Number Uno!!

Even if it's for a day or two, South Africa is now No.1 in ODI Ranking.There is a neck to neck fight for the spot as Australia will be playing their next game against arch rival NewZealand on Sunday and they can again retain their number 1 position provided they are in the mood for winning.
Beating Australia comprehensively by 4-1 in Commonwealth Bank series, The Proteas have shown their utter determination which they started at the beginning of test series.Oz’s could only managed to win second game of the series by 5 runs and undoubtedly been surpassed in all aspect of the game by them.
All round performances from Albie Morkel and new sensation of SA “Duminy” once again carried battle on their shoulders with greats like Kallis, Boucher and captain smith missing in the side. Standing captain Johan Botha made it very clear from the word go to keep up the good work that team had done in test series.
The other front runners are “Men in blue” yes Team India who currently are on their juggernaut with 6 consecutive ODI win. They still have 4 games to play against Sri-Lanka.
Shams & Wags will come with another update on India vs SriLanka series after second game to be played on 31st Jan’09 at Premadas Stadium(D/N). Stay tuned!!

Prasad Vs Sohail

Here's some thing from the yesteryears and am very sure every single cricket lover would have had registered deep in the memories.
Have a look, sit back and enjoy.

Stepping down the wicket

Stepping down the track would be very much associated with Haydos, but stepping down and out from the wicket is his latest call. Matthew Lawrence Hayden, the 37 years old smashing Oz’s southpaw, who along with Justin Langer use to make a deadly opening pair has finally decided to call it quits. After a year long bad patch and struggling to collect runs, it was about time for him to make way for the others.
He was in a very pedestrian form against the Indians when they toured India. All eyes were set over him to see him play the magical innings that he had once played in 2001 to mark his classical come back. But that was not to be the case this time around in 2008.
Be it home or away, Hayden had a tremendous record .He had broken Lara’s record of 375 runs in Test by scoring 380 against Bangladesh.
Undoubtedly he will always be remembered as a player who could dominate in both form of game and could even charge down the wicket to the fast bowlers. Many cricket fans know the way he used to sit on wicket way before start of play (guess that’s one of his strategy to dominate wicket unlike bowlers). It was like yoga for him.
For our readers to know he was also a right arm medium pace bowler who bowled 9 over in test and an over in ODI (can any of our reader guess against which country he bowled an ODI over – no prizes) but with no success in terms of wickets.
He is a veteran of 103 & 161Test and ODI matches respectively. Amassing a total of 8625 test runs and 6133 ODI runs, with 59 tons( 30 in Test, 29 in ODI) and no one can forget his highest test score of 380 runs against Bangladesh.

While a few days back he was all over the news stating that so far he has not considered his retirement, suddenly his retirement plan has been a jolt for the Australian cricket (I won’t be surprised if they already wanted it to happen).
Other than his exploits with the bat , he will also be remembered over this strong words – Obnoxious Weed

Proteas Smittened!!

Time and again we have seen this happening and this makes every cricket fan proud, no matter of which ever country he belongs. In comes Graeme Smith with a broken finger walking towards the pitch at the Sydney Cricket ground where the celebrations had already begun thinking that Australia had won as Smith won’t come into bat.


Survival of the last wicket was the need of the hour. He was playing with a loose bottom hand as he broke his finger in the first innings of the last match, and he was virtually out of the match until he had to come to bat. Walking in at number 11 was probably the first and the last time he would have had come to bat. Makhaya Ntini gave a good support at the other end.

11 balls to survive was the last equation. Inside edge of the bat and sound of the timber made the Australians cry out of joy as they won the match of the already lost series. Magical moment for Mitchell Johnson one can say as he as able to convert the most certain draw into a victory.

All praises for the captain Smith as it takes lots of courage to bat with a broken finger as one can understand the pain one has to go through in the case of such injuries. No pain is greater when it comes to play for the country.

If we refresh our memories, same courage of the sorts was shown by our former cricket captain who retired in the series against the Aussies. Yes Anil Kumble had come to bowl with the broken Jaw and took the priced wicket of Brian Lara.

While such thing happens on the cricket field, there is a thick layer of pride that floats in the air and the result of the match if it goes in the direction that’s not desired (a loss) seldom hurts.

Time to check your cricket knowledge

It becomes real exciting to solve the crossword. nd it becomes all the more exciting when it come to solve the cricketing crossword.
Here's an effort to refresh the memory and check out the cricketing knowledge on remembering the names.
Try solving this puzzle and do let us know your views in forms of posting comment.