Boycott calls for Day-Night Test Matches

ENGLAND legend
Geoff Boycott has urged administrators to consider the radical move to four-day
and day-night Tests to revitalize a format he feels has gone stale.

I think it is too early to contemplate a change. What the game needs now are more personalities like Sreesanth and Symonds and the Border-Gavaskar Cup will truly determine where Test cricket stands.

What do you say?

How not to duck a bouncer.

I have watched quiet a few batsmen struggling to weave away from a bouncer. Obviously, Gavaskar and Boycott comes to my mind for their copy book style of leaving a bouncer alone. Bat thrust down, eyes on the ball and letting the ball pass in front of their face.

At the other extreme I have seen both Azhar and now Ganguly negotiating a bouncer like a cat on a hot tin roof. Even Tendulkar has an ungainly technique, he just squats. But this I think this is the worst one can ever imagine.

Look at the bat stuck up like a periscope and his eyes focused not on the ball but on his groin.

Never have I seen someone ducking a bouncer like this. Mind you, this is from Marvan Atapattu, the most technically sound batsman in the Sri Lankan team.

Who would you say has the best technique for handling a bouncer?

Murali's Bunnies

He has dismissed 10 batsmen seven or more times in his 704-wicket haul and a close scrutiny will show that there are no Indian, Australian or New Zealand batsmen.

Mark Boucher SA 12

Grant Flower Zim 10

Khaled Mashud Bang 9

Mohammad Yousuf Pak 9

Waqar Younis Pak 9

Marcus Trescothick Eng 8

Daryll Cullinan SA 7

Mohammad Rafique Bang 7

Shahriar Nafees Bang 7

Graham Thorpe Eng 7

Any conjectures?

Here is another genuine cricketing moment.

Observe the expression on Nitini's face.

A four-pronged pace attack?

Cricket Australia's selection chairman, Andrew
Hilditch, said he did not rule out the possibility of playing four specialist
pacemen with part-spin coming in from Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke.

I say,bring them on.

Is that all you have?

What is happening?

Observe the hands in the ahem.. wrong place...

Who is fingering Sreesanth?

Are we aiming high enough?

The team should learn to take the toss, pitch and
weather out of the equation, writes Anil Kumble and goes on to add that we have to remember the importance of
planning, setting goals and working towards them.

However there is a real danger of being seduced by small victories and setting too small a goal.

As Edward Everett Hale says, “If you have accomplished all that you have planned for yourself, you have not planned enough.”

Which leads me to ask,Mr.Kumble, what are your plans for taming Australia?

Photograph of the Sydney high-rise buildings at Circular Quay courtesy Photographer: Roy Tennant

Bringing the boundary line in

Ponting said he did not
know whether it was an issue of player safety or a desire to increase the number
of boundaries for crowd entertainment in a one-day contest that had triggered
the decision to reduce ground dimensions.

If I remember correctly, it was brought in to stop the players from injuring themselves when sliding or diving near the fence.

However there is no denying that it has resulted in the current glut of sixes and both the batsmen and the crowd love it.

What do you say?

Why compensate Vengsarkar?

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may consider
offering compensation to Chief Selector, Dilip Vengsarkar, for agreeing to stop
writing newspaper columns.

No doubt earlier he was serving as a selector in an honorary capacity but now he is a full time employee and paid an amount which runs into lakhs, for his pains.

Isn’t it ridiculous to recompense someone for taking up a much more prestigious and well paying job off his own free will?

I do not understand why the BCCI should compensate him?

In essence, this is a sign –on bonus and sets a precedent for various other spurious claims.

Jumping Jack Rabbit

Misbah mimics More or was he mimicking Miandad?

Kotla Day 3 Morning session

Damn disappointing.

 

Expected the tail enders to play around Laxman and last the morning session.

 

Unfortunately,excepting Kumble, they caved in meekly leaving Pakistan a very low lead to overhaul.

 

Laxman shows a reluctance to take charge when tailenders are with him. Other than this blemish, his innings was again a face-saving one for the Indian middle order.

 

Indian innings folded too early and with fewer runs than expected.

 

This means India will definitely have a battle on their hands on the fifth day.

 

India should have finished the session with atleast one batsmen back in the pavilion. No such luck.

 

The morning session went as expected for Pakistan.

 

 

 

What is Shoaib Akhtar up to?

Shoaib Akhtar, seems hell bent on pleasing everyone.

His masters have given him a glowing report and going by his antics today, it looks as if he is aiming for the most 'sportive' person award of this series.

However one cannot but feel that all his good behaviour is a pretence. If it is a pretence, what is he aiming at?

An IPL contract?

If I am not mistaken, he is yet to be approached by both factions, even though earlier there were reports of him joining ICL

Update:

Q says,

ICL offered him ( a contract) and he (had) refused. In fact he was offered one of the highest paying contracts.

IPL has offered him (a contract) and he has accepted (it).

Thanks Q, I stand corrected.

Back of the envelope observations

Karthik and Jaffer never inspired confidence. Karthik has to remember that knives are out and if he fails again, he can be sure of a huge public outcry.

 

Jaffer seems capable of getting out for no reason. I can't really understand his mental make-up. But as long as he was there his stroke play was as effortless as Laxmans.

 

Off- late Dravid has been getting out, playing down the wrong line. If the bowler was a right hander, he would have nicked it to the slips. Today Tanvir had him bowled trying to flick, without stretching fully forward.

 

Ganguly is still playing from memory with no real awareness of what the bowler was bowling. He exposed a huge gap between his bat and pad and got castled. High time he woke up and played the ball on its merit.

 

Sachin carried his confidence from the ODI. Since he is "GOD" you can't call it over-confidence, so let's say he got run-out by being casual.

 

Dhoni did his bit. A lot of his shots seem to be coming from the bottom or toe of his bat. Wonder why? Is the pitch keeping low or is it how he gets the elevation for his lofted shots. Have to observe him some more to know for sure. Unfortunately he was done in by his urge to smash the ball down the ground.

 

Laxman- sublime as usual.

 

 

 

Spicing up the 50 over game

Harsha Bhogle suggests:

The idea that appeals the most to me is, at some time in the future, to convert
50 overs cricket into two innings of 25 overs each.

Conditions
will be more even for both teams (the dew in a day-night game will affect both
teams since each will get 25 overs in the evening), the toss will give the
captain more to think about and the commercial side will be well taken care of.
It is an idea that has emerged from Australia and I first read of it in an
article by John Buchanan.

This is an idea worth examining.

Here are a couple of more advantages to the one mentioned regarding the toss.

25 overs per innings will give the sides an opportunity to regain initiative and turn the game on its head. It will also create anticipation among the spectators on how teams will play in the second innings.

Compartmentalizing an ODI into bursts of two 25 overs innings each, will make the game faster. It is too short a time for batsmen to worry about a collapse and for a bowler to conserve his energy.

However, implementing it will erase the distinction between a T20 and a 50 overs game. The practical among us will say that 50 over game is nothing but two T20 games played on the same day.

How do you rate this idea?

Sub-continental frailty?

Charlie Austin on Atapattu:

His greatest weaknesses as a batsman were his nerves at the start of an innings,
his often appalling running between the wickets, and the traditional
subcontinental frailty outside the off stump, especially on bouncy pitches.

What the hell is this “subcontinental frailty outside the off stump, especially on bouncy pitches”.

Off-hand I can recollect Allan Border being ridiculed (sledging?) by the WI slip cordon for the same frailty.

Subcontinental frailty,indeed!

A change in the offing?

Hitherto, it has always been the Australians, who had the temerity to comment on their opponents. Now others have started usurping their space.

Here is Murali on MacGill:

Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan believes Stuart MacGill is "not the
bowler he used to be" and Australian selectors should look to the future when
choosing a test cricket spinner.

Way to go Murali!

The vultures are circling. Down below is a bleeding limping beast feigning life.

The worry for Cricket Australia

Cricket Australia is worried about the dwindling attendances during the recent Sri Lanka series. Plus, they see no reason to hope for a revival in their fortunes.

“the position won’t improve in the coming weeks. Before Christmas, Australia
will meet New Zealand in three one day matches and a Twenty20 match. New Zealand
is currently ranked fifth on the One Day International ratings table so another
lopsided series looms.


Then Australia and India will
player three Tests, the first starting on Boxing Day in Melbourne. While India
ranks third on the Test ratings table, England ranks second! If Australia scored
an easy clean sweep against the Poms last summer, what will it do to India this
summer?”

Our expatriates will be at the stadium in full force so that is the least of their worries.

However about what Australia will do to India, anyone willing to hazard a guess?

Expletives welcomed. :)

Jolly good fellows!

News emanating out of Sri Lanka is that Muthiah Muralitharans bunnies are getting ready to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

Somehow it is an Englishman’s fate to be a part of a world record.

In this regard, fans of Lara will gratefully recollect how the English team as a whole contributed their mite in Lara establishing a world record.

Doubtless, the present lot will fall over like nine pins and help Murali establish a world record without a fight.

Jolly good fellows aren’t they?

A chance for Munaf?

News has just come in that Sreesanth and RP Singh have been ruled out of the first Test against Pakistan due to injuries. Munaf has been drafted as a cover.

This could be a very good opportunity for Munaf to re - establish himself in the team. Along with Sreesanth and RP Singh, I consider him to be the future of the Indian bowling attack.

By the way, I have to let you know that whenever I back a pacer, he invariably disappears. To name two, Yograj Singh was one and then in the recent past I was all for Ashish Nehra. Yograj Singh has resurfaced albeit as the father of Yuvraj.

Have to wait for some more time to know, how or when Ashish Nehra reappears.

What ails Murali Karthick?

He is one player who I genuinely wish would succeed. Unfortunately, he is seems to be one of those players,to fall back on a cliché, who flatters to deceive.

Just take a look at his latest comeback, having started very strongly and helping India win against Australia during the ODI’s, he seem to be tapering off.

In fact, he was left out of the team for a couple of ODI’s against Pakistan and then was given a couple of games. Regretfully, he mucked it up and looks certain to spend his time as a substitute during the Tests.

If it happens, then he is just a step away from being ignored for the series down under.

A close examination of his career will reveal that this is his pattern, a recall, then a couple of stirring performances, then slowly inertia creeps into his game and to no ones surprise, he is dropped.

What ails him?

Another Craig Macmillan?

Former Australia batsman Darren Lehmann
announces his retirement from the game after a struggle with
injuries.

Is he one more ICL recruit?

Sour grapes – again

Australia’s preoccupation with India’s Twenty20 win continues.

FORMER Australia captain Kim Hughes says:

"That's why they like to play Twenty20 cricket because it reduces the game to a
slogathon.

"It helps hide their inadequacies, which are cruelly
exposed by Australia at Test level."

Why are they hell bent on diminishing India’s Twenty20 World Cup win?

Or are they indirectly acknowledging that India is snapping at their heels?

Malcolm Marshall and David Boon

Is this one true? I have never heard it before.

Malcolm Marshall was bowling to David Boon who had played and missed a couple of times. Marshall “Now, David, are you going to get out now or am I going to have to bowl around the wicket and kill you?”

A pink ball would have helped.

This guy completely misjudges the catch. Result a broken nose.

In the nether regions

Ball tampering

The English are obsessed

With winning the Ashes:

There are two objectives: 1) To regain the Ashes. 2) To win an ICC global event. We have won the Ashes once in 18 years. Never in 32 years have we won an ICC global event.




Sad. Will navel gazing do?

Would this game never end?

An American discovers cricket.

Anyway, as I ran the TV remote through the 300 or so channels, I paused on a
British sports channel with an image of men wearing overstuffed white pants,
strange helmets, oven mitts on their hands and holding fraternity paddles.

I put down the remote and decided to watch a game of cricket. The next
morning as I was brushing my teeth, the same game was in progress.

And here is his conclusion.

This game could use a “fast forward” button.

My conclusion:



What is your conclusion?

All-rounders are a over rated lot

Cullinan while comparing the SA team during his time with the present SA outfit says

"Ours was a very good team; we had some really good players. But the current
team is even better. I say this because this team has more all-rounders," he
said.

I don’t subscribe to the view that all-rounders make a team great. It is the specialists who make a good team great. All-rounders are handy when fighting a rear-guard action. Sometimes they stave off defeat; sometimes they give the final push to victory.

Barring Kapil Dev and Ian Botham, rarely have they fashioned victory on their own, but when they do, it is spectacular.

Collingwood on Captaincy

"I'd be lying if I said I haven't lay awake thinking
about the decisions I have to make as captain, it's a mentally tiring position
to hold. You have to look after every player when you're out on that field and
it can be difficult at times. The cricket match becomes a chess match. Being a
captain is hard but you get a great level of satisfaction from doing it
well.

Chess! Did he say chess?

So there is more to cricket than running after a leather ball.

Reminds me of a gent who talked about ‘x’ number of fools playing and ‘y’ number of fools watching.

This man needs to play on

I have long felt that Sachin was past his best and he was more often than not playing from memory. I have also been very vocal about it.

However, the way in which he was toying with the bowling yesterday was an eye opener.

This man needs to play on.

A wicket keeping cheerleader

Modern cricket is evolving at a furious pace. If you thought scantily clad cheerleaders during the Twenty20 radical – here is something unthought-of, a cheerleader as a wicketkeeper.

Prior is the epitome of the modern keeper as cheerleader and has perhaps been
more warmly welcomed in the England dressing room than by those outside it who
yearn for the more traditional talents of a Bob Taylor, Alan Knott or Jack
Russell. Or even a Chris Read.

And I always thought a wicket keeper was there to keep wickets.

Allan Donald and the white mans burden

At times you feel surreal. The inability of the English to see beyond their nose is well known and now the affliction seems to have spread to South Africa.

SOUTH African legend Allan Donald has warned Australia its domination of cricket
will not last as other national teams undergo change and plot retribution.

I have no issues with this statement. However the one which follows makes my stomach churn.

Donald has moved to ease fears from fans and rival players that Ricky Ponting's
team will never be caught by declaring South Africa and England are going
through a renewal period and will be two nations that will seriously challenge
for supremacy.

England has been resoundingly beaten by Australia and South Africa’s record against Australia is laughable.

There is no basis to his assumptions; nevertheless, Donald feels these are the two teams which can pose a challenge to Australia.

Poor Donald, he is laboring under a mistaken notion that only a ‘white team’ can beat Australia.

Is that the case? Isn’t he carrying the ‘white mans burden’?

Sreesanth wanted for his antics

If it happens it could be a first. A player selected for his antics.

"I am disappointed with the lack of intensity in this series. More needle is
required in the series. I think we need to play Sreesanth," Rameez said.

Can we say that Sreesanth is finally being accepted for what he is?

An MBA for Indian cricket coach's post

This is possible only in India.

An MBA graduate with no experience in playing
cricket has applied to be the coach of the Indian team, a board official said on
Tuesday.

"One of the applications we have received is
from an MBA graduate, despite the fact that he has not played any cricket. In
the column where applicants have to state their cricketing experience, he has
written that he has never played cricket," the official told IANS on condition
of anonymity.

"Further, he has written that he did not think
it was essential to play cricket to coach a team. He said that it required a
different kind of skill to manage the team," the official said. He declined to
name the individual.
Currently, the Indian team has an ad hoc coach, former
Test player Lalchand Rajput.

Need we say more?

More news on balls – the pink ones

The colour of balls used in the English one-day game could change from white to pink if trials by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), guardians of the laws of cricket, prove successful.

Why are they trying out pink balls?

Mike Gatting, the ECB's managing director of cricket partnerships, said: "We must always push the game forward and ensure we have the right equipment.

"We have tried white and orange balls and perhaps pink ones will last longer.
This is a very interesting and very wise development and a colour may have been
found that is easier on the eye."

The pink balls may be easy on the eye, but will it swing?

Don’t blame the Kookaburra

Australia captain Ricky Ponting is concerned about the lack of swing for bowlers this season.

Like any other manufacturer when doubts are expressed about the quality of their product, Kookaburra managing director Rob Elliot lays the blame on the users (players).

In his defense Elliot said “the mystery of the disappearing swing had nothing to do with the ball, which has remained unchanged since the last tinkering was made after the 1977 Centenary Test.”

He also added that “all balls were the same but given they are made of natural materials, there is always going to be some variation. The perception of players, he said, was the most common reason for discrepancies in reports on degrees of movement.”

To what do you attribute the lack of swing? Is it only the players perception or has it got to do with the quality of the balls?

BCCI to parcel picture rights?

The stage is being set for demanding payments for the right to distribute photographs of cricket matches conducted under their aegis of the BCCI.

The Indian cricket board backs Cricket Australia (CA) over a picture rights
dispute that has prompted international news agencies to boycott coverage of
matches in Australia, a senior official said on Monday.

Indian board
secretary Niranjan Shah said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)
could adopt the same stance as CA for future domestic test series.

For those of you, who look at this as joke, here is a chilling reminder;

"Humor is also a way of saying something serious."

~ T. S. Eliot (1888 - 1965)

Uthappa and the punch down the ground.

Uthappa recounts how he developed his ‘punch down the ground’.

"The punch down the ground came about because of where I grew up. There's a
house in front of the apartment where I stay, and in front of that house was an
empty plot where we played. There were roads on either side, so if I had to
score it would have to be straight. If I hit over the house and into the gutter,
it was six. So I always tried to punch straight."

My experience is also something similar.

During my formative days, I played cricket in a ground hemmed in by houses on three sides. The big scoring shots have to as a default come from either driving straight or picking the ball of a length and lofting it either over mid-off or mid-on. Needless to add some of my better shots were the ones played with a straight bat.

Which is your best stroke and how did it develop?

Chappell on the lasting impact of ICL

It sounds pretty ominous.

Chappell said he was particularly concerned about the standard of first-class
cricket in India now that the rebel Twenty20 Indian Cricket League has ripped up
to 44 players out of the domestic competition.

"There would be some
club sides in Melbourne which would now probably be better than some of the
first-class teams in India," he said.

He fears India's success in
the Twenty20 World Cup, prompting millions to mob the returning heroes, will
ease the pressure for structural reform in the country.

Surely, his concern for the structural reform is misplaced.

Did we ever have one?

Curtains for Kamran Akmal

Kamran Akmal’s recent wicket keeping form has left a lot to be desired. His batting too has failed to keep to its initial promise and now he is injured and is being replaced by Sarfraz Ahmed.

This is an excellent opportunity for Sarfraz Ahmed to make the wicket keepers slot his own and if he does it could mean ‘curtains’ for Kamran Akmal.

"Aussie-fied"

"Aussie-fied"- The art of swearing like a sailor at your opponents and then acting 'precious' when you get an earful in return. Also known as sledging and mental disintegration.


Hat tip: ArthurVandelay

Muppets - A new breed of selectors.

‘Muppet’s make their debut.

"If three guys are controlled by a joker you can do the wrong thing once, twice
but not the third time. You can be called muppets then."

Atapattu introduces a new variation to an old joke and popularizes ‘Muppet's’ among the cricket aficionados.

Trust an Englishman to find a silver lining.

Oliver Brett – BBC Sport

Sri Lanka's tepid performance so far in Brisbane against a transitional
Australian side convinces me that England could prosper in the December Tests in
Sri Lanka.

Will be interesting to hear what he has to say at the end of the Test series in Sri Lanka.

Pollock prefers pyjama cricket

This is surprising

On his future, Pollock said he preferred the shorter version than Test cricket,
if given a choice.

Most International cricketers pontificate on the virtues of Test cricket, so it is surprising to hear Pollock say he preferred the shorter version of the game.

Would have loved to hear him elaborate.

Return of the ‘thayir satham’ days

Kumble’s appointment may very well kill all the overt aggression shown by our players in the last season.


The danger is real, the ‘thayir satham’ days may make a comeback.

Duncan Fletcher- Flintoff was disloyal too

As for the charge of disloyalty that has been levelled at Fletcher, he meets it, with some justification, by effectively saying: "What about Flintoff's disloyalty to me? Doesn't that count?"




Now, now, this seems more like a husband and wife tiff than anything else.

Indian selectors accused of being unsure of what they are doing

"They should have named him (Kumble) until the
Australia tour at least. This move suggests they are not sure of what they are
doing," Anshuman Gaekwad.

Did they ever…….

However, I leave the floor to Niranjan Shah to give a suitable counter.

Kumble’s second wind

Even as I was harboring the hope that VVS Laxman would become the Captain, I knew that it was a toss up between Kumble and Dhoni.

What with the Fab 3 faltering and the ‘young blood’ showing signs of taking up the slack, I thought the selectors would be bold and daring and chart a new course by appointing Dhoni.

However, it was not to be. The selectors have timidly followed conventional wisdom and appointed Kumble. (He would have been an excellent choice, in other circumstances)

What can you say about his appointment? At best it is not a retrograde step nor is it a step forward, it is a step designed to maintain the status –quo, which in essence is neither here nor there.


(I have to admit that Kumble’s jaw line looks much more pugnacious.)

Second- most- important- job.

My preoccupations about the Indian cricket team has largely been confined to the composition of the team, individual talent, petty politicking and anything else that goes around in India (sometimes around the world) in the name of cricket.

However, it has never made me lose my sense of appropriateness, for I am a strong believer that whatever I do or rant, Niranjan Shah will effortlessly eclipse me with the size and scope of his blathering.

With this healthy dose of pragmatism, I consider cricket as just a game whose best players can be found among the officials of the BCCI, yet this had me gasping.

Tendulkar's refusal to take over the high-profile job, often regarded in this cricket-mad nation as the second-most important after the Prime Minister's.

I doubt whether any Indian will consider it so. We are passionate about our cricket. Winning or losing drives us into feeding frenzy. But we have our priorities right. To consider captaining India as the second most important job is a bit too much.

Damn it. It is the most important job in India.

What do you say?

Murali surrenders to the Australians

Murali, a renowned ‘chucker’ had avoided touring Australia all these years for the fear of being no-balled and banned.

Wary of being targeted by the Australian public, who know a genuine spinner when they see one, he tries to deflect the Australian public’s ire towards the Indians, who are to visit Australia next.

By alluding to the Indian cricket team’s aggressive tactics during the just concluded series, Murali hopes that the Australian public will leave him alone.

Be a man, Murali, fight your own battles.