Osman Samiuddin offers his thoughts on the biggest talking points from the world of cricket, including a return to the international fold for Shaun Tait.
Return of the ‘Wild Thing’
You might scan through some of the names in the Twenty20 series between Australia and India this week and think cricket has gone retro on you: Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh are still playing for India.
And Shaun Tait, once the world’s fastest bowler, is back for Australia, nearly five years after his last international appearance. For a man whose body so often gave way, it is ironic he returns because of a growing injury list. At least four front-line fast bowlers are out and with Mitchell Johnson gone, Australia need pace.
They will get plenty of it from Tait, who, though he will be 33 soon, is still capable of speeds upwards of 150kph. He is coming off the back of a solid Big Bash League, in which he took 10 wickets for Hobart Hurricanes.
The UAE will see him in action soon, playing in the Pakistan Super League instead of the Masters Champions League, where he was due to play — as a retired player.
Osman Samiuddin: When is retired not retired? Masters Champions League fixing 'teething issue'
Goodbye, Jack
English cricket lost one of the major influences on its cricket in the modern age, when the former Warwickshire medium-fast bowler Jack Bannister passed away, at age 85.
Bannister’s connection to the game extended to many capacities. He was a fine bowler, with over a thousand first-class wickets. Many will remember him as a broadcaster with the BBC and talkSPORT radio, and his long-standing association with the most legendary of all player-turned-broadcasters, Richie Benaud.
But easily his most significant work was as one of the men who established the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), or English cricket’s players’ union. He served it as chairman and president for 20 years and helped establish standard employment contracts, a minimum wage as well as the first pension system. The roots of better salaries, freedom of movement and more equitable terms and conditions for players all grew from those roots. The players of today owe Bannister and his colleagues a great deal.
Baseball and cricket? Not yet
You may, or may not, remember Kieran Powell. He was — maybe still is — a 25-year-old opener who played more than 21 Test matches for West Indies, the last in June 2014. He was decent, too, as three hundreds hint.
Powell is one of the many Caribbean players so disenchanted with the West Indies cricket administration they have branched out, either into Twenty20 leagues, or, as in Powell’s unique case, baseball.
The Los Angeles Dodgers saw some footage of Powell playing cricket and were interested. He has since been out in the United States training to change himself from an opening batsman to a batter.
But perhaps he should not yet cut his ties entirely from cricket. A New York Yankees scout had a look at him and had this to say: “He sucks. He’s not worth any time.”
Team guide to the Pakistan Super League: Squads, key men and game-changers
LAST WEEK
Australia v India
3rd ODI Australia won by three wickets.
4th ODI Australia won by 25 runs.
5th ODI India won by six wickets.
New Zealand v Pakistan
≥ 2nd T20 New Zealand won by 10 wickets.
≥ 3rd T20 New Zealand won by 95 runs.
Bangladesh v Zimbabwe
≥ 3rd T20 Zimbabwe won by 31 runs.
≥ 4th T20 Zimbabwe won by 18 runs.
Player of the week — Martin Guptill
Pakistan’s attack is tougher than Sri Lanka’s, so theoretically Martin Guptill should have had a tougher time of it in the final two Twenty20s the sides played, right? Wrong. Guptill hit 129 runs off 77 balls in the two games, helping New Zealand to overturn a first-game loss and win the series.
THIS WEEK
Australia v India
1st T20, Tuesday
2nd T20, Friday
South Africa v England
4th Test, Monday and Tuesday
New Zealand v Pakistan
1st ODI, Monday
2nd ODI, Thursday
The T20 series between New Zealand and Pakistan began as if it would sizzle, but the tourists’ perennial batting issues meant it fell flat swiftly. In the longer form of the shorter game, whatever the performances of their batsmen, Pakistan’s pacemen will have a better platform from which to exhibit their skills.
Players to watch — Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers
Yuvraj Singh is back again. Having been out of India’s plans for over a year, Yuvraj has returned on the back of domestic 50-over form and is set to face Australia in the T20 series. It does not look like he is going anywhere anytime soon either; having been the most expensive player at the Indian Premier League auction two seasons running, he is again in the highest base price category for the auction this year.
Stat of the week — 3,159
The total number of runs scored in the ODI series between Australia and India. The sides both crossed 300 in every match bar one where they made 295 and 296. It is the highest number of runs ever scored in a bilateral ODI series.