India will have just the one full day to acclimatise before beginning their lone
warm-up clash from Thursday - a three-day affair against Victoria at the
Junction Oval - ahead of the Boxing Day Test.
India have never clinched a Test series in Australia since their maiden visit
there in 1947-48. They have won just four of their 32 Tests Down Under.
I just could'nt pass this opportunity to see the lush paddy fields and the promise of an excellent 'sadhya' was as good a reason as any to take a break. 
Be back with you all on Tuesday.THE powder keg of throwing allegations has been lit under Friday's
Chappell-Hadlee Trophy opener after revelations the New Zealand cricket team has
privately questioned the legitimacy of Australian fast man Shaun Tait's
action.
Former Australian captain Steve Waugh feels a favourable schedule can work to
India's advantage when they tour Down Under for a four Test series starting
later this month. Waugh said India had a “pretty good” programme with two of the
Tests taking place at spin friendly venues in Adelaide and Sydney.
“They have got a pretty good draw really,” Waugh said. “I think
there is some hope (of an Indian victory) because they are playing at two
spinner friendly venues, Adelaide and Sydney. They will have three good spinners
in their squad and that will give them the chance to take 20 wickets”.
Around the (cricket) world in 10 seconds – Where she brews a heady mix of the latest cricketing action from around the world.
Jayanta Basu mourns the loss of his cricketing paradise and starts his Ode thus:
When he saw a packed
He goes on to list its fall from grace.
To me the
What is your feeling about the
The MCC is contemplating relaxing its dress code.
Mr Brearley, a former
My question, will it change the fortunes of the English cricket team?
"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought
which they seldom use."
We have to be a bit more savvy, a bit more streetwise and find different ways of
attacking," said Moores. "In the first innings you can use swing and seam but
the second innings is a bit more sub-continent and you have got to find ways to
deliver under these conditions if you are going to win.
"You have to be so watchful against Murali," said Prior. "I tried to have a
lot of energy in my footwork. If you go forward, be positive and if you go back,
be positive. Where you get stuck is if indecision creeps in and you don't really
go back or forward, hang your bat out and bring the close fielders into play.
Although you're looking to keep out the good balls, the other important thing is
that if you do get a bad ball you must put it away. You don't want to get into a
position of blocking half-volleys."
Former Australian firebrand Rodney Hogg spoke
for most when he described theloss of Sreesanth as a major blow for India - and
Australian spectators.
Hogg, one of the game's more colourful
characters, joked the spatbetween Symonds and Sreesanth could have been
cricket's equivalent of a titlefight.
Bob Simpson writes:The tragedy for world cricket would be for all the countries to adopt
Australia’s coaching methods and philosophy. Sure, there is much good in
Australian coaching, but I don’t want to see other teams in the world as clones
of Australian cricket.
The beauty of world cricket has always been
the contrasting styles and flavours of the various cricketing nations. Right
now, unfortunately, much of those traditional charm and character is fast
disappearing from the stage of world cricket. The West Indies are a classic
example as they are only a pale shadow of a great cricketing nation they once
were.
In a world first for cricket coverage, several Australian players will wear
Global Positioning System vests during next week's Twenty20 international
against New Zealand at the WACA Ground. By doing so, Nine will be able to
telecast data, including players' heart rates, and the distances they cover and
speeds they reach during a match.
The move will advance the link
between Twenty20 cricket and television innovation. Nine has used past Twenty20
internationals to test new technology and ideas, including boundary interviews
with players, which have since been incorporated into Test and one-day
coverage.
Having sampled India's new-found aggression during the recent one-day cricket
series, Australians are taking lessons from a leadership guru, who would help
the new faces not be overawed during the upcoming Test series.
"The players are more important than the coach or the administrators and if they aren't happy with the working conditions or the staff then there's no point carrying on," he said.
All things considered,I have a sneaking admiration for Kirsten for the methodical manner he went about arriving at his decision. Even his hesitancy,because of rumours that the 'seniors' were unhappy, shows a man who wants to be clear and also make his position clear.Nevertheless, the question persists, will he deliver?
The irony is that Whatmore has hardly any experience of running an academy which
Kirsten as a High Performance Manager does. Kirsten’s background would have
benefited the NCA more than the Indian team.
Sidhu said selectors should be appointed in the same way as the Supreme Court
judges.
"There should be no place of regionalism during the
process as the selectors represent the nation and not the regions," he said.
I have come to the conclusion after considerable thought that the whole idea
behind the emergency was to prevent the people of Pakistan from becoming fully
aware of the humiliation of our cricket team expected at the hands of the
Indians.
The new laws governing the media suggest that all activities that bring a badAn interesting hypothesis, however I am unable to come to any conclusion on the Pakistan team’s performance. Is it good, bad or pathetic?
name to Pakistan, the administration and its functionaries and are bad for the
morale and the morals of the people of Pakistan and could incite them to
violence should not be portrayed in any fashion by the media. From the time of
our fateful loss to Ireland and the demise of our coach, Pakistan cricket
fulfils all these criteria.
If the man wants to leave, let him go, why should he be convinced to stay?
What do you say?
RICHARD BOOCK - Sunday Star Times:If Murali manages to realise the 1000-wicket dream or even get close to it,
surely he'll then deserve to be remembered as the game's greatest player; more
dominating than The Don or W.G., more influential than Sobers or the three Ws,
and a much bigger match-winner than any of the 80s all-rounders Ian Botham,
Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee or Kapil Dev.
above all else, he is the once-in-a-100-year flood, the biggest phenomenon to
hit the game since Bradman wandered in from the sticks in 1928, and maybe the
biggest ever.
Yesterday, Azhar, accompanied by chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar and some top
CAB officials, had casually walked over to the Indian team's dressing room
overlooking the ground, exchanging a round of pleasantries with Murali Kartik
and a few others.
That was when the ICC's Anti-Corruption and
Security Unit officer at the match, former CBI stalwart NS Virk, politely asked
Azhar to step aside and stay away from interacting with the players at the
ground when the match was on.
South African cricket is experiencing a
Dickensian moment, simultaneously the best of times and the worst of times and
adds that a potentially golden era for the Proteas is in the
offing.
It is amazing how virtually all teams are suffused with optimism at the start of a season. Unerringly the season ends in shambles for most of them, with Australia being the exception as always.
A STRANGE game of keepings-off is being played between a Melbourne sports fan
and Cricket Australia.
At the centre of the struggle is the ball that
Adam Gilchrist hit out of Hobart's Bellerive Oval against Sri Lanka to become
the first man to hit 100 Test sixes.
The ball should be Gilly's or, better still, be donated to the new National
Sports Museum at the MCG.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan believes Stuart MacGill is "not theWay to go Murali!
bowler he used to be" and Australian selectors should look to the future when
choosing a test cricket spinner.
“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?”
News emanating out of Sri Lanka is that Muthiah Muralitharans bunnies are getting ready to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.
