Arjuna the Indomitable: Challenging Aussie Skulduggery in 1995-98 … and More

Andrew Fidel Fernando, courtesy of The Cricket Monthly, at ESPNcricinfo … http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1087120/arjuna-versus …where the title is “Arjuna Versus”

 January 1999: Sri Lankan supporters show Ranatunga some love outside Adelaide Oval, where he was facing a disciplinary hearing

v Australia, 1995-96
Sri Lanka have played in higher-octane, better contested and far more watchable series, but for pure watershed value none has left its mark on the island’s cricket like this pre-World Cup thrashing in Australia. If Ranatunga had not been at the helm, things might have gone very differently; it was the kind of tour that can run teams aground.

How Dubai training assisted Aussies in India: Nullifying Jadeja rather than Herath

Daniel Brettig, courtesy of ESPNcricinfo, where the title is “Australia enjoy fruits of Dubai detour”

The advantages derived from a visit to Dubai before the India Tests have become clear. Here’s how Australia ended up in the UAE, and what they had on offer there,

Australia had the chance to hit the ground running in India, after the time spent preparing for the series in Dubai © AFP

 

Channel Nine Cricket down the Slide

Chris Barrett, in  Sydney Morning Herald, 11 November 2016, where the title runs “Cricket’s television ratings plunge as Australia struggle against South Africa”

The Australian team is underperforming and fans are switching off at an alarming level, with the prime-time television audience for the first Test against South Africa evaporating by one-quarter from the corresponding clash in Perth last year against New Zealand. In a concerning development for Cricket Australia as it prepares to begin formal negotiations with networks over the rights to broadcast cricket from 2018 to 2023, OzTAM ratings show viewer numbers have dropped off a cliff since last summer.According to the figures, Channel Nine’s five-city metro audience fell an average of 23 per cent in the third session of the first Test across the five days in Perth – which is played in all-important prime time on the east coast – from 975,000 in the corresponding Test at the WACA Ground last year to 749,000.

Victor Trumper understood via Haigh’s STROKE OF GENIUS

Catherine MacGregor, from The Australian 5 November 2016, “Cricket’s Victor Trumper master of his field, just like Gideon Haigh”

Stroke of Genius is the title of Gideon Haigh’s latest work. It is an apt title, referring as it does to an image of batting perfection. The work is an extended rumination on probably the most famous photographic image of any cricketer in the rich iconography and mythology of the game.  The stroke, commonly referred to as ‘‘jumping out’’, shows Australian legend Victor Trumper at the Oval in 1905, poised at the height of his extravagant backswing, front foot airborne, just prior to executing his shot. There is no ball. There are no fielders, no stumps, nor umpires. There is simply a lithe, handsome man, frozen for eternity in a study of physical perfection, which Leonardo da Vinci would have been proud to contrive. The figure evokes a bygone era. Yet, there is also an element of permanence that only timeless genius confers on physical prowess.

Aussie Cricketing Pundits Err in their Verdicts on Mitch Marsh LBW

Daniel Brettig,  in ESPNcricinfo, 8 November 2016, “Marsh LBW correctly tracked”

Mitchell Marsh’s hotly-debated LBW on the final day of the Perth Test was correctly tracked from its initial point of impact on the allrounder’s front toe, the custodians of EagleEye have confirmed. The decision, which was reversed from Aleem Dar’s initial verdict of not out due to the widening of the zone in which the stumps can be projected to hit by the ICC earlier this year, was openly questioned by a succession of television commentators and also Australia’s captain, Steven Smith, who said it was like Kagiso Rabada was bowling “leg-spin”. The former captain Michael Clarke stated on Channel Nine’s cricket coverage that he was certain the ball was going down the leg side. “I was certain that was missing the stumps,” Clarke said. “When you look at that replay, I thought it was definitely swinging too far and missing the leg stump. “He’ll be really disappointed with that. It has clipped his toe, then clipped his pad, and then got onto the bat. But what I don’t agree with is the line of the delivery once the ball hits him on the toe … I believe the line of that delivery is going down and missing leg stump.”

PERTH, AUSTRALIA – NOVEMBER 07: Mitch Marsh of Australia looks dejected after being dismissed by Kagiso Rabada of South Africa after a DRS referal during day five of the First Test match between Australia and South Africa at WACA on November 7, 2016 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Ryan Pierse – CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images)

AFP Report. Coroner’s Verdict on Phil Hughes’ Death: ‘Tiny Misjudgement’

AFP, 6 November 2016, http://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/tiny-misjudgement-led-to-phil-hughes-unsurvivable-injury-coroner/story-QPQrHL4KG3AWBHtctD4anJ.html

Australian batsman Phillip Hughes made a “minuscule misjudgement” before he was fatally struck by a cricket ball, a coroner ruled on Friday, attaching no blame to the bowler, verbal abuse or the tactic of sending down short-pitched deliveries. Hughes, who played 26 Tests, died from bleeding on the brain in November 2014 after being hit on the neck by a rising ball from Sean Abbott while batting in a domestic match at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The death of the popular 25-year-old, who had risen through the ranks to play for his country, stunned Australia and the world cricket community, sparking an outpouring of grief.

A photo of Phil Hughes is displayed on a scoreboard as a minute of silence is observed before play on the first day of the fourth Test match between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground on January 6, 2015, less than two months after Hughes’ death. (AFP)

Sledging dirties a Beautiful Game, says Coroner Barnes in Hughes’ Inquest Verdict

John Townsend and Daniel Mercer, in The West Australian, 5 November 2016, with the following title “Sledging in the spotlight after Hughes inquiry”

The coronial inquest into the death of Phillip Hughes has raised questions around the culture of sledging in cricket. Hughes died in November 2014, two days after being struck by a ball in the back of the head while batting for South Australia in a Sheffield Shield game against NSW at the SCG. Although NSW Coroner Michael Barnes found no one was to blame, he took aim at what he said was an unhealthy culture of sledging by cricketers, who he urged to “reflect upon whether the practice … is worthy of its participants. An outsider is left to wonder why such a beautiful game would need such an ugly underside,” Mr Barnes said.

Phil Hughes poses for a portrait during a Cricket Australia player camp. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images