Cricket World Cup 2007

How about

2008-12-22T18:40:00.000Z

linking

England and South Africa five overs into their respective innings

2007-04-17T18:09:00.001Z

England were 5-0.

South Africa are 44-0.

Michael Vaughan two off 22 balls

2007-04-17T14:03:00.001Z

You show 'em Michael. You show 'em!

We really like Michael Vaughan. We don't know why we're nitpicking about this.

Michael Vaughan nought off 16 balls

2007-04-17T13:56:00.000Z

He's building up to something big is Michael Vaughan. We can tell. Maybe nought off 18 balls or something like that. Who knows.

Good job we spent all that time writing all those player profiles only to virtually abandon the site come the World Cup, wasn't it?

Ian Smith's commentary

2007-03-29T14:28:00.000Z

"Chris Gayle's timed the pants of that"

Gayle and Tharanga fall within about a minute of each other

2007-03-28T14:08:00.000Z

We said that Chris Gayle would be great in this World Cup. He's out for virtually nothing. We said that Upul Tharanga would be great in this World Cup. He's also out for virtually nothing.

Why didn't we tip Matthew Bloody Hayden?

Sri Lanka make mincemeat out of Bermuda

2007-03-16T10:02:00.000Z

A lot of these early mismatches are characterised by the big team playing quite cautiously and deliberately so as to remove even the faintest chance of an upset.

Sri Lanka batted fairly sensibly against Bermuda, eventually reaching 321-6. Then they dispatched the Bermudan batsmen for fun, eventually bowling them out for 78.

Mahela Jayawardene said that Bermuda had bowled well, which was nice of him.

J P Bray

2007-03-15T16:53:00.000Z

We want Ireland to beat Zimbabwe. That way no-one will suggest that Zimbabwe should come back into Test cricket. Zimbabwe are too poor to play Test cricket and they're not getting any better. They've far more important things to sort out than their cricket team too.

At present Ireland are 113-5. Go, er, J P Bray! Go J P Bray!

J P Bray is 63 not out. Maybe HE should be playing Test cricket. On his own. He'd fare no worse than Zimbabwe, except maybe there'd be a lot of byes.

Canada v Kenya

2007-03-15T10:26:00.000Z

Kenya walked this one. Steve Tikolo, who's really rather good and may well have made a decent Test player had he been born elsewhere, took 2-34 and then hit 72 not out.

At 35, there's every chance that this will be Steve Tikolo's last World Cup, although playing for one of the lesser lights, he may well continue. We like really good players who play for not-very-good teams. We like the occasions when they surprise arrogant young players from more recognised cricketing nations.

The desperate yearning for Steve Tikolo to take Shaun Tait or someone to the cleaners starts here.

Australia v Scotland

2007-03-15T10:23:00.000Z

Australia won. Ricky Ponting scored his billionth international hundred. Mike Hussey was stumped for four.

No words come to mind.

Damien Fleming calls Andrew Symonds a fat bastard

2007-03-14T14:27:00.000Z

At least we think it was Damien Fleming. We can't be bothered checking.

Anyway, some Australian on the BBC's Test Match Special coverage of Australia v Scotland said that Symonds was 'nearly five players in one'. We know that he's large, but five seems to be pushing it a bit.

Why is it Test Match Special anyway. It's not a Test match and being as it's Australia against Scotland, it's hardly 'special'.

West Indies v Pakistan

2007-03-14T09:03:00.000Z

West Indies won. No-one scored a massive amount. No-one took too many wickets.

Do Pakistan feel like they've ballsed it all up on day one? With the result of this match most likely being carried through to the next round, Pakistan are up against it already. It's a harsh system, but at least it gives these early matches some spice.

Shahid Afridi's not even playing

2007-03-13T14:52:00.000Z

We tipped Shahid Afridi as a player to watch during the World Cup. About three minutes ago we clung to the hope that he might make some contribution in this West Indies v Pakistan match.

Shahid Afridi isn't even playing...

Bad news for anyone who's put money on Chris Gayle to be top-scorer in this World Cup

2007-03-13T14:47:00.000Z

Chris Gayle was out for two. We picked Chris Gayle as a player to watch during this World Cup. We're frequently wrong about just about everything.

Still - early days. Shahid Afridi could still make an impact.

World Cup starts... with fireworks!

2007-03-12T13:47:00.000Z

Look at that. Fireworks. When did fireworks ever herald anything bad?

There are people dancing in funny costumes as well. That's not always a good sign, but mostly it is. Allied to the fireworks we're probably on safe ground. The fireworks assure of us of something good and the dancers, from this 'good' standpoint, reinforce it.

Very few things are unequivocally positive like fireworks are. Even cake appears at funerals. Fireworks though - always good.

Ravinder Bopara, England - Player profile

2007-03-09T13:57:00.000Z

Ravi Bopara has played a single one-day international. He scored seven not out and took one wicket. It's kind of hard to say much about him.

That's Mal Loye in the background giving him that creepy look, by the way.

Back to England squad

James Anderson, England - Player profile

2007-03-09T13:50:00.000Z

James Anderson is very ace. James Anderson can seem very quiet and very serious. James Anderson has done very good things at the World Cup before.

We sometimes worry that because of his unusual bowling action, the batsman might strike the ball straight into the back of his head while he's in his follow-through. It's never happened yet.

We once sat at fine-leg at Old Trafford for a county match. James Anderson was fielding there. There was no-one else within a hundred yards. It was very uncomfortable. We felt like we should speak to him, but if we did it would freak him out. Then two girls came to sit right in the front row, directly behind him. They had a whole stand to choose from. That would freak anyone out. A conversation was the least of his worries, it turned out.

Back to England squad

Shaun Tait, Australia - Player profile

2007-03-09T13:39:00.000Z

Shaun Tait once said that he didn't worry too much about where the ball went when he bowled, as long as he was bowling quickly.

Unfortunately Shaun, that would make you 'crap'. Being able to aim is what separates international bowlers from crap ones.

To be fair, he does bowl quickly, which is something to be commended. He bowls in excess of 90mph now, which means he can get away with being a bit erratic. When he made his international debut in England, he was slower than three of England's bowlers and less accurate than anyone. Quite what he offered as a bowler was open to debate.

Back to Australia squad

Glenn McGrath, Australia - Player profile

2007-03-09T13:34:00.000Z

How many times have we all seen Glenn McGrath looking grumpy at a batsman? A million?

That's what Glenn does. He used to take wickets with frightening consistency, but he's retiring in about a fortnight and he's got one eye on the clock. It's like when you're leaving a job and you can't see any point putting any effort in.

As the Australian players get increasingly likeable, it's reassuring that Glenn McGrath's never made the slightest concession to amenability.

Back to Australia squad

Mitchell Johnson, Australia - Player profile

2007-03-09T13:32:00.000Z

Mitchell Johnson's a 'once in a generation bowler'. We should probably honour that by writing something about him, but we're feeling a bit overworked and can't be bothered.

He likes to do star-jumps, apparently.

Back to Australia squad

Brad Hogg, Australia - Player profile

2007-03-09T13:23:00.000Z

Sorry? Is it 1962? Why does Brad Hogg look like a character from The Wonder Years? It takes excellent brylcreeming skills and an exceptional side-parting to perfect a look like that.

We're only writing about Brad Hogg because he was going to be the only Australian we hadn't done something for.

Back to Australia squad

Brad Hodge, Australia - Player profile

2007-03-09T13:19:00.000Z

Brad Hodge was dropped from Australia's Test team while averaging nearly 60 and having recently scored a double hundred.

Life's a bitch, but then again, he's only scored three one-day international fifties and here he is in Australia's World Cup squad.

Back to Australia squad

Matthew Hayden, Australia - Player profile

2007-03-09T13:17:00.000Z

Matthew Hayden gets on our bloody nerves. He thinks he's ace.

Here's the page on our other site where we repeatedly make Matthew Hayden sound like a dick. We're not adding to it here. Not yet anyway.

Back to Australia squad

Brad Haddin, Australia - Player profile

2007-03-09T13:12:00.000Z

Brad Haddin has made one horrendous mistake in his cricketing career which has cost him dearly: He has consistently been Brad Haddin, rather than Adam Gilchrist.

If he'd been Adam Gilchrist, he'd have played loads of international cricket and everyone would say how ace he is. As Brad Haddin, he's mostly been standing around waiting for Adam Gilchrist to fall over and break a thumb or something.

It's a schoolboy error.

Back to Australia squad

Stuart Clark, Australia - Player profile

2007-03-09T13:10:00.000Z

Stuart Clark's middle name is Rupert. Stuart Clark has either a weirdly shaped head, or a subtly unusual haircut - we're not sure which.

Stuart Clark is quite old and arrived in Test cricket fully-formed, taking wickets for fun. In one-day cricket he's not so handy.

Back to Australia squad

Ricky Ponting says he doesn't know what his best bowling attack is

2007-03-07T11:23:00.000Z

We don't even have the right ones included in the Australia squad, so he's a step ahead of us.

Why did we write about Jason Gillespie? We even said at the time that it would be a miracle if he were included in Australia's squad.

We should really start to do some serious reading about 'prioritising'. We'll start now rather than sorting out all the totally inaccurate squads that we've got on this site.

First signs of World Cup fever are in the air

2007-03-05T19:31:00.000Z

Writer rests fingers on keys, thinks, publishes four sentences about how lazy he is and then shuts his computer down.

World Cup fixture list is freely available

2007-03-05T19:30:00.000Z

Writer can't be bothered copying it down and publishing it on World Cup site.

World Cup squads are out

2007-03-05T19:29:00.002Z

Writer looks at his lengthy versions of each of the squads, imagines the work that would go into trimming them down and decides not to do anything.

Several warm-up matches take place

2007-03-05T19:29:00.001Z

Writer feels weary and neglects to write anything about them.

Jon Lewis, England - Player profile

2007-01-23T17:01:00.000Z

Every May, Jon Lewis takes about 50 wickets and everyone wonders why he isn't playing for England. As the year wears on, he takes fewer and fewer wickets, but still performs respectably.

By the end of the year, England have pretty much convinced themselves that Jon Lewis is a bowler who can only thrive in English early-season conditions, but he's done so well that he inevitably goes on one of the England tours.

Secretly, the England selectors hope that Jon Lewis is a crushing failure in alien conditions, so that they can forget about him for good.

Jon Lewis promptly takes bucketloads of wickets.

Back to England squad

Jamie Dalrymple, England - Player profile

2007-01-23T16:56:00.000Z

We didn't really like Jamie Dalrymple when he first got picked for England.

He keeps scoring runs and he takes his fair share of wickets, so we've changed our mind. Okay? We can do that. We can admit that we were wrong. We were wrong.

We quite like Jamie Dalrymple now. Not a massive amount, because 'Dalrymple' is a bit of a posh name, but we do like him.

Back to England squad

Paul Nixon, England - Player profile

2007-01-23T16:50:00.000Z

Paul Nixon's 82-years-old. He does 10,000 sit-ups a day. He never stops talking.

England have literally no wicketkeepers who they dare pick for international cricket.

Back to England squad

Mal Loye, England - Player profile

2007-01-23T16:44:00.000Z

Mal Loye is quite old. Mal Loye plays a ludicrously dangerous slog-sweep shot to fast bowlers.

If you tried to play the same shot to, say, the slowest spinner in international cricket, you'd still lose roughly all of your teeth. Mal Loye tries this shot against 90mph deliveries and he hits them for six.

It's mighty impressive.

Back to England squad

Monty Panesar, England - Player profile

2007-01-23T16:40:00.000Z

Absolutely everyone loves Monty Panesar. Fact.

Monty Panesar duped England's one-day selectors by being a spin bowler who can't bat. Spin bowlers HAVE to be able to bat in England's selectors' book.

Turns out he's no worse a batsman than most England players anyway.

Back to England squad

Ed Joyce, England - Player profile

2007-01-23T16:32:00.000Z

Ed Joyce is from Ireland. Astute observers might note that this isn't England.

Ed Joyce qualified for England by living there for ages. Then he made his debut against Ireland. Then, two days later, he knackered up his ankle quite horrendously while fielding.

Ed Joyce is still getting started with England, really. He's good though.

Back to England squad

Bangladesh

2007-01-05T16:58:00.000Z

Aftab Ahmed
Mohammad Ashraful
Tapash Baisya
Habibul Bashar
Saqibul Hasan
Shahadat Hossain
Tamim Iqbal
Mashrafe Mortaza
Shahriar Nafees
Javed Omar
Mohammad Rafique
Mushfiqur Rahim
Syed Rasel
Abdur Razzak
Rajn Saleh

Main page

Other Bangladesh players who we wrote about but didn't make the squad:

Enamul Haque Junior
Khaled Mashud

Shane Watson, Australia - Player profile

2006-11-09T12:53:00.000Z

Blonde guy, called Shane, plays for Australia. Nothing unusual there. The difference is that this one's sort of wussy and metrosexual.

Let's continue listing: Blonde like an albino, overly blue eyes, looks like he's going to cry, ripped.

We don't really know what 'ripped' means, but we saw a picture of Shane Watson with his shirt off and someone said he was 'ripped' and who are we to argue.

Back to Australia squad

Dwayne Bravo, West Indies - Player profile

2006-10-31T11:38:00.000Z

In a side chock-full of great names, Dwayne Bravo's stands out. One half of the triumphantly-named partnership along with Tino Best.

Cricket-wise, Dwayne Bravo's mighty tidy. A genuine all-rounder in a world of make-weights. He's a top batsman and a better than reliable bowler with a killer slower ball.

We've just realised he's one of our favourite cricketers and we never even knew.

Back to West Indies squad

Marlon Samuels, West Indies - Player profile

2006-10-31T11:34:00.000Z

Sort of all right batsman. Sort of all right bowler.

Hopefully he'll amount to something more during the World Cup. Although not everyone can be a winner, so maybe not. We don't know. Whatever. His batting's held in fairly high regard by a few people who know more than we do.

Back to West Indies squad

Runako Morton, West Indies - Player profile

2006-10-31T11:25:00.000Z

'Runako'. Just you try and dislike a guy called Runako.

He's colourful, is our Runako. He got chucked out of the West Indian academy. He skived cricket by lying about the death of his grandmother. Once he was arrested after a 'stabbing incident'. We don't know what happened with that. It's probably on the internet somewhere.

At the end of the day, though. He's still called Runako. He sounds like a character from a Japanese cartoon: "Runako! You have extraordinary power!"

Back to West Indies squad

Carlton Baugh, West Indies - Player profile

2006-10-31T11:22:00.000Z

Carlton Baugh's a wicketkeeper. He hasn't done much yet.

We're glad that we found a photo of his back. That'll bulk up his entry a bit at least.

Oh no. Wait. We know. He's got two surnames. That's worth pointing out. We've warmed to him immeasurably. There are plenty of people with two first names (eg, John Howard) but a much smaller number with two surnames. It balances things out. The West Indian team is actually a useful resource for spare surnames.

Back to West Indies squad

Corey Collymore, West Indies - Player profile

2006-10-31T11:18:00.000Z

Corey Collymore's strengths are all the boring ones like 'accuracy'. We've a sort of grudging respect for Corey Collymore, but no more than that.

For a period it was reassuring for West Indies' captains to have Collymore in the side. At least they knew what he was likely to do. The Windies bowling attack is probably strong enough that they can do without him now. He can fulfil the 'reliable back-up' role.

Back to West Indies squad

Jerome Taylor, West Indies - Player profile

2006-10-31T11:07:00.000Z

People always say that the West Indies don't produce fast bowlers any more. They do. Jerome Taylor's one. It's just that they're not always all that good.

Jerome Taylor IS good, from what we've seen. We'd like to see more. If he's good we WILL see more. And we will see that he is good. So will you.

Back to West Indies squad

Tino Best, West Indies - Player profile

2006-10-31T11:02:00.000Z

Tino Best is a fast bowler and he acts like one. That's quite refreshing.

He's the kind of guy who'll bowl five bouncers in an over. We seem to remember him talking to himself half the time when he first appeared as well. Maybe he was talking to the batsman. He's a lively sort of guy anyway. Pity he's not too good yet.

All the same, he's one half of the triumphantly-named partnership along with Dwayne Bravo.

Back to West Indies squad

Darren Sammy, West Indies - Player profile

2006-10-31T10:56:00.000Z

Darren Sammy's initials are D J. He's DJ Sammy! Actually he's DJG Sammy: A cricketer and doubtless a decent bloke, unlike the other DJ Sammy.

The other DJ Sammy's so worthless that he chose to do a cover version of Don Henley's Boys Of Summer, already one of the worst songs ever recorded - and he made it worse.

Back to West Indies squad

Saqibul Hasan, Bangladesh - Player profile

2006-09-14T15:20:00.000Z

Saqibul Hasan's our guy. Let's capitalise that in fact: Saqibul Hasan's Our Guy. See this post at our other site for more information as to why.

Some people think that he's a medium-pace bowler. We're fairly certain that he's a spinner, but we're often wrong. He's definitely a quick-scoring batsman though and he's definitely five-years-old. Or about that.

Back to Bangladesh squad

Enamul Haque Junior, Bangladesh - Player profile

2006-09-14T15:19:00.000Z

Sounds like a dark dentistry practice, is actually a fine spin bowler.

He's 19. Like the rest of the Bangladesh team. Give them 10 years and they'll be wiping the floor with everyone. Mark our words.

Back to Bangladesh squad

Shahadat Hossain, Bangladesh - Player profile

2006-09-14T15:18:00.001Z

Shahadat Hossain is pretty quick. We're not sure exactly how quick, whether it's Bangladesh-quick (everyone's a left-arm spinner) or 100mph quick.

Back to Bangladesh squad

Abdur Razzak, Bangladesh - Player profile

2006-09-14T15:18:00.000Z

Unlike Abdul Razzaq of Pakistan, who was formerly 'Abdur', this Abdur is definitely an 'Abdur' not an 'Abdul'. We think.

Back to Bangladesh squad

Mashrafe Mortaza, Bangladesh - Player profile

2006-09-14T15:17:00.000Z

Solid.

Back to Bangladesh squad

Khaled Mashud, Bangladesh - Player profile

2006-09-14T15:16:00.000Z

Khaled Mashud is Bangladesh's wicketkeeper. He hit a hundred against West Indies. He's 30.

Back to Bangladesh squad

Mohammad Rafique, Bangladesh - Player profile

2006-09-14T15:15:00.000Z

We like Mohammad Rafique. He's a wily old gnarl-dog of a spin bowler and a slogging sort of batsman.

He hit a hundred batting at nine against the West Indies once. Mostly he's a bowler though. Bangladesh's main one really.

Back to Bangladesh squad

Habibul Bashar, Bangladesh - Player profile

2006-09-14T15:14:00.001Z

Habibul Bashar is in his thirties and he plays for Bangladesh! It's pretty much unheard of.

He's the captain and he's just about world class. Maybe just under. Not out of place in international cricket, but nothing special. He's an important figure for Bangladesh. They're new.

Back to Bangladesh squad

Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladesh - Player profile

2006-09-14T15:14:00.000Z

Mohammad Ashraful hit a hundred against Sri Lanka and Murali when he was either 16 or 17. He's obviously quite some player.

He's obviously as good as anyone against spin, but he hit a one-day hundred against Australia in Bangladesh's Big Win as well. Mostly he gets out for very little and gets on your nerves, but, you know - sooner or later...

Back to Bangladesh squad

Aftab Ahmed, Bangladesh - Player profile

2006-09-14T15:13:00.000Z

Like most of Bangladesh's batsmen, Aftab Ahmed is 20 and has hit a few promising fifties.

We've no idea whether he'll get better or not. Let's toss a coin: Heads. Aftab Ahmed is going to be really good one day.

Back to Bangladesh squad

Shahriar Nafees, Bangladesh - Player profile

2006-09-14T15:12:00.000Z

Shahriar Nafees has hit a Test hundred. He did it against Australia. He's quite old by Bangladesh's standards. He's 20.

Back to Bangladesh squad

Javed Omar, Bangladesh - Player profile

2006-09-14T15:11:00.000Z

Javed Omar's hit a Test hundred. He did it against Pakistan. Think he got dropped the other day. Can't remember.

Back to Bangladesh squad

New Zealand

2006-09-06T15:42:00.000Z

Shane Bond
Stephen Fleming
James Franklin
Peter Fulton
Mark Gillespie
Brendon McCullum
Craig McMillan
Michael Mason
Jacob Oram
Jeetan Patel
Scott Styris
Ross Taylor
Daryl Tuffey
Daniel Vettori
Lou Vincent

Main page

Other New Zealand players we wrote about who didn't make the squad:

Andre Adams
Nathan Astle
Hamish Marshall
Chris Martin
Michael Papps

Lou Vincent, New Zealand - Player profile

2006-09-06T15:40:00.000Z

Lou Vincent's a batsman. Not a massively good one, but he's better than you.

Back to New Zealand squad

Daniel Vettori, New Zealand - Player profile

2006-09-06T15:38:00.000Z

Daniel Vettori is one of the most senior figures in the New Zealand squad and he's only 27. He's been around since Perestroika.

Daniel Vettori sticks out like a sore thumb in the New Zealand team because he's a spinner. He wears glasses as well, which is all too rare in professional sport. Admittedly, his glasses have become a bit trendy in recent years and he'll have lost much of the dork vote, but he's still to be admired. He can bat a bit these days as well, which is allowed because he's a spinner and not a medium-pacer. It's the medium-pacers' faults that he has to bat at nine.

Back to New Zealand squad

Scott Styris, New Zealand - Player profile

2006-09-06T15:28:00.000Z

You know what we'd do if we were from New Zealand? We'd copy Stephen Fleming or Daniel Vettori or Shane Bond. We wouldn't copy Chris Cairns. Chris Cairns isn't the only decent player of recent vintage to play for New Zealand and yet they all want to be him.

Scott Styris is probably too old to be accused of copying Chris Cairns anyway. Actually, hang on a minute, Chris Cairns was quite fast back in the day. He wasn't a medium-pacer. Who's everyone copying then?

Back to New Zealand squad

Jeetan Patel, New Zealand - Player profile

2006-09-06T15:23:00.000Z

Jeetan Patel's an off-spinner, which is good. He's also not up to much with the bat, which is also good, if you play for New Zealand. You stand out from the crowd.

Back to New Zealand squad

Michael Papps, New Zealand - Player profile

2006-09-06T15:19:00.000Z

Michael Papps is an opening batsman. He gets marks for not batting in the middle-order. He also keeps wicket sometimes, which would stop him from bowling medium-pace. Marks for that too.

We don't really know Michael Papps, if we're honest.

Back to New Zealand squad

Jacob Oram, New Zealand - Player profile

2006-09-06T15:17:00.000Z

Oh please. No more of this. Jacob Oram is Mr New Zealand Cricket: He's a hard-hitting middle-order batsman and competent medium-pacer.

Just what do they do over there? Is all cricket one-on-one to reward ability in both disciplines. It's admirable in its own way, but come on.

Back to New Zealand squad

Chris Martin, New Zealand - Player profile

2006-09-06T14:27:00.000Z

He's got the same name as that guy from Coldplay: Chris Martin. This Chris Martin is a bowler though. His name's the most interesting thing about him, unfortunately.

At least he's a crap batsman, so you can't tar him with the Kiwi all-rounder brush. And yes - there is such a brush.

Back to New Zealand squad

Hamish Marshall, New Zealand - Player profile

2006-09-06T14:22:00.000Z

Quite simply, what do you add to that? We don't know why he hasn't stuck with the look. Why would anybody, given the choice, opt NOT to look like that? Awesome performance.

Hamish Marshall is a batsman. His normal hair's pretty good too.

Back to New Zealand squad

Brendon McCullum, New Zealand - Player profile

2006-09-06T11:32:00.000Z

Brendon McCullum's New Zealand's wicketkeeper, but he's probably worth watching with the bat.

We've only seen him a couple of times, but we'd class him as 'adventurous'. He doesn't bat from the depths of the rainforest or space or anywhere. He just likes to take you, the viewer, on a journey in each innings. That's what people mean when they say that someone's 'adventurous' with the bat.

We can't believe we just wrote that about 'taking the viewer on a journey'. We're pretty ashamed of ourself.

Back to New Zealand squad

James Franklin, New Zealand - Player profile

2006-09-06T11:23:00.000Z

When James Franklin was first called up, we were quite pleased. He was a bowler. As in, he was just a bowler. Not a middle-order batsman who bowled a bit of medium-pace and not a medium-pace bowler who batted a bit. A bowler.

Recently, James Franklin has shown signs of becoming a better batsman. Even though we don't like New Zealand's medium-pace all-rounder production line, we were paradoxically pleased by this. We like to see players improving themselves. It shows a good attitude. We may not like the end product, but we respect a player working at the weaker parts of their games. That's one thing that's great about cricket: Everyone has to bat.

Then we found out that James Franklin had apparently always had 'batting potential'. Now we don't like him because he's not someone who's worked at his game and improved himself unexpectedly, he's just the latest player heading for his rightful place as a medium-pace bowler/middle-order batsman in the New Zealand team.

Back to New Zealand squad

Stephen Fleming, New Zealand - Player profile

2006-09-06T11:17:00.000Z

You have to say that Stephen Fleming is the best captain in world cricket. Those are the rules. We're not going to disagree.

Certainly Stephen Fleming is greatly responsible for making New Zealand stern opposition in one-day cricket. His batting's also come on throughout his career. At this point we'd rate him one of the better one-day batsmen around, capable of match-winning innings.

Back to New Zealand squad

Shane Bond, New Zealand - Player profile

2006-09-06T11:08:00.000Z

Shane Bond is an absolutely fantastic, genuinely quick bowler. Will he be playing in the World Cup? Will he balls. He'll be injured. Shane Bond must have bones made of pine needles and muscles made of head hair. He can barely open his eyes in the morning without straining a retina.

We hope that Shane Bond does play in the World Cup. Shane Bond is definitely worth watching.

Back to New Zealand squad

Nathan Astle, New Zealand - Player profile

2006-09-06T11:00:00.000Z

Now you're talking. Nathan Astle produced this innings, described on our other site, King Cricket. Quite frankly you have to love a batsman who so stubbornly defies reason and not so much mugs a bowling attack, as shoots it in the face with some sort of missile before giving it a communal wedgie.

Until this point Nathan Astle had been pretty much your stock New Zealand cricketer, a middle-order batsman who bowls a bit of medium-pace. Ever since he's been a sort of liberated poster-boy for independent thought and individuality.

Back to New Zealand squad

Andre Adams, New Zealand - Player profile

2006-09-06T10:55:00.000Z

Andre Adams is something of an oddity in New Zealand cricket. Rather than being a batsman who bowls a bit of medium-pace, Andre Adams is a medium-pace bowler who bats a bit.

Back to New Zealand squad

Contact us

2006-09-02T16:09:00.000Z

We can be contacted by e-mail at:

blueandbrown@bluebottle.com

Main page

2006-09-02T16:00:00.000Z

Latest news

Squads:

Australia
Bangladesh
England
India
New Zealand
Pakistan
South Africa
Sri Lanka
West Indies

About

2006-09-02T15:54:00.000Z

We're Blue and Brown. We write King Cricket. This is our site devoted to the Cricket World Cup in 2007 over in the Caribbean.

We haven't actually finished writing the site yet and probably never will, but so far there's loads of player profiles. If you want statistics and stuff, you'd be better off going to Cricinfo, but if you want the real lowdown on the players. This is your place.

Mohammad Asif, Pakistan - Player profile

2006-08-31T14:25:00.000Z

Everyone always seems a bit begrudging in their praise of Mohammad Asif. They always make out like he's one for the purists because he's a subtle sort of bowler. It's rubbish. He's a great bowler. He's just not massively quick. He swings the ball, he seams the ball and he's tall. It's more than Glenn McGrath does and no-one's reigning in their praise of him.

Top drawer.

Back to Pakistan squad

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Pakistan - Player profile

2006-08-31T14:19:00.000Z

Don't let Rana Naved-ul-Hasan's granddad looks fool you. He'd rather knock out your middle stump than pop down to B&Q on a Tuesday for a 20% discount. He'd rather knock your leg stump out than sit in his local pub playing dominos on pension day. He'd rather knock out your off stump than wear seven jumpers, an overcoat and a hat when it's 30 degrees.

He's a swing bowler, by the way.

Back to Pakistan squad

Mohammad Yousuf, Pakistan - Player profile

2006-08-31T14:15:00.000Z

Mohammad Yousuf used to be called Yousuf Youhana before he converted to Islam. We preferred 'Yousuf Youhana' as a name. We'd like to underline that this is purely based on sound: 'Yousuf Youhana' is alliterative. 'Mohammad Yousuf' isn't.

Mohammad Yousuf is always referred to as the 'technician' of Pakistan's Big Three - Yousuf, Younis and Inzy. This means that he's technically the best, but maybe a bit duller than the other two. Everyone's duller than Inzy - there's no shame in that.

Back to Pakistan squad

Younis Khan, Pakistan - Player profile

2006-08-31T13:59:00.000Z

Younis Khan's supposed to be 28. Yeah, right and how old's Abdul Razzaq, 26? What? He is supposed to be 26? That's just ridiculous.

Younis Khan, whatever his age, is a masterly and ferocious batsman. With Inzy and Mohammad Yousuf also in their middle order, Pakistan's line-up is so full of talent it's actually painful to read their names on one teamsheet.

Back to Pakistan squad

Umar Gul, Pakistan - Player profile

2006-08-31T13:55:00.000Z

We always thought that Umar Gul looked quite like the actor Ciaran Hinds, but we could never find a picture of Ciaran Hinds that was good enough. Then we did, but we couldn't find a picture of Umar Gul that looked as much like Umar Gul as we remembered him. Overall we're going to have to accept that Umar Gul doesn't look much like Ciaran Hinds.

Back to Pakistan squad

Mohammad Hafeez, Pakistan - Player profile

2006-08-31T13:51:00.000Z

Mohammad Hafeez is Pakistan's fifth choice opening batsman after Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed and Taufeeq Umar.

Back to Pakistan squad

Taufeeq Umar, Pakistan - Player profile

2006-08-31T13:49:00.000Z

Taufeeq Umar is Pakistan's fifth choice opening batsman after Mohammad Hafeez, Salman Butt, Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed.

Back to Pakistan squad

Yasir Hameed, Pakistan - Player profile

2006-08-31T13:48:00.000Z

Yasir Hameed is Pakistan's fifth choice opening batsman after Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez, Salman Butt and Imran Farhat.

Back to Pakistan squad

Imran Farhat, Pakistan - Player profile

2006-08-31T13:46:00.000Z

Imran Farhat is Pakistan's fifth choice opening batsman after Yasir Hameed, Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez and Salman Butt.

Back to Pakistan squad

Salman Butt, Pakistan - Player profile

2006-08-31T13:23:00.000Z

Salman Butt is Pakistan's fifth choice opening batsman after Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Taufeeq Umar and Mohammad Hafeez.

Back to Pakistan squad

South Africa

2006-08-31T10:47:00.000Z

Loots Bosman
Mark Boucher
A B de Villiers
Herschelle Gibbs
Andrew Hall
Jacques Kallis
Justin Kemp
Charl Langeveldt
Andre Nel
Makhaya Ntini
Robin Peterson
Shaun Pollock
Ashwell Prince
Graeme Smith
Roger Telemachus

Main page

Other South Africa players we wrote about who didn't make the squad:

Nicky Boje
Jacques Rudolph

Nicky Boje, South Africa – Player profile

2006-07-03T20:03:00.000Z

Is Nicky Boje a batsman? Is he a bowler? Well he’s a little of both and a little of neither. He’s a handy batsman, but he bats at number nine, so he doesn’t get much of a chance to show it. He’s a fairly ordinary spin bowler.

Nicky Boje is also still wanted for questioning in India regarding match-fixing allegations. We wouldn’t be the first to question whether it was physically possible for Nicky Boje to underperform.

Back to South Africa squad

Makhaya Ntini, South Africa – Player profile

2006-07-03T20:02:00.001Z

Makhaya Ntini is an athlete. All that talk of players needing sufficient rest and all that? It falls on deaf ears with Ntini. Here’s a man who bowls as quickly at the end of the day as at the start and then afterwards runs laps of the ground to burn off extra energy.

Makhaya Ntini is a fast bowler. It’s a dying art, but Ntini’s carrying the torch.

Back to South Africa squad

Andre Nel, South Africa – Player profile

2006-07-03T20:02:00.000Z

Andre Nel thinks that he’s a fast bowler. He isn’t one, but he acts well enough that many batsmen are fooled.

Just imagine how Nel must feel about Shaun Pollock. Here’s Nel pretending to be a fast bowler, but he can’t bowl fast enough and there’s Pollock, who could bowl fast enough, but chose not to. We bet that Nel throws his breakfast into Pollock’s face every single morning. Every morning. Without fail. That’s what we’d do.

Back to South Africa squad

Shaun Pollock, South Africa – Player profile

2006-07-03T20:01:00.000Z

Shaun Pollock was originally a fast bowler who settled early on for being a medium-pace line and length merchant. This is just unforgivable. His fairly explosive batting makes up for this to a degree, but to be a fast bowler and renounce your calling? Come on. That’s an actual crime. You could literally be arrested for that, yet he’s a hero in South Africa.

Shaun Pollock will be ‘keeping things tight at one end’ during the World Cup. He gave up bowling fast for that…

Back to South Africa squad

Mark Boucher, South Africa – Player profile

2006-07-03T20:00:00.001Z

There was a time when Mark Boucher was one of the better wicket-keeper batsmen, but quite a few players have overtaken him now. He’s no worse than he was, but the bar’s been raised.

We remember Mark Boucher batting at number 10 when he first appeared. That’s 10 in the batting order, he didn’t make his debut round at the UK Prime Minister’s house. Mark Boucher was never a number 10. South Africa love a long batting line-up.

Back to South Africa squad

Justin Kemp, South Africa – Player profile

2006-07-03T20:00:00.000Z

Now you’re talking. Justin Kemp plays a particular role for South Africa. Basically, South Africa’s duller batsmen get the side within striking distance of their opponents total and then when one of them’s out with ten overs to go, Justin Kemp comes in and goes ballistic.

South Africa aren’t out of any run chase until Justin Kemp is out. Back in 1999 Lance Klusener was the stand-out player of the World Cup fulfilling just this role. South Africans will be hoping that Kemp can go some way to equalling Klusener’s feats.

Back to South Africa squad

Ashwell Prince, South Africa – Player profile

2006-07-03T19:59:00.000Z

Ashwell Prince…Ashwell Prince… We’ve already written that Jacques Rudolph is an attritional, dull sort of batsman, but it could just as easily have been Ashwell Prince that we were thinking of. We could probably find out within about ten seconds, but that’s against the spirit of this enterprise.

What kind of a first name is Ashwell anyway?

Back to South Africa squad

Jacques Kallis, South Africa – Player profile

2006-07-03T19:58:00.001Z

Don’t be fooled by commentators or newspaper articles describing Jacques Kallis as an all-rounder – he’s not. Sure, he used to be, but he isn’t any more and no-one’s noticed.

Jacques Kallis is technically a masterful batsman, but your heart won’t race watching him, unless you’ve somehow trained it to race out of the room to make a cup of tea while you slip into a coma. Jacques Kallis can bowl. He doesn’t like doing it and we don’t like him doing it either.

Knowing our luck, Jacques Kallis will probably win South Africa the World Cup, but if he wins it for them, it will never be worth winning again. It will be sullied.

Back to South Africa squad

Jacques Rudolph, South Africa – Player profile

2006-07-03T19:58:00.000Z

We’ve got to admit to being on shaky ground with some of these South Africans. In our head Jacques Rudolph is an attritional, dull sort of batsman. As you may have guessed if you’ve read any other profiles, we’re not actually doing any ‘research’ for this, so what’s in our head goes.

Jacques Rudolph is an attritional, dull sort of batsman.

Back to South Africa squad

Herschelle Gibbs, South Africa – Player profile

2006-07-03T19:57:00.000Z

In a World Cup semi-final, Herschelle Gibbs once caught Steve Waugh and then in trying to launch the ball skyward in the time-honoured fielder’s celebration, he accidentally dropped the ball. Waugh wasn’t out. Waugh is reported to have said: “You just dropped the World Cup, mate,” which is a great quote. It’s fairly clear that he said nothing of the sort. These things are never as good as they’re reported.

Herschelle Gibbs has a magnificent record in all forms of cricket, but is sometimes dropped for mental reasons or something like that. It’s all a bit mysterious. It’s probably something which is well-documented, but we’ve somehow never happened across it.

Back to South Africa squad

A B de Villiers, South Africa – Player profile

2006-07-03T19:56:00.000Z

Sometime opener, sometime middle-order batsman, occasional wicketkeeper: A B de Villiers fulfils many roles. He’s shown a lot of promise and been fairly solid throughout his young career, but South African selectors seem to like dropping him. Given a decent run in one position, he’ll be fine.

Back to South Africa squad

Graeme Smith, South Africa – Player profile

2006-07-03T19:54:00.000Z

We actually don’t mind Graeme Smith, but he does seem to be one of the most unpopular players in the world. He took over the captaincy of South Africa at a very young age and isn’t afraid of upsetting people. That seems to be the problem. He’s a very confident young man who doesn’t act his age. He acts older.

As a one-day batsman, Graeme Smith is very handy. He’s a quick-scoring opener. He also sports the most lumbering physique. He’s not overweight, just top-heavy. It’s like someone welded Geoff Capes’ shoulders onto a high-jumper’s frame. We’re not sure how he remains standing up.

Back to South Africa squad

Australia

2006-05-31T16:41:00.000Z

Nathan Bracken
Stuart Clark
Michael Clarke
Adam Gilchrist
Brad Haddin
Matthew Hayden
Brad Hodge
Brad Hogg
Mike Hussey
Mitchell Johnson
Glenn McGrath
Ricky Ponting
Australian man, Andrew Symonds of Australia
Shaun Tait
Shane Watson

Australia news

Main page

Other Australian players we wrote about who didn't make the squad:

Jason Gillespie
Phil Jaques
Brett Lee
Damien Martyn