Tuesday, October 26, 2010

CRICKET STADIUMS: NEWLANDS IN CAPE TOWN



Newlands is regarded as one of the most beautiful cricket grounds in the world, being overlooked by Table Mountain and Devil's Peak.

The ground hosted its first Test match in March 1889. There have been 40 Test matches played at the ground of which South Africa has won 13, their opponents 19 and 8 which ended in a draw..

The first One Day International played at the ground was in December 1992 when South Africa beat India by 6 wickets.


Over the past five years numerous changes have been made to the ground. This has slightly taken away from its former splendor. Large portions of the grass embankments have been replaced by pavilions increasing the seating capacity to 25,000.

Newlands is one of the few cricket grounds in South Africa that tends to favour spinners.

ESPN CRICINFO ALL-TIME WORLD XI

Who after Bradman and Sobers?






Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar have effectively been voted the third and fourth-greatest cricketers in the game's history




The presence of two names in any all-time world XI has traditionally brooked no argument, but one more joined them as an unanimous choice in ESPNcrincinfo's all-time XI. Shane Warne, who spun the ball a mile and made spin bowling glamorous again, was a presence in the first XI of each jury member, alongside Don Bradman and Garry Sobers. (Each juror was asked to pick two teams - a first XI and a second.)

The jury also seems to have settled the answer to the question "Who after Bradman?" The answer is Sachin Tendulkar, by a fair distance. Tendulkar, who stands a step away from 50 Test hundreds and whose lustre, in defiance of age, grows brighter with every passing day, was effectively voted, with 51 points, the fourth-greatest cricketer in the history of the game. In the batting stakes he was comfortably ahead of Viv Richards (42).

Brian Lara, Tendulkar's contemporary and great rival, didn't make it to the World XI, with 28 points, George Headley, the other West Indian in contention, and considered Bradman's equal for batting skill by many, lost out to Richards by a mere two points. In fact, the last juror's vote swung it for Richards. Walter Hammond, who had the misfortune of spending a career in Bradman's shadow, made it to the second XI.

Going by the votes, this is the order of merit in which the world's middle-order batsmen stack up: Bradman, Tendulkar, Richards, Headley, Lara, Hammond, Graeme Pollock and Greg Chappell.

There was an even closer contest for the opening positions. While Len Hutton, the master technician, who scored a colossal 364 at the age of 22, took one end comfortably with 47 votes, Jack Hobbs, who remains cricket's most prolific batsman with 61,237 first-class runs and 197 centuries, just about managed to snatch the other spot from Sunil Gavaskar, whose technique and temperament withstood the se

verest examinations, by one point.

Gavaskar is partnered in the Second XI by Barry Richards, whose Test career was limited to only four matches, but whose legend was established during World Series Cricket, where the contests were as fierce. The openers who came behind those two in the reckoning were Virender Sehwag and Victor Trumper, who played in vastly different eras but in the same buccaneering spirit.

The allrounder's position was, of course, a no-contest, but the jury settled an important argument by voting Imran Khan into the Second XI. Keith Miller, the free-spirited Australian allrounder, came next, followed by Imran's great rivals Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham and Kapil Dev, in that order.

Adam Gilchrist, who with his batting redefined how wicketkeepers were viewed - and selected - fought off a strong challenge from Alan Knott, the Englishman considered by many the most technically accomplished wicketkeeper ever. Gilchrist secured his position with 45 points to Knott's 37.

World XI: Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Don Bradman, Sachin Tendulkar, Viv Richards, Garry Sobers, Adam Gilchrist, Malcolm Marshall, Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, Dennis Lillee

Second XI: Sunil Gavaskar, Barry Richards, George Headley, Brian Lara, Wally Hammond, Imran Khan, Alan Knott, Bill O'Reilly, Fred Trueman, Muttiah Muralitharan, SF Barnes

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

MCC SA5 BABE OF THE WEEK 30/10/2010

Getting ready for the ASHES

MCC SA7 BABE OF THE WEEK 30/10/2010

MCC SA8 BABES OF THE WEEK 30/10/2010

Keep Going Boys!

MCC SUNDAY XI BABE OF THE WEEK 30/10/2010

A Good Net Practice is Vital

MCC SA8 OUTDO PIRATES



Another great performance by Marlboro SA8 who seem to be rather inspired by the 'Babe Of The Week' and remain unbeaten this season!

MCC Bowled first at Sir Lionel Philips Grounds,and Pirates were bowled out for 155.

Good bowling by Junior Raees Nathie 4-38, Ziyaad Jogee 1-33, and Zubair Patrao 1-29, limiting the hosts.
Marlboro stacked up the runs with 6 overs to spare. Amod 51 not out,Jogee with 31 and Mambo 21 amongst the runs.

We have to highlight the dropped catch by Mambo Daya,and a brilliant one by Captain Muhammed Makda.However Makda had a poor performance with the bat this time around.
Mohammed Seedat "Timer" 'STAND AND DELIVER' was in top form this weekend!

The Man of the match award went Mohamed Amod & Raees Nathie.

By the way, who is this mystery batsman??

Mayur Bhai Chucks the SA7 team to a win

On a very Breezy Saturday in Germiston Captain Rashaadie won the toss and chose to bowl on a green wicket which looked like it would help the bowlers. Mayur Bhai Opened his packet of Manakchand from the first over and he bowled 8 overs on the trot to take 4 wickets for 11 runs. This great spell of chucking really put our opposition in some trouble and the rest of the bowlers chipped in to bowl them out for 141 in 33 overs. An inspiring performance from the entire team in the field really lifted the teams spirits and an indication of things to come.

The SA7 opening Partnership of Hazrat Joe "Amla" Chothia & Maroef "Mamoo" Laher set a great foundation of 55 runs in 10 overs before Hazrat Joe was decieved by a slower ball and dismissed for 41. Mamoo lost his wicket shortly thereafter and Captain Rashaad although seeing the ball very well lost his wicket to a mistimed shot. Muhajir "Broekies" Rawat and Nasief Seedat then took the game by the horns and steered the team to within 10 runs of victory before Muhajir was caught in the deep trying to clear the fielder at short leg.

Avi "Careless" although he would love to be call Kallis then joined Nasief to finish the game off and the SA7 side won the game by a convincing 6 wickets in the 31st over.

Mayur Bhai "Manakchand" Patel was voted Man of the match for his break bowling spell.

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MCC SA5 Turns it ON!

This match has to rank as one of the best games of cricket I have ever been involved in!

MCC SA5's first home fixture of the season at the Marlboro Oval against Glenvista, and what a match it was!
Hours of hard work preparing the wicket, followed by the council workers arriving just in time to get the outfield in shape, the fixture began at 1:30pm with the match restricted to 36 overs.

Winning the toss and after consultation with the team, MCC decided to bat first. Openers Zain and Naeem Nathie got off to a flying start before Zain departed, bowled by a ball which swung tremendously to dislodge the bails. Nathie at his new position of opening batsman looked good, as MCC raced to 50 in 7 overs. Sensing pace was not effective,Glenvista switched to spin, taking all pace of the ball. Nathie fell lbw to one that kept low for 20, followed by Eboo. Archie and Naushaad fell in quick succession too. MCC reeling at 72/5 in 13.

Kadwa and Ishaq stepped up to rebuild the innings. At Drinks MCC 96/5 after 18.
What followed was the "Kadwa Show" After getting in, Kads started scoring freely all over the wicket, including 2 sixes, and the 25th over going for 26 runs. A 115 run partnership followed before Kadwa fell for a well played 73. Ishaq fell shortly after for a patient 30.

The lower order of Safwaan, Aadil, Jaydeep and Pankaj batted out to the last over, as Marlboro notched up a formiddable 237 all out.

At the change and with a super fast outfield, we knew it was no walk in the park. And a couple of dropped catches didnt help much! Glenvista raced to 127/2 in 18 overs. Even with a rather unconventionally defensive field placement, the bad balls still got despached to the boundary. However with the runs on the board, we knew they still gotta get 'em. Soon after drinks we got a couple of mini breakthroughs. Glenvista still required 54 off the last 10 with 5 wickets standing.

The stadium was tense, the young MCC fans began cheering as something special was on the cards. Soon the runs dried as the pressure raised. With 2 wickets standing, and fading light, the visitors still required 18 off the last two..
And when Nathie had the Number 11 bowled, Marlboro snatched a well fought 15 run victory!

The bowlers, although being punished earlier on, held their nerve.

Ebrahim Kadwa was named Man of the Match.


A great game of cricket all round.

MCC SA5 will be looking to keep up winning ways with a tricky visit to Hilson Park this weekend.Hopefully Farhad will be back and MCC up to full strength once again.