Is it enough for an all - rounder to be proficient with the bat and the ball?

Sir Gary Sobers is quoted as saying that Symonds can't be considered a great all - rounder as his bowling is not up to the standard.

This made me wonder what or who is an all - rounder in cricket. Is he the one who excels with both the bat and the ball or is it enough for an all- rounder to be excellent in one and average in the other?

Admittedly, I haven't seen Sobers play, but having seen the likes of Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev and Sir Richard Hadlee in action, I always thought that an all-rounder is a player who can conjure up wickets or runs against the run of play.

They needn't necessarily score a ton and take a five for in every match. All they need to do is to split open the game by taking wickets or by scoring runs. At other times they can contribute with either the bat or the ball as any other player in the team.

If we are to take Sobers comment in its entirety, none of the all- rounders I mentioned above can be deemed as all - rounders.

Who do you think is an all - rounder, one who excels with both the bat and the ball or one who is proficient and at times brilliant either with the the bat or the ball?

PCB to make an example of Asif

PCB may toughen anti-doping rules and Asif may be its first victim.

"With the pressure growing on PCB and the image of Pakistan cricket taking a beating, the chances are that Asif is released, the board will penalise him under its code of conduct for bringing the game into disrepute which has a maximum ban of five Tests or 10 one-day internationals and even a fine."

However, is the quantum of punishment a deterrent?

Australia, England and South Africa sell their soul

That's what they have done by acceding to the BCCI's demand.

"Indian Premier League franchises have negotiated the right to be given priority over English, South African and Australian domestic teams. It is understood local teams will receive compensation for releasing their stars."

I would rather watch the players playing for their native states or franchisees as the case maybe, than watch them turn out for the IPL teams.

Surely, the IPL is turning out to be a Frankenstein.

Tri - Series- India's spot in ICC ODI rankings at stake

The ensuing Tri-Series between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is not as inconsequential as it appears.

Performance in this Tri-Series will have a direct bearing on India's and Pakistan's ODI rankings.

"India can move into third place in the ICC ODI Championship ranking if it remains unbeaten in the tri-nation series involving Pakistan and hosts Bangladesh starting in Dhaka from Sunday.

India (113) are currently on same ratings points as New Zealand but behind the Kiwis when ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point. India can take a two-point lead over New Zealand if it wins the two league matches and then the final June 14.

However, if Pakistan wins both its league matches and the final, it will leapfrog India to share third position with New Zealand. India would then drop to fifth position with 111 ratings points."

What do you think, will India end up as number 3 or as number 5?

Australian test players to miss Twenty20 Champs League

The drama has begun. I wonder what makes anything associated with IPL melodramatic.

Australian test players to miss Twenty20 Champs League as they are committed to playing in the Champions Trophy in Pakistan and to a tour of India.

Wasn't the CA aware of The Championship Trophy and the tour of India when they accepted the Twenty20 Championship proposal.

This is nothing but a deliberate ploy enacted by the CA to jack up the price for letting their players participate.

Umpire Referrals trial during India - Sri Lanka Test series

The proposed trial of umpire referrals, which will include Hawk-Eye, would be between India and Sri Lanka later in July.

Actually it was intended to be tested during the upcoming England - South Africa Test series, but the proposal was abandoned as there is " unease among the players about testing the system in such a high-profile series and continued concerns about undermining the on-field umpires."

Now, now, now a question to the our English brethren, does an England- South Africa Test series qualify for a high- profile series label?

Champion’s league is a reality

England and Wales, India, Australia and South Africa have set up an eight-team event with a £2.5m cheque for the winners.

The two finalists from the ECB Twenty20 Cup, will line up against India's Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, Western Australia and Victoria, and the Titans and KwaZulu Natal Dolphins from South Africa.

India converts spinners into medium pacers

"Every time we take young spinners away to the sub-continent they come back as medium pacers," Jenner was quoted as saying in The Daily Telegraph.

As the pitches in India play low and slow, he feels the spinners start bowling faster and hence they lose their flight and spin.

Does this explain the success of Anil Kumble? I ask this question because all of us know of period when he was considered our fastest bowler.

Pathans – India’s Waugh brothers?

The Pathans have a very good chance to play for India together.

Obviously, they have a long way to go before they are mentioned in the same breath as the Waugh’s, however one hopes they serve India with the same distinction as the Waugh brothers served Australia.

BTW, just wondering, have a set of brothers played for India?

Tests to be jazzed up

Is there any necessity to jazz up Test cricket?

 

I think not. However, in the name of making Test cricket as appealing as T20, the " Cricket chiefs are working on plans to make Test matches more attractive and ensure the popular Twenty20 format does not destroy the traditional five-day game.

 

Others have already said, that Twenty20 appeals to a different kind of audience. Similarly, the appeal of Test cricket is undiminished among the 'traditionalist' followers of the game.

 

The danger to Test cricket lies at the hands of these self-styled cricket mandarins.

 

Obviously, they have a unlimited capacity to miss the wood for the trees.

Sreesanth ruled out of the tri-series

Sreesanth's unavailability for the tri-series highlights the hazard of playing as many  matches in as many days.

 

However, before we blame IPL one wonders, whether the players were carrying injuries coming into the tournament. In addition it is pertinent to ask whether they were they forced to play by their owners or did they play with injuries in the IPL on their own accord.

 

 

 

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My apologies

Wonder whether anyone noticed that I haven't been responding to your (readers) comments for the last two days .

Kindly refrain from construing that I have taken you all for granted.  The fact is, my blog is exhibiting peculiar behavior. I am able to post but when I try to reply to your comments, the pages refuse to load.

Hopefully, it will set right by itself. ( My knowledge of blogging software is zilch. Google has until now taken care of that part of my blog.)

As for no blog posts yesterday, I had to go to Tirupur to attend a family event.

Hope to be back in action by afternoon.

Cheers.

Warne labels most of his Captain's 'average'

Guiding a team of no - hoppers to a tournament win appears to have given him the platform to let fly at some of his former Captains.

 

In an interview, Warne claims he played under a few average captains in his life time.

 

Should we conclude that Warne is expressing his frustrations or do we conclude he has gotten a swollen head?

England to emulate 123-year old record.

ENGLAND will emulate a 123-year-old record when they take to the field for today's final npower Test against New Zealand.

It is the first time since 1884-5 that England have named the same line-up for five successive Test matches.

Can you label such a tenuous associations as a record?

Indian to head Cricket New South Wales (NSW)

We have colonised Australia.

 

An Indian origin Australian has become the chairman of arguably the strongest state cricket association - Cricket New South Wales (NSW).

 

Its only a matter of time - we will rule the world (cricket).

IPL in a theatre near you

Cinemas which reeled under the impact of IPL this year are planning to lure the IPL audience by playing the matches on cinema screens.

Multiplexes are gearing up for their next leg of digitisation that may see 5,000 3D digital projections being installed by 2009. This means by next year, live-action screenings in multiplexes like IPL matches will promise an altogether new experience for viewers — by taking them as close to the action as is virtually possible.

Ah! the visceral joy of seeing cheerleaders in 70 mm, should equal any 'item' number.

New Zealand team's latest secret weapon - a pair of secret trousers.

Things are looking 'patchy' for the New Zealanders.

 

Some New Zealand players have reportedly been road testing the high-tech new micro-shine trousers, which feature a patch to impart more shine to the ball and thereby help it to swing.

 

I reserve my comments.

 

 

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Chennai Super Kings franchisee owners break even

Following the footsteps of the Kokatta and the Mohali franchisee, the India Cements owned Chennai franchisee announced marginal profit.

ICL had bid $91 million or about Rs 360 crore for owning the Chennai Super Kings team over a 10-year period. Mr Rakesh Singh, Joint President, (Marketing), India Cements, said
ICL had spent about Rs 70 crore on the whole exercise so far. This
included Rs 36 crore as franchise fee, Rs 24 crore for administration
and players and staff salaries, and another Rs 10 crore for
advertisements and promotions.

The revenue came mainly from the central pool (distributed by BCCI/
IPL), sponsors and gate collections. The popularity of the team and the
game itself had seen gate collections at the M.A. Chidambaram stadium
exceed Rs 13 crore.

However, this blogger views these reports with skepticism. There were reports that uncomfortable questions were asked by some ICL ( India Cements Limited) board members about Rs.400 crores spent on the Chennai Super Kings franchisee in the first year.

When you compare it with the reported figures of Rs. 360 crores to be spent over a 10 year period, isn't there room for skepticism?

Asif's soul mates

One is unsure whether the drugs in Asif's possession are performance enhancing ones. However, here is a list of other cricketers caught using drugs.

• Ian Botham: Suspended for smoking cannabis in 1986.
• Wasim Akram, Mushtaq Ahmed and Waqar Younis: Charged with possession of marijuana in 1993.
• Stephen Fleming , Matthew Hart and Dion Nash were fined and suspended for smoking cannabis in 1994
• Phil Tufnell was suspended and fined for failing to turn up for a drug test in 1997.
• Paul Smit was banned for two years for usage of cocaine in 1997.
• Keith Piper was banned and fined after testing positive for cannabis in 1997.
• Ed Giddins was caught taking cocaine in 1999.
• Herschelle
  Gibbs, Andre Nel, Justin Kemp, Paul Adams and Roger Telemachus were
  Fined for smoking marijuana during South Africa's tour of West Indies
  in 2001.
• Shane Warne was banned for a year after diuretic was detected before 2003 World Cup.
• Graham Wagg was banned for 15 months after admitting to cocaine use in 2004.

I have deliberately omitted the 'enfant terrible' of Pakistan cricket, Shoaib Akthar from the list as he is still contesting the charge.

Update - Asif says he was framed

Asif claimed he was a bit drunk and got into an argument with airport officials which led to a brawl and he slapped one of them.

According to Asif this led the Dubai airport officials to implicate him on a drug charge.

Wonder what will happen to the earlier statement that the drug was a medication given to him by a local hakeem.

Asif, drugs and the local Hakeem

The PCB is awaiting the result of the blood test conducted on Asif in Dubai. Interestingly the Press Trust of India reports that if the result proves positive, the PCB will ban him immediately.
However, the PCB in Asif's defense has put forth the theory that the drugs are medications given to Asif by a local Hakeem.
Remains to be seen whether this defense hold water.

Mohali SSP asked to take a walk

The Punjab government has asked Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ranbir Singh Khatra to go on one month leave following his public spat with Ness Wadi, industrialist and owner of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kings XI Punjab.

Never knew owning a franchisee means you own the whole state (catchment area). :)

Accept Warne's offer now

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) reacted cautiously to Indian Premier League title winning Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne's offer of being ready to mentor young Indian spinners, saying it was too early to give a thought to the proposal put forward by the leg spin wizard.

This is an inexplicable statement. Warne himself has offered his services and furthermore any doubts on his capacity to integrate with Indian's and motivate young players are dispelled post his success with Rajasthan Royals.

In addition, though we boast of legendary spinners like   Prasanna,Venkatraghavan,Chandrasekhar and Bedi, they  have been failures in unearthing and developing  spinners.

The BCCI should jump at this chance and engage Warne to mentor young Indian spinners.

Surely, other cricket boards would have sealed the deal by now.

Bedi says Cricketers are 'deviants'

True to form, Bedi gives Indian cricketers another opportunity to love him.

Taking stock of the present day scenario in cricket, Bedi came down heavily on sports persons and not the sport for deviation from its path.

"Cricket is not deviating from its path, rather, the cricketers are deviating from their path. There were times when the game and the player looked merged into one another, such was the dedication for cricket. Now-a-days, it has all vanished and lost into a void. And there are certain reasons behind it."

Strong words, but is he being harsh??

Heavy Jowls and jiggly arms

This blogger avoids poking fun at cultured ladies. However in the same breath one admits to irritation with the talk about Preity Zinta's full body hugs and how it served as motivation for her Punjab Kings XI team.

The accompanying photograph makes one wonder whether the loss in the semi-final can be attributed to the realisation among the impressionable young men in the team, that things are not as it seems.

A distraught Preity Zinta reveals her age. ( Photo: Hindustan Times)

MacGill announces surprise retirement

In what can be termed a surprise, an Australian team spokesman announced Stuart MacGill's retirement from international cricket. He is to retire at the end of the second Test against the West Indies played at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.

 

A proud man and a player unfairly and harshly compared with his contemporary and legend Shane Warne, MacGill decided to call it a day saying "As I said many times last summer, there is no way I will ever walk onto a cricket field unless I can guarantee that I can dismiss top order batsmen consistently.

"The prospect of letting myself and the team down is simply not an option. I have worked way too hard for too long to sabotage my achievements by playing Test cricket for the wrong reasons."

 

For the statistically minded, MacGill played 43 Tests for Australia, taking 207 wickets at an average of 28.28 and a strike rate of 53.1. His strike rate is rated the best among the modern spin bowlers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IPL leaves a void.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is going to leave behind a void that will be hard to fill, BCCI President and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar remarked today.

 

One way to fill the void would be to watch the highlights and replays endlessly.

 

Have you any suggestions?

 

Warne reveals the secret behind Rajasthan Royals success

According to Warne

 

 

Having just four days with the squad before the start of the IPL, Warne said he along with performance coach Jeremy Snape and director of coaching Darren Berry worked day and night to get an idea of what his players were capable.

 

"When we reached here we wanted a background of all the players through the local coaches which unfortunately we didn't get. We played two practice games straight away and watched every player in detail as to how they approached the game, their shot making, running between the wickets, fitness and other aspects," he said.

 

If this is what it takes to knit together a league leading side, then why did the Royal Challengers and the Deccan Chargers fail?

 

Surely, there is more to Rajasthan Royals success than mere SWOT analysis.

 

Yuvraj harbors Captaincy hope

Yuvraj hopes to Captain India someday.

I think he will be a Captain in the Dravid mold. A Captain, unsure of the flow of the game and one who gives up the ghost easily, in short a Captain who dithers.

I doubt whether he will have the guts to back players and sure to play favorites.

Would rather see Sehwag anointed the Captain.

Anyone think he is Captaincy material?

Tendulkar Refutes Retirement Reports.

Yet again, Tendulkar steps out of his ivory tower only to announce his reluctance to retire any time soon.

Wonder whether this man can ever take a hint.

It is high time people like Gavaskar or Shastri took him aside and asked him to quit gracefully.

What do you say?

Can a cricketer be ignorant of personal milestones?

It was Gavaskar who made feigning ignorance about personal milestone's fashionable. Now Ponting claims he was unaware of approaching 10,000 runs in Test cricket.

This blogger takes these claims with a pinch of salt. When we all know that a small child keeps tracks of his scores, it is hard to believe an International cricketer when he feigns ignorance.

Do you think any cricketer worth his salt is unaware of his milestones?

A Global network of IPL and its clones.

The very thought is exciting.

 

However, it could be the death knell for Test cricket.

15 - member squad on expected lines- Badrinath,Venugopala Rao misses out

The 15-member squad announced for the tri-series in Bangladesh and the Asia Cup in Pakistan next month is on the expected lines.

Though Pathan and Pragyan Ojha have merited a selection, it is inconceivable how players like Venugopala Rao and Badrinath are repeatedly ignored despite consistent performance.

Along with them poor Gony, who is revelation in the IPL,misses out maybe due to his allegiance with Chennai Super Kings.

Here is the squad:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni , Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, RP Singh, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha.

Can Gayle do the trick?

West Indies are hoping that Chris Gayle will help them pull one back against the Australians in the second cricket Test starting tomorrow. If Gayle is their only hope then they will be disappointed.

 

Gayle return may give a psychological boost, but what they need is a team that plays cohesively with the belief that everyone's performance matters.

 

 

 

 

135-year-old cricket club faces ban

Petty bureaucracy may cause the closure of a 135-year-old cricket club.

East Northamptonshire council has blocked 135-year-old Rushden Town Cricket Club to put up practice nets for 12 players, as they fear that the noise produced from playing might disturb the locals surrounding the club.

However, the 50 odd residents around the club have no objection to the club continuing in the same premises.

In essence, this concern for the welfare of the residents is the handiwork of a bureaucrat with his nose buried in the rulebook.

I wonder how we can bring him to his senses. Obviously, he has no sense of history and is tone deaf to the pleasure of hearing a bat thwack the cricket ball.

The only way to make him see light so to speak, would be to bobbit him.

Shaun Pollack becomes the latest member of the MCC’s World Cricket Committee

Shaun Pollock has become the newest member of the MCC's world cricket committee.

Here is a complete list of the World Cricket Committee Members:

Tony Lewis (Chairperson)

Mike Atherton

Mike Brearley

Geoffrey Boycott

Martin Crowe

Tony Dodemaide

Rahul Dravid

Andy Flower

Mike Gatting

Majid Khan

Anil Kumble

Shaun Pollock

Barry Richards

David Shepherd

Alec Stewart

Michael Tissera (uh! Who is he?)

Courtney Walsh

Steve Waugh.

As usual, the English make up the numbers followed by Indians. Surprisingly, the Australians have only a token representation.

In case you are wondering, what the committee was all about here is the clincher:

The aims of the committee are to debate all matters in the interests of cricket and cricketers, to consider at all times the balance of the contest between bat and ball and to assist MCC's custodianship of the Laws of the Game, to protect the spirit of cricket, to be sure that governing body decisions never put cash or country interests before the good of the game.

A good reason as any to meet and spend some time at Lord’s.

Warne is irreplacable

Here are some irrefutable facts:

Since the retirement of the champion leg-spinner at the end of the 2006/07 Ashes series, his successors - Stuart MacGill and the now-retired Brad Hogg - have taken just 17 wickets in six Tests, at the princely sum of nearly 56 runs each.

What do you think of the performances of Sachin, Ganguly and Dravid?

Undoubtedly, they were a let down.

 

Dravid is patently unsuited for the Twenty20 format. His performance was labored as well as uninspiring.

 

Though he had a run of good scores, where he seems to be approaching his old form, Ganguly was at best determined.

 

Sachin was lucky to be injured for the large part of the tournament; otherwise, his stature would have diminished. He has done nothing spectacular as on date.

 

Overall, one can rate their performance as mediocre, unworthy of their 'iconic' status and indicative of their diminishing cricketing skills.

 

However, here are a set of old farts who still believe that the holy trinity of Indian cricket are not a spent force in international cricket.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Modi's drug rap

For all those who wondered what inspired Modi to dream up IPL, here is a backgrounder. 

Documents available with HT show Modi had pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine, abduction and assault in the state of North Carolina in 1985. 

Putting one and two together it is child's play to infer what inspired him. 

 

ECB bows to Pietersen's threat- creates window for IPL.

From various media reports it is clear that the ECB has succumbed to the pressure from Pietersen.

 

They have scheduled the West Indies tour, in which England play four Tests, a Twenty20 international and five one-dayers in the 10 weeks prior to 4 April,  in a manner to allow Pietersen to play in the lucrative IPL tournament next year.

 

As no English cricketer other than Pietersen has a firm contract with the IPL, it appears that the ECB is more afraid of losing Pietersen than standing up and fighting to uphold the sanctity of cricket.

 

One wonders whether a player should wield enormous influence that mere threats from him forces an upholder of cricketing morals like ECB to backtrack.

 

Is this submission good for cricket?

 

Akram wants to replace Lawson

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has expressed his desire to coach the national team if the PCB offered him a job.

Akram has turned Lawson’s absence into an opportunity to declare his intent. For the record, Lawson will join the training camp of the team for a tri-nation tournament in Bangladesh from June 8.

It is interesting to speculate what made Akram express his desire to coach Pakistan now. Is the PCB unhappy with Lawson? On the other hand, did some disgruntled elements in the PCB prompt Akram.

Surely, when it comes to politicking, the PCB takes the lead.

Will the selectors consider these IPL players?

The IPL has provided more options for the national selection committee that meets on Friday (May 30) to select the team for the tri-series and Asia Cup in Bangladesh.

Some of those who caught the eye are

Venugopala Rao

Badrinath

Yusuf Pathan

Swapnil Asnodkar

Sangwan

Dhawan

Amit Mishra

Chawla

Ojha

Will they make the cut?

A break in blogging

Off to God's own country again. This time I am there until Tuesday.

Most probably I will be back blogging by Wednesday.

Until then Ciao.:)

Know cricket. Love cricket. Think cricket. Think Googly!

To be honest, I am not a great fan of online cricket games or for the current craze for fantasy cricket teams etc., In addition if the owner of the website, in this case Alan Drummond, describes his website ‘ThinkGoogly’ as “ a free cricket quiz with a difference” you can be sure that I would be running the other way.

However, Alan’s polite way of promoting his website (I received an email from him) piqued my interest and I clicked on the link albeit with skepticism.

Contrary to my expectations, ThinkGoogly had a clean feel with advertisements at bare minimum. Coming to the quiz it is a largely interactive (forgive me if it is the wrong word) mixture of facts, statistics, and cricket trivia.

Even though I completed the trial run, aptly called’ Nets’ I came away with the conviction that to win you need to exercise your brain cells as well as your fingers.

If you are looking to challenge yourself mentally and to compete with others, ThinkGoogly is the website for you.

IPL - How do you rate the coaches?

If we were to go by the media Shane Warne collects all the kudos. He has been credited with turning a largely un-fancied team, Rajasthan Royals into a winning machine.

Apart from him are there any contenders? If so, who do you rate as the best coach?

An Englishman fingers baseball exactly

Joseph O’Neill, a 44-year-old Irishman who grew up in the Netherlands, educated at Cambridge and lives in New York since 1998 has still clung to cricket. He plays for the Staten Island Cricket Club, one of America’s oldest cricket club.

Asked why he still plays cricket, he said because it is his “athletic mother tongue” and to learn baseball, would be like taking up a foreign language. Even if he became proficient, he wouldn’t get the jokes or the poetry.

Well-said Joseph, the novelist in you shines through.

BCCI shows class agrees to display 1983 World Cup

BCCI largely known for its pettiness when it comes to rivalry agrees to display the 1983 Prudential World Cup at a media conference to be held in the first week of June.

It is a welcome change from their earlier attitude of having nothing to with the 25 th Anniversary celebrations commemorating the 1983 World Cup Win.

IPL to have two more franchisees by 2010

BCCI contemplates inclusions of two more franchisees from the year 2010. Reportedly, Sahara and ADAG are bidding for Kanpur and Ahmedabad respectively.

The prospect of having two more franchisees means that the existing franchisees will scrabble to tie up the entire International and local cricketers before the prices goes up. On the player’s front, it may mean fatter and longer contracts with the English players finally landing juicy contracts.

However, the addition of two more franchisees may cause headaches for the other Twenty20 leagues, namely EPL, PPL and the yet to named Australian Twenty20 tournament. It means they have to schedule their tournament around IPL more judiciously.

World Cup anniversary party – BCCI left out

The 25th anniversary celebrations of India's 1983 World Cup-winning campaign will not involve the Board of Control for Cricket in India in any capacity.

A simple solution, isn’t it.

Being Gony

As a Chennai Super Kings fan, I am ashamed to admit that I know next to nothing about Gony.

However, Robin has taken the initiative and points us all to an excellent article the Agony and the Ecstasy of being Gony.