Player Profile(#45)...Matthew Hayden (Australia)

Matthew Lawrence Hayden (born 29 October 1971) is an Australian cricketer. He was born in Kingaroy, Queensland to Laurence and Moya Hayden. He was educated at Marist College in Ashgrove and he is an Australian and Queensland representative cricketer.

Hayden (nicknames: Haydos, Unit) is a powerful and aggressive left hand opening batsman, known for his ability to score quickly at both Test and one day levels. He is particularly proficient when hitting down the ground. Hayden currently holds the record for the highest scores made by an Australian batsman in both the Test (380) and One Day International (181 not out) arenas. He formed one of the most prolific opening partnerships in world Test cricket for Australia with Justin Langer, and in ODI cricket with Adam Gilchrist. He is currently partnered with Simon Katich as an opener in the Australian Test team.

Test career:
Hayden debuted for the Australian team in the 1994 March 4-8 Test Match against South Africa in Johannesburg, scoring 15 and 5. His next Test selection was in the 1996/7 season, with three each against the West Indies and South Africa. He made his debut century (125 against WI in Adelaide) aided by multiple dropped catches by the West Indies side. His average of 21.7 was not enough to keep his position in the Australian side, and in particular openers Mark Taylor and Matthew Elliott. He was dropped from the team, and it appeared his international career was over, compared occasionally to that of Graeme Hick, a fine domestic performer with not quite enough to make it at the highest level.

During these years Hayden was a prolific batsman for the Queensland first-class cricket team. Weight of domestic cricket runs and persistence resulted in a resurrection of his international career for the 1999-00 tour of New Zealand. In the subsequent 2000-01 tour of India he averaged a Bradmanesque 109.80 with 549 runs, an Australian record for a three-Test series. Since then, he has been an automatic selection for the Test side. In the 2007-08 series against India, Hayden scored three centuries, raising his tally of centuries against India to five. He currently has thirty test centuries to his name, the first left-handed opening batsman to achieve this feat.

In 2001, Hayden scored a then-Australian record of 1,391 runs in Test matches in one calendar year, and subsequently won the Allan Border Medal as the best Australian player of the year. He picked up where he left off the following season with a seven-hour 119 against Pakistan in the Sharjah heat, which approached 50 degrees celsius.

He scored over 1,000 Test runs in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 & 2005, the first man to achieve the feat five times. He was selected as one of Wisden's five 2003 Cricketers of the Year and briefly held the world record for the highest Test score, 380, which he reached at the WACA against Zimbabwe on 10 October 2003, having batted only five sessions. As of July 2008, Hayden had the third highest conversion-rate in history, with a Test century every 3.13 Tests played, behind only Don Bradman at 1.79, and Clyde Walcott at 2.93.

Despite these achievements, Hayden has received criticism from some quarters for being a "flat-track bully". Critics have contrasted his ability to score big runs on ideal batting pitches against weak attacks, with how he was troubled during the 2005 Ashes by the less batsman-friendly English conditions. Against a high-quality swing and pace attack, the "fantastic foursome" of Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones, he averaged a meagre 35.33 across the five-match series. With his Test spot under pressure going into the Fifth Test at the Oval, Hayden rescued his career with a hard-fought 138 from 303 balls. His 21st Test century signalled a return to form for Hayden for the the Australian season of 2007/08, scoring three centuries in three consecutive Tests against the ICC World XI and West Indies. Hayden scored one century during the Boxing Day Test against South Africa, and another in the away series in South Africa played in March 2006.

Hayden played in the highly-anticipated 2006-07 Ashes series, against England. He failed to reach 40 in the first three innings of the series, but again returned to form with scores of 92 in Perth, and 153 in the Boxing Day Test. The century at Melbourne continued Hayden's rich vein of form at the MCG, being his fifth in eight Tests there.

Hayden's defenders point out that he was not alone in finding England tough-going in 2005, as even Australia's captain and talisman Ricky Ponting averaged under forty, while other big names such as Adam Gilchrist and Damien Martyn failed to impress with averages near twenty.

Hayden has also been a regular and successful slip fielder for Australia, and has taken the thirteenth-most catches by a non-wicketkeeper in Test history. He also shares the record for the most catches by a non-wicketkeeper in a single Test Match, with seven against Sri Lanka in 2004. His most notable fielding partnership was with Shane Warne, with the "caught Hayden, bowled Warne" dismissal being the equal third most common partnership for a non-wicketkeeper and bowler: their 39 wickets are behind only "caught Taylor, bowled Warne" and "caught Dravid, bowled Kumble".

Hayden's most notable opening batting partner was Justin Langer. The opening pair represented Australia in more than 100 Test innings. The pair made 5654 runs while batting together in partnerships, with an average of 51 runs per partnership; only Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes of the West Indies have scored more Test runs as a partnership, with 6482.

ODI:
Hayden also played in the Australian side that won the 2003 One Day International Cricket World Cup. He was dropped from the ODI squad because of poor form after The Ashes in 2005, though he could not be kept away from the ODI squad for long. He returned to the Australian squad in the 2006-07 Australian season after Simon Katich fell out of favour and Shane Watson was injured. He dominated the Cricket World Cup in the West Indies as the tournament's best batsman in 2007, scoring three centuries before the completion of the Super 8s section of the tournament.

On 20 February 2007, Matthew Hayden posted his highest ODI score (181 not out) against New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton. Australia posted 346 for 5 wickets and New Zealand replied with 350 for 9 wickets and won the Chappel-Hadlee series 3-0.

Hayden hit another milestone against the Kiwis when he become only the third person (the others being Mark Waugh and Sourav Ganguly) to hit 3 centuries (101 vs RSA, 158 vs WI, 103 vs NZ) in a single World Cup tournament on 20 April 2007. The century against South Africa came off just 66 balls and is the fastest World Cup ton ever beating the previous record set by John Davison. The Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis awarded Hayden with honorary citizenship after the match.

Hayden also became only the second player in World Cup history to surpass 600 runs in a single tournament. He needed to score a further 52 runs to equal the record that was set by Sachin Tendulkar in the previous World Cup but fell short by 14 runs. He ended the tournament with 659 runs at an average of 73.22.

In September 2007, Hayden was named ODI Player of the Year after his dominating performance throughout the World Cup. An extraordinary performance considering his place in the Australian side was in jeopardy during the Australian VB Series against England and New Zealand. He officially holds the record for being the top runs scorer in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, scoring 265 runs in the whole tournament.

Matthew Hayden played for the Chennai outfit Chennai Super Kings in the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) in April 2008. After a poor run of form in the Test arena during 2008, Hayden was dropped from the ODI and Twenty20 squad in January 2009. It still remains unclear as to whether his test career is continuing after so many recent failed test match innings.

England County:
Hayden has played in the English County Championship, first with Hampshire in 1997 and prominently as captain of Northamptonshire in 1999-2000.

Controversies:
He was a party to the controversy that emerged from the Second Test, 2007-08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy racism charges pressed by Australia against India, and was one of the witnesses for Andrew Symonds` charges against Harbhajan Singh.

As a fallout of that instance in February 2008, Hayden was charged for a code of conduct violation by Cricket Australia, for calling the Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh an obnoxious little weed, and for inviting Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma for a fight, during an interview aired on Brisbane radio station; he was also heard to mimic Sharma`s Indian accent in this exchange.

He was reprimanded for his comment by Cricket Australia, but maintained his innocence.

He was strongly criticized by the BCCI and former Pakistan team captain Wasim Akram for reportedly calling India a third world country. Back home after a 2–0 series defeat by India, Hayden spoke about, what he perceived, poor ground conditions and inordinate delays during the matches "that happen in Third World countries".


Personal life:

In 2000, Hayden's boat capsized whilst sailing near North Stradbroke Island; he and his two companions (one of whom was Queensland and Australian teammate Andrew Symonds) were forced to swim a kilometre to safety.

In his spare time, Hayden is a keen cook and occasionally prepares meals for his team-mates while on tour. A collection of his recipes was published in Australia in 2004 as The Matthew Hayden Cookbook. A second book, The Matthew Hayden Cookbook 2, was published in 2006.

Hayden uses a Gray-Nicolls bat with a fluorescent pink grip, to highlight and support research into a cure for breast cancer. This is at least in part inspired by his team-mate Glenn McGrath's wife struggle with this illness.

He is married to Kellie Hayden (née Culey), and they have a daughter named Grace (born June 2002), and two sons named Joshua (born 15 April 2005) and Thomas Joseph (born May 2007).

Hayden is a devout Roman Catholic and says "When I’m in trouble, I ask: ‘What would Christ do?'"

He is patron of Parent Project Australia, a charity fighting for a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Matthew Hayden is an Ambassador for World Youth Day 2008.

Links to more information on Matthew Hayden:

Cricinfo.com profile on Matthew Hayden

Matthew Hayden on Qldcricket.com.au

Matthew Hayden Wallpapers





*Acknowledgements to Wikipedia.org and owners of pictures and videos used.

The Complete List of Test and O.D.I Cricketers

Here is a list of links that take you to a page showing every cricketer that has played test cricket for their country. This might help with cricket related trivia so be sure to bookmark this site :).

Test Cricket:

New Zealand Test Cricketers

List of Australian Test Cricketers

List of England Test Cricketers

List of West Indies Test Cricketers

List of Pakistan Test Cricketers

List of South Africa Test Cricketers

List of India Test Cricketers

List of Sri Lanka Test Cricricketers

List of Bangladesh Test Cricketers

List of Zimbabwe Test Cricketers

O.D.I Cricket:

List of Australia ODI Cricketers

List of Bangladesh ODI Cricketers

List of Bermuda ODI Cricketers

List of Canada ODI Cricketers

List of England ODI Cricketers

List of Hong Kong ODI Cricketers

List of India ODI Cricketers

List of Ireland ODI Cricketers

List of Kenya ODI Cricketers

List of Namibia ODI Cricketers

List of Netherlands ODI Cricketers

List of New Zealand ODI Cricketers

List of Pakistan ODI Cricketers

List of Scotland ODI Cricketers

List of South Africa ODI Cricketers

List of Sri Lanka ODI Cricketers

List of U.A.E ODI Cricketers

List of U.S.A ODI Cricketers

List of West Indies ODI Cricketers

List of Zimbabwe ODI Cricketers

*Acknowledgements to Wikipedia.org and owners of pictures and videos used.

The XXXX Gold Beach Cricket Tri-Nations series

The XXXX Gold Beach Cricket Tri-Nations series is a four-round beach cricket competition created and sponsored by Australian beer brand XXXX. It was launched on September 27, 2006, and the event coincided with the 2006-07 Ashes series being played in Australia with the first series being played in January 2007.

The first series involved cricketing legends from Australia, England and the West Indies. It was won by England, who beat Australia in the Grand Final on 4 February 2007. Due to the popularity to the initial series, a new 2008 series was held with teams from Australia, England and New Zealand competing.

2008 saw an additional venue - Glenelg Beach in Adelaide included in the schedule alongside the existing locations of Maroubra Beach in Sydney, Scarborough Beach in Perth and Coolangatta Beach on the Gold Coast.

Network Ten is the host broadcaster of the matches.

The Rules:
The series incorporated rules that are a hybrid of the regular game and that of indoor cricket. As with the regular game boundaries score 6 runs if hit over the perimeter, and 4 if the ball hits the ground before passing or touching the perimeter.

There are eight overs in an innings, with the final two overs declared "Captain's Choice" in which each side's captain is allowed to field the batsmen and bowlers of their own choosing. For the first six overs batsmen and bowlers are swapped out every two overs.

When a batsman is dismissed, he keeps batting — however, he loses runs. A score is decreased by 5 runs when the batsman has been dismissed by two-handed catch, and by 7 runs with a one-handed catch. It is possible to score into negative numbers.

A batsman cannot be dismissed LBW if he plays a shot.

The series uses a plastic drop-in pitch to allow the ball to bounce, and batting and bowling only take place facing one direction. The Coolangatta arena initially featured an open boundary along the surf, allowing fielding to be possible in the water, however this was later removed due to crowd control concerns.

Venues:

The 2007 series venues and dates were:

Round One — Coolangatta, Gold Coast, Queensland — January 19-20

Round Two — Scarborough, Perth, Western Australia — January 26-27

Round Three — Maroubra, Sydney, New South Wales — February 3

Grand Final — Maroubra, Sydney, New South Wales — February 4

The 2008 series venues and dates were:

Round One — Scarborough, Perth, Western Australia — January 5-6

Round Two — Glenelg Beach, Adelaide, South Australia — January 9

Round Three — Maroubra, Sydney, New South Wales — January 12-13

Round Four/Grand Final — Coolangatta, Gold Coast, Queensland — January 19-20

Teams:

2007:

Australia: Allan Border (captain), Jeff Thomson, Kim Hughes, Dean Jones, Dennis Lillee, Damien Fleming and Mark Waugh.

England: Graham Gooch (captain), Darren Gough, Allan Lamb, Robin Smith, Adam Hollioake, Graeme Hick and Gladstone Small (replacing Mark Ramprakash).

West Indies: Courtney Walsh (captain), Phil Simmons, Jimmy Adams, Curtly Ambrose, Richie Richardson, Desmond Haynes, Joel Garner and Sir Viv Richards (new addition).

The umpire for all matches was Dickie Bird.

2008:

Australia: Allan Border (captain), Jeff Thomson, Dean Jones, Dennis Lillee, Mark Waugh, Damien Fleming, Michael Bevan, Stuart Law and Darren Lehmann.

England: Graham Gooch (captain), Robin Smith, Adam Hollioake, Graeme Hick, Gladstone Small, Phil Defreitas, Angus Fraser and John Emburey.

New Zealand: Martin Crowe (captain), Sir Richard Hadlee, Mark Greatbatch, Danny Morrison, Nathan Astle, Dion Nash, Dipak Patel and Chris Cairns.

The umpire for all matches was Clive Crookshanks.

Records:

Team:

Highest winning score — England 1/153 vs Australia at Scarborough, 2008(round 1)

Highest losing score — Australia 0/126 vs England at Scarborough, 2008(round 1)

Lowest winning score — West Indies vs England ?/41 at Coolangatta, 2007(round 1)

Lowest losing score — England vs New Zealand 9/27 at Maroubra, 2008(round 3)

Individual:

Most runs (innings) — Graeme Hick 81(57+24*) vs Australia at Scarborough, 2008(round 1)

Most runs (over) — Graham Gooch 36 (6 6 6 6 6 6) vs New Zealand at Coolangatta, 2008(round 4)

* = batted twice(captains choice)

Trophies:

Round Robin competition:

The winner's trophy is a beer glass — the runners-up trophy is a can of XXXX Gold beer.

Finals:

The winner was presented with a beer glass mounted on a wooden stand.

Entertainment:
Throughout the matches the players were miked up so both fans at the game and at home watching the televised match can hear the players talking. Also music was played throughout the day whilst the matches were being played.

When the players were fielding around the boundary, they were taking time out to sign autographs for fans situated around the boundary.

In between the matches there was performances on field, by the female cheerleading squad XXXX Angels. Also XXXX promotional staff were handing out giveaways including XXXX Gold bucket hats, beach cricket balls and other promo items.

Links and references to the XXX Gold Beach Cricket series:

Test stars' spin on beach cricket

XXXX Gold scores big with beach cricket

Beer war loses its bubbles | The Courier-Mail

Crikey - Beach cricket – a turf war between two breweries

XXXX Gold Beach Cricket Tri-Nations series

XXXX Angels cheerleading squad





*Acknowledgements to Wikipedia.org and owners of pictures and videos used.

Introducing... the Twenty20 Champions League

The Twenty20 Champions League is an international Twenty20 cricket competition between clubs from Australia, England, India, Pakistan and South Africa. The Twenty20 Champions League is chaired by Lalit Modi, who is the Chairman and Commissioner of the Indian Premier League and Vice-President of the BCCI. The competition is being launched in 2008 as a response to the success of national Twenty20 domestic cricket leagues, most notably the Indian Premier League. The first edition was set to take place from late September to early October 2008 in India, after the tournament organisers resolved various teething problems that had put the inaugural tournament under some doubt, but it was later announced that the tournament would be held from December 3 to December 10, 2008. The initial tournament was postponed again following terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008. A rearranged date has not been announced.

Background:
Chennai vs Kolkata in the Indian Premier League. Chennai have qualified for the first edition of the T20 Champions League

An international tournament for domestic cricket teams is believed to have been first mooted by Lalit Modi, vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 1996, Lalit Modi is also the chairman and commissioner on the IPL. The launch and subsequent success of Twenty20 cricket some years later was the influence behind a serious effort to get such a tournament off the ground. Twenty20 cricket was launched by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003. Its launch was a result of a long-term decline in the popularity of county championship and domestic limited-overs cricket. By reducing the number of overs per innings to twenty and by placing a three hour limit on matches, the format was designed to attract a younger crowd and to boost attendances. Twenty20 proved a success, with an international version launched in 2005 and a World Twenty20 Competition held in September 2007. This proved much more popular than the 50 over Cricket World Cup had been just five months previously. The following year, the Indian Premier League (IPL) was launched, proving that there could be a market for a big-spending domestic Twenty20 cricket league. The success of Twenty20 and the IPL lead many commentators to suggest that other forms of cricket would suffer, with some worrying about the effect of the popular fast-paced 'slogging' game on players' abilities in Test cricket.

Immediately after the end of the first series of the IPL, the cricket authorities in England, India, Australia and South Africa entered into discussions to create a new international club competition, to capitalize on the this success. The new tournament's £2.5m winning prize was described as "unprecedented" in cricket. A number of different formats for the tournament were considered, with original proposals containing a much lower prize fund. The T20 Champions League's creation was announced on 7 June 2008, along with the announcement of planned restructuring of some of the domestic cricket tournaments involved, including the introduction of franchising in South Africa, England and Australia. Pakistan's participation was always mooted, but not confirmed when the tournament was first launched. Following a series of discussions and the announcement of the creation of a Pakistan Super League from 2009, it was confirmed that two Pakistani teams would compete.

Format:
Qualifying:
Although the 2008 tournament was originally rumoured to only include teams from Australia, South Africa, India and England, it was announced on 4 July 2008, that two teams from Pakistan's domestic tournament were also invited. At the same, time England's participation was also put into doubt, following differences between the ECB & BCCI over the inclusion of rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) players. Eventually, it was arranged so that the 2008 Twenty20 Champions League is to be contested between 8 teams from 5 countries. The qualifiers are:

The winners and runners-up of the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash in Australia.

The winners and runners-up of the Standard Bank Pro 20 Series in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The winners of the Twenty20 Cup in England and Wales. (Note: Runners-up Kent were not invited to participate in the inaugural tournament because it contained two players who have taken part in the rebel Indian Cricket League, a competition that is not recognized by the BCCI).

The winners and runners-up of the Indian Premier League in India.

The winners of the RBS Twenty-20 Cup from Pakistan, (Sialkot Stallions in 2007-08).

This format is expected to change as 12 teams will compete in the 2nd edition of the tournament in September-October 2009.

England's Participation:
The organisers of the tournament confirmed that any team competing would be banned from fielding players who have competed in the Indian Cricket League, a rival to the Indian Premier League. As a result of this, England's participation in the tournament was put in jeopardy. For the the 2008 season, 15 of the 18 counties fielded 25 players from the ICL. On 24 July 2008, IPL commissioner Lalit Modi confirmed their stance by stating that only Middlesex and Essex stood a chance of being invited to the Champions League because they didn't have ICL links. Middlesex won the Twenty20 Cup and confirmed they had accepted the invitation to participate in the tournament. Kent were officially barred from the competition on 1 August, and the ECB's suggestion to replace them with Essex was rejected by Cricket Australia.

Tournament:
The Twenty20 Champions League will be played over an eight day period and will consist of two divisions competing in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each division will then move on to an elimination round to the finals.

Links to more information on the Twenty20 Champions League:

Cricket Champions League unveiled

Everything you wanted to know about the Champions League

Champions League Twenty20 Moved To December



*Acknowledgements to Wikipedia.org and owners of pictures and videos used.

Could this be the Black Caps chance to shine against the Aussies?

With the Aussies losing their last Test series against the Indians, it has been said that they will be a bit vulnerable against their trans Tasman rivals the Black Caps. While the Black caps have a relatively in experienced side who knows what suprises they could pull out of their magic Black Cap.

Imagine what will happen if the Kiwis defeat the Aussies. We havnt won a test series since 1985 when the great Richard Hadlee was perhaps in his prime and took legendary bowling figures of 15 for 123 in the Brisbane test that series (where New Zealand ultimately won 2-1). Since that series it has not beaten Australia in 18 test matches. It has, though, never been cowed psychologically in the manner of more talented England, Pakistan and South Africa teams. Being unimpressed by Australia and its sports teams is part of the New Zealand national psyche.

Perhaps if the Kiwis manage to pull off a miraculous series win they will be instilled with immense confidence and who knows what that could do for cricket in New Zealand, perhaps produce more talent they really need and to maybe become the next "Australia" in world cricket. They will only achieve that with more consistent performances and the ability to psychologically outsmart the opposition.

Has Australia's dominance in world cricket come to an end?

With the 2- nil series loss to India in the Border-Gavaskar series it appears the Aussie's dominance in world cricket may be coming to an end. They have had a good stronghold on the game since the mid 1990s when players like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and co came onto the scene and began strengthening their sublime mix of skill, accuracy and consistency and thus putting in elite performances for over a decade.

With these players retirements and new blood coming into the side it appears the Australian cricket is entering a rebuilding phase. While people might not think this when they start their 2 test series against New Zealand later on it will be against stronger, more experienced opposition that many people might think their dominance on the game is loosening its grip.

It is a fact of life, that people grow old and become a bit slower, more susceptible to injuries, and feel like they need to devote more time to their families, and it is upto the new team players coming into the side to hone the skills and knowledge of their predecessors to carry on their sides legacy. As every cricket fan must know, Australia has a big legacy in world cricket, and they are more than capable of fighting out of some precarious situations and newer players building upon the legacy the side has created and then build a strong legacy of their own.

Every side seems to experience their rises and falls. For instance, remember the great West Indies side of the 80s, New Zealand having a dream decade in the 80s as well (when Richard Hadlee was dominating batsman all over the world with his bowling), and even Zimbabwe before politics caused the exodus of famous players like Heath Streak, Grant and Andy Flower, Paul Strang and co. It is up to players coming into the side to strive for excellence and to carry the side through the good times and the bad.

Here is some links to the Aussie's recent results in India:

India v Australia 4th Test in Nagpur, 6-10 November 2008

Australia tour of India September to November 2008

Player Profile(#25)...Ricky Ponting (Australia)

Ricky Thomas Ponting (born December 19, 1974, in Launceston, Tasmania) is a professional Australian cricketer and current captain of the Australian cricket team in One Day International, Twenty20 International and Test cricket. Ponting also represents the Tasmanian Tigers in Australian Domestic cricket, a side he plays for intermittently due to international commitments. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very occasional right-arm medium pace bowler.

Ponting reached international standards at a young age for a batsman, making his One Day International and Test debuts in 1995 at the age of 20. However, his progress was not unhindered. He lost his place in the team several times due to lack of form and discipline issues, before rising to the One Day International captaincy in early 2002 and becoming Test captain in early 2004. As of March 2008, he is the third highest ranked batsman in both One Day International cricket and Test matches in the official ICC ratings.

Ricky Ponting is considered one of the best cricketers in modern cricket, and is ranked 3rd, Graeme Smith and Sachin Tendulkar are the only ones to lead him at the moment, in the One-Day International Batting chart and only Kumar Sangakkara, team mate Michael Hussey and Jacques Kallis ahead in the test rankings. He has scored over 10,000 Test runs at an average near 59, but since the February 2002 tour of South Africa (when he was elevated to the ODI team captaincy) he has scored 24 of his Test centuries and averaged above 74, leading to comparisons with Sir Donald Bradman.

Ponting is also Australia's leading ODI run-scorer and century maker he has the second most centuries ever, behind only Tendulkar. His century against the West Indies in Jaipur at the 1996 Cricket World Cup made him the youngest ever World Cup centurion, and his unbeaten 140 against India in the 2003 Cricket World Cup final was the highest by a captain in a World Cup final. In 2007 Cricket World Cup match against South Africa at St Kitts, Ponting became the first Australian to reach 10,000 runs in ODI Cricket and the 7th in world cricket to achieve this distinction.

Like many Australian batsmen, Ricky Ponting is particularly strong against pace bowling, with the full array of back foot shots, including the pull, hook, and square cut. Early on, he was regarded as a near-compulsive hooker, but he has lately moderated this tendency. He tends to move across his off stump, and has therefore been regarded as vulnerable to LBW early in his innings. He is less adept against spin bowling, particularly on very helpful spinning pitches such as those in India where his average is just 12.28.

After his first 30 Tests in just under four years his average was 38.62, and after rising into the mid-40s had dipped again to 40.50 after 45 Tests. Since that time his average has consistently risen; his averages in recent calendar years are 70.93 in 2002, 100.20 in 2003, 41.00 in 2004, 67.13 in 2005 and 88.86 in 2006.[5]

Ponting occasionally bowls medium pace, and has also experimented with off-spin. He is an outstanding fieldsman square of the wicket or at silly point, with fast reactions and hand-eye coordination and (especially in the one-day game) a reputation for hitting the stumps to run out opposition batsmen. In a test against West Indies in 2008, Ricky Ponting scored his 10000th run.

CAREER RECORDS:

Batting Records-

Most Test runs in a calendar year by an Australian: 1,544 in 2005. Ponting has passed 1,000 test runs in a calendar year on four separate occasions, in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006.

Most Test centuries in a calendar year by an Australian: 7 in 2006

Most Test centuries by an Australian: 34

Most ODI runs by an Australian: 11,594

Most ODI centuries by an Australian: 26

Most ODI fifties by an Australian: 63

Most runs by an Australian in World Cups: 1,537

Most sixes in a World Cup innings: 8, shared with Imran Nazir and Yuvraj Singh

Most centuries in World Cups: 4, equal with Mark Waugh, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar

Most Test runs on Australian soil: surpassing Allan Border during the Third Test in Perth against India, 16-19 Jan 2008.

Captaincy Records-

Most victories as ODI captain: 122

Highest victory rate as ODI captain in more than 20 matches: 77.90%

Highest victory rate as Test captain in more than 20 matches: 77.14%

Most Cricket World Cup victories as captain: 22

Most Cricket World Cups won as captain: 2, shared with Clive Lloyd

Most consecutive Test victories won as captain: 16, shared with Steve Waugh

INDIVIDUAL HONOURS:

Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2003

Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 2006

Allan Border Medal: 2004, 2006, 2007

Australian Test Player of the Year: 2003, 2004, 2007

Australian ODI Player of the Year: 2002, 2007

ICC Player of the Year: 2006, 2007

ICC Captain of the Year: 2007

ICC Test Player of the Year: 2006

ICC World Test XI: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

ICC World ODI XI: 2004, 2006, 2007

Cricket World Cup winner: 1999, 2003, 2007

Ponting had earned 14 "Man of the Match" awards in 110 Tests; he also has 25 such awards in 285 One-Day Internationals (including the joint award which he had declined from the Johannesburg match).

Named Vice-Captain in Australia's greatest ever ODI team.

PERSONAL LIFE:

With the large financial rewards of international cricket, Ponting is a full-time professional cricketer, although he is involved with Stride Sports, a sports management business which is well-known for managing some of the biggest names in the AFL - including Glenn Archer and Cameron Mooney.

A well-known off-field interest of Ponting's is betting on horse and greyhound races, revealed by his nickname, "Punter". Ponting is a talented golfer, playing off a handicap of 1.7.

Ricky married his long-time girlfriend, law student Rianna Jennifer Cantor, in June 2002. He has himself credited her as a reason for the maturity evident in his game in recent years. Ponting is a keen supporter - and number one ticket holder - of the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League. On 9 August 2007, Ponting appeared on The AFL Footy Show where he talked about his desire to become a Kangaroos board member.

Ricky and wife Rianna have a superstitious liking for the number 14. On 26 February 2008, Ponting and his wife Rianna announced that they expecting their first child.

He also has a fanclub website dedicated to him, it is www.rickyponting.net.



*Acknowledgements to Wikipedia.com, Cricinfo.com and the owners of the two pictures used.

The Greatest One-Day International Game Ever!

Heres a video clip of what has been called the greatest One-Day International cricket fans have witnesses. It was the first ODI in history where the holy grail of 400 runs in an innings was surpassed (initially by Australia- vs South Africa), they scored a massive 434 runs but were in for a suprise when South Africa came to the party and knocked off those runs and ended up getting 439 for 9. The game also holds the record of the highest match aggregate in a ODI (873 runs). Of course there is much to be said about this awesome display of power hitting but it is better to watch the game than read about it:) --->>

Player Profile(#20)...Shane Warne(Australia)

Shane Keith Warne (born 13 September 1969) is a former Australian international cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the finest leg spin bowlers in the history of cricket. While his career statistics suggest that, despite his aggregate performances, phenomenal popularity and notoriety, he was perhaps less effective and destructive than the interbellum Australian leg-spinners Bill O'Reilly and Clarrie Grimmett, his durability and impact on the modern game assure his place alongside them in cricket's pantheon. Indeed, in 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only bowler selected in the quintet.

Warne played his first Test match in 1992, and his 708 wickets was the record for the most wickets taken by any bowler in Test cricket, until it was broken by Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan on December 3, 2007. He took over 1000 international wickets (in Tests and One-Day Internationals)—he was the second bowler to reach this milestone after Muttiah Muralitharan. A useful lower-order batsman, Warne also scored over 3000 Test runs, and he holds the record for most Test runs without a century. His career was plagued by scandals off the field; these included a ban from cricket for testing positive for a prohibited substance, and charges of bringing the game into disrepute.

As well as Australia, he also played Australian domestic cricket for his home state of Victoria, and English domestic cricket for Hampshire. He was captain of Hampshire for three seasons, from 2005 to 2007. In March 2008, Warne signed to play in the Indian Premier League for the Jaipur team, Rajasthan Royals in the first edition of the tournament, where he will play the roles of both captain and coach.

He retired from international cricket in January 2007, at the end of Australia's 5-0 Ashes series victory over England. Two other players integral to the Australian team of recent years, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer, also retired from Tests on the same day which led some, including the Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, to declare it the "end of an era".

Following his retirement from international cricket, Warne played a full season at Hampshire in 2007. He had been scheduled to appear in the 2008 English cricket season, but in late March 2008 he announced his retirement from playing first-class cricket in order to be able to spend more time pursuing interests outside of cricket.

Cricket-Online player profile - Shane Warne

Player Profile: Shane Warne from Cricinfo

Cricket Australia media release congratulating Warne on 500th wicket

10 photos of milestone wickets in Warne's career

VB Warnie - Summer of Spin

Ball of the Century

List of cricket incidents

List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

Statsguru - Shane K Warne - Test Bowling - List of wickets





*Acknowledgements to owners of pictures used, Wikipedia.org, Cricinfo.com

An A.N.Z.A.C Tribute.....

Hi everyone,
Just would like to make a tribute to all the cricketers (and everyone else also) that fought during the World Wars and perished in combat. They were indeed hardy souls that fought well for their country and theres no doubt in my mind that anyone that perished would have made a fine cricketer, as by fighting in the World Wars they showed immense spirit, determination, and comradeship that any dedicated cricketer today would be very proud of. Much respect should go out to these guys (and women) that fought to fight for the protection of our countries (and perhaps also the future of the game of cricket as well), and we should all remember them and their personal sacrifice they made. Theres no doubt that "above" they will still be playing cricket without the fear of being killed in the line of duty and for the ones that didn't play cricket, they are in a better place and will always have my respect. Thankyou fallen war heroes, if it wasn't for you cricket might not even exist to this day, or perhaps in a much broader view, maybe not life...

I dream of cricket....How about you?

Have realised over the course of my life I have had alot of dreams when asleep about cricket, and to this day I can still remember many of them, anyone that has had dreams about cricket feel free to tell me about them, am interested to hear about them!

In the meantime heres a collection of the dreams I had that I can remember:

- Smacking a 6 off Andy Caddick to get a century at Lords and win the Test for New Zealand (1999), and getting 10 for 21 in the match.

- O.D.I Debut against South Africa in 2003, Chris Cairns was captain/coach, I got 72 off 52 balls by smacking Shaun Pollock all over Jade Stadium (nowadays known as A.M.I Stadium) and getting 5 for 42 including a hat-trick, and Shaun Pollock had me caught behind by Mark Boucher.

- Having a net session with Muttiah Muralithiran at Carisbrook. Him giving me some useful tips to get the ball to turn furtherer and technique on putting flight and drift in my deliveries. I try to bowl like him in real life but it's still a dream!

- Being the last wicket in at a tournament in Toronto in 2002 against India. NZ needed 5 runs to win off the last ball and Ashish Nehra was bowling. He had been bowling very well towards me and some of his deliveries were unplayable and unpredictable. The previous 2 deliveries I played and missed wildly, swinging the bat like I was casting out a line to fish, and the crowd were warming up as he was running in and in the blink of an eye I took a swat at his short pitched delivery and lucky for me it was going down leg-side and managed to pull off a miraculous hook shot for 6, It was like a scud missile ging at lightning speed. a very flat tragectory. India were dejected, New Zealand elated to win the tournament.

- Playing against Australia at the M.C.G and I was 5th wicket in, Shane Warne was bowling to me and he happened to bowl a wrong-in that drifted way down leg and I managed to pull off a Brendon McCullum like shot (I think its called the shovel shot?) and whacked the ball for 6, however it whacked into the giant replay screen and I broke it!

- Playing County cricket for Nottinghamshire and witnessed Chris Tremlett getting a hat-trick.

-Being the 1st bowler to bowl over 170km/h, bowling a yorker to Shahid Afridi and breaking his stumps for a duck.

And the list goes on...

I could go on forever about more dreams but will tell anyone that requests me to:)

The Underarm Incident of 1981....

The Underarm Incident of 1981:
Cricket is a game that never has fully escaped the subject of controversy. No longer can cricket fans expect a controversy-free tournament or series. Take for instance examples like the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Bob Woolmer, Match-fixing (perhaps made famous by Hansie Cronje and co), Ball Tampering, Chucking, and one incident that has entrenched itself into the annals of cricketing history, one Australia in particular would love to remember and one New Zealand wouldn’t, is of course The Underarm Incident of 1981.

An infamous incident in a game of cricket, involving an underarm delivery occurred on February 1, 1981 when Australia was playing New Zealand in a One Day International, the third of five matches in the final of the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.In the February 1981 underarm delivery incident, the batsman at the non-striker's end, Bruce Edgar, was on 102 not out at the time and his innings has been called "the most overlooked century of all time".

The match had earlier controversy: in the Australian innings, Martin Snedden took a spectacular low outfield catch off the batting of Greg Chappell when he was on 52. It was disallowed by the umpires, although TV replays clearly showed it was a clean catch. Some commentators believed Chappell should have taken Snedden's word that the catch was good. Chappell went on to score 90, before he was caught by Bruce Edgar in similar fashion. This time Chappell walked.In the confusion, one of the fielders (Dennis Lillee) forgot to walk into place, meaning that the underarm ball was technically a no-ball, because Australia had one too many fielders outside the field restriction line.

The delivery--->

New Zealand needed six runs to tie the match from the final ball, with eight wickets down. The Australian captain (Greg Chappell) ordered the bowler (his brother, Trevor Chappell) to bowl underarm: rolling the ball along the ground to avoid the possibility that the No. 10 New Zealand batsman (Brian McKechnie) would score a six from the last ball to tie the match.
Immediate reaction

Australia won the game, but boos were heard from the crowd and the New Zealand batsmen marched off in disgust. Since that day the underarm bowling incident has been a source of discussion, both heated and jocular, between Australians and New Zealanders.

It was described as "the most disgusting incident I can recall in the history of cricket" by the then Prime Minister of New Zealand, Rob Muldoon, who also said that "It was an act of cowardice and I consider it appropriate that the Australian team were wearing yellow".

The reaction in Australia from then Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, called the act "contrary to the traditions of the game". Commentating for Channel 9 at the time, Richie Benaud described the act as "disgraceful" and called it "one of the worst things I have ever seen done on a cricket field".

Brian McKechnie bears no ill will over the incident but both Chappell brothers have publicly stated their embarrassment over the incident and, over 25 years later, are still reluctant to discuss it. Unfortunately for Trevor Chappell, this incident is what he is best remembered for. As a direct result of the incident, underarm bowling was banned in limited overs cricket by the International Cricket Council as not within the spirit of the game.New Zealand cricketer Warren Lees recounted the underarm incident on New Zealand's 20/20 current-affairs show, on Thursday 17 February 2005. He said for long after the affair there was silence in the dressing room, which was broken suddenly and unexpectedly by fellow player Mark Burgess smashing a tea cup.

On February 17, 2005, 24 years after the original underarm delivery, Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath light-heartedly revisited the incident in the first ever Twenty20 international, played between Australia and New Zealand. In the last over of the match, a grinning McGrath pretended to bowl an underarm delivery to Kyle Mills which prompted New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden to produce a mock red card. This drew a large reception from the crowd, which was mostly made up of New Zealand fans, and echoed the good spirits in which the whole game had been played.

Here is a video about the Underarm Incident, its well worth watching! --->



*With thanks and acknowledgements to Wikipedia.com, Youtube.com, Cricinfo.com

In the international spotlight...USA cricket:

To most people out there in the world today, thinking that the United States plays cricket may seem pretty foreign, but little do some people know that the USA has a rich and deep history in the game of cricket. It was as early as the year 1737 that the first game of cricket was played in the United States (in New York). Cricket was brought over mainly by British colonies looking to settle in North America.
The New York Weekly Post Boy reported a match between XI of London and XI of New York, played in New York in 1751 and won by the New Yorkers, the scores being 80 and 86 against 43 and 47. It appears most likely that both XIs were drawn from residents of New York, as it is difficult to believe that a touring group would cross the Atlantic for one match, or that the state of the game would encourage such a tour. The thought of difficulty was perhaps brought up by the fact that in those times it took a few weeks just to cross the Atlantic by oceanliner/boat, from London to New York, compared to around 6 to 8 hours flying on a jumbo jet.

In 1856 there were talks amongst several ardent cricketers of an England XII coming over for a tour. This was to be the 1st visit by an England XI to the United States. However in 1857 an industrial depression gripped the country and because of this the talks were temporarily put off. Eventually the doom and gloom of this depression lifted and on September 6th 1859 the 1st ever touring team of 12 professional cricketers to the USA met at the George Hotel in Liverpool gathered together to depart on a journey across the seas to experience the opportunity of their lifetime. On the 3rd, 4th and 5th October 1859 the 1st game was played and England scored 156 and dismissed the USA XII for 38 and 54, winning very comprehensively. It was said that during this time that cricket in the USA was perhaps more advanced than of today’s leading cricketing nation, Australia.

Some people might ask why cricket didn’t continue to flourish in the USA. There were several factors that put the fast growing popularity and development of cricket into a long and perhaps deep hibernation, and the main factor appeared to be the Civil War which started in 1861 and carried on for 4 years. It was during this period that the game of Baseball grew more in popularity. The Civil War was a long and taxing battle which took its toll on several resources, including materials to create and develop proper cricket gear and the ongoing maintenance of cricket pitches. It seemed far easier to chuck 4 bags on a patch of grass anywhere to mark any area to play baseball. When the USA emerged from the atrocities of the Civil War it appeared that Baseball was going to be a big hit and be well entrenched in American society. It was after this period that England began to concentrate on Australia as being the new exiting opportunity to play cricket (and also help the game to grow in awareness, popularity and development).

A highlight of cricket in the USA was in the year of 1893 when the Australian team came over to Philadelphia and played 2 games in the city. In the first match Philadelphia made the highest score made by an American team in first-class cricket, accumulating a massive 525 runs and putting the Australian Test team out twice. The Australians were walloped by an innings and 68 runs, which today would be unheard of, especially since the USA team of today is yet to be eligible to play test cricket, but someday if the same enthusiasm for the game returns to the days of the mid to late 1800s then the Americans will have every chance to fuel the drive to get to the top of world cricket.

The tour also saw Bart King, an excellent promising bowler for the Americans, marking his prominence for the first time. King, one of the world's greatest bowlers of his era, achieved easily the best performance of the tour when he took 7 for 13 against Sussex on a good wicket at Brighton. King bowled a ball which he called the `Angler' which was an in-swinger. It was said that if properly bowled, it would change direction sharply in the last 3 or 5 metres of its flight. King used this ball very rarely against the batsmen with superior skill, but he did it so successfully that from 1893 to 1912 he was one of the most feared bowlers in the world. King was undisputedly the finest cricketer produced in America, not only for his bowling in the Golden Age of American cricket, but also for his batting, and his personal characteristics made him to be easily cherished by his friends. This phenomenon of American cricket died in 1965.

The first “international” in cricket was the first match between the United States and Canada took place on the grounds of the St. George's Club of New York on 24 and 26 September, 1844. This game was played for $1,000 a side, which in those days was a great amount of money therefore it carried a sizeable significance to cricket in the USA and perhaps all of North America.

Cricket in the United States is played on turf wickets, on matting rolled over concrete, on matting stretched over grass which was uncut and unrolled. Whenever an enthusiast claims one, a cricket ground arises and momentarily the magic of bat and ball can hold sway. Most of all, American cricket owes its being to enthusiasts for whom the charm of the game can never die and who lose no time in their new surroundings in spreading the magnificent game that yes, indeed, is cricket.

The USA was admitted to “associate” membership of the ICC in 1965. The USA participated in the ICC Trophy from the first tournament in 1979 and from the mid 1980s the side's performances steadily improved. This was largely due to the increase in expats from the Caribbean and the subcontinent rather than products from American-born players. It was an issue (and personally I think still is) that became an increasing concern as the side pressed for more international recognition. For the development of cricket in the USA to truly go forward the major cricketing bodies in the country need to try and explore talent in the USA as much as possible and also thoroughly before they go to places like the West Indies, India, Pakistan etc just to develop them into players for the USA when they could explore for talent in their own backyard. It’s kind of like when you lose your favourite cricket ball in the big bushes playing the game in your backyard, if you have the patience and the determination to find it, there’s a good chance that it will definitly be found.

Note* This is my first article in my planned “in the international spotlight...” series. All articles will be posted here on my blog-site and at the moment I’m choosing countries at random, however I am influenced by the countries that I can see in my “Feedjit Live Tracker” that visit my blog-site. If you have any request for your country and I haven’t posted it yet please let me know and I’ll endeavour to post an article as soon as possible. At the moment I am planning on doing my “in the international spotlight...” articles once a week ( either on a Wednesday or Thursday NZST) as researching a cricketing nations history and development takes a considerable amount of time, as well as doing my other regular articles and monitoring/responding to any comments I receive on this blog-site.

Note** I am also planning an “in the national spotlight...” series in which I hand-pick a cricket club from each New Zealand Province once a week. I’m anticipating that I will start this within the next 2 weeks (by the 13th/14th Feb 2008 NZST at the latest). If you have a club that you would like me to comment on please post a comment on this blog-site. I have thought of doing an “international club cricket spotlight...” series but have decided I will only do this if I get requests for it. If it proves to be popular I will make it a regular item.