Its very hectic life.. Not even getting time to manage my blog! Well Its time for us to pick a world best cricket team... Post your comments..
1) Sachin Tendulkar
Ricky Ponting's rant about England's alleged lack of respect for the spirit of the game rings hollow because Australia is the team which violates it most, said Ashes winning coach Duncan Fletcher. Writing in The Guardian, the Zimbabwe-born Fletcher, who guided England to the 2005 Ashes victory, said Ponting's homily on spirit of the game was a manifestation of his frustration after Australia failed to separate the last English pair in the first Ashes Test and settled for a draw. "England will be delighted they left Cardiff with a draw and no doubt amused that they head for Lord's with a lecture about the spirit of the game from Ricky Ponting, of all people, still ringing in their ears," Fletcher wrote. "If any side in the world doesn't play within the spirit of the game it's Ponting's Australians, yet here he is sitting in judgement on England because he's frustrated that his bowlers failed to complete the job," he said. James Anderson and Monty Panesar batted out the last 40 minutes, during which England twice sent in physio Stev McCaig and 12th man Bilal Shafayat in an obvious attempt to waste time, much to Ponting's exasperation. Fletcher said he did not condone what England did even if it's not really illegal. "But let's not get carried away. What England did ate up maybe an over at most. If the batsmen had wasted the same amount of time talking between overs, no one would have batted an eyelid. Instead we're left with the ridiculous situation of being told off by an Australian captain for transgressing cricket's spirit, a notion he seems to only vaguely understand himself," Fletcher said. Fletcher counter-attacked, saying Ponting set even a worse example for the "schoolboys watching at home." "...Can the Australians really argue that England's tactics are worse than the way Ponting places pressure on the umpires and makes them look bad in front of a huge crowd and TV audience? And we haven't even mentioned Australia's sledging. "The way he objected after Aleem Dar rightly turned down a catch at silly point off Paul Collingwood was typical. Back in 2005 Ponting and his team were over-aggressive towards the umpires on a regular basis, and he was at it again here," Fletcher said. "Ponting has to be careful. Someone needs to sit down and ask him what he understands by the spirit of the game. The way he plays is definitely not in the spirit. And if the Australians would have you think that they'd have done things differently on Sunday evening, then pigs might soon be spotted in the skies above St John's Wood," he quipped.
The term 'Ashes' was first used after England lost to Australia - for the first time on home soil - at The Oval on 29th August 1882. A day later, the Sporting Times carried a mock obituary to English cricket which concluded that: "The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia". The concept caught the imagination of the sporting public. A few weeks later, an English team, captained by the Hon Ivo Bligh [later Lord Darnley], set off to tour Australia, with Bligh vowing to return with "the ashes"; his Australian counterpart, WL Murdoch, similarly vowed to defend them.
As well as playing three scheduled matches against the Australian national side, Bligh and the amateur players in his team participated in many social matches. It was after one such match, at the Rupertswood Estate outside Melbourne on Christmas Eve 1882, that Bligh was given the small terracotta urn as a symbol of the ashes that he had travelled to Australia to regain. On the same occasion, he met his future wife - Florence Morphy - who was the companion to Lady Janet Clark, mistress of Rupertswood, and governess to the Clark children.
In February 1884, Bligh married Florence. Shortly afterwards, they returned to England, taking the urn - which Bligh always regarded as a personal gift - with them. It stayed on the mantelpiece at the Bligh family home - Cobham Hall, near Rochester in Kent - until Bligh died, 43 years later. At his request, Florence bequeathed the urn to MCC. Today, over 75 years on, the tiny, delicate and irreplaceable artefact resides in the MCC Museum at Lord's. Each year, it is seen by tens of thousands of visitors, from all parts of the world.
In the 1990s, recognising the two teams' desire to compete for an actual trophy, MCC commissioned - after discussions with the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia - an urn-shaped Waterford Crystal trophy (see right).
This was first presented to Mark Taylor after his Australian side emerged triumphant in the 1998-99 Test series against England. Since then, the trophy has been presented to the winning captain at the end of each Test series between Australia and England. Most recently, it was presented to Ricky Ponting after his Australian side's 5-0 victory over England in the 2006-07 Ashes series.
From October 2006 to January 2007, the urn formed the centrepiece of the MCC Travelex Ashes Exhibition, which visited seven museums in six Australian states and attracted over 105,000 visitors
Birthdays don't mean a great deal for Sourav Ganguly, but this one (his 37th) could well turn out to be memorable. For, it is today that he makes an entry into cricket administration as part of the Indian cricket board's technical committee headed by Sunil Gavaskar, who celebrates a landmark 60th birthday on Friday.
This is Ganguly's first birthday after retiring from international cricket. He has still not put a full stop on his first-class career though and could play the East Zone one-dayers for Bengal.
"I'm looking forward to be wished by Gavaskar. He is aware it's my birthday, especially because it is two days before his," said Ganguly at his residence here yesterday.
The former India captain said he was thrilled to be part of the technical committee, which decides on key cricketing issues for Indian cricket. "It's an honour and I will do anything which helps in the development of Indian cricket," he said.
Ganguly's will be an influential voice on cricketing matters. The committee will not only benefit from his playing experience but also someone who knows what modern cricket is all about. "I will speak my mind if I am asked for an opinion," he said.
The birthday celebrations will be on hold till he returns to Kolkata in the evening.
