AGB Cricket

LEAP SHOT

Jonathan Agnew no doubt knows his non sequiturs from his solecisms and his sophisms so he is clearly just taking a cheap shot. It is one hell of a leap of logic to conclude that Michael Clarke saying Phil Hughes' spirit will live on in Australian cricket, means Michael Clarke has promised to give up sledging:

We owe it to Phillip Hughes to stop sledging: Jonathan Agnew

Respected BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew says the Australian cricket team have failed to live up to their intentions to pay tribute to Phillip Hughes by continuing their aggressive sledging on the field against India.

The ex-English bowler said Australia owes it to Hughes, who died after being struck by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match in November, to clean-up their on field behaviour.

"Michael Clarke said very clearly that Hughes' memory would run through the team, and would be in the way they would play their cricket. But the players haven't behaved any better, and I think that's a real disappointment."

The AGB looks forward to Aggers' "I was mistaken out of context and I undeservedly apologise... sorry, I'll read that again... unREservedly apologise."

FUNK OFF!

SECOND TEST: SHEIKH ZAYED STADIUM

Your guess is almost as good as mine. Pakistan has a habit of getting ahead in a series, then serving up roads. Back the draw.

FIRST TEST: DUBAI INTERNATIONAL CRICKET STADIUM

Your guess is as good as mine.

STEVE VAN SMITH

Remember that catch by Martin Van Jaarsveld?

Steve Smith catch: watch video of incredible catch and decide if it was fair or not

AUSTRALIA’S Steve Smith pulled off a spectacular and highly unusual catch to dismiss Pakistan’s batsman Fawad Alam during Sunday’s one-day clash in Abu Dhabi.

Why bother speculating wildly... I mean, deciding, when you can come straight to cricket's foremost organ of record:

Dear Mr AGB Cricket,

Yes, I had seen that catch and it does raise a question or two. It is MCC’s opinion that the catch is legal for 2 reasons.

Firstly, although the fielder starts moving before the ball reaches the striker, it is arguable that the movement is not significant. In a (brilliant) act of anticipation, he is readying himself to move to his left which actually starts with him moving his left leg slightly to the right, ie in the opposite direction to that which he eventually runs. This is to give him the “springboard” to set off to his left. If you freeze the clip at the right moment at 16 seconds, there is a frame where the ball has clearly already been played by the batsman but the fielder’s left boot is visible at the top of the screen still in line with the white line that has been painted as a guide for wides for the umpire. If you then check back to his original position, it is only about a foot or two different.

Secondly, the movement by the fielder is purely as a result of the shot selected by the striker. He only decides to move once it is clear that a sweep shot is being attempted. It would probably be wrong for such anticipation to be outlawed. A similar act of anticipation, although for a different reason, is when the silly point turns away when the striker is shaping up for a square cut. Both of these are very different from, for example, square leg moving back 20 paces as the bowler runs in, or moving from in front of square to behind square. This is the main intention of the Law although you are also correct that the movement should not distract the striker (also covered by Law 42.4)

Nobody could deny that it was a wonderful piece of anticipation and skill by the fielder and the Laws should not seek to forbid such acts.

I hope that this clarifies the Laws for you

Yours sincerely,

Fraser Stewart
Laws & Universities Manager
Marylebone Cricket Club

Both catches are similar, although Van Jaarsveld's comes quicker off the bat. It would have been interesting if the umpires had ruled Steve Smith's catch illegal.

TAKING THE PISS OFF

Under previous conditions you would expect Steve O'Keefe to be about to issue a Professional Apology for telling chuckers to piss off, but given the current clampdown it would appear players may be freer to speak out.

Then again, it has been suggested O'Keefe has not been picked more often for national honours because he has a tendency to speak out so perhaps he always shoots from the lip:

Australia's Steve O'Keefe says spinners who bowl with bent arms deserve to be banned

Steve O'Keefe admits he feels little sympathy for suspended Pakistan counterpart Saeed Ajmal, welcoming the International Cricket Council's crackdown on chuckers he believes are "taking the piss".

"I think originally when the laws came in you were allowed zero degrees. They brought in 15 degrees to give blokes that leeway. If you go past it in my mind you've been given a little bit of room and you're going past that 15 degrees you're taking the piss."

"The rules are in place for a reason and all throughout the game guys will try and push the rules to a certain point, but I think once you step over that line you have to pay the price, whatever that is at ICC level. It's not fair, to be honest.

I'm glad that they're not going further with it ...15 degrees is enough. It should be zero, really. You should be trying to bowl with a straight arm."

And yet:

The NSW left-arm orthodox was a teammate of Murali's in the Indian Premier League three years ago and is keen to resume contact with the Sri Lankan, who has been hired by Australia to train batsmen to face spin as well as mentor spinners.

"I worked with Murali when I was at Kochi for six weeks. He was good in that environment because he was playing and you could chat to him and see how he went about his business."