Flaming mocktails and Ashes tales
Led by Bharat Sundaresan, genial correspondent for Cricbuzz and adopted Aussie these days, the two Ashes press packs came together on World Cup group stage match 36 eve to enjoy some Gujarati cuisine, a couple of flaming mocktails and to swap stories about respective tours. Relations differ hugely to those between the two teams, albeit in a turnaround from the dressing room scenes at the end of the Oval Test, it was the Australians who left the English waiting, turning up 45 minutes late. Chalk it up as yet another moral victory.
Saving Richard Hadlee
England playing in Ahmedabad always brings back happy memories for Dakshesh Pathak, senior journalist at the Gujarat Samachar newspaper. Back in 1996, the day before their World Cup opener against New Zealand, Pathak was interviewing Richard Hadlee by the nets and saved the great all-rounder from injury when stopping a rasping drive that had flown off the bat of Neil Fairbrother. Returning the ball to Darren Gough with a leg-break, Pathak was then summoned to bowl by Fairbrother and says he promptly cleaned up England’s middle-order maestro shouldering arms to a googly second delivery.
Lord’s losing power
The sinking feeling when the luggage carousel at Ahmedabad airport failed to produce this particular tourist’s suitcase was not entirely unexpected after a late call over the public address system in Mumbai before departure. The problem? A Lord’s branded battery pack that had been unthinkingly thrown in among the undies and was duly confiscated by security. It was either a sign that the power in cricket has irrevocably shifted away from St John’s Wood … or a case of someone not reading the list of forbidden items at check-in.
Sharma joins Root and airs concerns
Air quality has been a talking point during this World Cup, not least since Rohit Sharma, the India captain, echoed the thoughts of Joe Root by publicly expressing concerns this week. The problem is particularly acute in Delhi, where an air quality index reading in excess of 400 – AKA “hazardous” – saw both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh cancel training before Monday’s encounter. An International Cricket Council spokesperson has said the governing body is “monitoring” the situation.
