Northants Still Paying the Price of the ICL

This ICL versus IPL business, which should by now have surely been laid to rest, rumbles on. Should the Northamptonshire Steelbacks beat Sussex in their Twenty20 Cup semi-final on Saturday, they would normally have been expected to fill one of England’s spots in the Twenty20 Champions League (or the Champions League T20, or the Champions [...]

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Windies Call Up the Reserves

The boycott by the West Indies Players’ Association has meant that the West Indies’ side for the First Test against Bangladesh has a distinctly unfamiliar look to it. Floyd Reifer (who has played four Tests, the last of them more than a decade ago) comes in as captain of a side that features such relative [...]

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Congratulations Pakistan

After all that Pakistani cricket fans have been through recently, there is no set of supporters that deserves something to celebrate as much as they do. With that in mind, congratulations to the side which has just won the World Twenty20 final – Shahid Afridi shone again with the bat after Abdul Razzaq had taken [...]

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Bond is back

Shane Bond looks set to return to Test cricket, and he won’t even need to wear a comedy disguise. Having cut all ties with the ICL, the Kiwi pace bowler has made himself available for selection by New Zealand. The news has been welcomed by captain Daniel Vettori, given the injury problems that frustrated his [...]

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The End of the ICL?

The Indian Cricket League, currently in limbo following the cancellation of its World Series in the wake of last year’s attacks in Mumbai, and apparently running seriously short of cash, has offered its Kiwi players the option of being released from their contracts. Some of the New Zealanders involved, notably Shane Bond and Darryl Tuffey, [...]

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Shakib: A tiger who knows how to roar

Since being ravaged by the ICL, Bangladesh have actually been improving (with one or two regressions to the mean), mainly thanks to Shakib Al Hasan. The all-rounder’s run of recent good performances continued in today’s Tri-Series match against Sri Lanka, as he to propel the Tigers into Friday’s final, also against the Sri Lankans. If [...]

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BCCI thawing on ICL?

In this season of goodwill to all, the ICC seem to have extended an olive branch to the rebel Indian Cricket League by holding talks with Subhash Chandra, the ICL’s owner. Meetings like this have been held before, of course, but notable this time was the presence of former BCCI president and current ICC vice-president [...]

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The two Bangladeshes

Much like the way Pakistan’s cricket fans now have an ‘unnofficial’ side to follow which plays more often than the ‘official’ side (two if you count both the Lahore Badshahs and the ICL Pakistan XI), there are now two Bangladesh teams to follow. One, that backed by the official governing body, will play in the [...]

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Bangladesh vs The World

Whilst the official Bangladesh side was getting in a bit of practice on the Bloemfontein pitch where they have just suffered an innings defeat, the unofficial ICL version took on a World XI in the ICL World Series. Admittedly, this was the sort of World XI that includes Paul Nixon and Chris Harris, rather than [...]

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Pakistan vs Pakistan?

It seems that the two Pakistans may be on a collision course – Inzamam ul Haq, of the Lahore Badshahs, has challenged his former teammates to a match. Whilst this sort of thing is guaranteed to make headlines and get people excited, I can’t really see the PCB agreeing to such a match, given their [...]

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South Africa vs Bangladesh: Test Series Preview

As South Africa begin their Test series with Bangladesh, they could be forgiven for having more than half an eye on December’s trip to Australia, where they will feel the world’s best side (still) are ripe for the taking. Before all that, though, the Saffers need to avoid any mishaps against a Bangladeshi side that, although [...]

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The two Pakistans

Whilst Pakistan’s official team have been in action against the West Indies, the unofficial Pakistan side that is the Lahore Badshahs have been busy winning the ICL. Whilst the competition remains unsactioned, the presence of players such as Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq means that for many Pakistani cricket fans, the decisive game in the ICL [...]

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