Posted by We’ve put the bad news first in the forlorn hope that you might at least finish reading today’s piece with your spirits on an upward trajectory.
The BCCI are asking the ICC to appeal the Jimmy Anderson decision
No, seriously. They are.
Does no-one in the BCCI ever feel embarrassed by their behaviour? We know that anyone who calls themselves an ‘executive’ is fundamentally an embarrassment to all humankind, but the BCCI seem to go further, acting in an utterly shameless playground kind of way. Maybe if they didn’t always, always get their way, they might be ever-so-slightly less inclined to behave like this.
Sri Lanka v Pakistan
We still get excited about any Test series involving Pakistan. It always promises so much, regardless of what is then delivered.
Take that, off stump!
We seem to have found ourself writing about hope rather a lot of late. We’ve covered Andy Caddick’s sublime spell against the West Indies in 2000 for All Out Cricket, explaining what it meant for England fans at the time. There’s also a video, which we’ve just watched twice.
The phrase ‘Better than sex’ next to a picture of your face. It’s every freelance writer’s dream.
I’m surprised, KC. Usually you delight in sending us spiralling into an abyss of cricketing despair. Hell, why do you think I read this blog?
But seriously that is some prize idiocy right there.
I’m not sure what an appeal could achieve.
The decision reached was a finding of fact (the main fact being that both sides were utterly biased and at least a little disingenuous in their recounting). It is unclear what a putative new hearing might possibly discover save the fact that both teams spend so much time playing one another that neither set can stand the sight of the opposition anymore.
Of course, if the FTP was vaguely adhered to, we would now be in the midst of a Pakistan tour and as we all remember their 2006 and 2010 jaunts here went off without any administrative and on field difficulties from soup to nuts.
N Srinivasan was in that corridor, the one with no cameras and no independent witnesses, a few moments after this incident. A young lad was walking past, and Srini punched him full in the face, then kicked him repeatedly on the ground. After that he called the Queen a whore and admitted to match fixing and bribery.
This incident needs to be considered at the same time as the appeal against Anderson, using the same test for evidence.
One of those things is not a crime.
Which one, hot shot lawyer?
The one second from left. Right above that other thing.
Andy Caddick – a prince among ganglatrons. He always seemed to thrive outside the limelight. For instance, MP Vaughan was man of the match in the Headingley test.
Thanks for the reminder.
Here’s hoping for some sensible pitches for the Sri Lanka – Pakistan series.
Also hoping that Pakistan vaguely remember how to play Test cricket, and for whole overs of Junaid yorkers, but you can’t have everything.
If the Sri Lanka-Pakistan series is anything like the South Africa series, it’ll be a whole lot more fun to watch (for a neutral at least) than the fast-medium-fest in England. And it’ll definitely be more fun to follow than the current “someone may have pushed someone, perhaps with some degree of provocation” situation.
Also: Pakistan are third in the ICC rankings and I don’t know how. They lost to Zimbabwe within the last year, right?
It’s best not to analyse the details when it comes to Pakistan. Just enjoy the ride.
I can only imagine the BCCI’s position is that since they neglected to select any bowlers in their tour party that they might actually want to play, they don’t think England should be allowed to either.
Evidence, schmevidence.
Has anyone made a “corridor of uncertainty” joke yet? Surely someone must have. Did I miss it?
Maybe it was just so obvious that nobody saw it. It was right there, everyone! What’s wrong with us?
Thank you, The Other Ed.
Well done Ed, excellent preliminary work.
Now that you’ve identified the possibility, I think you ought to be the one to supply a good quality “corridor of uncertainty” joke. Not Les Dennis standard, obviously, we can’t expect that. Just Michael Macintyre level.