Cooks drop-assisted 81 breached the half-century mark.

In my minds eye I see him. Boldly he approaches, arms and legs flailing, his body jerking madly to and fro like a human pinball machine. Then the strength through the crease and his trademark right arm over left ear hole delivery. They called him Tanglefloot, Tangles or Tang. No ordinary bloke commands three nicknames.Time stood still when I heard the sad news of Max Walkers passing. Some people seem bulletproof, invincible.Tangles, who had successful Test cricket and VFL football careers, then a lengthy spell on television, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Richie Benaud, Ian Chappell, Bill Lawry and Tony Grieg, was a man who reinvented himself through his career.He was born in West Hobart, Tasmania on September 12, 1948. At Hobart High School he opened the batting, once hitting a century for Tasmania Colts.I played in Tangles debut big game, the second Test against Pakistan at the MCG in December 1972. Despite his gangly action, he was strong at delivery, and his powerful hand whipped down the right side of the ball to deliver legcutters that tended to move in towards the right-hander and then cut away to telling effect.He had to bowl a good deal on that placid MCG pitch. Pakistan amassed 574 for 8 before mercifully declaring. After 24 overs Tangles had to settle for a modest return of 2 for 112. He bowled beautifully in the second innings, taking 3 for 39 off 14 overs. In the wake of their three run-outs and Walkers haul, Pakistan fell for exactly 200 - a 92-run loss. Next day the local paper ran the banner heading across the top of its back page: PANIKSTAN.In the next match, the third in the series, Pakistan needed 159 for a victory. Max bowled with the hostility of a fast bowler and the guile of a class spinner to destroy the visitors, taking 6 for 15 off 16 overs, and the game went to the Australians.A great tour of West Indies followed, where he took 26 wickets at 20.During the first Test of that series, at Sabina Park in Kingston, Lawrence Rowe was giving the Australians a pasting. At one point he hooked Dennis Lillee high to fine leg, where Max ran in in his ungainly way, arms and legs all over the place, until he got to the stage where he had to dive in the general direction of where he thought the ball might land. Thereupon he brought off a near-impossible catch, rolled over gleefully, jumped to his feet and held the ball aloft to the rum-soaked section of the crowd he had been entertaining all morning. His great moment was shattered when Ian Chappell yelled, Tangles, throw the ball back. Its a no-ball - theyve already run three.I was also in the side the day Tangles took a career-best 8 for 143 for Australia, against England at the MCG in 1974-75. Two incidents stand out. One memory is of how he brilliantly caught and bowled England captain Mike Denness. And the other is of him bursting out laughing when the pop singer Shirley Bassey came into the Australian dressing room, sat down with the players and joyfully announced, Glad to see you chaps are winning. There was silence before the famous singers confidant whispered, Maam, I dont think we are in the England dressing room.We won that Ashes series 4-1. The MCG Test was the one that got away.Tangles played a big part in the next series, against West Indies again, helping Australia beat Clive Lloyds men 5-1, though he only played in three of the five Tests.He turned out for Australia in 34 Tests in all, and perhaps his finest period on the big stage was as back-up to Lillee and Jeff Thomson during the 1974-75 summer.Tangles had a Roman nose, big moustache and infectious smile. He was always telling stories, and was known to embellish them in such a way that the most mundane tale suddenly developed a life of its own. Even the Queen couldnt help but grin when she met Max on the field during the afternoon interval on the penultimate day of the 1977 Centenary Test match at Tangles beloved MCG. As he shook hands with Her Majesty, he replied to her general enquiry as to how he was feeling in the heat and with England piling up the runs: Geez, maam, Im bloody hot! The Queen was introduced to the side in alphabetical order, and she had already faced a delivery from Dennis Lillee further back in the line, who had produced an autograph book when Greg Chappell introduced him. Not now, the Queen smiled graciously.In 1975, Tangles accompanied Ross Edwards and yours truly to a dinner at John Arlotts Southampton home. Arlott battled to get a word in. Max had arrived with an avalanche of stories and he intended to deliver them - all of them. The great English raconteur did manage to wax lyrical about the virtues of SF Barnes, but the only time there was silence was when a small woman tripped into the room, said nothing, sat at the end of the table and lit up a corncob pipe. That was the only occasion I ever saw Tangles lost for words.After cricket, he worked tirelessly on radio and television. He was ever on the lookout to create and earn. Opportunities were there for the taking. Once, he offered advice about getting on the public speaking circuit: Rowd, dont wait for the phone to ring. It never will. Be proactive. Be it bowling, writing or speaking, he made things happen. He had a winning formula. He wrote over a dozen books, including How to Hypnotise Chooks, The Wit of Walker and How to Puzzle a Python. Collectively they sold in excess of a million copies. Tangles self-published and promoted them personally, loading up his car with copies of his latest title and taking off to all parts of Australia, including little country towns, selling his books in the wake of brilliant after-dinner talks.He did a number of memorable ads, including one for Aerogard, an insect repellent. In the ad, his co-star, a little boy, asked: What annoys you most as a bowler?Batsmen… and flies, Max answered.At the end of the ad the little boy uttered a line that pretty much became part of folklore in the 1980s: Aveagoodweekend, Mr Walker.Max made many televisions ads, often in league with the legendary Doug Walters. In one, they sat drinking cans of Tooheys low-strength beer in the middle of a lake. The idea was, the boat would capsize. Doug thought trick photography was the way to go, and when he mentioned that to the film crew, Tangles winked. Next thing, Doug was floundering about in the icy water, with Tangles roaring his delight. After a thorough drenching, Walters was looking for more than a Tooheys or two.Back in 1985 I asked Sir Donald Bradman if he would launch a book for me at the SCG. Sir Donald wasnt available, but he later said: I think you have made a good choice in having Max Walker launch your book on Victor Trumper. He is a real humorist and presents a happy medium between the conservatives and the Chappells.Up on high, Tangles will bowl to Trumper and Bradman, talk architecture with Christopher Wren, and no doubt catch up with fellow TV commentators Benaud and Grieg.God love him. We are going to miss him. Diego Maradona Jersey .In my heart and mind Im competing for India, luge competitor Shiva Keshavan told The Associated Press in an email interview. Every day Im flooded with messages from Indians all over the world telling me they are supporting me. Javier Pastore Argentina Jersey . Artturi Lehkonen, Joni Nikko and Ville Leskinen had the other goals for Finland (1-0) while Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots. Tim Robin Johnsgard had the lone goal for Norway (0-2). http://www.argentinasoccerauthentic.com/Ezequiel-Garay-Copa-America-Jersey/ . PETERSBURG, Fla. Fernando Gago Argentina Jersey . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. Lionel Messi Jersey . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City. The Lords Test was one of those matches that makes you feel slightly sorry for those uninitiated into, or unpersuaded by, the wonders of cricket. For example: all those ancient Romans, Incas and suchlike born tragically in the wrong place and at the wrong time; the elephants, sharks and stick insects cursed by being created as non-cricket-watching species; most Americans; my brother; N Srinivasan; and certifiable buffoons.They missed a sinuous drama of ever-cranking tension, burst in the end by a thunderously stump-clattering denouement, and scenes of glorious, infectious Pakistan delight. As all great cricket matches are, it was speckled with individual and collective brilliance and bloopers. Unlike most great cricket matches, it also featured a 42-year-old scoring a century, a legspinner taking ten wickets at Lords, a player taking 11 wickets and batting for almost five hours before being out, but still finishing on the losing side, and Nigel Farage, UKIPs quitmeister general, being roundly booed whenever he walked up the steps at the side of the Mound Stand on Friday. In every respect it was a magnificent, unforgettable occasion.It was the fourth great Test match that Lords has hosted in the past four years, after similarly captivating contests last year against New Zealand, in 2014 against India, and two years prior to that against South Africa. The latter two were similar to this years game. All featured tightly contested first innings with scores around 300 (339-272 this year; 295-319 in 2014; 309-315 in 2012). Bowlers held the balance of power, but batsmen were able to score. South Africas second-innings 351 was the highest innings in these three matches, Englands 207 on Sunday the lowest.The almost identical run rates - 3.05 in 2012; 3.03 in 2014; 3.09 in 2016 - have been unspectacular by modern standards, and only four sixes have been hit in a total of 1138 overs - three in 2012, one in 2014, none in this years Test. In fact, excluding the 88-over Bangladesh v South Africa Test in Dhaka last summer (reduced to one days play by a prolonged splattering of entirely scheduled seasonal rain), this was the first six-less Test anywhere since England and West Indies failed to clear the ropes at Lords in May 2012.Nevertheless, each game has utterly gripped the minds and souls of those who have watched them; each has made you want to dig up the Romans and the Incas, shake them by the scruff of whatever is left of their necks, and shout: Dont you realise what you are missing? Or dive into a shark tank and gloat about how much better a good Test match is than swimming around in an ocean trying to find your next helping of seal carpaccio. England, after recovering from three bad fourth-innings starts to force their way back into contention three times, have lost all three. How we have sacrificed ourselves for the greater good of the Test game.Looking ahead to what should hopefully be a better series than the one-sided clouting that followed Indias illusory win in 2014, there are weaknesses for England to exploit, straws at which to clutch - an unconvincing opening pair, a weak tail (Pakistans last three wickets added just 36 runs in the match, the joint third-lowest by a winning side that has batted two complete innings in a Test this millennium), and a less-than-Olympian fielding unit. Not that Pakistan needed an Olympian fielding unit. They took only seven catches in the match. There now follows a List of the Six Teams Who Have Beaten England Whilst Taking No More Than Seven Catches in Test Matches Since 1990.1. Pakistan 2. Pakistan 3. Pakistan 4. Pakistan 5. Pakistan 6. PakistanTruly, Pakistan cricket is a unique phenomenon. (Pakistan also beat England in Sharjah last winter with seven catches, in Abu Dhabi in 2011-12 with six, at Lords in 1996 with seven, and at Lords and The Oval in 1992 with six and seven respectively.)Another potential vulnerability is that they have no back--up bowling in the current XI.dddddddddddd This was only the third time in the last ten years that a team has beaten England using only four bowlers; Australia did so in Leeds in 2009 and Perth in 2010-11. (England themselves beat Pakistan at Lords in 2010 using only four bowlers, a fact largely overlooked in most histories of that Test match.) If England can neutralise Yasir Shah, none of the remaining seamers, though they were impressive collectively at Lords, has a recent record of major Test wicket-taking.However, that if is one of ample, almost Inzamamic proportions. And those seamers looked like they are quite likely to embark on some major Test wicket-taking quite soon.There was some talk before Sundays play of how England would have to be ruthless with any loose ball bowled by Yasir. This plan they executed impressively. The only problem was that there were only about six loose balls in his 31 overs of probe (England managed three fours in his last 25 overs). Yasir is a magnificent cricketing jewel. He does not seem to have the whirling mystery and intermittent mercurial unplayability of Abdul Qadir or Mushtaq Ahmed. He just bowls good balls almost all the time, and very good balls quite often. Cricketing history suggests this is a Good Plan. Especially against a team with a historic vulnerability to (a) good legspin, and (b) very good legspin.Grand statistical conclusions are risky this early in his career, but his numbers are eye-popping. He is on course to break George Lohmanns 120-year-old record for fewest matches required to reach 100 Test wickets. He has been the leading wicket-taker in five of Pakistans last six Test victories, and joint-leading wicket-taker in the other (he and Shoaib Malik both took seven against England in Sharjah). He has taken seven or more wickets in a staggering nine of his 13 matches. By way of a few comparisons (and bearing in mind that Yasir is unlikely to maintain quite such a staggering success rate), Murali took seven or more in 59 of 133 Tests, a statistical miracle; Warne 42 in 145 (ditto); Abdul Qadir 13 in 67; Mushtaq Ahmed 9 in 52; Danish Kaneria 9 in 61; Stuart MacGill 13 in 44.As a bonus stat, on Sunday, Yasir became the first bowler ever to hit the stumps of Englands Nos. 5, 6 and 7 in the same Test innings. And this was the first Test in which England have lost eight batsmen bowled out since the drawn match in Port Elizabeth in 1999-2000 (when seven were castled by the South African pacers in the first innings alone).The relentlessness of Yasirs excellence was one of the principal factors in another recurring English problem - a failure to convert. In this match they struggled to convert 20s into fifties. Englands batsmen had nine scores of 20 or more, but only Alastair Cooks drop-assisted 81 breached the half-century mark. In Tests in which they have posted at least six scores of 20 or more, this represents their worst conversion of 20s to fifties since the 2005 New Years Test in Cape Town, when all 11 English 20s went un-half-centuried. This highlights the unceasing pressure applied by Pakistans bowlers. Pakistan, for their part, only converted two of their 11 scores of 20-plus into half-centuries. Highlighting the almost unceasing pressure applied by Englands bowlers.More on Englands ropey conversion stats later in the week. And their relative weakness against left-arm seamers. James Andersons return should prove influential. Whether it proves decisive will depend on Englands ability to stop getting out, having got themselves in. A task that will be made significantly easier if Pakistan drop Yasir, start bowling right-handed a bit more, and read cover to cover MS Dhonis little-read coaching and captaincy tome, How to Follow Up a Nerve-Jangling, Brilliant Lords Victory as Uselessly As Possible. ' ' '