A stable of stars does not a team make—but that doesn’t stop the Royal Challengers from attempting to disprove this truism year after year. Known more for collecting big names than securing big results, the two-time IPL runners-up haven’t managed to seal a playoff spot since 2011, where they lost to Chennai in the finals. Yet despite the lackluster campaigns of the past several years, logic dictates that the immense talent of Bangalore must eventually coalesce. And with a squad filled with names such as Kohli, Gayle, Starc, and de Villers, it’s hard not to think that 2015 will finally be there year where it all comes together.
Tag Archives: Cricket
Bangalore Galacticos: The Spectacular Yet Underachieving Royal Challengers
Filed under Uncategorized
Manufacturing Art, Part II
Another great Pathé video to send you into the weekend. This time on the creation of cricket bats from 1962. Enjoy!
April 3, 2015 · 9:00 am
Ian Bell and Brendon McCullum Commit to Warks
Two great pieces of news out of Edgbaston yesterday as Ian Bell signed an extension with his hometown team Warwickshire which will keep the top-order batsman at Warks through the 2017 season. Bell started with Warwickshire back in 1999 having come up with the U-11 team and has won the County Championship with the club in 2004 and 2012 in addition to last year’s T20 Blast. Although England had a very lackluster World Cup campaign, Bell was able to notch three half-centuries in his six matches. He now heads to the Windies for England’s tour before joining up with Warks, who will need him in form and to hit the ground running for the County Championship.
In addition, newly named Sir Richard Hadlee Medal winner, Brendon McCullum, has signed on to play seven games with the Birmingham Bears in the T20 Blast this summer. Warwickshire will be hoping McCullum can keep his World Cup form (….minus the final) for the Bears in order for them to repeat as champions. The Kiwi captain’s first match with the Bears will be against the Lightning on June 26 at Old Trafford, following the conclusion of New Zealand’s tour of England.
Filed under Birmingham Bears, County Cricket 2015, Warwickshire
Colin Graves’ No Good, Very Bad Idea
Colin Graves, the incoming ECB chairman, is a self-proclaimed “cricket nut.” Amid lagging attendance and claims that the game’s longer formats bore modern audiences, Graves has made it his mission to “reclaim cricket as the national summer sport.” Graves wants to see the game thrive. He simply loves cricket, you see.
That’s why it’s a bit baffling that he wants less of it.
Filed under County Cricket 2015, Test
Quotas…Again
Well, it didn’t take too long for the good feeling of the Proteas World Cup run and #ProteaFire to come crashing down. Just after the semi-final loss to New Zealand there was noise that Vernon Philander was selected over Kyle Abbott because of racial quotas. Cricket South Africa and Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula were quick to deny that there was any type of racial quota being observed in the selection for the match. Mbalula has reiterated his stance that quotas played no part in Philander’s selection on Monday.
Filed under Cricket World Cup 2015
Cec and Jazz and Rock and Roll: Why Pietersen’s Plight is Nothing New
And’s he’s back—well, back at Surrey at least. After a pitched, yearlong battle with the ECB, the “muppets” who have the gall to make less than him, and every cricketer who’s donned the whites for England since 2005, Kevin Pietersen has returned to county cricket in an attempt to cross a bridge he torched just months ago. Surely, this will go splendidly.
But Pietersen—whose biography savaged the English cricket establishment upon its release in October—isn’t the first cricketer to cripple his career with an ill-conceived editorial. Along with cricket’s bounty of fine literary works and authors, there’s a history of cricketers being less than prudent in what they put to paper. Enter Cec Parkin, an English off spinner who, much like KP, knew how to rustle the feathers of the establishment.
Filed under County Cricket 2015
Looking Ahead
Although the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup is now in the rearview, there is plenty of exciting international cricket in the coming months ahead.
One tour on the calendar this month that is of great excitement to From Hyderabad to Hove is England’s tour of the West Indies beginning on April 13th and running through May 5th. Windies will feel they can go on and take the series at home given England’s current lack of form.
Filed under Uncategorized
That’s A Wrap: A Recap of the ICC Cricket World Cup Final
And just like that, the 2015 Cricket World Cup is in the books. An unbelievable bowling performance from Australia sealed an easy victory over New Zealand inside a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Although, New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first, from the first ball of the day the result never looked much in doubt for Australia. Brendon McCullum’s aggressive batting at the the top of the order has propelled the Black Caps at times this tournament, particularly in their semi-final win over South Africa. Yesterday however, McCullum was simply too risky against an excellent Mitchell Starc. On the fifth ball of the match, Starc bowled McCullum off stump for a duck and New Zealand were sitting 1-1. Martin Guptill was bowled out by Glenn Maxwell leaving the visitors at 33-2 after 11.2 overs, while less than an over later, Mitchell Johnson bowled and caught Kane Williamson. 35 overs in, Ross Taylor was bowled by James Faulkner and caught by the wicketkeeper Brad Haddin leaving the visitors 150-4 and in a world of trouble. The floodgates opened then for Australia’s bowlers, dismissing Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi for ducks. The Kiwis were 167-6 when Mitchell Johnson bowled Daniel Vettori, the veteran Black Cap was out for a measly 9. Matt Henry was gone for a duck and shortly thereafter Tim Southee was brilliantly run out after 45 overs with New Zealand putting up a paltry 183 in their inning.
Filed under Cricket World Cup 2015
ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Final…A Contrarian Prediction
A final of New Zealand and Australia feels a bit inevitable, doesn’t it? South Africa was always going to find a way to lose—painfully. India had the air of a paper tiger throughout the tournament. At no point during the competition did Pakistan seem convincing. And that’s to say nothing of a West Indian side that seemed to take glee in tiptoeing on the edge of a precipice; a Bangladeshi squad punching above its weight; and a team of Sri Lankans that have already taken to blaming their woes on a lack of cardio. The less we discuss Zimbabwe, the better.
(Are there any member nations I’m forgetting? No? Alright then.)
Filed under Cricket World Cup 2015
ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Final…A Prediction
Only 100 overs remain in the 11th Cricket World Cup and for a second straight tournament the hosts square off; New Zealand versus Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the title of World Cup Champions.
Filed under Cricket World Cup 2015
From Hyderabad to Hove 
