Musings: This is not cricket
A tongue-in-cheek article about cricket that shouldn’t be taken too seriously!
“EMIRATES FLY PAST MCC IN THRILLER” reads the headline in today’s Gulf News, sports page.
“Fly Emirates”, the cricket team of Emirates Airlines, recorded a thrilling 3 wicket win over the visiting MCC.
Mention of the MCC brings back nostalgic memories of when the MCC team *was* the England team. MCC toured India several times.
The website www.lords.org states “The (MCC) touring programme will begin on 4th January, when an exceptionally strong MCC squad will leave London to play in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. The party will include Jonathan Batty (Surrey's new captain), two ex-England players (Dougie Brown and Jason Gallian), and a former Pakistan international (Iqbal Sikander).
MCC earlier used to play countries (like India). Now they play airline cricket teams. Or, alternatively, airlines teams – specifically the Emirates team – has become so strong that it can take on the MCC single handed and win! Which option do you prefer?
MCC and the England official side seem to go hand in hand. Where one is, the other is not far behind.
Here is what the cricket side www.cricinfo.com had to say about the MCC’s presence and its message reaching far and wide:
“Over the years, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has been the body that sets the tone for the spirit of the game. Despite being headquartered at Lord's, their message reaches all the far corners of the globe where the game is played. It came as little surprise, then, that the MCC was hard at work in Bangalore too. Left stacked on a table was a neat set of flyers; one side had on it a striking image of Sachin Tendulkar playing a square drive. Under it was a quote from the little master: "Cricketers should always respect their opponents." Wise words indeed, but ones that are often forgotten in the heat of battle. On the other side of the flyer, there are little notes about various aspects, including the Responsibility of Captains, Players' Conduct and Fair & Unfair Play. If one is unconvinced about the role of the MCC with regard to keeping up the high standards of sportsmanship once followed, one need look no further than the fact that they have printed copies in Hindi and Marathi as well, just to reach out to young children in India.”
These days, money is all corrupting. Tons of money, that is. Just imagine, Attapattu of Sri Lanka wakes up one fine morning to see Sri Lankan Rupees 1.1 million staring back at him. Here’s the official report from www.cricketfundas.com:
“Police investigators are looking into the discovery of a large sum of money found in hotel room of Sri Lanka's limited-over squad captain Marvan Atapattu after the team checked out at Kandy last week.
The Sri Lankan police Criminal Investigation Department was informed that Rs 1.1 million was found by the Kandy hotel's staff after the conclusion of the December 10-14 Test match between Sri Lanka and England, which ended in a draw.
"We're investigating the recovery of a large sum of money from a room in the hotel where the Sri Lankan cricketers stayed in Kandy," an investigator said on the condition of anonymity.
The news about the money's recovery was made public by the Sunday Observer newspaper, which did not identify the player but said he was a "top order batsman, who has never bowled".
But Atapattu stepped out of the team's dressing room at the start of the fourth day's play in the third and final Test match in Colombo to clarify his position to reporters.
"I have nothing to do with that money," Atapattu said. "I don't carry such huge amounts of money while playing. I don't know to whom the money belongs. Other people have stayed in that room before me and after I left the hotel," he added.”
“The man selling his own and cricket's great shame is former South African captain Hansie Cronje. He is seeking the highest bidders from the world of print and electronic media, to serialise his own story of how he cheated his way right through his career as captain of the South African team.
These words are words that another cricket site has to say about Hansie Cronje.
“You only live once” the saying goes “and if you live it right, once is enough”.
Back to the clean world of sports in the Emirates.
How could a team like Fly Emirates beat the MCC? Was it talent alone? Was it bad luck? Was it match fixing? Was it Dubai belly that incapacitated the MCC team? We’ll never know.
So why not be charitable about it?
Well done, Emirates Team!
Right next to the story that Emirates beat the MCC is another smaller one.
“FLY EMIRATES TOPLAY IN ENGLAND”.
The victorious lads are all set to play against Lord’s Taverners cricket team at Windsor Castle on June 13th.
Any bets on who will win?
“EMIRATES FLY PAST MCC IN THRILLER” reads the headline in today’s Gulf News, sports page.
“Fly Emirates”, the cricket team of Emirates Airlines, recorded a thrilling 3 wicket win over the visiting MCC.
Mention of the MCC brings back nostalgic memories of when the MCC team *was* the England team. MCC toured India several times.
The website www.lords.org states “The (MCC) touring programme will begin on 4th January, when an exceptionally strong MCC squad will leave London to play in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. The party will include Jonathan Batty (Surrey's new captain), two ex-England players (Dougie Brown and Jason Gallian), and a former Pakistan international (Iqbal Sikander).
MCC earlier used to play countries (like India). Now they play airline cricket teams. Or, alternatively, airlines teams – specifically the Emirates team – has become so strong that it can take on the MCC single handed and win! Which option do you prefer?
MCC and the England official side seem to go hand in hand. Where one is, the other is not far behind.
Here is what the cricket side www.cricinfo.com had to say about the MCC’s presence and its message reaching far and wide:
“Over the years, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has been the body that sets the tone for the spirit of the game. Despite being headquartered at Lord's, their message reaches all the far corners of the globe where the game is played. It came as little surprise, then, that the MCC was hard at work in Bangalore too. Left stacked on a table was a neat set of flyers; one side had on it a striking image of Sachin Tendulkar playing a square drive. Under it was a quote from the little master: "Cricketers should always respect their opponents." Wise words indeed, but ones that are often forgotten in the heat of battle. On the other side of the flyer, there are little notes about various aspects, including the Responsibility of Captains, Players' Conduct and Fair & Unfair Play. If one is unconvinced about the role of the MCC with regard to keeping up the high standards of sportsmanship once followed, one need look no further than the fact that they have printed copies in Hindi and Marathi as well, just to reach out to young children in India.”
These days, money is all corrupting. Tons of money, that is. Just imagine, Attapattu of Sri Lanka wakes up one fine morning to see Sri Lankan Rupees 1.1 million staring back at him. Here’s the official report from www.cricketfundas.com:
“Police investigators are looking into the discovery of a large sum of money found in hotel room of Sri Lanka's limited-over squad captain Marvan Atapattu after the team checked out at Kandy last week.
The Sri Lankan police Criminal Investigation Department was informed that Rs 1.1 million was found by the Kandy hotel's staff after the conclusion of the December 10-14 Test match between Sri Lanka and England, which ended in a draw.
"We're investigating the recovery of a large sum of money from a room in the hotel where the Sri Lankan cricketers stayed in Kandy," an investigator said on the condition of anonymity.
The news about the money's recovery was made public by the Sunday Observer newspaper, which did not identify the player but said he was a "top order batsman, who has never bowled".
But Atapattu stepped out of the team's dressing room at the start of the fourth day's play in the third and final Test match in Colombo to clarify his position to reporters.
"I have nothing to do with that money," Atapattu said. "I don't carry such huge amounts of money while playing. I don't know to whom the money belongs. Other people have stayed in that room before me and after I left the hotel," he added.”
“The man selling his own and cricket's great shame is former South African captain Hansie Cronje. He is seeking the highest bidders from the world of print and electronic media, to serialise his own story of how he cheated his way right through his career as captain of the South African team.
These words are words that another cricket site has to say about Hansie Cronje.
“You only live once” the saying goes “and if you live it right, once is enough”.
Back to the clean world of sports in the Emirates.
How could a team like Fly Emirates beat the MCC? Was it talent alone? Was it bad luck? Was it match fixing? Was it Dubai belly that incapacitated the MCC team? We’ll never know.
So why not be charitable about it?
Well done, Emirates Team!
Right next to the story that Emirates beat the MCC is another smaller one.
“FLY EMIRATES TOPLAY IN ENGLAND”.
The victorious lads are all set to play against Lord’s Taverners cricket team at Windsor Castle on June 13th.
Any bets on who will win?
posted by Prakash Subbarao's Blog at
10:20 PM
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