Tuesday, March 20, 2007
World Cup debuts: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Firstly, I must issue a disclaimer: Dwayne Leverock is not ugly, just that the Good, the Bad and the Chunky isn't quite as catchy a title.
Watching Bermuda vs. India yesterday, I saw Leverock launch to this right to snaffle a one-handed catch at first slip (or as David Lloyd later quipped: "He covers first, second and third slip"), the other side of the story was the bowler: 17 year old Malachi Jones taking a wicket with his first ever World Cup delivery. OK so India turned up the pace and scored the highest World Cup total of all time and then registered the biggest win in World Cup history, but that moment will live in Leverock, Jones and all the viewers' mmemories forever.
contrast this with Zimbabwean World Cup debutant, Friday Kasteni. Coming in to open the batting for the Zimbabweans, he was clean bowled first ball. I've had the same experience (definitely twice and maybe three times) and it's not good. I guess you can say that Monday wasn't Friday's day.
Watching Bermuda vs. India yesterday, I saw Leverock launch to this right to snaffle a one-handed catch at first slip (or as David Lloyd later quipped: "He covers first, second and third slip"), the other side of the story was the bowler: 17 year old Malachi Jones taking a wicket with his first ever World Cup delivery. OK so India turned up the pace and scored the highest World Cup total of all time and then registered the biggest win in World Cup history, but that moment will live in Leverock, Jones and all the viewers' mmemories forever.
contrast this with Zimbabwean World Cup debutant, Friday Kasteni. Coming in to open the batting for the Zimbabweans, he was clean bowled first ball. I've had the same experience (definitely twice and maybe three times) and it's not good. I guess you can say that Monday wasn't Friday's day.
Labels: Bermuda, Dwayne Leverock, Friday Kasteni, Malachi Jones, Zimbabwe
Monday, March 19, 2007
Ever seen a fat guy dive?
Look at the big guy go, you'd have thought Uthappa had snicked a burger to first slip. Well, Leverock moved like a gazelle and snaffled it one-handed. He then did a wobbly dance, whilst other members of the team who ran after Jones, the bowler, and then bundling him. Jones then started to cry with all the emotion. All gone a bit downhill for the Bermudans since though with Sehwag finally finding some form and spanking this lot around the park.Labels: Bermuda, Dwayne Leverock, India, Malachi Jones
Monday, March 05, 2007
He's just spinning around
Down the years, England have had a disturbing habit of playing spin with as much confidence as a frustrated virgin in a swingers bar. Shane Warne might as well be bowling an invisible ball and then there's Murali, Harbajhan, Mushie, Saqlain and Kumble. Bloody hell, I even remember New Zealand's Matthew Hart deceiving England back in the 1990s. But Bermuda's Dwayne Leverock? Well quite. This guy is on the burly side of burly. He's a big lad but he's just finished with figures of 2-32 off 10 overs - the wickets of KP and Collingwood quenching his appetite. According to the gospel of all things cricket, Cricinfo Leverock is not the "fleetest of foot in the outfield".Mind if Leverock can turn it wildly, you got to think that monty is going to rip this lot out in quick order. Here's hoping anyway.
Labels: Bermuda, Dwayne Leverock, England, KP, Paul Collingwood
