Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

RIP Ramkant Achrekar

He was coach of Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli, Chandrakant Pandit, Ajit Agarkar, Sanjay Bangar, Pravin Amre and Ramesh Powar,.


This is what Sachin said:
"Cricket in heaven will be enriched with the presence of Achrekar sir," Tendulkar said in a statement. "Like many of his students, I learnt my ABCD of cricket under Sir's guidance. His contribution to my life cannot be captured in words. He built the foundation that I stand on.

"Last month, I met Sir along with some of his students and spent some time together. We shared a laugh as we remembered the old times. Achrekar sir taught us the virtues of playing straight and living straight. Thank you for making us a part of your life and enriching us with your coaching manual. Well played Sir and may you coach more wherever you are."

Albert Finney, 82, short illness

Not as big an enthusiast of Finney's film acting as most, but his Arthur Seaton in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was superb and captured the moment of the British New Wave. I like The Duellists, Gumshoe and Two For the Road. Finney is always fine though and deserves to be remembered among the key actors of his time.

Of course, a well regarded stage actor too.

this is how I'll remember him

World Cup 66 winner Gordon Banks has passed, aged 81

Very sad news RIP

RIP Gordon Banks. It's been so long since England won a world cup that most are either dead, have alzheimers, or are in their 80's

Andre Previn 89

I was amazed when I found out his age. He led a hell of a life by the looks of things..... perhaps a little more chaotic than would suit me

I heard him being interviewed a few years ago and he said that, decades after his Morecambe and Wise appearances, people would still shout "Mr Preview" at him from across the street.... and it sounded as though he took that as a compliment.

Keith Flint, the enigmatic singer of the Prodigy, has taken his own live, aged 49.

A truly unique and wonderful live performer. RIP

Drummer Hal Blaine has died. I first noticed him as the drummer with Simon and Garfunkel, but mostly rate his work with Phil Spector (as part of The Wrecking Crew). In spite of performing on many jukeboxes worth of hits, it seems he spent his his later life working as a security guard.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Drummer Hal Blaine has died. I first noticed him as the drummer with Simon and Garfunkel, but mostly rate his work with Phil Spector (as part of The Wrecking Crew). In spite of performing on many jukeboxes worth of hits, it seems he spent his his later life working as a security guard.

I think session musicians often get a bit of a bad deal, because they way people interpret the creative process often separates "skill" instruments like piano/guitars away from the rhythm section; essentially, you can get a guitarist write down 4 chords that have been used millions of times before in songs who will get all the credit, but if a bass player shreds off a riff, or the drummer creates an original groove, its just considered part of the backing.

How someone like George Martin isnt listed as writing Yesterday by the Beatles, for instance!! He scored the whole bloody string arrangement from scratch, which is what elevates the song. There are hundreds of examples...... Eddie Van Halen didnt even get a credit nor any money for his part of "Beat it" by Michael Jackson.... how can it be claimed the song is written by Jackson alone, when he never created large parts of it?

I hate U2 and Bono, but I have to respect the fact that he is one of the few artists that acknowledges the minor contributions his band mates make.... I believe all their songs are listed as band collabs, even though its mostly Bono that does them, with minor work from the edge. I imagine he denies himself quite fankly 100s of millions of quid to share each song 25% split.

Ok, if you are someone like Johnny Marr who was famous for literally creating the whole backing tracks and sending them to Steve, thats fine; the musicians are creating, but paid just to play exactly what you have wrote.......

But does anyone do that with Blaine? I have a feeling most bands look for the drummer just to play what he comes up with. Not much money in that I guess.

Feel sure Colly will be an expert on this, but from the documentaries I've seen, the musicians knew their fee included artistic input. The old timers seem to accept it with a rueful shrug.

But in later decades, I saw Herbie Flowers talking about writing the bassline for Walk On the WIld Side, and he sounded devastated that he didn't get a credit.

And Andy Summers talking about not getting royalties for Every Breath You Take, especially as the Puff Daddy version only takes his guitar from the song, and was one of the biggest sellers ever (top ten). He was furious.

Don't expect many drummers get their part more than very vaguely written for them.

Scott Walker has died at 76. Unusual in that he managed to follow a short popular career with a very long life as an experimental recording artist without ever quite extinguishing his fanbase. I mainly like him for his Jacques Brel covers collected onto one disc in the mid seventies which then became a campus cult classic. His inimitable baritone was his trademark, his intricate, idiosyncratic lyrics his most interesting feature.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Scott Walker has died at 76. Unusual in that he managed to follow a short popular career with a very long life as an experimental recording artist without ever quite extinguishing his fanbase. I mainly like him for his Jacques Brel covers collected onto one disc in the mid seventies which then became a campus cult classic. His inimitable baritone was his trademark, his intricate, idiosyncratic lyrics his most interesting feature.

My Wife is called Mathilde. Whenever we visit her dad, its become a personal tradition that as we enter the house, he puts on Scott Walkers "Mathilde" and dances around while singing "Mathilde's come back to me". Ive never worked out yet if he does it taking the line at face value, or whether or not he's making a more complex point about her being a bit of a pyscho, but it works either way.