Dutch add insult to England woes
Even in victory English cricket didn’t emerge unscathed from its meeting with the Netherlands in Pune. The post-match press conference with the Netherlands batter Teja Nidamanuru was a mild, good-natured affair. Right up until its final moment when the Dutch media officer made a gracious speech praising his hosts and his “fellow Europeans”. “Not after Brexit they’re not,” a smiling Nidamanuru added as he got up to leave – expert geopolitical mental disintegration, all the more bruising expressed in an Auckland accent. Bring them home. We’ve suffered enough.
Ricky’s royal engagement
Members of the English press were delighted to find a stray hall-of-famer drifting through their hotel breakfast buffet on Friday. Ricky Ponting is in town to train with his Indian Premier League franchise, including, for the first time since his horrific car crash, Rishabh Pant. Nothing unusual there. Except Ponting is head coach of the Delhi Capitals, and the breakfast was in Kolkata, a mere 2,000-mile round-trip for the Capitals’ local hands. But then, when your director is Sourav Ganguly, Prince of Kolkata, training camps tend to come to you. Let’s hope he made it to the nets.
Climate crisis confusion
Tom Curran is a tool. Although in fairness, he doesn’t seem to realise it. On the eve of England’s final match at Eden Gardens their 2019 world champion seamer could be found posting an excited video about his new direction as a member of the Desert Vipers family, prelude to January’s United Arab Emirates-based IT20. In his message, which concludes with a snake-based hand gesture, in the style of someone manipulating a puppet, Curran points to the many “absolutely amazing” climate change initiatives championed by the Vipers. No doubt the Surrey ace is unaware that the UAE, for whom the IT20 is a sport PR initiative, is the fourth-highest per capita carbon-emitter in the world, has an economy which is dependant on oil and gas exports, and has been identified by environmental commentators as an active “green-washer”. Sport is a perfect machine for sending a more palatable message. But only if it can find the right tools.
Buttler’s urinal guards
A press box colleague recounts an exciting brush with Kolkata’s armed police. Retreating to the gents at the airport, our man was surprised to find three officers cradling rifles fanned out around the door. After a moment of apprehension he realised why. Exiting at the same time was Jos Buttler, at which point the dedicated armed urinal guard dispersed. Cricket in India is different.
