Did you know that...

This is going to be a new thing. It will take some doing to regularly come up with stuff, which, is not commonly known; with all the internet sites, the print media and sports channels unearthing every little sporting tit bit. I will request readers to contribute whole heartedly to keep this thing going. Don’t hesitate as long as the anecdote is true and genuinely has something to do with sports. I have a good one to start off with. Don't try to Google this to find more. Its not there. This is something which I read way back in the early 90's. If you are still interested in reading more about it, wait till the end of the post.

Former Australian wicket-keeper, Tim Zoehrer (he came after Rodney Marsh and before Ian Healy) was dating the daughter of the national team coach, the great Bobby Simpson. And interestingly, Tim's national career ended immediately after he broke up with his girl friend. He cried foul, but nothing came out of it. Talking of nepotism, what works in Australia, works even better in India. (Can some one please find out if Virender Sehwag is having a secret fling with one of the selectors' daughters). Moral of the story - if you are a national aspirant, you can ensure international appearances as long as you can hook the coach’s (or selectors) daughter and hold on to her. Just pray that our next coach is an old guy who has a daughter of marriageable age. All the other daughters are already taken.

As for Zoehrer, this was not the end of his misfortunes. He ended up losing his job at Western Australia, when a promising young guy called Adam Gilchrist decided to move to WA from New South Wales to get a chance to play (Ian Healy was blocking his path in NSW). The crestfallen wicket -keeper chronicled his misfortunes in the book, 'The Gloves Are Off". Consistent with his track record, it sold very few copies and finds frequent mention in the ‘worst book on cricket’ discussions.

Sphere: Related Content

Care for some cricket chit-chat

Rahul Dravid got hit on the nose by a bouncer from R.P.Singh!!!!! (To read more on RP, check out the ‘The sorry state of indian domestic cricket’). I’ am yet to recover from the shock of hearing this. No, Iam not feeling sorry for Rahul Dravid (which is very mean), but wondering, how on earth could an impotent (pardon the term but cant think of anything better) bowler like RP inflict such damage on India’s best player of fast bowling (and that too on one of our lifeless wickets). Can’t remember the last time an Indian pace-man did this to a quality batsman. Perhaps, Dravid was totally lost in thought (he has so many issues to handle these days). Somebody tell the selectors, that our captain needs a break more than Sachin and Sourav.

Kapil Dev has spoken strongly against the selectors’ decision to ‘rest’ Sachin and Sourav for the Bangladesh tour. To quote him, “There are no half measures for me...Either you drop them or take them. There is nothing called 'rested’.” Kapil seems to have forgotten, that Indian selectors don’t know how to drop star players. Had they known better, they would have dropped him long before he broke Hadlee’s record.

Krish Srikkanth’s cricket based website krishcricket.com is going places. The site offers an impressive array of fantasy games (with multi user facility and mobile versions), photo galleries, live audio commentary, columns from eminent writers and live simulation of international games (with 3-D imaging and scripted commentary). The venture is sure to do well (as long as Srikkanth is not contributing the columns) and I wish them the very best. Their success is sure to keep the former India opener from fulfilling his media commitments; a sure sign of relief for all cricket fans and his fellow commentators.

Adam Gilchrist’s revelation of having used a squash ball to improve his grip has caused a major uproar in Sri Lanka, with board officials accusing him of using ‘unethical’ means to seek an ‘unfair’ advantage. Ian Healy’s response sums it up best – “maybe a tennis ball is better, they could try that”. Or maybe a football!!!

Sphere: Related Content