One didn't watch it bar the initial 15 minutes yesterday night and the brief Irish innings later in the morning today. Just not possible to stay awake through the night and watch tepid matches and those cheerleaders again! Only this time West Indian, so it must be OK.
And no point trying to emulate the anti-IPL hoes who still are on a spree and write articles or comments as silly, stupid and hate-filled as they did when IPL was going on.
The chaps are still at it with their "filth"...How complexed can some chaps be!
I bet the cricket was of the highest order, the crowds overflowing, the pitch fantastic, the outfields lush...unfortunately there were cheerleaders and they had garish light blue and pink skimpier knickers on doing some weird gyrations to weirder music. Wow West Indies! Wow ICC!
But I'll leave it to guest columnists and regular writers of online rags, portals and forums to crit about what they usually crit.
Sorry, no report here for the unable to watch reason. One can perhaps wake up earlier to watch the second match, but surely very silly to stay up to watch the first and second is it not? The Ireland-West Indies match doesn't merit a report for Ireland is not a cricket playing nation yet which deserves to be among the elite squads.
Match 1 scorecard
Lanka, apparently, were beaten up by Big Mac's big brother in a thrilling encounter. Guess we missed something after all...hmmm...have to make up my mind which match to wake up/stay awake for.
Match 2 scorecard The West Indies-Ireland mismatch. Which is strange actually for it should have been closer considering Ireland has been around these parts playing cricket for a while now and Windies aren't the best going around.
Friday, 30 April 2010
ICC Twenty20 WC: Day One
Game 5: Topalov's strangely reticent play
FIDE World Chess Championship 2010, Sofia
Viswanathan Anand [2787 Rank 4] (India) vs Veselin Topalov [2805 Rank 2] (Bulgaria)
Score: ½ - ½ [Game 5]
Colour: B - W
Overall Match Score: 3 - 2
Before the Championships commenced, it was reported that Anand had, as part of his preparations, completely focussed on Topalov for the preceding six months. His dip in form during tournaments in the past six-months were attributed to this aspect of his preparations. He was trying to understand the persona of Topalov behind the bluff and bluster he usually presents. I am tempted to say that while Anand has read his man well, it is not clear if Topalov has read Anand similarly.
Game 5 was a starker exhibition of Topalov's unwillingness to take the initiative in improving his match position since an exhausted Anand was almost mugged by the volcano, organizers and Veselin in the first game. Since then anand has kept up the pressure, challenged with bold moves, made sacrifices, blocked like an impenetrable rockface to be where he is at this stage - leading 3-2.
Topalov and Anand began briskly with carbon copy moves of Game 3. (See image below - click to enlarge)
It was as if Topalov had come in with a set-play for a specific position born out of analysis of game 3, and he wanted Anand there. However, on move 15, Anand played differently - he played h5 to Topalov's h4 this time instead of h6 in game 3. (See image below - Click to enlarge)
One felt it was a inferior move to the one in game 3, for this could have actually locked his bishop in there or separated his pawns. But we are novices commenting on our first World Championship, and I leave it to your own individual judgement.
At move 23 we wondered why Topalov didn't take e6 whcih was vulnerable.
Lovuschka explained thus
An example variation: 23.Bxe6 Rc2 24.b3 Sc6 25.Sxg6+ Kxe6 26.Kd3 Rb2! 27.Kc3 Ra2 and black has at least a draw by 28.Rd1 Kf7 29.Sh8+ Kg8 30.Sg6 Kf7 and repetition of position.
That looks a convincing explanation. Anand wasn't under time pressure and it was unlikely that Kd3 might have elicited a "mistake" from him!
Topalov had two more opportunities to try something, but perhaps he preferred the better part of valour and wanted to live to fight another day.
On move #25 he made an attacking f4
but it appears he was looking at it as a defensive move to push away Anand from that flank rather than some sort of attack to create a slight advantage.
Later down, when Anand, who by now was almost toying with Topalov's psyche, went big and bold with g5 at move #29, there was opportunity for both to make something more of it. Topalov refused to be dragged towards the free pawn and a possibly testing sprint to no avail down that lank subsequently.
After finding Topalov unwilling for the late challenge, even Anand went on to interlock the pawns while drawing up his Rook instead of taking it to buttress the attack he had proposed on the flank.
There was no need for Anand to bother more than that for he was leading the match and in time this game. Topalov, however, was in completely unvalorous mood on the day. Predictable draw from early moves.
Caution to Anand - he musn't merely sit on his lead and no underestimating Topalov's curiously focussed vision. While it is good to concentrate on the detail, the overview must not be bartered away for it. Is he probing something for later change in strategy? is he decoying Anand into a rut?
PS: For the notation of Knight as S instead of N, please see this paper (pdf format) from Siegfried Hornecker ( Lovuschka ) for an explanation. Read More......
Game 5: Rapid Fire Push For A Draw by Topalov
FIDE World Chess Championship 2010, Sofia
Viswanathan Anand [2787 Rank 4] (India) vs Veselin Topalov [2805 Rank 2] (Bulgaria)
Score: ½ - ½ [Game 5]
Colour: B - W
Overall Match Score: 3 - 2
Either he wants a draw at this stage instead of pushing for parity from behind in the match, or he must be wanting Anand at a particular position before trying something different.
Till the 12th move the game was a rapid-fire replica of the drawn Game 3, with moves being played at a mechanical pre-prepared/ready pace.
The way things are, it appears a draw unless Topalov has a specific plan at a particular move in the future which he might have come up in analysis.
Heading for a draw atm.
This time Anand plays h5 to Topalov's h4 on move #15 unlike in Game 3.
- - - 0 - - -
UPDATE : Topalov's strangely reticent play Read More......
Thursday, 29 April 2010
The perils of warm ups and fat farms
You could twist an ankle of course, tear your confidence into shreds or completely lose focus and go overboard in relative assessment and your own plans based on it.
Zimbabwe have downed Australia and Pakistan in warm ups and already chaps are getting ready to plump for Zimbos to lift the silverware.
A winning warm up is a good warm up, but nothing more than that...nothing more than a good warm up...must be taken out of the hamam that practice matches are. Chaps can well go on out and excel on the actual field of play too, but that's not quite given.
England overcoming South Africa may also fall into the same category, but England has a team which can last the distance. Zimbos are game warriors who have the capacity to upset a few gameplans, but may have to contend with their own inconsistency.
Meanwhile, good soundbytes from MS Dhoni when he says 'I don't take my opponents lightly. At the end of the day you have to win whichever team you play.'
One imagines more substance will be revealed behind those in time to come - you see people give PC bytes frequently, but often they simply are a fistful of warming up words in the sauna of a press conference with nothing much to follow. 
India's fielding will have a large bearing on their chances, and it must be said there are plenty vertebrae and knees on the Indian team which are sufficiently ankylosed to prevent them from winning the silverware for the Best Fielding Side (If there is any such).
Tournament Fixtures
Lucky, Chess never wore white flannels
FIDE World Chess Championship 2010, Sofia
Below is a screenshot of the press conference video from the Anand-Topalov FIDE Championship website.
Whether it is the lighting or the base colour combination itself behind all the advertisements, I do not know, but it sure does look like they are a set of new chessmen being unwrapped out of containing cartons in a godown of some supply-delivery chain.
One understands sponsors need their exposure and sport cannot do without such patrons. Therefore the labels all over
It's a lucky break indeed that Chess never wore white flannels!
One's got to write about this too I guess - ICC World Twenty20 2010
Pretty soon the ICC World Twenty20 2010 will take off in West Indies. One will have to write a few words about it since we call ourselves The Cricket Watcher's Journal.
In case you ask if I'll be watching the tournament closely, my answer will probably be no nyet nein nahin.
There may be the odd night I might stay up like an owl, but only if it is convenient. To expect me to be awake from 10.30 pm through the night for all those days is asking for a bit too much. No...not even when India's playing.
Here are the fixtures - all the 1700-1730 GMT and 2100 GMT start games are out of the window unless they are on a Saturday or on the night before my off. The 1330 GMT matches could be watched by us.
To an extent, IPl may have satiated my T20 desires, but that's only a minor reason - the timings are the real problem...they just kill me because my next working day starts early. I need my few hours of sleep. If only there were a YouTube channel to catch up through.
The newbies like Afghanistan may catch me watching them, purely out of curiosity.
Rain is a major determinant too - people in Caribbeans are praying cricket comes in soon so some drought hit areas can recieve rainfall. We might see its influence on the tournament.
England, Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies, Kiwis are front-runners. India too has a chance but better to take them match by match - if they cross the initial hurdles they'll go far...mostly they get stumped in West Indies at the start. If they have their engines primed up and ready, they too have a good enough chance.
The onus is on Pakistan - they are a well-rested team with the right kind of private preparation via the KCl etc etc, and are the defending champions to boot! It is up to them and some minnows to spark this torunament with interest.
Australia will come wanting to win this dearly - these days they want to win anything and everything - gone are the days of condescension, anything will do now, even T20 WC on their road to recovery. So count them in for some fighting performances.
England and West Indies aren't to be underestimated. Both have the teams to go the distance and West Indies are at home too....so expect them to perform well. Both of them should, on paper and in circumstance.
Lanka are always finalists in everything. So they have to be rated too. Once in the finals, it is up to them on that day...or night.
Kiwis are a rung below all above. Many things have to fall together for them. When those things do fall in place, they can be unbeatable.
Ireland and Afghanistan should fancy a few shots. Afghanistan has India in its group and India are well-known to be encouraging of noobs and underdogs. Some fun there.
Saffies - what can you say about them? They are perpetually looking like winners in everything. They could be, but lightning strikes here more often than other places.
India is a peculiar team - if it finds or is allowed to find its rhythm early, it will be unstoppable, otherwise it will creak out of the tournament like an arthritic steam engine fading from the scene.
Zimbos - they'll spank a few lazy or careless butts.
Have I missed anyone? No...I think I've included all squads.
Pakistan will have to lead from the front to show it is hungry and thirsty to retain the silverware. Australia should keep everybody honest with their own thirst. Rest can have a paaaartyyy...a Bashhhment as they call it...and make it worth the while of those who may be watching.
Maybe if ICC had a YouTube channel, I might have taken in the replays/highlights in sensible hours like I did with IPL and written some hindsighted posts here.
Good luck and happy watching. We promise only irregular coverage here.
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Game 4: Topalov's Forces Interlocked Away In Azkaban
FIDE World Chess Championship 2010, Sofia
Viswanathan Anand [2787 Rank 4] (India) vs Veselin Topalov [2805 Rank 2] (Bulgaria)
Score: 1 - 0 [Game 4]
Colour: W - B
Overall Match Score: 2 ½ - 1 ½
Upto the 20th move, Anand dragged the red herring all over his left flank and Topalov's Knights and forces clip-clopped merrily behind it, swallowing one bait after another. Topalov, having consumed plenty pawn meat on the flank, hovered around for more, for you see, he had two pawns in one line and nearly all his knights and men attacking the lone white pawn guarding against their advance. Like feasting flies on flesh, Topalov wanted more down that alley.
But in two swift moves, white Knights hopped across the battle ground to the other flank, onto and into the Black castle - undefended by Topalov's well-fed and terribly distracted army - and roused Anand's strategically placed forces on the field into a hell-raising attack for which Topalov simply had no answer. 
Though Topalov tried this and that since then, before the long delayed resignation eventually came through, it was always doleful stuff from him, completely aware that his castle and game was razed down to the foundations on this board.
In fact he might have clung to a bit of straw for a draw if he had played Bd5 instead of Be5 on move # 27.
This little sequence was classic chess - 21. Nd6 Qa7 22. Ng4 Rad8 23. Nxh6+... - quick and deadly realignment of forces after having locked the opposition away on the other side in Azkaban, after letting them feast on free pawn flesh. The white Knight who sacrificed himself for "the greater cause" would rest easy knowing his effort wasn't wasted and the doors of the black castle were truly busted open by his sacrifice.
Anand's Queen's Gambit was quickly accepted by Topalov in move 4 itself, and after that, Topalov's vision bracketed itself to that part of the game for there were more sacrifices forthcoming. Anand made sure the lure was seductive. The loss of overall field vision proved so costly that when 23. Nxh6+ happened, Topalov's entire game looked quite like a novice's after that.
We know he isn't a novice and it wasn't quite all that way, for Topalov had strong answers and posed quite a few challenges, but they were localized. Just that Anand's brilliance kept Topalov's attention focussed to the opposite side and constricted his field view, while developing and expanding his own globally.
Our friend Namya, of Not Cricket, who goes by the name Extendulkar on Twitter, had this to say about the game
Achettup of SOAL was caught multi-tasking
Sigfried Hornecker of Kunstschach, our friend from Germany who tweets brilliant commentary under the name Lovuschka, had this to say
23.Sxh6+ gxh6 24.Qxh6. The chess board is on fire! Anand sacrifices a knight for an attack against Topalov's king!
Truly, as Lovuschka said, Anand set the board on fire in Game 4.
As a result, we were all left wondering why Topalov wouldn't resign before he eventually did.
Oh by the way, Anand himself may have to answer Achettup's query - why was Rc2 played before f7+? , for we are all joyfully bloated on the classic piece of deception we saw in chess.
Look forward to the next games. Join Achettup, Lovuschka, Extendulkar, Lazysuperstar and many more of us in following the Championship on Twitter.
By the way, I play Chess at Gameknot whenever I can. You can too. Read More......
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Game 3 interestingly poised
FIDE World Chess Championship 2010, Sofia
Viswanathan Anand [2787 Rank 4] (India) vs Veselin Topalov [2805 Rank 2] (Bulgaria)
Score: Game 3 in progress
Colour: B - W
Overall Match Score: 1 - 1
By eschewing a castling, Anand might have weasled out a bit of advantage. The game can go any way, including a draw.
We are currently watching move # 18 in progress.
Sarwan new champion for HIV advocacy - UNAIDS
In conjunction with the International Cricket Council (ICC), West Indies cricketer Ramnaresh Sarwan was unveiled as a new Think Wise Champion on 26 April as part of a global cricket partnership to raise awareness of HIV.
He joins high profile cricketers Graeme Smith, Kumar Sangakkara and Virender Sehwag, as well as West Indies colleague Stafanie Taylor, in becoming a Champion for the ICC’s partnership with UNAIDS, UNICEF and the Global Media AIDS Initiative.
- UNAIDS
Dashing West Indies and T&T cricketer, Ramnaresh Sarwan, goes on to say
The issue of HIV is an important one for young people in the Caribbean and hopefully I can use my profile as an international cricketer to have a positive impact on people’s behavior within the region.
With the T20 World Cup in West Indies around the corner, Sarwan bringing the focus on the problem.
More at UNAIDS Read More......
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Chennai Superkings Beat Mumbai to Win Third Edition of IPL
Scorecard
Frankly speaking, I was following the Anand-Topalov match yesterday night instead of the IPL, and crashed well before the match was done. Therefore my impressions of the IPL finals need to be refreshed by highlights and replay from IPL's YouTube portal.
Sachin, despite his injury shone but the remainder of MI order collapsed when it mattered most. Murali and Ashwin foxed the Mumbai batsmen and trussed up their chase.
What beats logic is the elevation of Harbhajan in the batting order. That fancy Mumbai move didn't come off. Even though Harbhajan didn't waste many balls, it meant that Pollard was coming in at 8.
Pollard did OK for MI overall.
Well played Mumbai, Congratulations to Chennai!
Anand with pawn advantage after 34 moves - Game 2
FIDE World Chess Championship 2010, Sofia
Viswanathan Anand [2787 Rank 4] (India) vs Veselin Topalov [2805 Rank 2] (Bulgaria)
Score: 1 - 0
Colour: W - B
Overall Match Score: 1 - 1
Live Coverage - Game 2
Anand has a pawn advantage after 34 moves but he could find it difficult to retain it.
UPDATE
Anand made that pawn advantage count and in another nine moves since we posted last, had Topalov resigning under the pressure spawned by that extra pawn.
Indeed, Anand had hit back as we felt he would after the way the first game was played. Irrespective of the travails he had to undergo thanks to the disruption caused by the erupting volcano and instrangience of organizers in refusing to postpone by a few days, Vishy appeared calm and collected in the pre-match conference. However, his play in the first game suggested he might be a little tired. A day later, and perhaps feeling a little better, he was back and with complete aggression.
He began with the Catalan opening. Topalaov sought and took the pawn in the 4th move and then went on to take a further pawn sacrifice by Vishy to gain a doubled pawn situation in the centre. However, the overall positional advantage was with Vishy and it was given a boost by Topalov's 25th move.
In the 15th move, Anand offered a Queen exchange which Topalov accepted since he was at that time apparently with advantage. In the 25th move, perhaps desirous of needing to do something with the advantage he was enjoying, Topalov gave up his well-placed Knight in exchange for Anand's black Bishop. However, he also gave away a major chunk of advantage and there was no redemption after that. The game was gone...
See the board above for complete play
Interesting comments Re: IPL
These comments, I felt, deserved to be brought together. So I did as a separate post.
The IPL controversy will get interesting.
Modi insists on Chairing the meet. Now minutes of the meeting will have to record what's said - so he gets to place his statement on record when he is finding it difficult currently. Smart move that.
The need to install an Inquiry Committee and convene an AGM makes it a little complicated to "sack" him as bandied about by TV channels caught up in the erotica of this controversy.
He can be suspended but not expelled without a proper procedure. So there go some BREAKING NEWS bombsters.
Then there is the issue of AC Muthiah's court case - if the Supreme Case takes cognizance, what effect will it have on the meeting? Is the hurry to have a meeting early a result of this "slight inconvenience"?
People - writers and columnists on twitter - are calling for even handedness in dealing with all questionable actions, associations and people in IPL.
Source
lazysuperstar said...
Peter Roebuck article was really good. Will be good for IPL if Shashank Manohar goes as well. But I am yet to find the 'investigative journalism' he is talking about.
24 April 2010 19:30
N.Balajhi said...
SB
IPL is a product of Indian cricket and I would expect an Indian cricket fan to associate it with his nationality. I do and that is one reason why I feel so strongly about IPL and the current mess.
I am a late convert to T20. Though I don't support any particular team vehemently, I do follow particular cricketers and happy about its benefits to our domestic players. Money and exposure is good for them. It will keep them on the hunt that much longer with more vigour.
The problem I have with IPL is the problem I have Modi and of course BCCI. Modi is not the type of leader I would look forward to take Indian cricket to great heights. The way he and BCCI muscled ICL out of its existence is a shame for Indian cricket. They bullied out and made sure ICL shuts the door. The way they handled Kapil after that and the humiliation related to Hall of fame induction, is an indication of how much they respect Cricketers and their contribution. A good leader will never fail to recognise the contribution of even his enemies / detractors. Only when you are not sure of strength you try bully around and Modi was just that. His style of functioning would never do good in the long run.
Modi and other politicians ruling cricket can't be expected to keep their act clean. It's not a surprise that they were making money for themselves. I am only happy that it's all their out in the open and thanks a million to Tharoor and of course to Modi himself for opening the lid of the can.
There is a saying in Tamil, "Vinasa Kaale Vibareedha Buthi" which can be roughly translated as "When your bad time approaches, you will say and do things that invite them". Modi invited it all with his tweet.
25 April 2010 00:18
N.Balajhi said...
Sports need money but if money becomes the motive of sports then the game will suffer. That I think is what was happening with IPL with Modi as its chief.
The current structure and rules governing them are such that any one who wants to be something in Indian cricket, and has money to support his pursuit, can become one by circumventing rules and pocketing members.
The current mess is a big opportunity for BCCI to tighten and ensure that only those with cricketing credentials can even become a member in any of its affiliated associations.
25 April 2010 00:41
From an earlier article -
Source
straight point said...
the first sane voice making sense out of ipl rubble...
http://cricket.rediff.com/report/2010/apr/24/give-modi-a-chance-to-defend-himself-mallya.htm
24 April 2010 03:50
kanda said...
Indian fans will not get bogged down by this scandal, because we came out of the mother of all scandals in 2000.
Even Modi may survive this, but the worst thing happened to IPL is
credibility. For 3 years we went around the world saying we can create a sport product and run successfully without controversy. But now people look at us as in other walks of life like we cannot do anything without politics and corruption. Thats the biggest fallout.
Even if Modi survives, he will not be trusted as early and all his decisions will go through BCCI governing council which he will detest and eventually exit IPL. His numero uno position is not guarenteed anymore.
24 April 2010 04:48
Jonathan said...
SB, while I see the honour in your apology, I can't help but think that continuing to lump groups together can be a case of two wrongs, rather than redress. But who am I to disagree with your magnamity?
Don't be too pessimistic, though. I seriously doubt that too much of the problem is particularly Indian. There is plenty everywhere else. Of the good in the IPL, some will continue even if some hopes have been dashed. I suppose similar goes for the bad. Such is the way of the world.
24 April 2010 05:18
natbas said...
I am sorry that it had come to this: I think what happened was that Modi and co found a business opportunity in cricket and made use of it. The stories about match fixing etc., are par for the course.
Before we condemn Modi as the real villain, just one little thought: if Modi gets out of IPL., and tries to set up something similar like that in Athletics or Hockey, do you think Modi won't get support? I am sure he will make a profitable enterprise of it.
I think it is a terrible mistake to conflate sports with nationalism, probably that is where most of us went wrong.
IPL never made India proud, and it is not a humiliation for us that this has happened. There is corruption everywhere, but the problem with us is, we find excuses for it, and are good at covering it up. Even Tharoor has the gall to claim that he was honest, and his girl friend gives him a good conduct certificate!
Anyway I'll be happy to see 20-20 shut down, not because it is ugly, but because its structure is such that you can't really know who is tanking and who is not, I mean, when.
24 April 2010 05:20
Ticker Street said...
"What is transpiring may be simply a fallout"
What is transpiring is a result of
1, Kill the golden goose
2, Robbers asking each other - where is my share?
I will add more details later. Need to catch some work.
24 April 2010 10:30
OR said...
It is a great shame, but it just sounds like it is such a big till that loads of hands have dipped into it. Having actually the politicians with their hands in the sporting till is purely a reflection of just how big cricket is in India.
As soon as sport gets above a certain threshold of money, you can expect corruption to follow. So I guess attaching the nationalist pride thing is a big mistake.
There is a lovely scandal going down just now in the Australian NRL over salary cap rorting. Usual stuff and I am sure other clubs are going to come aground over it
Look at the EPL in England, Russian 'business men' taking over clubs, god knows where the money is coming from there.
Just one last thing, I heard an interview with Harmeet Singh from Deccan saying how playing in this sort of competition with international class players and being seen on TV makes you feel different about your career in cricket when you have only played in other domestic comps before. It makes you feel different deep down. He was talking about the feeling of achievement in his sports career. I found it quite a touching thing to say. So it is not all bad that has come out of this, it is just that we humans can't do anything without tainting it in some way.
24 April 2010 14:22
Vishy Anand plays a tepid opening game
FIDE World Chess Championship 2010, Sofia
Viswanathan Anand [2787 Rank 4] (India) vs Veselin Topalov [2805 Rank 2] (Bulgaria)
Score: 0 - 1
Colour: B - W
Volcanic chaos and instrangience of FIDE to postpone the tournament by a few days meant Vishy had to play after a tiring run across continents using various vehicles to meet Topalov who was waiting for him at his home in some comfort - so much like Karpov who was waiting for Anand in relaxed comfort while a younger Anand was rushing across Europe to play the tournament.
Without doubt the stress and distraction and tiredness showed in the play today. (I have put up the board for you to analyze)
Anand's play, as you can see was rather listless despite the quick initial 20 moves made by the players. The Qd2 alert was not responded to. The Knight's sacrific at 24, which experts are talking about, was a result of that seminal attack against Anand's King's Indian defence which was left unaddressed. The black knight, usually handy in this defence, was out of the field of action.
Vishy is sure to bounce back but Topalov is an equally aggressive player and before this match enjoyed a 11-10 career advantage over Anand.
Wishing him luck for today's game!
--------------------
My two bits from a modestly rated hobby player (I play chess at Gameknot - Play chess online) and am an admirer of Anand. :)
PS, I'll put up the boards as the games go on.
--------------------
Schedule:
25.04.2010 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)
Viswanathan Anand - Veselin Topalov
Game 3 27.04.2010 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)
Veselin Topalov - Viswanathan Anand
Game 4 28.04.2010 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)
Viswanathan Anand - Veselin Topalov
Game 5 30.04.2010 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)
Veselin Topalov - Viswanathan Anand
Game 6 01.05.2010 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)
Viswanathan Anand - Veselin Topalov
Game 7 03.05.2010 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)
Viswanathan Anand - Veselin Topalov
Game 8 04.05.2010 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)
Veselin Topalov - Viswanathan Anand
Game 9 06.05.2010 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)
Viswanathan Anand - Veselin Topalov
Game 10 07.05.2010 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)
Veselin Topalov - Viswanathan Anand
Game 11 09.05.2010 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)
Viswanathan Anand - Veselin Topalov
Game 12 11.05.2010 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)
Viswanathan Anand - Veselin Topalov Read More......
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Two Articles - Peter Roebuck and Vijay Mallya - and a few sensible comments
In today's The Hindu, Peter Roebuck writes an article titled Time for cricket to clean the stables, in which I find new encouragement and hope for IPL. Also, there is this article which appears on Rediff, in which, Vijay Mallya, owner of RCB, provides a constructive suggestion as well. Thanks SP for the link to the Rediff article.
And finally there are sensible comments appended to the previous article.
While there must be something smouldering underneath if there is smoke about in the air, in todays world smoke-machines are also distinct possibilities. Both are possible in this scenario, and simultaneously. On the one hand there could be irregularities in some franchises whereas the pressure on them could also be to quell voices of support they have been raising in favour of a particular protagonist.
What is being exposed each day must be discomfiting to the government in power in a wider context as well, and naturally follow-up action is expected to be undertaken to confirm or buttress taken positions.
The circumstantial evidence of corruption's existence is probably not an illusion, but the edifice around it could be selectively and/or creatively erected to ensure the bogey stands tall and front, behind which political settlement and realignment proceeds rapidly along the creases folded in by those who can crumple the fabric.
Friends have sought detachment of nationalism from IPL in their comments to the previosu blogpost - in a way they are correct and even Roebuck advocates the same - not only does it complicate matters but also distracts truly corrective instruments and methods. The sole problem in this is IPL was a declared domestic tournament of India and created and promoted as a product of India. For the purpose of forensic analysis the advocated dissociation is most necessary to retain the scientific quality of it. However, it can never be denied that the analysis being conducted upon is an Indian material and product.
More Crow
On here, I out of the duo posting on this blog, had adopted a particular line of support as regards IPL, that was born out of a keenness to see something useful happen in Indian cricket which could ultimately trickle down through the domestic structure in a worthwhile manner.
Support here had been given unstintingly, minor cudgels had been taken up on its behalf - the demarcation between true haters and informed prosecutors/instinctual soothsayers was blurred by us and frequently treated as one and the same.
What is transpiring may be simply a fallout of political maneuvering by different parties against their opponents and partners. It may end up simply the result of two vain roosters plucking each others feathers down. Or it may be yet another example of what politicians and businessmen are inevitably like - no matter which way, with what material God has created them and man has moulded them - the end result is the same.
What stands out are two things - 1) our unconditional surrender of support to the men who tried to erect a fake dream coupled with our apologies to those who truly had inkling of what was messy inside. I know, just like I clubbed them into one group back then, I must also not differentiate between the true IPL/India haters who simply lucked out big time and the informed. Our apologies are unconditional. Do what you may with it.
2) India and Indians are crap. Unlike many other peoples, they put self before nation. If someone is building a wonderful thing, ten others will line up to destroy it. Then, there are the rapacious vampires who are waiting to pounce and suck the lifeblood out of every virgin venture before it has even reached a stage when it is self-sustaining and usefully providing.
Education, position, power, status - all are meaningless when people behave and perform the way they have.
No point taking names - they are tumbling out anyway from all corners and heights. The unfortunate thing is they'll continue to rule the roost while some minnow gets smothered with all the dung they expelled out collectively.
IPL may exist as brave men are predicting - but it will always be a seriously traumatised effort.
It will not even matter if the conner camaal fixers are found to be ultimately spurious plants of opportunistic minds. The damage is irrevocable and irreversible.
IPL was not a bad concept, it was executed well, but greedy businessmen and politicians got together and screwed up the game for us.
One is thoroughly embarrassed for pinning hopes for Indian cricket's transformation on this concept's success and the support extended to it. That part of India which is supple enough to survive the worst will carry on and take this forward determinedly, but the damage caused to the concept and India's credibility is enormous.
The laugh is truly on us.
I thought of giving up following cricket and blogging about it as all the nasty things unfolded - I may do so eventually, but I wouldn't like to do it as a reactionary. The interest has certainly dimmed as far as watching cricket and writing about it is concerned. There is also plenty of political jousting involved and one isn't sure of the entire story yet.
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Industrial Action Against UJ!
Just a little while back, Uncle J rod tweeted that an industrial action has been initiated against him. You know he is now an author of proper books in addition to blogs and writing for Page 2, and Cricinfo decided to take cognizance of and act. So they picked up his book - yeah, this one, and reviewed it!
The writing industry woke up to him and began to rummage through his toolbox and had a good look at the works. Sample this
free of the shackles imposed by fussy sub-editors or cautionary lawyers. He gets quickly and robustly to the point, the page is liberally sprinkled with industrial language, and he sees no need to conform to the niceties and conventions of the embedded press corp
Or this
The Ashes of 2005 were a "dance-naked-in-the-street and pour-yoghurt-on-yourself event", an expression never used, surely, by EW Swanton.
There's more at Cricinfo
Even if they winded it up this way
It is far from perfect. There is too much padding at the start, the swearing does pall a little, and there appears to have been a complete absence of proofreading. But it would be a dull world if there were only one form of officially licensed cricket writing.
I'll look forward to reading Kimber back on home soil for 2010-11.
we know two things - 1) UJ will rise to the occasion for he can write and be remembered for it and 2) hopefully, in his evoution as an author he never gives up his subtle style. We know it is NOT all about the language.
We toasted this action by the industry upon UJ by raising a mug filled with our version of the chilled one. We should go find that book in the bookstores of our towns and cities actually. Or you can try on the net. CWB should guide you to the correct outlet.
► ► ► Flipkart in India◄ ◄ ◄.
► ► ► Amazon - UK ◄ ◄ ◄
► ► ► The Book Depository - Aus, NZ, RSA, SL, USA ◄ ◄ ◄ Read More......
Lock in Boria and Navjyot in the IPL Commie Box
I returned home a little earlier than usual today and found myself at a loose end. IPL is a little distance away and family members are busy with their interests in and out of the house. So I switched on a news channel - Times Now. I realized it has been a while I have tuned in to news for any length of time thanks to IPL and have not seen any cricket programme on the channels for weeks now.
When the channel came on, I found Boria Majumdar, Navjyot Sidhu and Ravi Shastri joshing with two Times Now officers in their studio. Things were animated so I stayed on to listen and watch.
There were times Sidhu and Majumdar were in agreement and it appeared that "agar Boria or Navjyot raazi to kya karega Shastri" but before long things became livid...perhaps Sidhu threw a few punches at Boria who hung back, took a deep breath and came back with such a punch that I actually saw the King of Comedy Show Judges, the Honorable Navjyot Sidhu's face actually darken to a deeper shade of red. Never seen that happen before in front of cameras with Sidhu.
Point made, Boria relapsed into his poker-faced repose while Sherry kept shirping away shill the shade-down ordered by the shreducer of the shrogram. Kazi Shastri leaned this way and that way and played every way and watched on with a smirk as Navjyot sputtered down.
I am now convinced that IPL commentary boxes need a change - put these chaps up into the box and tie them in. If not there, at least into the studio instead of weird denizens who turn up in the IPL telecast studios as if they have come to collect the Nobel Prize for Physics and are being introduced to Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses. For gawd's sake, Extraa Innings is a programe introducing a sports league!
One of the days I thought the shrill lady speaking was Anjum Chopra and turned to look at the TV in mild surprise, for these days she tries to speak out of the corner of her mouth like another common studio denizen, and you'll agree one certainly cannot be shrill and loud speaking that way, but found instead that it was actually a male cricket expert who just happens to have a voice abd manner of speaking like that. In between he loses control of his squeak and it becomes squeakier. They go to this extreme as well.
Boria-Navjyot show would be a great marriage to IPL's ethos. Make sure you have someone flexible like Shastri to be the beech ka bichu Kaazi to handle the fire, stoke it, douse it, and yet come out unscathed.
Friday, 16 April 2010
Rohit Sharma may now serve a fifth of crow to me
IPL 2010: Match 51: Deccan Chargers vs King's XI Punjab
Scorecard
Deccan Chargers are a little more secure about reaching the semi-finals, if not already in, thanks to Rohit Sharma's guidance. The other day Gambo had guided DD similarly. So we are back into IPL with both our teams in the reckoning all over again. DD and DC, both could be semi-finalists at the end of it all - from there it is anybody's game and Mumbai Indians might find the last gasp difficult after their initial exertions. Sachin has been propping them up with contributions from SS Tripathi, Keiron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu at different times. Zak and Malinga have bowled enough and they are not known to continue so in the final stages of the game.
Anyway, coming back to Rohit Sharma, we have been critical of this player for a combination of factors. His technique, we felt can be made to expose weak areas in it...and there are no efforts to stiffen up that soft underbelly, and to compound matters, his temperament tested at different times of stress has been revealed to us as faulty.
I am not going to jump over the moon just yet for this performance, or performance in IPL for than can be misleading with him - Rohit, to me, has plenty more to show and convince - till then we will allow him to serve to us a helping of humble crow. Only a fifth portion mind you - it is up to him to perform well in T20 WC, ODIs and in tests as and when the opportunity comes along before we can be served the remaining four-fifths of the dish. We might enjoy the whole dish yet at the hands of a person we once called Mumbai Mamba in our enthusiasm, but don't hold your breath.
Meanwhile, Mahela Jayawerdene came within a shot of scoring his second IPL hundred of the season. Class player, who like Sachin and a few others, debunks the canard that there isn't any cricket in T20 cricket.
A good friend of mine, seeing the swing RP Singh extracted initially and factoring in high altitude, bouncy wicket and thin air of Dharmasala, deduced that DC were in for the chop since this was going to be Pathan's day. For the second time on the trot, my good friend was disappointed with his predictions - Gambo having upset him earlier. Maybe he was just setting the table for us to be served at the hands of his former Mumbaimate.
Viru Wisden - Jai Ho! Double Jai Ho!
I gave up two popular cricket forums purely because of Virender Sehwag. What was evident to anybody who likes cricket wasn't evident to many of the posters there. Inevitably, the only yardstick of excellence employed by such is nationality. Now Viru and I being fellow Indians was mere coincidence, but discussions were made to gravitate around, and stay rivetted to, that point or worse, no matter how much you tried to bring forward the joyfulness...the fantastic abandon...of Sehwag's cricket.
Instead of modern day cricket watchers being thankful that they didn't live and die in a cricketing desert that lacked the likes of Viv Richards, this oasis of innocent riotousness, this fount of majestic ideas of cricketing execution, this zen master, in an otherwise predictable and ageing all-round period of cricketing excellence was called everything from butcher to barbarian on these forums.
In that sense, and as a result, it means less to me that Wisden or any English daily recognizes Viru for the second time in a row, as compared to how much it might mean to Viru himself, or to those who see cricket from prisms of English brands and/or cataractous refractive indicies. Why only the English, there have been more detractors of Viru tramping outside classical England than those buried inside it.
Today we might be bracketed..tagged...labelled...in the world of internet publishing, for that is the way of internet worlds and we are dabbling in it, but we haven't forgotten that essentially we did and still belong to cricket watching per se and not merely of nationalities and bias. Therefore, we completely understand Wisden's selection of Virender Sehwag for the second year running as its 'Leading Cricketer in the World' and also understand those who are now wheeling and coming round to actually appreciate what lies beneath the superficiality of bias. We understand, despite our adherence to views evolved through circumstance, reading and realization, which call for greater balance in narration of cricket's history as it is made, that Wisden at least has taken a small lead in this matter. The rest will follow...in fact they are already following - from Slogwag to Sehwag has been a journey. Perhaps a needless one, but there's a charm in realization I guess.
Virender Sehwag stands surrounded by green and paints childhood again and again into our sclerosed lives with his cricket bat, yet it is his ruthlessness which has caught the eye of converts and many admirers alike. ( I might have added 'yet' into the previous sentence at another appropriate point but that's childish now. It matters little now who weighs Sehwag as what and how...we have been fortunate to watch and that's enough for us. ) What is often missed is the intensity of a genius at work - who instinctively brings precise physical and mathematical science and the grace of art and style together.
He is forever seeking the impossibles - those infinitesimal angles of variation to create something new out of the mundane short ball recoiling up to his throat from the off side at some 150Ks per hour. He could give that ball a new personality, expose a new soft side to such a ball that men have rarely observed or attempted to get at. If you belive it is a butcher's knife heavy at work when you see this, then the good lawd should help ya.
Virender Sehwag was honored with the Padma Shri this year. This too, in his case, has come well...giving him ample opportunity to earn it, without a trace of doubt or controversy.
We'd like to congratulate Virender Sehwag, albeit belatedly, for being a debut Padma honoree and a Wisden elect once again.
I must dig out a 2008 ode to Sehwag written by Gaurav Sethi of Naked Cricket, which I have included in the graphic above, but let's read it anyway for he is able to capture a bit of Jatman rather nicely.
How do you solve a brand like Viru?
How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
How do you find a word that means Viru?
A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown!
Many a thing you know you'd like to tell him
Many a thing he ought to understand
But how do you make him stay
And listen to all you say
How do you keep a wave upon the sand
Oh, how do you solve a brand like Viru?
How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?
------------
More on the topic
1) Wisden 2009: Scyld Berry
2) Wisden 2008: Ravi Shastri
3) Timesonline: Christopher Martin-Jenkins
4) Timesonline again
5) The Hindu: Padma Awards 2010
6) The Hindu: On the Wisden award.
7) Gaurav Sethi: Naked Cricket Read More......
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Kiran Pollwati
...is currently sashaying down BCC!'s front page.
Also, they have a show running Housefull - Kochi Kochi Hota Hai.
[ The free matinee show for 19% visitors courtesy BCC! - Bored Cricket Crazy Indians on a first-come-first-issue basis ]
Lights of Chennaights
The Kalaikuriya, MSD's Laal Salaam to Chennai -
MS Dhoni - Awards Celebrations: Match 48 @ You Tube - 3.19 onwards to 3.45 is where the punchline is.
Sorry Yuvi but you are not supposed to be in the picture. However, I had no other with me depicting the bikerz blood in Dhoni.
Ignore Yuvi as just a passenger here...Beware Paatis and Maamis!
[CREDITS: A couple of images used in the background were found on Google Search and are from Vinod VV's Posterous from the night photography section. One of the images is from the archives of Cricinfo.com ]
Transparency
In theater, I would, as director, playwright, critic, lover or audience, like to think that when a narcissistic character is going down in flames on stage before me, whether his role requires him to do so or not, he, in his mind, is imagining his blazing downfall as a glorious testament to himself...his being as he sees it. There is greater drama in such assumptions, for it is such illusions that open new paths to expand the story along different directions - maybe even to a memorable saga - far above the inevitable ruination which will stare at the actor and us from the stage below. Illusions postpone.
Opacity forever floats above a layer of transparency - either as an applied rayban of manipulation or as a curtain in the uncomprehending eye. To expose transparency which hides from itself, scoops must wrench out those layers of opacity. When two, or three, or four, or more narcissists come together on stage, the audience must settle back secure in the knowledge that transparency will eventually rise from the shards of their respective delusions...
We insisted always on a more direct route - to begin with transparency as opposed to travelling the convoluted route down to it. We insisted that that be the only layer we have and carry with us. We warned...at different times in the period...that only opacity could besmirch the clarity driving us forward till now.
Perhaps we lack enough drama in our mind. Perhaps we lack colour. Perhaps a journey for us is just a trek from a point to another point unlike the psychadelic criss-crossing adventures of jet-riding knights. Perhaps our vision is too weak to tolerate dark goggles...When games must be played on murky nights under gaseous glare. We like to sight the ball clearly, and shades do the opposite. Our worry has always been that saboteurs and dacoits might slip under cover of expensive opaqueness to seize and pillage an honest idea.
The only anxiety while we wait for the inevitable is that all the tramplings around by self-appointed crusaders will leave the ground unfit for play. A clear, crisp and transparent morning of play might then go waste.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Bhai Viru, Come let's sing a Ragni for you and DD
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Mumbai ke chatri ke neeche chalaa jaa, Kyon bheeje Kotle mein khada khada
Main besti karan ke liya naa keh raha....besti karna tha tho kuriyer se gyaraah set A-1 chudiyaan bhijwa deta tum sab saandon ke liye...nah...mohabbat hai is liye kehtein hai Mumbai ki chatrri mein bhaaj le..kam se kam tanne sabr se kirkit khelna sikha denge weh.
Poor captaincy from Gambhir - strange bowling changes - shyte running and fielding again and absolutely no coherent batting plan.
Sub zero commitment from DD players - their enthusiasm to play challengingly was as difficult to detect as it is to extract camel's pi$$ after a week in the desert. It has been that way for quite a while with them in this IPL.
I think the lalaas must be asked instead to sit around the pool sip chilled colas and listen to jokes and Ragnis over plates of desi ghee ka choorma. At least that will be more fun than watching them attempt to play cricket.
But we continue to support our ghaas-phoos heroes, we don't desert them as easily as they desert their supporters and their home team's cause.
IPL 2010: Match 47: MI vs DD
Scorecard Read More......
Friday, 9 April 2010
Essex players in match fixing scandal in English County Cricket
Yesterday when a titterer was tweeting about this, one thought the man was poking twisted fun. But it is true after all as he insisted.
English cricket rocked by 'spot-fixing' allegations at Essex
A few bad eggs ruin the basket - many countries have found that out the hard way and have put in corrective measures - England chose to look this way and that and point fingers despite its Chris Lewises of the past, and English fans and reporters have never failed to adopt the customary positions they have in the past.
In fact, this newspaper, in an article on match-fixing in English County Cricket, just cannot help but take a dig at IPL, and without any facts presented to back up!
Take a look - Rumours abound about 'spot-fixing' at the Indian Premier League and it was confirmed there had been approaches to players during last year's World Twenty20 competition in England, leading to Lord Condon warning at ICC board meetings last summer that cricket was facing its gravest threat since the bad old days of the late nineties and the disgrace of the late South Africa skipper Hansie Cronje.
In one careless breath, by mixing up their own creations with known facts, they have sought to create an aura of legitimacy to their "rumours abound about..."
Careless...very careless indeed. Unprofessional reporting/writing indeed! If they have facts, they should present it instead - let it be investigated, and we'll also join in in the shredding gala if something is shown to be wrong in IPL.
The newspaper should focus on reporting facts, and the fact is a couple of Essex players are being investigated for match fixing in English County cricket. And possibly the ICC T20 WC of 2009 which was held in England, as the newspaper suggests beneath the smokescreen of IPL.
Not that England hasn't participated in dealing with the problem, but it is just that men around those who deal with such things - the media, fans, cricketers, commentators, officials, ex-cricketers - so easily shrug off their own smelly ones and instead make it appear that it is only others who do it. It's an age old problem, this kind of biased recording of history.
And, I didn't hear Tim May, the all-seeing, all-powerful, totally opinionated, omnipotent FICAlithic union boss, prophesizing about match-fixing in English County Cricket as he did about IPL - I wonder why?
Wasn't his security updater accurate to the point? Or is it simply that union B's also have their specific instructions?
Mumbai celebrating "Make Cheekamunks Happy Day" today
IPL 2010: Match 41: Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab
Scorecard
At this rate Chawla will be playing the next test match India participates in.
Sachin's wicket is portentous - About five years ago Chawla took Tendulkar's wicket in the 2005 Challengers and he played a test match against the visiting Englishmen at Mohali in March 2006.
We know of course what happened subsequently.
Looks like the purple after the slap will remain on Mishra's person after all! How bruising, when it could have been How Bruising!
Thanks Mumbai for making Cheekamunks drool tonight.
But it does give $750,000 opportunity to have a flutter.
Thursday, 8 April 2010
I do not envy SJs anymore
Somewhere along the road since, my envy of cricket journalists' job evaporated. Before one clambered aboard cricket forums and blogging, sports journalism sounded like one of the cushiest jobs of all. I mean if you could call it a "job" in the first place - that's how one saw it. All you had to do is watch the game you liked and describe what you saw, experienced. Didn't we do it all the time? Watching our favorite sport on TV (sometimes live) and discussing with our friends? On top of it, you'd be paid for the same instead of spending on coke and chips to go along!
I guess SJism isn't like that. I realize now that it requires a special energy to overcome the ennui and repetitiveness that can grip when sports must dominate all and the chatter that goes along with it. I doubt if mere dollars can keep that flame going - finding new syntaxes to tell a story narrated a few days ago to keep a crisp newness about it. To make it stand above the morass of opinion which internet has made available to all.
I guess the mind of a sports journalist must be moulded more finely than the bend in a sports hobbyist's. It must relish having to watch sports day after day and night, relish reading as much as one can about sports, speak to sportspeople over and over again and find something new, something inspiring, find a story which hasn't been told before or find a way to tell a story like it has never been told before.
No...that isn't something I am capable of. I realize I am simply a specatator with a keyboard. Sports journalist I am not, I cannot be, and do not aspire to be. I doubt if I'd be able to watch a game soon after I watched another game, over and over again despite being paid for doing so. No...I cannot watch cricket in the evening, football in the night, gymnastics early morning, hockey at dawn and still be fresh to write about a Lord's test come afternoon.
I promise I shall no longer be unduly harsh with sports journalists who are gamely going about doing their job.
Sunday, 4 April 2010
Sir Alec Bedser ( 4 July 1918 - 4 April 2010 )
Former England fast bowler Sir Alec Bedser has died at the age of 91 on the evening of 4th April 2010.
Wisden said of him in 1961
He was still the leading wicket taker in Test cricket in 1961.
The Surrey and English great made his debut for England against the touring Indians of 1946 at Lord's and immediately made an impact with seven first innings wickets. He reduced the visitors quickly and only Rusi Modi and AH Kardar's resistance helped undivided India reach 200. Pretty soon England too were 4 wickets down for 70 runs but Hardstaff and Gibbs rescued England and took their team to a strong position. In the second innings, Bedser plucked out four wickets to snuff out any hopes of an Indian revival. On debut, he thus ended up capturing 11 wickets in the match won by England.
The Mail reports that the gung-ho press of that time contacted Bedser's mother following his remarkable debut to garner her first impressions, and her response was such
Well, isn’t that what he’s supposed to do as a bowler?
In that series of three matches (the third abandoned due to rain, so effectively two complete Test matches only), Alec Bedser was one of the major reasons for England's 1-0 series victory, taking 24 Indian wickets in all in his debut series. He would go on to hound India and others many more times with his accurate bowling in the period he played for England and Surrey.
India was said to have been 'defeated by Alec Bedser' on that 1946 tour by those who reported on that series.
Raju Bharatan once wrote in The Hindu
Cardus, writes in Wally Hammond's obituary in the 1966 edition of Wisden
Alec Bedser is said to have been a 'thinking bowler' - he had what we now like to call 'bowling nous'.
Alec Bedser was also playing in the 1950 Lord's Test which West Indies won - their first in England. Ramachandra Guha, the historian with a cricketing bend, recalls Bedser's observations to us in an article titled "Where have all the bowlers gone?" published in The Hindu.
I will quote the relevant passage from that article
As Alec Bedser recalled, through this Lord's Test, the West Indies supporters "gathered in a dark, happy throng on the Mound, by the sightscreen at the Nursery end. Every now and then the play would be punctuated by a burst of song". Luckily for posterity, a friend of the Bedsers' was at hand to record snatches of what was sung. The main verse of the calypso ran:
This match will stir our memory,
I hope it will be noted in history,
All through our bowling was superfine,
With Ramadhin and Valentine... .
West Indies invade England.
The variations on the theme were spontaneous, and innovative. When Godfrey Evans, attempting a big hit, finished on the ground, they sang:
Try again, Mister Evans,
You can't knock it to the heavens...
You're trying hard to please,
But get off your knees.
And when the England captain hit a rare boundary, they said:
That was a very good shot,
But done it you should not!
After the West Indies had won, wrote Alec Bedser, "their followers, chanting calypsos, strumming guitars and banging dustbin lids, swarmed on the field and began triumphant tribal dances". They then tried to mob their players, but the police prevented them. No matter: "led by a guitar-strumming lanky Negro, the singing parties had one more march round the boundary and then swung into St. John's Wood Road, singing, "West Indies invade England"'.
Thirteen years later, another band of Caribbean cricketers successfully invaded England.
Recalling from the Ashes series of 1946-47, Ashley Mallett tells us that 'a Bradman duck was even bigger news than Compton's or Morris's efforts'. Compton had scored a century in each innings of that Adelaide test and Arthur Morris had emulated it. Yet what captured the imagination was Bradman's duck and Bedser's ball which created that. Mallett recounts
Bedser said of that ball:
Bradman stopped to tell young Bedser how good a ball it had been before he wended his way back to the pavilion. later Bradman said that it was "the best ball I've ever faced to get me out."
Playing against Surrey next year, Bradman was bowled by a similar ball by Bedser after scoring 146 runs. He recalled - "a glorious ball which pitched leg stump and hit the off - the same type of ball as that with which he bowled me for 0 in Adelaide in 1947."
Alec Bedser's speciality was to bowl a fastish leg-break, which most, then, referred to as "Alec's leg cutter". However, 'he was never described as a leg-spinner', wrote Mallett. Today, pace bowlers prefer to use the slower version of this cutter.
Bill O'Reilly was said to have mused aloud about a 1929 SCG Test match while watching a cricket match there in more recent times - 'Poor Maurice Tate, whom I rate alongside Alec Bedser as the greatest medium pacers, admitted late in his career that he had no answer to the batting genius of Bradman'.
Bob Simpson narrates Alec Bedser influence on his own coaching role in the game
Alec was tremendous to me. In 1954-55 with Hutton's side Bedser was out of favour. Whenever in Sydney, when I was 12th man for New South Wales, Alec would come to the dressing room and say, "C'mon young Simpson, come to the nets and I'll bowl you up a few." The thing that impressed me about Alec was his huge size, the most penetrating bluest of blue eyes and huge hands. He kept smashing me on the leg with his big off cutters, but it was a terrific experience facing him. In a return match with MCC, I got 98 for New South Wales.
Later when my career was over and I was Australian coach, Alec would often see me and offer advice on some of our pace bowlers. He was always spot on with advice. Alec Bedser was a shrwed cricketing brain, identifying talent well and knows how a problem can be rectified.
Bedser, we know as a result, could bowl an off-cutter as skillfully as he could the leg cutter. The basic attributes required for a medium pacer is to have the ability to move the ball both ways with great control. Alec Bedser had that and alongside was also an astute cricketer.
Mallett briefly expands upon the "out of favour with Hutton's side of 1954-55"
Alec Bedser went on to hold many posts in cricket after his playing days were over. Australian cricket broadcaster and administrator, Barry Gibbs, wrote in Reminiscences from the Old Gabba about the Duke of Norfolk's visit to Brisbane in 1962 and the "nervousness" he had to feel on that account and how thankful he was to have Alec Bedser as a counterpart to deal with.
Alec Bedser, the former England bowling great, is the assistant manager. Alec knows his way around the cricket grounds of Australia and is able to steer the Duke in the right direction, having toured here as a player on three previous occasions.
Not that His Grace, a man of tremendous influence, is any slouch at organisational matters. Among the myriad of other duties back home, he has responsibility of arranging the major ceremonial occassions involving the British Royal Family.
I must confess to being a little daunted at the prospect of dealing directly with such high-ranking nobleman...
...
I am also aware, without being unkind to the Duke, that most of my contact with our visitors will be with his assistant, Alec Bedser.
Ric Sissons, in his thesis on the professional cricketer, tells us that Alec Bedser joined the Surrey staff for the princely sum of '₤2 per week in summer only' and returned to play after war service in the RAF and went on 'to become England's principal seam bowler'. He quotes Errol Holmes, the amateur captain of Surrey, remarking on Bedser in his report to the Committee
slightly swollen headed...firm handling is essential.
By 1955, Alec Bedser had become the professionals' representative arguing for 'better pay deal'.
In 1956, the Committee rejected the Bedser-McIntyre talent money proposal on the grounds that it was vital 'to distinguish the great and successful player'. Jim Laker, they noted, opposed the idea of talent money based on appearances. So writes Sissons. The best paid English pro could expect some fame to be included but not much fortune, he tells us about the 50s decade in English professional cricket.
India's own social transformation of its domestic cricketers was to happen very much later - in fact it is underway - than when Sir Alec Bedser wrote about the risks involved with cricket as a career in his 1961 Wisden article. He was speaking mainly about English professional cricketers who lacked the cushion of good pay and education, but is applicable to all aspiring cricketers around the world even today. He wrote
If I had my life over again, I would definitely choose cricket as a career.
It is something I always wanted to do and my judgment may be swayed a little by the fact that it can be said that I tasted success. I would take one precaution: I would learn a trade before going into the profession as a buffer against failure.
For my part, the risk -- and it was a risk at the time -- was worth it, but it may be the reason why fewer people are taking up cricket professionally these days. The rewards are not very great and, with advanced education and highest wages, there are safer and definitely more attractive prospects for the average youngster outside the game. No one knows whether or not he is going to reach the top. Naturally we all try, but I have seen many who have failed and their whole lives have been affected.
These thoughts remain true to this day in most cricket playing nations. Cricket has been one of the more underpaid of popular sports for a long time.
And finally, his reflections written down in Wisden about what excited and relaxed him most
I got tremendous pleasure out of all the cricket I played, whether for county or country, but the games I enjoyed most were the Tests between England and Australia, for these provided the greatest thrill.
Meetings with Australia produce more tension than those with any other country. That, no doubt, is because Australia and England were the first international opponents.
I shall never forget the first Test I played in at Melbourne. The 80,000 crowd were making a terrific din as I walked back to bowl the first ball of the match. As I turned to commence my run-up you could have heard a pin drop, but immediately after the ball had been played there came another terrific roar. I found this most inspiring. Another thrill was on the same ground in 1951 when England beat Australia for the first time since the war.
Naturally I got a big kick out of my first Test appearance, against India in 1946 --especially as I took eleven wickets in the match.
...
The modern tendency, probably for financial reasons, seems to be to shorten tours, but I feel that air-travel has made these trips more tiring. I found train journeys more relaxing between games.
Naturally, the encounters with Australia attracted him most.
Cricinfo career profile
Lord Kitchener's Calypso on Alec Bedser
Read More......
Daredevils bust RCB
IPL 2010: Match 35: Delhi Daredevils vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
Scorecard
After Collingwood had set up the target with assistance from Sehwag and Warner, the Daredevils combined in the field to strangle the RCB batting juggernaut.
Maharoof and Mishra began well and kept it tight. The advent of Vettori eased the pressure initially and KP had a go at him. However, the Vet came back to bowl a good over at a crucial time.
Rajat Bhatia and Sangwan made sure the lid was kept on tight upon a RCB line-up which, as one tongue-in-cheek Tweet went "was designed ro chase 1000 runs".
Virat Kohli appears to regress whenever he joins up with RCB. Check his playing history, his batting woes begin and end at Bengaluru. For Delhi he did well in Ranji, he began to do well for India in ODIs after the Bengaluru influence began to wane, being constantly on the road with the team last season, and now it's back - Virat Kohli's royal challenge of living in and excelling from Bengaluru.
The fielding was brilliant and at times it was pretty ordinary. Luckily the better efforts prevailed. Dave Warner had a brilliant catching match yet again. Watch out for this dynamo in times to come.
In the end, the match was won long before it was won.
Amit Mishra with his testing spell and three wickets went up to be the Purple Cap holder for the time being. We'll leave it to Cheeka and his fellow selectors to explain preference of Chawla over Mishra.
One over at the hands of a desperate Taylor marred Mishra's otherwise splendid bowling analysiswise, but it must be remembered that he bowled at the start of the innings and at the end and was economical and penetrative in those three overs. Despite that must-hit-out effort by Taylor, Mishra reads as follows
Player - O M R W Eco
A Mishra 4 0 32 3 8.00
On the same day, in the other match, Chawla, the selected India T20 roller, recorded such figures as below for the second consecutive match
Player - - O M R W Eco
PP Chawla 2 0 26 0 13.00
Mishra bowled proper leggies and googlies mixed with imaginative changes...especially the faster skidding deliveries which kept low from around the wicket.
The top three in the Purple Cap stakes reads like this now
Player Mat Overs Mdns Runs Wkts BBI Ave Econ SR 4 5
A Mishra 9 34.0 0 236 14 3/25 16.85 6.94 14.5 0 0
(Delhi Daredevils)
PP Ojha 8 31.0 0 242 12 3/26 20.16 7.80 15.5 0 0
(Deccan Chargers)
M Muralitharan 9 36.0 0 249 12 3/16 20.75 6.91 18.0 0 0
(Chennai Super Kings)
The selected Indian team for T20 WC increasingly looks like a surprise ready to be sprung on us.
Delhi owe it to Collingwood
IPL 2010: Match 35: Delhi Daredevils vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
Scorecard
To remain competitive in their encounter with RCB.
Gambhir won the toss and chose to bat, but all that advantage was frittered away by the lackadaisical approach of Sehwag to his role in the team and Gambhir's to the run he was taking.
Dave Warner kept up the purpose for a while but he too fell. Collingwood, since then, has taken charge and responsibility for this innings.
Whether Delhi wins or loses, Collingwood has certainly given Daredevils a chance.
RCB has a strong batting line-up capable of chasing down many runs. Delhi will have to bowl well if they want to keep them below 184. Vettori and Mishra have their task cut out.
A brief but nice introduction to Sonny Ramadhin
Trinidad and Tobago Guradian in their 'Legends of West Indies Cricket' series have given us an informative sketch of Sonny Ramadhin, 'The Original Doosra' as the author, Nasser Khan, chooses to call him.
One of the most famous sporting “finds” of all time was Sonny Ramadhin, who along with Alf Valentine of Jamaica, brought England to their cricketing knees in June 1950 at the famous Lord’s cricket ground. This significant victory heralded a new era, the coming of age of West Indies cricket, as no one had expected us to so soundly trounce our British colonists in their own back yard. Sonny Ramadhin, “Ram,” is the greatest spin bowler ever to be produced by Trinidad and Tobago, and along with that pal of his, Valentine, is immortally heralded in at least three calypsoes recorded around that time: Victory Test Match/Cricket Lovely Cricket by Lord Beginner (“With those little pals of mine, Ramadhin and Valentine”); Ramadhin on the Ball by King Radio (“We want Ramadhin on the ball”); Cricket Calypso by Lord Kitchener (“Ramadhin, you deserve a title, Sir Ramadhin, followed by a medal”).
Read the rest of the article at Trinidad and Tobago Guardian.
Being calypsoed once meant you had arrived in the minds of the well-informed and hard to please WI cricket fans. Ramadhin, the article says, was calypsoed thrice.
Lord Beginner: Victory Calypso - Cricket Lovely Cricket
Victory Test Match - by Lord Beginner 1950
Victory Test Match (aka Cricket Lovely Cricket)
by Lord Beginner 1950
Cricket lovely Cricket,
At Lord's where I saw it;
Cricket lovely Cricket,
At Lord's where I saw it;
Yardley tried his best
Goddard won the test.
They gave the crowd plenty fun;
The Second Test and West Indies won.
Chorus:
With those little pals of mine
Ramadhin and Valentine.
The King was there well attire,
So they started with Rae and Stollmeyer;
Stolly was hitting balls round the boundary;
But Wardle stopped him at twenty.
Rae had confidence,
So he put up a strong defence;
He saw the King was waiting to see,
So he gave him a century.
Chorus:
With those little pals of mine
Ramadhin and Valentine.
West Indies first inning total
Was three-twenty-six just as usual
When Bedser bowled Christiani
The whole thing collapsed quite easy;
England then went on,
And made one-hundred and
fifty-one
West Indies then had two-twenty lead
Goddard said, "That is nice indeed."
Chorus:
With those little pals of mine
Ramadhin and Valentine.
Yardley wasn't broken-hearted
When the second innings started;
Jenkins was like a target
Getting the first five into his basket.
But - Gomez broke him down,
While Walcott licked them around;
He was not out for one sixty-eight,
Leaving Yardley to contemplate.
Chorus:
The bowling was superfine
Ramadhin and Valentine.
West Indies was feeling homely,
Their audience had them happy.
When Washbrook's century had ended,
West Indies voices all blended.
Hats went in the air.
People shout and jump without fear;
So at Lord's was the scenery
It bound to go down in history.
Chorus:
After all was said and done
Second Test and West Indies won!
-- WIPA website
Mahela's Class
I am caught in many minds about how to start this post. For some reason, despite the pleasant after effects of having watched a graceful century in T20 cricket, my mind keeps inching back to those people who are, like Romans of yore, indulging in T20 first followed by pushing their fingers down their throats to puke out venom and complaint, and start all over again.
Most of the big innings one has seen in this edition's IPL have been classy. You could take them around to any category of cricket and still find something to applaud - Mahela, Vijay,Tendulkar, Sehwag, Ojha, Gambhir (before he was injured) and so on...there has been an element of class to go along with innovation.
If you have an open mind, you will find the innings you are looking for and all those elements which you so, incorrectly, pine for in T20.
But let us leave tiresome complainers for good now and relish the innings played by Mahela today.
Chasing 200 is never easy, and even though KKR assisted with poor fielding and bowling, there was a cultured sureness about Jayawerdene's innings.
As a result, Gayle's blitz was wasted and KXiP undid sloppy KKRs.
Sangakkara and Yuvraj played perfect complimentary hands to Mahela J.
The Sri Lankans in IPL are coming up with useful performances. Watch out for them too in ICC T20 WC.
Gayle Broadsides Bopara
IPL 2010: KKR v KXiP: Match 34 at Eden Gardens
Scorecard
In a mini re-enactment of Yuvraj's savagery of Stuart Broad, Chris Gayle took Ravi Boapara out of Eden Garden for four consecutive sixes into a nearby construction site, in an over which eventually cost the nervous bowler 33 runs.
One can safely say that Gayle is burying bottom dwellers, KXiP, into distant concrete dumps. Chawla has been despatched with Bopara.
Chawla came in after the 10th over...after Romesh Powar, the veteran bowler, had regained some control over the proceedings.
And then the ball roller was promptly sent packing. The other day Piyush Chawla registered 2-0-22-0 against RCB. Today he's bettering that already - 2-0-26-0. This boy has everything to gain and nothing to lose from hereon - with his opportunity in the T20 WC, just a couple of good overs should see him back in the all-round India scheme of things.
Do people get conned by performances in county circuit? Shaun Udal also took plenty wickets there but everybody is not a Warney to replicate success in test matches and other international formats.
Gayle come good today..into his own self. And about time too.
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Now Pragyan Ojha drilling it to Cheeka
IPL 2010: Match 33: Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians
Scorecard
In its infinite wisdom the selection committee headed by HH Chairman of Selectors, Krishnamachari Cheeka Srikkanth, has chosen Piyush Chawla ahead of Mishra and Pragyan Ojha.
Dougie Bollinger reinforced the fact that restriction with wicket-taking ability is paramount in reining in a runaway game. And HH Cheeka is CSK honcho for whom Dougie plays! Cheeka should have applied half the brains for India selexction as he might have for selecting personnel to be on the CSK strength. I'm sorry, but Chawla doesn't cut it for me. But that's just my opinion and I could be 180° wrong. The inspiration which touched the selectors forgot to bless me.
Pragyan Ojha is bowling quite beautifully today in the DC vs Mumbai Indians game.
Top three bowlers of IPL 2010 as before the conclusion of Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians match on 03 April, 2010 - Statsguru
M Muralitharan 9 36.0 0 249 12 3/16 20.75 6.91 18.0 0 0
(Chennai Super Kings)
A Mishra 8 30.0 0 204 11 3/25 18.54 6.80 16.3 0 0
(Delhi Daredevils)
PP Ojha 8* 29.0 0 223 11 2/7 20.27 7.68 15.8 0 0
PP Chawla is 32nd on that list with
Player Mat Overs Mdns Runs Wkts BBI Ave Econ SR 4 5
PP Chawla 8 27.0 0 222 5 1/20 44.40 8.22 32.4 0 0
Has India struck a deal with other nations to send in a weaker bowling team?
Chawla isn't the prime Indian spinner for ANY format of the game and only he can change that view. Till now there isn't any sign of it. I mean he's not even as good as Jakati. And in this tournament, when the top three bowlers are spinners - an offie, a leggie and an orthdox left arm slowie, PP Chawla's performance is before you. KXiP are the bottom dwellers aren't they?
India Team for ICC Twenty20 World Cup
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain and Wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag (Vice Captain), Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Piyush Chawla, Dinesh Karthik, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Rohit Sharma
With his three wickets in the ongoing match, Pragyan Ojha will leapfrog two spaces up to TOP...the Purple Cap contender ( in fact two contenders for Mishra not out of it), will NOT be playing the T20 WC for India thanks to Cheeka's selection committee!
UPDATE After end of Pragyan Ojha's spell - Purple Cap leaderboard
Player Mat Overs Mdns Runs Wkts BBI Ave Econ SR 4 5
PP Ojha 8* 30.4 0 234 12 3/18 19.50 7.63 15.3 0 0
(Deccan Chargers)
M Muralitharan 9 36.0 0 249 12 3/16 20.75 6.91 18.0 0 0
(Chennai Super Kings)
A Mishra 8 30.0 0 204 11 3/25 18.54 6.80 16.3 0 0
(Delhi Daredevils)
