Those Indian school kids and their world record partnership

A couple of people have contacted us to question why we haven't included a post about the recent world record partnership of 720 between B Manoj Kumar and Mohammed Shaibaaz Tumbi (spellings from Cricinfo) for St Peter's High School in Hyderabad.

Well, we didn't want to repeat ourself. We could have focused on the fact that cricket is a fantastic sport where schoolboys can set world records. We could have focused on Vinod Kambli who, together with Sachin Tendulkar, held the previous record of 664. Vinod Kambli played 17 Tests, averaged 54.20, but bizarrely gained no further Test recognition. We could even have focused on just what percentage of the two boys' shots went for four. They made 720 in just forty overs and didn't hit a single six.

What we actually would have done, would have been to describe the achievement thus, like we always do:

Imagine you're playing cricket on your own. You're throwing a ball against a wall and then hitting it. Every time you hit the ball, you rather generously give yourself six runs, even when you blatantly mis-hit it. Even then, with everything going your way and no rules to slow you down, it's really, really hard to score that many runs.

That way of looking at run-scoring feats applies almost universally. The only exception is Matthew Hayden's former world Test record score of 380 against Zimbabwe: Anyone could have done that. It was essentially a worthless achievement. A non-achievement, even.

Brian Lara: Legend, master, genius

Sporting hyperbole gets devalued over time. The phrase that originally had such bite falls into regular usage and becomes commonplace.

Once upon a time you had to be mythical to be a legend. This was refined in the sporting world and the word came to refer to the greats of yesteryear. More recently, players still plying their trade (or 'art') have been labelled legends. Now all you have to do is hit a resolute thirty and you're a legend in the eyes of the fans.

Enough! It's making it hard to explain the true class of Brian Charles Lara, because here is a batsman who lords it over all others. Today, Brian Lara hit a hundred before lunch - the fifth batsman to do so. Having reached his hundred off only 77 balls, he slowed down, but he's still there on 196 not out, having cut, pulled and driven the Pakistani bowling attack into cowering submission.

Danish Kaneria apparently bowled quite well, but at one point 29 balls to Brian Lara were dispatched for 60 runs, including 26 off one over: The kind of over that divides a great batsman from the rest for longer than just a mere six balls. To think that the other day we were describing the melancholy feeling that came with thinking that each Brian Lara hundred could be the last. He's not finished yet. Not even nearly, judging by his current form.

In light of this softening of the vocabulary of sport, we're struggling to sum this up. We're going to have to revert to more everyday speech. Perhaps that will have more impact in a world where every second cricketer is described in terms that would make Don Bradman blush:

It's very difficult to compare different batsmen, at different times, against different bowling attacks. But insofar as it's possible to do this, Brian Lara has, at times in his career, batted better than just about anyone else has ever batted.

Mohammad Yousuf earns the ultimate accolade

We were starting to get a bit worried about Mohammad Yousuf's run of form. There comes a point where a cricketer has performed so exceptionally, for so long, that there's nothing left to say. At this point it's hard to muster the superlatives to laud them as they deserve. What do you do?

You issue them with a Transformer, if you're us.

Yes, Mohammad Yousuf is so richly deserving that we're imploring the ICC or the PCB or any other cricketing acronym, to present him with Scourge (pictured). Look at him. Look at Scourge. What a smashing Transformer. You've really got to be going some to be deserving of Scourge. What an honour.

Mohammad Yousuf, having hit YET ANOTHER hundred today, has now scored more Test runs in a calendar year than anyone... Ever. Well done, that man. His nine Test centuries this year are also a record.

Shane Warne's 700th wicket

"Ooh. Look at me. Look at me. I'm retiring. Look at me. Look at me. I can take more Test wickets than anyone else."

No-one's impressed, you know.

Makhaya Ntini: 300 Test wickets

Makhaya Ntini has today taken his 300th Test wicket. No mean feat and one that's taken us slightly by surprise.

He's been around a while and he's always taken wickets, but 300? When did that happen? Oh, that's right: Today. That's what we're writing about.

One thing we like about Ntini, other than the fact that he's fast, aggressive and supremely fit, is the way he bowls from really wide on the crease on occasions. Getting close to the stumps is certainly and advantage for a quick bowler, but you can get carried away with it.

Ntini bows from all over the place. A batsman may think he knows where his off-stump is, but Ntini occasionally goes so wide that a batsman leaving the ball might find that very off-stump on its way to meet the keeper.

Another thing we like is that he's hardly ever injured. Some fast bowlers, like Shane Bond and Simon Jones, play about one match in twenty. It feels like it's a bit of a treat when they're actually on the field. Makhaya Ntini treats you every day. He's like an indulgent relative who says 'never mind what your mother says - here's more sweets'. Only he's better than that, because we don't like sweets. And we DO like fast bowling.

And ANOTHER thing that we like (they're coming thick and fast now) is that you just have to type 'nt' and his name pops up in the tagging field below, because no-one else has the sheer BALLS to start their name with a combination of consonants like that.

England's lowest one-day score: 86 all out v Australia at Old Trafford

We were there. We were fortunate enough to witness England's worst ever one-day score first-hand. It was quite something. However, unlike today's 110 all out, there were at least some mitigating factors. They don't excuse a score of 86 all out, but they paint today's débacle in an even harsher light.

At Old Trafford in 2001, Australia had the decency to bat first, so there was at least a decent amount of cricket to watch and the result wasn't crystal clear after about the first two overs. We seem to remember it being a day-nighter, although we could be wrong. It was certainly very damp, because Australia's innings was cut short by rain.

So England were always going to have the worst of the conditions and then it rained to compound this. Those are the mitigating circumstances. Steve Waugh recognised these factors and in a masterful piece of captaincy set the most aggressive fields imaginable, despite England only requiring 212 off 44 overs. England felt the pressure and couldn't lay bat on ball.

It was fascinating in a morbid kind of way. They were fields with slip cordons longer than for a Test match. Did Australia think the ball was doing THAT much? Shouldn't England's batsmen be cashing in on all this space? Perhaps England had too much to think about, because wicket followed wicket.

For the record, Paul Collingwood played in that match, as he did in England's second-lowest total of 89 against New Zealand and as he did today in the 110. Poor guy.

James Benning helps Surrey to world record one-day score

The 2007 Ones To Watch are already putting 2006's to shame, even if they are largely the same players.

Surrey hit a world record 496-4 against Gloucestershire yesterday. Ali Brown's 176 off 97 balls was perhaps the headline-grabber, but James Benning's 152 off 134 balls was perhaps the more intriguing for the future.

We like James Benning. James Benning makes us right about stuff. The last time we were right about something was when we were five and Matthew said that America stretched all through the Arctic, Europe, Asia and Africa. We didn't even manage to make Matthew accept that he was wrong on that occasion.

Alistair Brown, 268 in a one-day match

Yesterday Alistair Brown hit 176 off just 97 balls in a one-day match against Gloucestershire. Incredibly, this isn't even remotely his highest score, for he's hit two one-day double-hundreds. No other first-class cricketer has yet managed this. His best innings was 268 against Glamorgan in June 2002.

You'd think maybe Alistair Brown should be in England's one-day team, but at 37 he's perhaps a little old, even if Paul Nixon seems to prove otherwise. He did get 16 one-day international caps, but surely it should have been more. This is a man who's hit 14,000 first-class runs at 43, so he's not just some slogger with the occasional on-day.

Besides, what kind of an on-day is 268 off 160 balls? Nobody's THAT lucky.

Matthew Hoggard, 200 Test wickets

We felt that we should do some sort of tribute to Matthew Hoggard in honour of his taking his 200th Test wicket. If you watched Hoggard bowl today then that's probably tribute enough.

He swung the ball, bowled an immaculate line and threw in the odd slower delivery. He flies in the face of our fast-bowler worshipping policy. He bowls at about 80 miles an hour, but he's as devastating a bowler as England have got. He's no supporting act to Flintoff and Harmison. You can read our slightly dated post about how he's a strike bowler here.

To celebrate Matthew Hoggard's 200th Test wicket, we're going to crack open a beer and watch a bit of telly. It's how he'd want it. We might even have a pizza. What's that you say, Matthew? You think we should definitely have a pizza? Very well. For you, Matthew. Just for you.

Nathan Astle’s double hundred against England at Christchurch in 2002

We were days from the nearest road in Nepal when this match took place. When we got back to the land of newspapers, we read the match reports, day-by-day. We couldn’t get our head round this match.

First of all, let’s set the scene. England batted first and promptly lost two wickets in the first over. They recovered to 228 all out, thanks largely to Nasser Hussain’s 106. In reply, New Zealand were toppled by an immense spell of swing bowling by Matthew Hoggard, who took 7-63 in bowling them out for 147.

England’s second innings subsided to 85-4 and then 106-5 and at this point it’s clearly not a batsmen’s game. Then, out of the blue, Graham Thorpe and Andrew Flintoff shared a partnership of 261. Thorpe scored what was at the time, the third fastest Test double hundred off 231 balls. Flintoff weighed in with his debut century, hitting 137 off 163 balls. England eventually declared on 468, setting New Zealand 550 to win. Then Nathan Astle went mental.

New Zealand eventually made 451 and lost the match, but nobody remotely cares about that. In New Zealand’s innings two batsmen passed 50. Mark Richardson hit 76. Nathan Astle hit 222. Not only that, he scored them off 167 balls.

Astle’s first hundred took 114 balls. 100 to 150 took a further 22 balls and 150 to 200 took a mere 17 balls. Seven consecutive Andy Caddick deliveries over the space of two overs went for 4, 6, 6, 4, 6, 6 and 6.

The ninth wicket fell at 333. Nathan Astle clearly still thought that he could win the match. Why? Why did he think this? Not only that, but he thought that he’d try and complete the task within an hour. England bowled good balls; Astle thrashed them for six.

Logic and reason decreed that New Zealand were dead and buried. The history of cricket proved with facts that New Zealand were essentially dead and buried. The loss of nine wickets and the fact that his batting partner was injured should have told Nathan Astle that New Zealand were dead and buried. Nathan Astle just decided to ignore all that. Instead he concentrated on carting the ball over the stands.

This is why we will always love Nathan Astle. He’s the man who out-Shahid-Afridied Shahid Afridi.