19th April 2016
Patrolling the Boundary – a view from the outfield
Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack
Last week my good friend Dennis Freedman of Can’t Bowl Can’t Throw fame wrote an article for First Post taking a swipe at English cricket’s Bible.
The whole of England probably hasn’t felt as sullied by an Australian since former Prime Minister Paul Keating wrapped his arm around Her Majesty the Queen.
You can read my response to Dennis’ piece on the pages of First Post here.
David Oram
10th March 2016
The Caribbean cricket podcast
Midweek Edition: Previewing the T20 World Cup with Dennis Freedman
Welcome to this extra edition of The Willow in the WIndies.
The World T20 tournament is underway, and I hooked up with Dennis ‘Does Cricket’ Freedman from the Can’t Bowl Can’t Throw podcast.
We had a rambling chat. looking forward to the event, and sharing our frustrations at the usual silly ICC mismanagement surrounding the competiton.
Both of us are writing for First Post during the tournament. As ‘the Englishman covering West Indies from Pakistan’ it’s natural for me to be submitting articles to an Indian website. Dennis, an Australian, is of course the New Zealand correspondent.
You can find First Post’s pages devoted to the World T20 here.
And you can listen to the meanderings of me and Dennis here.
David Oram
15th January 2016
Patrolling the Boundary – a view from the outfield
It’s always a delight to hear from former international umpire John Holder. His views are always strong – and honest!
He dropped me a line recently in response to Ian Chappell’s remarks about Chris Gayle – which unfortunately got held up in the internet wires between him in Lancashire and me here in Islamabad – but they’re still a timely observation on the sort of opinions that emanate regularly from the ‘expert’ ex-player driven cricket media.
But before reading that below, I want to flag up an interview John did elsewhere this week with Alan Biggs for the football website You Are the Ref, which among other things regularly sets readers little posers about soccer’s laws. John is the adjudicator for the sister cricket-version of the conundrums, You Are the Umpire. John’s interview, in which he talks candidly about the game, and in particular his mis-trust of DRS (the Decision Review System) can be viewed here:
http://you-are-the-ref.com/video-yatr-talk-to-cricket-umpire-john-holder/
Interestingly, John refers early on to ‘an Australian blog’ which recently talked about the particular inefficiencies of DRS, and its use. He is surely referring to Dennis Freedman’s recent short video on the subject, which I recommend you watch here:
http://dennisdoescricket.com/why-do-india-hate-the-drs-so-much/
20th June 2015
Military Mediums – audio/visual highlights
Clips to the on-side.
Can’t Bowl, Can’t Throw is the most amusing cricket podcast around.
It has a large and admiring listenership, enjoying the show’s irreverence and delight in the cricketing absurd. It’s put together in Australia by Dennis Freedman and his regular co-host, Cat Jones.
Dennis also does more serious-minded cricket news podcasts and interviews (his most recent was an exclusive conversation with the Indian cricket mogul, Lalit Modi which you can listen to here). I’ve been fortunate enough to do a couple of such podcasts with Dennis before about issues in the Caribbean, but this was my debut on the main show.
11th September 2014
Quick Singles – news round-up
A few voices of opinion
Much has been said and written this week in response to the news that Saeed Ajmal has been branded a chucker.
Dennis Freedman was one of the first off the blocks, conducting a passionate interview in an emergency edition of his appropriately titled Can’t Bowl, Can’t Throw podcast with Pakistani cricket writer, Ahmer Naqvi.
Dennis previously had this to say about The Art of Chucking back in March. Continue reading
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