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The Index

Hey Viv, no gum

What if cricketers were paid to give up what they are remembered for?

Samantha Pendergrast
02-Nov-2012
In the latest James Bond film, Skyfall, you may not see the superspy order the shaken-not-stirred vodka martini because Heineken has signed a deal with the franchise to have him shown drinking beer. Imagine if cricket's iconic symbols ran into some marketers. Here's how the PR would spin it.
Viv Richards
Tired of seeing your favourite destructive batsman masticate like a cow trying to look casual at the farmhouse party? Don't worry, help is here. A leading cosmetics brand has bought the right to draw attention away from King Viv's powerful jaw to his luscious lips. You will now see the master blaster carefully dab on your favourite lip gloss ("Carib Sugah" flavour) at the start of every over. So copy his style without any aching jaws!
Sachin Tendulkar
The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences of the United States is proud to announce that in the lead-up to the 2013 Grammys and its plan to commemorate the King of Pop, it has got Sachin Tendulkar to give up his crotch-adjustment technique for the crotch-grab that wowed music fans for three decades. "It was a no-brainer, really," said a NARAS spokesperson. "He wears white gloves, has a shrill voice, and has recently shown a desire to change the way he looks. His abdomen-guard adjustment was just a bonus."
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Who will sponsor English cricket?

We line up potential investors

Alan Tyers
26-Oct-2012
The ECB has lost a second sponsor in three months after Brit Insurance opted not to renew their deal. With Friends Life also calling it a day, there are attractive sponsorship opportunities up for grabs in the English game. So would the following organisations be interested?
The Keep Saturday And Sunday Sacred Campaign
Pressure group, a radical offshoot of Christian movement Keep Sunday Special. Believes we should not have any county cricket on the weekend, just in case people with jobs come along and take up all the parking spaces or bring their horrible children.
The BCCI
Opportunity to buy out entire structure of English cricket with money found down back of a BCCI under manager's waiting room sofa could prove tempting. The prospect of insisting that English media companies pay money to visit grounds in England is also appealing. Might be fun to move all county matches to India, just for the hell of it.
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Didn't they make a movie about it?

Recent cricket events that wouldn't look out of place on a Hollywood set

Samantha Pendergrast
20-Jul-2012
After Fire In Babylon got a lot of attention outside the cricketing world, Hollywood producers decided to commission work on some "true-life" cricket stories which they hope will turn into blockbuster hits or Oscar contenders - or at least Japanese remakes where everybody dies in the end. Here are a few ideas based on current events in the game that we will pitch to them. Send us your ideas in the comments.
Situation Nick Compton's quest for 1000 runs before the end of May
Plot The pacy "will he or won't he" plot is set against the background of picturesque though soggy English grounds. Apart from all the run-scoring and light meter-gazing, there's also plenty of broad dressing-room humour and feel-good earthy characters, like the groundsman who, wishing to have the 1000th scored on his pitch, flies to Colombo to steal a chunk of the SSC, which results in a comical side-story of him being chased half way across the world by Mahela Jayawardene screaming, "Nobody messes with my pitch!" There is also a spiritual angle when our anxious protagonist is visited in his dreams by his grandfather, who gives him batting and grooming tips and shares scandalous gossip about Cyril Washbrook and a pencil sharpener.
Situation Jesse Ryder the boxer
Plot A Kiwi remake of the... yep, you guessed it, animation classic Dumbo (for all those who guessed Rocky, ten points deducted for being clichéd). An oddity in a regimented world, young Jesse struggles to fit in. But then, with a little help from his friends, he discovers that, like everyone else, he too has a talent. For throwing punches. And so he makes good use of it and becomes a boxer, and Sylvester Stallone buys the motion picture rights to his life story.
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I'm an MBE... Get me a TV show

You'll now get to see former England bowlers in new avatars

Alan Tyers
03-Oct-2011
Andrew Flintoff has a new television series out called Freddie Flintoff: Alone In The Wild (Wed, 9pm, Discovery), in which he survives a week in the wilds of Botswana without food, shelter and Steve Harmison. On the back of Freddie's TV success, the other bowlers from that legendary Ashes 2005 win are also making the move to the small screen. Keep an eye out for the following in this autumn's schedules…
Holiday - With Steve Harmison (ITV1)
This week, we'll learn about luxury apartment holidays in Portugal, white-water rafting in New Zealand, and a glamorous city break in party capital Prague. The travel-shy Geordie will then describe why he doesn't fancy any of them, detailing the sorts of fancy muck you might be forced to eat, the hotness and/or coldness of the weather, foreigners looking at you all funny, and the paucity of tea-making facilities in the hotels.
One Man And His Hog (BBC Yorkshire)
The popular sheepdog trials show gets a makeover as eccentric Yorkshireman Matthew Hoggard chases sheep around a desolate moor shouting, "Eeee, I'm right barmy, me." Not suitable for children.
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