It's a shame really...

To read this from MSD - "Whatever happens, it is beyond our control."

When all along, his theme and the one for the rebuilding Indian team, was to be in control of situations at all times. Planning, preparation and correct execution were supposed to be the tools of perfect control.

Now, we have frequently mentioned Ishant's weakness in the LOI format and his difficulty in learning quickly enough. Time is on his side, but if rumours are to be believed, Ishant is pretty much going the Virat Kohli-in-Bang-a-lore way, in terms of handling the big time. Time can then only be a waste. Nothing more.

TA Sekhar could leave Delhi Daredevils for the next IPL season. McGrath is moving into a mentoring role from an active playing one there. I so badly wanted Ishant Sharma to have had the chance to spend time with these two for India's benefit, but he's in Kolkatta when the time to share wisdom comes around annually in India.

From the Indian tour of England 2007, we have been tracking Robin Singh's contribution as a fielding coach. We wanted to give him and Prasad adequate time to produce results. I know he is irritated and snaps when asked about this topic for we saw that on TV once, but let us be frank, India's fielding prowess is as poor as it has been.

To say it is up to his wards to follow the routines would lead one to ask - "Pray, what then is the role of the fielding coach Sir?"

Is it not to make the most recalcitrant of stars to work? At least is it not what they are hired for? If the coach cannot make any impression on his charges, then he is failing as a teacher. And a coach is a teacher of sorts. Deccan Chargers had enough of him after the first season. There must be good reasons why.

If news channel panelists are to be believed, then carrying injuries is the reason. Well, then what are the fitness staff doing? And why doesn't BCCI insist on preserving its players? There was supposed to be a pool to draw from and cover the injured ones, isn't it?

The point about continuous play doesn't hold. Australia and England have been playing more cricket recently than India.

But all this is so much hash and mash. India doesn't play with a learning sense anymore. Experience is just so much heavy baggage to cart around...and who has the intellect, time and patience to sift through it all?

I am not surprised at India's performance in tournament play. If one keeps repeating mistakes, how can history be different? Fundamental errors are being repeated in bowling, fielding and, sometimes, batting.

It is a shame really that India has been reduced to being a punter on the rails, whose fate's hanging on the hooves of horses galloping out there in the park. One isn't surprised at all.

Bilateral series are not so stark as a tournament is for India. It is as if a tournament is a different energy...has an X-ray vision to reveal the bones of the Indian cricket team. Barring the inaugaral T20 WC, India has struggled to hold its own in tournament play for almost six years now.

Six years of sameness despite different personnel, inputs and repetitive rededication. Careers have begun and ended in the interim! Check Irfan Pathan for quick reference...

I am not lamenting India's performance for I expected something along these lines. I am just wondering what is it that freezes up India in tournaments when they perform decently otherwise? Why is it that nobody has put a finger on it and changed it? Why are mistakes so repetitive?

If the West Indians run them close, or even win, don't be surprised either...however unlikely that may be. remeber india has the propensity to lose to unknowns in tournaments.

In passing, we must congratulate all qualifiers and wish them luck for future rounds.

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The Future of Cricket: The Rise of Twenty 20 by John Buchanan

On my return leg of the journey, I was struck by triple despondencies. To begin with, the time printed on my ticket turned out to be erroneous and the flight was scheduled for an hour and a half later than that. Then, to my utter horror, I discovered this was a ‘hopping’ flight, and the detour from the straight line to Delhi included a touchdown at Bhubaneswar in my case. I thought I was being smart starting out early, to account for the distance of the new Hyderabad airport from the city and the inflexible traffic jams one might encounter along the road to it. Like the clichéd uncertainties of the great game we like talking about, I didn’t encounter much traffic and ended up at the airport well within the hour instead! So time began to immediately hang heavy upon my head and ached my back with the anticipation of sitting through it. I stood up and decided to explore my surroundings instead.

The new airport at Hyderabad, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, is probably the best India will eventually have. Once the landscaping and the kilometerine flyover leading to it from the city centre are complete, that is. It will also be perhaps the greenest airport in India because the architecture incorporates systems to ensure as much natural lighting and utilizes natural wind flow of this greenfield site to air-condition the entire structure. As I sauntered along its breezy long promenade, I came upon a Landmark stall. And staring out from the top of the shelf nearest to me was this title by our very own Bhookanaan.

John Buchanan must be an excellent man. By his own account, he is one. And we have no real reason to either disbelieve or believe him. We are mere observers from a distance, and have formed opinions based only on a mélange of media snippets. It is not that we are not proud of them or any such thing, but it would be fair to say we do not display our John Buchanans prominently on our mantelpieces. We stash our JBs away in cellars instead, among future Ravanas of next season’s Vijayadasami. Till that season arrives, such are stored in cellars (or attics) and also called ‘disposable rubbish’.

Naturally, I was attracted to the book - like a red-blooded youth is to soft vice. Keen to hear from the reviled man himself. One sensed an opportunity here to steal a quick single away from the ennui of a long wait. If the bookshelves were kind, perhaps we could run two or even three…or four, in case of overthrows from the airline. I managed to pick up a Cardus, Gavaskar and Obama after Buchanan.

Just before the Preface, John Buchanan (henceforth referred to as JB) has inserted a quote ascribed to John Maynard Keynes, the famous British economist. In a way it is apt to quote one who propounded governmental interventionist economic policies. IPL was indeed an intervention by BCCI, an economic mitigation of a slowdown which resulted in astounding revival in the fortunes of the game, its offshoots and inner cells. And boards are like governments in the world of cricket. The quote goes something like this – “The difficulty lies not in the new ideas, but in escaping from old ones.”

Needless to say, that quote had a profound reorienting effect on me. I was determined, now, to read the book without any prejudice. Heresay would no longer be entertained. Justice would be done, and also seen and felt to be done. JB shall receive a fair and patient hearing. The message from the horse’s mouth would be listened to, chewed upon and digested before comment. I settled into the thinly cushioned airport chair, increasingly oblivious to the discomfort of it as I began to consume the pages. It was also during that ‘zone’ of reading that I realized that John Buchanan would preempt criticism on more than one occasion, and in more ways than one. This was just laying the foundation.

What drew me quickly into that ‘reading zone’, where pages are flipped over in engrossed spasms of flurries interspersed with reflective periods of mulching it in, were the initial 40-50 of them.

Lorluvaduck! Gorblimey! Gadzooks! And a thousand more interjections escaped from my mind, as the initial pages read like the postings of one on one’s blog and different forums. The ideas therein were like we had espoused at every opportunity from the comfort of our armchairs. It was an amazing coincidence and one felt it was like reading oneself and fellow bloggers. I never knew a JB lurked inside us!

It all began with this part of the preface - “Because even if you have seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire – which provides good insights to what you can expect from this country – until you arrive and hear, smell, see, touch and taste the confronting nature of India, no words, pictures or sporting events can do it justice.”

Those were the very thoughts I had expressed in a discussion upon the said movie with family and friends in a chat forum on the internet. There were many such coincidences like that even on cricketing matters, IPL and the future of cricket. Too many to pick and enumerate here. Good friend, Jonathan, who has been tracking my views on some here will recall them and their evolution (especially re: test cricket muddling) in various directions.

The thing is I was suddenly inflated as I read these similarities of some views. The sobering deflation at the thought that prize coaches come up with something like what we whip up on our keyboards came only much later…after the ‘zone’ began to wear off. This opening shot and the initial few pages pretty much decided for me what kind of content lay in book ended between the covers.

The content devolves into five-six distinct types 1) the pinpointing travelogue of a touristy missionary 2) the zealous corrective suggestions of the aforesaid touristy missionary 3) the indelible sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘our’ and ‘their’ sense of structure and correctness of again the aforesaid touristy missionary. ( JB does go on to say that he strived to eliminate a sense of us and them in the dressing room, however, the book is pinned by an undercurrent of Australian way and Indian way, ‘we’ and ‘they’, and with a pinch of Pakistania). 4) the vendetta – beware all who crossed JB’s path. But he deals with Shane Warne in an Australian way, Gavaskar in a missionary way, and a whole lot of others in suitably appropriate and inappropriate ways. He speaks of plain talking…the Australian way of telling it like it is on the face and stuff we have heard before…yet he employs different shoulders – of Agarkar, of Bhogle, of Greg Chappell, and the like, at every twist and turn where he needs to punch a point around the corner. He ‘speaks’ of men rooted in orthodoxy and resistant to ideas of change but he is clear about not tinkering with test cricket. Or his resistance to better technology…There are as many contradictions in the book as you seek. 5) and the really serious cricket stuff.

The book is worth reading. It is an opinionated blog (like ours) in the form of a book. The man himself is as opinionated as he claims Indians to be. Grant him the touristy outlook for he is a visitor after all. Grant him the missionary outlook for, in his own words employed to describe Ganguly, 'that is how he is'.

I welcome perceptions about India for that is how we know about others and ourselves better. There are fascinating sections where JB comes out as a sensitive soul, imaginative visualizer and a talented narrator.

Ignore the preempting of criticism, the ducking behind names to bring in a touchy point and such un-Australian ways…a man has to look out for himself and if he feels safe that way in being candid…well, at least he was able to express himself candidly from beneath the covers. That is more than one gets in a non-fiction book today…and all for significantly less than three hundred rupees. (Bookshops have variable discounts)


I focused on the fifth aspect where not only did he confirm some of our ideas but he was able to take us beyond them as well. He expanded upon them. And there were many unconsidered aspects which he added to our knowledge. Ignore the undercurrents and the ‘shooting from behind the skirts’ and you have a great read. In fact those things add to the experience – we now know for sure the depth and breadth of the man’s mind.

It is a book you wouldn’t mind reading, agreeing with, and also, disagreeing with.

And it was a good read too, for the time which once hung heavy upon my head simply flew by during the discussions it triggered off in my mind.

Grab it!


Future of Cricket: Rise of Twenty 20

Orient Paperbacks

ISBN-10: 812220483X
ISBN-13: 978-81-222-0483-4
Author(s): John Buchanan,
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Orient Paperbacks
Language: English
Pages: 192
.....................
Price: INR 295 | OFFER Price: INR 265.5
Shipped in 3 days (usually)

OR at Landmark

The Future Of Cricket The Rise Of Twenty

JOHN BUCHANAN

ISBN 13 9788122204834
ISBN 10 812220483X
Publisher Orient Paperbacks
Category Sports & Recreation
Format Paperback
Pages 192

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Delivery only within India. List Price Rs.295/-

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Galang Gavin Tonge !

The man bowled a mean spell the other night to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy. Pity, dey wasn't enough on de board fi de Windians, and dere wasn't Kemar Roach at de oddah end, or we might have seen the odds being upset in a tournament again.

His line and length and anticipation of the batsman were spot on - Wasim Akram himself acknowledged so.

Image Link to Cricinfo

Pakistan bowlers were on song collectively. This team could go the entire distance.

Umar Akmal is a player worth watching. The lad had the commonsense of veterans to let the good balls go with respect and attack the lesser ones. Mark of quality that.

________

Lanka won over South Africa earlier this week. I didn't watch that match. Dilshan had a whale of a time again I gather. Did he play that "slap in my face" shot of his?

Guess, barring Australia, the "choker" denomination tends to go around rather freely...especially in the dressing rooms of teams like India, South Africa, Lanka and the big daddy of all chokers - England! Thrice finalists and twice semi-finalists at World Cups, and not one in their cupboard yet!

________

Finally, winding it up with Swanny's response to a question put out to him on the fundamental principles of Garrymandaring extracted from Kirstensutra - he'd love it for Gary K to be England coach!

But isn't it like carrying coals to Newcastle...posting sutras to a land of billion practioners of Kamasutra? Some would say instead, is pure Garymeandering this...

The correct balance in life is always empowering...sex included...that balance is highly individual and is usually discovered by self, or one is led to it eventually.

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Virat Kohli - Sau ka Dum?

One's supposed to be on a holiday, and on precious borrowed internet time of one's gracious hosts. Thank you hosts. But the opportunity of offering unsolicited advice to Virat Kohli was quite irresistible.

I also take this chance to thank all my friends who have wished me well in the previous post.

Albeit belatedly, I came upon the news just now that Yuvraj Singh, The Prince of Languid Grace and all such silken stuff, has fractured a finger and would be absent from current action and more for a total of six weks. Virat Kohli has been called in to take his place.^Cricinfo

The news has caused a few threads to pop up on different fora, and with indifferent responses. India isn't a very popular side in cricket lately, they are threatening the established order, and India, anyway, isn't a very popular country too now that the old hag of the east has begun to flex its much feared and hitherto dormant muscles. We are talking only about cricket of course.

The broad classification of viewpoints fell into the following categories - 1) Indian supporters feeling suddenly squeamish about their team's chances and making escape route noises such as this now being a second-string team etc. , and 2) the usual cabal of compulsive India baiters and haters who infest these fora, who suddenly find their Ind-doomsaying is buttressed.

Both are silly viewpoints according to me.

India has always been a vulnerable team. There was never an unflinching armour of invulnerability about them. This sensitiveness also keeps them there or thereabouts always. It makes them want to succeed.

This is not India's second string team. Make no mistake about that. Maybe just the odd player. The majority of the folks on this team are those who won the CB Series Down Under. Dravid comes in for Rohit Sharma, and that cannot be construed as second-string by any strech of imagination. Zak wasn't playing in the CB Series as well.

But India has its falliabilities. We have seen enough of those just as we know that on their day they can win everythig. They are unable to string togerther a sequence and that makes them look raggedy in a relative way - they should be winning more, is the general perception. But that's arguable either way.

Yuvraj is a major loss, but it is here that Virat "Who?" Kohli get to make his destiny.

Virat Kohli must quit his extremes - of bombast and bull. This is his opportunity to make his mark. Like he did in Ranji 2008-09 and 2007-08 before that, when key players were away on national duty.

Enough of being the overgrown teenager. Enough of trying to look the man...it is time to be the man. He must find the natural balance between getting carried away by enthusiasm and pumping the engines and freezing up with stage-fright. He must find that natural ease of his....his natural game plyed with a free, peaceful, mind. We know he can be a very good player then.

At Kohli's age, Yuvraj had already won a match against world champions Australia off his own bat. And he had followed it up with securing a win for India against a South Africa powered by Alan Donald.^{Cricinfo - Yuvi} At Virat's age, Sachin was already being spoken of as the Little Master. Tendulkar's poise at that age is an intrinsic element of the Sachin's saga. There can be no better beacons for Virat Kohli to emulate.

If he is given the chance, he must single-mindedly utilize it to propel his team to victory like he did in the 2007-08 Ranji season.

India, according to me were not the top dogs at the start of this tournament. Lanka, Pakistan, Australia, Safers and Kiwis are teams which are there.

But India, I believe, has the capability to win it all. Even now...with Kohli.

Afridi plans to test out the pitch before performing a "jabda tod" on India. West Indies must fancy India's complacency to overwhelm them. Australia are on a minor high having squashed England recently. Much depends upon Ishant, RP Singh and the two spinners - Harbhajan and Mishra.

The greater drawback of this injury is the loss of Yuvraj the SLO bowler. The team balance and tactics are affected. Time for Ishant to pull up his socks along with Virat Kohli.

I'll be online whenever I can.

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Blogsite Note

Thanks.

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Lord Freddie in Uneasy Money


Andrew Flintoff will become international cricket's first freelance globe-trotter as soon as he recovers from injury next year, when he plans to play the short-form game for as many as six sides on five different continents, according to his manager, Andrew Chandler -- The Observer


In a day in September, at the hour when London moves abroad in quest of lunch, a young man stood on the sporting webpages of the The Observer looking earnestly up Virtual Web Avenue--a large young man in excellent condition, with a pleasant, good-humoured, browned, clean-cut face. He paid no attention to the stream of criticism that flowed past him. His mouth was almost set and his eyes were screwed at the distance, peering through the bright light, almost a perplexed expression. He was frowning slightly, and scratching his head, all at the same time. One would have said that here was a man with a secret confusion.

Andrew Flintoff, Lord Freddie, had no secret confusion. All that he was thinking of at that moment was the best method of laying a cricket ball dead in the stands from the fringes of the Yarra river to those banking the Cooum (or Koovum). It was his habit to pass the time in mental cricket when Fitness was late in keeping its appointments with him. On this occasion it had kept him waiting so long that he had been able to complete whacking the ball over five continents, for six sides, starting at the MCG and finishing up near Chepauk, taking in his stride The Wanderers, Old Trafford and QPO in between. His was a simple mind, able to amuse itself with simple things.

As he stood there, gazing into the middle distance, an individual of machiavellian aspect sidled up, a vagrant of almost the maximum leakiness, from whose midriff there protruded a laptop of a strange welter of articles, collages, website clippings, questionhooks, and dying deadlines. For some minutes he had been eyeing his lordship appraisingly from the edge of the kerb, and now, secure in the fact that there seemed to be no other on the beat in the immediate vicinity, he anchored himself in front of him and observed that he had a wife and four children at home, all starving.

This sort of thing was always happening to Lord Freddie. There was something about him, some atmosphere of unaffected kindliness, that invited it.

In these days when everything, from the shape of a man's head to his method of dealing with noodles, is supposed to be an index to character, it is possible to form some estimate of Lord Freddie from the fact that his vigil on the front of the Observer had been expensive even before the advent of the Benedict with the questions and articles. In London, as in New York, there are spots where it is unsafe for a man of yielding disposition to stand still, and the corner of The Observer and Guardian.co.uk is one of them. Slippy, impecunious men drift to and fro there, waiting for the gods to provide something easy; and the prudent man, conscious of the possession of loose thoughts, whizzes through the danger zone at his best speed, 'like one that on a lonesome road doth walk in fear and dread, and having once turned round walks on, and turns no more his head, because he knows a frightful fiend doth close behind him tread.' In the few hours he had been waiting this frightful fiend closed in on Lord Freddie, requesting loans of five minutes and his thoughts to go along till Wednesday week and Saturday week respectively, and he had parted with the moneyspinning ideas without a murmur.

A further clue to his character is supplied by the fact that these needy persons seemed to know him intimately, and that each called him Freddie. All Lord Freddie's friends called him Freddie, and he had a catholic list of them, ranging from men whose names were in 'Debrett' to men whose names were on the notice boards of obscure blogs in connexion with the mis-quoting of words and thoughts. He was the sort of man one instinctively calls Freddie.

The anti-T20-IPL-suicide enthusiast with the recorder and microphone did not call Lord Freddie Freddie, but otherwise his manner was intimate. His lordship's gaze being a little slow in returning from the middle distance--for it was not a matter to be decided carelessly and without thought, this problem of carrying the length of Virtual Web Avenue with a single golden shot--he repeated the gossip from the home. Lord Freddie regarded him thoughtfully.

'It could be done,' he said, 'but you'd want a bit of pull on it. I'm sorry; I didn't catch what you said.'


The other obliged with his remark for the third time, with increased pathos, for constant repetition was making him almost believe it himself.

'Four starving children?'

'Four, guv'nor, so help me!'

'I suppose you don't get much time for T20 then, what?' said Lord Freddie, sympathetically.

It was precisely three days, said the man, mournfully booting up a tacky laptop while setting up a mic and recorder, since his offspring had tasted bread.

This did not touch Lord Freddie deeply. He was not very fond of bread. But it seemed to be troubling the poor fellow with the microphone and recorder a great deal, so, realizing that tastes differ and that there is no accounting for them, he looked at him commiseratingly.

'Of course, if they like bread, that makes it rather rotten, doesn't it? What are you going to do about it?'

'Spare an exclusive interview, guv'nor,' he advised. 'Causes great fun and chatter among the poor masses and plenty heartburn beneath the stuffy shirts.'

Lord Freddie eyed the derelict contraptions without enthusiasm.

'No,' he said, with a slight shudder.

There was a pause. The situation had the appearance of being at a deadlock.

'I'll tell you what,' said Lord Freddie, with the air of one who, having pondered, has been rewarded with a great idea: 'the fact is, I really don't want anything from you. You seem by bad luck to be stocked up with just the sort of things I wouldn't be seen dead in a ditch with. I can't stand microphones and tape recorders, never could. I'm not really keen on questionhooks. Or to meet up with Andy Flower in the dressing room. And I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I think that squeaking laptop of yours is about the beastliest thing I ever met. So suppose I give you a shilling and call it square, what?'

'Gawd bless yer, guv'nor.'

- - -

How will England cope with one of its favorite sons?

Uneasy Money is a short work of fiction by PG Wodehouse, my favorite English author. I employed the introductory characterization of Lord Dawlish for its aptness to our case.

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Hey BCCI ! Humko Test Match bhi Mangtaa !

Fixtures for India

Bataa na yaar BCCI, Apun ko plan karne kaa hai life ka timetable...hic...Test Match dikhayenga ki nahin?

Le...tu pehle gaana sun...phir bataana...haan? Hic!




And now take a look at the real DADA...the man cut out for big things.

Note the Ozzie stripes on the cap in the foreground...whadda cricket crazy country!

Should I have kept time aside for this season's first final? The wait is boring...

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I amaze myself

To find that a degree of thrill still exists on the morning of yet another finals of yet another ODI tournament, after another wan performance by the Indian team in the lead-up match. Enough to consider and put up an anticipatory post on this blog after countless posts of the same nature here, and at so many forums over the past 6-7 years; after so many discussions on so many similar occasions with so many friends and acquaintances, all on almost the same topic.

To find that after I have considered first and then failed to resist the urge to post to look this way...in the direction of cricket, computer and composition, I must probably begin with the same old stuff like how India must probably rebound, how India must probably avenge, how India probably must be seething enough to exact like revenge...how the pitch must be this way and that way and why India must bat first or lose its way...how they should bowl this way and not that way...how they must bat in a particular way to a particular craftsman of the wide art of bowling..all, once again...Chill man, it's just a game that keeps coming back again and again....go get a Compaq/HP disk sanitizer!

To realize after I have conceded myself to the finals today that I might have cornered myself yet again into the torture chamber of Tony G and Ranjit F's nasality in two scales...I must be desperate!

I truly amaze myself - either I am addicted to this game, or to the chit-chat around it, or I simply must find other ways to amuse myself because this certainly isn't business...not for me or mine. But that thrill...that small thrill of anticipation...could that vestige also be a Pavlovian habit of mine? In the manner of whimsical ICC umpires of the game, I too shall decide, on this day, today, to give the benefit of doubt to myself for this instance.

I hope Dhoni and his men play a good game for my troubles (I intend to watch this match today), prove worthy competition to the well-rounded Lankan team, and move on to the tournament beyond - CT.

This Lankan team, however, will figure in the finals of World Cup 2011...if not as it is, maybe with the odd change here and there dictated by form and fitness.


More after the game begins in earnest.

In passing, I must mention the one bright spot in this morose post - I am convinced I have no addiction whatsoever to either Tony G or Ranjit F's brand of cooing. Absolutely clean on that count...the dyscompaqness of their duet can be easily muted out of Ten Sports with the depression of a single button.

Scorecard

Compaq Cup

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Has the shell cracked?

West Indies cricket has been been progressively stuffed, beneath layer upon layer of delicate intrigues and indelicate oneupmanship. A decade of time is just a convenient period of reference to avoid cluttering up the present. At different times in its history, West Indies cricket has been riven with fundamental prejudice - in the nature of colonialism, race and ethnicity, social status and nationality.

The mid-1900s witnessed the collapse of occupational colonialism and autocracy practiced by different nations of the world. Liberation was rampant and was carried forward in different emerging nations on various vehicles of rebellion. History is replete with goose-pimpling narratives of such drives. Since the infiltration of a dominating society ran deep to clutch at the very cores of the dominated societies, the peeling off process of that grip had to be achieved from different directions. Peasants, labour force, nationalists, common people, leaders, soldiers, slaves...and many more formed the nuts and bolts of such remarkable feats. They employed diverse methods - Sports was an important avenue to state themselves.

The concept of sports was so devised that one could compete as equals for the duration of the game. One could unflinchingly return a glare with one's own gaze. In the aftermath of different liberations, fervour born out of an identity regained, ruled over all such nations. At that time, this fervour must have felt like super glue to those who experienced in those times. It papered over many many basic differences present within nations and comities. The second and third quarter of the 1900s is rich with the fruits of such enthusiasm.

It wasn't any different with West Indies cricket. The veneer of unified purpose was thinner in the case of West Indies because of the nature of its structure. A comity of nations, represented on almost all stages by their individual national identities, paid homage to their history by playing as one on the cricket field. Even as that shell of oneness endured so admirably for them, with each passing year and decreasing immediate relevance of that oneness, raised the simmering cracks to the surface.

Liberation also brought freedom of choice to all and migration returned to the Caribbeans, but now in the quest of betterment as a personal choice. In fact that too, this migration for betterment, probably is fundamental to the recorded and unrecorded ancient history of the peoples of that region. In sports, as in other fields, this was expressed in talent oozing outwards in all directions - USA, UK, France, Netherlands...are just some directions it began to spread into....where recognition and honour, a way of life, and a little profit were possible within one's lifetime.

While talent oozed outwards into other sports and avenues, it gradually sucked out behind itself from the core where cricket lay fixed and immobile as a statue to history.

Matters were not helped when muddling adminstrative pigeons roosted on that statue. They'd leave only droppings of increasing dereliction behind. Cricket in the Caribbeans began to reveal the cracks to the naked eye. Tourists to the region, real or through the virtual world of television cameras, observe the steady crumbling of that famous statue of cricket.

When sport, and cricket is a sport, must be for youth, men and women of the region keep playing games around it without a shred of youthfulness within. They gather to pick childish crumbs from what once stood proudly as Caribbean Cricket.

Want for more, in a clearly declining state, engendered subterfuges, politics, pulls and pressures, which began to crush whatever remained.

Maybe now that stuffing sphere of pressure is cracking - hazarding it in the spirit of optimism, and ignoring the politricks and inherent disability, CARICOM's intervention and the quick acceptance of their recommendations by WIPA now clears the way for WICB to join in.

Maybe, now,they can all together break free from the claustrophobic grip of oneupmanship they carefully applied over one another, and truly liberate West Indian cricket to its youth and future. We, as mentioned before, are hazarding it on the wild side of innocent optimism inherent to a game's patient watcher.

All points of view have been sufficiently heard by us all, but Caribbean Cricket must cease to be a mere statue stuck in a historical time warp and move forward, serving instead as an inspiration for youth such as our friend, young Dumani.

How would anyone explain the turbulence of the past year or two to a young West Indian cricket enthusiast like him? (He has been right at top as '10 yo Dumani's blog' in our left navigation bar for two years now)

I would like to ask WIPA the same, for both WICB and WIPA (and their sources of "wise" counsel), one would assume, are working to enthuse and encourage youngsters like Dumani, who has probably quit even blogging about the game. Must be one bitter boy...wonder how many more there are in the caribbeans.

Shape up all, no shame in reaching out a bridging hand for the sake of such youth....the future you all speak about.


Recall the self...crack the shells...Sports, as we said before, are for youth, even though men and women play games around it. That should be pellucidly clear by now.

To provide a simple perspective of the timespan that needs to be overturned, I quote from an historian of the region, CLR James, and add my own observations.


So Constantine went off to Nelson in 1929 amidst mingled cheers and regrets at our losing him. I shared in the first and took no part in the second. It was years before I came to know the facts precisely, but I understood them in general; and I believed then, as I believe now, that if West Indies cannot afford to keep their great cricketers at home they don't deserve to have them. All the shouting and patting on the back of 'our boys' doesn't mean a thing to me if it cannot be translated into a way of life for them.

-- CLR James; Chapter: Prince and Pauper in Beyond A Boundary, 1963



The context in colonial West Indies was little different; way of life, honour and a little profit are it, as James says earlier in the same chapter -


I believe that if Constantine had had not only honour but a little profit in his own country he never would have settled abroad.


- but of course, the circumstances giving rise to the context were vastly different in those times. CLR himself writes about them further down the page -


The point is what he did become was the result of personal choice arising from national neglect. Had his skin been white, like George Challenor's, or even light, he would have been able to choose a life at home.

- CLR James: Prince and Pauper, in Beyond A Boundary



The twin themes of forced migration (physically and metaphorically) and the contretemps a West Indies cricketer faced in having to choose between a way of life and playing cricket are set very early, and is a recurring theme, in this book published way back in 1963, but speaks of a cricketing era 40-50 years before that.

If colonialism was the bane then, hubris has replaced it more than adequately now.

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Compaq Cup: Sanath on familiar ground

Compaq Cup: Match 3: India v Sri Lanka

Yesterday India duly completed a win over New Zealand. Sachin Tendulkar showed a short glimpse of the class within him, before, after a brief period of wobbles, Dhoni and Raina picked it up and took India home without further ado. Today, another veteran, Sanath Jayasuriya, has come to the party among old friends and is reminding us once again why he was once adorned with the title Master Blaster.

That India's entry into the new season was only one step sure can be estimated from the decibels released by Tony Greig and Ranjit Fernando. When both are sounding like their houses are on fire, you can be certain of what is transpiring on television even if you are in another room. India are shoddy in bowling, and with their work on the field. A conrast so stark that it is refelcted as it is in Greig's sibilance.

Ashish Nehra, the comeback hero of yesterday, was back at the dhobhighat^YouTube early today, being battered, crumpled, beaten, the comenack juices being squeezed out of him by the bat of Dilshan. But he gets his word in all the same...Nehra nets the old vet Jayasuriya some 28 overs down the road and just two hops from a grand ol' century!

While Dilshan was attending to Nehra, Sanath was clipping RP Singh, the blow-hot-blow-cold Indian paceman, all over the park in similar fashion. Matters weren't helped by some shoddy fielding. Fielders rolling over balls which then sped off from beneath them to the boards beyond the boundary.



At this point it must be mentioned that it was only Dhoni who kept matters to the horizon with a couple of smart stumpings and a catch. His dismissal of Mahela Jayawerdene was absolutely brilliant and there was Ranjit Fernando going hysterical in denial of the calm brilliance behind the stumps.

The match, as it is, is probably already beyond India's reach, but I wonder if Dhoni hadn't acted the way he did, where would Lanka be at this moment? Sure, he dropped one behind the stumps...perhaps missed one run-out (OK blame the fielder throwing in for it..KDK), but his keeping has certainly improved with experience.

Lanka are 185 for 5 with another 18 overs to go....so it will be a difficult ask for India against the bowling attack Lanka enjoys. However, compete they must. And probably will...

It's a familiar ground all around - India challenging itself, the Matara Marauder hacking Indian bowling away, and Tony hypersibilating from the midst of Sri Lankans with Ranjit beside him - it's a throwback to the 90s.

Jayasurya's wagon wheel from Cricinfo


ST Jayasuriya


Runs: 98
Balls faced: 79
Strike rate: 124.05
Scoring shots: 48


0s 31
1s 26
2s 7
3s 2
4s 13


Under the circumstances, and with his background, Ishant Sharma bowled well. There's a bit to go in this match, but two decent days on the trot for him in ODIs is heartening.

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The CARICOM meet on Cricket

A poster on CC.com, in a thread titled Caricom Communique, has put out a letter/notice which he claims to have recieved in e-mail, detailing the resolutions of the CARICOM meeting. The key aspects of which are as follows:-


The Governments were intricately involved in supporting the WICB in the bidding process, and subsequently invested substantially in large scale infrastructure through enhanced or new stadia and facilities for cricket throughout the Region – all this at great cost to its tax payers.

Over the past 10 years in particular, the Heads of Government as well as all stakeholders in West Indies, have endured the fracturing of relations and distrust between WICB and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA).

....

WICB and WIPA, with the assistance of the CARICOM Secretariat, to agree on a formula and minimum criteria that allow the WICB to select the best West Indies team as follows -

players to make themselves available for selection in accordance with normal WICB requirements, in particular, participation in the regional tournaments;
WICB to agree to the television/image rights fees (sponsor’s fees) traditionally paid to players pending the special arbitration on this issue to facilitate the signing of retainer contracts by 1 October 2009;
WICB and WIPA to agree on the implementation of:
the special arbitration process provided for in the Mediator’s draft agreement, i.e. on ‘Team rights’ and ‘the India tour’; and
best efforts by the CARICOM Secretariat in the first instance to facilitate the resolution of the other outstanding issues proposed by WICB and WIPA, or the pursuit of arbitration if necessary, such arbitration not to delay the return of West Indies cricket to normalcy;
(d) CARICOM to convene a Stakeholders meeting at the earliest practicable date to discuss the future of West Indies cricket, taking account of the WICB’s Development Plan, as well as the Report of the Patterson Committee established by WICB;

(e) The WICB to inform the International Cricket Council (ICC) of the action taken by Caribbean Governments with the object of returning West Indies cricket to its accustomed place in world cricket in consonance with the highest traditions of the sport as upheld by the ICC;

(f) The Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket will monitor compliance with the above agreed measures based on periodic reports from the CARICOM Secretariat.

--- Source: CaribbeanCricket.com (Full post at CC.com)


Now one awaits the application of this firm resolve...presuming the veracity of it all of course, and the ability.

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Questioning Bracewell

Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah accused of just playing for their England places

"I don't think that either Bopara or Shah are playing to the talent that got them selected," Bracewell said. "They're playing for their places...."




In the first three ODIs England lost to Australia :-

Ravi Bopara
Ru Balls
48 88
27 44
10 17

Owais Shah
Ru Balls
40 48
12 12
08 19


While one may agree with the two not doing justice to their talent, could it be, Bracewell, that Strauss has taken upon himself the role of attacker and Bopara has been assigned a role to stay?

By the way, Shah has been pretty up with the SR if you observe and do your math. He may not have scored runs in the numbers one may want, but you cannot blame him for playing for his position.

Then by your logic, Ian Bell would be a similar case in test matches, what?

All right, let's see how Collingwood performed :-


Paul Collingwood
Ru Balls
23 39
56 84
28 52


Souce: Cricinfo Results

Would you not say that he too is playing for his place in the English squad rather than for the team cause as you implied with the other two? Be sure to do the math for SR...

Collingwood is a premier batsman of the England team. How can one set of almost identical data be OK for one and NOT OK for the other? The difference can't be in the names if there isn't much in the data between his and Bopara's...Surely, you do not mean that way, do you?

And what do you have to say about talents like Ross Taylor, Ryder and McCallum of New Zealand? Are they doing justice?

Guess they don't even bother to play for their places for there isn't any ready replacements!

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Compaq Cup: Ishant Sharma begins the new season well

Compaq Cup: Match 2: India v New Zealand

In the first match of this short triangular, Thilan Samaraweera had set the bar for performances by batsmen with one of the better hundreds seen in an ODI in recent times. On a difficult pitch, in a situation adverse to Lanka, he played a match-winning knock for his team. He put it beyond the pale, so to speak, for New Zealand. Lankan bowlers cashed in on the pressure created by that performance.

Today, with the first innings coming to a close, some Indian bowlers have set high standards for themselves for the season ahead with their performances here.

Nehra, like Zak, has returned a fully blossomed bowler from the hiatus. He had a good IPL 2009 and came here as the experienced spearhead in the absence of Zaheer. He appears to be relishing more this opportunity to lead an inexperienced attack now as a senior pro.

He cut into the New Zealand order with right away, halting both Ryder and McCallum on their respective creases, with two swinging beauties. Ashish Nehra of old could bowl that way, especially when in the "mood"...today he looked very much keen to begin the new season in such a mood. He recorded in his 100th wicket of a frequently interrupred ODI career.



India has been missing good swing bowling at the top lately. Zak is a canny one and has been holding the fort at one end. Irfan Pathan is now just a bright passage in India's cricketing history. RP Singh has been blowing hot and cold too regularly. So it was good to see some of that return to the attack.

As if in a jugalbandi^Wiki, RP Singh reciprocated with a focussed performance to match Nehra's.

Indian bowlers have come in well from a vacation in the past and what needs to be seen is how they progress from the start through the season.

Today was also well begun by two other Indian bowlers - Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma.

Not very long ago, a Caribbean journalist who resides in the US of A, was "wondering aloud" if Yuvraj's batting heroics weren't drug induced. The man refused to believe a sense of timing existed in the player. In fact he was convinced all kinds of muscles were bulging from beneath the metallic-blue uniform of Yuvraj, and tried to visualize these strange unforseen muscles for us. He latched on to Yuvraj's media appearance on the WADA issue as confirmation of his hallucinations. But that was batsmanship of a different kind...not the kind that journalist would have seen often enough while going Rah Rah Rah from the stands for his club team in his root country in the Caribbeans.

The man with the gifted timing today turned in with the ball! Would this journalist visualize again for us under which influence (other than pure skill) could prompt Yuvraj to do this?

Yuvi has done this before and today he completely destroyed the Kiwi midriff in the first innings.

He looks a floater, and being an classily explosive batsman at the top doesn't help him secure his bowling reputation strangely. People tend to be befooled by the languid grace of this Prince of Silken Cricket. So with his bowling...

The balls appear to be screaming to be hit...and his action looks a little gangly as well. But if you look closely, the naturally talented player imparts serious revs on the ball with a vicious pivot embedded into that deceptively eay bowling action which appears to belong to the bins of amateurs. That is his secret.

All Screenshots Source: Ten Sports

Yuvraj swivels right around on that hip joint atop the ramrod straight leading leg. There is a bit of shoulder effort as well to complement his finger spin.

This gives him the drift and control, and just enough leeway to bamboozle the batsman with subtle differences in spin. His arm ball can really come in from that action. It is this use of body in assisting spin that Piyush Chawla eschews in his own efforts. He remains more erect and straighter thus cutting down the spin. he did bring in a bit of change in that during the IPL 2009 but not convincing yet.

Coming back to Yuvi, he can be easily underestimated and batsmen have paid for that. In helpful conditions he can be as good as a frontline bowler. Anyways, he performed better than Harbhajan today, whose problem of quickly becoming defensive at the first sign of attack, remains. Oram pitchforked him for a one-bounce four to break out of a stranglehold, and Harbhajan dissolved straightaway into the defensive mould of flat bowling.

In a way that can lock up one end, but it also releases the pressure if the bowler strays down. The batsman sense the bowler has shifted in his intentions and can therefore tackle him with greater confidence. This is one bowler for whom the season is stretching ahead.

The man who really had a good match was Ishant Sharma.

Now this boy was not a LOI bowler. He has constructed himself from scratch as a test bowler. Ishant appeared unable to anticipate the batsmen's quicksilver LOI minds. He also appeared to have difficulty in grasping quickly the correct angles to keep the ball close to the body to different batsmen and the lengths to cheat their bats. Sharma would try and bring the ball in from outside off from just short of, but that test match arrow works well with three slips and a gully and only goes for four to third man in LOIs. He has often given away runs in this manner and overcompensated in near panic to stray down the leg side.

Today, he was spot on. He looked like a veteran bowler coming at first change. he backed up well the good efforts of the initial bowlers.

Ishant Sharma is also India's future engine...and hopefully for a long career. It is therefore I say that this bowler has had the best match in relative terms among all. It was as if the new season has revealed a new LOI bowler. Now he needs to grow from here.

India look a warmed up team. Of course they are yet to bat, and more could be revealed in the second innings, but they, in a long long while for this cricket watcher, haven't looked rusty as fielders and bowlers after a break from cricket. Too often has one been disappointed/disgusted at the start of a season by sloppy play. The Corporate Cup just before this series must be thanked for this..and the rest helped, it appears.

In our umpire watch, some "difficult" decisions continue to be made.

Finally, a big Hip Hip Hooray! to Ten Sports for their live streaming free cricket. A boon for all during its Beta version state.




New Zealand 155 (46.3 ov).
Target: India needs 156 to win off 50 overs.

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Peculiar kingdoms within nations

Not very long ago, the ICL-BCCI-ICC brouhaha brought home a few things to the uninitiated, leaving them a little uneasy - cricket boards, with some exceptions, have been constituted in historical times in such a peculiar manner that they exist as kingdoms within nations. They are almost like diplomatic enclaves, islands untouched by the waves of society and governance which surround them. As far as I can make out by researching from the web, PCB is an exception to this, and now along with Zimbabwe cricket board. In Pakistan, the sitting dictator or president can reconstitute the PCB almost in a flash...like a coup. Sometimes that too goes awry, but the point being the head of the government retains direct powers of interference in the functions of the cricket board. Zimbo's board may also be in a similar boat. Most other boards are not quite that way.

Why this comes up again is the news that CARICOM has decided to do something about the cricketing impasse in the Caribbeans. Barrath Jagdeo is going about developing a consensus on this.^{Jamaica Observer}

But can the body of governments actually do something directly to the WICB?

I do not know (for I do not know the details about the constitution of WICB, and if such a charter exists), but wouldn't WICB have a legal leg to kick some butt from as well? All this could take time and with doubtful end results till the litigations are gone through. WICB could challenge the governments if there isn't anything allowing the governments to replace WICB with another body, written into its charter. I don't know...

Like the former colonial cricket boards, WICB may have been constituted with plenty of protection.

In this regard, I quote from Cricinfo - Chetram Singh, a director of the board, said he supported the effort but was uncertain the intervention by political leaders would work as they could not enforce their decision on an independent WICB.

Most boards, if push comes to shove, can turn their independent cheek towards the source of "provocation" just because most have loosely worded charters of existence open to interpretations, which empowers them in this way. And many have been drafted by the keen minds of the British colonialists, sometimes in conjunction with (or to accommodate as favour dispensation) local satraps of power. Generally, experience tells us, that such drafts by colonial powers are more comprehensive than usually imagined. In today's world, such loosely granted powers are well exploited by the corporate set ups installed in every cricket board of the world.

It is in indirect ways then that boards can be "replaced" by governments. Basically forced to, and not without some litigation and politicking within the country. As long as boards do not flout any laws or provisions of the constitution, there can be little reason for any democratic government to change the constituion of a cricket board. And even that interference can prove to be a long-drawn messy affair littered with litigation.

Where does ICC stand in this?

This extract is all that suggests that ICC can intervene actively if required - The newly-named organisation had more teeth: it was no longer confined to making recommendations to national governing bodies; now it could impose binding decisions on Members... - in 1989 - present - International Cricket Council

But beyond the action taken on South Africa's apartheid regime, ICC's "interfery" role should be taken with a pinch of salt. Take the process adopted over the Zimbo trouble for illustration.

What did ICC do when the Zimbo issue was on fire...ultimately, it brokered a sort of mutually benefical solution to all by nudging here and tucking in there. What kind of shape can such an action take in the case of WICB, is difficult to figure out at the moment. All that's certain is it will consume time and ICC will stay clear of precipitous actions which could embroil it in litigations despite the firm language of the sentence I quoted from their website. ICC today, by and large, tends to be status quoist when it comes to such issues as sanctioning against cricket boards.

So what does Bharrat Jagdeo hope to accomplish? Especially if WICB is constituted with protection and sufficient soverignty?

Caricom goevrnments have little option but to act indirectly and therefore forcing ICC's hand as well.

They could make it difficult for WICB to conduct business within the borders of constituent governments.

They could make granting of visas to WICB related officials difficult for travel within the region.

They could declare that WICB may not represent any citizen of the nations forming the CARICOM comity as part of citizen protection system. This could bring in ICC for WICB would cease to represent any citizen of all nations that constitue "West Indies" in common parlance. WICB could be limited to representing only those nations among the CARICOM which are not signatory to such a declaration.

They could prevent WICB from using any premises in their countries....like stadia, offices..

Antigua could evict WICB from its borders.

But all these procedures are fraught with doubt, prone to protracted litigations which will only delay further any revival of West Indies cricket.

The CARICOM too isn't also without internal divisions - before this WIPA-WICB brouhaha broke through to dominate the region like a mushroom cloud, differences were expressed through cricket...in selectorial matters or in supporting or decrying players from countries different from self.

There were enough particles charged with the energy of balkanisation at the core of Caribbean cricket, who would bang into each other with immense force and releasing fissile energy from within.

To fuse them all to a common coherent cause in an enduring way would require a very very special reactor. Then there is the history and the antipathy which comes with it between the various peoples of the region, each fearing the dominating role of the other, if an advantage is conceded. WICB must have been formed on such agreements in the past, so where's the guarantee that at some point in the future, one isn't back to square one? What prevents governments "friendly" to office holders of WICB to make suggestions to stall this current flow? Bharrath Jagdeo has embarked on an extremely tough mission.

But the positive from all this....those energies of balkanisation of Windies cricket have been quelled for the moment and a rare exhibition of unity and unified resolve is evident. Cricket has never enjoyed such a protective attention in the West Indies in recent times from all directions of its realm. For the moment it appears they are determined to sort it all out once and for all. Chetram Singh is merely cautioning against euphoria on this account.

Hey! Maybe the ICC solution for all this would be to "elevate" Julian Hunte to ICC Head Honcho and his coterie from WICB to appropriate subordinate seats aboard! Now that would please everyone...Julian Hunte downwards.

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Amy

"You may hear me, but note that you do not see me".

Amy used to read this blog often. She never demanded reciprocity. Sometimes she'd leave comments, at other times she'd read and go. I enjoyed reading her blog too.

Her blog was about the joy of being a spectator, and there wasn't any of the bitterness which creeps into our own blogging. Often, when things became too poisonous in the contrived sporting wars we blogged about, Amy's Cricket Talk was just the right remedy.

Amy hadn't been here for a while, and neither had I paid a visit to her's in a few weeks. So I went over to check today, and came across a post by her friend, Kate, informing us all about the shocking news that Amy was no longer with us.

She was just 26.

My condolences to her family, Andrew, and her friends.

Rest in peace, Amy.

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Ricky Penitent

He lost the Ashes twice on successive tours of England. That is a huge cross to bear for any Australian cricket captain. Pain brought out a new humility from inside the man. All the vainglorious struts of the blind past fell away from him, to leave open a clear purpose glowing on his contrite face. At an advanced age for cricketers, he resolves to undertake the journey which baulks even the young - to begin from scratch and stumble through the uncertainity of remorse and regret, upon aching limbs to retrieve what he lost for his nation - that little urn of Ashes.

As a first step on his new path, Ponting has, in the manner of another great seeker and peer named Sachin Tendulkar, whose own long quest ends at World Cup 2011, quit T20 internationals yesterday to focus on test match cricket and ODIs.^Cricinfo It is possible that as the next tour to England approaches, he may have given up ODIs as well to immerse himself completely in the task he has now set himself.

We wish Ricky Ponting success in his quest, just as we wish Sachin Tendulkar in his.

Ricky Ponting T20 career

The greatness of Ricky Ponting lies hidden in those stats till the future generation eye alights upon the 98*, and then the Pandora's box will fly open as the watcher scrambles backwards to find out more about Ricky Ponting, the man who almost scored a hundred in a T20 match. We are sure that that new generation will come across images of a straight-backed Ricky leveraging the ball out, beyond the boundary, and perhaps even the ground, with a swift swivelling pull of instinctive mastery.^[Image]

Not many, he will discover through his research into cricket's history, have played the pull as well as Punter did. We also hope that that young watcher will come across Ricky's final test series - the Ashes of 2013 - and find the man holding aloft a little urn in the pictures beside his compelling story.

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Keeping Test Cricket Alive and Cricketers Competitive

Cliched opponents of Tamasha Cricket and uniamginative "proponents" of test cricket need to smell this dose of reality -

"Cricket Australia only makes real money when England or India visit, and budgets conservatively for everything in between" ^{The Australian}

Test cricket must stay, we think there is no question about that, but I would rather hear about how test cricket can stay afloat on its own, the way it is currently structured, without "external" assistance from "tamasha cricket".

We have consistently observed that under the present structure, Test Cricket will have to remain a mostly dependant member of the three-form strong cricket family.

In fact, 50-50 could very soon slip into the same.

We hope Test Cricket can be a vibrant entity on its own, but that doesn't appear possible under the existing system.

Gate money may be just a fraction of what a series is sold for by boards these days, television rights being the workhorse, but for hosting associations and in some series, they form a considerable proportion of earnings.

Two-tiers of better matched cricket teams, rescheduling the timings so more eyeballs could be gained and "neutral timings" (some common timings which suit the bulk of the cricket watching population around the world) could be better used in this regard.

It helps no one to have mismatched series. We shall increasingly see even TV withdrawing/excusing/recusing themselves from the coverage of such series with no competition, character and saleability, as we saw in the recent WI-BD series where SKY withdrew.

Till some changes happen, one will have to hug tamasha cricket and endorsments, and bear with it.^Forbes They fund test cricket.

And on a diffrent but related tangent, I agree with this article about India losing out on test cricket due to poor planning.

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More upon the proposed WADA dys-regime

According to TOI's sources, Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland set the ball rolling with a missive to ICC stating that the "objections" raised by the BCCI were "genuine" and the same should be discussed at the next executive board meeting to be held in Johannesburg next month, where all member countries will be represented. Sutherland also suggested that the five-member special committee, formed by the ICC to discuss BCCI's stand, be disbanded.

-- Times of India


In addition,


The change of heart on the part of Cricket Australia, which itself is Wada-compliant, appears to have stirred other boards as well, with the likes of England (ECB), South Africa (CSA), New Zealand (NZC), Sri Lanka (SLC), Zimbabwe (ZC) and Bangladesh (BCB) also joining the chorus and asking ICC to "rethink Wada's 'whereabouts' clause methodically". The stand of the Pakistan and West Indies boards is not known because of internal flux.

...

Meanwhile, the ICC has requested Wada to formulate a cricket-specific code. It remains to be seen whether Wada will oblige.


Now don't come around saying India is "making" these boards say all this!

That is, if this news is true of course.

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WICB uses Lalit Modi's letter...

...to remind the striking players, who incidentally are on a deadline from their own board, of what could lie ahead on the road they have taken.

It's a clever shot that by WICB, to pick up the words of one adversary(?) and play it on the other. I mean they actually have pinned it prominently to their noticeboard.

Lalit Modi's letter

The New rule is that any Player who has been contracted by any board or its clubs, counties, provinces, or State anywhere in the world - will. Require that player even if he is no longer contracted with that board - to produce a NOC for a period of Two years henceforth.

There's more in that letter which addresses other doubts other people have frequently expressed about IPL.

I guess the aim is to convey that the WIPA affiliates are being penned in from all sides. Boards tend to look after themselves in most cases....and WICB is a very special member.

Lalit Modi could also be fishing for sharks in a swimming pool. He has his own troubles brewing with BCCI.

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WICBlog Airs Sridath Ramphal's thoughts

In a post titled Ramphal blames WICB for killing mediation, the West Indies Cricket Blog has put up an mp3 airing the mediator Sridath Ramphal's thoughts.

Ramphal says that when the parties were close to an agreement the WICB changed the goalposts resulting in a failed resolution of the battle.

A section of vocal fans in the caribbeans however feel that Ramphal hasn't been centre of centre as a mediator in this dispute. They accuse him of leaning one way or the other in their forums of discussion.

It's quite a mess out there and I am not sure I understand it all completely. Many of the differences have roots in stuff that goes very far back into their history, to much before the current protagonists and their time in the sunshine, and greatly beyond the cricket grounds. These are different games...plenty of politricking involved, we are told....the kinds we do not understand....maybe they mean, the kinds we should not understand.

One thing's for sure, Hunte is sitting on the most important seat of all, and he has the ICC eating out of his hands to boot. ICC, in a self-preservation mode, and not wanting to appear as if they are treating this once-biggie-board-fallen-on-hard-times-now, unfairly on ANY count, will back him to the hilt through it all. By and large ICC preserves itself and its constituents...and WICB has always been a special constituent of it.

It may be worthwhile here to put out a list - that the first audio released featured what was touted then as an independent third party and spoken for by Ms Carla Henry-Baker, or someone who might have played a prank on one and all in cahoots with some disgruntled WI fans.

Then there was an audio from a WICB spokesperson denying all that the supposed Carla Henry-Baker claimed.

Now we have the third audio release in this battle of audio interviews, featuring the lost peacebroker, Sridath Ramphal!

Ramphal fears for WI cricket's future. We hope they get going and start redeveloping their system from the grassroots and emerge strong contenders at all levels again. The flavour brought to the game by the West Indians is truly special, even though the elements which make up that flavour are no longer the way they used to be.

More on this later, at another time.

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Tendua - Sachin, The Indian Leopard ( Part I )


"I don't need anyone to come to me or motivate me or prepare me before a big game," Tendulkar said in an exclusive interview. "I've always been motivated and I love this sport. I grew up loving this sport and as each day goes by, I fall in love with this game more and more."

-- Sachin: Solid as Sunny, ruthless as Richards @ Cricketnext.com


2^nd Test, Sri Lanka vs India 2005, Ferozeshah Kotla, Delhi

December 10, 2005


That winter morning began in doubt. On the night of December 9, 2005, the mighty Himalayas had exhaled more forcefully than usual at the plains below, frosting time at its roots in the wake of the advancing wavefront they generated. Delhi was squirming beneath its fluffy quilt of cold fog, unwilling to face the day it however must.

Sachin Tendulkar could bat for India later in the morning if it cleared up soon enough. He was returning after yet another injury, this time to his elbow, for whose treatment he had to skip the Zimbo tour after playing the visiting Pakistan team through the pain and damage caused by that injury. He was being written off by his most faithful supporters. They doubted the endurance of various complex joints within, and the tendons and ligaments keeping the body housing the Little Master together. His first match upon return against the Sri Lankans at Chennai looked like the feeler Sachin played it as. Not much could be understood beyond that for the match was severely truncated by unseasonal rains.



But he could play on that winter day at Delhi – and perhaps for the required period of time after having such a long sighter at Chennai out in the middle - provided India put itself in to bat or were asked to, and a couple of wickets fell quickly enough to allow him to leap over the bar. It was almost a year to the day when he matched Sunny Gavaskar’s record of 34 centuries with an unbeaten 248 at Dhaka. His progress from there froze in the wake of good bowling by the visiting Pakistanis and injuries. India hung iced in a cesspool of doubt over how long the Master could last. Could he ever score the 35th? Would he ever go much beyond?

Sanjay had failed to keep his promise the previous day. This Sadar Bazaar wholesale businessman and also a good friend I often called Lala, was definitely a largish planet, if not a minor star, in Delhi’s orbit which matters. The man had flown back in just a few days earlier from a business mission to China, and arranging a cricket match pass for me wasn’t quite the priority on his agenda yet even though he had suggested it himself to me in a fit of euphoria. I hade taken up his offer and now he was bound by his word. He asked me to give him just a little more time – “Tomorrow 100%,” he promised.

Tomorrow would be the match morning and Sachin could be batting already…maybe he’d already be out to a Vassy foxy! As these thoughts swirled in my mind, I drove a little ferociously and a lot carelessly through the fog on my way to work, blasting though the drums of fog trying to arrest my progress. If cricket wasn’t to be, then work I must, and 6.30 AM usually finds me well on the road to mine. Lala was generally a man who kept his word…could he manage the passes before the match began? Would Sachin bat that day? Would I be able to rush back home, pick up my kid, and zoom off to the Ferozeshah Kotla? Would I have the time? And then there was the issue of taking sudden leave from work. You see, since the expected pass hadn’t arrived the previous day, I had left the issue of my taking leave for a day in limbo as well.


I had gone through overnight’s stuff that needed to be attended to first, and was almost ready to initiate the day’s fresh crop of work after some remaining paperwork was dealt with. Unrealized by me, the stiff cold breeze outside had blown away the fog and wrapped up the wan morning along with it. This was brought to me emphatically when a sliver of golden sunlight shot in through a chink and straight into my eye. Lala sprang into my chamber at that still early hour, a mixture of interrupted sleep, triumph and embarrassment. He had kept his word of procuring my passage into Kotla, and the tinge of embarrassment was because it was not quite in the category he had promised me. The sleepy look was because he was not quite accustomed to see sunrise everyday. Today, he did.

I reached across, shook his hand, pumped fists, gave him high-fives, beamed at him like a maniac, thanked him in the most profuse way a man overboard can his savior, and held the passes up for a detailed look. I might have hugged him in my joy if it weren't for the formality of the worktable which separated us. We both are crazed followers of the game from a long way back. We both, during the conversation in which he had promised the passes, had discussed the possibility of Tendulkar scoring that all-important biggie at Kotla. We both “felt it" in our bones. You see, Kotla has this peculiar habit of witnessing record feats….and a year is a long time for someone who is affectionately called Tendua (Indian Leopard) by many of his fans in this northern part of India.

It was an anticipation which wasn’t unique to Sanjay and I, we discovered, for the first day of the test was almost sold out in advance to many of those who were equally expectant of a record event from Tendulkar. All I wanted was to be in there at the ground…I just didn’t care where I would be perched inside. Fancy cabins with their cushioned seats are not the adornments I grew up with playing and watching the game. I was simply relieved and overjoyed that I could watch the game. As it turned out, luck favoured me that day, and I had a great angle…reasonably straight on the scoreboard side of the ground.

It was less than two hours since I was driving to work on the same road in a fog. Now I was doing so in the opposite direction, still in ferment, but a happier one now. I had rung up ahead to ask my kid to be ready – this would be his first experience of live Test Match Cricket – I recall the day my father took me to my first match clearly even today - and after picking him up, I had to head off considerable kilometers in a third direction, in a vehicle not controlled by me (parking is a headache and a taxi/auto is always preferable), and then negotiate the queues of spectators who shared a common goal with me! I hoped I’d make in time before play commenced.

When I finally broke through the dark corridor and into the brilliantly sunlit vista in front of me, I found the billiard top green ground sprinkled with white chessmen with blue caps placed strategically. Both teams wear blue caps and that makes it difficult to differentiate between them when one’s pupils are still adjusting to the sudden change in illumination. The batsmen were at the crease, and one of them taking guard. It was a frail southpaw – Gautam Gambhir it must be – India was batting! We rushed to find a place to squat urgently….Vassy had already begun to run away from us to bowl at Gambo.

My son had just settled into his plastic seat beside me and was already tugging at the arm of my sweater to share his first impressions when a shrill wail went up from the ground. It was the collective appeal of eleven visitors led by a full-throated Vassy. Gambo was out lbw, and we were still in the first over. A roar went up in the stadium and the excitement of settling in was doubled for the thongs by the quick wicket. The portends were all there...the sun was now shining brightly.

Laxman walked out to take Gambhir's place. Dravid was opening at the other side and he hadn't faced a ball yet. Laxman was, as has been always the case throughout his talented career, was on yet another examination of sorts. One was in a serious quandary now, one wanted to watch both players at the crease play long and sweetly, but one also had just that day's leave to watch Sachin score a hundred. There was no remote here to fast forward a recording to the point of choice...test cricket is all about the flow of the game and assimilating the same....and live viewing at the ground somehow sucks out all the negative impatient energies which gather inside one sitting in front of a screen. Somehow it feels that the action includes you. You want it to last...to savor it for as long as possible.

VVS was in exquisite touch and Dravid was looking solid. Yet another Partnership appeared to be birthing itself. Dilhara Fernando and Vassy too looked set for a long haul. Murali, the master spinner, to the left of our view at extra cover, was already wheeling his arms over, stretching them one by one across his chest. The crowd was urging him to come on...they wanted to see the champion bowl...and hoped to see another champion come out to bat. The cricket ground hubub..the spectatorial test match bubbling was infectious and we were soon caught up in it as well.

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Congratulations and our encouragement are in order

To Baichung Bhutia's men who recorded a hattrick of tournament wins by beating a higher rated and more fancied Syrian team in Nehru Cup football.

To Giancarlo Fisichella and Force India for their creditable ride.



To Somdev Devvarman on his auspicious US Open debut.



And finally, the original First Lady of Indian tennis, Sania Mirza, for battling on through. Hopefully this time she has a longer run.

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And yet another twist, as the cliché goes

WICB Denies Any Contact from the “Million Dollar League”

WICRICINFO reports as above in response to the WICBSUCKS.com generated excitement.

They are now calling the whole radio interview bizness a scam or some such thing!

Or is it that they like to re-negotiate as they go along and this is just a tactic along that road?

Whatever it is, Ms Carla Henry-Baker surely stuck her neck out there at the behest of someone. Maybe she comes out of this clucking like a happy hen or maybe she comes carrying her detached head beneath her wing.

More twists to this story than those in a Bollywood gyal's braid!

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