Date: 11th March 1983
Setting: 1st day of 2nd India vs. West Indies Test, Trinidad

Early in tha mornin aa maan - we just call him Mr. Maan - comes to Queen’s Park Oval to watch his team play the Indiaans. Maan is aa big faan of Indiaan opener Sunny Gavaskar who is worshipped in these islands since his prolific debut series here more thaan aa decade aago.

Maan is reyally pumped up to see his idol succeed und in aa spontaneous expression of solidarity he places un unofficial bet on Gavaskar scorin more runs thaan home boyz Gordon Greenidge und Desmond Haynes put together.

Given the number of times Brian Lara has more or less single-handedly carried (and occasionally let down) West Indies’ batting over the past decade, it is amazing to think that his importance to the side would pale in comparison to how dependent the West Indies sides in the 1930s and 1940s were on George Alphonso Headley, born today.

CaughtBehind is pleased to announce the launch of our Replica Shirts Store. In association with our partners World Cricket Store, we bring you the latest replica kits from all the international sides. Until we add the link to our menu, you can visit the store from the link in this post. Meanwhile, we are working on the other cricket product stores and should have them up and running in a little time.

In other CB-related news, with only two days to go in the month of May, we are getting ready to announce our Monthly Awards for May 2006 along with our poll results. In the meanwhile, could you please suggest new topics for the poll in June 2006?

2006 ought to be a profit record breaking year for the MCC (that’s Melbourne Cricket Club in this case). The MCG - you will never hear me refer to it as “the G” - despite the ever growing trend amongst the uneducated ;-) - this year has hosted, or will host, The Commonwealth Games, The Soccer (yeh I know, football…) “friendly between Australia and Greece as part of our (yes Australia’s!!) World Cup build up, an Anzac Day (return of AFL to the MCG after the Commonwealth games) blockbuster between AFL heavyweights Collingwood and Essendon (not so heavy-a-weight this year I know), an AFL Grand Final (always a full house), and last, but this time not least, the Boxing Day Test Match.

Cricketers, and sportspersons in general, are typically a superstitious lot. They believe a lot in luck, destiny etc. If putting their left pad/glove on first got them the century or five wicket haul that kick-started (or revived) their international career, they make it the habit of a playing lifetime. Steve Waugh had that red piece of cloth with him all the time, even when it was in tatters. The red rag showing up near his hip meant that bowlers invariably targetted his body rather than the wickets, which didn’t help him towards the end of his career since his hip had basically taken too much of a battering.