A premiere (or première, from the French ''première'', meaning "first") is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media attention. Standard trappings may include a parade along a red carpet. At a festive film premiere the main actors involved in the performance may attend.

"Worldwide" premieres (or "world" premieres) mark the first showing of the performance ever.

Regional or national premieres may signal the first performance/screening in a given country or region. A film may screen at a film festival before its general release to movie theaters.

Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the film premiere to Sid Grauman.

Premieres are usually preceded by tryouts.

See also

Film festival

Film release

References

Category:Theatre Category:Film and video terminology Category:French loanwords Category:Television terminology Category:Music events

bg:Премиера ca:Estrena (cinema) cs:Premiéra da:Premiere de:Premiere es:Estreno eo:Premiero fr:Avant-première gl:Estrea hr:Premijera it:Anteprima (cultura) he:הצגת בכורה lt:Premjera nl:Première ja:初演 no:Premiere nn:Premiere pl:Premiera pt:Estreia ru:Премьера sq:Premiera sk:Premiéra sl:Krstna izvedba sr:Filmska premijera fi:Ensi-ilta sv:Premiär th:ปฐมทัศน์ tg:Премера tr:Prömiyer uk:Прем'єра

playername	Colin Croft
country	West Indies
fullname	Colin Everton Hunte Croft
batting	Right-hand bat
bowling	Right-arm fast
deliveries	balls
columns	2
column1	Tests
matches1	27
runs1	158
bat avg1	10.53
100s/50s1	-/-
top score1	33
deliveries1	6165
wickets1	125
bowl avg1	23.30
fivefor1	3
tenfor1	-
best bowling1	8/29
catches/stumpings1	8/-
column2	ODIs
matches2	19
runs2	18
bat avg2	9.00
100s/50s2	-/-
top score2	8
deliveries2	1070
wickets2	30
bowl avg2	20.66
fivefor2	1
tenfor2	n/a
best bowling2	6/15
catches/stumpings2	1/-
club1	Guyana
year1	1972–1982
club2	Demerara
year2	1975–1982
club3	Lancashire
year3	1977–1982
date	25 January
year	2006
source	http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/51485.html CricInfo }}

Colin Everton Hunte Croft (born 15 March 1953 in Demerara, British Guiana) is a former West Indian cricketer. He provides expert analysis on the British Broadcasting Corporation's Test Match Special.

Cricket career

Croft was part of the potent West Indian quartet of fast bowlers from the late 70s and early 80s. With his height (6'5"), he bowled bouncers and was very aggressive. He was renowned for bowling wide of the crease over the wicket and angling the ball in to right-handers. Croft's figures of 8/29 against Pakistan in 1977 are still the best Test innings figures by a fast bowler from the West Indies.

Rebel Tour

In 1982 Croft accepted a place on the rebel tour of apartheid-divided South Africa, in violation of an international ban on sports tours of the country. The rebel players were granted "honorary whites" status by the South African government to allow them access to all-white cricket playing areas. All the players who took part in the tour were banned for life from international cricket, thus marking the end of Croft's cricket playing career. That ban was effectively lifted in 1989, by both the WICB and the UN. Croft moved to the United States to avoid recriminations at home.

Teaching career

Croft taught Maths at Lambrook Haileybury school in Winkfield, Berkshire, UK from 2007-2008 for one and a half terms. He never coached cricket at the school but frequently gave autographs to parents of pupils at the school.

Media career

Since 1994, Croft has been doing cricket coverage part-time, as a commentator/analyst, and was one of the first writers for CricInfo, contributing over 500 articles so far to that entity. He has continued his sports journalism career everywhere that cricket is played, covering West Indies tours since 1994.

Croft's first overseas sports journalism sojourn was to the United Kingdom in 1995. During the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup Croft provided analysis for the BBC's Test Match Special radio coverage on all the Guyana based matches. He continued his analyst's role during the West Indies tour of England the same year.

In his private life, having been an Air Traffic Controller from 1973 to 1981, while also playing cricket for the West Indies cricket team, he has also obtained a Commercial Airline Pilot's licence in the USA, with endorsements for the UK, and worked as a Commercial Pilot in the Caribbean.

He also regularly appears as a studio guest on Sky Sports when West Indies are playing.

Notes

Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:West Indian cricketers Category:West Indies One Day International cricketers Category:West Indies Test cricketers Category:World Series Cricket players Category:Guyanese cricketers Category:Demerara cricketers Category:Lancashire cricketers

mr:कोलिन क्रॉफ्ट

playername	Michael Holding
country	West Indies
fullname	Michael Anthony Holding
nickname	Whispering Death
living	true
dayofbirth	16
monthofbirth	2
yearofbirth	1954
placeofbirth	Kingston
countryofbirth	Jamaica
heightft	6
heightinch	3.5
batting	Right-hand batsman
bowling	Right-arm fast
role	Bowler
international	true
testdebutdate	28 November
testdebutyear	1975
testdebutagainst	Australia
testcap	153
lasttestdate	24 February
lasttestyear	1987
lasttestagainst	New Zealand
odidebutdate	26 August
odidebutyear	1976
odidebutagainst	England
odicap	18
lastodidate	30 January
lastodiyear	1987
lastodiagainst	England
columns	4
column1	Test
matches1	60
runs1	910
bat avg1	13.78
100s/50s1	0/6
top score1	73
deliveries1	12,680
wickets1	249
bowl avg1	23.68
fivefor1	13
tenfor1	2
best bowling1	8/92
catches/stumpings1	22/–
column2	ODI
matches2	102
runs2	282
bat avg2	9.09
100s/50s2	0/2
top score2	64
deliveries2	5,473
wickets2	142
bowl avg2	21.36
fivefor2	1
tenfor2	0
best bowling2	5/26
catches/stumpings2	30/–
club1	Jamaica
year1	1973-1989
club2	Lancashire
year2	1981
club3	Tasmania
year3	1982-83
club4	Derbyshire
year4	1983-1989
club5	Canterbury
year5	1987-88
date	24 May
year	2009
source	http://content.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/52063.html cricinfo.com }}

Michael Anthony Holding (born 16 February 1954 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a former West Indian cricketer. One of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket, he was nicknamed 'Whispering Death' by umpires due to his quiet approach to the bowling crease. Holding was an outstanding athlete as a teenager and used skills acquired from running the 400 metres on the cricket pitch, with one of the longest and most rhythmic run-ups in world cricket. His bowling was smooth and very fast, and he used his height () to generate large amounts of bounce and zip off the pitch. He was part of the fearsome West Indian pace battery, together with Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Sylvester Clarke, Colin Croft, Wayne Daniel and the late Malcolm Marshall that devastated batting line-ups in the world throughout the seventies and early eighties.

In June 1988 Holding was celebrated on the $2 Jamaican stamp alongside the Barbados Cricket Buckle.

Career

He was a natural athlete as a young man. He is now a broadcaster and is a member of the Sky Sports cricket commentary team. During his First class cricket career, Holding played for Jamaica, Canterbury, Derbyshire, Lancashire and Tasmania.

Holding was the bowler in what is often described as "the greatest over in Test history", which he bowled in 1981 in Bridgetown to English batsman Geoff Boycott. The first five balls increased in pace, causing Boycott to have to react very rapidly to avoid being hit. The final ball saw Boycott clean bowled, to the great delight of the crowd.

According to an urban myth, during a Test match between the West Indies and England when Holding was to bowl to English player Peter Willey, the commentator at the time, Brian Johnston, described the action as "The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey" (a double entendre, as 'willy' is English slang for a penis). However Wisden states that there is no record of Johnston or anyone else actually saying this (although a colleague of Johnston's, Henry Blofeld, recalls the incident occurring during a test match at The Oval in 1976.)

In a limited-overs international between England and West Indies on 26 August 1976 at Scarborough, Michael Holding's return from long-leg deflected off the nearer wicket and scuttled along the pitch to break the far one with Graham Barlow and Alan Knott, on his only appearance as England's captain, stranded in mid-pitch. The dumbfounded umpires, David Constant and Arthur Jepson, rejected the run out appeal for reasons which remain obscure.

A less amusing incident for which Holding is also remembered was kicking over the stumps in anger at an umpiring decision in New Zealand in 1979/80. The tour had gone poorly almost from the beginning: West Indies had just finished a long tour of Australia, and were perhaps resentful about having a tour to unglamorous New Zealand immediately afterwards (their leading batsman of the time, Viv Richards, refused to tour). West Indies felt that the umpiring had been incompetent and against them throughout. After an appeal for caught behind was turned down, Holding turned and kicked the stumps in frustration.

Despite modest batting talent, he holds the record for the most sixes in a Test career for any player with fewer than 1000 career runs. He hit 36 sixes in his Test career, placing him at 32 in the all-time list. Remarkably almost a quarter of his Test runs came by way of sixes. Currently, Holding is one of the more respected cricket commentators in the world. His distinctive Jamaican accent and observations have proved popular wherever he is heard.

On 5 July 2008, Holding resigned from his post on the ICC cricket committee because he was unhappy with the ICC's decision to change the result of the 2006 Oval Test between England and Pakistan from a forfeited win for England to a draw.

Holding felt that Pakistan's refusal to play should not go unpunished even though they were not guilty of ball-tampering.

"I have just written my letter of resignation to the ICC cricket committee because I cannot agree with what they've done," Holding said while commentating for Sky Sports during a domestic match in England. "That game should never, ever be a draw. When you take certain actions, you must be quite happy to suffer the consequences.

"A lot of things are happening today that I don't want to be involved with, so I've moved on."

Notes

External links

Michael Holding's Official Site

Greatest over in Test History at Cricinfo

Picture taken after THAT over

Video and Holding's analysis of THAT over

Michael Holding's Profile at Cricinfo

Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:Cricket commentators Category:Canterbury cricketers Category:Cricketers at the 1979 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 1983 Cricket World Cup Category:Derbyshire cricketers Category:Lancashire cricketers Category:Tasmania cricketers Category:West Indian cricketers Category:West Indian cricketers of 1970-71 to 1999-2000 Category:West Indies One Day International cricketers Category:West Indies Test cricketers Category:West Indian cricket captains Category:Wisden Cricketers of the Year Category:World Series Cricket players Category:International Cricket Council Hall of Fame inductees

mr:मायकेल होल्डिंग te:మైకెల్ హోల్డింగ్