IAN CHAPPELL
16-09-2007 02-02-2009 26-12-2010 12-02-2016 06-04-2017 Throughout the ages cricket has been known for it’s enduring partnerships --- Hobbs and Sutcliffe, Lawry and Simpson, Greenidge and Haynes, Tendulkar and Ganguly and that’s only a few of the revered opening combinations.
On the bowling side there’s the Bodyline duo of Larwood and Voce, accompanied by some of the most feared pairings in the game --- Hall and Griffith, Lillee and Thomson, Roberts and Holding, Marshall and Garner. Then there are the wily combinations of O’reilly and Grimmett, Laker and Lock and the evenly balanced one of Warne and Mcgrath.
These are all well known pairs that don’t even require first names to be easily recognised. Nevertheless, cricket has seemingly overlooked the most important partnership and it’s time this oversight was rectified for the future good of the game.
That’s the partnership which should exist between players and administrators. It was obvious during the recent dispute involving the players and Cricket Australia that the most important ingredient missing from the negotiations was respect.
Hopefully, following t his unseemly dispute there will come the realisation that for the game to grow in the future this has to be a partnership.
In my experience of dealing with and then watching cricket administrations from afar, they’ve always suffered from one major failing --- the lack of understanding for what it takes to play the game successfully at the high-
THE FOURDAY TEST IS A CONCEPT THAT HAS TO BE SOLD, NOT FOISTED ON PLAYERS LIKE A COMPULSORY SCHOOL UNIFORM
Left-arm pacer 2017
Right-arm pacer 2016 NEW DELHI: Pakistan cricket finally has something to smile about after years of disappointment. Sarfraz Ahmed’s side won the ICC Champions Trophy in June to complete the set of ICC trophies. Their winning streak continued against Sri Lanka who they whitewashed 5-0.
One of the biggest factors behind their recent ODI success has been the brigade of ‘unknown’, never-seen-before fast bowlers who have led the charge.
Hasan Ali has been the leader and has been backed up well by other lesser-known names in the absence of experienced pacers like Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz.
Pakistan is famed for producing quality pacers despite little infrastructure at