Linking up

1) Verifying the actual age of players in age-group events has always been a problem. It's not as if humans can be aged as easily as trees, for example. Of late, the BCCI has focused its attention towards winning matches at the Under-19 level, producing dramatic results. But has it been turning a blind eye towards the issue of how old the players are? Makarand Waingankar explores this in some depth and, thankfully, uses specific names to make his case that some players may be fudging their birth certificates. I wish he had made more concrete suggestions on how to tackle this issue, but that may be a story for another day. Hopefully.

2) Rahul Bhatia, has been reporting on the ICL on behalf of Rediff. Here's an extensive piece on the ICL that discusses what the league is about, what it hopes to accomplish and, importantly, what obstacles it faces. The IPL's attempts to strangle to ICL are bordering on the ridiculous.

3) Never one to mince words, Stephen Fleming outdoes himself here with a very candid assessment of his accomplishments during the last days of his playing career. My favourite part:

Regardless of the unspoken grievances, Fleming was asked if he would leave the game satisfied with his contribution. "Only just," was his disarmingly honest answer. "I am satisfied with 40 on the chest. It sets you apart, in terms of New Zealand batters anyway, but as a batsman I'll always feel I underachieved because I couldn't convert my starts, and I'll never know why. Sometimes I was the master of my own failings, other times it just wasn't meant to be.