Allgemein » allrounder and a charismatic captain.For this

MIAMI -- Jason Grillis arm injury was diagnosed as a flexor strain, and theres a chance the Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star closer will pitch again this season. Dr. James Andrews ruled out surgery and said the 36-year-old Grilli should rest his arm for 10 to 14 days. A pitcher with such an injury typically is sidelined four to eight weeks, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said. The regular season ends in nine weeks, and the Pirates are in playoff contention. Manager Clint Hurdle was pleased to learn about Grillis prognosis. "About as good as we could hope for," Hurdle said Friday before his team began a weekend series in Miami. "Im happy for him, Im happy for us. Theres a chance we can get him back still with a lot of games left on the docket." Grilli, who was tied for the National League lead with 30 saves, hurt his arm Monday against the Washington Nationals. Mark Melancon will continue to fill in for Grilli as the closer, and Hurdle said he probably wont designate a specific reliever for the seventh or eighth innings. "It could be more of a committee setup," he said. "Were probably not going to pinpoint anybody." Grilli was examined by team doctors and then received a second opinion from Andrews, who performed reconstructive elbow surgery on the right-hander 11 years ago. Grilli, who has endured an injury-plagued career, entered the season with only five career saves but has thrived in the closers role and made the All-Star team for the first time.Cheap Shoes NZ Outlet . 8 Kansas to a 64-63 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday night. The freshman from Vaughan, Ont. Saucony Shoes NZ From China . Breaking three of his own world records on his way to winning in Paris, Chan silenced the critics and left the audiences standing in appreciation and awe. http://www.wholesalesauconynz.com/ . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. Saucony Shoes NZ Outlet . -- Bobby Ryan helped the U. Discount Saucony Shoes NZ . Bryzgalov stopped 25 shots on Saturday in the Oklahoma City Barons 4-1 victory over the Abbotsford Heat. The Oilers signed Bryzgalov to a one-year $2 million contract last Friday after shedding payroll by dealing defenceman Ladislav Smid to the Flames.Moin Akhtar was not purely a comedian and neither was he purely an actor. He was, lets just say, a man with an extraordinary range of gifts suited perfectly to the broadcast medium. He could anchor a show and steal it in a guest cameo; he could lead, he could support; he could make you laugh, cry, or think, and sometimes he made you do all three at once.One of his trademarks in the 1980s was a routine about a Bangladeshi who goes to watch a Test. The humour is spun from the central premise that cricket as sport and spectating experience is entirely alien to him.After the third day, exasperated, the man explains to his friend what he watched. First, he says, two paadris, or priests (the whites, geddit?), came out onto the ground and flipped a coin. They must be about to gamble, he reasoned. Then, one of them goes into a building and walks out with 11 ghoondas, or thugs. In defiance, the other paadri calls out two of his own ghoondas and they are wielding sticks. One of the ghoondas is given a bright, shiny red stone. He spits on it, but then, realising the entire stadium is watching, quickly starts rubbing it clean against his trousers.He then runs in and throws it at one of the men with sticks, who hits it away. These paagal ka bachas, or loons, the watcher says incredulously, run after the stone except the two with the sticks, who run past each other and back.Trust me, its funnier hearing Akhtar tell it, and in the way it plays upon the physical act of cricket as one of rioting or political demonstration, it makes an anthropological observation. Cricket can be visually unfathomable to many not familiar with it, but it is telling that he used a Bangladeshi as the central protagonist - it revealed a widespread assumption in Pakistan that cricket was alien to Bangladesh. That should come as no surprise for it was the residue of an attitude that coursed through the western half of the country when Pakistan and Bangladesh were one. Not a single player born in what was then East Pakistan ever represented Pakistan in Test cricket. The usual excuses were that there was no talent pool and that the region had no real association with the game: an outright falsehood in both cases.The truth is there was plenty bubbling along in the region until 1971, just that nobody in West Pakistan cared to know, or do much, about it. That was standard operating procedure in all spheres of life, economic, cultural or political. There was certainly plenty of fervour for the game, proof of which lies in the hheaving stadiums for Pakistans earliest Tests in Dhaka, for side games in Chittagong and in smaller but well-established leagues.dddddddddddd.A softer manifestation of that attitude - the patronising, the dismissiveness - transmitted itself to the rest of the world and has lingered since Bangladesh became a Test-playing nation. For too long, after every loss (and there were many), Bangladesh have been derided and mocked for not being good enough, for only being there because they were a useful vote at the ICC. Teams have avoided going there and have been equally reluctant to invite them.These are the churlish reactions of a small-minded sport too full of itself and not concerned enough about its growth. There has never been any doubt that cricket is a better place with Bangladesh in it; instead there has only been doubt about international crickets commitment to helping Bangladesh develop.Despite the prevailing apathy, Bangladesh have created moments of magic, and most recently they lit up 2015 when it looked, finally, as if they had arrived. They got to the quarter-finals of the World Cup and then beat Pakistan, India and South Africa in ODI series at home as if they had been doing it all along. They found fast-fast bowlers and a genius slower-fast bowler; their batsmen began to play smart and prospered; crucially, two planks aligned in the shape of a world-class allrounder and a charismatic captain.For this months cover story, Sidharth Monga travelled to Bangladesh and together with Mohammad Isam not only traces this rise but sketches a rare and vital history of Bangladesh as a cricket-playing country. They are cognisant of challenges - of continuing apathy, for instance, as Bangladesh have not played a Test since July 2015, or an ODI since November last. Militant violence threatens to reshape future opportunities too. Nevertheless it is a stirring tale, to be read by anyone who has ever doubted that nations love for the sport or its aptitude for it.There is a lot else to sink your teeth into. Gideon Haigh weighs in with a masterful essay on Victor Trumper and that photograph; Tim Wigmore catches up with Marcus Trescothick, a decade on from the last international he played for England; there is an encounter with one of the oldest grounds in the subcontinent, and a compelling study on whether batsmen are batting the wrong way round. Intrigued? Read on. ' ' '