Miscellaneous

The Harsha Bhogle column

ishan: arkapila@form-net.com: Derek Pringle's father, who opened the bowling for East Africa in 1975, was called Don, not Chris!

Sreekumar (NT): SNambiar@CBSINC.COM: Hi Harsha, I've moved from Perth to Los Angeles in late '97. Are you going downunder later this year? Please keep in touch. Will be watching WC99 thru' Kelly Broadcasting Corp. How's Srinivas? NT

The Fanie de Villiers column:

cricfan: cricfan@hotmail.com: Great article. This kind of leadership transcends all boundaries. I just wish we had this kind of leadership in our team and in our government.

rajeev: rajeev_pai@hotmail.com: now if only someone could read this out to azhar!

palani: palani@hehe.com:
A Complete perfect captain , and a perfect all-rounder

Guest columns:

From Bradman to Bevan: danish: danish454@yahoo.com: indeed a very true comparison.yet i would maintain he played with likes bowler like larwood! trueman! and others and mind you they were quick, hostile. I think he must have played the big windies bowler who bowled flat out fast. ''bodyline'' means playing a guy like shoaib akhtar without helmets and othere gear means loads of confidence and class specially playing bowler who are not attackig stumps but the body. it is certainly unfortunate not for bradman but for the game that war deprived the game from its greatest batsmen. in his brief career he set scales or standards for modern day cricket and one thing you can surely say he was a true professional. his innings of three hundred (2) and couple of double century says volumes of it. it might seem century like getting off the mark. for he scored over hundred century in frist class. only comparision to such a man in modern day is brain lara whose inning of 375 and 501 and loads of double century makes him stand in the same level for they are the player who single handely change the course of the game by sheer brillance. century although in oneday might be match winning but in high scoring test matches centuries are a sort of batsmen job so in test arena considerig sachin a bradman will be quite optimistic!!! maybe steve waugh or javed maidad for there match winning ablities might be contends down the list.

Nandu: kgnandu@hotmail.com: Well put, but disappointed in that you gave us only the analysis of your research of Bradman. Hence your article just like most others is only fiction. No one has to believe what you say. Regards Nandu

sanju: sanju_kna@hotmail.com: gee, My friend i am sorry to diifer from ur idea - If Michael bevan is not the best one dayer - then who do u say is - of course not richards - u say its wrong to compare players and u compare richards/bevan - and let me be straight here - Bevan is way ahead of richards - technique wise and strokewise richards is farfar better - but till date i can see no one who is as reliable as this bloke - Bevan - u say he has scored 30-40 runs notouts but just take the situations when he has scored - when he has pulled aussies from defeat to victory - i am sure richards has not done the same thing for his team - and u say its a joke to say bevan is better ???? . The other player i would say is a winner of bevan callibre is Neil-Fairbrother . SO for gods sake please dont compare bevan-richards

Any which way but lose:
nandu: kgnandu@hotmail.com: Hi, I agree with you. But argue if I may, It may not be totally unfair as the bowler is putting himself at high risk as the batsman who is padded heavily is running towards him with a bat, could seriously hurt him. So a clever batsman can easily protect himself from such situations anyways. Such pieces of gamesmanship could be employed by both parties. Regards Nandu.

England for me:
Manikchand: manik66@hotmail.com: The English themselves predict a berth only at the semifinal level which, is far exagerrated, everyone knows. Its sad that you didnt get it staright.

The Sangamesh Konaraddi column:
Arvind Ranasaria: arvind_rana@hotmail.com: Sangamesh, the clarity of analysis, and the comparison of facts presented by you, shows the true face of Indian Cricket. A face, most fans and player would rather have that it remain be hidden. I however, would like to amend the last statement of yours: But that will take a miracle--and it will probably havee to come from the bat of Rahul Dravid.

Celebrating Sachin:
Kaushal: kd408@yahoo.com: Wow!! This was tremendous!! I wished i could write something like this ,when i read Arvind's article which wasnt quite fair to Sachin and his achievements. It seems you have done the job. Great!! this is the first article among so many others that you have written , which has actually impressed me. Keep it up. Kaushal.

c.vignesh: vigneshwaranchandran@hotmail.com: hey deud! Be sensible man.You should make everything short and not long like a noodle.

Sachin versus Bradman:
Anuj Arenja: anuj.arenja@keble.oxford.ac.uk: A belated Happy B'day to you Sachin. You are an inspiration and an ideal for many Indians and indeed, cricket lovers around the world. On the other hand, people like Mr.Arvind Lavakare are exactly the kind of specimens India could do without. You've probably heard the fascinating story of the Indian crabs who were kept in a barrel without a lid because the crabs made sure that if any one of them scaled great heights, the others would drag him down again. Thats precisely what Arvind seems intent on doing. I am not, by any means, suggesting that a rational, logical discussion and evaluation of the merits and dismerits of a player should not be discussed. Indeed it should- constructive criticism is great and Sachin would be the first to appreciate good advice. However, Arvind's article is incredibly bad taste mainly due to the irrevelant and condescending nature of its contents. Sachin is one of the few truly great heroes India has and his remarkable achievements have been a tremendous source of pride for a large number of us. There are aspects of his game which he could undoubtedly improve on and he is aware of these but nothing can deny him a place amongst the all time cricketing greats. Gavaskar and Bradman themselves are great admirers of his talent and would not be offended by comparisons made between them. So instead of criticising his rare shortcomings and presenting ridiculous statistics out of context, let us take heart in the fact that India has produced a genius and let us pray that his amazing prowess will propel India to World Cup glory. Good Luck to the Indian Team- do us proud!

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