa, not oil.

Relieving hunger in Africa has to begin with access to clean water. It may seem simple, but we forget that without water, food is impossible to grow and difficult to preserve and prepare. It takes huge amounts of water to grow food.

As a blogger, I've taken this opportunity to enlighten people, here is how you can contribute:

Register your blog or website  if you read this on October 15th, register and write about water crisis or Blog Action Day 2010.

Sign the petition: Together with US Fund for UNICEF, change.org is helping to build a movement of people across the world calling on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to accelerate the UN's work to supply clean, safe drinking water to the world's poorest populations. Help grow this movement by adding your name.

Raise funds for water: Raise money to provide clean drinking water to those in need through charity: water, which allows you to create a fundraising page to raise money to build wells in Africa, or Water.org, where a $25 donation provides clean water for a lifetime for one person.

If a 7-year old can build a well, why can't you donate $25?

Alastair Cook Wallpaper!

Posted: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 by Sanya Michelangelo in Labels: , , , , , ,
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Click on the image for the 1024x684 version.
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If you like this wallpaper, help me spread the word,

Not The Most Conservative Sport Anymore?

Posted: Sunday, October 10, 2010 by Sanya Michelangelo in Labels: , , , , , ,
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Some regard baseball as the most conservative sport next to cricket, others settle for golf or tennis. All of them are changing and so is cricket. Called as the "Gentleman's game", cricket consisted of whites, sun and hard work for fast bowlers. The change started with one-day cricket and became more prominent with the birth of Twenty20 cricket. One-day cricket brought the colours, day-night games and most importantly, the reduction to 50 overs from 450 overs. Twenty20 brought in the moolah, popularity, a prospect of exposing non-playing nations like US to cricket. I like all these changes, including the one I'm going to talk about, except Twenty20. One thing which has really bashed conservatism in cricket is nudity. Yes, nudity. Not many cricketers have posed nude but Jimmy Anderson is someone who has done it thrice so far. The first time he did it, it was for Cancer charity, with fellow England cricketers Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad. The second time, he was  supporting Give Up Clothes for Good, a TK Maxx, HomeSense and Cancer Research UK campaign for children’s cancer research www.tkmaxx.com. Have you shopped for clothes in TK Maxx? Well, they’d rather go naked...


The third time, he posed for gay lifestyle magazine, Attitude. Here's what he said:

There's a perception of lots of committees and old men being quite prim and proper, but I think the game is moving with the times.
I think doing this could be fantastic for cricket. Hopefully this will attract a new sort of fan.
If there are any gay cricketers, they should feel confident enough to come out, because I don't think there is homophobia in cricket.

And also said that his model wife, Daniella Lloyd and her friends encouraged him for this shoot.
The magazine's editor, Matthew Todd, praised the bowler for his decision, which he said would send a 'strong, playful signal that sportsmen can be comfortable with homosexuality among team-mates and fans.'

The key to the Ashes: Steven Finn

Posted: Friday, October 8, 2010 by Sanya Michelangelo in Labels: , , , , ,
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ICC Awards 2010 were held in Bengaluru, India on 6th October '10. I didn't really enjoy the ceremony much though. The positives were Finny getting the emerging player of the year award, Swanny, Jimmy being named in the ICC World Test XI and Broady, Colly being named in the ICC World ODI XI.

Finn emerged on the scene when Jimmy Anderson was rested for the tour of Bangladesh. He played in both the Tests as Ryan Sidebottom, Graham Onions struggled with fitness. Bangladesh isn't a great place for a fast bowler to make his debut. He wasn't spectacular but showed pace and bounce. The moment I first looked at him, he was sitting in the balcony, looked good and I loved his attitude and poise. Finn rocked the Bangladesh batting line-up in the following summer, bagging 9 wickets in his home debut Test at Lord's and 5 in the 2nd innings at Old Trafford. However, he played down talks of comparisons with Glenn Mcgrath and Curtley Ambrose. He also commented that he is not targeting the Ashes. He said:

I'm not going to kid myself. I've had fun in this Test match and I'm loving playing for my country at the moment, but it'll be a lot of hard work for me, because there are guys to come back in who are ahead of me in the pecking order.
Fundamentally, it's up to me to make it difficult for the selectors to drop me, whether I do that playing for England or through consistent performances for Middlesex throughout the season. If I keep taking wickets, my name will be there or thereabouts, but it'll be a lot of hard work.

That's quite modest I shall say. After taking the wickets at Lord's, he blamed himself for going for too many fours and said that he'd like to change that. He was very impressive against Pakistan too, taking key wickets. But I reckon he was under used by Strauss. Finn bowled 79 overs in the series as opposed to Anderson - 140.3, Broad - 113.5. Finn's career bowling strike rate is an amazing 36.9. In the history of the game, the best career strike rate is 34.1, followed by 37.7. He is a wicket-taker and wicket-takers are the guys who win you Tests. And that is why he is the key to the Ashes.

PS, this post was originally going to be about ICC awards but I just couldn't resist the temptation of writing and researching about Finn. I've never agreed with ICC Rankings and awards and this time it was no different. Absurdly, Eoin Morgan wasn't shortlisted for Emerging Player Of The Year Award so Finn easily beat Umar Akmal, Angelo Mathews and Tim Paine.

Related Post: Steven Finn Wallpaper!
 
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Steven Finn Wallpaper!

Posted: Wednesday, October 6, 2010 by Sanya Michelangelo in Labels: , , , , , ,
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Click on the wallpaper for the 1024x768 view. Took me 4 & a half hours to create this one!

Related Posts:


Popular Posts: Astonishment at its best, daring ECB drops Kevin Pietersen
                      Everything Goes The Notts Way And Not So Surprisingly, Freddie Retires

Recent Posts (As on 06 Oct '10): The 'Secret' Bonding Camp
                                                Chinese Zodiacs Of English Cricketers
                                                The Ones Who Blossomed In The County Championship 2010

The 'Secret' Bonding Camp

Posted: Monday, October 4, 2010 by Sanya Michelangelo in Labels: , , , , , , ,
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The England team went for a boot camp just a day after the last one-day against Pakistan on September 22. It was a team bonding camp held in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. The destination wasn't revealed beforehand. The players were asked to leave their cellphones in England so they went off twitter for a few days. Apart from Finn, all of them try to be cool on twitter. And now, they have started replying to a few fans. To get a reply from them, you don't have to say something noteworthy or special or funny. After all this, I think ECB would be doing them a favour by banning them from twitter.

They must have enjoyed themselves at the camp, indulged in boxing, hiking and abseilling. I think it was great but I'm not sure if it took place at the right time. After the long summer, they should have spent time at home, resting and with family. This was a pre-Ashes bonding camp but there are still 52 days to Ashes (from 4th October).

The Boot Camp in Pictures>>>


Click on the photos for full size.

Chinese Zodiacs Of English Cricketers

Posted: Saturday, October 2, 2010 by Sanya Michelangelo in Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,
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A good way to know a bit about English cricketers would be through chinese zodiac. Most of you must be thinking that this kind of stuff is fun but inaccurate. Well, this is not like western zodiac and I've found it to be mostly true. It probably isn't 100% accurate, one reason being that people change. And you don't know where the original theory is written because it's somewhat different on websites, books, newspapers.

Rat
Forthright, tenacious, intense, meticulous, charismatic, sensitive, intellectual, industrious, charming, eloquent, sociable, artistic, shrewd. Can be manipulative, vindictive, self-destructive, envious, mendacious, venal, obstinate, critical, over-ambitious, ruthless, intolerant, scheming.

  • Alastair Cook
Ox
Dependable, ambitious, calm, methodical, born leader, patient, hardworking, conventional, steady, modest, logical, resolute, tenacious. Can be stubborn, dogmatic, hot-tempered, narrow-minded, materialistic, rigid, demanding.
  • Luke Wright
  • Tim Bresnan
  • Ravi Bopara
  • Ajmal Shahzad
  • Liam Plunkett
Tiger
Unpredictable, rebellious, colorful, powerful, passionate, daring, impulsive, vigorous, stimulating, sincere, affectionate, humanitarian, generous. Can be restless, reckless, impatient, quick-tempered, obstinate, selfish, aggressive, moody.
  • Steven Davies
  • Eoin Morgan
  • Stuart Broad
  • Joe Denly
Rabbit
Gracious, good friend, kind, sensitive, soft-spoken, amiable, elegant, reserved, cautious, artistic, thorough, tender, self-assured, shy, astute, compassionate, lucky, flexible. Can be moody, detached, superficial, self-indulgent, opportunistic, stubborn.
  • Craig Kieswetter
Dragon
Magnanimous, stately, vigorous, strong, self-assured, proud, noble, direct, dignified, eccentric, intellectual, fiery, passionate, decisive, pioneering, artistic, generous, loyal. Can be tactless, arrogant, imperious, tyrannical, demanding, intolerant, dogmatic, violent, impetuous, brash.
  • Paul Collingwood
  • Adil Rashid
Snake
Deep thinker, wise, mystic, graceful, soft-spoken, sensual, creative, prudent, shrewd, elegant, cautious, responsible, calm, strong, constant, purposeful. Can be loner, bad communicator, possessive, hedonistic, self-doubting, distrustful, mendacious, suffocating, cold.
  • Steven Finn
  • Andrew Flintoff
  • Andrew Strauss
  • Ryan Sidebottom
Horse
Cheerful, popular, quick-witted, changeable, earthy, perceptive, talkative, agile—mentally and physically, magnetic, intelligent, astute, flexible, open-minded. Can be fickle, arrogant, childish, anxious, rude, gullible, stubborn.
  • Owais Shah
Sheep
Righteous, sincere, sympathetic, mild-mannered, shy, artistic, creative, gentle, compassionate, understanding, mothering, peaceful, generous, seeks security. Can be moody, indecisive, over-passive, worrier, pessimistic, over-sensitive, complainer, weak-willed.
  • Graeme Swann
  • Michael Lumb
Monkey
Inventor, motivator, improviser, quick-witted, inquisitive, flexible, innovative, problem solver, self-assured, sociable, artistic, polite, dignified, competitive, objective, factual, intellectual. Can be egotistical, vain, arrogant, selfish, reckless, snobbish, deceptive, manipulative, cunning, jealous, suspicious.
  • Kevin Pietersen
  • Michael Yardy
  • Michael Carberry
  • Mark Davies
Rooster
Acute, neat, meticulous, organized, self-assured, decisive, conservative, critical, perfectionist, alert, zealous, practical, scientific, responsible. Can be over zealous and critical, puritanical, egotistical, abrasive, proud, opinionated, given to empty bravado.
  • Jonathan Trott
  • Chris Tremlett
  • Sajid Mahmood
Dog
Honest, intelligent, straightforward, loyal, sense of justice and fair play, attractive, amicable, unpretentious, sociable, open-minded, idealistic, moralistic, practical, affectionate, sensitive, easy going. Can be cynical, lazy, cold, judgmental, pessimistic, worrier, stubborn, quarrelsome.
  • Ian Bell
  • Matt Prior
  • James Anderson
  • Monty Panesar
  • James Tredwell
  • Graham Onions
Find your and other English cricketers' Chinese Zodiac, see how you match!

Wallpapers: Jimmy and Belly Wallpaper!
                   Jimmy Anderson Wallpaper
                   James Anderson Cool Blue Wallpaper
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The Ones Who Blossomed In The County Championship 2010

Posted: Friday, October 1, 2010 by Sanya Michelangelo in Labels: , , , , , , , ,
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Highest Run Scorers
  • Mark Ramprakash (Surrey) - 1595 runs
  • Adam Lyth (Yorkshire) - 1509 runs
  • James Hildreth (Somerset) - 1440 runs
  • Marcus Trescothick (Somerset) - 1397 runs
  • Michael Carberry (Hampshire) - 1385 runs
    All the batsmen played 16 matches.
    Ramprakash (aged 41) has been scoring loads of runs for years. Adam Lyth, nicknamed "Peanut" is a good future prospect. He celebrated his 23th birthday on 25th September and was the best young player this season. James Hildreth was described as "an extraordinary talent" by Justin Langer, who captained the Taunton side Hildreth played for. But his county career has been as disappointing as Luke Wright's International career. Till '04 (the last year of his age-group career), a lot was expected from him. He did show he is good by scoring 303* against Warwickshire but has been inconsistent. Carberry has played one Test for England and in case any batsman fails, he is the next in line.

    Tresco, is the best English batsman but retired in March '08 and before that, returned home from a few tours. He has been asked to play International cricket quite a few times but refused due to personal problems. Andrew Strauss called him up to play in the ICC World Twenty20 2009. He can't handle the travelling and though England would let him play for England only in England, it wouldn't be the right thing to do. To let Tresco play only in England, England would have to ask a batsman to play only during tours and it will be hard to settle the team in that case.



    Highest Averages
    • James Hildreth (Somerset) - 65.45 (16 matches)
    • Mark Ramprakash (Surrey) - 61.34 (16 matches)
    • Marcus Trescothick (Somerset) - 58.20 (16 matches)
    • Steven Davies (England Lions, Surrey) - 57.36 (14 matches)
    • Jonathan Trott (England, Warwickshire) - 57.05 (12 matches)
    Most Wickets
    • Andre Adams (Nottinghamshire) - 68 (14 matches)
    • Gemaal Hussain (Gloucestershire) - 67 (15 matches)
    • Steven Finn (England, Middlesex) - 64 (13 matches)
    • James Harris (England Lions, Glamorgan) - 63 (14 matches)
    • Chris Woakes (England Lions, Warwickshire) - 58 (14 matches)
    Charl Willoughby took as many wickets as Woakes but played 16 matches.

    Best Averages
    • James Anderson (England, Lancashire) - 18.41 (10 matches)
    • Murali Kartik (Somerset) - 19.60 (11 matches)
    • Glen Chapple (Lancashire) - 19.75 (14 matches)
    • Corey Collymore (Sussex) - 19.87 (14 matches)
    • Chris Tremlett (Surrey) - 20.18 (12 matches)
    None of these players played all the matches for their counties. Claude Hendersen has the best average (21.05) in the bowlers who have played all matches. Among the highest wicket takers, Chris Woakes has the best average.

    Related Post: Everything Goes The Notts Way And Not So Surprisingly, Freddie Retires

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                                                     Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett, Monty Panesar picked for Ashes
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    Wallpapers: Jimmy and Belly Wallpaper!
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                       James Anderson Cool Blue Wallpaper
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