I knew I had to go to Iowa," Grandal said. "I had a g

A very special welcome to Shot Selection if youve never read a post on this blog before. If you have, and I believe that there are over 40 pieces to choose from, then I say, Have you not had enough already?Today Ive decided to let you in on the dark arts of gaining access to a cricketer for what we are going to call a special shoot. Normally, for a special shoot you have to approach the media liaison officer and persuade her or him that it is in everyones interest that a photographer (me) should have five or six minutes with a particular cricketer, and that the subsequent photograph will take cricket to the next level (whatever that means). Normally this approach will get one of two responses. Either a positive one, which may be something like: Ill ask the cricketer and see what we can do, or No.I have had an instance where a cricketer agreed to a quick special shoot at Southampton during a one-day county match. No media liaison officer was involved in this case. The player wasnt due to bat till seven wickets had fallen, so he was ready to do a five-minute posing session there and then, as his team had just begun batting. I stupidly told him to let me set up my lights and that he should come over to the nets in about five or ten minutes. I kept sending messages to the dressing room saying that I was ready. Six hours later I gave up and packed up my gear and when I drove past the Worcestershire coach (a bus, not the human coach of the team) at a nearby McDonalds, I was tempted to go in and give this player a piece of my angry mind. I wont name the player as hes a nice guy and also comes from Wales. No point holding a grudge, is there? Or is there?I did a shoot for the Cricketer magazine in 2007 with heart-throb Mark Ramprakash at The Oval. I decided to put my camera on a tripod and take two different images of Mark that I would stitch together using Photoshop. As Mark was involved in the popular Saturday evening programme Strictly Come Dancing, I wanted to show his flamboyant side. I used a couple of flashes to make him stand out on a grey London day. I was very happy with the result, but Mark wasnt so chuffed when he saw it. England have a brand new media liaison officer who is very, very nice and more importantly, very helpful and accommodating. (Ill send a link for this blog to Danny, I think). I had a plan in 2015 to photograph the baby-faced Joe Root in the Lords Long Room, and he agreed to do it in September. Unfortunately Joe forgot his Test kit and the shoot had to be postponed.Anyway, last month the opportunity to do this shoot reared its lovely head again. Joe was chatting with journalists in the writing room at Lords and was due to join me in the Long Room for a few minutes of fun and photography. I took out a small insurance policy to make sure that he came to the Long Room by taking his bat and batting gloves with me. I neednt have bothered. Joe was quite happy to pose for five minutes in the famous room.I got some shots of him looking out the window and looking at the camera. Lastly I wanted a moody shot of a determined young man staring at the camera. I asked Joe to look at me as if he hated me and the shoot descended into laughter. He is just too nice for any of that stuff. I cant imagine why David Warner tried to batter him in Broad street all those years ago.Ramprakash: Canon Eos 1D MkII 125ASA F5.6 24-70 @32mm 1/400th; Root: Nikon D4 500ASA F5 70-200 @110mm 1/200thDele Alli Jersey . Vettel, who has already clinched his fourth straight F1 title, enters the finale with a chance to equal Michael Schumachers 13 victories in a year and match the record of nine consecutive wins by Alberto Ascari in the 1952 and 1953 seasons. Kieran Trippier Jersey . 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"It was nerve-wracking, but we pulled through," said Collaros, who threw four touchdown passes to lead the Toronto Argonauts (8-4) to a 33-27 win over the Calgary Stampeders (9-3) in front of 28,781 fans at McMahon Stadium.SEATTLE -- Catcher Yasmani Grandal was reinstated by the San Diego Padres from the restricted list on Tuesday after missing the first 50 games of the season while serving a suspension for a positive testosterone test. Grandal arrived in Seattle late Monday night and was immediately inserted into the starting lineup for the Padres as they closed out a two-game series against the Mariners. "I think its not nerves, its more being excited," Grandal said. "I think Im going to be even more when we get back to San Diego because you get to play in front of your home crowd. Not nervous, definitely not nervous. Just excited." The Padres optioned catcher John Baker to Triple-A Tucson and designated for assignment infielder Edinson Rincon to clear a roster spot for Grandal. Sitting in the Padres dugout three hours before making his season debut, Grandal said he doesnt feel any extra pressure to show that his performance at the plate last season wasnt the result of what led to his positive test. Grandal said the only people he needs to prove himself to are in the Padres organization. "If I have to prove anything its to the Padres. My job comes first. The Padres are the ones that have me in the major leagues and the ones that made the decisions to bring me up or down," Grandal said. "So do I have something to prove? Yeah, to the Padres." Grandal was part of San Diegos second-half resurgence in 2012, hitting .297 with eight home runs and 36 RBIs in 60 gammes.dddddddddddd Grandal was allowed to play 10 games at Triple-A, where he hit .306 with three doubles and two RBIs in nine games. Grandal apologized to his teammates at the start of spring training and read a statement in which he apologized to fans and the organization. He said the time between the suspension being handed down in November and the start of spring training felt like forever, but since spring training started things have moved quickly. "Next thing I knew I had to go to Iowa," Grandal said. "I had a good time down at spring training. I had to do what I had to do and were here now." Grandal was acquired along with first baseman Yonder Alonso and pitchers Edinson Volquez and Brad Boxberger from Cincinnati for ace Mat Latos in December 2011. He said hes not concerned about the stigma that might come with the suspension and Januarys report by Miami New Times that he appeared in the records of Biogenesis of America LLC, a closed anti-aging clinic in Coral Gables, Fla., accused in media reports of distributing banned performance-enhancing drugs to players. Baseball sued the clinic and its backers and has purchased documents that included players names. "Theres no difficulty. Youre in the major leagues, youre getting another opportunity to prove yourself, to let the team that youre with know that you belong here," Grandal said. "Theres no baggage that you carry around. At the end of the day, youre still playing here." ' ' '