Cricket: Mamparas, "hee for Chasey" and Natural Replacements

Cricket lovers have Graeme Smith to thank for enriching their vocabulary last weekend.

The South African Test skipper was “Mampara Of the Week”, as selected by the nation’s leading daily, The Sunday Times. It is a moniker reserved for politicians and businessmen, but ‘Biff’ trumped all contenders last week with his “wishy-washy apology” to the South African public for his side's early exit at this year’s ODI World Cup in India.

Mamapara roughly translates to “idiot”. I must admit, “You b****y Mampara” has a nice ring to it.

Sachin Tendulkar, in the sunset of his career, is an inspiration to older cricketers. Simon Katich is the latest to pay obeisance. The West Australian cricketer slammed Greg Chappell in his press conference, rightly questioning his credentials as a selector as he pointed out his inability to predict the master bat’s recent heights.

“Elder cricketers of the world, unite. You have nothing to lose but bad selectors.”

Rushing to Katich’s defence was minister of defence for the realm, Stephen Smith. Australian politicians love their cricket and their cricketers.

“If he’s not in the top 25 Australian cricketers—and I can’t find one better opener than him on that list, let alone two—then I’ll go hee for chasey.” said the minister. An Aussie phrase learned here—take note, English language lovers.

The West Indians have been shafted once more. Zaheer Khan and S Sreesanth have opted out of the India-WI Test series citing injuries. Indian fans don’t seem to care. The boys in blue have risen to the occasion and ratcheted up wins. Who’s to say that Praveen Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun won’t?

The trio of Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli seem natural replacements for Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman.

There’s oft a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip, though.

Remember the dynamic duo of Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif?

Kaif languishes in the minor leagues of domestic cricket whereas Yuvraj "blundered" from strength to strength.

ODI success does not necessarily translate to Test level. Yuvraj Singh will testify.

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Quote of the day: 
Anything not worth doing is worth not doing well. Think about it.—Elias Schwartz