Cricket Diary: Cook's dash, Anderson's style

By Richard Gibson

Alastair Cook’s unassuming demeanour makes him extremely popular in the England dressing room but his personality rarely projects beyond those four walls.

England Test and one-day captain Cook prefers the quiet life on his farm rather than chase celebrity status so it was perhaps no surprise that his elevated status did not register on the eve of an end-of-season cricket dinner last week.

The 27-year-old, whose busy schedule meant his fortnight’s honeymoon to a ranch in Argentina was delayed until this month despite getting married to Alice on New Year’s Eve 2011, is one of the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition’s ambassadors and was therefore one of their special guests at the sponsors’ end-of-season dinner in Leeds last week.

Taking the opportunity to catch a nap in the back of the car sent by Clydesdale to pick him up from his home near Leighton Buzzard, Cook awoke a couple of hours later to discover that he was being dropped at Elland Road, home of Leeds United, rather than Headingley. Cue hasty drive across the city in rush hour.

Meanwhile, Clydesdale are likely to fully endorse the proposed switch from a 40-over competition to a 50-over one from 2013 onwards despite their own preference for 40.

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Another of England’s Test specialists James Anderson has used the downtime before the tour of India by venturing into fashion. Anderson, whose autobiography Jimmy was released last month, has collaborated with Manchester-based clothing label Elvis Jesus to produce his own T-shirt.

Working with the company’s head designer Rakesh Jeeaoo, Anderson has created a personal ‘Jimmy’ shirt incorporating some unique details from his cricket career, including the red Lancashire rose, his England Test number of 613 in Roman numerals and the English Lion.

The T-shirt, launched on October 20 at the Elvis Jesus store in Manchester’s Trafford Centre, also includes Anderson’s signature and his personal message: “When battle lines are drawn, fight fire with fire.”

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Two generations of Chanderpauls came together to devastating effect in club cricket in the Caribbean last week when West Indies legend Shivnarine and his son Tagenarine shared a double century stand.

Playing for hosts Gandhi Youth Organisation against Transport Sports Club in Guyana, Chanderpaul senior scored the lion’s share of a 256-run alliance, finishing unbeaten on 143 in a GYO total of 312 for two.

The 38-year-old struck 10 sixes and seven fours while the teenager also weighed in by clearing the boundary rope half a dozen times in his own 112 not out.

Transport SC were defeated by 125 runs in the 40-over contest as a result and it appears that we might be hearing more about Tagenarine in the future. Still only 16, he has represented Guyana at both Under-17 and Under-19 levels.

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Graeme Smith’s return to England as an overseas player next summer – first revealed by this column last month – will not as has been suggested elsewhere mean the end of his international career.

Neither will Smith, whose captaincy stint with South Africa has famously accounted for three England captains, cull Gareth Batty’s days in charge if he does, as is expected, join Surrey.

Although Smith, 31, would become the county’s new captain regardless of his availability restrictions due to commitments with the Proteas, Batty would lead the team in any prolonged absence.

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Date: 02/10/2012 19:30:00 by Richard Gibson
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