Bradman's 23-ball 100!

The big hitters of the game like Yuvraj singh and Gibbs scored like crazy in 2007 in the first ever twenty 20 World Cup.But is there anything to beat the Original Master, who did a 23 ball 100 on 3rd November, 1931? Don Bradman, while playing for Blackheath against Lithgow, Australia scored 256 runs clobbering 14 Sixers and 29 Fours!But the real beauty is he scored 100 in less than 3 Australian overs! (Earlier, they used to play 8 ball overs in Australia). His partner Wenden Bill also played couple of balls in the third over! Wenden scored 68.The sequence of scoring is given below.

1st over; 6,6,4,2,4,4,6,1.
2nd over; 6,4,4,6,6,4,6,4.
3rd over: 1,6,6,1,1,4,4,6.

To think this was done in an era of uncovered pitches when batsmen were not covered like Egyptian mummies from head- to - toe - with helmets, extra padding from Ribs downwards and hand guards right up to the bat handle! Can anybody ever beat this record?
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E.R. Ramachandran
December 31, 2007

The Christmas Gift

A short story of mine was published in Deccan Herald last Christmas; would like to share it with MBP readers. Merry X-mas to all. - ERR





As the train sped towards Vasco, from Mumbai, John’s mind raced back… My God! Fourteen years in a jail. At Fifty I am almost old! Will Bessy and Michael recognize me? Michael, then was just a baby. Bessy…the look she gave, before he was hauled to the Solitary Jail, said it all. It had haunted him… God, why did you do this to us? They were poor, no doubt, but worked hard to secure the future of Michael. When they were hoping for better times, fate had given them a knockout punch…

As he looked at the moonless cold night, his mind went back to that fateful night. After a busy day in the fields, they were tired and getting ready to bed, when his buddies came home. Bessy was angry, as she knew John would go with them and return fully drunk. Since it was the Christmas week, the guys wanted to go and have a drink. Little he realized that the outing would change their lives forever…

While returning home, he had got into a heated argument with Billy, the big Bully. Billy had made snide remarks throughout the evening, which he had ignored. But when he said something about Bessy, that was it. In a fit of drunken rage, he had leapt at Billy’s throat and suddenly, Billy’s face had turned blue with his tongue out.

The Judge had ordered John to be hanged, but surprisingly, Mary, Billy’s mother had asked the Judge to change it to life Imprisonment. She was keen that John should die a slow death in jail and that’s the punishment she wanted for her son’s killer.

In the beginning, Bessy used to come with Michael, stare silently and go back. But that stopped after sometime. He had not received any communication from the outside world. But every Christmas, there was a parcel for him - a pair of knitted mittens and a fruit cake - without any letter. Gradually, he had lost the count of years too….

The train reached Vasco at midnight. He felt weak as he started walking towards his village. Nothing had changed in the village. A few who were out didn’t recognize him.

As he neared his hut, his pulse raced. His head was spinning. Michael must have become a young man and will Bessy forgive him now…

When he entered, he saw an old shrunken woman sitting in a corner against the light of a lantern. As John went close to her, she held out a Cake and a pair of Mittens and stoked his head. He realized it was Christmas Night…

Next to her, was a photograph of young Michael and Bessy. As his eyes met her tearful eyes, she nodded and caressed his head. Bessy and Michael were no more.

Slowly, It dawned on him. It was Mary, Billy’s mother who was sending the Gift to him every Christmas.

……………………….
ERR

Please read before seeing the picture- It's worth it!

A picture began circulating in November. It should be "The Picture of the Year," or perhaps, "Picture of the Decade." It won't be. In fact, unless you obtained a copy of the US paper which published it, you probably would never have seen it.The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner. The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive ifremoved from his mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta . She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr. Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. Dr. Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity The editors titled the picture, "Hand of Hope." The text explaining thepicture begins, "The tin y hand of 21-week- old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life." Little Samuel's mother said they "wept for days" when they saw the picture. She said, "The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person." Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percentsuccessful.Now see the actual picture, and it is awesome...incredible....and hey,pass it on. The world needs to see this one!