MIA

Had a couple of days of solid business - not much happened while I was out, did it? Just the two semi-finals, a couple of offices raided, questions asked in Parliament, the odd billion dollars going into franchises and 'coming out white', Lalit having to play a few shots off the back foot for a change... Thought so - business as usual. It's why the IPL kicks ass. Come back soon, boys.

The meeting this afternoon was enlivened by a discussion about CB Fry's ability to jump backwards onto a mantelpiece. That, and the sheer scale of the man's life, retains its ability to astound...

True stories

Terrific Line and Length column over at the Times today from Patrick Kidd. A superlative Boycs anecdote and the answer to the KP question Michael Vaughan is asked the most [yes he did].

Very superstitious...

I have a new bat. It's a freebie, thanks to a friend of mine who has access to such things. I am in his debt, because this bad boy has every flavour you might crave: a true, straight grain on flawless white, slim shoulders, a long, sleek fin on the spine that reminds me of the old Slazenger V12 and a deep, low bow made for English pitches.

Best of all, it tips the scale at 2lbs 8 and a quarter of Her Majesty's ounces, a rarity in these days of railway sleeper cudgels. I've been given several bats over the years, and this one is the first I'd say I might have picked out myself. It sort of flows; it's a magnificent thing.

I've taken it to the nets and it's all that it should be, given the limitations of its owner. There's just one thing, a little thing, a daft thing that's never happened to me with any new bat before, ever. The first ball I faced with it, I nicked behind. It was only from the bowling machine, and the nets were packed and noisy, so I'm the only person on earth who knows it happened. But you know, I know.

I'm not superstitious in day-to-day life. I don't care about walking under ladders. I'd screw up any chain letter without thinking. I sometimes count magpies, but that's about it. I've never been superstitious about playing, probably because it's only ever been a bit of fun, an escape.

I always think of Vinod Kambli, though - Vinod, that glorious and doomed enigma, damned by hubris, caste [allegedly] and mental demons, the man who ended up with nine rubber grips on his handle. I remember too Graham Thorpe's endless tinkering with his bats, Steve Waugh's red rag, Sachin's right pad and so on, ad infinitum.

Batting, like anything that demands repetition, has elements of obsession to it. It requires something from your inner life. When you bat, ultimately, you are alone in a team game. Even someone as iron-hard as Steve Waugh took comfort in superstition, or at least in repetition.

So the fact I nicked that first ball kind of bugs me. Should I not nick the first ball I face in a match, maybe it will go. If I do, maybe it'll go too. I'm just telling myself I'm not superstitious, either way. You?

Education, education, education

'I'm not even going to try and pronounce that!'

Commentator Simon Doull, when the word 'Imperious' appeared on the big screen during RCB vs Mumbai.

Tremwatch II

Number of games Surrey have played this season: 2

Number of matches Chris Tremlett has missed as the club aim to 'manage his workload': 2

This one could run and run... [unlike Tremmers]

Old Boy

For a 147 year-old, the Wisden Almanack is a forward-thinker, the anachronistic [who else is putting out 1700 page books in 2010?] but glorious oldest swinger in town. It's an adopter of that trending religion Sehwagology, having [rightly] voted the great yet humble one World Player of the Year for the second time running. It even contains its first recorded swearword - courtesy of an Australian, natch. Under Scyld Berry, it's a thunderer, too, taking righteous aim at the guilty.

Which makes its selection of Five Cricketers Of The Year not so much disappointing as uninspiring. Stuart Broad, Graham Onions, Graeme Swann, Matt Prior and Michael Clarke - well, to use another modernism - it's all a bit meh isn't it. It's also centered deeply around the Ashes and dismissive of T20 cricket.

The award needs a little decoding. Since the Almanack began, the selection of the five has been based on play in the English summer. That lasted until 1997 when, progressively, the editors wanted to recognise the way that Sanath Jayasuriya and Sri Lanka had reinvented the game at the 50-over World Cup. That in turn remained until 2004 and the introduction of the World Player of the Year and the Test Team of the Year, when the selection reverted to the English season.

That again feels outmoded. The world has changed since 2004. The last English summer included the T20 World Cup, which featured giant contributions from Tillakaratne Dilshan, Umar Gul, Abdul Razzak, Chris Gayle and Shahid Afridi. Dilshan's impact on batting was arguably as electric as Jayasuriya's back in '96 - he even coined a new shot. The tournament was a triumph, for the hosts, for Pakistan and for cricket. It, and they, deserved recognition.

It would be churlish to decry the players who did get the award. All of them, especially Clarke and Swann, illuminated a fine series that suffered only in comparison to its 2005 predecessor. But Wisden looked forward in every aspect except this one, and they missed a trick when they did. 

Don't wake David Stewart up, it's nice where he is...

'Our players are now on 12-month contracts and to get real value out of that, we want Surrey players playing in the off-season in big tournaments. If we could combine with some of the bigger clubs around the world to create tournaments that Surrey teams could play in, in South Africa or India, that would interest us a lot. That is the sort of thing we are exploring.' - David Stewart, Chairman, Surrey CCC, 9 April 2010.

Great idea Dave - you mean a bit like this one?

It must be enjoyable to visit the parallel universe that the people who run county cricket live in. It's a peaceful place, with lots of deck chairs, and meetings with some other jolly good chaps where you have tea and decide that everything should probably just carry on, because it's a rather nice day outside and the cheque from the ECB is due about now anyway...

Maybe they should start selling holidays there. I'd like to book in for a couple of weeks sometimes. Restful. In the meantime, they're back to considering an idea they had three years ago, for city franchises. You know, a bit like these ones.

NB: Those Surrey players David has under contract: Rory Hamilton-Brown, 22-year-old captain, 10 first class games, 25 T20 games; Chris Tremlett - currently being 'rested to manage his workload' [number of games Surrey have played this season: 1]; Mark Ramprakash - oh let's face it, no-one else ever picks Ramps, however glorious he remains. And he spent his pre-season doing this. Surrey's first result of the season in Div II: lost by 208 runs.

NNB: An interesting post from David Hepworth about a man who sounds a bit like this one. Who can think of a job for a fellow like that?