Spain in 1994; Dileep Premachandran relates Harbhajan Singhs

MORZINE, France -- A gastronomical, sporting and cultural glance at Stage 20 of the Tour de France on Saturday:REGION: The final stage in the Alps -- before the mostly ceremonial finale on the Champs-Elysees -- followed a 146.5 (91-mile) route over four climbs from Megeve to Morzine in the departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie.BAGUETTE AND BUTTER: Chris Froome kept his lead intact during the final day of climbing and was poised to secure his third Tour de France title in four years. Spanish rider Jon Izagirre won the rainy penultimate stage by attacking on the slippery descent from the Col de Joux Plane into Morzine. Froome crossed safely with the other leaders and maintained his advantage of more than four minutes ahead of French rider Romain Bardet.PLAT DU JOUR: Fera du Lac Leman. This prized whitefish named for Lake Geneva (Lac Leman in French) has firm but delicate flesh and can be sauteed rapidly and simply in a butter and wine sauce. There are three Michelin-starred restaurants in Megeve to sample it at.CULTURE: For 20 years, the Avoriaz sci-fi and horror film festival awarded its biggest prize to the likes of Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, James Cameron or David Cronenberg. It was known as the Cannes festival of the mountains, attracting big movie stars in a glamorous and festive atmosphere. It became the second largest film event in France before relocating to Gerardmer in 1994.VIN DU JOUR: One of the best crus of the Vin de Savoie, Chignin-Bergeron is made with Roussane grapes -- also known as Bergeron in the region -- grown on clay and limestone soils. This white wine with buttery characteristics, and floral and apricot flavors, ages well. Its ideal with river fish.HISTORY: Although Nairo Quintana was not able to turn things around in Morzine, Colombian riders have a long tradition of winning in the ski resort. In 1985, Lucho Herrera claimed a stage victory in the nearby town of Avoriaz and Fabio Parra secured a podium finish at the Tour three years later after winning in Morzine. In 2012, Quintana came to prominence with a stage win in Morzine during the Criterium du Dauphine, the Tours traditional warm-up race.STAT OF THE DAY: 3. Barring a crash in Sundays stage, Bardet will become only the third Frenchman to finish runner-up at the Tour in 20 years, after Jean-Christophe Peraud in 2014 and Richard Virenque in 1997.QUOTE OF THE DAY: Team Sky is so powerful, they are like Paris Saint-Germain in the French League. They are so much stronger than the others. -- Tour director Christian Prudhomme, reflecting on Froomes team superiority.DESSERT: Apples and pears. The Savoie region is filled with orchards producing delicious fruits grown on fertile soils rich in water and minerals.NEXT ORDER: Sundays final stage takes the peloton from the Chateau de Chantilly to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. A mass sprint is expected on the Champs-Elysees. Adidas Stan Smith Oslo . MORITZ, Switzerland -- Fog prevented downhill racers from getting their Olympic dress rehearsal. Adidas Neo Sko . JOHNS, N. http://www.yeezysnorge.com/stan-smith-adidas-sko-outlet.html .com) - The red-hot Los Angeles Kings will try to extend their winning streak to a season-high seven games when they visit the Edmonton Oilers for Sundays clash at Rexall Place. Yeezy Sko Fake . The catch: It needs a lot of money, and it needs it fast. Yeezy Boost 350 v2 Black Norge . -- Anaheim Ducks captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf has been scratched from Sunday nights game against the Vancouver Canucks because of an upper-body injury. A few years ago, Patrick Ferriday and Dave Wilson took it upon themselves to rank the 100 greatest Test hundreds. It was a meticulous and exhaustive exercise, one that provoked much debate. More importantly, whatever your view on matters ordinal, it was a collection of fine writing on some unarguably great batting. Now they have laboured lovingly over a follow-up, Supreme Bowling: 100 Great Test Performances, and the discussions can begin again.As with Masterly Batting, the original book, this is an immensely thorough and (as least as far as possible) scientific attempt to list crickets best Test-match bowling. Ferriday sets out the methodology in the opening section, taking into account seven key factors, such as wickets/runs (converted into relative value), opposition, conditions, and match and series impact. Of these, match impact is considered the most important - reflective of the adage that it is bowlers who win games - which is a notable tweak from the Masterly Batting formula, where the conditions and opposing attack took on greater significance.The cut-off point is a five-for, of which there had been almost 2800 in Tests up to the start of 2016 (the books other cut-off point, meaning Stuart Broads 6 for 17 in Johannesburg misses out). Quite a bit of sifting required, then. If magnitude is all you are after, that list already exists; in Supreme Bowling, Jim Laker is brought down to size - though the calm destroyer still takes his place in the pantheon.Once again, the Ferriday-Wilson ranking system is largely dispassionate. Lots of numbers are punched in - including, for instance, a precisely calibrated measure of each wickets worth using historical ICC batting ratings - and out burp the results. There is a category for intangibles, which takes into account first-hand reportage, but the attempt is to be as objective as possible. The authors, of course, know they wont be able to please everybody, noting in their introduction the reaction to Masterly Batting: almost every innings in the 100 was considered either too high, too low or a foolish inclusion and many outside the 100 were denounced as absurd omissions.From which quarters will the brickbats come this time? Shane Warnes boosters will doubtless contest the suggestion that only one of his 37 five-wicket hauls merits inclusion - especially when Phil Tufnell gets in twice. Malcolm Marshall, Wasim Akram, Abdul Qadir and Dennis Lillee, meanwhile, are among the illustrious names who fail to make the grade. (Akram and James Anderson are the only bowlers with 400-plus Test wwickets not to feature.dddddddddddd)However, its worth noting that the Wisden 100, which was compiled in 2001, came to similar conclusions: Marshall, Wasim and Lillee were again absent, while Warnes only entry was for his 8 for 71 against England in 1994-95 (in Supreme Bowling it is his 6 for 34 versus South Africa three years later). Perhaps sweeping up Poms by the bagful isnt necessarily the stuff of greatness.Both lists find agreement on the apex bowling performance in Tests too. Hugh Tayfield, the South Africa offspinner, is perhaps not as feted many of the names that come after him but he is one of only four players to have three or more entries in the Supreme 100 (Kapil Dev, Muttiah Muralitharan and Mitchell Johnson are the others). Of the big beasts, only Curtly Ambrose manages two appearances in the top ten. But all this is really parlour talk before sitting down to enjoy the banquet. The great strength of the book - as was the case with its predecessor - is the quality of the writing, in particular the Pinnacle section, which covers performances 25 to 1 and takes up two-thirds of the 300-odd pages. Ferriday and Wilson can call upon an all-star attack themselves: Rob Smyth channels Ezekiel 25:17 (and Pulp Fictions Jules Winnfield) to describe Ambrose as he struck down upon England with great vengeance and furious anger at Port-of-Spain in 1994; Dileep Premachandran relates Harbhajan Singhs turbanating of Australia in Chennai days after the Miracle of Eden - a far preferable destiny to driving long-haul trucks in Canada; and Russell Jackson summons some appropriately muscular prose for Johnson: The He-Man fitness freak with the Hells Angels moustache said bollocks to self-preservation and up yours to workload management.A particular favourite of mine was Rob Bagchis beautifully evocative piece on Sarfraz Nawaz - Pakistans swing-bowling dandy - which manages to reference Keyser Soze, Omar Sharif and Marlies Gohr while retelling the story of his match-stealing 9 for 86 at the MCG in 1979. Then there is Richard Hadlee and his talking ball at the Gabba, not to mention the Dylan-infused folk tribute to Bob Willis in 1981… I could go on.If the concept is a touch High Fidelity, the resulting collection is high quality. There should be no need for argument about that.Supreme Bowling Compiled and edited by Patrick Ferriday and Dave Wilson Von Krumm Publishing, 2016 321 pages, ￡15 (Kindle edition ￡4.91) ' ' '