James Pattinson is the younger brother of England bowler Darren Pattinson.  Darren played only once for England in 2008.  After being born in Grimsby his family moved to Victoria, Australia where his younger brother, Darren was born.

James looks likely to surpass older brother Darren’s international career as he began what looks likely to be a successful international career, as he helped Australia thrash New Zealand in the first test at The Gabba.  He took no less than 5 for 27 that reduced New Zealand to a mere 28 for 5.  James Pattinson’s debut included an amazing three wickets in his maiden international over.

New Zealand went on to make 150 all out, leaving Australia only 19 to win with a day to spare. Winning the match comfortably they now lead 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

Though cricket is not as played in as many countries around the world as football, where it is played you will find fanatical support; and whether you play the game, are a passionate fan or just an occasional spectator, you will be interested in a £3000 cricket competition.

In association with betting company Stan James, BettingExpert – the sports betting website are offering a share of £3,000 to the best cricket tipsters over the course of 12 months ending on 28th June 2012.

To enter the competition and a chance to win prize money all you need to do is follow three simple steps. First, open an account with Stan James, sign up and sign in and then post cricket tips from now until June 2012.  The six best cricket tipsters over the period will win a share of a whopping £3,000 – and it’s absolutely free to join in the fun!

So, if you enjoy cricket and fancy yourself as a top cricket tipster, why not enter this great cricket competition on bettingexpert.com.

Fifty-two is no age. I’d been texted the sad news that guitarist Bert Jansch had passed away yesterday. When I got home I turned to the net to read more, and was aghast to read the news that ‘Picca’ had also gone.

I remember feeling old when Michael Atherton, three years younger than myself, retired. I had followed his career closely from university tyro to promising young Lancastrian to the future of English cricket, patching together an ever-changing cast of underachievers in those pre-central contract days.

Now, I find myself reading obituaries of a man only five years my senior, who I recall watching as a schoolboy on the BBC. A picture of youth; blonde locks and fresh faced with a run up of which a 1970’s West Indian would have been proud and, at his best, with pace to match. A Kent player to boot. As a schoolboy, born and bred in the county, I loved that Kent team with a passion not matched by a cricket side since.

He was the latest in the Kent production line feeding the English test side of the era; following from Cowdrey, there was England’s greatest ever wicket keeper/bowler partnership – Knott and Underwood, plus Luckhurst, Denness and Woolmer.

I’ve read the obituaries. His place in history is secure. He’ll be remembered for Lillee c. Willey b. Dilley and for that key role, the ‘fuselighter’ of Headingley ‘81; his 56 runs prompted Beefy’s shift of gears, not to mention the catch on the boundary.  I was astonished to read that in his 41 tests, he was only twice a winner. An incredible statistic that says more about the chaotic mess of selection and politics that surrounded the team at the time than his performance; a non-too-shabby 138 wickets at 29 each.

By all accounts, a genuinely nice guy and a great coach. Graham Roy Dilley, RIP.

500-1 The Miracle of Headingley '81

Apologies for being a little tardy with this review, being that this updated account was published to coincide with July’s anniversary of that extraordinary game of cricket 361 months ago. For those of a certain age, this will forever be the English cricket fans’ JFK moment. We all know where we were the day that Bob Dylan Willis went nuts and shot down the Aussies or the day before, when his bearded accomplice, Sir Beefy of Bothamshire, had moved the antipodeans into no-man’s land with his 145 run assault then raced to the pavilion, sat down with 3 lions on his cable-knit jumper and smoked a slim panatella.

I know where I was – in Eric Jones’ maths class. Mr Jones was old-school; a war veteran, a quiet disciplinarian, of grey hair, Ronnie  Barker specs and furrowed brow, who occasionally let a wry sense of humour decorate his lessons without losing grip of the controls. As I said, old school, to the extent that he knew that some things in life are more important than the curriculum.

As we trooped into his class on the afternoon of Tuesday 21st July 1981 the black and white before our eyes was not chalk on board but a primitive Sony portable TV. Word had spread  during lunch break (Pearce had smuggled in a transistor radio)  that the Aussies were in deep trouble and Mr Jones was not going to deprive his pupils of the chance to witness this historical moment. Thirty boys and a master huddled round the tiny screen to see first Chris Old dropping Alderman – twice, to fatalistic groans, then Willis cartwheeling Bright’s middle stump to joyous cheers.

I concur with Gideon Haigh when he observes in the foreword, ‘It happened, and, for some, never stopped. Thirty years on, and the Headingley Test seems eerily contemporary.’

The England XI have given us many memorable moments since, I was there at the Oval  when Devon Malcolm took nine south African scalps, our current all-conquering side seem to engineer a bus fleet of them, but none match the drama of those 24 weird hours three decades ago. In  years to come there will be documentaries celebrating ‘Freddie’s Ashes’, focussing on Geraint Jones‘ sprawling catch off Kasprovitch’s glove at Edgbaston, but Headingley ‘81 will forever remain a glowing memory without equal.

I had long thought Mike Brearley’s ‘Phoenix from the Ashes’ to be the definitive account, but this book trumps it, at least in Headingley terms. Brearley’s great book took in the whole summer, whereas ‘500-1′ is the anorak’s almanac of the incredible third test; the miracle.

Most of the key players (in its widest sense) have been interviewed for their tuppenyworth/invaluable insight and those who have not (including one Ian Botham) have published enough autobiographies down the years to aid the authors’ research.

The key chapters, three and four, which set the stage, introduce the participants and recount the details of the match, are presented ‘as live’ without hindsight by the authors and this device is successful in achieving their aim of capturing the time, the atmosphere, anticipation and drama as the events unfolded. Of course, they eat their cake too, with snippets of dry, knowing humour; Dilley is described as “not shy of giving the ball a crack, he is developing into a useful No. 9”; Of Gower, “one can only pray they (the selectors) don’t do anything silly…and make him captain.”

This is holiday reading of the first water. If you want a criticism, then some will find the socio-political portrait of Britain in 1981 veers too far towards a subjective left-wing rant on the evils of  Thatcherism rather than a calm, sage, objective analysis of the evils of Thatcherism..

Messers Steen and McLellan have upturned every possible stone that constitutes this story and for that we can say a hearty thanks, as can generations not yet born, who will be able to marvel at the account of this cricket match, or should I say bloody miracle.

500-1 The Miracle of Headingley ‘81 by Rob Steen & Alastair McLellan and published by John Wisden, pp. 269, price £9.99.

Wisden on India - An Anthology

The 1990  First Test between England and India at Lord’s is a match that has lived long in my memory. 21 years on, I can still recall its many moments of drama; Captain Gooch’s triple ton (after losing the toss and being inserted); Captain Azharuddin then trumping him – not by weight of runs, but by batting with the panache of an aristocrat – deft strokes and wristy flicks to leg; India still 24 runs short of facing the follow on and 9 wickets down – Kapil Dev (one of the true greats) stoically blocks the first two balls of Eddie Hemmings’ over then lifts the next four balls into the Nursery End building site; Gus Fraser then despatches Hirwani with the next ball; Gooch’s other ton (and thus the highest ever aggregate in a single Test match); a double-century opening stand taking England’s lead beyond 400; and some 17 year-old-kid called Tendulkar’s astonishing one handed catch knee-high catch on the run, having covered 30 yards of the outfield.

As if I needed another little nugget to lodge in the memory bank from this extraordinary, though predominantly one-sided, match, I found myself on day five, with India two down and miles behind overnight, wandering the streets of the quaint Cinque port of Hythe. Naturally, my thoughts were pondering events 70 miles away. Will Gus and  Devon blow them away?

Oh, what’s this I see, a model shop, splendid! I stepped into the Aladin’s cave with shelves brimful of Airfix and Hornby.  Better still, the old chap behind the counter (it was always an old chap – a be-cardiganed  citizen moulded from the gene pool of Percy Thrower, Magnus Pyke, Raymond Baxter and Jack Hargreaves) was listening to TMS.

Though it appeared to the untrained eye that I was scanning the display of WWII fighters and bombers, I was in fact craning an ear towards the transistor. Whether Johnners, The Alderman, The Boil, Blowers or Fred was on air I can’t recall, however, just as I was thinking isn’t life great – here I am standing in a model shop in the beautiful Kent seaside village of Hythe, sharing a moment with a kindred spirit – the shopkeeper promptly turned the radio off.

I looked round a look of astonishment on my fizzog, his face like thunder.

“I am trying to run a busineess here. This is a shop. Not a broadcasting house.”

I have always felt that to be a cricket fan is to be part of a brotherhood, a leather and willow freemasonry, a cable knit sweatered cabal, with test and county scores to be shared by the enlightened to the unenlightened. A favour to be happily returned in reverse circumstances.

I am still bemused to this day. Particularly as I was too, at the time, a fellow shopkeeper, who would have chatted all day long to anyone within earshot about any aspect of the game regardless of whether they had any intention of making a purchase. In fact, I would have encouraged them to stay, made them a cup of tea. I just can’t fathom his behaviour. Some folk are born miserable bastards, I suppose.

Lacking a dramatic finish to be classed as one of the greatest of tests, it still rates as a memorable classic, and is thus the first item I look for upon opening this handsome book. (There is something about  a book in a yellow wrapper emblazoned with the letters W-I-S-D-E-N that just does it for me.)

Here it is, page 211. Two paragraphs and four lines of bare stats. Half of page 211. I cast around for more info. Where is the rest of the match report? The scorecards? What about the remainder of the series?

And so it dawned on me, that this is an anthology. Not, as I first thought, a match-by match resume along the lines of the excellent Wisden on the Ashes (which I reviewed
here on 26 May), but, to borrow from Spike Milligan, a book of bits. It is exactly what it says on the tin, but I was just anticipating something a little more… substantial.

And that is my only criticism of the book. No argument at all with the bits that Jonathan Rice has kept in, it’s the bits that have been left out…

The pieces are presented in chronological order and is obviously timed to coincide with this summer’s tour, but I can’t help but think it would have been more tidy to hang on for the completion of the world cup before going to press. They were favourites, after all, on home soil. The reproduction of Prashant Kidambi’s excellent essay on the 1911 Tour from this year’s Almanack would not have gone amiss either as I am sure the appeal of this book would stretch beyond those who buy the Almanack.

The earliest of years, however,  are well-covered and fascinating, particularly as the Indian game was not well reported until more recent times. It brings to life names any cricket lover will have heard of, without quite knowing why -  Ranjitsinhji, The Nawab of Pataudi and Duleepsinhji.

The book predominantly covers Test cricket, although obituaries of key personnel and essays on all Indian Cricketers of the Year  appear throughout the book. Domestic cricket is hardly mentioned and thus nothing of Hanif Mohammed’s knock of 499 in 1959 (a world record for 35 years). I would have loved to read an eye-witness account, particularly as his innings ended by being run out.

My criticisms may be that of a churl, for this is still a mighty fine book, that will make good bedside reading for any cricket lover, particularly if they be an Indian cricket fan.

Wisden on India – An Anthology compiled by Jonathan Rice is published by John Wisden, price £30.

Kent Cricketer Wayne Parnell - Ban On the Use of Wild Animals in Circuses campaign

New PETA Campaign Calls for Ban On the Use of Wild Animals in Circuses.

Cricketer Wayne Parnell has set his sights on a new opponent: circuses that force wild animals to perform unnatural and painful tricks. In a new anti-circus ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Wayne Parnell, who has played for Kent and currently plays for the Pune Warriors and the South Africa national team, appears shirtless and bound by chains next to the words, “Try to Relate to Their Fate. Say NO to Animal Circuses“. A low-res version of the ad is shown below, and a high-res copy is available upon request.

“I choose to participate in sport, but the animals used in circuses aren’t given any choice at all”, says Parnell. “Animals in circuses suffer a lifetime of abuse – all for a few cheap tricks.”

The ad follows a debate in the Commons last month during which MPs demanded that the government put a permanent end to the use of wild animals in circuses. The government has run out of reasons not to implement the ban, which every animal welfare group in this country and the vast majority of the British public demand.

Tigers and other wild animals used in circuses spend most of their time confined to cages or cramped trailers. As countless undercover investigations have documented, animals are routinely mistreated behind the scenes. Circus workers keep the animals in cages or pens, deprive them of everything that is natural and important to them and break their spirits through repetitive disciplinary measures.

The animals are shackled and isolated and experience terrible boredom when they are not being made to perform degrading and confusing stunts. Pacing, bar-biting, circling and self-mutilation are common among performing animals; these types of neurotic behaviour are widely recognised as the results of captivity and an unnatural lifestyle.

The ad was shot in India by photographer Himanshu Seth during the recent Indian Premier League season. Ayesha Wadiwala was the make-up artist.

For more information please visit PETA.org.uk.

Alastair Cook will lead the England team for the first time since taking on the full-time captaincy of the one-day side; and does so after a heavy defeat by Sri Lanka in the recent one-off Twenty20 match in Bristol.

Alastair Cook told BBC Radio 5 live: “We’ve always had the idea that if Bressie came through a few games he would come into the squad. He has been a stalwart in our bowling for the last couple of years.”

Bresnan last played for England in the World Cup after initially getting injured during a one-day international in Hobart in January.  But on his return to playing county cricket for Yorkshire and experiencing recurring pain from the injury he has been sidelined since mid-May.

At the weekend Bresnan returned for Yorkshire and played two Friends Life T20 matches. Against Worcestershire he took 1-47 in his four overs and made 25 not out from 17 balls.  He came through the weekend without any recurrence of pain or injury and this, along with his performances were enough to earn a recall to the England squad.

Alastair Cook didn’t play in the recent Twenty20 defeat but will be well aware of the 5-0 drubbing England received at the hands of Sri Lanka in a home one-day series five years ago.

England One-Day Squad
Alastair Cook (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott, Chris Woakes.

Sri Lanka One-Day Squad
Tillakaratne Dilshan (captain if fit), Thilina Kandamby, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Suraj Randiv, Dimuth Karunaratne, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Dhammika Prasad, Kumar Sangakkara.

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The Physics of Cricket by Mark Kidger

Cricket – it’s not rocket science, right?  Well, yes – from today, it is, thanks to a new book The Physics of Cricket from Mark Kidger.

The author, a real-life rocket scientist working with the European Space Agency, has joined forces with Nottingham University Press to produce a “must have” book for everyone who takes their game seriously, from armchair pundits to coaches seeking that vital edge.

Its 200 pages will improve games, ignite debates, explode myths, settle arguments and clinch pub quizzes from West Sussex to the West Indies; from the Oval, London, to its namesakes in Adelaide and Bridgetown.

The Physics of Cricket reveals how players already employ anatomy in ways they didn’t realise, and can harness optics, mechanics, fluid dynamics, materials science, statistics, infrared technology, and acoustics to their advantage – if only they knew how.

It pinpoints a range of factors including…

• The chances of winning the toss seven times in a row – it’s once in every one hundred and twenty eight series.  But winning the eighth toss too – higher odds, or 50-50?
• How a flying cricket ball can be as formidable as a low velocity bullet – so what stops it killing the batsman?
• The optimum angle for hitting a six – it’s 45 degrees in theory; what about in practice?
• Precisely what happens when the ball leaves the bowler – and why is the angle of nine degrees – or 12-15 degrees if facing a spinner – critical to the batsman?
• Why a bowled ball can apparently hit the same point three times, yet bounce differently each time – how can the bowler use this to unnerve his opponent?
• Understanding bats – for example, heavier can hit farther, but can carry a serious problem
• And, vitally – Controversy has been the cause of at least one High Court case over ball tampering.  If you understand the way that the ball behaves, the use of the information given by the author will give you that extra edge using perfectly fair means to master a vital skill.

Just for fun – and because cricket is now indeed rocket science – author Mark Kidger even answers the question: “if cricket were played on the moon, how far back would the spectators sit for safety?”

The book is illustrated by a wealth of diagrams, and explains the facts behind renowned events in cricketing history.

Mark Kidger said:

“For years, everyone from schoolboys to world class cricketers have perfected their skills, often based on intuition – but, actually, physics”. Now, for the first time, they can not only explore what’s going on as they enjoy playing and watch others, but improve their game through understanding the many factors they can influence.”

The Physics of Cricket by Mark Kidger is published by Nottingham University Press (ISBN: 978-1-904761-92-1) on 21st June 2011, priced £20.

Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack 2011 & Wisden on the Ashes

Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack 2011 Edited by Scyld Berry (Published by John Wisden)
Wisden on the Ashes Edited by Steven Lynch (Published by John Wisden)

By definition, any Wisden can only be as good as the previous cricketing year it describes in such painstaking detail. It’s why the 1982 and 2006 editions command higher prices than those of similar vintage. I’m speaking relatively, of course, for no Wisden, heralding a new season whilst celebrating, or at least chewing over the bones of, the old, can ever be a poor read.

The 148th Almanack, and last under Berry’s editorship, has the fortune to be banqueting, for 42 of its 1648 pages, on this past winter’s Ashes. The series also crops up in the Media section, with the deliciously ironic Melbourne Age headline of December 8th reproduced; “There are two teams out there. Only one is playing cricket… Unfortunately this time it’s England.” (And it was only 0-1 at that stage!)

2010 wasn’t just about the Ashes, but to be brutally frank it wasn’t a classic vintage; there were the Pakistan no balls, a thrilling (for Notts) and heartbreaking (for Somerset) climax to the County Championship and England’s World Twenty20 victory (does anyone remember that?).

The Wisden Review, including the Media section, Cricketana and Obituaries, has been shifted for some reason from its traditional home near the back of the book, to nearer the front, following on from the opening Comment and editorials.

Another change, or rather introduction, has been the launch of the Wisden-MCC Cricket Photo of the Year. The inaugural prize going to Scott Barbour.

The first section I always turn to is the Index of Unusual Occurrences, my two favourite this year being the two-ball hat-trick (think about it – it’s not only possible, it’s been done) and the cricket ground where not a moment’s play has been lost to rain since 1859. No, it’s not in Lancashire, but alas, in Peru.

By the way, who do you think was 14th in England’s one day batting averages for the calendar year? The answer is on p.269, but I’ll give you a clue – his initials are KP. (Not 14th in the World, but 14th for England – fourteenth!).

Wisden’s appeal and gravitas comes with that near-century-and-half’s experience of reporting every game of note and chiselling its runs and wickets into the tombstone of history. I wonder if future generations will grasp the intended meaning of Mark Nicholas’ ‘Strauss had been in wicked form’?

I love the fact that Wisden, like the true cricket lover it is, cherishes the game’s heritage and gives thanks, consciously or not, to those who have played the game and given enjoyment.

This is perfectly illustrated by three separate mentions in the 1911 book for a Kent and England bowler who lost his life at Passchendaele 94 years ago. I learnt from Patrick Collins’ nice little essay on Canterbury Week that Colin Blythe has a wreath laid in his memory on the opening day of every Canterbury Festival. Turn a couple of pages and Prashant Kidambi’s account of a 1911 Indian touring side is illustrated by a group of players from the Kent v All-India fixture. Third from left in the back row is a young man in Kent cap and blazer, looking like a clean-shaven Andrew Strauss (sans wedding ring on a bit of string round the neck). It’s Colin Blythe, a man who no-one now alive saw play, but who is remembered. Turn another 400 pages and check the Kent records; ‘Best bowling for, 10-30, C. Blythe v Northamptonshire, 1907’.

Wisden on the Ashes is pretty much the ultimate every-day-is-Christmas-Day book. At £45, it’s not a bargain, but we’re talking both quality and quantity here. Its bulk makes it impractical for both the suitcase and the beach, but it warrants a place on the bedside table of any cricket enthusiast.

Included within are eye-witness contemporary reports of every Ashes Test. From the first, which began on March 15th 1877 with an England team who had left these shores on September 21st the previous year, to the most recent, the five-match series seemingly over in the time it would have taken that first touring side to steam from Tilbury to Sheerness.

Everything and everyone are here; Grace, Trumper, Bodyline, Hutton, Bradman, Laker, Benaud, Underwood, Snow, Massie, Lillie, Thompson, Steele, ‘George Davis is Innocent’, Randall, Boycs’ 100th ton, the miracle of Headingley, Botham, Gower, Border, the Waughs, Merv, Shane, Freddie, Gilly, Punter and KP, right through to the wondrous feats of Alastair ‘766’ Cook, who graces the yellow jacket of this year’s Almanack.

It’s a historical document, never to go out of date; contemporary accounts, without the re-evaulation of hindsight. Sure, by 2013 there will be fresh chapters to add, but the past is always there. And without a past there can be no future. Wisden knows this; only the future will tell us if the game’s ruling bodies, committees and decision-makers know it too.

Andrew Strauss said it was a difficult decision to stand down from being the England one-day captain but believes following the recent Cricket World Cup, the time is right.

He will be replaced by his Test match opening partner Alastair Cook. Strauss said he decided to relinquish the one day captaincy knowing that it was not a process he could see through to the next World Cup.  He believes it was in the best interests of the England cricket team to stand down and appoint Alastair Cook at the same time as Stuart Broad was announced as the new Twenty20 Captain, taking over duties from Paul Collingwood.

Alastair Cook admitted he was inexperienced as a captain but said he was “really excited about the challenge.”

Stuart Broad was also excited at the prospect even though there is not a lot of Twenty20 games planned before the next World Cup and said all the more to “make use of every opportunity”.

Andy Flowers will remain as England Coach and work with all three captains.

Strauss will now concentrate on the England Test captaincy while working alongside Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad on an overall cricket strategy to progress England’s chances of success in all three competitions in the future.

2011 Cricket World Cup

Sadly I missed the live coverage of the dream tie between India and Australia, but managed to catch most of the highlights on TV.

The Australian’s looked to be in decent enough form throughout the majority of the game, but India always looked to be in control of the match, barring a few slapstick moments with the bat when two or three of them seemed intent on getting run out.

India’s win put an end to Australia’s incredible run in the World Cup competition which they have won on the last three occasions, they were also beaten finalists previous to that in 1996.

India now face one of  the nations who were originally going co-host the Cricket World Cup, Pakistan in what promises to be another thrilling game of one day cricket.

In today’s third quarter final tie South Africa collapsed dramatically from a comfortable 108 for 2 off 24 overs, to 172 all out.

Some inspired bowling from New Zealand oversaw the collapse with McCullum 24 for 3 and Oram 39 for 4, skittling the South African batsmen who could manage to add 64 runs between them during the final 20 overs.

New Zealand are the dark horses for me, they may not have the same ability in all levels as the remaining teams in the World Cup, but they have so far done everything they have set out to do in a business like manner.

They will now face the winners of the last quarter final to be played on Saturday between Sri Lanka and England.