The Zabeel Park Massacre!!

Natural Stone CC

Never in all my time have I witnessed murder on the cricket pitch quite like this. OK, so murder may be a little bit strong, especially as most of the shots played were more of the powerful grace than vicious brutality. But either way it was pretty one-sided stuff.

It also raised the question of harnessing the UAE’s cricketing talent. If ever there was a case for having a full time UAE cricket coach, last night was it.

Anyway, to understand what I’m on about,  follow the jump…

England Look To Tap Minority Talent

Young minorities don't want to play for England

The inaugural Wisden City Cup, a competition to discover untapped cricketing talent in the inner cities, was won by Times Tigers, a team from East London sponsored by this newspaper, who beat Barclays Eagles by 24 runs at Hornsey Cricket Club.

The Tigers made 129 for seven in the Twenty20 match, bolstered by 45 from Maruf Chowdhury, before bowling out the Eagles in the nineteenth over for 105.

The idea for the competition came from a conversation between Scyld Berry, the editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, and Angus Fraser, the former Middlesex and England bowler, in a bar in Sri Lanka on England’s tour there in 2007. Fraser complained that Middlesex had only one player of Asian descent — Owais Shah — and no black players on their books.

Chris Lewis, Phil DeFreitas and Devon Malcolm on the '95 Ashes Tour

“When I was playing we won the County Championship with five Afro-Caribbeans in the team,” Fraser said speaking about his days as an international cricketer.      “I realised there were a lot of cricketers in Middlesex’s catchment area who we were not aware of.”

A year later, Fraser became the county’s director of cricket and Berry, recalling their conversation, suggested a competition to find that talent.

KP In All Time English XI

KP is the only non-English born player in the All time XI

South African born England star Kevin Pietersen has become the only player in the last two decades to make it into Cricinfo’s All Time England XI.

However, there is no place for Andrew Flintoff, Marcus Trescothick, Alec Stewart or David Gower in a team selected by a team of journalists, former players and commentators.

Does KP deserve a place in the team ahead of the likes of Gower and Gooch? Have your say…

New Issue Out Now!

September’s issue of Middle East Cricket is out now! Scroll down for a sneak preview of what’s inside…

Getting Frank with Freddie

He may well be at the height of his powers; his body says it’s time to give up, but it’s certainly not the last we’ve seen of Andrew Flintoff. So what’s next for England’s talisman? We investigate why might he be responsible for a drastic shake-up of the game, and how Test cricket has made him T20 gold dust

September issue of Middle East Cricket magazine

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Trouble in Paradise? The future for West Indian cricket

Outside the Caribbean the West Indies are everyone’s second favourite team, but could ongoing wrangling, player strikes and general disaffection mean the end of West Indian unity? A legend explains…

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Enemy in the ranks Wasim Akram on coaching the next Indian crop – The interview

PepsiCo brand Gatorade has opened its first cricket academy in India, specifically for fast bowlers, and Pakistan swing guru Wasim Akram is head coach. He tells ME Cricket that all’s fair in love and war…

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The cat’s out the box Puma cricket enters the Middle East

Dynamic, edgy and modern. We take a look at the unveiling of Puma cricket newest range of equipment which is now available in the Middle East

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A league of extraordinary gentlemen Cricket’s Champions League – A preview

Cricket’s Champions League, the richest cricket tournament in history gets underway in India during October, after ESPN paid very nearly $1bn USD for the commercial, marketing and sponsorship rights to the league for 10 years. We preview cricket’s richest event

Ah ha, so there is a plan! The rope-a-dope

England performed a contortionist routine yesterday, that Houdini himself would surely have ranked among his best and will go down as one of the greatest sporting moments in English history.

It was the story of how a team shackled by inadequacy refused to be bound by the overwhelming ferocity of their opponents and walk away high headed, into the Welsh evening sun, as if to say ‘is that all you’ve got?’

The truth is that for the best part of five days they were bullied, dominated and man-handled into near submission by an Australian team everybody thought were there for the taking before the series started. Watching England refuse to buckle yesterday was brought back memories of watching Nigel Benn take a first round pummeling from Gerald McClellan in 1995, and watching him drag himself off the canvass to stop his marauding opponent.

Australia threw everything. Like two heavyweights throwing bombs at each other for 12 rounds; it was epic. England barely had the strength to throw a punch come the closing rounds and yet they galvanized every ounce of spirit to see it through to the end.

Monty presented a bat as wide as the river Taff and Jimmy looked more solid than Ayres Rock itself, all this without mentioning Paul Collingwood’s dogged obstinacy. Seldom has a team come such a distant second and looked so triumphant.

Anderson celebrates a famous draw. Getty Images

England did what they do best, and fought when all seemed lost. It’s the English way.

You decide who takes the momentum into Lords later this week, but one thing is for sure, Australia will know that they need to find something more to topple the English this time around.

As for England? If the rope-a-dope tactics were good enough for Mohammad Ali, they are certainly good enough the English cricket team. Get ready for them to pounce on their tiring opponents in the later rounds of the fight, i.e Edgbaston and the Oval… just as long as they make it that far.

Who’ll win the Ashes? It’s all on that first ball

We all know cricket is about momentum and the flow of energy, and in no other Test series is the impact of its first ball so crucial to the outcome of a series as in the Ashes.

Harmison’s dreadful start to the 2006/7 Ashes left most of us feeling like the boys may as well pack up and book the next flight back, and Michael Slater’s crashing square cut from the first ball of the 1994/5 series evoked a similar emotion.

England started best in 2005, despite losing the Test, they had the better of the initial exchanges. Whoever wins that first hour’s play, may hold the key for the rest of the series.

Fortune favours the brave

It was the right call. The ECB could either have chosen to continue going around in circles over the Steve Harmison issue, or they could have chosen, bravely, to seek some form of closure. Leaving him out of the Ashes squad was the fairest decision to both the ‘team’ and to Steve.

There are detractors of course. He did rattle the Aussies, Hughes in particular, during their warm-up match against the Lions last week, and he showed glimpses of what he is capable of even against the best in the business. But they have been there before.

A warm up match for the Lions or a county fixture for Durham is so far removed from the pressure pot of Test cricket that they are barely comparable. We all know that he has the ability to unsettle any opposition batsman, but he also has the propensity to become equally unsettled himself should the slightest sign of hardship show up.

Perhaps Steve is just best as a large fish in a small county cricket pond. It is an environment he is comfortable with. The security of players who all respect him, opposition who fear him and without the external interferance of prying media, all bring the best out of big Steve. The buzz; the challenge of Test cricket doesn’t suit everyone. It certainly doesn’t suit Steve.

Harmison dimisses Hughes for the second time in the match. Getty Images

Should England win the Ashes he would still have gone some way towards making a contribution to it. But show him the limelight and he’ll run for shade.

England will be a stronger unit for his absence.

Back with a bang!

Mohammed Yousuf celebrates his 24th Test century. Getty Images

Was there ever any doubt? Almost as though he never left, MoYo strides back out to the crease with the star of Pakistan emblazoned on his breast, to pick up from where he left off back in December 2007.

Just watching Pakistan play now, it’s hard to believe the world of cricket went without them for so long and if Mohammed Asif is able to make his comeback at some stage this year (although it won’t be in Dubai due to his ban) they will be a serious force. Although they still miss a steady opening pair. Salman Butt just doesn’t look the part.

Fast forward six months and the best Pakistan XI in batting order would be: Manzoor, Shehzad, Khan, Yousuf, ul Haq, Malik, Akmal, Asif, Aamer, Ajmal, Gul with Danish Kaneria 12th man.

That pace attack Asif, Aamer and Gul would not be far off the best in the business. Give the team a little stability and they could be back to their world class best.

July issue of ME Cricket out NOW!

We bring you an exclusive diary of the eventful ICC World T20 tournament, an interview with India’s undercover speedster and look at whether the pink ball with be the saviour of Test cricket! All in this month’s ME Cricket, out now only Dhs 5!

Recall the grandads Australia, if you want T20 respect

For a minute, well perhaps 45 seconds to be more precise, I felt sorry for Ricky Ponting watching his team flap around like a fish out of water during their match against Sri Lanka yesterday.

Although there was a point during their innings, that I thought they would win it, it’s kind of telling that they didn’t. It’s funny how momentum plays such a vital role in T20 cricket, and for the most part they never appeared to have any during their innings yet they managed a more than respectable 159.

The real irony is that the very guys who they relied on so heavily during the glory days of their Test supremacy, are precisely the same guys who have been setting the world alight in the shortest, newest form of the game in the IPL.

While provisions were made for the absence of Hayden, Gilchrist and Warne in the Test side, no one has been able to replace their effectiveness in the shortest form.

For all the posturing and claims to having the best domestic structure, it seems their only hope of success in the newest format, is to recall dad’s army and batten down the hatches for the swathes of media abuse they will receive. It’ll be much easier to swallow with the elusive World T20 crown sitting on the mantlepiece.