Tag: Clarke

Adam Gilchrist – The Best Keeping Skills in World

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Adam Gilchrist stood behind the sticks for some really world class speedsters and spinners and rarely did he find himself in trouble keeping against them simply because his keeping skills were so good.


But there was one bowler who really tested Gillie’s keeping skills and the funny thing is that he was not even a specialist bowler, but, a part timer.

And Guess who that part timer was? It was Michael Bevan.

As per Gilchrist, the reason why he found Bevan the most difficult to keep for was because of the variations in his bowling and also because of the inconsistency in his line.

Bevan was a wrist spinner and that too a southpaw wrist spinner. So, he couldn’t quite figure out from his hands which way he was going to spin the ball.

Secondly because of the fact that Bevan didn’t use to bowl on a regular basis, he didn’t have that much of control over his direction and he would always err in terms of his line. . (more…)

AUSTRALIANS RULE THE IPL

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The impact of Australians in the Indian Premier League cannot be overemphasized.


Even franchises acknowledge this; hence the increased confidence in Aussie stars. The current edition of the IPL – in its tenth year – sees half the competing teams coached by Australians.

Since the inception of the tournament, players like Adam Gilchrist, Mike Hussey, Mathew Hayden and the others, have played a crucial role in their respective teams. Even now, David Warner is an outstanding talent for the defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Rising Pune Supergiants’ Steve Smith is in great form. The Kangaroos skipper displaced local favourite Mahendra Singh with his fine blend of skills. Elsewhere at Kings XIPunjab, Glenn Maxwell beat England national team captain Eoin Morgan and West Indies skipper Darren Sammy to the captainship armband despite the latter leading his team to victory at the 2016 World T20. Last season captain Murali Vijay was sidelined for the rest of the season, so a new leader had to be appointed and it had to be yet another Australian cricket star. (more…)

KAUR’S SIXER LEAVES GILCHRIST IMPRESSED

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Last Saturday’s opening game against Sydney Thunder, the defending champions in the Women’s Big Bash League season ended in a loss for them as they got defeated by the Melbourne Stars.


However, despite their defeat, one sure thing is that there was no disappointment from their latest recruit, Harmanpreet Kaur.

Kaur, who serves in the position of the captain of the India T20, started out her career into the Big Bash League on a bright note, at the North Sydney Oval ground which saw shoot a 28 ball 47.

However, her cameo was unable to take Thunder over the line as they ended up with 141 for 4 in reply to the 147 for 8 scored by Melbourne. However, the commentators and the spectators were struck with awe by her fours and three sixes, especially with a very particular picturesque lofted cover drive.

Melbourne’s Gemma Triscari, who was the bowler, could not hold herself as she burst out laughing in amusement. Australia’s cricketing legend and commentator, Adam Gilchrist said the sixer was “as good a cricket shot as you will ever see.” (more…)

Aaron Finch’s Striker Rate is a Talking Point

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Aaron Finch’s strike rate the other night in Colombo was head and shoulders above the rest.


In fact, nobody apart from him took lesser balls to score more runs in his innings. But, post-match, the opener rated the Colombo deck the worst he had ever seen in a shorter format game.

According to Finch, for the deck to produce uneven bounce from the same length within the first eight or ten deliveries and then spin from the leg to the off stump and vice versa, it was for sure a low standard deck.

Sri Lanka had a couple of medium pacers and a part time off spinner bowling inside the first 10 and Finch thrived on it smashing the ball to the cow corner regularly to race along to his fifty.

Finch says the spin was always going to take control with the soft ball later. So, boundaries had to come against pace at the start. That’s why, he was after the bowlers straightaway and luckily, he was able to connect all the shots from the meat of the willow.
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Steven Smith did not have a good time with the bat in his first series

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Steven Smith did not have a good time with the bat in his first series as Australian ODI skipper.

Although, he scored 70 in one of the games, but, it turned out to be a pretty mediocre series for him as a batsman.

However, he would be quite happy that he managed to guide the Kangaroos to a 3-2 series win.

It was quite a tough series for Smith. He had to take a lot of flak for appealing against Ben Stokes for obstructing the field dismissal and thereafter, denying the request of the England captain Eoin Morgan of withdrawing the appeal in the second match.

Many people were of the view that Stokes had not wilfully tried to touch the ball and stop it from going onto the stumps. Whatever he did was just for his self defence and thus, Smith should have understood the situation and withdrawn the appeal.

It was even said that Smith’s act was against the spirit of the game and he should regret it in a few years’ time.

But, Smith did not lose his calmness following that controversy and managed to make sure that Australia won one more game and get the series’ outcome in their favour. (more…)