The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), guardians of the laws of the game, plan to revise rules to make most bats currently used in the international game illegal.
The aim is to clarify the law banning all composite materials used in bats or handles.
Cricket Law 6 – The bat
Pontings bat illegal – Probably this is what set things off.
High Court Justice Bhagwati Prasad said, "Cricket with tennis ball is not cricket, and playing cricket with a tennis ball would not make you a sportsperson.
I wonder how my wife will react if she reads this. She is always skeptical of my cricketing abilities. Worse, what about my daughter, she will be crestfallen when she learns that the honorable High Court judge has declared her father a person non grata.
BTW, have any of you played cricket with a tennis ball? If so which is your favorite shot?
Some interesting facts about Tennis ball cricket:
Chennai hosts innumerable tennis ball tournament during summer holidays. Most of the popular ones are under floodlights. Sometimes these tournaments are played even up to 4 a.m. They are mostly 12 over's per side however some of them are played 15 over's per side.
The Tennis Ball Cricket Association in the San Francisco Bay Area is ready to host the TCA KNOCK-OUT 2008 TOURNAMENT
HIGHLIGHTS:
- 15 Overs
- Knock Out Format
- Winners advance to further rounds and play for the Cup
- Losing teams play for rankings
- Each team will have minimum of 4 scheduled TCA games
- Tournament duration: 6 weeks
- Tournament Begins:
Hmm.. I am bit confused. Is IPL's inaugural tournament a success?
After the first stage of bidding, it was evident that the Royal Challengers had bid for players in the Dravid mould. One would go so far as to speculate that Rahul Dravid got the Royal Challengers management to let him decide the team.
Unfortunately, as pointed out by most the bloggers, the team consists of excellent players who are more suited to the longer versions of the game. Players like Kallis, Dravid and even Jaffer to name a few are ideal for ODI's and Test cricket, but as Twenty20 players, they struggle.
The sad part is even after playing six games and comprehensively outplayed in four of them, they refuse to look at the truth in the eye. If they still entertain hope, then ruthlessness is called for. Get rid of Jaffer and Kallis, play Kohli down the order and keep Dravid's sidekicks like Sunil Joshi at arms length.
However, these changes will remain mere window dressing if Dravid remains the Captain. He is yet to feel the ebb and flow of the Twenty20 games in his blood. In addition, it is surprising to see a man known for his never say die attitude seems reluctant to have the same attitude as a Captain. He looks and acts like a man who has his fate foretold.
If they fail to do the necessary weeding, the Royal Challenger fans will have to be satisfied with their Washington Redskin cheerleaders and their jouncing anatomical wonders.
P.S. Lest we be accused of being satisfied with pointing out problems, may we dare suggest Dravid handover his crown of thorns to Boucher?
The Pakistani players, who joined the Indian Cricket League, have given up their legal battle against the Pakistani authorities for banning them from domestic tournaments.
Has a deal been struck?
There is a definite turnaround in the IPL. The bowlers, once considered mere cannon fodder, are asserting themselves.
Excepting a couple of instances of individual brilliance, the batsmen have largely struggled to run up scores in excess of 200. It is also interesting to note the number of last over finishes. If one were to ignore the performance of the Deccan Chargers, they are establishing a record of sorts, they reflect in favor of the bowlers.
Now what caused this turnaround in the bowler's fortune?
Can we attribute it to the departure of a fair number of overseas players? On the other hand, should we attribute the turnaround to the pitches on offer?
Undoubtedly, both factors have a bearing, but one can credit it to the number of league matches in the IPL. By now, we would have witnessed a winner in other Twenty20 tournaments whereas in the IPL even after 20 games we are yet to identify the semifinalists.
The unwieldy tournament has worked in the bowlers favor. It has given the bowlers ample time to stage a smart recovery from the initial 'shock and awe' of brutal manhandling from the batsmen.
At the same time, it has proved detrimental to the batsmen. The sheer number of matches means that the batsmen are under pressure to blaze away every other innings. Hence, batsmen take more risks, which in turn increase the number of failures. No wonder the bowlers are asserting themselves.
This partial ban has revived Shoaib Akthar’s career. For if IPL shunned him, other cricketing organisations would shun him too, a fate suffered by his less controversial teammate.
Update: 07.00 p.m. Read Q's version of the events here.
Most cricketers seem adept at bringing pressure to bear on the selectors through their syndicated columns/interviews etc.,
Here is one such attempt.
Steve Harmison has said he is likely to quit cricket if he fails to win back his
It is an unabashed attempt at drumming up public support. Frankly, it is laughable to see someone do this and claim he was just expressing his thoughts and not putting a gun on the selector's temple.
Good luck Harmy, do us a favor, learn to pitch the ball within a batsmen's reach, will you?
The PCB has cleverly washed its hands off Shoaib Akthar.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has rejected Shoaib Akhtar's appeal against the five-year ban imposed on him for repeated disciplinary breaches, but confirmed that he is free to resume his career overseas. The decision means Shoaib is free to compete in the Indian Premier League while remaining persona non grata on home soil.
Now the onus is on his overseas employers like the IPL to make him behave.
The BCCI should take a leaf out of PCB's book and follow suit. It should ban Harbhajan and Sreesanth from playing in
What do you say?
It would be disappointing if Harbhajan escapes a life ban. He has failed us and sullied the name of the cricketers who have played for the country.
However, the BCCI is willing to give him another chance.
Will he mend his ways?
Watching the likes of Dravid, Ganguly and Kallis struggling to make an impact, it is clear, that a solid technical Test batsman is unsuitable for the Twenty20 format. Twenty20 format requires batsmen with a hand eye coordination of a tennis player and the swing of a golfer.
Similarly, bowlers too need to have skills suited to Twenty20. Batsmen who plonk their foot at a length and smash it down the ground can swat around a good Test match bowler who bowls line and length. It is easy for the Twenty20 specialists to scoop a bowler of the length for boundaries or slash rising deliveries over square or behind the keeper.
IPL's inaugural tournament has just thrown up two bowlers who seemed to have the hang of it. One of them is Glenn McGrath. However, one gets the feeling that his reputation for precision bowling has his opponents in a thrall. His test will come when the likes of Dhoni or Yuvraj take him on in a do or die situation.
The other bowler who has impressed in the matches played so far is Joginder Sharma. His case is peculiar. Other than a seeming lack of nerves, one is unable to identify any special Twenty20 bowling skills. Yet he has succeeded in delivering the goods at crunch time. It will be interesting to observe whether we are watching a lucky bowler or the birth of a specialist Twenty20 bowler.
If there is one other breed that seems to have tailored itself to the Twenty20 format, it is that of the spinners. However, excepting Warne, the others have flattered to deceive. Nevertheless, they can evolve to this format as the nature of their trade provides them enough leeway to follow the batsmen.
This brings us to the question of the day. Is there a breed called specialist Twenty20 bowler and if so, who epitomizes it?
Sreesanth's alter ego ,Andre Nel, seems to be next in line for a 'slap'.
Nel playing for
A statement from the ECB said the 30-year-old has received the points for "Using language or gesture that is obscene or of a serious insulting nature to another player, umpire, referee, team official or spectator".
Surely, Nel is readying himself for a slap.
Now lets hope the BCCI shows him the door.Here are two excellent thoughts on the slapping episode:
In the midst of all the chaos, nobody thought of cricket. It was a sad day in the history of Indian cricket with cricketers fighting amongst themselves.
Is it related to the decreasing tolerance level among people in general?
IPL's dubious distinction?
As a fall-out of the Harbhajan – Sreesanth slap episode, we decided to conduct an informal survey to find out which cricketer deserved a slap in the face.
Most Indians indicated Sreesanth as the deserving candidate followed by Clarke and Pieterson.
A vast majority of the Australians revealed Harbhajan Singh deserved a slap. The other players who came second and third were Ganguly and Smith.
As usual the British, refused to be informal and maintained their stiff upper-lip. The Pakistani's indicated that they prefer to hit rather than slap, whereas the South Africans couldn't make up their minds.
The results as you see were not satisfying. So in order to make it more scientific and comprehensive, we request you, our readers to participate enthusiastically.
All you have to do is to answer this question, which cricketer deserves a 'slap' and why?
The most creative /illogical answer will be selected as the 'winner' by the readers themselves.
Happy 'slapping'.
Listing some of the benefits of a Stanford backed EPL, Simon Wilde writes,
At a stroke,
If by burnout he means being burnt by the hot sun playing in
What will happen is that, the differing schedules will tempt the English players to 'maximise' their income by playing in both the IPL and the EPL, thereby increasing the chance of player's burnout.
Do you agree?
As far back as 1751, documents show that
Is this the earliest documented injury in cricket?
Founder,
A novel way to make money: This is a message posted on NDTV's message board and addressed to Preity Zinta.
THIS IS NO JOKE, IF YOU BELEIVE IN INVISIBLE POWER
I am Mehboob Khan, and am approaching your with a very bizarre concept which can benefit you and eventually me too. I am an employee working in
Over the years I have realized that I have some exceptional power to make things happen. My casual comments and statements on many things have gone on to become a reality. Initially i thought that it could be just coincidental, but incidence kept on occurring in my life innumerable times that I started to believe that I possess some unique power to materialize notions to reality. I am blessed by the almighty.
I have many incidences that I can describe. Even during the 2003 Cricket World cup all the thoughts that I expressed transpired to be reality. I predicted many incidents of T20 world cup and
The purpose of writing this letter to you is to support your team (after the first two losses) in the IPL event with my unique power I can orchestrate your team to be the ultimate winner. I have never approached anyone with this kind of an offer and again this is a perception that has just crept into my mind. Maybe this is the beginning of my new career and you are my path.
Do you think he will succeed?
Heavy bats, short boundaries and flat pitches have ensured it is raining 'six' in the IPL
However, when we contemplate, these 'six' have no meaning in the larger context of the game. They leave no lasting impact and are mere statistics.
So much so one tends to agree when William Rees-Mogg says,
"A well-hit six at a critical point in a Test match can indeed come as a thrilling surprise; it is a meaningful part of the struggle, but even a good six can be meaningless by repetition in Twenty20. Sixes can become a bore, like the battues of pheasants by the thousand at
For a 'six' to be meaningful it has to serve a larger purpose. Do you agree a last ball six that seals the win is worthier than one hit of the first ball?
"Maybe I was asking too much," says Fletcher, "but it was late on and things
were very rushed." A man the IPL could not afford. Now there's a thing. They
want the best players but clearly not the best coaches.
The reason according to the FICA:
The Federation of International Cricketers' Association warned that the players may stage a revolt against the ICC if it continues to be "paralysed" by the BCCI and remains "incompetent" in its handling issues in the sport.
It is difficult to understand how BCCI is to be blamed, for FICA itself admits that “the players have realised their worth after being showered with millions of dollars by the Indian Premier League and its rival Indian Cricket League and feel they are better prepared to handle the game's functioning.”
Have they forgotten that IPL is an offshoot of the BCCI?
It is also lamentable that FICA needed the BCCI to show them their constituents, the player’s worth.
The plain truth is that the FICA like the ICC is a toothless organisation. The talk of player’s revolt is an attempt by FICA to divert attention from its failures.
Asked whether IPL will change the future of cricket, Tendulkar’s reply:
"I don't think the IPL will change the future but definitely the international calendar will change to accommodate the IPL."
For one known for bland non-controversial comments, this one is remarkable as it goes against the grain.
For IPL to succeed there should be genuine and exciting team rivalries. Otherwise, the fans will be bereft of emotional attachment.
I hope a rivalry develops between Chennai Super Kings and Deccan Chargers, as they are the two teams that have the perfect mix for the Twenty20 game. In addition, it will give me a chance of seeing VVS Laxman play more frequently in Chennai. J
However, barring a few, most of the players have no allegiance to the team they play. Hence, there is a strong possibility that rivalries may fail to develop.
Which brings me to the question of the day, which teams would you like to play against each other?
A list of players with their ICC rankings.
ICC one-day batting rankings:
1. G Smith (Rajasthan)
2. S Tendulkar (Mumbai)
3. R Ponting (Kolkata)
4. M Hayden (Chennai)
5. M Hussey (Chennai)
6. AB de Villiers (
7. MS Dhoni (Chennai)
8. S Chanderpaul (Bang're)
ODI bowling rankings:
1. D Vettori (
2. N Bracken (
3. C Vaas (
4. K Mills (
5.. B Lee (
6. M Muralitharan (Chennai)
Source: BBC SPORT
Motivational and Inspirational Corner
