Adam Gilchrist – The Best Keeping Skills in World

Adam Gilchrist stood behind the sticks for some really world class speedsters and spinners and rarely did he find himself in trouble keeping against them simply because his keeping skills were so good.


But there was one bowler who really tested Gillie’s keeping skills and the funny thing is that he was not even a specialist bowler, but, a part timer.

And Guess who that part timer was? It was Michael Bevan.

As per Gilchrist, the reason why he found Bevan the most difficult to keep for was because of the variations in his bowling and also because of the inconsistency in his line.

Bevan was a wrist spinner and that too a southpaw wrist spinner. So, he couldn’t quite figure out from his hands which way he was going to spin the ball.

Secondly because of the fact that Bevan didn’t use to bowl on a regular basis, he didn’t have that much of control over his direction and he would always err in terms of his line. . (more…)

AUSTRALIANS RULE THE IPL

The impact of Australians in the Indian Premier League cannot be overemphasized.


Even franchises acknowledge this; hence the increased confidence in Aussie stars. The current edition of the IPL – in its tenth year – sees half the competing teams coached by Australians.

Since the inception of the tournament, players like Adam Gilchrist, Mike Hussey, Mathew Hayden and the others, have played a crucial role in their respective teams. Even now, David Warner is an outstanding talent for the defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Rising Pune Supergiants’ Steve Smith is in great form. The Kangaroos skipper displaced local favourite Mahendra Singh with his fine blend of skills. Elsewhere at Kings XIPunjab, Glenn Maxwell beat England national team captain Eoin Morgan and West Indies skipper Darren Sammy to the captainship armband despite the latter leading his team to victory at the 2016 World T20. Last season captain Murali Vijay was sidelined for the rest of the season, so a new leader had to be appointed and it had to be yet another Australian cricket star. (more…)

Mitchell Johnson is no longer the fastest bowler of the Australian Cricket Team

Mitchell Johnson is no longer the fastest bowler of the Australian Cricket Team. It’s Mitchell Starc who has taken over from him.

Starc has come a long way over the last one year. He was quick before as well, but, he was pretty much a directionless bowler and that’s why, he would find himself in and out of the team all the time.

Six or seven months before the World Cup, he was not a certainty to be picked in the Australian squad.

But, not only did he get back into the frame with his hard work, he ended up winning the World Cup for Australia on his own, grabbing 23 wickets.

And, out of those 23, most were the top order wickets. In the final match against New Zealand, it was Starc who started it for Australia by cleaning up Brendan McCullum in the very first over with a swinging yorker.

McCullum could have tilted the game in favour of his team there with 10 overs of ferocious hitting, but, with him getting out; New Zealand fell behind and never recovered.

Starc’s speciality is that apart from being quick, he swings the ball as well and he swings it right through the innings. (more…)