Bref on ne mangeait pas de viande a la maison jusqu'au jour où l'on a découvert Bassar Neto. C'est une toute petite boutique Kikar Milano, au début de Yehouda Hamaccabi. Il a un grand choix de viandes et on peut en plus lui passer commande. Hier j'ai commandé un gigot d'agneau que je suis allé chercher ce matin. J'ai déjà hâte d'être ce soir !

En plus de la viande fraiche, il a un grand choix de produits congelés dont tout ce qu'il faut pour un barbecue réussi et des fruits de mer (crevettes et calamars). Pour avoir comparé, ses crevettes sont bien meilleures que celle de Tiv Tam.

Le vendredi il fait un rosbeef assez incroyable. Il faut y aller tôt parce qu'apres 13 heures il n'y a plus rien.

Bassar Neto
Yehouda Hamaccabi, 1
Tel : 03-6046457

Now he's working to a different beat as a police officer.

PC Andrew Boucher is top of the cops after swapping his keyboard for a truncheon to work for Sussex Police.

It is a far cry from the 1990s scene he enjoyed alongside bandmate Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, when their debut single Dub Be Good To Me topped the British charts.

The 1990 hit was a club classic and still reverberates around dancefloors.

PC Boucher, 41, who played keyboards, said: "I did the route of going to music college, then working in a music shop, then becoming a session musician.

"I met Norman when we were recording in the same studio. It was when he had finished the Housemartins and was about to start Beats International.

"I joined the police in 1994. I was 27, married and had to make a decision, whether to persevere in the music industry or get a grownup job.

"Being a police officer was always in the back of my mind but I didn t expect to get in given my musical past. I have never heard Dub Be Good To Me on the job but I found the record when I searched a house.

"That was odd and it was like two worlds colliding.

"The other weird moment was once when I was working on New Year's Eve and I turned on the TV and saw Norman DJing in Rio." Father-of-two PC Boucher is now in charge of training recruits at Holland Road, Hove.

He said: "It feels like a long time ago, almost like it was someone else. Believe it or not I haven t got any of the music that we made.

"I'm proud of both my careers and the few years I was with Norman were among the happiest. I can t speak highly enough of him.

"He's been a good friend over the years."

Norman said: "We were quite shocked when he announced it. Not many musicians become policemen. We're still mates.

I don't think I've seen him on the beat but we still hang out."

The group enjoyed another hit, Burundi Blues, and Won't Talk About It reached number nine in the British charts.

More success followed when their album Let Them Eat Bingo debuted in the top 20 of the British charts.

PC Boucher and Norman Cook lined up alongside vocalist Lindy Layton, who now spins discs in London and is a mother of twins, and Luke Cresswell, who formed the successful percussion band Stomp.

Of the other former band members, Lester Noel now lives and makes music in Yorkshire, David JohnBaptiste works in IT and rapper MC Wildski is believed to be working in the music industry.

The game has certainly evolved, but one thing remains constant is that nice guys, and even great players, are not bigger than the administrators of cricket.  Loyalty is not a word that is found in the vocabulary of many cricket administrators around the world.

Just look at Steve Waugh.  There's a difference between being dropped because you're performing badly and being scooted out because administrators and coaches are wanting to go in a different direction.  Steve Waugh, after more than 12 years of test cricket and 5 as captain, he deserved better than to be shunned away from the Australian setup.  His form in limited-overs cricket may have been dwindling, but he still had done enough to warrant a place in the 2003 World Cup team, even if it was just for the morale boost of the younger players.

It has happened frequently in the South African National setup, where great players have been discarded.  In recent years, it has happened to Lance Klusener, Nico Boje, Andrew Hall, Andre Nel and the biggest of all, Shaun Pollock.  There is question as to whether those players deserved to be dropped.  My answer is "no".  Klusener, Boje, Pollock and Hall were unceremoniously pushed out of the national setup...they had no chance.  Polly was the number 3 bowler in the world at the time of his sacking, and the final test at Kingsmead that he played, proved what a contributor he was.  That won't change, he'll perform wherever he goes, as can be seen in the IPL and the current ECB Twenty20 tournament. 

This sort of attitude has filtered down to the local scene.  At the end of last season, Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher were dropped for the Cape Cobras' vital Pro20 playoff match.  Maybe not dropped, just not selected since they hadn't played any matches for the Cobras prior to that.  Two months later, coach Shukri Conrad has come out to say that Kallis and Boucher were not good enough to make his team.

That statement would have had "The Don" or WG turning in their graves.  The best all-rounder in the world (Kallis) and one of South Africa's most explosive batsmen (Boucher) were being told that they were not good enough to play in a semi-final. 

While both players, along with Prince, have indicated that this was not the primary reason for their move from the western cape franchise to the Eastern Cape Warriors, this certainly would have added to whatever problems they were having previously.

This is all just another example of how no matter how excellent of a player you are, you will never be a true winner because the administrators will always have the final say.  Kallis but in 12 years at Western Province.  Prince put in 10.  The least the Western Province Cricket Union could have done was ensure that these two were rewarded for their loyalty to the Union.

Watch this space, as there will be more to come...and no doubt, more South African cricket making the headlines for the wrong reasons.

The Press Pool

]]> http://roadkillrefugee.wordpress.com/?p=685 Fri, 06 Jun 2008 04:38:09 +0000 rkref http://roadkillrefugee.wordpress.com/?p=685

• WSJ:  Obama way ahead of McCain in deploying his ground game and organizing in states all over the country.
• Obama pivots to the economy, and launches a road trip in another red state he wants to turn blue: North Carolina.
• Peggy Noonan: Her streak of spot on columns continues. How the country dodged a bullet with Hillary's loss, and why Obama won't pick her as Veep.
• Fox News's Juan Williams finds the occasion of the nomination of the first African American nominee of a major political party cause to trash Barack Obama.
• Superdelegate Rob Andrews (D-NJ) says a senior Clinton surrogate called him shortly before the Pennsylvania primary about a plan to hurt Obama by exploiting perceived divisions between Jewish and African American voters.
• Team McCain puts on their rose-colored glasses and tells the press about its strategy and its prospects.
• Chuck Todd's Excellent Clinton Post Mortem. "She shoulda run as a woman from the beginning, she shoulda gotten over her disdain for the media, she shoulda played the inside game a lot better post '04, she shoulda made sure she had more advocates at the DNC, and she shoulda built a stronger relationship with Nancy Pelosi."
• McBush's Economy: Today unemployment rose to 5.5%, the Dept of Labor reported a loss of 49,000 jobs last month, the Dow plummeted 400 points today and the price of oil shot up $10 to a new high of $138 a barrel.
• Politico: McCain's horrific speech Tuesday night triggered flood of panicked emails and discussions among GOP insiders. As noted here before, McCain did the speech in an effort to frame the election, and he did just that: as a race between a grumpy old man and a young visionary leader. Given the GOP's obsession with how to "brand" itself (as opposed to substantively changing its failed policies and practices), it was a horribly incompetent effort at rolling out his new general election image. McCain undermined his own effort to co-opt Obama's "change we can believe in" theme by, on the one hand, using the obscenely derivative "a leader you can believe in" slogan and, on the other hand, repeatedly mocking Obama's message of change with his stilted refrain "that's not change you can believe in." The combined effect was to send an anti-change message. As a result, he came across as the finger waving old neighbor yelling at the kids playing stick ball in the street interrupting his afternoon nap. If he keeps this negative, sarcastic, condescending persona as his response to Obama's positive message of hope and change, he will soon personify in the public's mind the two old guys in the audience of the old Muppet Show.
• Eugene Robinson. What Obama did in winning the Democratic nomination was historic and our nation will never be the same, no matter what happens in November. (Note that Obama has said the same thing about Hillary's campaign, and how his daughters' lives have been dramatically changed for the better by her strong race).



• GOP blocks climate change legislation. Sing it McCain: "That's not change you can believe in."
• Some details emerge about the Obama-Clinton meeting in Senator Feinstein's house last night.
• John Edwards rules out serving as Obama's Veep.
• Bipartisan Senate report confirms that Bush Administration lied about alleged WMD intelligence to justify invasion of Iraq.
• Tom Delay's absurd smear, that "unless he proves otherwise, [Obama] is a Marxist," triggers this snarky response.
• NY Times - More McPocrisy: Just days after claiming that Obama was "falsely" accusing him of running for Bush's third term, McCain campaign confirms that he plans to adopt Bush Administration's same theory of "unitary executive", particularly with respect to retroactive immunity for warrantless eavesdropping by telecoms.
• Politico reports that it was Rep. Charlie Rangel, the man who encouraged Hillary to run for the senate, who pushed Hillary to quit.
• WaPo: Obama's first visit as nominee to Virginia proves it will be heavily contested this year, much to the GOP's chagrin. This will be Obama's strategy: stretching the field and forcing McCain to defend more turf and spend more money than he wants to. It's what Obama did to Hillary, who finished her losing campaign over $30M in debt.
• NY Times's Nagourney: Clinton and Obama meet in DC late Thursday. They issue joint statement saying they discussed how they can work together to ensure victory in November. Clinton initiated meeting, following Obama's day of campaigning in southwest Virginia with Mark Warner and in Northern Virginia with Senator Webb and Governor Tim Kaine.
• WaPo covers the Clinton/Obama meeting, too - noting that it took place in the DC home of Senator Dianne Feinstein.
• Obama's rally in Northern Virginia attracts 10,000 on a late afternoon weekday. Obama noted the historical significance of an African American nominee campaigning for president in a former stronghold of the Confederacy. Of course, Virginia elected an African American governor, Doug Wilder, in the early 1990s.
• WaPo on Obama's morning visit to southwestern Virginia Thursday morning.
• In a bizarre twist, GOP's efforts to hold its lone GOP seat in the NYC metro area in the state following the Fosella scandal(s) just got worse. After the leading prospective candidates declined to run, the GOP scrambled and found an unknown candidate with deep pockets, Frank Powers. Unfortunately, the son of Powers has decided to run as a Libertarian against his own father for the same seat, which means the general election ballot will list the same name, "Frank Powers", twice.

Ici, ce sont les premières traces de la construction de l'A-50, que l'on peut voir vers l'est, le long de la route 323, au nord de Montebello. Cette ouverture est probablement pour les bretelles d'entrée/de sortie, en direction ouest, et les photos suivantes montrent l'ouverture créée pour l'autoroute en tant que tel.

Ces photos ont été prises du nord...

...vers le sud, et ce à quelques dizaines de mètres de la première photo,...

...toujours en pointant vers l'est, illustrant le dégagement requis, plus grand que sur les autres chantiers. La raison en est simple. La route 323 fait le lien entre Montebello et... Mont-Tremblant. Comme on s'attend à beaucoup de fréquentation touristique à cet endroit, le MTQ a décidé de construire immédiatement les deux chaussées de l'A-50, sur quelques kilomètres, à la hauteur de l'échangeur de la route 323. Par ailleurs, la municipalité de Lac-des-Plages, sise à environ 30 kilomètres de Mont-Tremblant (Saint-Jovite), et à environ 45 kilomètres de Montebello, a eu droit à une reconstruction complète de la route 323. Je vais tenter de me rendre dans ce coin, d'ici la fin de l'été, afin d'y prendre quelques clichés.

Ici, c'est l'ouverture probable des bretelles d'entrée/de sortie pour l'A-50 est.

Nous voyons ici le chantier de l'A-50, vers l'ouest, cette fois à la hauteur de la côte Angèle, route qui conduit au site Kenauk - La Seigneurie de Montebello. La voiture stationnée ici est celle de Marc, un sympathique gardien de sécurité, qui trouve parfois les nuits très longues. C'est que la nuit, le long de cette route, il passe très peu, mais alors là, très peu de véhicules. Sa présence fut requise sur les lieux parce que la compagnie qui oeuvre sur ce chantier, Roxboro Excavation, fut victime de plusieurs vols, et a préféré ne plus prendre de chances. Comme on peut le voir, je me suis - encore - retrouvé à la tombée de la nuit.

Le même chantier, que l'on voit en direction est. L'éclairage est meilleur parce que j'ai le soleil dans le dos, et non pas parce que je suis un bon photographe.

Vous vous souvenez des photos que j'avais publiées, dans ce billet, et qui montraient que la sortie de Fassett était la sortie 216? Eh bien cette fois, je n'ai pas eu accès à cette partie du chantier, parce que l'on y a installé une clôture.

Ici, c'est l'autre bout du chantier de l'A-50 à Fassett, à la hauteur de la montée Boucher, qui est limitrophe de la municipalité de Grenville-sur-la-Rouge. Depuis ma dernière visite, rien n'a changé. On regarde vers l'ouest, sur cette image,...

...et vers l'est, sur celle-ci. Rien ne laisse présager qu'il y aura une autoroute à cet endroit, pour l'instant. Pourtant, celle-ci doit laisser passer la circulation en 2009. Par contre, on sait que quand on y met le paquet, une route peut être construite assez rapidement. Surtout qu'à cet endroit, nul besoin de dynamitage. Pas à première vue, à tout le moins.

Ici, nous regardons encore vers l'est, mais cette fois, nous sommes sur le chemin Avoca, dans le beau patelin de Pointe-au-Chêne, à environ un kilomètre du village, qui fait désormais partie de la municipalité de Grenville-sur-la-Rouge.

Cette fois, on y voit presque plus rien! Il faudra définitivement que j'y retourne. Cette photo fut prise le long du chemin de la Rivière-Rouge, à Grenville-sur-la-Rouge (Calumet).

Les piliers de soutènement du viaduc du chemin de la Rivière-Rouge, toujours à Calumet, sont en voie de réalisation.

Lors de mon prochain passage sur l'A-50, je commencerai par Lachute, en allant vers l'ouest. Cela permettra de compléter un portrait global de l'avancement de ce projet. Pour l'heure, tout semble sur la bonne voie, et les premiers échéanciers devraient, à première vue, être respectés. Reste maintenant à savoir combien d'années mettra le MTQ pour doubler cette autoroute.

Nous savons d'ores et déjà que le doublement du tronçon entre Lachute et Mirabel est sur la table, afin d'augmenter la sécurité sur cette partie de l'autoroute, qui fut le théâtre de nombreux accidents, ces derniers mois, dont certains mortels. Mais cette option est la dernière des hypothèses étudiées par le MTQ, et nous savons tous pourquoi; c'est parce qu'il s'agit de la plus dispendieuse. Évidemment, toutes les autres options seront envisagées avant de procéder au doublement, dont la plus économique, qui consiste à faire une bande rugueuse au milieu de la chaussée. Je vais tenter de suivre ce dossier, et de vous tenir au courant des développements futurs.

sans compter mes commerçants...

La bête - coin de la victoire juillet 2006

Walking in at #6, Dravid sizzled to score an unbeaten 75 off just 36 balls comprised of  half-a-dozen fours and sixes, with an un-charecteristic strike rate of 208 . His frustration, which he later admitted to, was apparent in the savage way in which he lofted Yousuf Pathan for consecutive 6s. Truly an innings of master class, reminiscent of his blistering 92 off 40-odd in Bristol in the India's tour of England, last summer. "The lone constant, offering defiance that was as entertaining as it was soothing...", for he was "brutal and brilliant, determined and dynamic, and ironically, the hunter as well as the hunted", writes Varun Gupta for Hindustan times.

For the final wicket partnership, he refused to take singles to expose Abdur Razzak to the strike, almost silently saying: I won't unnecessarily let you do something that isn't expected of you.

There was a bit of drama when Dravid asked the question on a catch taken off Razzak and that being declared not out. He continued on and clobbered another six. It's probably not very often that the side with the last ball six loses a game, but such was the case, and never were they going to win with such woeful performance from most of the other members.

By claiming the DLF IPL maximum sixes award, Dravid silently made a statement, in his own way, as if in answer to those who repeatedly and tauntingly questioned the relevance of his batting skills in the T20 game. Perhaps there was a message for the team in the angry innings that he played.

One feels so sad for dear haunted Dravid, that one wants to pray!

Pour les fans de musique, il est toujours difficile de savoir pour tous ses artistes préférés, leur actualité CD, DVD, de manière centralisée et à jour.

Ça reste dans le domaine du possible pour quelques-uns, mais quand il s'agit d'avoir les dernières informations de 30 artistes, ça devient une corvée.

Pour ne pas faire se travaille fastidieux, il est possible d'utiliser Soundamus. C'est un outil Web 2.0 très utile.

Il fonctionne sur vos goûts musicaux définis à partir d'un compte Last.fm. Ce dernier est une radio qui vous propose des musiques en fonction de la liste des médias qu'elle trouve sur votre pc, et des commentaires faits sur les propositions (j'adore, je déteste).

Rhytmbox qui est le player par défaut de Gnome a un plugin Last.fm qui remonte chaque morceau joué. A partir de ces informations remontées, votre profil musical s'affine.

Cette base permet à Last.fm de vous proposer des musiques similaires à ce que vous écoutez. Il ne vous reste plus qu’à affiner cliquant sur « j’adore », ou « bannir » pour chaque proposition.

Soundamus se base sur ce profil Last.fm pour vous donner les dernières news des artistes que vous adorez.

Pour activer le plugin dans Rhytmbox :

1. Editer > Plug-ins;
2. Cocher Last.fm, e cliquer sur “Preferences”;
3. Entrer votre nom et mot de passe Last.fm.

Pour créer votre RSS

1. Aller à la page http://www.soundamus.net
2. Renseigner le nom d'utilisateur Lasft.fm et cliquer sur “feed me”.
3. S’abonner à votre RSS avec votre lecteur préféré.

Exemple de mon flux RSS :

http://www.soundamus.net/lfmnr/user/nboucher/rss

As fellow blogger Apurv notes, there seems to be very little sympathy for Dravid, and that after a desperate yet scintillating, classical-cricket knock against Kings XI Punjab (which is btw, the most uninspired name). After seeing all the nothing-shots and slogs going for four and getting applause, it was a goose-bump moment to see Dravid almost effortlessly cut and drive so beautifully. That 66 off 50-odd balls was a treat to watch and would have been worth its weight in gold if only the other batsmen chipped in. So dismal was the showing of the Bangalore team against Mohali, that apart from Dravid's 66 and Kohli's 30-odd, the 10 extras conceded was the next highest and the third double-digit score. They were in soup - duck soup (pun intended).

Most bloggers and media folk seem to be baying for Dravid's blood with every loss. Granted, he got some of team selection wrong and is not the most inspired captains; but he would have expected a bit more support from the Test greats. Kallis has been a flop with the bat and ball and Boucher as unpredictable as the weather. Of the entire lot, Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan have given most bang for the buck.

In hindsight, it is fairly easy to speculate on the droopy-shouldered Bangalore team. Perhaps the knife had hanging at their throats for sometime now. One could almost sense that from Dravid and Zaheer's desperate efforts. When the chips are down, nothing inspires more that trust and nothing deflates more that threats: a simple management principle that most people learn only when it's too late.

Maybe this just goes to prove that people should stick to what they know best. Like I had mentioned before Cricket run by business men is like Tech companies run by those who don't know more than a few buzzwords (and look for returns just as team is formed).

With such being the state of affairs, one can only feel sorry for the never-say-die man Rahul Dravid. :(

Juan Guillermo Tejeda Santiago, Chile (Publicado hoy en terra.cl aquí>>>)

La prohibición que afecta a la píldora del día después es un nuevo episodio de la batalla que desde hace dos mil años se libra entre los creyentes y los deseosos de sexo. El deseo sexual es un hecho de nuestra constitución humana, un hambre natural que preserva a la especie de desaparecer y da espacio al romance, a la literatura, a las canciones de amor, al rock, a las aventuras nocturnas y furtivas, al cruce de géneros, así como a múltiples delitos, intrigas y sufrimientos. Aunque difícil de explorar en su totalidad, la sexualidad tiene causas y explicaciones científicas.

La fe en un más allá gobernado por la divinidad, en cambio, es una suposición esperanzada que sirve a millones de personas para ordenar sus mentes y sus vidas. Sus liturgias trabajan la suavidad y el recogimiento, así como también la pompa. Poca relación hay entre el mundo de la fe y el mundo de la ciencia.

Es preciso reconocer que, siendo el sexo un llamado de la selva para cada uno de nosotros, nadie pretende que las respuestas a ese llamado sean obligatorias. Es más, en lo erótico cada cual vela por lo suyo y son raros los proselitismos del tipo: "vamos todos a copular", o "seamos todas lesbianas". Lo sexual no necesita de mucha propaganda. En cambio, curiosamente, el cristianismo ha manifestado desde sus inicios una pulsión por convertir a los incrédulos recurriendo a la persuasión, al adoctrinamiento infantil o a las prohibiciones, y si todo ello fallara, a la hoguera. Diríase que la fe, al basarse en suposiciones, quiere suprimir por decreto a los incrédulos, no sea cosa que aquel escepticismo haga perder prestancia a la divinidad.

La guerra santa de la religión en contra de la actividad sexual ha llevado a los teólogos a enfrascarse en sesudas disquisiciones acerca de la moralidad o inmoralidad de algo tan banal como un trocito de plástico que impide al semen masculino mezclarse con el óvulo femenino. La batalla religiosa del condón dejó a los católicos en la rara posición de fomentar en la población el contagio del sida para cumplir así con el precepto de no tener una sola persona diversas parejas sexuales.

¿Por qué no habría de tener alguien -si lo desea, lo consigue y no hace con ello daño a nadie- diversas parejas para disfrutar sexualmente con ellas? Quizá por las mismas oscuras razones que han llevado a la Iglesia a hacerles la guerra a diversas manifestaciones de la sexualidad cotidiana como la homosexualidad, la masturbación, el bikini o el sexo prematrimonial, y también por cierto a prácticas más inquietantes como la pornografía, el aborto, el cambio de sexo o la prostitución. Y conste que no es lo inquietante, sino propiamente lo sexual aquello que concita la ira de los creyentes: el cuerpo sería, para ellos, una sucia morada del alma y la carne, un paisaje donde habita el pecado.

Hoy estamos en otra fatigosa y absurda batalla en contra del sexo. La píldora del día después es un dispositivo químico que acaba con la mórula, esto es, el embrión en sus primeras horas alojado en la paredes del útero. Arguyen los creyentes que aquéllo ya es una persona humana, y que como tal está provisto de los mismos derechos que cualquier ciudadano. Desde la mirada científica las cosas no están claras, porque lo que hay allí es más bien un proceso cambiante, evolutivo, donde es muy difícil afirmar con precisión desde qué instante cobija el útero materno a un ser individual separado de la madre y con vida propia. Por ello es que en la mayoría de las legislaciones del mundo se deja a la madre decidir, sobre todo en casos en que se aprecian hechos de violencia o riesgos de malformación. No desalienta a la Iglesia el hecho de haberse equivocado en prácticamente todas sus previsiones pretendidamente científicas respecto de lo sexual: la masturbación causaba daño irreparable al cerebro, la homosexualidad era una enfermedad, los métodos anticonceptivos equivalían a asesinar a seres inocentes, etc.

Los funcionarios públicos que ofician de jueces, o de ministros de Estado, o de parlamentarios, o de lo que sea, deberían guiar sus actos no por sus intuiciones de creyentes sino por el bien común y por el derecho de cada cual a disponer de su propio cuerpo. No por ser vegetariano un juez va a prohibirle las hamburguesas al resto de la gente.

La guerra contra el sexo existe, ha existido desde hace muchos años, y es un asunto relevante para quienes adscriben a ciertos credos religiosos. Lo sensato es que mantengan ellos esa guerra dentro de los términos de sus propias existencias -tienen pleno derecho y libertad para hacerlo- y se abstengan de emprender una cruzada en contra de los deseos o las certezas de, en este caso, un 70% de la población chilena que no se siente ni en pecado ni en delito por comprar, vender o repartir la píldora del día después.

(imágenes:pinturas eróticas hindú y china, imagen en un vaso griego, spencer tunick y un lienzo de rubens, grabado de uno de los hermanos carracci, pintura galante de boucher; abajo: pintura del correggio, pintura de doubossarsky y vinograd, dibujo manga, grabado de rembrandt, sitio web de michel bilsbororugh)

The stadium was packed to the rafters.  14 seasons later we are struggling to fill the stadiums of the local limited-overs finals or even have half the stadium filled.  Too much cricket is being played and the locals are having to choose when to spend their money.  Domestic cricket is the feeder system to international cricket, but when Cricket South Africa tells the international players to take a few weeks off during the domestic season, this discourages the crowds.  No offense to Mr. Tsolekile or Mr. Benji Hector, but the Newlands faithful want to watch Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis, not the unknowns mentioned above.  It is those names that bring in the crowds. 

A few seasons ago I was watching Natal play a Standard Bank match against minnows, Griquas.  The stadium was 2/3 full.  Why?  Because Hudson, Rhodes, Lance Klusener and Shaun Pollock were playing for the home team.  Griquas had the services of Kepler Wessels and Pat Symcox.

If the sponsors want to receive their value for the millions they pump into domestic cricket, then they need to have a say in how the tournaments and selections are regulated.  If the administrators want to continue to pay themselves fat cheques, then they need to let their stars play.

Is this about money?  No.  In that same 1993/94 season, Natal were playing against Western Province at Kingsmead.  An 18-year old Dale Benkenstein (remember him?) was batting with Malcolm Marshall and was struggling against Meyrick Pringle and Eric Simons.  Marshall, with all his experience, hit a few out of the park.  Watching from the other end, this sort of batting gave Benkenstein the confidence to try his own luck and pounded a huge one into the north stand. 

If you're at the crease and your name is Stiaan van Zyl and your team is 15/4 after 5 overs, chasing 140 to win in a Pro20, would you want Benji Hector (sorry sir, that's twice in this blog for you) joining you at the crease to help you get out of your shell, or would you want an Ashwell Prince or a Mark Boucher?

The Cobras can pack their team with international players and have the youngsters learn all that they can, even if its only in the practice sessions.  So, Ryan Canning and Vernon Philander will be subjected to learning their trades at franchise level from franchise players, when CSA has the opportunity of allowing them to learn from Kallis, Smith and Boucher.

Don't be surprised if Monde Zondeki improves as a bowler over the winter while he plies his trade at Edgbaston.  He'll be learning from seasoned professionals such as Dougie Brown, Ian Salisbury, Mike Powell, Sanath Jayasuria, Ian Bell and a coach by the name of Allan Donald.  Not so at Western Province, where he has to develop his skills from Charl Langeveldt alone.

After a crushing defeat at home, in a contest where Bangalore was written off even before a single ball was bowled, the Royal Challengers, shall I say "pulled an India"? If you are wondering what I meant by "pulled an India", maybe I should qualify that by adding Dravid-ian India. Just like Team India came back to life in their away tours after a devastating ODI World Cup, the Bangalore team came back in a way no one (avid supporter vmminervaincluded) could have imagined. At the Wankhede, where they only had a countable minority of supporters, they stunned the locals to silence.

The Mumbai Indians were no pansies. They had a super hyped batting line up with the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya, Robin Uthappaand pinch-hitting all rounder Shaun Pollock; not to forget a star studded bowling attack in Harbhajan, part-timer Jayasuriya, and former India-cap Nehra. Jayasuriya thrilled for one over and perished. Uthappa entertained with a 38 ball 48, but impressive bowling and fielding from the Banglore side restricted the hosts to a respectable albeit cautiously chase-able 168.

Many things went right for the Bangalore side, most importantly the gritty spirit and fielding. They looked seriously threatened when Jayasuriya mauled the bowling with the crowd madly behind the Lankan bombshell. But the Mumbaikars felt ominously quiet when Zaheer effected a spine-tingling run out to get rid of Sanath. Zaheer seemed almost possessed on the day; I blinked several times to check if the catch or the save was indeed effected by Zaheer. With 20 overs of unbelievable fielding and a tidy bowling spell, he inspired the others to fielding standards that was distinctly un-Indian. Apart from Zaheer, Praveen Kumar did quite well; so did Balachandra Akhil, who, although ended up wicketless with an econ of over ten, did bowl exceptionally well. Like they say, the figures on the scorecard don't tell the whole story.

The Bangalore innings started rather sedately. Chanderpaul faced the first few deliveries bring Wall-Dravid on strike. Jaffer thankfully sat out this game. For one very inspired Pollock over, Dravid looked desperately Wall-ish and in a good amount of anguish. But it changed after he hit one of the most beautiful textbook on-drives and Chanderpaul lashed away in his own characteristic way. Then some drama intervened; if Mumbai's Thornley spilt blood on the pitch, Bangalore's Chanderpaul pulled one onto his knee (with bat speed of 95 kmph) and rolled with pain before asking for a runner. But he almost needn't have; shortly after Kohli's arrival, Chanderpaul hit one over the top, right into Kulkarni's hands. For a short while Dravid (yes, this the Wall I am talking of) steadied the ship with classic shots for four, before being c&b-ed by captain Bhajji. Following that, Taylor and Kohli put on some runs, but in the end it was the South African duo of Kallis and Boucher who took Bangalore home. All this to a very quiet Mumbai crowd and with the Bangalore sit-out cheering a wide "like they had won the World Cup" (quoting commentators).

Bangalore made a charecteristically Dravid-ian statement with their victory over Mumbai on Sunday. There is certainly long way to go, but this has given us Bangalore supporters some hope. Go Bangalore! Show 'em you can!

As far as Mumbai Indians, its a setback. Playing without their captain Sachin Tendulker, they were not able to shine both in batting and bowling. But Mumbai Indians has some great players like Sanat Jaysurya,Robin Uttapa and they will show their capacity in next match. Good Luck!!!

Finally, Each and every IPL match is graced with bollywood actors. I wonder whether Bollywood is in holyday mood !!!

Critically yours

Kiran

Though, "officially" I'm a Bangalore supporter - not Chennai, to know why check this out - this will be a hard one, since the opposition is Ganguly's Team.

This Ganguly vs. Dravid match will be interesting for many reasons. First being, neither have played much T20. Secondly, these two are perhaps the best you can get if you are looking for opposite ends of the captaincy style spectrum. The biggest question is whether Dravid's strategy and technique will trounce Ganguly's adrenaline powered leadership.

Other things to look forward to:
- Ganguly's down-the-track 6
- Dravid's stylish drives (form permitting)
- Ishant Sharma vs. Dravid
- Ricky Ponting's attitude
- Virat Kohli's game
- Bangalore fans cheering as Ajit Agarkar gifts run to the opposition :)

Technically, I think Bangalore has batting stability but lack variety in bowling. With Dravid, Kallis, Kohli and Boucher, the batting line up seems secure though it will be interesting to see how the former two Test stars adapt to the abridged form of the game. Kolkata seems a smidgen more balanced in the team (excluding Agarkar of course), perhaps due to strike bowler Ishant Sharma and spinner Murali Karthik.

I was very sceptic about the T20 format, before the T20 World Cup in Sept of last year, but this time I'm not sceptic. I'm dying in anticipation of the match, and hope that there will be some highlights on Sony MAX! (I wait so long for a dream face-off, hoped to watch it at the stadium, but can't even watch it live on TV; but that's life, I guess).

Cheers, Bangalore Royal Challengers rock 'em. Good luck Ganguly and Dravid, we love you!

He said that all Pakistani leaders, including Musharraf, have a role to play in the new set-up.

Asked if the US believes that Musharraf still has a role to play in the new set-up, Boucher said: All the leaders of Pakistan have a role.In reply to a question if he included Musharraf among the leaders who have a role, Boucher said: Sure.
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