A starry knight and a heroic dad
Will Luke looks back at The Week That Was
Will Luke
18-Jun-2007
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Fredad of the year
He hasn't played a Test since Sydney in February but Andrew Flintoff is still collecting medals. There is something faintly disconcerting about sportsmen appearing in the news, on TV programmes - anywhere - when they're not fulfilling their full-time role. If they are injured, as Flintoff is, we expect them to be wearing the hangdog expression of a prisoner. At the very least, they should certainly not be smiling or appearing to enjoy themselves. But we'll excuse Freddie simply because he's Freddie, but also for crow barring (strictly in a metaphorical sense) David Beckham out of contention. Still, it's uncomfortable to think of cricketers as celebrities - even if they do win and lose the Ashes on occasion.
He hasn't played a Test since Sydney in February but Andrew Flintoff is still collecting medals. There is something faintly disconcerting about sportsmen appearing in the news, on TV programmes - anywhere - when they're not fulfilling their full-time role. If they are injured, as Flintoff is, we expect them to be wearing the hangdog expression of a prisoner. At the very least, they should certainly not be smiling or appearing to enjoy themselves. But we'll excuse Freddie simply because he's Freddie, but also for crow barring (strictly in a metaphorical sense) David Beckham out of contention. Still, it's uncomfortable to think of cricketers as celebrities - even if they do win and lose the Ashes on occasion.
Run, Hick, run
Young cricketers no doubt have huge aspirations. Ambitions of playing for their county and country; a Test match hundred on debut; bowling Ricky Ponting with a leggie, and other such fanciful dreams are all high on the agenda. Yet who would foresee making 40,000 first-class runs? Graeme Hick must have, though, and on Sunday finally passed the milestone which Worcestershire supporters have been earmarking since, well, about 1987. He achieved the landmark against Warwickshire at Edgbaston during his 49, becoming only the 16th player to reach the mark and is the first man to pass it since Graham Gooch 13 years ago. Taking the rather simplistic (and stingy) assumption that a third of those runs came in boundaries, Hick has run 350 miles while batting. Although quite why you need to put such gargantuan quantities of runs into perspective, we're not sure. It's a lot. One particularly studious reader wrote to Cricinfo to tell us that Hick's millionth run, assuming his current rate of scoring, would (will?) take place in the year 2607.
Young cricketers no doubt have huge aspirations. Ambitions of playing for their county and country; a Test match hundred on debut; bowling Ricky Ponting with a leggie, and other such fanciful dreams are all high on the agenda. Yet who would foresee making 40,000 first-class runs? Graeme Hick must have, though, and on Sunday finally passed the milestone which Worcestershire supporters have been earmarking since, well, about 1987. He achieved the landmark against Warwickshire at Edgbaston during his 49, becoming only the 16th player to reach the mark and is the first man to pass it since Graham Gooch 13 years ago. Taking the rather simplistic (and stingy) assumption that a third of those runs came in boundaries, Hick has run 350 miles while batting. Although quite why you need to put such gargantuan quantities of runs into perspective, we're not sure. It's a lot. One particularly studious reader wrote to Cricinfo to tell us that Hick's millionth run, assuming his current rate of scoring, would (will?) take place in the year 2607.
Get them young
Damn Australia and her dominance. The men's team continue to beat all and sundry, and the women reign supreme too. But unlike the men's national team who squeeze every last wicket out of their ageing stars, the ladies recruit young. Very young. 16-years-old young, in fact: Ellyse Perry is still at school but, next month, will probably make her one-day debut. What were you doing when you were 16? Chances are you most certainly were not representing your country. She isn't a random selection, either. "Ellyse is an extremely athletic and talented prospect and her selection fulfils the needs of the team as the fourth pace-bowling option," Margaret Jennings, the former Australia captain and chair of selectors said. She'll be a veteran at 20.
Damn Australia and her dominance. The men's team continue to beat all and sundry, and the women reign supreme too. But unlike the men's national team who squeeze every last wicket out of their ageing stars, the ladies recruit young. Very young. 16-years-old young, in fact: Ellyse Perry is still at school but, next month, will probably make her one-day debut. What were you doing when you were 16? Chances are you most certainly were not representing your country. She isn't a random selection, either. "Ellyse is an extremely athletic and talented prospect and her selection fulfils the needs of the team as the fourth pace-bowling option," Margaret Jennings, the former Australia captain and chair of selectors said. She'll be a veteran at 20.
Arise, Sir Ian ... if you can
Is Ian Botham shy and retiring? It's not a question that is asked too often, for the simple reason that there is only one logical answer. No, he is not. Or at least, so we thought, for last week viewers of Channel 4 saw a different side to one of the Queen's knights of the realm. Appearing on Gordon Ramsay's F-Word - a vehicle to allow Ramsay licence to swear at inappropriate moments to all his "mates", as far as I can tell - Botham was quietened, even red-faced and slightly nearly humiliated. In a "blind" wine-tasting, Ramsay handed him a glass of Montrachet retailing at £106 a bottle. "With my palate," he guffawed, "I wouldn't drink that." Botham's choice for the most expensive and sought-after? A bottle of paint stripper from Barry Manilow. Even knights make mistakes, occasionally.
Is Ian Botham shy and retiring? It's not a question that is asked too often, for the simple reason that there is only one logical answer. No, he is not. Or at least, so we thought, for last week viewers of Channel 4 saw a different side to one of the Queen's knights of the realm. Appearing on Gordon Ramsay's F-Word - a vehicle to allow Ramsay licence to swear at inappropriate moments to all his "mates", as far as I can tell - Botham was quietened, even red-faced and slightly nearly humiliated. In a "blind" wine-tasting, Ramsay handed him a glass of Montrachet retailing at £106 a bottle. "With my palate," he guffawed, "I wouldn't drink that." Botham's choice for the most expensive and sought-after? A bottle of paint stripper from Barry Manilow. Even knights make mistakes, occasionally.
If Botham's knighthood was a long time in coming, spare a thought for poor old 81-year-old Mary Loy (nee Allitt). Loy, a former Australian captain, has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division.
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Winding up with Trevor Baylis
As a Middlesex supporter, I was gunning for John Emburey to get the position of Sri Lanka coach. But something strange is afoot over there, for they appear to have appointed Britain's most eccentric inventor, Trevor Baylis, while pretending he is someone entirely different by adding an extra S to his surname. Baylis is by no means a genius - his inventions amount to making electricity via clockwork: the wind-up radio, wind-up torches and so on - but we're unsure how useful he'll be as Sri Lanka's coach. Perhaps he'll equip bowlers with headsets on the field, only operable when the bowler exceeds 5mph when sprinting in from his mark.
As a Middlesex supporter, I was gunning for John Emburey to get the position of Sri Lanka coach. But something strange is afoot over there, for they appear to have appointed Britain's most eccentric inventor, Trevor Baylis, while pretending he is someone entirely different by adding an extra S to his surname. Baylis is by no means a genius - his inventions amount to making electricity via clockwork: the wind-up radio, wind-up torches and so on - but we're unsure how useful he'll be as Sri Lanka's coach. Perhaps he'll equip bowlers with headsets on the field, only operable when the bowler exceeds 5mph when sprinting in from his mark.
And finally...
We all thought Stuart Clark came from nowhere but, as the photo on the right suggests, he was a star all along: playing Forrest Gump.
We all thought Stuart Clark came from nowhere but, as the photo on the right suggests, he was a star all along: playing Forrest Gump.
Will Luke is a staff writer on Cricinfo and would like to thank Mike at Flintoffsashes.com for the Forrest photo