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Cricinfo editorial who's who
Sambit Bal (Editor)
Martin Williamson (Executive Editor)
A football lover and a veteran of the print media, Jayaditya sold out on both to join the crazy gang at Cricinfo. It's a decision that often left him wondering whether he'd stumbled into the wrong room by mistake, till he realised that many of his colleagues switch the TV channel from cricket to football when they think nobody's watching. He does have cricketing heroes: Viv Richards and Steve Waugh share space with Steve Coppell (the player and manager) and Bryan Robson (the player!). Having covered two world cups (the football version) and a Champions League final, he can now set his sights on fulfilling other ambitions - including the launch of "Footinfo". Watch this space for more details...
Peter English spent three years living and working in England but never considered swapping his Australian passport. A soporific club batsman before retiring to enter journalism, Peter has been bowled by Brett Lee's yorker and suspects he was probably dropped by Geraint Jones in Brisbane grade cricket. In London, Peter worked for Wisden Cricket Monthly and The Guardian before returning to Australia, where he contributed to Inside Edge and Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Australia before joining Cricinfo in 2004. He also appears in Inside Sport. Based in Queensland, Peter can usually be found at the beach or in his garden when not at his desk.
Andrew Miller was saved from a life of drudgery in the City when his car, God bless it, caught fire on the way to an interview. He took this as a sign and instead fled to Pakistan where he witnessed England's historic victory in the twilight at Karachi (or thought he did, at any rate - it was too dark to tell). He then joined Wisden Online when it was set up in 2001, and soon graduated from put-upon photocopier to a writer with a penchant for comment and cricket on the subcontinent. In addition to Pakistan, he has covered England tours in Sri Lanka, South Africa ... and Bangladesh, where one local website dubbed him "the Father of Bangladesh cricket".
He spent the first half of his life pretending he discovered reverse swing with a tennis ball half-covered with electrical tape. The second half of his life was spent discovering spiritual fulfillment in the world of Pakistani advertising and marketing. Having not found any fulfillment there, the third half of his life will be devoted to convincing people that he did discover reverse swing. And occasionally writing about cricket. And learning mathematics.
When Charlie Austin left for Sri Lanka, in September 1999, he was a planning a winter's cricket in the tropics and a six-month stint with an environmental NGO after graduating from Sussex University - his specialist subject African and Asian Politics with Development Studies. His mother's worst fears were soon realised when it became clear that he had fallen in love with the island. Six months has now become six years and Colombo has become his home. After a frustrating spell in the NGO field, he changed career paths and joined Cricinfo in February 2000. He now heads up our operations in Sri Lanka, responsible for both sales and editorial. He is also the director of a UK-based travel company called Red Dot Tours, which specialises in tailormade leisure and sporting holidays, and is currently ghosting Muttiah Muralitharan's autobiography.
Dileep Premachandran (Associate Editor)
Every week we take a look at the story behind the stats, with an original slant on facts and figures. The column is edited by S Rajesh, Cricinfo's assistant editor in Bangalore. He did an MBA in marketing, and then worked for a year in advertising, before deciding to chuck it in favour of a job which would combine the pleasures of watching cricket and writing about it. The intense office cricket matches were an added bonus.
After graduating in English and Management from Leeds University, Jenny (formerly Jenny Thompson) ventured into the world of marketing ... and swiftly ventured out again upon deciding it was time to fulfil her second dream - to be a cricket writer. So she qualified as a journalist, spent two years at Sky Sports and then joined Cricinfo in 2004. Her first dream had come true 14 years earlier when she made her cricketing debut, for the boys' team at school. From there she went on to play women's county cricket and had the odd match for England juniors. These days she plays for Port Adelaide in Australia as that's where, in October 2007, she relocated with her Aussie fiance, now husband.
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan still wonders how he got through four years of mechanical engineering in college, where his main achievement was to organise tennis-ball cricket tournaments. His contribution to the 'Whiteboard' section in Wisden Asia Cricket (where readers wrote in) triggered a set of unlikely events that led to a job in 2003. He loves watching domestic cricket and hopes that some selector, some day will spot his wicketkeeping talent.
Jamie was weaned on a cricket-mad household but really took to the game only during boarding school and the 1996 World Cup. While teachers in high school droned on about Fukuyama and the End of History, young Jamie's mind tended to wander to Old Trafford and the MCG. Subsequently having spent six years in the States - studying Political Science, then working for an insurance company - he moved back to India having failed miserably to win any cricket converts. Not surprising given that for the average American fan a sporting encounter without a result is akin to a first date without a kiss. No such problem in Bangalore where he can endlessly pontificate on a chinaman who turned it around with a flipper and why Adam Gilchrist is such a good hooker. These days he divides his time playing office cricket and constant replenishments at one of Bangalore's many pubs.
Kanishkaa liked to believe he bowled indippers, but, being the fraud that he was, actually bowled offcutters with a longish run-up. A commerce graduate, he showed up for his first day at Cricinfo droopy eyed, having waved goodbye to India's flourishing BPO industry a few hours before. He worked in Cricinfo's Customer Relations Management team in Chennai for 14 months before accepting a rather generous and unexpected offer to join the editorial team, moving to Mumbai. Now in Bangalore, he is the victim of all the wisecracks and leg-pulling antics his colleagues often indulge in and returns the favour by spreading rumours and derisive comments, all in good humour. And, somehow, he squeezes in time to write.
Will opted against a lifetime of head-bangingly dull administration in the NHS, where he had served for two years. Enlightenment came in 2005 when a local recruitment agency could only offer him the less than tantalising prospect of standing on high-streets, attempting to lure people into handing over their money for charity. Then came a break at Cricinfo where he slotted right in as a ferociously enthusiastic tea-drinker and maker, with a penchant for using "frankly" and "marvellous" and less elegant variations too. He also runs The Corridor, a cricket blog where he can be found ranting and raving about all things - some even involving the sport. He is a great-great nephew of Sir Jack Newman, the former Wellingtonian bowler who took two wickets at 127 apiece for New Zealand.
After a major in Economics and nine months in a financial research firm, George realised that equity, capital and the like were not for him. He decided that he wanted to be one of those lucky few who did what they love at work. Alas, his prodigious talent was never spotted and he had to reconcile himself to the fact that he would never earn his money playing cricket for his country, state or even district. He jumped at the opportunity to work for Cricinfo and is now confident of mastering the art of office-cricket.
Andrew arrived at Cricinfo via Manchester and Cape Town, after finding the Assistant Editor at a weak moment as he watched England's batting collapse in the Newlands Test. Andrew began his cricket writing as a freelance covering Lancashire during 2004 when they were relegated in the County Championship. In fact, they were top of the table when he began reporting on them but things went dramatically downhill. He likes to let people know that he is a supporter of county cricket, a fact his colleagues will testify to and bemoan in equal quantities.
Nishi studied Journalism because she didn't want to study at all. As she spent most of the time at j-school stationed in front of the TV watching cricket her placement officer had no choice but to send out a desperate plea to the Editor of Cricinfo to hire her. Though some of the senior staff was suspicious at that a diploma in journalism was the worst thing that could happen to Cricinfo and she did nothing to allay them, she continues to log in everyday and do her two-bit for cricket.
Brydon turned his back on a career in agricultural journalism to take up his position with Cricinfo in Melbourne. In his previous job, he became possibly the only journalist to win a headline-writing award for a headline with the word "heifers" in it. His cricketing career peaked with an unbeaten 85 in the seconds for a small team in rural Victoria on a day when they could not scrounge up 11 players and Brydon, tragically, ran out of partners to help him reach his century. He is also a veteran of half a dozen TV game-shows, including reaching the Who Wants to be a Millionaire hot seat and winning a car on another short-lived program.
Contributors
Vaneisa Baksh
Deb K Das
Steven Lynch
Neil Manthorp
Steven Price
John Stern |
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