导出博客文章His family dreamed up James Bond, he lives close to Blofeld, served with the
Royal Green Jackets and played first-class cricket in an appropriately
pugnacious manner. His first two scoring shots were sixes. His suitably
entertaining friends include Boris Johnson, who will be high up on the list of
invitees to Lords next summer. In appointing Matthew Fleming as its youngest
president since Peter May several decades ago, MCC has opted for a colourful
individual, for sure.It is also a practical selection. Fleming, who takes office
at the start of this month, is already MCCs representative on the ECBs board at
a time when the club is concerned about retaining two Tests a year at Lords, the
effect this might have on its redevelopment, and its role in any future
city-based T20 tournament. Gone are the days when the president was a man such
as Flemings fellow Green Jacket Lord Bramall, whose position was a titular one.
As the likes of Christopher Martin-Jenkins have found in recent years, there is
politics around every cleft of the great ground.Fleming is now 51 but is little
changed in looks since his ruddy-faced exertions for Kent and, in one-day
cricket, for England, although his resemblance to Ian Fleming, his great uncle,
whose literary estate he helps direct, is increasingly noticeable. His
background in the army, outwitting bomb attacks in Northern Ireland, gave him,
he said at Lords this week, the maturity to play sport under pressure. If I get
something wrong in cricket, we lose the match. If I get something wrong in the
army, someone could die.Flemings father wanted him to join the army after he
left Eton, where Johnson, a preciously intelligent and enthusiastic man was a
contemporary and friend. Fleming wanted to go straight into cricket, but
initially was turned down by Kent and then by Worcestershire. They preferred
Kapil Dev - one of the easier decisions, he said. Colin Cowdrey, however, was
supportive and Fleming eventually made his debut for Kent at the age of 24. His
maturity and independence - If I had your money Id play shots like you, David
Bairstow once told him from behind the stumps, or at any rate claimed to have
done - proved a boon.Even so, the nickname of Jazzer, as in jazz-hat cricketer,
was misjudged. Fleming was no amateur. He gave his all for Kent as a
middle-order biffer and medium-pacer, finishing with 9206 runs and 290 wickets
in first-class cricket, as well as the fastest century of the season in his
final year, 2002. T20 would have been a perfect fit for him.He was good enough
to play for England 11 times in one-day cricket and, on one memorable televised
occasion in Canterbury, to run out four batsmen from point with direct hits.
Never could a home address - he grew up at Stonewall Park in Kent - have been
more inappropriate.Not that Fleming did not admire the hard-nosed professional
who ground out runs. He favoured signing Steve Waugh for Kent towards the end of
Waughs career, even though the club was running out of money and the emerging
Alex Loudon was kept out of the side as a consequence. Flemings countenance was
ruddier than ever when he stormed up to the press box and, bizarrely given his
own background, accused his critics of supporting Loudon only because he went to
Eton.So how does Fleming view Waugh and his advocacy of sledging given that one
of his prime roles as MCC president will be to promote the clubs spirit of
cricket? In many ways Steve embodies that, but in his quieter moments he might
think, as captain of one of the most successful of sides, that he could have
done one or two things differently and set a slightly different tone on the
pitch. Indeed, Fleming is turning his attention to this rather woolly
pronouncement. Russell Cake, the chairman of MCCs Laws committee, is looking
into the wording as part of a complete review. The language may need tweaking to
be relevant to a new generation of cricket lovers, said Fleming.The new
generation is at the forefront of his ambitions as president. And, when he comes
to appoint his own successor, to take office next October, he will be after
someone who reflects his energy and enthusiasm. The evolution of cricket is
essential. There is a huge amount of social and intellectual capital in the club
and I want to engage with more younger cricket fans. If there is to be more
day-night cricket at Lords, [in terms of city-based matches] then we will have
discussions with Westminster City Council about more use of the floodlights. It
would be good if double the number of schools used the indoor school.Fleming
wants to create a form of membership to enable London-based young people to join
MCC. We are going to have to be imaginative for younger generations without
alienating the 6107 candidates on the waiting list. The options the club is
considering for redevelopment at the Nursery End include a hospitality area near
the east gate, which would provide a meeting point for a form of membership for
the U-18s. MCC is conscious that the average age of the members is 61 - and
rising.This could be called Lords Cricket Club but the idea has not gone before
the main committee yet. It is not a conscious effort to get away from the
stereotypical image. The members love cricket. If they sit in the pavilion
wearing MCC blazers, putting on weight and falling asleep, that is fair enough,
but they are not reflective of the core body of the club, said Fleming.All in
all, youth will be the prevailing theme on his watch. Andrew Strauss, on behalf
of the ECB, and John Stephenson, MCCs cricket secretary, will be conducting what
Fleming calls a root and branch review of player pathway in terms of whether it
is more beneficial for prospective first-class cricketers to go to university or
straight to the counties to which they will already be attached. Whereas Strauss
benefited from having been coached by Graeme Fowler at Durham, Fleming did not
go on to higher education.MCCs funding of six leading university centres will be
cut by half from next year. Fowler believes in nurturing elite players, but MCCs
take is that universities should also create opportunities in their local
communities. Some counties embrace having players at university more than
others, said Fleming. Maybe there could be more coaching at universities. We
feel they could be finding partners. There has to be a degree of recognition for
the investment the club has put into the game, and perhaps the ECB could top
this up, for over the last ten years the ECB has not taken this into account in
terms of allocating major matches. Andrew Strauss is not one to hang
around.Fleming is also chairman of MCCs cricket committee. The original Vision
for Lords, which was believed to have been approved by Johnson in his capacity
as mayor of London, incorporated a subterranean indoor academy at the Nursery
End, yet Fleming was on the main committee when the scheme, unanimously backed
by the development committee, broke down amid considerable rancour in 2011.
Fleming sided with the then chairman, Oliver Stocken, and the treasurer, Justin
Dowley, who stymied it. The academy looked astonishing, he said, but I feel the
membership need more information about development at the Nursery End.
Development or no development - and doing nothing at the Nursery End will not be
one of the options put before the 18,000 full members at the turn of the year -
Fleming believes Lords still has a compelling case for staging two Tests each
year.If the likes of Cake and Mike Brearley, who has the extraordinary ability
to listen to a conversation and sum it up in three words, not a quality always
in abundance in MCC committees, provide the intellectual capital Fleming can
draw on, Johnson will provide both that and required social impetus. Although he
is a thoughtful man, I couldnt sense Boris was going places when we were 18. We
thought we were all useless and didnt think about the future in those terms. He
was more suited to rowing, but he did once bowl me with some screwed up A4
paper.When Roger Knight, a former headmaster, rang Fleming to ask him to be his
successor as president, Flemings first thought was that he had done something
wrong - as if he was still at school. Those were less exacting days, however,
than when he was on a tour of Northern Ireland (army, not cricket). I went back
there when I played for Kent and afterwards took a taxi around the areas I used
to go to with a gun. There were plenty of moments - bombs were more of a concern
than shootings - that Im glad I dont have to go through again.
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Wholesale . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex
Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for
us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that
they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue.
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. The lawyers filed a 33-page amended complaint Tuesday in federal court in
Manhattan, expanding on the suit originally filed Oct. 3 in New York Supreme
Court. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify
in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without
testifying.
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.ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable.
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Australia . -- Its been a long road back for Sean Bergenheim.
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Australia . After Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5,
6-3, Tsonga followed up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win against sixth-seeded
Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French match. FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Dusty
Hannahs had 19 points as 10 players scored for Arkansas in a 90-65 win over
Southern Illinois on Monday night.Southeastern Conference preseason Player of
the Year Moses Kingsley added 15 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks for the
Razorbacks (2-0), who improved to 48-2 in nonconference games under sixth-year
coach Mike Anderson.Hannahs, Arkansas leading scorer last season, hit 5 of 6
3-point attempts -- helping the Razorbacks finish 13 of 23 overall from behind
the arc. The senior also had five rebounds in 20 minutes of action.We made
shots, Anderson said. I think were a good shooting team, and I thought we took
rhythm shots ... Weve got multiple guys who can make shots, and thats what we
saw tonight.Daryl Macon finished with 12 points for the Razorbacks, hitting 4 of
6 3-pointers, while C.J. Jones added 11 in his season debut. Arkansas shot 58.3
percent (21 of 36) in the first half and finished 30 of 61 (49.2 percent) for
the game.Armon Fletcher led the Salukis (0-2) with 13 points, while Leo Vincent
and Sean Lloyd added 10 each in the loss.Southern Illinois was 8-of-33 shooting
(24.2 percent) in the first half and finished 22 of 60 (36.7 percent) from the
field. Thik Bol added nine points and 12 rebounds, and the Salukis -- who were
22-10 last season -committed 17 turnovers.That could have been a lot worse than
it was at times, Southern Illinois coach Barry Hinson said. ... You could tell
that we wanted to make sure that they had to make 3s in order to beat us. That
was a heck of a game plan, wasnt it, because they made 3s and beat us.Arkansas,
which made almost 40 percent of its 3-pointers last season, struggled somewhat
from behind the arc in its season-opening win over IPFW last week -- hittting 6
of 16 3-pointers.dddddddddddd Hannahs, one of the top 3-pointer shooters in the
Southeastern Conference last season, was among those to struggle while hitting 1
of 6 from deep.The Razorbacks found their touch in the first half against
Southern Illinois, hitting 9 of 13 3-pointers on their way to a 56-25 halftime
lead. Hannahs and Macon each hit all three of their 3-point attempts in the
half, in which Arkansas led by as many as 34 points on its way to the
comfortable win.BIG PICTURETwo games into the addition of three of the top
junior-college recruits in the country, Arkansas appears to be meshing just
fine. The trio of Macon, Jaylen Barford and Arlando Cook combined for 30 points
on Monday, providing the Razorbacks some much-needed offense a season after they
finished a disappointing 16-16 and missed the postseason. Tonight, it was going,
Macon said. We found open shots, knocked them down, found each other and just
played as a team.CROWD WOESThe estimated actual attendance in the 19,200-seat
Bud Walton Arena on Monday night was 4.270. Arkansas averaged 20,134 fans during
its national championship season of 1994, and Hinson -- who coached in
Fayetteville with both Oral Roberts and Missouri State -- was disappointed in
the environment on Monday. Thats not an Arkansas crowd, Hinson said. Thats not a
Razorbacks crowd.UP NEXTSouthern Illinois returns home to host Missouri Southern
State on Wednesday night.The Razorbacks stay at home for their third straight
game to open the season when they host Texas-Arlington on Friday night.---More
AP college basketball:
http://collegebasketball.ap.org ' ' '
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