Saturday, October 31, 2009
“Sometimes as a cricketer you just long for it to rain so you don’t have to play. I’m not saying cricketers hate cricket, but when you’re playing a county game and the sky darkens and it starts to piss down, it doesn’t half fill everybody in the dressing room with joie de vivre. When it pissed it down, you knew were not going to fail that day. Lovely thought. With cricket, perhaps more than any other sport, everything you do is measured and analysed for all time – your failures are a matter of enduring public record” – Vic Marks on the pressures faced by elite sportsmen.
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“The selection of Jonathan Trott after much fevered speculation proved an excellent decision. He immediately had that look about him of being comfortable at the highest level, and could prove to be a more stubborn version of Kevin Pietersen. I suppose you might wish Trott was a bit more English, but after such a brilliant debut it appeared we had found another high-quality batsman” – The lesser-reported bit of Michael Vaughan’s remarks about Trott.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
“It was an automatic, axiomatic style moment and he would give a beefy smile when he suddenly found himself on camera” – From the CricketNext tribute to David Shepherd, recalling his habit of standing on one leg whenever the score reached 111, or multiples thereof.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
“I will go out like I did this year and the year before that to try and take wickets for Durham. If that sees my name put in the hat to play for England again and I can be of service, I will be happy to do that. But the way it has been explained to me is that England are trying to move on to the next level for their next big series in Australia in 2010. They don’t see me being a part of that and I think I would struggle because of all the international cricket between the last Test I played at the Oval and that first Ashes Test in Brisbane next year” – Steve Harmison keeps his hat in the international ring – but with a sense of realism.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
“It’s not like I won’t be able to sleep at night if it doesn’t happen” – Alistair Cook is relaxed about the prospect of standing in for Andrew Strauss in Bangladesh.
See what we were wittering on about today.
“Keeping things in perspective is the only way to do it. Training and playing as if it’s life and death, but in the real knowledge that it’s not, and that there are actually more important things about. You can be obsessed with your sport, and obsessed with your skill, obsessed with the art of what you do, but also realise that it’s not life and death and that the love of your family, or whatever your values are, are actually more important” – Andy Flower on… well, sport, actually.
Cricket Blips: England feed