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.

Now They Cast Aspersions On Our Civility ...

As if creating a ruckus in World cricket by the Inzy incident was not enough the ICC have essentially declared that the subcontinent is not a place safe enough for gentlemen like Hair to officiate and that people living here are uncivilized brutes who are likely to waste no instant in shooting down the man at the first sight of him. That is what I interpret from the decision to not appoint Hair for the Champions Trophy on security grounds.

Excellent going.

So what does Mr. Hair get ?

So the guy who was proven innocent of ball-tampering is slammed with a 4-match ban for an action that was a direct consequence of Mr. Hair making what have now been proven false accusations against him. And what does the man who sought to tarnish the reputation of one of World Cricket's greatest and most likeable cricketers and a true genteleman get ?

Nothing.

Oh yeah, perhaps $500000 ? Wasn't that what he wanted ?

True Colors

So Ravi Shastri has finally shown his true colors. Remember less than a month ago, this guy was equating Dravid with Steve Waugh as batsman and captain !!

Flintoff The Right Choice

I fully support Andrew Flintoff's appointment as England captain for the Ashes. Mind you, I believe Strauss had done an excellent job with the team as well.

But Flintoff had led superbly in tough conditions in India and hence should be rewarded with a return to the throne upon comeback.

The only question mark that should remain will be about his fitness. He will get a chance to prove that in India.

Humble Tribute

To The Great Sir Clyde Walcott who passed away yesterday in Barbados.

Hypothetical Super Series

Stuck in the mire of ball tampering, national honors, cheating and forfeiture and the glue that holds all this together, the Spirit Of Cricket, I thought why not move away from all this for a little while, take a breather and talk about a totally different *cricketing* issue. This is a favorite pastime of mine. To make XIs. It was around this time last year that the ICC World teams were prepared to take on Australia in the Super (Flop) Series. Although there can be no doubt that the series flopped, I rather liked the idea at that time and continue to be thrilled about picking a World XI again today to take on Australia. Let us start off today by picking an XI for Test cricket. Because that is easier and more interesting. I shall list it first and then elaborate.

Sehwag (Ind)

Strauss (Eng)

Dravid (Ind) - CAPTAIN

Yousouf (Pak)

Younis (Pak)

Sangakarra (SL) -- KEEPER

Flintoff (Eng) – VICE-CAPTAIN

Kumble (Ind)

Hoggard (Eng)

Muralitharan (SL)

Ntini (SA)

So my captain is Rahul Dravid and the vice-captain Andrew Flintoff. There was no debate in my mind about the captain. However there were several contenders for the vice-captain’s slot viz. Sehwag, Strauss, Younis and Sangakarra. But Freddie took it in the end.

Sehwag has had an inconsistent year. He had an astonishing 254 against Pakistan but other than that had pretty lame series against England and Sri Lanka at home before returning to some sort of form in the West Indies.

Strauss has also had an up and down season until the recent series against Pak but of course he had that crucial hundred against India at Mumbai.

But despite not quite being at their best these 2 were the best openers on show. Hence Sehwag retains his spot and Strauss picks it from Graeme Smith, last year’s captain who himself has had a pretty poor injury ridden year. Besides, Sehwag was the one shining success in last year’s game.

Dravid was clearly quite the opposite in the fixture last year, an abject failure. Yet such is the class of the man and his consistent form over the season makes him an automatic reselection at number 3.

Mohammad Yousouf has quite easily been a revelation this season and easily grabs the #4 spot. The incumbent Brian Lara has had a poor year (a century in Adelaide apart) and finds himself out.

Younis Khan also has had an outstanding year and although he has not vowed audiences like Yousouf with the beauty of his bat, his scores have been just as if not more impressive. He takes the place of injury-ridden and off-form Jacques Kallis from last year.

Sangakarra is the keeper batsmen. Quite clearly he deserved this place last year too. Really Mark Boucher was no competition. Well he gets his deserved spot anyway.

Flintoff – despite suffering an injury he is there. The fact that this is only an on-paper team helps. He is the vice-captain. He was quite superb as captain in India IMO. And his all-round skills speak for themselves.

Kumble – he gets his rightful place replacing Daniel Vettori. Admittedly Vettori did well in the ODI series last year but really in 5-day cricket (and assuming this match will again take place at Sydney, hence the 2 spin-theory) Kumble has to make it. Besides he has given a match-winning and historic series-winning performance for India in the West Indies.

Hoggard – Again IMO deserves his spot, despite a below par series against Pak simply because of his consistent performances prior to that. In India mainly. Hoggard is also an additional bowler replacing Inzamam from last year’s squad.

So I have shifted to a 5-bowler attack where Freddie does not have to bear the burden of opening the bowling like he did last time.

Murali – period.

Ntini – replaces Harmison in last year’s squad. Has had a good year and is continuously on the up.

So finally in the XI we have

3 Englishmen (Strauss, Flintoff, Hoggard) as opposed to 2 last year (Flintoff, Harmison)

3 Indians (Sehwag, Dravid, Kumble) as opposed to 2 last year (Sehwag, Dravid)

0 Kiwis () as opposed to 1 last year (Vettori) – which I still maintain was a quota choice

2 Pakistanis (Younis, Yousouf) as opposed to 1 last year (Inzamam)

1 Protea (Ntini) as opposed to 3 last year (Smith, Kallis, Boucher)

2 Sri Lankans (Murali, Sangakarra) as opposed to just Murali last year

0 West Indians, Brian Lara dropped from last year

The players who merited consideration were Kallis (of course), Inzamam (again, of course), Jayawardene (in great form, unlucky to miss out), Pietersen (also in good form) and Brian Lara (patchy season) among batsmen; no other bowler really came close. Shoaib has had a decent year. Asif has had 3 great tests but he is only starting out, he can wait.

So would like to know what you guys think about the team.

SENSATIONAL !!!

Absolutely SENSATIONAL is all that I can say at the moment about the now-made-public news of the offer by Darrell Hair to resign for $500000. Well pardon me for being at a loss for words just at the moment, but this will take some time to sink in before analysis.

The Saga Goes On 2

Guess what? Turns out I was a bit too cynical in my analysis yesterday. Well at least as far as Pakistan is concerned, they do want the issue to be sorted out early. Can’t say the same about the ICC though whose number one priority seems to be greed as The Burnt Bail here agrees. But I fully sympathize with the Pak team in their desire to get this matter dealt with before playing. Who would want to play with the sword hanging over their heads knowing they will be branded cheats at any possible time?

Meanwhile, here is a very interesting piece by John Stern on Cricinfo. I particularly like the part where he lays down the reason for ICC’s shift to Dubai – that they need more sand to bury their head in.

Also from Cricinfo is an article by Andrew Miller where he talks about bringing the dark arts into light. I don’t quite necessarily agree with all his suggestions but I do agree as always with the pro-bowler theme. Basically, in this hedonistic era of batsmanism, anything that can assist the bowlers in any way should be encouraged. While protecting the doosra even though it is engulfed in clouds of chucking theory is one important aspect of it, the other equally important aspect is reverse swing.

After all the doosra and the reverse swinging delivery are wonderful sights. Miller talks about Simon Jones’ delivery to castle Michael Clarke in the last summer’s Ashes, according to him the most ‘orgasmic’ delivery of the series. He talks about the wonders displayed by Wasim and Waqar. He goes on to argue that “ball-tampering”, which let us face it, is clearly a practice widely followed but never officially acknowledged except on occasions such as these, is an art, a creative, even innovative art and rather than being looked down upon as cheating should be allowed to blossom openly (within certain limits of course.) Yes, I agree. Anything to get one back on those greedy batsmen. I shall always remain a bowlers’ man.

Meanwhile, South Africa have said they would be happy to play England in case Pak pull out. Sure you would, you …’s. Not for you that London is probably as much vulnerable at this time as Colombo, isn’t it? It’s not really purely about security is it ?

The Saga Goes On

So now the ODI series will be on because Ranjan Madugalle is (conveniently?) unavailable for the moment looking into personal issues.

Apparently Malcolm Speed looked for other alternatives but it seems “England and Pakistan both wanted Madugalle because of his immense credibility.” Funny I never thought of him as a particularly credible person not even in the short stints of commentary he did. But such are the ways of the World

OK maybe I was being a bit too cynical about the reason for Madugalle’s unavailability. Apparently he did have this personal matter planned in advance and in fact was the match referee for the first 3 tests before handing over to Proctor. Still does not change the credibility stand as far as his refereeing goes though.

Meanwhile if Inzy is indeed banned there is bound to be loud repercussions worldwide, the merits of which is another issue altogether. So yeah, this was the best way to get this series out of the way, cool the tempers a bit and then see what happens.

Here is a question – how about Srinath, the latest entrant in the referee panel, doing the hearing instead of Madugalle ?

Also Bob Woolmer asks for the ball tampering law to be scrapped and while that may sound a bit extreme he usually has a point.
Again at first glance his suggestion that players be allowed to use all natural means to change the ball and get it to assist the bowlers might sound ridiculous at first but on deeper thought it makes lot of sense. After all he goes on to add that all bowlers in the past have tried various ways that are by today’s standards illegal to change the ball and this is unknown to umpires who have never played the game. So, isn’t this similar to the whole chucking issue where history is littered with almost all bowlers bending their arms ? Woolmer’s point about ball-tampering being similar to prohibition is one that makes a lot of sense.

Meanwhile here is a delightful story about another controversy involving Darrell Hair. Thanks Rick for the link.

Also look at this very balanced piece of analysis from The Burnt Bail.

Today's Stories

Andy Flower – Batsman/Keeper – England ?
After yet another disappointing and listless performance by Geraint Jones with the bat and despite his improved keeping, the calls are getting louder by the day for his ouster. So who will replace him? Well Chris Read is the local favorite, there are a couple of new names that I haven’t even heard of – but one name I have heard of is Andy Flower. Now he has almost qualified to play for England hasn’t he? Surely, if merit be the sole criterion, once he qualifies he should be a serious contender even at this age given the class of the man.

471 runs – Sangakarra Jayawardene
The old firm is at it again. A record 3rd wicket unbeaten partnership. One shudders to think where they will end up. With 3 whole days left, the World Record is definitely not an impossibility.

Today's Stories

Prem Panicker talks about the foolishness of rushing back Sachin. I tend to agree, then again, we did have problems with our batting in the ODI series in the West Indies and any match from now on till the World Cup is important from the point of view of maintaining the momentum so …

To Improve Your Average ... PRAY !

Since converting from Christianity to Islam, Yousouf Youhana has increased his average from an impressive 47 to a very impressive 52. And his average in that period is a whopping 83. He puts it all down to praying 5 times a day.

Courtesy this Steven Lynch Column on Cricinfo.

And The Predictable Follows ...

Dalmiya now says that he does not expect any loyalty from Ganguly and that the email does not concern him nor did he leak it … Fountainhead anyone ?

RUBARU .... Roshni !!

Finally ...

By the way how many of you who have read The Fountainhead agree with me that the characters in this saga have a bit of a matching with those in the book:

Sourav Ganguly = Peter Keating
Jagmohan Dalmiya = Ellsworth Toohey
Rahul Dravid = Howard Roark
Greg Chappell = Gail Wynand

More Injury Worries For England

Here we go again.

Are We ...

... seeing an abrupt, premature, unfulfilled end to one of the more promising careers in recent times ?? This is pretty sad news.

Four Out Of Four

The Sri Lankan juggernaut keeps rolling. They have now taken a 4-0 lead with victory at Old Trafford. Most notably it is a second consecutive hundred for skipper Mahela Jayawardene, one of the most stylish and one of my favorite batsmen in World Cricket at the moment, not least because I believe he is grossly underrated and to be fair a huge underachiever, particularly overseas.

England meanwhile won't learn their lessons, 20 wides and a few no balls in a 33 run loss once again with Harmisson being responsible for 9 of those wides. Phew !

Interesting Questions

How many times has a batsman hit a bowler for 6 consecutive fours in an over?

Off the top of my head I can remember 3. Sandeep Patil off Bob Willis, Chris Gayle off Matthew Hoggard and recently Ramnaresh Sarwan off Munaf Patel. Interestingly, Willis was a really accomplished bowler and Hoggard as of now seems to be well on his way there. Munaf too has shown a lot of promise in his young career. Clearly being thrashed about once is not such a big deal, it seems.

Talking of Munaf, he seems to be taking a lot of his wickets either bowled or lbw. Who are the other bowlers in history to do this? Off the top of my head I can definitely remember Waqar Younis and to a lesser extent Shoaib Akhtar. To an even lesser extent, Wasim Akram. The key factor here? Reverse swing, a liking for Yorkers.

Staying with Munaf he definitely seems to be a long term prospect for India. Oh hang on. Haven’t we been down this path before? How many bowlers have in the recent past promised so much only to let us down? Off the top of my head and leading the list definitely Zaheer Khan closely followed by Ajit Agarkar and Ashish Nehra. One who seems to be going that way (I hope he doesn’t) is Irfan Pathan.

How many times recently have Sri Lanka beaten England convincingly? 4. The Trentbridge test and the 3 ODIs were as comprehensive thrashings as you can imagine. Throw in a close win in the 20-20 game in there as well. Sri Lanka are clearly a team on a high finally delivering the promise they have held and converting potential into performance in a foreign setting. England meanwhile have serious problems. The Ashes is now only a distant memory. Since then they haven’t managed to win a single test series and have lost ODIs faster than you can say … well ODI.