An Arbitrary Selection ….. !!!
Category Archives: cricket selections
Cricket World Cup: Some Teams ….
An Arbitrary Selection ….. !!!
A Rare Photograph: Gamini Dissanayake with the Australian and Sri Lankan Cricket Squads and Entourages at Asgiriya on 22nd April 1983
Michael Roberts
THE SRI LANKAN PERSONNEL in the PHOTOGRAPH …. identified with aid from Mevan Pieris, Lam Seneviratne & Prakash Schaffter... with a few of the Australians identified in blue.
STANDING L-to-R: ………..16=Ravi Ratnayake; 17=Vinodhan John; 18=Rumesh Ratnayake; 19=Asantha De Mel; 20= Guy De Alwis; 21= DS De Silva; 22=Marlon Von Hagt; 23=Sunil Fernando; 24=Sidath Wettimuny; 25=Ranjan Madugalle; 26=Roshan Gunaratne or Anura Ranasinghe; 27= Arjuna Ranatunga;….. with Don Thomas (masseur) standing in front of him; 28= CEB Anthony or WAN de Silva; 29=HC Felsinger/or WAN Silva.
SEATED L-to-R: 1–Roy Dias; 2-Nuski Mohammed; 4-Chulaka De Zoysa; 5-Jayantha Paranathala; 6-Duleep Mendis; 7-Basil Rigg–The Manager of the Australian Team; 8-Gamini Dissanayake; 9-David Rutter–High Commissioner for Australia; 10-Greg Chappell; 11-Gamini Kannangara; 12-Chulaka De Zoysa; 13- Garry Sobers; 14-??; !5-??; 16-David Hookes.
A NOTE from Mevan Pieris: “I knew Chulaka de Zoysa very well and it was Chulaka de Zoysa who provided the gold coin that was used to toss in the first ever official test match. Both Chulaka and Gamini Kannangara were very close friends of Gamini Dissanaike.”
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An Appraisal: How the Aussie Cricketers Fared at the IPL?
Alex Malcolm in ESPNcriciinfo, 20 March 2024, whose title reads thus: “Aussies at the IPL: Who starred, who chipped in, who flopped across the regular season?”
A handful of Australia’s players have dominated the IPL while others have had lean tournaments.
Top performers
Travis Head has been Australia’s stand-out performer at the IPL this season even with his first-ball duck in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s final regular season game against Punjab Kings. Head was the third-highest runscorer in the regular season with 533 runs from 12 innings including a century and four fifties at a staggering strike-rate of 201.13. His opening partner, Abhishek Sharma, was the only other player to pass 350 runs while striking at over 200. According to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats, Head had the second-highest total batting impact across the tournament behind Virat Kohli.
Remembering David Hookes: A Moving Farewell at Adelaide Oval, 27 January 2001
Michael Roberts reproducing an article from his pen in Baggy Green …. one that was subsequently presented as an E-Paper . The original article carried the title “The Old and the New: In Memoriam, David Hookes”
On 25 March 2001 a public memorial service paid homage to Sir Donald Bradman after a full lifetime innings capping his monumental record as batsman and captain on the cricket field. On 27 January 2004 a public memorial service honoured David Hookes’ memory after his cameo innings in life was prematurely terminated before a half-century was reached. Bradman’s memoriam marked the passing of the old century, the twentieth century. Hookes and his memoriam signalled the new, the twenty-first century.
Ashton Agar: Now Freelance Gun for Cricketing Hire
Alex Malcolm in ESPNcricinfo, 20 April 2024 ……………… https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/it-gives-me-flexibility-ashton-agar-opts-for-freelance-life-while-still-committing-to-australia-1429880
The spinner explains he decided not to take a domestic contract with WA in order to maximise playing opportunities globally while he remains intent on playing for Australia.
Ashton Agar has become the latest Australian player to make the bold decision to become a freelance global gun-for-hire, and he couldn’t be more excited about it.
Ashton Agar in Freelance Rejuvenation?
Alex Malcolm, in ESPNcricinfo … where the title of the essay runs thus …. ” ‘It gives me flexibility’ – Agar opts for freelance life while still committing to Australia”
Ashton Agar has become the latest Australian player to make the bold decision to become a freelance global gun-for-hire, and he couldn’t be more excited about it. 
Ashton Agar in his delivery stride•Getty Images and Cricket Australia
But the 30-year-old says he remains committed to trying to play for Australia in all three formats, including Test cricket, and playing domestic cricket for Western Australia when he’s available despite opting not to sign a state contract for 2024-25.
Two Huge Centuries …. One Winner as Sri Lankan Women down South Africans
Skipper Chamari Aththapaththu’s 195 runs in 139 balls at a strike/rate of 140.28 nullified the benefits of Laura Wolfvaardt’s 184 runs in 147 balls; …. and enabled Sri Lanks’s female cricketersto overhaul the Saf total of 301 for 5 wkts in some comfort in 44.3 overs.
Aravinda inducted into ICC Hall of Fame
Aravinda de Silva joins the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
Felicitation dinner hosted by the Australian Cricket Society in Toorak… Melbourne.
Two Majestic ‘cameos’ in Cricket from Dhoni and Pathirana
Michael Roberts
Amidst the hot news in Australia relating to the knife-wielding nutcase and his killings at Bondi in Sydney, I watched snatches of the web-reportage on the match between the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Superkings (CSK) in the IPL tournament. The latter event was high-scoring, topsy-turvy, turbulent and fascinating. In point-form let me highlight some remarkable performances.
“Murali” … A Bowler Unique, An Exemplary Sri Lankan
Nitin Jain, in 2010 at “Freshinspirations” …. on 22 July …. where the title reads “Muralitharan scaled unprecedented & inspirational heights!” …. reproduced here with highlighting imposed and some more Pix and some references
Prodigious spin propelled by an abnormally strong wrist and an iron resolve forged in bitter acrimony over his unique action took Muttiah Muralitharan to unprecedented heights in world cricket. Muralitharan, 38, took his 800th test wicket with his final ball in 133 tests on Thursday. With Twenty20 cricket cutting increasingly into the test programme it is a mark that is unlikely ever to be exceeded.
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