April 2005

Legends kickstart Bradman Foundation
(Times of India, 21.4.05)

More on the Bradman Foundation's expansion into Indian terrain. A "Legends" ODI triseries involving India, Australia and a third team. In August. While the Ashes are on.

To quote from the TOI item:

"The tournament will give Indians an opportunity to see players like Greg Chappell, Richie Benaud, Merv Hughes and Dean Jones take on Indian greats," [Bradman Foundation director Richard] Mulvaney said.

Future test cricketers on show: Bangladesh tour Oz
(Scott Lamond/ABC Online, 22.4.05)

ABC Local Radio at Wide Bay in Central Queensland has done a feature on the touring Bangladesh Under-19 team which is currently in town playing a Queensland Academy of Sport selection. They seem to be having quite a successful tour of Australia at the moment.

New coach will stay on till 2007 World Cup, says Nair
(Sajith Balakrishnan/Thatscricket.com, 21.4.05)

Interview with BCCI secretary and Kerala Cricket Association president SK Nair, which demonstrates all the drive, dynamism and transparency that has made the Board the role model for state-of-the-arts sports administration that it is today...

Whatmore a wanted man as BBC come calling
(Simon Briggs/Daily Telegraph, 21.4.05)

Dav Whatmore has just extended his contract to coach the Bangladesh team. When he's not busy doing that, he'll be doing commentary for BBC Radio on England's Tests against... um, Bangladesh...

The Bradman name is brutally protected from commercial exploitation in Australia. So how is it that the Bradman estate's exclusive agent - the Bradman Foundation - is flogging biscuits invoking The Don's name as its brand?

The Roman Catholic Church has a new Pope, and I have revamped my cricket blog yet again. It's now being done in Wordpress, same as this. I promise it will be different. I can't promise it will be interesting, though I try. I can't promise I will update it often, and I can't promise that I will try. All of which fails to explain why I have done four entries so far today, two of them being commentaries on Powerpoint demonstrations.

That link again (except that I didn't give it to you before): http://cricket.rickeyre.com/blog/.

Each week (or whenever I remember to do so, which will probably be three or four times a year), I'll link to the latest cricket-related items on The Bladder. Alas, you're unlikely to see anything new from Lumpy Stevens (currently 461st in their list of all-time most popular contributors) in the foreseeable future.

SportAccord, a high-powered annual convention run by the GAISF, ASOIF and AIOWF, is currently under way for this year in Berlin. While the 2005 event seems to be dominated by the five aspirant cities for the 2012 Olympics hawking their stuff, the ICC's very own Malcolm Speed was on deck yesterday giving a talk on "The integrity issue - the impact of betting on sports".

One of the most grandiose cart-before-the-horse schemes imaginable is the BCCI's dream of their own 24/7 cricket TV channel. It's an exciting concept in theory, but remember that this is seen as a solution to the BCCI's chronic inability to sell television rights in a coherent fashion.

Last week, BCCI representatives Lalit Modi and IS Bindra gave a powerpoint presentation of the findings of a feasiblity study into BCCI-TV. There would be a copy of the powerpoint display on the BCCI's website except that... err, the BCCI doesn't actually have a website.

Indians should not play cricket, says Mulayam
(Vinay Krishna Rastogi/Sify.com)

The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh: "Cricket is not our game, wrestling is."

Hello Vince McMahon, outsourcing opportunity here??