West Indies v South Africa

HUGE game this for both sides more so for the West Indies and once again right at the start they seem lacklustre as usual. After 9 good overs they have given up 27 runs in the last 3 with Kallis and Devilliers looking really aggressive.

Hmmm. One thing I cannot understand though is why the experts keep saying this is a do-or-die for the hosts. As I can see it, even if they lose this game, they can still go on to beat Bangladesh and England to get 6 points. If South Africa win this they will have 6 points and stay on 6 if they lose to New Zealand and England. England will have 6 points too and it would well be a 3-way tie for the fourth slot.

11.04: 183/1 in 33 overs as I write and I am frankly quite aghast at the West Indies performance so far, well as Kallis and deVilliers have batted. I don't want to sound a cry-baby but I can guarantee that even a team like India would not have given as poor an account of themselves in the field as the hosts have. Quite frankly, West Indies have looked by a wide margin the worst team in this Super 8 stage with both Ireland and Bangladesh looking far more impressive. Brian Charles Lara or Chris Gayle may yet go on to produce a miraculous innings that takes them home in this one but that cannot and should not take away from the fact that the West Indies do not look like they belong at this stage; they should not belong here. Nothing is as untolerable for me in a cricket side as lacklustre fielding. The fielding today has been quite diabolical to say the least. While players like Lara and Bravo are still trying their best to prop up the fielding unit, others like Bradshaw, Pollard, Powell just to name a few have been thoroughly listless.

11.45: Some astounding hitting by AB Devilliers; but yet again that 200 in ODIs remains elusive. Bit of a soft dismissal but Collymore has no reason to really beam and gesture - this is a hopeless effort by the West Indies - notwithstanding the fact that they can still win as I said earlier. Now Mark Boucher is at the crease and would you believe it, Lara has STILL not taken the third powerplay !!!

New Zealand v Ireland

After a surprising run of good contributions the New Zealand's tail has finally come a cropper against Ireland. The experiment of promoting the tail-end batsmen like Fulton, Marshall, Styris, McMillan and Fleming (to a lesser extent) continued today but unlike the earlier games they could not quite make it big and hence and finally the big guns like Oram and McCullum will get their chance to get a good time in the middle. Of course Peter Fulton one of the strongest tail-enders is filling his boots against lowly Ireland today.

11.29: After a well-compiled innings, Fulton gets out on the stroke of lunch. This surely is a blessing for New Zealand. Wonderfully commited though Fulton's innings was this will give their best batsman McCullum an opportunity to get set before he can launch into the onslaught. Now, New Zealand's top two batsmen at the crease.

11.38: Oram out !! Is there going to be a hint of another upset in the air ?? Although New Zealand have a strong "middle" order in Vettori and Franklin to follow.

Nightmarish Commentary !

If nightmarish commentary was the criterion, which teams would win it ??

I bet Rameez Raja-Aamir Sohail would play against the deadly combination of Ranjit Fernando-Laxman Sivaramakrishnan in the finals !! And it would be a close game.

Gavaskar-Shastri would lose in the semifinals.

Your thoughts ?

Standings

1. Australia
2. Daylight
3. New Zealand
4. Daylight
5. Sri Lanka
...

Australia v England !

It's the Ashes contest and so far a cracking game. Unfortunately, Ian Bell is out after a most well-played innings - now it is down to Pietersen, Collingwood and Flintoff to make sure England put up a challenging score - so far, the fight is on, the Aussies are under pressure and I'm loving it.

10.46: Colly out. Must say a bit of a disappointment after his exploits in the CB series.

11.13: If Collingwood has been a "bit" of a disappointment, Flintoff has been a massive one. Things going decidedly Australia's way now; but I think England would be better off now aiming lower - 250ish - than aim too high and implode. As I said it has not been easy chasing in this tournament and in the later stages of the innings it is difficult to get the ball away.

14.31: What do you guys think ? Nicely balanced, eh ? Australia need 152 from 28; 8 wickets in hand. Ponting biding his time. Anyone's game at this point ...

15.38 So Ponting chose the moment to open up. Sajid Mahmood has been nothing but rubbish, really, today. So Aussies now coasting home. They are showing yet again to the rest of the World how totals should be chased. What was a keen contest for about 80 overs has become a bit of a stroll in the last 5-6. Is there still a twist left ? I would think not ... but can never say ...

15.55 Ponting run-out and maybe I'm just being too optimistic and naive to think there still could be something in this ???

Bangladesh v South Africa (should have been India v South Africa)

... and tell you what ... I don't really regret that it is not India playing today for Mohammad Ashraful is playing wht in my opinion is a gem of an innings probably one of the best of the tournament so far in terms of quality of strokeplay on display, the artistry of the strokes, the quality of the opposition and the game situation. Keep in mind, I say this, in the light of some stupendous innings by Hayden, jayasuriya etal in this event.

Magnificent innings. And note, I'm usually not very genrous with these terms. He just played an inside out shot over extra cover that was one of the most miraculous shots ever and prompted the great Barry Richards to say that there was an element of a young (emphasize young) Tendulkar in that shot.

He has just got out for 87 but make no mistake, this is an innings that will be remembered for years to come in the annals of Bangladesh cricket.

Update: What a magnificent victory ! Now this innings will definitely go down in history. The Desi Boys have shown the Saffers their rightful place and thrown this tournament open - open enough for themselves, England and West Indies to have a hope. This is the just the tonic that this tournament needed - now if the Poms can pull one over the Aussies tomorrow - that will really put the cat among the pigeons !!!!!!!!

England v Sri Lanka !!

This could well turn out to be a match !! So far in this tournament, totals of 240+ have been defended easily, while those below 210 have been chased down easily. This total is likely to fall nicely in between these 2 points and so should be an exciting afternoon !

Man Of The Series ?

So who is likely to be the Man of This World Cup Tournament ? I say likely to be, because I believe it has not really yet begun in the true sense - only when the top 4 teams have played against each other will I believe that we will come to know something.

My vote goes to Shane Bond. I believe he can be the single largest factor in influencing this tournament. Figure this - the top 4 teams so far have been Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Sri Lanka and South Africa played a really close game and South Africa were thrashed by Australia. So I think going with the old school thought of bowlers being the one winning matches, I think the attacks of South Africa and Sri Lanka though good still don't measure up to Australia. But what the Aussie attack lacks is that X-factor that Bond provides.

The name is Bond, SHANE Bond.

Finally The Bugger Speaks ...

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/india/content/current/story/288710.html

What he has said might be utter crap, of course, but at least he has shown the effort to speak rather than hide in his Bandra home ...

Ireland vs South Africa (should have been Pakistan v South Africa)

... another one to put me to sleep ...

Rain ... almost a relief ....

Bangladesh vs New Zealand

What, in your opinion, would be a good nickname for the Bangladesh national cricket team ? Bengaboys ? Desi-Boys ? Pour in with your ideas ...

Meanwhile Shane Bond has returned obscene figures of 10-4-15-2, both wickets in the same over clean bowled, were a treat to the eye though.

Grrrr.

It's World Cup Time ...

... the action has already begun, as I write.

The first group of warm-up games that took place yesterday threw up quite a few interesting tidbits.

1. Bermuda have a 270-pound left-arm spinner. Apparently he was bigger but he lost some weight for this tournament. He bowled a really tight spell against England. Bermuda are in India's group. You put two and two together. Tight, irritating left-arm spinners, Tendulkar, ... we know where this could go ... Ashley Giles, Ray Price, Paul Harris .. ring a bell ?

2. South Africa just scraped through against Ireland. This is the World's Number 1 team for God's sake ! They also played their whole squad with the exception of Ntini ! Minnows are not to be taken lightly this World Cup !

3. Both England and Sri Lanka, easy victors though they were had some tense moments during their innings. This could well be the kind of tournament where minnow bowlers have a bit of a honeymoon while the batsmen suffer - a low-scoringish affair if the early signs are any indications.

4. Then again, I believe the venues for the warm-up games are almost totally different that what are going to be used for the main event. So we might never just know.

This tournament keeps whetting the appetite more and more ... can't wait for the real thing to begin ...

Plan To Be Back ...

So it seems the ball was coming straight out of the middle of the bat and resultantly the Outside Edge out of the picture for the last few months. Well, with the good news that my friend Kartikeya's CricketingView has been nominated for the Indibloggies award for Best Sports Blog (evidence that the efforts of cricketing experts like him are indeed appreciated) one is inspired to resume blogging. Now, would be a perfect time considering that the World Cup is upon us and it is not quite end of semester hectic time.

Watch out this space for more ...

India Fielding Pathetic

India's fielding display today has been quite despicable to say the least with Munaf Patel being the major culprit. But the others haven't been angels either. Dravid, Sehwag, Kumble, Zaheer all have at various times appeared extremely lacklustre. Sehwag's catch to dismiss Smith was the only saving grace.

However, Munaf reminded one of Ashish Nehra. Words are hard to find to describe the abysmally low levels of fielding he stooped to on both days. His throws were directed about 100 feet in the air and way short of their mark, several balls were let towards the boundary through various gaps in his body appendages and singles were converted to twos and twos to threes when the ball went to him with remarkable and predictable ease. Often he was specifically targeted for these purposes. Also his running gave an appearace of an absent-minded giraffe much like Nehra did.

Earlier there were a few angry and grumpy faces when he displayed these skills but towards the end the rest of the team had pretty much given up even moaning about him. It was taken as granted that he would come up with another diabolical effort everytime the ball went to him.

That he is coming back from an injury is known. But this is completely inexcusable behavior. If he was not completely fit he should not have been playing at all. And it is not as if he has done anything special with his bowling either.

How Much Are 10 runs really worth ?

A question that boggled my mind while I was proctoring an exam today ? So what difference does it make if an opener gives a quickfire start of 30 runs or 20 runs ? Is it that big ? What is the difference between a 0 and a streaky 10 ? Between a 40 and a 50 ? A 90 and a 100 ? A 50 and a 60 ?

From an opener ? From a pinch-hitter ? From a tail-ender ?

In the slog ? In the middle overs ? While chasing a huge target ?

While batting on a minefield ? On a batting beauty ?

In all these multitude of scenarios what is the value of 10 runs ?

Clearly it is different, clearly it depends a lot on all these circumstances, maybe initially I thought it was not too much but maybe I need to analyze this further.

Actually the motivation I had for this question was initially quite different. I was working on the fact that prior to the start of 2004 Sehwag averaged 35, since then he averages 28. Is that such a drastic decline as is made out to be ? Well I guess for that I have to look at other avenues, like considering more than just averages.

But I hope I have raised some interesting questions and look forward to the opinions of all of you.

Such Are The Ways Of World Cricket ...

... particularly in the ODI format.

So Australia still are the World Champions. They finally managed to win the one tournament that had eluded them and also won the DLF Triangular prior to that against opponents who were at that point of time considered, well, dangerous.

However on both these occasions they dropped one game to the West Indies and people began to talk about the West Indies emerging as a serious challenger to Australia in the near future. The same West Indies however, are not having too easy a time in Pakistan. That Pakistan who was absolutely annihilated by South Africa last month. Yes, the same South Africa whom the West Indies thrashed in the ICC Champios Trophy.

Confusing enough ?

Let us try to summarize: Australia are still the World Champs, but West Indies emerge as a strong contender by beating them a couple of times and reaching finals before losing to them. On the way they thrash South Africa whom had in turn annihilated Pakistan. But now West Indies find the going tough against Pakistan.

Such is cricket, really. So I guess one shouldn't really devastate oneself too much over India's travails in South Africa. Because it all comes around in circles ...

How Cumming ?

People might think of several weird interpretations of the above title but believe it or not, it is opening pair that New Zealand has put up against Sri Lanka in this current test match ?

How cum ? You might want to ask ...

Interesting Piece Of Trivia ?

Other than England, which country holds the record for maximum born players who went on to play the Ashes for England ? Name these players if possible.

...
...
...

Answer: Not South Africa, as many might guess, but India. The more prominent among thse include Ranjitsinghji, Duleepsinghji, Douglas Jardine, Nawab Pataudi, Colin Cowdrey, Bob Woolmer, Nasser Hussain.

Others are Emmett, Wynyard and Young.

Why These Obituaries ?

Read a fine piece by Osman Samiuddin that gave Shoaib the cricketer a lot of praise while rightly lambasting his shortcomings as a sportsman. However what I wonder is why he so readily concludes that this is not merely a 2-year ban but the end of Shoaib's career. After all he will be 33 when his ban ends. Remember Shane Warne was already 34 when he was banned and yet we all know where he stands today.

Is this due to the implicit (and quite likely true) assumption of Shoaib's lack of mental strength ? In any case there is always a possibility that this will give him some time to introspect and return with a fervour for what will be the last 2-3 years of his career. Maybe this will provide him the strength to channelize the energies he lacked and come out and prove to the World his innate unfulfilled potential.

There is always reason to hope, right ?

What An Utterly Boring Affair !

Just when you think they could possibly go no lower, the ICC comes up with something even worse. The first couple of editions of the ICC Champions Trophy (or the ICC Knockout) were fine as they were. Then they were not satisfied with the number of games because that meant less money.

Then under the guise of giving teams a second chance the ICC increased the number of matches by making 4 groups of 3 teams each in 2002 and 2004. Of course we know what happened. Each group had one obvious weakling and 8 of the 12 group games were no-contests.

So now just to give an appearance that they are doing something different they come up with this stupid round roubin qualifying round idea where it is as clear as daylight that West Indies and Sri Lanka are going to make it to the main draw without any hassles. Really pathetic stuff. I could not care less about what is happening in these meaningless matches.