Cricket Players Biography: December 2011

Friday 23 December 2011

Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting Biography

Full Name: Ricky Thomas Ponting
Date of Birth: December 19, 1974
Place of Birth: Launceston, Tasmania
Marital Status: Married Rianna Jennifer Cantor in June 2002
Children: daughter, Emmy Charlotte, born on July 26, 2008
Parents: Graeme (played for Mowbray) and Lorraine (sister of Greg Campbell)
Siblings: Drew and Renee (both younger)
Ponting is the eldest of three children; he was born and raised in Launceston, Tasmania by parents Graeme and Lorraine. Ricky started playing cricket at age 7, and showed immediate promise. He was known to be rich in talent ever since he was 12 when he became the youngest person in the world to have a bat sponsor as he was signed by Kookaburra. Obviously people knew that in the future he would be a star. Ponting excelled in junior levels as he was already playing 1st/A Grade cricket when he was 12 and had made it into Youth State and National sides with ease.

He attended school at Mowbray Primary and then Brooks Senior High School in Launceston, and then attended the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy from 1992 to 1993.

Ponting reached international standards at a young age for a batsman, making his One Day International debut in early 1995 and making his Test debut at the end of the year aged 20. However, his progress was not unhindered. He lost his place in the team several times due to lack of form and discipline issues, before rising to the ODI captaincy in early 2002 and becoming Test captain in early 2004. As of March 2008, he is the second highest ranked ODI batsman and ranked third amongst Test batsman in the ICC ratings.

Ponting is considered one of the best cricketers in modern cricket, and is ranked 2nd in the One-Day International Batting chart. He has scored over 9,500 Test runs at an average near 60, but since the February 2002 tour of South Africa (when he was elevated to the ODI team captaincy) he has scored 24 of his Test centuries and averaged above 74, leading to comparisons with Sir Donald Bradman.

Ponting is also Australia's leading ODI run-scorer and century maker he has the second most centuries ever, behind only Tendulkar. His century against the West Indies in Jaipur at the 1996 Cricket World Cup made him the youngest ever World Cup centurion, and his unbeaten 140 against India in the 2003 Cricket World Cup final was the highest by a captain in a World Cup final. In 2007 Cricket World Cup match against South Africa at St Kitts, Ponting became the first Australian to reach 10,000 runs in ODI Cricket and the 7th in world cricket to achieve this distinction.

Like many Australian batsmen, Ricky Ponting is particularly strong against pace bowling, with the full array of back foot shots, including the pull, hook, and square cut. Early on, he was regarded as a near-compulsive hooker, but he has lately moderated this tendency. He tends to move across his off stump, and has therefore been regarded as vulnerable to LBW early in his innings. He is less adept against spin bowling, particularly on very helpful spinning pitches such as those in India where his average is just 12.28.

After his first 30 Tests in just under four years his average was 38.62, and after rising into the mid-40s had dipped again to 40.50 after 45 Tests. Since that time his average has consistently risen; his averages in recent calendar years are 70.93 in 2002, 100.20 in 2003, 41.00 in 2004, 67.13 in 2005 and 88.86 in 2006.

Ponting occasionally bowls medium pace, and has also experimented with off-spin. He is an outstanding fieldsman square of the wicket or at silly point, with fast reactions and hand-eye coordination and (especially in the one-day game) a reputation for hitting the stumps to run out opposition batsmen. A report prepared by Cricinfo in late 2005 showing that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the second highest number of run-outs in ODI cricket of any fieldsman, with the sixth highest success rate.

Ponting is a keen supporter and number one ticket holder of the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League. On 9 August 2007, Ponting appeared on The AFL Footy Show where he talked about his desire to join the club's board. He also supports Blue Square Premier side Altrincham F.C.after befriending chairman Geoff Goodwin. He owns 500 shares in the club and attended a pre-season friendly in 2009.

After marrying long-time girlfriend—law student Rianna Jennifer Cantor in June 2002, Ponting credited her as the reason for his increased maturity. On 26 February 2008, it was announced that they were expecting their first child. Daughter Emmy Charlotte was born in Sydney, Australia on 26 July 2008

Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting vs Umpire at 4th Ashes test 2010 MCG

Ricky Ponting 196

Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle Biography

Christopher \"Chris\" Henry Gayle (born 21 September, 1979 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a West Indian cricketer who plays international cricket for the West Indies and domestic cricket for Jamaica. He is a hard-hitting left-handed opening batsman who can bowl right-arm off spin when called upon. Gayle has a variety of quality shots that he can perform. Gayle played for the West Indies at youth international level after he made his first-class debut aged 19 for Jamaica. He played his first One Day International 11 months later, and his first Test match 6 months after that. Gayle, who normally opens the innings when he plays for the West Indies, is a destructive batsman who is most effective playing square of the wicket. In July 2001, Gayle (175), together with Daren Ganga (89) established the record for opening partnerships at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo when they put on 214 together against Zimbabwe. However, generally speaking he had a slow start to his international career, but invigorated it in 2002, ending the year with three centuries against India in November and becoming the fourth West Indian to score 1,000 runs in a calendar year. Along with Vivian Richards, Sanath Jayasuriya and Brian Lara he is the only player in One Day International history to have three or more scores of 150. In 2005, Gayle was dropped for the first Test against South Africa along with six other players following a dispute over sponsorship issues. He returned for the second test but had a poor series until the fourth Test, where he made his career-best: a match-saving 317. It was the first ever triple century against South Africa and up until Mahela Jayawardene made 374, it was the highest individual Test score against them. In August 2005, Gayle joined Worcestershire for the rest of the English season, playing eight matches. He made two half-centuries in three first class matches and two half-centuries in five one-day matches, and won one Man of the Match award in the one-day National League. However, Worcestershire were relegated after Gayle made 1 in the final match against Lancashire. Gayle was named Player of the 2006 Champions Trophy, where the West Indies nearly defended the title which they won in 2004, being defeated in the final by Australia. Gayle scored three centuries and totaled 474 runs, 150 more than any other batsman, and also took eight wickets in as many matches. Gayle, in keeping with the rest of the West Indies team, had a poor World Cup in 2007. He recorded a series of low scores; the one exception being a blistering 79 off 58 balls against England in the West Indies' final match. Gayle currently holds the record for the highest innings in a Twenty20 International, having scored 117 against South Africa in the World Twenty20 Championship, and, to date, is the only batsman to have hit a century in the Twenty20 format, hitting ten sixes in the match. He is currently the only cricketer to have hit centuries in all three formats of international cricket. In April 2008, Gayle was auctioned by the franchise Kolkata Knight Riders of the Indian Premier League, but missed the opening games due to an ongoing Sri Lanka tour to the Caribbean. When he finally joined the team, he missed out on the action due to a groin injury he picked up during that tour. Afterwards, he had to leave to join the West Indies team for a home series against Australia, thereby not playing in the inaugural version of the IPL at all.

Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle 133 vs South Africa

Chris Gayle

Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar Biography

Born on April 24, 1973, in Bombay (Mumbai), India, professional cricket player Sachin Tendulkar is considered by many to be one of the greatest batsmen of all time. In 2005 he became the first cricketer to score 35 centuries (100 runs in a single inning) in Test play. In 2007 Tendulkar reached another major milestone, becoming the first player to record 15,000 runs in one-day international play.

(born April 24, 1973, Bombay [Mumbai], India) Indian professional cricket player, considered by many to be one of the greatest batsmen of all time. In 2005 he became the first cricketer to score 35 centuries (100 runs in a single innings) in Test (international) play.
Tendulkar was given his first bat when he was 11. As a 14-year-old, he used it to score 329 out of a world-record stand of 664 in a school match. A year later he scored a century on his first-class debut for Bombay (Mumbai), and at 16 years 205 days he became India's youngest Test cricketer, making his debut against Pakistan in Karachi in November 1989. When he was 18 he scored two centuries in Australia (148 in Sydney and 114 in Perth), and in 1994 he scored 179 against the West Indies. In August 1996, at age 23, Tendulkar was made captain of his country's team.

Although India was defeated in the semifinals of the 1996 World Cup, Tendulkar emerged as the tournament's top run scorer, with 523 runs. In 1997 he was chosen for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the highest award given to an Indian athlete, for his outstanding performance in the 1997–98 season. India was defeated by Australia in the 1999 World Cup, failing to advance past the round of six, and was soundly defeated by both Australia and South Africa in series later that year. In the 2003 World Cup, however, Tendulkar helped his team advance as far as the finals. Though India was again defeated by Australia, Tendulkar, who averaged 60.2, was named the man of the tournament.

Tendulkar made history in December 2005 when he scored his record-breaking 35th century in Test play against Sri Lanka. The feat was accomplished in a total of 125 Tests and allowed Tendulkar to surpass the prolific Indian run scorer Sunil Gavaskar. In June 2007 Tendulkar reached another major milestone when he became the first player to record 15,000 runs in one-day international (ODI) play, and in January 2010 he became the first batsman to score 13,000 runs in Test play. One month later he scored a historic “double century” in a contest against South Africa, becoming the first man in history to record 200 runs in a single innings of ODI play. He was named the 2010 International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricketer of the Year. Throughout his long career Tendulkar was consistently ranked among the game's best batsmen. He was often likened to Australia's Don Bradman in his single-minded dedication to scoring runs and the certainty of his strokeplay off both front and back foot.

Sachin Tendulkar

SACHIN TENDULKAR- TWO AMAZING CATCHES- THE GREATEST

Sachin Tendulkar

Shahid Afridi

Shahid Afridi Biography

Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi (born 1 March 1980 in Khyber Agency), popularly known as Shahid Afridi, is a Pakistani cricketer currently playing for the Pakistani national team in the international circuit. He made his ODI debut on 2 October 1996 against Kenya in Nairobi[1] and his Test debut on 22 October 1998 against Australia at Karachi.[2] He is known for his aggressive batting style, and currently holds the highest career strike rate in the history of international cricket. In a recent survey, Afridi was named as the most popular cricketer in Pakistan.[3] He also holds the record for the fastest one day century which he made in his debut innings, as well as scoring 32 runs in a single over, the second highest scoring over ever in an ODI.

Style

His general style of batting is very aggressive and attack oriented and has earned him the nickname “Boom Boom Afridi” for his fastest One Day International century just in 37 balls. As of 22 May 2007, he has an ODI strike rate of 109.38 runs per 100 balls, the highest in the game’s history. This attitude has been transferred to Test cricket as well, with Afridi scoring at a relatively high strike rate of 86.13 in Tests. He has an approach to batting that can change the tempo of a game and inspire the mood of an audience, as shown when a mass exodus of spectators occurred in Pakistan in late 2005 following his dismissal from the crease. He hits many sixes long and high, favoring straight down the ground or over midwicket. A trademark shot is a crossbatted flick to the leg-side to a ball outside off stump.[8]. This explosive style has led to some memorable shots, most notably the first ever 12 in power cricket in 2002, where Afridi successfully hit the roof. [9] However, his aggressive style increases his risk of getting out and he is one of the most inconsistent batsmen in cricket. This is reflected by the fact that he is the only player to score more than 5000 ODI runs at an average under 25.

Bowling-wise, his stock ball is the leg break, but his armory also includes the conventional off break and a ‘quicker one’ which he can deliver at nearly 80 mph in the style of a medium-pacer. He bowls at a high speed for a spinner, resulting in lesser turn, and relying more on variations in speed. He occasionally sends down a bouncer to a batsmen, which is very rare for a spin bowler.

International career

In October 1996 at the age of sixteen he was brought into the ODI team as a legspinner as a replacement for the injured Mushtaq Ahmed. He then gained notability as a pinch-hitter and began opening with Saeed Anwar. He holds the record for scoring the fastest century in one-day internationals (off 37 balls)[12], scored in only his second match and his first ODI innings. He also shares with Brian Lara the record for the third-fastest century in ODIs (off 45 balls). One of Pakistan’s most useful all-rounders, he has an extremely aggressive batting style, which has garnered him over 5,000 ODI runs (including an erstwhile world-record 249 sixes, recently broken by Sanath Jayasuriya), as well as taking over 250 wickets at ODI and 47 at Test level.

For various reasons, including a perception that he lacks patience in his batting, Afridi had limited opportunity in Test matches, although he currently averages in the high thirties and mid-thirties with bat and ball respectively. As it is, Afridi has featured in less than one third of the Test Matches played by Pakistan over the course of his career.[13] However, he made his presence felt in the third Test against India in March 2005, scoring a quick-fire second-innings half-century and taking five wickets in the match (including Tendulkar twice) to help Pakistan to win the game and register a series draw.

It is perceived that his batting struggles on bouncy pitches and against opponents like Australia, although his record against the Australians has improved over time. Although he has had success as an opener on sub-continent pitches, Afridi is often moved into the lower order as well.

Afridi was more consistent with his batting and bowling throughout 2005, starting with the tours of India and West Indies and through to the England tour. The Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer helped Afridi to reach a fuller potential by improving his shot selection and giving him free rein over his batting attitude.

In the 2007 World Twenty20, he performed poorly with the bat but brilliantly with the ball, earning the Man of the Series award, though he failed to take a wicket in the final and was out for a golden duck.

Career Highlights

* On 4 October 1996, playing his maiden international innings, Afridi hit the fastest One-Day century off 37 balls against Sri Lanka in Nairobi. His innings included 28 runs off one of Sanath Jayasuriya’s overs, whose record he broke. [15]

* Youngest player in history to make an ODI century at just 16 years and 217 days with his 37 ball ton against Sri Lanka. It included 11 sixes and 6 fours. [16]

* Made a half-century from 26 balls and took 3 second-innings wickets in Pakistan’s series-drawing Test victory against India in March 2005.[14]

* Holds the joint record with Brian Lara for the third fastest ODI century off 45 balls in April 2005 against India. [17] This actually was the first match that witnessed the Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Ravi Shastri make him the nickname Boom Boom Afridi.

* Equal highest aggregate sixes scored in the 50-over game, shared the legendary Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya, and he the most sixes per innings record.

* Scored four consecutive sixes off a Harbhajan Singh over in a Test match against India in January 2006, matching a feat that Kapil Dev achieved in 1990.

* Was the first player to score 12 runs off one ball, by hitting the roof of the Millennium Stadium. This took place in a game of Power Cricket.[citation needed][clarification needed]

* Holds four of the top eight fastest ODI half centuries, twice completed in 18 balls and twice in 20 balls. He has also scored a half century off just 21 balls.

* Made 32 runs off a Malinga Bandara over in an ODI game at Abu Dhabi in 2007. He struck four consecutive sixes and it was the 2nd most expensive over in ODI history.

* Afridi is only third player in ODI history to achieve the combination of 5000 runs and 200 wickets. The other players being Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya and South African Jacques Kallis.

Shahid Afridi

Shahid Afridi : Fastest ODI Hundred

Shahid Afridi makes 32 runs from 1 over vs Sri Lanka

Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid Biograph

While Tarapore certainly was the coach for Rahul, he was also getting inputs from others. At the Brijesh Patel Cricket Academy he was exposed to the experiences and observations of former cricketers GR Vishwanath, Ashok Mankad, Roger Binny, Daljit Singh and Patel himself.

Working hard to keep fit - Rahul (left) with Indian team physio
John Gloster

Daljit and Binny were perhaps the first to drive home the need for top cricketers to have a lot of stamina and be physically fit. Till then, most physical training involved a few laps around the ground, a couple of sprints and a few loosening up exercises. The Indian cricketers of the 1970s and 80s did not take physical conditioning seriously. Some of the biggest names in Indian cricket scoffed at the need for physical training and even ridiculed it during that period. One said that he got all his exercise while running between the wickets while another went on record that all the physical training he needed he got playing shuttle badminton once a week!

Luckily for the aspiring cricketers from Karnataka, Daljit and Binny, during the later stages of his career, were exposed to developments elsewhere and imbibed the need for rigorous physical training. An entire generation of impressionable youngsters of that period including Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Anil Kumble and Rahul learnt their lessons well and took physical training very seriously.

Thus with the physical training, his in-born mental toughness shored up by the books on mind games that he read and his supreme commitment to practice, Rahul, as a cricketer developed rapidly. The best part of his early career was that he had an open mind about everything. He was a keen listener who later assessed the pros and cons and then went about taking his own decisions. Rahul possesses these traits even now. To this day he does not flinch from approaching ex- cricketers and asking them about their experiences, may be on a bouncy track, or on conditions where the ball seams.

This constant desire to improve and excel has seen him seek a batting tip or two from stalwarts Sunil Gavaskar, GR Vishwanath and Ravi Shastri. ``At the end of the day I think destiny lies in your own hands. If somebody who has been through it can provide in-sights into what you are walking into, you can be that much better prepared,'' said Rahul.

When he learned that the bounce of the South African pitches would be higher than in any he had played till then, he decided to prepare for it. He used the paved pavilion steps at KSCA Stadium as the pitch and got a few of his Karnataka team mates to wet a tennis ball and throw it at a short of length from 10 to 12 yards. He sometimes used a bat to defend and on other occasions discarded the bat and just concentrated on swaying out of harm's way. In the nets he made some of the fast bowlers bowl at him from 18 to 20 yards.

Of course a lot had been said and written about how Sachin Tendulkar prepared for Shane Warne in 1998 by scuffing the pitch in the nets and getting local leg spinners to bowl in the rough. Very few, though, know that Rahul had prepared just as diligently to take on the South African pacemen, Allan Donald, Brian McMillian, Shaun Pollock, Fanie de Villiers and Lance Klusner in their backyard during the 1997 series. The 148 - his first Test century - and 81 he scored in the two innings at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg is proof that all the hard work paid off. In fact Rahul had such a splendid series that he was often seen as the side's number one batsman, ahead of Tendulkar and Mohammed Azharuddin.

Rahul's batting, though, was diametrically opposite to Tendulkar's. The latter sought to stamp his authority by dominating the bowling. Rahul took a different route. His aim was to frustrate the bowler by wearing him down. In this, his monumental patience and belief in his ability to stonewall helped. He presented a dead bat at most times and then every now and then came up with a stroke of exquisite timing to annoy the bowler.

The pull, hook and cut which he grew up with on the matting wickets of Bangalore always stood him in good stead, particularly as he was not a compulsive hooker. He would sway out of the way often and then suddenly come up with a rasping shot to peg back the bowler.

``We used to call him the `Rock of Gibraltar' even at that young age,'' said coach PS Vishwanath. ``Keki and I knew that as long as he was at the crease he would keep one end going. To this day that is the way he plays the game. Others like Tendulkar, Laxman and Ganguly get the confidence to play an attacking game when he is holding the other end rock-steady.''

PS Vishwanath stated that he and Keki advised Rahul to give up wicket-keeping and concentrate only on batting. ``It is too strenuous - keeping the whole day and then going out to bat at number three. Even now I hold that he must give up keeping. Wicket-keeping for a short while in One-Dayers is one thing. But if he keeps in games of longer duration his batting will suffer.''

Rahul took Tarapore's advice seriously. Of course not being the number one wicket-keeper for college, club or state juniors also helped him arrive quicker at the decision. The point, though, is that Tarapore had a great influence on Rahul. This continued till Tarapore passed away a couple of years ago.

Rahul never forgot what Tarapore did for him in the early stages of his career. He made it a point to meet him before embarking on any tour, series or major match and also met him on his return each time. Tarapore, who used to go from ground to ground to watch Rahul play, now took to following his career through live telecasts. If he thought Rahul was doing something differently or some error had crept into his basics he would note it down and alert Rahul about it.

Of course in the later stages the talk might not always have been of cricket, but the bonding between the two was excellent. When Tarapore fell sick and ultimately became bedridden, Rahul organised a benefit match for him.

In subsequent years the advent of the e-Cricket Pro tool, the software the Indian team uses, helped Rahul analyse his game and that of his opponents. He took to the gizmo enthusiastically and this further fortified the already impenetrable wall.

For Rahul his career has been one long learning phase. At no time has he believed he is the master of the game. Yes, he has had that quiet confidence about him. But it is a confidence that comes cloaked with humility and a desire for perfection. In this he shows the same hunger to learn and imbibe that he did 17 years ago. It is this trait that has helped him become one of the finest batsmen in the world.

Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid 75 (36)

Rahul Dravid 233 against Australia

Wasim Akram

Wasim Akram Biography

Wasim Akram (Urdu: وسیم اکرم) (born June 3, 1966 in Lahore, Punjab) is a former Pakistani cricketer. He was a left-arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman, who represented the Pakistani cricket team in Tests and One Day Internationals. Widely regarded as one of the finest fast bowlers ever, Akram holds world records for the most wickets taken in List A cricket (881), and is second only to Muttiah Muralitharan in terms of ODI wickets (502). He is considered to be one of the pioneers of reverse swing bowling.[1][2][3] The revolutionary nature of reverse swing initially resulted in accusations of ball tampering, although reverse swing has now been accepted as a legitimate feature of the game. Akram's later career was also tarnished with accusations of match fixing, although these remain unproven.

Wasim Akram

Wasim Akram- The King Of Swing !!

Wasim Akram : The Greatest bowler of all time. Pakistan

Imran Nazir

Imran Nazir Biography

Imran Nazir an other gift of Allah for the Pakistan in the cricket player’s team. But the distrust was that as he offers more genuine promise than most. He is predominantly strong off the back foot, loves forcing all the way through the covers. His hostile behavior towards his cricket passion has had him made as a one-day player. In the initial period of his entrance he couldn’t perform well in his first few Tests.
Ultimately, on the other hand, Glenn McGrath and Co noticed his method and deficient of footwork rather cruelly in two Tests matches against Australia. The preference of Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar moved him upward level, which enhance his career charm and He became National squad against South Africa in 2006-07 because of the consistency in performances in in-land matches. And he was selected for World Cup 2007 team on his volatile performance 39-ball 57-scores, but his three failure match series won’t polish his performance and become a slight decline of his image in the Pakistani people. Over all his performance made him one of the best fielders in the Pakistan cricket team, so he is considered as to be the 1st Pakistani to flip-flop (while intercepting a square cut).
His career-best performance of 160 adjacent to Zimbabwe in the World Cup retained him for the following such tours to Abu Dhabi and Scotland whereas Imran also is being elected for Pakistani cricket training camps. Then he was selected in Twenty20 World Championship and rewarded by a “Central Contract” in July 2007 before representing Pakistan in the home ODI series in opposition to South Africa. Later-on he coupled with the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League and performed very well for the Lahore Badshahs, but when the PCB pardoned players to have severed ties with the ICL, Imran Nazir was soon called back into the ODI side.

Imran Nazir

Imran Nazir and Shahid Afridi vs South Africa

IMRAN NAZIR LAHORE BADSHAH ICL PART 1