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Australia turn to Coach Roy
First Shane Warne ran his eye across Australia's World Twenty20 spinners in Cape Town. Now their batsmen have arrived in Bangladesh aided by the advice of an unlikely yet somehow appropriate mentor for the bash and crash likely to ensue in Mirpur -Andrew Symonds. While commentating for local television during the T20 series against South Africa, Symonds was teed up by the coach Darren Lehmann to offer some advice to the middle-order batsmen and allrounders, spending plenty of time with James Faulkner, who shares Symonds' knack for power and timing at the pointy end of matches.
First Shane Warne ran his eye across Australia's World Twenty20 spinners in Cape Town. Now their batsmen have arrived in Bangladesh aided by the advice of an unlikely yet somehow appropriate mentor for the bash and crash likely to ensue in Mirpur -Andrew Symonds. While commentating for local television during the T20 series against South Africa, Symonds was teed up by the coach Darren Lehmann to offer some advice to the middle-order batsmen and allrounders, spending plenty of time with James Faulkner, who shares Symonds' knack for power and timing at the pointy end of matches.
Symonds had previously been glimpsed handing a first baggy green cap to Alex Doolan before the first Test, and it was welcome to see him ushered into Australia's team room after the regrettable circumstances of his premature exit from the team in 2009. Casting his eye back on the development of the World T20, Symonds observed Australia's mediocre record in the tournament and offered a plausible explanation.
"When I was playing T20s for Australia it was a bit of a day off really, where you could go out and express yourself but there was no pressure. Everyone had a bit of fun and enjoyed it," he said. "Now, with the IPL, the commercial side of cricket is huge, so players are obviously very keen to become good at the game. We haven't been very good at T20 cricket, it's time to put that to rest, and this team is good enough to do that."
A Gayle of a time
During an Australian summer in which he hung out down under despite carrying a hamstring problem serious enough to keep him from playing for the West Indies across the Tasman in New Zealand, Chris Gayleseemed at times to be a little out of place. But there was no such problem in Dhaka when he regaled the world during a press conference that said two things - the World Twenty20 is Gayle's oyster, and two years on from West Indies' victory in Colmobo, Gangnam Style remains his dance move of choice.
During an Australian summer in which he hung out down under despite carrying a hamstring problem serious enough to keep him from playing for the West Indies across the Tasman in New Zealand, Chris Gayleseemed at times to be a little out of place. But there was no such problem in Dhaka when he regaled the world during a press conference that said two things - the World Twenty20 is Gayle's oyster, and two years on from West Indies' victory in Colmobo, Gangnam Style remains his dance move of choice.
A few choice cuts from his opening chatter included the following.
On Chris Gayle: "Worldwide people want to see Chris Gayle do well and entertain. That's why they pay the money."
On bowling (and batting): "Talking about my spin bowling? I'm the best spinner in the world man. And you know what, I bat right-handed these days, done with batting left-handed."
On the Bangladeshi spin bowler Shohag Gazi: "Who's that? The same guy I whacked for a six off his first delivery in Test cricket? He's in the history books, I made him famous."
Gayle's in the entertainment business, of that there can be no doubt.
England's Orangemen
If Stuart Broad's England team are to make a swift exit from the tournament as is widely expected, they will at least have done so after winning the loud shirt contest. Seldom does a global sporting event go by without one team or another being coerced by a kit manufacturer into wearing the equivalent of the Emperor's New Clothes, and this time it is England donning what has been dubbed "solar red" by its creators.
If Stuart Broad's England team are to make a swift exit from the tournament as is widely expected, they will at least have done so after winning the loud shirt contest. Seldom does a global sporting event go by without one team or another being coerced by a kit manufacturer into wearing the equivalent of the Emperor's New Clothes, and this time it is England donning what has been dubbed "solar red" by its creators.
Decked out for years in various shades of blue, the ECB began to deviate by experimenting with a red limited-overs kit in recent times, opening the way for a World T20 uniform that looks about as Dutch as Dennis Bergkamp. The Sun certainly saw the parallel, referring to "Stuart Broadkamp", while ESPNcricinfo's former UK Editor Andrew Miller noted on Twitter that James Tredwell now bears passing resemblance to "a bargain-basement Jaap Stam". Broad will hope for a similar capacity to keep the scoring to a minimum.
Dutch dramas
Speaking of men in orange, Netherlands certainly found a novel way to gain unwanted attention on the day of their opening match when the all-rounder Tim Gruijters contended that he had been "bullied" out of the squad under the veil of injury to make room for the late inclusion of Tom Cooper, freed up by South Australia's failure to reach the Sheffield Shield final.
Speaking of men in orange, Netherlands certainly found a novel way to gain unwanted attention on the day of their opening match when the all-rounder Tim Gruijters contended that he had been "bullied" out of the squad under the veil of injury to make room for the late inclusion of Tom Cooper, freed up by South Australia's failure to reach the Sheffield Shield final.
Though the ICC ultimately concluded that the Dutch had followed the appropriate procedure for replacing Gruijters with Cooper, the notion of a batsman being ruled out of a tournament due to a bad back will draw knowing sniggers from a few quarters. Batting has always been a pursuit known to encourage back trouble, and while someone like Michael Clarke has had a high-profile struggle with a particularly severe form of the ailment, many others have carried various levels of discomfort or inflexibility across their careers.
A snap request for all batsmen at the World T20 to undergo scans on their backs might have revealed that plenty of other supposedly fit participants are actually carrying issues of similar severity to Gruijters without any danger of being ruled unfit to play.
Cricket fantasies
One way of adding notably to your interest in the WT20 is to join in our Cricket Fantasy tournament, due to begin with the main draw on March 21. The time between now and then offers a chance to shuffle your team until you feel sure of its points potential. The event format and array of competing nations offers plenty of room for inventive combinations, whether you think it will be David Warner putting his stamp on the event or Shahid Afridi whirling Pakistan to a second title.
One way of adding notably to your interest in the WT20 is to join in our Cricket Fantasy tournament, due to begin with the main draw on March 21. The time between now and then offers a chance to shuffle your team until you feel sure of its points potential. The event format and array of competing nations offers plenty of room for inventive combinations, whether you think it will be David Warner putting his stamp on the event or Shahid Afridi whirling Pakistan to a second title.
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