WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IT – Oddities from cricket’s early years

The history of cricket in its initial years is replete with intriguing stories and events. The game was largely confined to the amateurs of England, before gradually it began to spread to other countries. Here’s a look at some interesting happenings from cricket’s early years:- One Legged Eleven vs One Arm Eleven Believe […]

IN FOCUS – ICC Intercontinental Cup final : Preview

The final of the sixth edition of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, the premier first-class tournament for non-Test nations, will be fittingly played between the two best Associate teams, namely Ireland and Afghanistan. The current tournament started in June 2011 and the defending champions are the Afghans, who defeated Scotland in the final of the […]

IN FOCUS – Ranji Trophy 2013-14 Preview

The 80th edition of India’s premier domestic tournament commences today with the first round being played at various venues across the country. There will be quite a few prospects for the selectors to watch out for as India are slated to play six Tests in the coming months, four of them overseas. News and […]

IN FOCUS – Durham’s third title in six years

The youngest county in the County Championship added a third title to their cabinet this season, sealing the issue last month with a round still remaining. Durham, who were awarded the status of a first-class county only in 1992 (seven decades since the previous newest team) now boast of a rare three Championship victories […]

RECORD BOOK – The most frequent triple centurions

Only a handful of batsmen have managed to score at least three triple hundreds in first-class cricket – eight to be precise. The exclusive list includes three Englishmen, three Australians and a West Indian and an Indian each. Among the players in this club, only three have managed to score a triple-hundred in […]

SPECIALS – Parsis, pioneers of cricket in India, Part 2

In Part 1 of this Specials post we looked at how one-sided the Parsis’ first tour of England was, and understandably so. The world’s first great cricketing icon W.G Grace, who played against them while representing the MCC at Lord’s, later said in his autobiography – ‘During this season, a team of Parsi cricketers paid us […]

SPECIALS – Parsis, pioneers of cricket in India, Part 1

A few days ago, the former Indian wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer celebrated his 75th birthday. Engineer incidentally was the last Parsi cricketer to play for India, his 14-year old international career having ended in 1975. Since then, almost four decades have gone without a single Parsi playing international cricket for India, and looking at the […]

REVIEW – Mumbai’s 40th title, Agarkar’s personal triumph

Just last season, Ajit Agarkar had pulled out of the Mumbai Ranji Trophy squad citing differences with the team management following his exclusion from a particular match. Later he was surprisingly picked as captain, and he repaid the team’s faith in his experience by leading Mumbai to a 40th Ranji Trophy title this season. […]

IN FOCUS – 2012-13 Ranji Trophy final : Preview

After a gruelling two and a half-months of back-to-back matches, the time has come for the summit clash of this season’s Ranji Trophy. The two finalists are Mumbai and Saurashtra, two teams which did not really look like potential finalists during the league phase, but they both have managed to up their game when it […]

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IT – Archie MacLaren’s parting shot

One of the strongest teams ever to leave Australia arrived in England in 1921 to defend the Ashes, which they had ruthlessly won by an unprecedented 5-0 margin at home just a few months back. Led by Warwick Armstrong, the team boasted the likes of Warren Bardsley, Charlie Macartney and Jack Gregory. Not that […]