Join us » And often the detail that endures most in memory

SEPANG, Malaysia -- Rainy weather may be the only thing that can stop Mercedes from clinching a third straight Formula One constructors title at this weekends Malaysian Grand Prix, as new championship leader Nico Rosberg seeks to capitalize on his current edge over teammate Lewis Hamilton.Mercedes has won all but one race this year -- when the teammates took each other out in a crash -- and is now poised to seal the team championship with five races to spare. It needs to score only three points more than closest rival Red Bull, while preventing Ferrari from outscoring Mercedes by 22 points or more, in order to clinch the title.Thunderstorms are forecast throughout the race weekend, and the Malaysian race and qualifying have a history of being hit by heavy rain. That may give some encouragement to Red Bull and Ferrari that they can challenge Mercedes.A resurfacing of the track will complicate matters for all teams, as their data from previous years on tire degradation will be obsolete.Rosberg has won the past three races to turn a 19-point deficit to Hamilton into an eight-point lead. The tension between the teammates is spilling over from the track.We are pushing each other very hard on the race track and even off the race track, Rosberg said Thursday. Its a great battle and everything counts, in many areas.The German has never won on the sweeping turns and long straights of Sepang, but that should not be considered much of an omen, as he has recorded first-ever victories at five other circuits this season.Hamiltons campaign has taken a turn for the worse after his own hat-trick of race wins in mid-season.Ive had ups and downs. Ive had tough runs and Ive had good runs, and its not particularly any different to any of those, Hamilton said of the latest reversal of fortunes. Its all about how you handle it, how you deal with it.His handling of it was commendable in the previous race in Singapore as he took a fighting third place despite a weekend of technical setbacks.However, Hamilton hinted at some discontent Thursday. Asked about alterations to the set-up of the car in recent races, he said: If something changes when it doesnt need to be changed, it can have all sorts of effects.Theres other things in the background which they (the team) can apply more effort to, but thats internal stuff, he added.Team management was staying neutral in the title fight between the Mercedes pair, and Hamilton said there had been no efforts to buoy his spirts following the recent championship turnaround.The team doesnt have anything to say to me because were embarking on the team championship, which is what they care about. Me and the (drivers) world championship are not really their priority in a sense.McLaren driver Jenson Button will make his 300th race start this weekend, joining Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello as the only men to reach that milestone.When I started in 2000, I remember speaking to my Dad, and he said, `How long do you think youll race for? and I said, `Ill be done by the time Im 30, and here I am at 36, Button said. It definitely sucks you in, Formula One, and it doesnt let go for a long time. Nike Air Max 270 Scontate . Paul Pierce couldnt believe he missed at the end. Young scored a season-high 26 points to spark a huge effort from the leagues most productive bench, and Los Angeles beat the Brooklyn Nets 99-94 on Wednesday night after blowing a 27-point lead. Nike Air Max 90 Essential Sconti . -- Bryant McKinnie came out of his stance and lowered his shoulder into a practice squad player, causing a crisp thud to reverberate in the Miami Dolphins practice bubble. http://www.airmaxscarpescontate.it/scarpe-air-max-720-prezzo-basso/max-720-donna-saldi.html . Dukurs winning time was 1 minute, 45.76 seconds, a quarter-second better than Russias Alexander Tretiakov. Lativas Tomass Dukurs was third, 1.41 seconds off the pace. Jon Montgomery of Eckville, Alta. Air Max 97 Ultra Sconti . On Tuesday, Ottawa placed forward Cory Conacher and defenceman Joe Corvo on waivers as trade rumours swirl around the Senators. Nike Air Max 95 Scontate . -- Kyrie Irvings last-minute 3-pointer helped seal another victory for Cleveland -- and the Cavaliers longest winning streak since LeBron James left. Scorecards record what happened. Television shows us how. Commentators and analysts try and get to the why. They throw light on field placements, the set-up and the kind of delivery. We are told that the batsman was in perfect position. Or that he was caught off guard. Each delivery carries a story, and most stories a verdict. Was it a good ball or a bad ball? Was the shot on or was the batsman lucky? Every ball bowled is followed by an outcome. And these outcomes invariably beget a range of judgements.Players tend to see these mini-stories differently. For one, they are armed with more information - on the vagaries of the pitch, on atmospheric conditions, on the state of the ball, on the opposition - all of which makes it harder for them to deal in certainties. There are simply too many permutations for them to juggle.Players are also generally reluctant to see each ball as a discrete event. They understand that a good field setting doesnt become a bad one if a nick flies through a gap; that a terrific spell of bowling can produce a raft of runs and no wickets. They grasp the role of randomness. That on some overcast days the ball wont swing, that on some chilly days it will hoop around like never before. Many players are comfortable accepting that some events are beyond explanation.Which is probably why some of the best cricketers prioritise procedures over results. Opening bowlers can be fastidious about picking the right ball from the set the umpires hand them. Many bowlers have favourite ends. Some love to run upwind. Some obsess over shine, relying on their team-mates to take care of the ball. They are precise about fields. They pay attention to rhythm, to what their body tells them, and to repeating the same routine over and over. The canny ones make minor adjustments to confuse the batsmen. At some point, the stars align. The polish on either sidde of the ball is just right.dddddddddddd. So is the state of the pitch and the dampness in the air. The feet land in the optimal spots on the crease. The fingers grasp the seam at a perfect angle. The wrist cocks. The ball finds a length… and kisses the bats edge. A fielder is alert. A wicket falls. This is no standalone event, yet it is the wicket that is in the scorecard. And often the detail that endures most in memory.Our cover story this month - a chat between former England swing bowler turned cricket writer Derek Pringle and swing bowler turned leading England wicket-taker, James Anderson - deals less with what happened and more with the how. The focus is not so much on Andersons spells and his record haul of wickets; that is enshrined in the record books. Pringle is more interested in exploring the craft of swing bowling - in wobbly seams, in bowling dry, in maximising a helpful pitch, in adjusting to different conditions, and best of all, on sussing out batsmen. The answers are all Andersons, of course, but it is clear that the questions are from an old hand, one who understands the joys and challenges of swinging the ball and getting it to talk.There are more delights in store in the August issue, which also marks the Cricket Monthlys second anniversary. We return to 2004, when Muttiah Muralitharan went out to prove that his action was indeed legit; we rewind to 1992, when Wasim Akram and Co conquered all before them in England; and we head further back to 1976 to assess the grovel series and its subtext. Elsewhere, two writers debate the possibility of cricket being an Olympic sport. And another tells us of the trap that cricket fans routinely fall into: ignoring randomness and probability at each stage of a game. ' ' '