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A day to savor for Salman Nazar

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Siddhartha Vaidyanathan on a Canadian cricketer who came to the party at Brampton A day before this year’s GT20 tournament, Geoff Lawson set Salman Nazar 14 to get in one over. This was in the indoor nets at Brampton Sports Centre. Lawson, the former Australian fast bowler, who is now the coach of the Toronto Nationals, was taking a short run-up and hurling the ball towards 28-year-old Salman, a left-arm spinner who works assiduously on his batting. Lawson seemed to be increasing the pace of his throws with every ball.…

GT20 Season 2 sees surge in attendance

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GT20 Season 2 sees surge in attendance Opening match reached record-high viewership world-wide   July 26, 2019, Brampton, Ontario, Canada – Following its debut season in 2018, Global T20 Canada has arrived bigger, better and stronger this year.  Season 2 saw a surge in viewership of 12 times more viewers from last year’s opening match compared to viewers world-wide in this year’s opening match, while in-person attendance reached almost full-house in the 5,000-seat stadium.   Day 3 of this annual cricket tournament starts tomorrow July 27, featuring the Toronto Nationals and the…

The tiny joys of watching Sunil Narine

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By Siddhartha Vaidyanathan Sunil Narine treats the off-side like Chris Gayle treats running: it doesn’t really matter. As far as Narine is concerned a whole half of the ground can disappear. That vast arc from third man to long-off, maybe even the two sightscreens: it can all vanish from the face of the stadium. And it won’t make a difference to Narine. He belongs to the leg side. The blind-side, some call it, but there is nothing blind about how Narine sees the ball and slams it, over and over,…

A day of firsts as Vancouver Knights show their class

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Match review by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan The first match of GT20 Canada 2019 was, as you would expect, full of firsts. Defending champions Vancouver Knights began with an emphatic win. We’re here to tell you how: The first toss: Chris Gayle won it and burst out in laughter. He laughed so hard that he almost forgot to tell the Toronto Nationals captain Yuvraj Singh what he was about to do. He was about to start his interview with Mike Haysman when he turned around and said: “Oh, we’ll have a bowl.”…

It’s Yuvraj v Gayle in blockbuster opener

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Yuvraj Singh of Toronto Nationals and Chris Gayle of Vancouver Knights pose for a photograph with the trophy during the unveiling of the GT20 trophy at the team hotel in Toronto in Ontario on 24th July 2019. Photo by: Pal Pillai /Focus Sports/ GT20

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Tournament preview by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan Yuvraj Singh and Chris Gayle. Both left-handed batsmen, both handy spinners. Arriving on the international scene within a year of each other. One going on to play 304 ODIs, the other 298 (and counting). Each with an ODI average in the mid-30s. Each with a strike-rate around 87. Monster six-hitters. Now T20 freelancers. Gayle returning to the scene of his international debut (v India, in Toronto, September, 1999). Yuvraj in his first trip to Canada – though the hospitality he has received and the food…

Jimmy Neesham interview By Siddhartha Vaidyanathan

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‘If you’re feeling nervous, it means you have a chance to do something really special’ Jimmy Neesham interview.   By Siddhartha Vaidyanathan  It’s been ten days since the World Cup final. You had tweeted then: “Kids, don’t take up sport. Take up baking or something. Die at 60 really fat and happy.”You still believe that?  I think kids can ideally take up baking and sport and live till 90 and be in good shape [laughs]. That was an attempt to eke a bit of humor out of what was a…

Sri Lanka’s Malinga to quit ODIs after first Bangladesh match

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Colombo (AFP) – Veteran Sri Lankan pace bowler Lasith Malinga will retire from one-day international cricket with the first match of a three-match series against Bangladesh, skipper Dimuth Karunaratne said on Monday. Malinga was named to the 22-man Sri Lanka squad for the series with matches scheduled for July 26, 28 and 31 at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. But speaking at the team’s press conference in the Sri Lankan capital, Karunaratne confirmed the 36-year old fast bowler and former captain would only appear in the first game. “He…

Stokes stars in England’s greatest ever win

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England is the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup champions for the first time after Jofra Archer held his nerve to help beat New Zealand in a nail-biting Super Over at Lord’s. The Black Caps needed two to win from the final ball but a superb throw from Jason Roy in the deep saw Martin Guptill agonisingly run out, as Kane Williamson’s side finished runners-up for the second successive men’s World Cup. Jimmy Neesham had struck a magnificent six to leave New Zealand with seven to win from four balls but…

England into W Cup finals

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A new nation will lift the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup after England joined New Zealand in the final with an emphatic eight-wicket victory over Australia at Edgbaston. Australia had won the toss and chosen to bat, but a blistering opening spell from Chris Woakes (3/20) and Jofra Archer (2/32), removing both openers in the first three overs, set the tone for a fine bowling effort. Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow then added 124 for the first wicket, their third successive century partnership in this tournament. While Bairstow fell for…