Harbhajan rejoins Surrey for some easy pickings

Like other cricketers dropped from the national team, Harbhajan heads to Surrey to regain his lost craft.

County Cricket lacks batsmen capable of playing spin well, which is good for his ego as he will have easy pickings.But will he learn anything new?

If he is looking to master his craft, there is no better place than gully cricket. Almost anyone there can take him to the cleaners if he errs. It will be as good a learning experience as any.

Tags: India, Cricket, Harbhajan, Surrey, gully cricket, Bhaji, County Cricket

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Cricket-New Zealand starts coach selection process .

Reuters reports that a five-man committee has been appointed to select New Zealand's cricket coach later this year.
For those of us who are cribbing about the BCCI's coach selection process, to learn that other cricket boards follow the same process comes as a pleasant surprise .
Unfortunately, the five man committee have two vital elements missing.
One is 'remote control' Gavaskar and the other is 'Joker' Niranjan Shah.
I wonder, how are they ever going to get a coach without them.

Tags: Cricket, Niranjan Shah, Gavaskar, BCCI, New Zealand, five-man committee, coach, selection process, cricket board, Reuters

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NIKE CRICKET TV COMMERCIAL

Just saw the new NIKE advertisement here.
The concept is not new. Sort of an impromptu cricket match during a traffic jam culminating with the Indian team joining in.
Nike has avoided the pitfall of linking their product to any 'star' and have conveyed the impression that all Indian's who play cricket wear Nike.
Understandably they have an exit strategy in place.

Tags: Cricket, India, Team, TV, Commercial, Nike, advertisement

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Hick- salute your spirit

It boggles my mind  to think of someone playing cricket day in and day out for more than two decades as a profession, and scoring 40,000 runs in the passing.

We can argue ourselves hoarse saying that it is his livelihood. But tell me which livelihood is as exacting as cricket? Living off cricket calls for peak physical fitness, finely honed skills, competing with younger players on equal terms and traveling the length and breadth of the country.

Moreover cricket is an unforgiving employer. A cricketer has to bat, bowl ( if he is bowler) and field with equal felicity. Even if you lag in one of the skills ( trying taking blinders at 40) the axe is sure to fall.

Surely to play cricket successfully for so long calls for unflagging spirit.

If, for nothing else, I envy Hick for that.

Tags: Cricket, Graeme Hick, Hick, 40, 000 runs, 16 th player

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Ian Botham

Vic Marks in an article titled “Cricket's king meets his queen” (The Observer) writes that Botham was instinctively generous.

On England's 1982-83 tour of Australia he buttonholed a couple of team-mates to accompany him on a visit to a local sportsman, recently paralysed in an accident. In the cab to the hospital he was nervous, cadging cigarettes and chain-smoking. In the hospital he was brilliant, joking with the patients, charming the nurses; it was a charismatic tour de force. Back in the cab exhaustion set in. He did not have to do it. But he had promised.

But then all great men are generous.

Tags: Cricket, Ian Botham, Botham

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After a long time a West Indian team shows resilience.

The last two tests have brought forth a quality long assumed lost. That is resilience.
If in the last test, they really fought with their backs to the wall and nearly snatched victory, in this Test they are fighting hard to make a match of it.

Is it early to tout a West Indian resurgence?

It is Australia’s turn.

The Australian’s are everywhere.
Either they are coaching, commentating or giving unsolicited advice to other nations.
Poor Brits who lorded over cricket have been run out of town.



If you have Mark Taylor pointing out that West Indian Batsmen are technically inept, you have Ricky Pointing asking everyone to follow Australia’s transition process.
The loudmouths of Australia are making their presence felt.

Where have the fast bowlers gone?

This is what we asked ourselves after watching Pietersons dismissal - out hit wicket. To readers searching for clues, Pieterson was out hit wicket after a sharp bouncer hit him on his helmet which in the process got dislodged and fell onto the stumps.

Watching the clip made us yearn for the glory days. Every delivery was watched with trepidition.Each delivery had the malice to break through a batsman's defense and render him senseless.Even a bowler like Michael Holding created the fear that anytime a bone would be broken.

Watching them in full flow was a thrill by itself. The thrill was overwhelming when the match was at a balance. Batsmen who stood up to to their barrages were our heroes.

Which brings us to the question, where are the fast bowlers?

At last count there were just two. One was Brett Lee and the other was Shoaib Akthar. But they don't consistently awe us as their predecessors.

(We have deliberately omitted Bond. He is fast but not furious.)

Tags: Cricket, fast bowlers, bowlers

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Cricket news out of West Indies

West Indies Cricket is going through a joyless phase.The Cricket team and the cricket administration have been the butt of criticism from all. Just as we were hoping that their performance has turned the corner comes this news that Lara is planning to make a comeback.

Though we feel that Lara has a lot to offer, we sincerely doubt his return is going to help the team.For all his cricketing abilities, we always felt that Lara was acting the prima donna.Better men have called his presence disruptive. We look at Lara's announcement with trepidation.

Tags: Cricket, West Indies, Lara

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AJIT AGARKAR- THE MYSTERY MAN OF INDIAN CRICKET

Ajit Agarkar the mystery man of Indian cricket makes another come back to the Indian team.

His performances flatter to deceive. At best he can be slotted with the Praveen Amre’s and Sanjeev Bangar’s of the Indian cricket team.

There has been no public outcry and reactions to his exclusion have been lukewarm.

A man who plays without visible passion, Ajit Agarkar has no one clamoring for his inclusion.

Yet he is once again a member of the team.

For a man with such a colorless personality, Ajit Agarkar has powerful backers in the establishment.

The mystery is why do they back him? ( BUY The Inspector Lynley Mysteries 2 - Playing for the Ashes)

LG SAYS GOODBYE TO CRICKET

After a long association with Indian cricket LG has decided to move on.

They have decided to sponsor GOLF and other niche sports.

Has this decision anything to do with the performance of the Indian Cricket team?

This decision has nothing to do with cricket.

It is indicative of how LG wants to brand itself.

By latching on to golf, LG wants to project itself as a manufacturer of premium products.

This is a marketing decision on how it wants to be perceived by its consumers.

It is certainly not a judgment on cricket.

BCCI and the glorious game of appointing a coach.

Now that Ford has opted out, speculation will start over.
There is bigger but subtler game being played.
First Whatmore was the favourite, and then he lost out.
Next Graham was bandied about only to face a new challenge in Emburey.
Emburey seemed to have given up before he landed in India.
Ford is offered the job but now he refuses due to family reasons.
To me it seems like a kinder garden child’s excuse.
This suggest to me that BCCI is deliberately muddling things. (Take a look at Politics & Cricket for more such politcal games.)
It is to show the world that they sincerely tried to get the best.
I believe that they have already someone on their mind.
This selection process is a sham and enacted to make a fool of us all.

Forgotten cricket fact- Origin of 'silly- point'

The Nation Newspaper | Common Sense & Evidence – Forgotten cricket history:

PROFESSOR HILARY BECKLES writing in A Nation Imagined – First West Indies Test Team: The 1928 Tour brings out the origin of the term 'silly point' in Cricket.


"'The century was passed and 118 was posted when Wilson caught Kerr at 'silly point', as the Philadelphians call forward point close in.' So even though we no longer take on the Americans on a regular basis, think of them every time you hear of a fielder placed at 'silly point' –
it's an Americanism! "

Good question Shaun

Graham Ford good coach material for India: Shaun Pollock - News - News - Indiatimes Cricket:

"'Graham Ford was my coach and he coached me at the national level as well. I know what he can give.

But I don't know what Indian cricket needs or what they require. Are they looking for a backroom man or a man in front?

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Who can coach India?

I am ambivalent about Graham Ford. I am not questioning his credentials. It is just that I cannot reconcile myself to accepting a not so successful player as a coach. Anything after Greg Chappell is a let down. (But Greg's results have been mixed and his man management skills were pathetic.)

Dav Whatmore is a good coach, but I have my doubts whether he can coach India or Pakistan.My scepticism is largely due to the fact that in these teams there are wheels within wheels.Also there are many factions in the cricketing establishment who play God to players.

When Whatmore took over Sri Lanka, there was Arjuna Ranatunga, who lorded it over others.( His brother is a hot shot politician).Others like Jayasuriya, Muralitharan, were just making their mark.Since there was only one power centre, it was easy to coach them. The same can be said of Bangladesh team.

When it comes to India or say Pakistan there is so many super stars in the team, with their own interests. Then there are former players who have enormous influence trying to score political points, extract revenge, settle their personal feuds and furthering their own interests.

I doubt whether Whatmore or Ford can navigate this minefield.

BOB-WOOLMER SAGA

After months of intrigue, the Jamaican Police department seems to readying itself to admit, that Bob Woolmer died of natural causes.

One is forced to conclude that the Jamaican police department jumped the gun in airing its suspicions. From Day 1, the whole episode has been embarrassing. Claims and counter claims followed along with accusations and denials.

The Pakistan team deserves an apology, not only from the Jamaican Police department, but also from each one of us, who thought ill of them.