Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Shawshank Redemption (1994) **
Quite a good film about a bloke who gets put in prison because he killed his wife. He gets out.
Robert Croft lists Shawshank Redemption as his favourite film. I think that's the only link. Strange player Croft. I always thought he was a much better test bowler than his figures suggest. He is definitely Mr Glamorgan and has been a good captain even though the team is in dire straits. I actually quite like the guy - he has never been afraid to put his balls on the line for his side, but like many 'English' finger spinners, he does okay on turning pitches, but struggles for wickets on a flat track because of lack of variation or accuracy. Hence the average of 36.20. I think his one day record is excellent, though, for a spinner - I think his one day record would be excellent, even if he couldn't bat, but to have also hit four 1 day tons and 31 half centuries deserves full credit. Had forgotten he played so many ODIs in England's dark days. No 50s or 100s in 50 matches says more about how he was used than his batting I think.
He also made us chuckle when he announced his retirement from International cricket when he wasn't in the side anyway. My friend Ed, who has never troubled the England selectors also announced that he was retiring from international cricket at the same time.
My favourite Crofty moment of all came when he threw his toys out of the pram with Mark Ilott, another passionate cricketer (and good friends with Crofty too I think) in a NatWest semi-final in the nineties. I think it was the closest to a proper ding-dong on a pitch we ever had though in all fairness it was largely handbags. If it had developed into a proper fight then Croft (the welshman) would have maimed Ilott (Watford pussy).
Ilott was another player whose Test career would have been completely different had he been playing for England now, rather than 10 years ago. But that's another story...
Robert Croft lists Shawshank Redemption as his favourite film. I think that's the only link. Strange player Croft. I always thought he was a much better test bowler than his figures suggest. He is definitely Mr Glamorgan and has been a good captain even though the team is in dire straits. I actually quite like the guy - he has never been afraid to put his balls on the line for his side, but like many 'English' finger spinners, he does okay on turning pitches, but struggles for wickets on a flat track because of lack of variation or accuracy. Hence the average of 36.20. I think his one day record is excellent, though, for a spinner - I think his one day record would be excellent, even if he couldn't bat, but to have also hit four 1 day tons and 31 half centuries deserves full credit. Had forgotten he played so many ODIs in England's dark days. No 50s or 100s in 50 matches says more about how he was used than his batting I think.
He also made us chuckle when he announced his retirement from International cricket when he wasn't in the side anyway. My friend Ed, who has never troubled the England selectors also announced that he was retiring from international cricket at the same time.
My favourite Crofty moment of all came when he threw his toys out of the pram with Mark Ilott, another passionate cricketer (and good friends with Crofty too I think) in a NatWest semi-final in the nineties. I think it was the closest to a proper ding-dong on a pitch we ever had though in all fairness it was largely handbags. If it had developed into a proper fight then Croft (the welshman) would have maimed Ilott (Watford pussy).
Ilott was another player whose Test career would have been completely different had he been playing for England now, rather than 10 years ago. But that's another story...
