Viewpoint – Pros and cons of four-day Tests

The venue is Newlands in Cape Town, South Africa. The host nation is playing England in the second Test of a four-match series. It is the final session of the fifth day – England are looking for another five wickets to win the match and level the series, while South Africa need an improbable […]

In Focus – The African Associate cricket weekly 2

Presenting The Cricket Cauldron’s weekly wrap-up on the latest happenings on the African Associate cricket scene. Cricket Cranes begin their WCL Division Four campaign Uganda’s crucial WCL Division Four campaign in Malaysia began with an agonising eight-run defeat to the hosts at the Kinrara Academy Oval on Sunday. After a tidy bowling effort, […]

In Focus – Braidwood Cup : A landmark in Hong Kong cricket history

In ‘A History of Craigengower Cricket Club 1894-2012’, readers are informed about William Drew Braidwood, the Scot headmaster of the Victoria English School who arrived in Hong Kong in the early 1890s. In 1894, after initially having to make do with a turfed piece of ground bordering an old cemetry, he selected an […]

Viewpoint – Cricket would do well to take a few lessons from rugby

The eighth edition of the Rugby World Cup is underway, having kicked off at the iconic Twickenham stadium on 18th September. The tournament will go on for six weeks and will feature 48 matches to be played in England and Wales. As has been the case since 2003, 20 nations divided into four […]

Viewpoint – Myths of a ten-team ‘World Cup’ debunked

The ICC, after successful 14-team World Cups in 2011 & 2015, seem to be taking a massively backward step with a ten-team round-robin format (as in 1992) slated for 2019 – a measure supposedly taken to create a ‘competitive’ tournament. Let us debunk a few myths surrounding this illogical decision:- 1. 1992 World Cup […]

VIEWPOINT – Time to get our World Cup back

With the utterly callous decision of reducing the number of teams to just ten in the 2019 World Cup finalised, it is now or never for the Associate nations to show what they are capable of. It is time for them to give a performance so strong that it mortifies the ICC and sparks […]

IN FOCUS – ICC women’s championship, a step in the right direction

The newly-conceptualised ICC Women’s ODI Championship, which commenced on 21st August with matches at Brisbane and Scarborough, is a positive development in the women’s game. This event will serve as the qualifiers for the 2017 World Cup. The top eight ODI teams will play each other either at home or away in series […]

VIEWPOINT – Which is the best World Cup format?

The ongoing football World Cup in Brazil has caught the attention of the world, and the excitement among fanatics of the game will only increase as the semi-final round beckons. The tournament has been a big success and people from countries with barely any football culture are also hooked on to the games. […]

VIEWPOINT – An outrageous plan that could choke the life out of cricket

Although it has been two days since someone (many thanks to that whistle-blower, and also thanks to Sharda Ugra and Jarrod Kimber for highlighting this on Cricinfo) leaked a shocking draft proposal to revamp the structure of the ICC, it is still difficult to believe that it actually happened and that it was not […]

VIEWPOINT – Why the World Test Championship is a phony idea

Let us face it, for all the hoopla created by the ICC bigwigs surrounding the proposed inaugural World Test Championship, it is nothing but a dampener. The format of this competition, slated to be held in England in 2017, is as farcical as any ICC decision of recent times, so there should be no […]