#school cricket

[old-etonian]

BOOOOOO

[sgtechs-in]

Rahul Dravid's Son Samit Dravid Produces all rounder Performance in School Cricket

Rahul Dravid’s Son Samit Dravid Produces all rounder Performance in School Cricket

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नई दिल्ली: क्रिकेट के भगवान सचिन तेंदुलकर के बेटे अर्जुन तेंदुलकर से तो अब हर कोई वाकिफ हो चुका है. श्रीलंका के खिलाफ अंडर-19 से अर्जुन अपने इंटरनेशनल करियर का आगाज कर चुके हैं. हालांकि, इस दौरे पर अभी तक अर्जुन कुछ खास छाप नहीं छोड़ पाएं हैं, लेकिन फिर भी सचिन तेंदुलकर के बेटे होने की वजह से उनसे कई उम्मीदें बंधी हैं. अब यह तो वक्त ही बता पाएगा कि अर्जुन तेंदुलकर क्रिकेट में किस मुकाम को…

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[the-glory-of-faf]

The country's best cricketing talent comes from about 40 secondary schools, perpetuating an exclusionist attitude which quotas at higher levels can't counter

Fifteen years ago, a widely celebrated schools cricket match took place in Johannesburg between King Edward VII and Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool - the latter colloquially known as "Affies". Two future South African Test captains, Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers, played for Affies that Saturday, and the fixture featured at least ten cricketers who graduated to first-class cricket. 

Besides de Villiers and du Plessis, four went on to play international cricket: Neil Wagner (Affies) played for New Zealand, while King Edwards' Dane Vilas and Vaughn van Jaarsveld played Test and ODI cricket respectively for South Africa.

In the twilight of a long career, Heino Kuhn, Affies' wicketkeeper-batsman, went on to play T20 for South Africa last year before taking the spot of Stephen Cook (another King Edward graduate, although not one who played in this particular game) at the top of the order in the Test side.

** There's also some interesting commentary about this article, with additional info about school fees, in this Reddit thread. 

[thinking-thought]

Cricket :)

As a little boy growing up in the 90's in India, cricket was a game we all played by default. We played almost everything that could be played on the streets, but cricket had its i-don't-know-what :D. So I grew up playing quite a lot of cricket, and there are some really good memories. Like this one time in school, after a Halloween's night out, we went and played cricket with seniors and won. Or the other time when my group(Red) lost to a group no one really liked(Blue) in the finals of the schools inter group tournament if I can call it that. And then came leather ball cricket. Palace grounds on Saturdays and Sundays. For 2 years. It was nice. I had a really nice coach. Everyone called me Vettori, cos I was a left arm spinner and wore glasses, and I met some really nice people. Its hard to remember their faces, but I do remember a few names. We used to play small matches and I remember when I was made captain for the very first time. Ah, what a day, and I did get the opposition captain out LBW trying to sweep me. :D But we did lose, and I went home crying. I was a kid who really wanted to win. I knew nothing else. There was this one time when I was picked up for video analysis. I was a really proud kid that day. :D Nothing happened after that though. :( But one of the best and worst memories of that period was the tour of Hyderabad. People who paid Rs. 4000 for the tour were selected and we left in a KSRTC Rajahamsa. If I remember right there were 4 teams, under 13,15,17,19. I'm not sure. I was in the under 15 side. We went to the hotel, there was TV, we watched "silli lalli" a popular Kannada serial, and went to bed. I thought there would be sight seeing, but no, we were allowed to go where ever we want, and the seniors did go. We kids spent the time in the hotel and the ground. We played around 3-4 matches and lost each one. At the hotel in the evening after the matches, there would be centurions from other teams showing off their man of the match trophies. We were the one team that did not manage to win. There was this one match that we lost really badly. I took a wicket in the match and it was the only wicket we got. 4 overs, 1 for 6 :D. And that meant my name was in the paper. :) I begged the receptionist in the hotel to look for the paper just before our bus left back home and she found it for me. :) What a sweet lady.

A pic of the Newspaper Deccan Chronicle. 25th December, 2003. Spot my name? :) :)

Another memory is this little showcase doll I bought for Rs. 25. I kept it in my jacket pocket in the bus and had a hand on it till I got home cos I did not want to break it. Its still at home.

The doll :) it is as cute today as it was 9 years back. As I'm typing this, I suddenly remembered the time I saw John Wright, Anil Kumble, and Hemang Badani. The time I went to KSCA. For selections for the city teams. Its an experience I'll remember. I didn't get through, when I was really confident I would. It was a little hard to digest. After that, school took over, and cricket had to take a back seat. But I did captain my school team :D for a tournament, we quickly organized a team, used the very little resources we had, prepared and lost the two matches we played. The second match was closer though, it rained, and the other team won on better run rate. There was just tennis ball cricket after that, skip college, play cricket. We did that a lot. And in my final year in college, we participated in a tournament and I sort of bowled pretty well and they gave me a medal :D

The medal from college :D Now in office, skipping isn't possible, and even if it were, everyone cannot at the same time. So it was nice when I received a mail for selections for the office team. I probably wouldn't have said yes, but it was at the grounds I used to go coaching in, and I HAD to go. It had been 8 long years. I did, the place hasn't changed much.

Looks the same 8 years later :)

I got selected to the team. Then in the first tournament I spent 4 matches carrying drinks, something I have always wanted to do. Yes, it is hard to not be on the ground playing, but when you are contributing, when you know without you, people would go thirsty and wouldn't perform so well, it isn't so hard. :P As we won the first 4 matches, we were through to the semis and I was given a chance along with many other freshers for the 5th match. We lost, but I top scored. It was a nice experience. First time in OFSS colors.

My OFSS shirt :) Bleed Blue :P

We lost the semis and third place matches, we did not play well. Losing is a hard thing to digest. Always is. But we will rebuild. We will get better. And yeah, I still have the "BPCA TOUR OF HYDERABAD" shirt I got 8 years back. Weird thing is, it still fits. :D

My prized possession.  :D

Will end this with something I wrote for Rahul Dravid, when he retired from international cricket. The real "Sir" of the game. My hero. Hope he reads this someday :)

Whether he is eating jam or building the wall brick by brick, Patience and the willingness to work hard his biggest trick!! On and off the field, in every sense, a true gentleman, Not just matches, but millions of hearts he has won!!  Fare thee well Rahul Dravid!!