Gideon Haigh's Blog, page 4

Which are the greatest dynasties of them all?

Is it possible to compare the Invincibles of 1948 to the West Indian teams of the '80s and '90s? After all they were simply products of their time

Ave Test cricket

Many premature reports of its death later, the five-day game still stands, a byword for excellence in an era that encourages, and even worships, mass mediocrity

Where's the next Katich coming from?

CA needs to focus on developing proper cricketers, but it seems too much in thrall to the needs of Twenty20 to care

It's an Irish question and a global one

Keeping the Associates in the World Cup would be sensible long-term planning, which isn't fashionable any more. India and self-interest rule, so don't hold your breath about the ICC expanding the 2015 tournament

Who administers the administrators?

Players are expected to follow a code of conduct. But is there one such for those who govern the game? Self-regulation is no longer a solution to corruption in cricket

Cricket Australia, look at yourself

Australians used to pride themselves on having the best cricket governance. Not anymore, now that the board seems bent on casting itself as a marketing organisation that dabbles in the game on the side

No favourite, no underdog

Form or intuition - what does one go by when picking a team to back for the Ashes? Both Australia and England seem vulnerable this time round

The joy of the past

There may be plenty of well-known problems inherent in picking all-time XIs, but the exercise is still a worthwhile one

The excluded

Our soon-to-be announced all-time world XI will be picked from a shortlist of 88. But there are plenty of stellar names outside those ranks, as this XI, chosen from those who weren't on the shortlists, proves

The excluded

Our soon-to-be announced all-time world XI will be picked from a shortlist of 88. But there are plenty of stellar names outside those ranks, as this XI, chosen from those who weren't on the shortlists proves