Better than Bradman?

"The Australians hold him as the closest thing to Bradman, if not better"

According to a report tucked away on the Rediff Cricket site, Nasser Hussain had that to say about Sachin Tendulkar the other day. Mind-boggling stuff. I have no way to establish the veracity of the quote, but the fact of the matter is that the odds that any Australian has ever even unwittingly implied are about as good as those that you'd find on one of Baldrick's cunning plans. And I'm quite certain that that's not what Hussain said in any case.

It's always amusing to watch the press at work. The Indian press can be particularly amusing - without their effords, I'd never have known that most International cricketers speak fluent Bombay English (which really is at times a language in itself).

I'm sure not many people noticed, but I doubt that Hussain wants to be known as the guy who said that Bradman wasn't up there on his own. These things really can come back to haunt you. I once told a member of the press that there were positives that we had to take out of a hammering we had been subjected to at the hands of far stronger opposition. The next day, I was quoted as having been happy to lose - not the attitude people really look for from their captain!