The Teesra

Author: Andrew Beaven

  • “Don’ts for Cricketers” – translated for the modern player

    Last Christmas I received a copy of a small book entitled “Don’ts for Cricketers“, originally published in 1888 and re-published in 1906.  It is simultaneously a fascinating insight into the “Golden Age” of the game and (in places) a remarkably modern guide to playing the game.

    But the language is almost uniformly negative (the title of the book gives this away), so I wanted to translate the excellent advice into more positive forms. Over the next few weeks I plan to post “Don’ts for Cricketers” – translated for the modern player.

  • Who said that? A look at the future of coaching.

    “[the coach] didn’t grow players by nurturing individual talents, he created a regime.”

    “…coaches now are so controlling that they don’t allow players to go and express themselves…[young players] are not able to make decisions for themselves.”

    “The coach should prepare the team, then let the captain get on with it.”

    Recent quotes from England Test cricketers, all of them active over the last decade, all bemoaning the stifling impact of over-coaching.

    Is there a problem with cricket coaching, especially at the elite level?

    (more…)

  • Stefan – RIP

    This week we lost a young Club member who made an immense impact on his team mates in the short time he was with us.

    I have known Stefan (or “Frenchie”, as we called him; our first – and only – French-born cricketer) for 8 years, from when he joined the club as a cheeky member of the junior section.

    Stefan grew from the cheeky Colt to be a fine young man, a source of genuine human warmth and good humour, who could share a joke with his team mates or the opposition, who always played the game the right way – to win, yes, but not at any cost.

    I last played with him just 7 weeks’ ago, in our final League game of 2014. Stefan opened the batting and top scored for us; we could not quite find a way to win the game (our opponents might just as well say that we just managed to save the game)…good cricket, played in a great spirit. Most games with Stefan felt like that.

    The Club lost two senior members in the last year – players the Club has known for 40 or 50 years, who have played and served on Committees, had a beer or two in the bar, and grown (more or less gracefully) older with us.

    Men of whom it could truly be said “they had a good innings” (metaphorically, if not literally with the bat).

    The news of Stefan’s sudden passing, at just 20 years of age, has shocked and saddened everyone at the Club.  Stefan has left us all too soon.

    Keep smiling Frenchie. And ‘though you won’t be with us, we will keep smiling when we think of you.

    Stefan Premadasan – 1994-2014