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Items by Luke Tagg

The Boundary Rider

Crazy cricket ahead as IPL3 rides into town

Posted: March 11th, 2010, 9:10pm MST by Luke Tagg

There's cricket, there's T20 cricket, then there's the IPL. That crazy cricket carny comes to town tonight and as much as I loathe Danny Morrison's DLFfers, and fear speeches by Lalit Modi, and cringe at the amount of blatant product-love that oozes everywhere - I love my IPL and I'll take everything that comes with it. The best part about it is the fact that there is cricket being played every single day for six weeks, most times twice a day. Call that saturation and overkill if you must - I call it heaven.
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Warriors faves to down Lions in Pro20 final

Posted: March 11th, 2010, 7:04pm MST by Luke Tagg

Although the ultimate prize is already won for South Africa's top two domestic T20 sides - the Champions League Twenty20 - the silverware for winning the final of the Standard Bank Pro20 final in Port Elizabeth on Friday night would seriously cap off the season. The Warriors are out-and-out favourites to win it. They've been by far the best limited overs side in South Africa in the last two years, they've had an awesome season this year in all forms of limited overs cricket and they have home ground advantage and a sold-out crowd.
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2010 IPL Broadcast Times (SA)

Posted: March 10th, 2010, 7:51pm MST by Luke Tagg

A full schedule of the games and times of the 2010 Indian Premier League. All times are South African time (UTC+2) and all games will be aired live on SuperSport 2, with selected games also on SuperSport HD. The opening ceremony will air on SuperSport 1 and HD from 15h00 on Friday 12 March. Date Team Time Type Venue 3/12/2010 Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders 16h30 Match 1 Dr DY
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What does Paul Collingwood have against SA?

Posted: March 10th, 2010, 4:17pm MST by Luke Tagg

The question posed in the title of this article is one I have been struggling with for some time now, since roughly around the time Collingwood, Ian Bell and Graham Onions were saving the third Test on a hot day in Cape Town. Back then I thought to myself, I thought: "Why, Colly? Why?" My plaintive question continued to hang in the air long after England went home, mingling with the ghosts of broken dreams past. I thought I'd put it all behind me until I saw Colly on Twitter struggling to decide on
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Controversial Daryl Harper ditched for World T20

Posted: March 10th, 2010, 3:11pm MST by Luke Tagg

The ICC released their list of match officials for the 2010 World Twenty20 today and revealed that controversial Aussie umpire Daryl Harper has been excluded, despite being a member of the Elite Panel of umpires. They said his omission was due to "performance issues", but insisted it had nothing to do with the controversy he generated as the TMO on the recent tour to South Africa. "It will be noted that Daryl Harper, also of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, has not been selected for this event," read an ICC press release.
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Rusty Theron to join Kings XI Punjab

Posted: March 10th, 2010, 2:48pm MST by Luke Tagg

Warriors bowler Rusty Theron, who has been instrumental to their success in the last couple of seasons, is about to join the IPL for the Kings XI Punjab after revealing that they are interested in signing him. According to The Herald, Theron confirmed that he had been contacted by the franchise but wouldn't reveal more details as there are "some processes that have to followed and cleared before I will be able to say anymore". Which is PC-speak for "I have signed, it's a love-fest, the dream is happening right now".
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Highveld Lions lose raft of top players

Posted: March 10th, 2010, 1:56pm MST by Luke Tagg

On the eve of their Standard Bank Pro20 final against the Warriors on Friday, the Highveld Lions have been left reeling by the news that several of their top players are defecting to other franchises. According to an inside source of mine with close ties to the Gauteng Cricket Board, opening bat Neil McKenzie and wicketkeeper/batsman Dane Vilas have both already signed for the Cape Cobras for next season, despite media reports stating that McKenzie is still in negotiations. It doesn't end there - Vaughn van Jaarsveld has already signed for the Titans, leaving
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Life bans are good for Pakistan cricket

Posted: March 10th, 2010, 12:09pm MST by Luke Tagg

I can't pretend to understand the machinations of the Pakistan Cricket Board on a good day, much less on a day in which two of their finest Test players have been handed life bans, two others one-year bans and everyone else massive fines. It's by far the biggest purge I've ever witnessed in cricket and the furious posting across multiple platforms all over the world wide web indicates that most everyone feels the same. It's a right shocker, make no mistake. It's also the best news I've heard out of Pakistan
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Trott's time-wasting against SA was illegal

Posted: March 9th, 2010, 7:33pm MST by Luke Tagg

Apologies for revisiting the ghosts of series past, but you may feel as I do: Jonathan Trott's time-wasting antics in the first two Tests of the recent series against South Africa were never properly addressed. Or rather, they were - we just never heard anything official about it. His crease walkabouts disappeared in the final two Tests, shortly after an official complaint was lodged with the umpires by Graeme Smith in the second Test. Clearly somebody took the time to read the laws of cricket. When they did, they would have discovered the truth
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Why you shouldn't write off Rajasthan

Posted: March 9th, 2010, 6:41pm MST by Luke Tagg

I've seen plenty of positive tweets from Rajasthan Royals players over the last couple of weeks, as international players have gradually made their way to India, and I'm getting a good vibe about it all. The Jaipur-based side were the underdogs in IPL1 yet pulled off a miracle by winning it. They were royally beaten into 6th place last year in South Africa, probably because the conditions were so foreign to the younger Indian players. This year they once again start as underdogs, but closer examination of their squad reveals a potentially lethal line-up.
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Michael Vaughan's little xenophobia moment

Posted: March 5th, 2010, 2:02pm MST by Luke Tagg

Former England captain Michael Vaughan is fed up with South Africans and other foreigners playing for "his" country, as revealed in an extraordinary outburst of uncontained xenophobia. Speaking to the Independent, Vaughan singled out Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Craig Kieswetter, claiming they only settled in England to further their careers. Referring to South Africans, he added that "a lot of them come over for the money". "It's very, very difficult to stop them," he moaned. "I would like to see, in an ideal world, 11 complete Englishmen in the team but I don't
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Mitchell Johnson headbutts Scott Styris (a bit)

Posted: March 3rd, 2010, 8:22pm MST by Luke Tagg

The New Zealand vs Australia ODI series is shaping up nicely after the T20I series-levelling win by the Black Caps the other night, followed by their victory in the first ODI in Napier today. You'd expect a heated affair - the two sides don't regularly send each other postcards wishing the other glad tidings. Australia has some extra fire in the belly because their golden summer just lost some of its glossy sheen. It's no surprise, therefore, that an angular, ratty little bastard like Scottie Styris would get up the frequently-picked nose of
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Warriors first South African side into CLT20

Posted: March 3rd, 2010, 7:51pm MST by Luke Tagg

The Warriors from Port Elizabeth beat the Cape Cobras from Cape Town in the second leg of their Standard Bank Pro20 semi-final tonight to advance to the final and become the first South African side to make it into the 2010 Champions League Twenty20. As great as it is to be in the final of the domestic T20 league, the real prize is the CLT20. Warriors captain Davy Jacobs made that clear in his post-match interview, by admitting it was the real goal for his team, who cruelly lost out to the Eagles last year in
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Murali to retire from all forms of cricket

Posted: March 2nd, 2010, 5:38pm MST by Luke Tagg

Sri Lanka's iconic spin bowler, Muttiah Muralitharan, has said that he will retire from Test cricket by the end of this year (his last series will be against the West Indies) and from all other international cricket by the March next year. Murali (37) is the world's leading Test wicket-taker, needing just eight more wickets to reach 800. On the evidence of the Windies' inability to play Zimbabwe's spinners, you'd have to give him a fair shot of getting there. He says he will continue to play ODI cricket until the World Cup
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International stars will play in the IPL

Posted: March 2nd, 2010, 5:12pm MST by Luke Tagg

Despite the media-hyped security concerns for foreign players attending this year's Indian Premier League, it seems a sure bet that most of them will go. Not that I expected anything else, mind you. It pays to be an IPL cricketer. I'm basing my confidence on a number of small reports and tweets dotted around the place which show a different picture emerging to the one which shows reluctant cricketers hiding at home, petrified out of their wits by terrorists, communists and the Candyman, while holding the IPL to ransom. I know,
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Morgan saves England from rampant Bangladesh

Posted: March 2nd, 2010, 4:34pm MST by Luke Tagg

Eoin Morgan rescued England from a disastrous situation in the second ODI against Bangladesh in Mirpur today, becoming the first player ever to score ODI centuries for two different countries. His 110* off 104 balls staved off a ravening Bangladesh pack of spinners, who wrecked England's lower order to all but win the match. It should have, could have, would have been their first ever victory against England in any form of cricket, but Morgan made sure that didn't happen with one of his finest knocks ever. The Bangladeshis posted a
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Player Watch: Colin Ingram and Dave Miller

Posted: March 2nd, 2010, 2:39pm MST by Luke Tagg

I've been worrying of late about the future. Not the threat of terrorism, growing older, climate change, piles or the A-bomb - the future of South African cricket. Jacques Kallis has been around since the early 1930s and he's going to have to retire at some stage. When that happens we'll be up shit creek without a paddle, a canoe or even a creek. It's not many countries that can boast a batsmen with over 10,000 runs in Test and ODI cricket, to go with 250 wickets in each as well.
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The solution to hopeless ODI chases: a towel

Posted: March 2nd, 2010, 12:08pm MST by Luke Tagg

One of the big criticisms of ODI cricket is that games often tend to meander aimlessly, especially when the chasing side has a hopeless total to achieve. Such a situation happened in the third ODI between India and South Africa in Ahmedabad towards the end of the Indian innings, chasing South Africa's massive 365. Robin Jackman posed an interesting question in commentary: shouldn't ODI cricket have the equivalent of a towel to throw in when the cause is lost, rather than playing out the overs with singles to long off? We've
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England's World T20 squad makes them contenders

Posted: March 1st, 2010, 9:46pm MST by Luke Tagg

England named their 30-man provisional squad for the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies on Monday and when you break it down there's a pretty tough squad of form players who could well be contenders. Craig Kieswetter is the latest South African making it big in Blighty and his inclusion in the squad was a mere formality. Other noobs include Peter Trego and Michael Lumb, both of whom did well on the recent England Lions tour in the UAE, as well as a few county blokes I've never heard of. The big, scandalous
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Pleasant surprises in SA's World T20 squad

Posted: February 28th, 2010, 10:05pm MST by Luke Tagg

Cricket South Africa (CSA) named a provisional, 30-man squad for the ICC World Twenty20 to be played in the West Indies in May on Saturday and the lineup includes four new faces and one or two (really) old ones. Fifteen of these players will get cut before the squad leaves for the Windies, but it's a good indicator of the sort of players the CSA is looking at. The best news for me is that two of my boys have been called up for the first time: Dave Miller from the Dolphins and Colin
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ZIM puts WIN in a spin

Posted: February 28th, 2010, 9:16pm MST by Luke Tagg

Zimbabwe pulled off an extraordinary victory in the only T20 International against West Indies at the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain tonight in one of the more unusual cricket games I've ever seen. I thought it couldn't get much better than the T20 between New Zealand and Australia earlier in the day, especially not a game between West Indies and Zimbabwe, but I was more wrong than a man who believes 1+1 = 73. Having been 0/3 after three overs and 11/4, Zimbabwe recovered to post a hopelessly inadequate 105 all
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Items by Luke Tagg

Posted: March 11th, 2010, 9:10pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 11th, 2010, 7:04pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 10th, 2010, 7:51pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 10th, 2010, 4:17pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 10th, 2010, 3:11pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 10th, 2010, 2:48pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 10th, 2010, 1:56pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 10th, 2010, 12:09pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 9th, 2010, 7:33pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 9th, 2010, 6:41pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 5th, 2010, 2:02pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 3rd, 2010, 8:22pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 3rd, 2010, 7:51pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 2nd, 2010, 5:38pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 2nd, 2010, 5:12pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 2nd, 2010, 4:34pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 2nd, 2010, 2:39pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 2nd, 2010, 12:08pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: March 1st, 2010, 9:46pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: February 28th, 2010, 10:05pm MST by Luke Tagg

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Posted: February 28th, 2010, 9:16pm MST by Luke Tagg

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