Shreevats Goswami has begun in searingly elegant fashion to Delhi's gloom.
Read all about it at The Ranji Trophy Chronicles in the article titled Shreevats Goswami bats the season in stylishly
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Ranji Trophy 2010 - 11 begins in Shreevats Goswami style
Worth a listen
We're not going overboard just yet, but we notice the marginally better and more detailed coverage Cricinfo is giving to India Domestic. They have some views expressed by their panelists upon Ranji Trophy.
We have been firm about revival and reshaping Ranji Trophy and keeping it as the bedrock of Indian cricket. We blog often upon the theme and even have an independent blog upon it. (Though I admit it is seasonal and fitful)
We have congratulated the current selectors for keeping an unbiased/less-biased eye on Ranji performers and have often stated that Pujara's success would be crucial...if not critical...in altering the tide forcing against Ranji Trophy. Now that he has begun well, the spotlight's coming back again on Ranji. Add a few others like Vijay and those waiting in the wings and we shall have a fine harvest of performers from the domestic circuit.
I agree with some of the points VB Chandrasekhar is making as regards reshaping Ranji.
Five days is welcome. VB wants a smaller group of teams...an extra tier could be an answer. The Elite group could also be pared down, but the danger here is one may miss quality players stuck in weak teams. We agree Ranji has to be a deeply interrogative tournament which examines players and selects out the true diamonds.
Also, anything to bring back spetator interest to Ranji.
I will not be silly and imagine all Ranji matches would see full houses, but if people return to radio commentary, some TV viewing and team loyalty, then it's great.
As regards shifting Ranji to moffusil centes, we had suggested a case for shifting some short touraments of LO variety to such centers before. It may work in some cases, as Chopra pointed out in the case of the Finals at Mysore, but my preference is that Ranji Trophy should be played on international class pitches and upon grounds with good facilities. Say rain...say training...we need coverage for those things too.
Also, playing on quality pitches, at quality centres develops a mindset of readiness in the player for internationl cricket. At least I imagine so but the analysts may know better.
There will always be a mix of good centres and medium centres, and that lends variety to player's experience. Especially if he were a batsman. But what about a bowler? Can poor pitches - too flat or too messy - give a correct picture of a bowler?
India's need is good bowlers - pace and spin - and at least balanced pitches so every aspect of the game is tested in Ranji. We need good pitches for that and I am not sure if smaller centres will be able to maintain such.
The interview is worth a listen to those interested in Indian cricket.
Sehwag is a free-wheeling nut
The man speaks as crisply as he bats. No complications. Now, he has gone and called in favour of UDRS, perhaps also knowing that his seniors are not welcoming of it, and neither his own board.
But did the Najafgarh Jat ever baulk from telling it like it is? Whether to mates, coach, or board?
We welcome this debate in the Indian camp.
T20 Cricket can look brutal
If you caught the earlier match between Australia and Sri Lanka, watching Dilshan play ( and even Sangakkara today ) the only thought which came to one's mind was the ruthless anhilation of Australia.
Earlier, when Lasith Malinga and Perera (the Indian specialist) were tying up the Australian innings, the word which sprang to one's mind was 'helplessness'.
While T20 is no measure or indicator of perfomances in Tests ( not even in ODIs as Saffers showed later against Pakistan ), it must say something about the spirit of things. But then Ozzies must all be focussed on Tests and regaining the Ashes after a potentially expensive advertisement they splashed across Big Ben. (Not Sulieman Benn but the British landmark)
Let's see, Clarke, Watson and possibly White, could be involved in the Ozzie-Pommie scrum.
On a similar plane of thought, wonder what the West Indian fans were thinking as they saw the dominant Lankans hand it out to the Ozzies? After all, West Indies is next in the line for Lanka. I hope their PASSION was not shaken.
Razzaq with the licks to South Africa
I joined this match quite late, not knowing which channelwas showing it. Thanks to a quick Twitter with a friend, I got to know which channel and how to get started. It was aroung the time Razzaq was imposing himself that I was finally able to watch the match.
This was vintage Abdul...we've seen it before. Oh yes sah, India has. Carlton & United 2000 was an all-round effort - bating first Razzak lifted Pakistan from doldrums to safety of a big score with a 70 off very few balls and came back to take five and put India away. Peshawar 2004, he saw Pakistan to a win from some trouble with a half-century in good time. Even in ICL. Just as we've seen Saffers lose a match from certainty before. I mean, Albie Morkel is also a Chennai Superking, so he must know how to bow and win at the crunch!
Some joy for Pakistan fans today and Saffers must learn to switch between formats quickly. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch some sort of replay to see the entire innings sometime.
Traditional Pakistani Kartab
Abdul Qadir pulls a fast one here
"As things stand there is suspicion about Raina's links with the woman and the same is the case with our players against whom nothing has been proven yet they remain suspended and the Indian batsman is free to play on,"
--- NDTV (Read the rest at NDTV website)
It's a traditional sleight of words Pakistan have employed to pull the wool over everyone's eyes in everything raging from their covert war against India via terrorism, to nuclear thuggery, to LeT and Al Qaeda, to 26/11 and to cricket.
The Pakistani ex-players were caught on camera with money transactions and co-incidences caught in their gameplay.
The NOTW tapes could be worthy of investigation - nobody denies that - but mians will be hard pressed to explain the coincidences.
Raina's case is different. He was seen with a woman who, it is alleged, could be linked to mafirs (a new word for match-fixers). Quite different at this stage of knowledge in comparison to the Pakistani ex-players and what one saw on the videotapes. Say, tomorrow, if Raina is spotted with Abdul Qadir, he does't become a traitor passing state secrets to a Pakistani spy, does he? In the style of one R. Malik - tumhari baaton ke alaava harkat kaa aadio-video proof kidhar hai? Laaw to proof mangta hai naa? Dossier do phir baat karten hain! We will tek akshun!
If Qadir knows something more about Raina's case, then he should provide the information to investigative authorties. Then it must be investigated. Tab bilkul hona chahiye.
Merely saying it is a similar case does not make it similar or same case even in child's Disneyland.
This is a perfect example of a traditional Pakistani trick of twisting things when caught with their pants down or in strife. Otherwise, if he does not have matter, the disgrutled old man should preferably stick to his problems - he has three of them on his hands.
At least Qadir should recognize that, to date, India is among the handful of nations which have acted decisively upon cheats and suspects always...whatever the cost to cricket or team, and have not revoked their bans as per whim or because they were being missed by the team. So when Mr.N. Srinivasan says this
“The BCCI has just learnt that several media outlets are claiming that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) had submitted a report on Suresh Raina to it, and that no action was taken by the Board on the same.
“The BCCI would like to clarify that it has received no such report from SLC. The claims being made by a section of the media are totally baseless and false,”
-- The Hindu
“The BCCI would like to clarify that it has received no such report from SLC. The claims being made by a section of the media are totally baseless and false,”
-- The Hindu
Qadir should accept it. Or he must confirm with Sri Lanka board first. Unless he has material to back his words and show the similarities he is talking about.
Maybe Raina should step forward and ask the man to SU! Wotsay Raina? Read More......
Indian sportspeople shouldn't fall into the trap of clichés
Traditonally, non-cicketing Indian sportspersons have cribbed and crawed against their fellow Indian cricketing sportspersons for the wrong reasons. Just because they have been given a platform and a brief. In most of their public outpourings on this topic, they have come across as blindly jealous people, when indulging in such behaviour. Not all sportspeople, but certainly a few significant achievers.
In the past there might have been excuses - lack of education, complete lack of earning potential from their sports and absence of a sporting culture in India.
Now things are different. There is money for quality sportspeople and eposure. Also, awareness and education is more widespread among sportspeople. Yet we heard, in recent ties, some of these achieving sportspersons still talking, thinking, like they used to. In this modern age, when any sports in whih one is good, can lead to a good life, it is sad to see such parrotting heroes.
They should learn a thing two from Sachin Tendulkar. He loves their achievements like any ordinary Indian with a healthy mind does. Not a trace of jeaousy or superiority.Times Now
Modern Indian sportspersons appear to need media grooming as a must.
Who Gwine Tek de Ball And Mek Dem Bawl ?
After the euphoria of Lord Sammy's ascent to the throne of Caribbean captaincy has abated slightly, PASSION philsophers are now getting down to the nitty grity task of making it happen for Lord Sammy and co. One of the questions they ask is "Who Gwine Tek de Ball And Mek Dem Bawl?"
West Indian bowling has been their most reliable engine of success since Clive Lloyd forged a new philosophy. Things have become desperate, however, in the past decade and a half.
Pace is West Indian strength and that has to be their main weapon. Talking about weapons, implied attack, and the question in the title which asks who'll make opposition bawl, I am recalled to a few exerpts from Steve Waugh's Out of my comfort zone. Three situations...
One:
Our first innings in Brisbane went according to script, with Courtney Walsh, Malcolm Marshall and Curtly Ambrose dissecting the Australian batting order with clinical precision. Not even the loss of an injured Patrick Patterson, who could bowl only 3.1 overs, slowed them down. I felt intimidated the moment I set foot on the gound. These guys had a very real aura about them and they moved around with a mixture of grace and arrogance. They seemed relaxed yet filled
with purpose, and, above else, were certainly much more impressive physically than I was. I felt like a boy on a man's errand and played accordingly, missing a straight one from the great Marshall to be out LBW for four. I was mesmerized by his explosive run-up hs systematic and beautifully balanced front-on action and his speedy arm, and in all honesty I don't even think I watched the ball, for the man was too impressive to ignore. He was martial-arts work in full flow, with a wrist that could eliminate you in one swipe. Walking back to the pavilion, I knew my career was hanging by a thread [...]
-- Steve Waugh
with purpose, and, above else, were certainly much more impressive physically than I was. I felt like a boy on a man's errand and played accordingly, missing a straight one from the great Marshall to be out LBW for four. I was mesmerized by his explosive run-up hs systematic and beautifully balanced front-on action and his speedy arm, and in all honesty I don't even think I watched the ball, for the man was too impressive to ignore. He was martial-arts work in full flow, with a wrist that could eliminate you in one swipe. Walking back to the pavilion, I knew my career was hanging by a thread [...]
-- Steve Waugh
Two:
Standing at your crease, watching the Windies quicks charge in, knowing they might land one smack bang on a crack, is a situation you should not fret about,but of course it's human nature to focus on that danger rather than worry about the fundamentals of batting.
[...] Our No. 10, Geoff Lawson, for a reason only known to hi, batted in a helmet that had earpiece but not the full protective grill. Ambrose could smell the kill and see the far an let go a ripsnorter that leapt off a length and zeroed in on vulnrable flesh and bone - as soon as Geoff recoiled his head and turned away, he was an accident waiting to happen. The sickening sound of leather on jaw echoed around the WACA as Henry crumpledto the groundand tried to reclaim his face by cupping his hands around the affected area. Errol Alcott was already on his way to collect his medical kit and inspect the damage, which he later said was consistent with an injury sustained in a car crash.
Meanwhile, our last man had gone deathly pale. He aske AB thee times, "Do you want me to bat?" before finally hearing the words he desperately wanted: "Okay, Merv, don't worry. I'm declaring."
--- Steve Waugh
[...] Our No. 10, Geoff Lawson, for a reason only known to hi, batted in a helmet that had earpiece but not the full protective grill. Ambrose could smell the kill and see the far an let go a ripsnorter that leapt off a length and zeroed in on vulnrable flesh and bone - as soon as Geoff recoiled his head and turned away, he was an accident waiting to happen. The sickening sound of leather on jaw echoed around the WACA as Henry crumpledto the groundand tried to reclaim his face by cupping his hands around the affected area. Errol Alcott was already on his way to collect his medical kit and inspect the damage, which he later said was consistent with an injury sustained in a car crash.
Meanwhile, our last man had gone deathly pale. He aske AB thee times, "Do you want me to bat?" before finally hearing the words he desperately wanted: "Okay, Merv, don't worry. I'm declaring."
--- Steve Waugh
Three:
[...] a freezing groin, which is what Heals had after being struck flush on his protector onthree occasions. The first time provided a ood laugh in the change room that ony guys cn fully appreciate; second time, the boys were falling down,clutching their stomachs at his poor fortune; but by the third time ou eyes were watering in sympathy for our keeper. When he peeled off his kit as he lay on the physio's bench, we were happy for him that all was accounted for, but shocked to see the dramatic colour transformation.
--- Steve Waugh again
--- Steve Waugh again
Those are extracts from Waugh's book and are few of the elements that made top batsmen around the world of that time, cherish their battles with West Indian quicks, especially the successful ones.
Those are also some of the capabilities of West Indian bowlers which made them such challenging adversaries.
Menace - was planned and purposeful and often well executed. It was as much a srategy to win the game as Steve Waugh's mental disintegration techniques or a crafty sequence of bowling by a spinner and field placements to him. Y'all know about these things more than I.
While things are different today, somebody from among the West Indian bowlers will have to crack the whip summat. Just to get everyone - co-bowlers and opposition batsmen - into the mood. Whether it will be Kemar Roach who will be the cold executioner, or someboy else, I do not know. Whoever it is will also have to be smart enough to 'smell' out a batsman's mind and predict his intent at least a couple of steps before delivering the ball.
In Lanka, it will be a great opportunity for a West Indian quick to begin his legacy.
Malcolm Marshall made his debut in India. Eager slim kid and nothing more than that during the series. Saw him on TV then.
Then I heard via radio that he was thundering in the Caribbeans while the Indians were touring their in 1983 as part of their peparation for their successful World Cup campaign two months after the series. Then Macco came to India once again. Five years after his debut.
He was bulkier in his shoulders and thighs, he was more vocal, and had already established a sort of brutal reputation which the media ensured was highlighted...the series already had a context - West Indies were thirsting for revenge - talk about Macco's ferocious brutality was to be like the nails on the rack.
Marshall began the 1983 series with all the ferocity promised to us by the pre-series media indulgence and radio commentary from the Caribbeans a six-seven months earlier while India was touring there. There was a grudge element snuck into the hype for India had wrested the coveted Prudenial Trophy. Macco was to be the man to redeem Clive Lloyd, West Indies and himself from the ignonymity of it. When this kind of hype was added to his natural skills, it wasn't one to be missed.
India were swept aside at Kanpur - Marshall rampaging through the order for 8 wickets in the match. It was becoming irksome, this pump Marshall was applying in addition to his growing volubility and the combined baiting of Gavaskar.
Next Test at Delhi, I had a chance to see Macco live for the first time, and on that day Sunny bhai scored his famous 29th.
Macco was conquered for two sessions and all the hype quelled for the day. But he had forced a premier batsman to recall a stroke he had long given up playing regularly. The bowler had forced a team and opposition batsmen to think harder and innovate.
That's the kind of growth West Indies may be expecting from Kemar Roach in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, enjoy this again - bowling equivalent of WWF bullying, is how a friend calls it. But full marks to Robin Smith for his share of toughness in the matter.
Read More......
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Not a good time to post a blog
Today is not a good day to write a blog. Not after a wrenching day-and-a-half session of continuous work and a very short nap. It's difficult to sleep when the sun has already climbed high into the sky and is not restful either. The mind is wandering, eyes gritty and bleary and the feeling is as if one has been dipped into water for pickling...the ears also seem to be full.
I happened to read about the Australian PL. I wished to reprise discussions, debates, fights from pre-IPL days from other fora. They need to be re-aired now and those who participated in all the anti-Indians movements back then need to say their piece here once again, but replacing India with Australia.
We had foreseen the development of a southern league situated in either Australia or South Africa or jointly along with three-four other leagues in the world and had proposed that the new engine for cricket was born. (This was before IPL and just as ICL was taking off).
Naturally, we were at the wrong end of time and had to face viciousness from various posters for our views. Those were times when Hate-India shows were beginning to stir it up...because India was exposing Australian cricket's weaknesses, ex-coach Greg Chappell was still a live bomb straddling opinons in India and Australia, India won the first ICC T20 World Cup after reluctantly joining it, and had had just won a rare jelly-beaned Test series in England - India was a convenient target...a must-do target... for funelling hate against, by Australian and British press and foolish supporters of those fake arguments.
Even one-time friends sold themselves into the Hate-India river just so that they could be on the same side of forum owners and the majority there. These brown sahibs..some of them Indian emigres to other countries... were afraid they'd be banned from those fora for being a minority point of view. For some, those were new homes and they thought it better to pander to than peel away to expose that agenda. Well, they must be somewhere, still alive, and seeing things unfolding and must be hearing echoes of their and others' arguments. I hope they are suitably ashamed now. I need take no names.
We had espoused controlled privatisation of cricket with existing boards retaining overall control of the game and various leagues which must come (the American and Associate League should be round the corner if some thing can be sorted out) into existence inevitably, rather than complete privatisation of cricket beyond boards....especially the Indian board as sought by my former friends in collusion with pure India haters.
Even here, we had espoused the same cause with a few leagues ultimately in operation.
India shot itself in the foot by destroying an excellent concept like IPL...and now they can only be pushed back from here on while others adopt the model and move ahead. India succumbs to internal bickerings and corruption. Time will reveal that the direction in which corruption is being exposed today will expand to include 360 degrees in its structure tomorrow. India couldn't do it right beyond a point.
Also, I wished to see if the lying and manipulating rogue trade unionists who were led, not by facts or sagacity but by pure personal hatred towards India as a whole and one Modi in particular, will rise with the same crap they hurled over the years at India and Indians and IPL.
Will those deceitful, hate-filled bigots who tried their best to destroy IPL at every opportunity and run down India with loads of lies and bull, also issue an advisory to cricket players of the world not to travel to Australia due to security concerns there? Because is it not the national pastime of Australians to beat up and kill people who 'look different' and 'sound dfferent' on the streets of Australian towns and cities, and where the local police and politicians are more likely to blame the beaten up guy or the murdered guy while ensuring the attackers escape? Will that fellow who had so much crap of lies to spew out via his hatred-filled machinating lungs...to launch against India with personal hatred and complete distortion and misrepresentation of truth...even going to the extent of misleading his union members with what he bullied around with as 'sound advice'..stand up with the same arguments against Australia?
While you all dream on if that fellow who had plenty to yabber then will do any such thing now (he cannot speak truth so how can he speak out the truth about the killing fields of Australia?), I'll retire from blogging and cricket for a brief while to rest.
Like I said, this is not a good time for me to write...too many things from the past are churning me up and my present state of body and mind cannot keep up with that...and I may return a few days later to examine the good aspects of Australian PL (Big Bash)..they have a freaking FTP Window!...and rehash all the nonsense people had hurled at India then. But not now...
Friday, 29 October 2010
Now I'm truly in awe of Sachin Tendulkar
For some reason, till I read this article about an interview of him in The Guardian, I have over the years, have seen Sachin's growth with affection rather than any overwheming sense of awe or startstruckedness. I may have employed the word "GOD" while referring to him here, but it was more an expression of a kind of happiness at his success...like one feels for a brother or a younger one in your team. Somehow, to me, Sachin never registered as a superstar..even though one was aware he was a superstar. He always felt like a fellow traveller.
Maybe this kind of thing happens to all who have tracked him since he emerged onto the scene. Fans from that era might have a more personal tinge to their simple admiration than impersonal nd comlicated hero worship of Sachin Tendulkar. Awe may not have hit them...other than when one understands the scope of his strokes played out in the field....awe may not hit them despite Sachin being an almost perfect role model and advertisement for the middle-class value system.
Between him and the anonymous long-term fan is a bond forged on comradeship of having stuck with the team through it all - one as a player and the other as a watcher. There is no place for awestruckness among comrades, is there?
Now, after having been at work for almost as many years Sachin has been at his, when one reads things like this
"I'm really focusing now on how I can get to the next level as a batsman. How can I get even more competitive? How can I get even more consistent? How can I get better?"
you cannot help but be snatched away from the easy comfort of simple camaraderie and be seprated by the gulf of awestruckedness.
You wonder at the zeal of the man. I confess there have been times when I had ntertained thoughts of retirement from my profession, but look at this man!
Till yesterday this Sachin Tendulkar was a chorra with magical ability and today, instantly, he is in a different realm in my mind. I ask myself, am I as lucid and clear-eyed in the closing stages of my innings as he is in his? I mean he speaks like one for whom a career as a batsman is waiting to commence! Now I am in awe of him...maybe it was five years ago when I last thought about being better than I was
at what I was doing!
Just when we were getting ready to listen to retirement talk, he comes up with this.
Life would be flat without dreams. I think it's really important to dream – and then to chase those dreams. I really believe in this because it's this dreaming that makes me work so hard. I want to continue doing that because I've worked very hard
If it had been anyone else saying that, I would have taken it with a pinch of salt...motivational spiel from a born-again...but when Sachin says it, it somehow rings true. And that makes me more awestruck. For when was it last that I dreamed consistently of progress and acted upon it?
Man, I had grown satisfied with my life...now I am not so sure! Sachin has tweaked time and my ear. I find myself at this late hour, asking myself how I could better myself. And through the hard shell of my contentment,dreams emerge...some old ones...which remind me uncomfortably that my contentment is quite misplaced.
Kis chakki ka atta khata hai yeh Sachin? Kis ghat ka paani peeta hai? Has he discovered the nectar of eternal youth?
Cannot wait for The Guardian's Saturday edition to read the complete interview. Read More......
What has changed since?
All those who quit Zimbo cricket in a huff and sent it into tailspin are returning to it in different capacities. Grant Flower, Heath Streak. And generous sponsors too.
So what about those bad mean racist men chaps rebelled against?
Last I heard, those men of Zimbabwe were still in power..and in Zimbo cricket too.
Role Reversal
Upon being asked about Australia's refusal to engage in casual banter with England players in 2006 and likeliood of the same being reciprocated by England, Andrew Strauss
"I'm not sure about not being able to say hello to them, but until the end of that fifth Test there's two sides at war with each other"
"Both sides know that at the end of the series there's going to be 11 guys feted as heroes and 11 guys who failed in their task."
"Until that final Test is over there's no point being too hunky-dory or friendly with the opposition. Our task is to go out there and try to beat them."
--- Andrew Srauss, Captain of England Cricket Team in Canadian Press
Contrast with this
The chief executive of Cricket Australia has laughed off the possibility of legal action being taken against the organisation for projecting pictures of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke on to Big Ben, insisting the incident was no more than "a little bit of friendly banter"
--- The Guardian
The CEO of Cricket Australia descending into friendly banter this time round.
But all said and done, have an uncertain Australia managed to get under the skin of the Englishmen even if their captain is brushing of the Big Ben incident?
The Englishen have reacted in Pavlovian fashion and are fuming. They have already slipped into the whine mode over the Big Ben incident while they thought it was great fun to do it twice...of the same... on Sydney's bridge back in 2007.
Australia, it's media and spin masters, are capble of leading England from this start to total distraction despite the phlegmatic singlemindedness of Srauss. Australia should try working upon chaps like Stuart Broad instead..he's more likely to crack than Strauss, and he is touring as a lead bowler this tme.
Notice already the weightage each media side is giving to that aspect of Jardine's legacy that suis them to make their point. Oh yes, Jardine and Bodyline have been revived for this series.
One gets the feeling that roles are reversed, Australia is uncertain and scared to an extent and therefore resorting to distraction techniques which are quite unconventional and uncharacteristic of them. England is grimly single-minded but could be in danger of overburdening their determination by their morbid responses.
Australia would hope that England becomes so heavy with this grimness of purpose that it may become possible to run enough circles around them and score where it hurts in a confusing manner to bring down the tunnel-visioned beast. England, meanwhile, are able to be bully again...not some poor Asian country or the West Indians, but the traditional rivals Australia! It's like good times are back in England. Read More......
Can television's role in cricket's existence be denied any further?
Australia dealt with one pantomime villain of its own Friday, ditching Merv Hughes as a selector.
The mustachioed crowd favourite was ousted in a streamlining of selectors after criticism that he led supporter tours even while carrying his selection duties and did not have cable TV at his home — making it impossible for him to watch matches he did not attend.
Cricket Australia retained chairman Andrew Hilditch plus David Boon, Greg Chappell and Jamie Cox on a four-member panel.
"Cox, Boon and Chappell were the better options to continue," Cricket Australia chairman James Sutherland said.
--- Canadian Press October 29, 2010
Redefining Fruits of Passion
The next time Big Benn strikes a discordant note midway through a Test match, it will no longer be termed 'rogue behaviour' and Sulieman lashed accordingly by West Indian fans in thir private bacchanals, but will be, instead, a symbolic advertisement of the radical new theme sweeping through West Indian cricket these days - PASSION!
At the helm, is god aided Darren Sammy, and he has decreed that West Indies cricket shall henceforth be driven on by what it missed most - PASSION! The complete Jesus defined breadth and depth of it, in contrast to the shallowness of so many personal religions that have impinged upon WI cricket in the past two decades and destroyed it. This new philosophy is born out of a belief that there was a severe shortage of the projected sentiment resulting in the desultory drop of West Indian cricket down the ranks like a dry leaf through a passionless atmosphere. This philosophy has been responsible in sidelining existing leadership ( or what passed as one ) while pitching a complete surprise in its place, and shuffled the deck of established batsmen. By doing this, erecting totems and erasing status quo, it appears the new philosophy is laying the blame for the lack of sufficient PASSION at the door of West Indies' most productive players of the past decade or thereabouts, among other things.
While it is widely expected that it is the duty of the blessed to inspire fellow-travellers to move mountains and conquer them, what must also be taken into account the ability of them to do so. Despite the light of the Good Lord reflecting upon them too. Then, how do the blessed ones inspire? Perhaps by doing their jobs right besides talking about it, I suppose?
West Indies hasn't won much in the past decade. It's batting hasn't been a concert of effort and its bowling has been mainly headless. Cricinfo brings together what most cricket fans have been saying in this time, upon one page as an article. While West Indian batsmen have not done as well as their counterparts in other teams, it is obvious that those who are most blamed for lack of PASSION now and pushed aside are actually those who have performed to an extent in a team game. It must have been PASSION that carried Shiv, Sarwan and Gayle through match after match when their team mates let them down. Can't be anyting else. Are the rest of the team members, the unblessed co-travellers, not responsible for lack of PASSION? Is the PASSION shown by these batsmen who did better for WI than others in the team less or different from the PASSION of today and tomorrrow?
That West Indian bowlers were totally clueless once Walsh and Ambrose quit was evident to the ordinary watcher. West Indies, for whatever reason, did not appear to have a single quality bowler in their ranks. There were chaps who could run in and bowl fast but doing so without much intelligence is not going to produce results. And they'd struggle to remain fit. Or they'd prefer the migratory route out of the Caribbeans. Did they lack in PASSION? Or did they lack other fundamentals? And who is responsible for that state of affairs? Are those responsible for state of affairs not also lacking in PASSION?
The leader of the PASSION brigade is already being hailed without yet leading in a single game. His proponents ask us, preach to us, exhort us, pound into us like seasoned converters of beliefs, to not go by his track record but to 'feel' the god-given PASSION Lord Sammy throbs with. That throb is enough for West Indies to turn the connaugh, they say. The thing is, it may be exactly such a drastic and symbolic shake-up which might stir the West Indian cricketers to play to their better potentials more often than not. In this wunderland, a mediocre player could indeed be the catalyst for excellence. In this wunderland a man of modest personal performances could be the greatest leader ever to grace a West Indian blazer. In this wunderland, this redefinition of PASSION may actually work. When West Indian teams shall sally forth from dressing rooms upon wings planted on their shoulders by a reading of the book of inspiration by their LEADER before start of play, and return bounding with happiness, with victories tucked inside their PASSIONate smiles.
There is also an element of fear. Yes, undeniable fear - the knowledge that one could be dropped for being mediocre, or even good. It might just force everyone to take their chances with being better than good and also have VISIBLE levels of PASSION. No more laid-back rummy stuff from the Caribbean. You got to talk PASSION, live PASSION, play PASSION and look PASSION.
It all may look and soud juvenile. But if this new repackaging works, all's well even if it isn't quite so at ground level. It will be a starting point nevertheless. If however this doesn't work, nothing's lost...nothing's changed for worse. It will go down as an attempt to set right things instead of sitting on the sidelines doing nothing. It will go down as a fruity idea in a desperate situation that didn't quite come off..nothing worse.
Darren Sammy is in a rare win-no loss situation as a captain. Everybody knows that captaicy is quite a thankless job. More so with a languishing team. The PASSIONATE ONE could end up being called a fruit, or he could end up being the top dawg, Mistah W.I. Passion!
Twisting a bit the meaning of what they say - "Biain daag a daag, bifuo daag a misa daag" ( Trans: Behind dog it's dog, before dog it's mister dog ) - Lord Sammy can easily be the next daag in line. No problems. But he could also be, no matter how slim it looks at this point, be the Misa Daag befo the next daag in the line. Even the most cynical West Indian fan, even those who feel there are no mo connaughs, no mo left to negotiate, must be hoping Lord Sammy turns into a superdaag, because, after using up all the PASSION like they are, there may be absolutely nothing left for West Indies to summon up to cause change in their fortunes.
The batting line-up is almost the same. The difference being, they are unburdened by the need to motivate and being seen to be motivating. So they could come good in a big way in Lanka, especilly since Vaas and Murali have retired. At least Gayle would have had a look at Mendis in the KKR nets. Capable young players in Barath and Darren Bravo could be buttressed by stressing patience into their game. The bowling is new and has the promising whiff of freshness. A few PASSIONate spells from them just might trouble the Lankans.
West Indies cricket has been Dabaanged. It remains to be seen if this bold move turns out to be a blockbuster. Dandaa raaj wrapped in motivational catchphrases and religious references moves to the fore to correct and repair sinners of the past and effects of their utterances or actions.
Retaining Coaches
Gambhir and other Indian seniors want Gary Kirsten to continue as a coach and hope BCCI begins the process of retaining him before South Africa is able to attract Gazza.
Good coaches are hard to come by. Their achievements will eventualy begin to reflect through player performances. The opinion of team members is valuable feedback upon the coach's impact, but nothing is more impressive than what one can see of the team, its methods and its success. Gary Kirsten oversaw a period where a talented but unhappy team modified itself into a winning combination. Into an environment where a new entrant is energized to perform with his best. Ishant, Mishra, Vijay, Mithun, Ojha, Kohli and Pujara are but a few examples. India, in the process has ascended the Test rankings and has risen in the ODI tables.
He must be responsible, to a greater than lesser extent, for the players being able to make all this come about. And that, indeed, makes Gary Kirsten a good coach who has built on the foundations laid by John Wright and Ganguly. But not all is hunky dory with the India team. There are significant lacunae - endurance of bowlers remains an issue as much as fielding standards. Besides, India still awaits a few significant wins - a Test series win in South Africa, Australia and Sri Lanka and the World Cup of course.
The issue of bowler attrition can be debated out of Kirsten's ambit and the coninued retardation existing in Indian fieding may be actually generic. The World Cup is yet to happen. A tour of South Africa also beckons. We can only wait and watch what happens in the two opportunities.
Sri Lanka was a partial success. In fact, one might say that being able to come back with a drawn series after winning a Test from behind with an inexperienced bowling attack is in itself a confirmation of the positive influence of Gaza's methods. One undrstands that there is also only so much one can do in a limited period of time and Gary Kirsten has done justice. The supportive role of selectors and execution by MS Dhoni, the captain, have had their roles in realizing this. The most crucial examinations for him however lie ahead - South Africa and the World Cup.
India have tumbled down to the status of chokers in tournaments. Has Gary Kirsten prevailed enough to be able to exorcise this imitation from the Indian team? World Cup will reveal if both he and the team have moved forward enough from the confused times of the earlier coach.
A series win in South Africa is as precious, if not more, because of the uniqueness that will be attached to it. India has won world us before and a series win in South Africa would be the most significant recent step in the developing story of Indian Cricket. If India wins a Test seres in South Africa, it will go a long way in ridding Indian cricket of traditional cliches that are applied to it - India have a chance to show they have developed to such a state that they cn win abroad consitently, on fast pitches and are no longer homesick when away from home.
Gary Kirstenhas been given a brief - he must have been t the start of his tenure - only he and BCCI can tell us how it has panned out since. The World Cup must have been mentioned in that brief too. So it may be prudent to not distract evryone with this talk about re-empoyement and allow Gary Kirsten and the team memebers to concentrate on this unfinished task remaining in the brief instead.
If he board is keen, it can begin negotiations wih him soon after. The effect of World Cup results will hve the strongest bearings on this. So the players might want to do their best to win South Africa and World Cup to ensure Gary Kirsten is considered for continuance.
But what about Gary? Does he wish to continue? John Wright did write in his book that it is sometimes necessary for the coach to walk away from a well-working arrangement to retain freshnes and creativity...or words to that effect.
All that said, the best statement Indian players can make in support of Gary Kirsten's coninuance is to win the series in South Africa and win the World Cup. That might lce everybody oncerned in an amenable frame of mind - Gary Kirsten included.
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Give Kiwis the respect they deserve
There is a serious danger of exaggeration fogging over the Indo-Kiwi encounter scheduled to begin soon. Given New Zealand's lung opening effort at the start of their new season against Bangladesh, and India's confirmation at the top following their victory over Australia, disorienting splits of actual ground situation may occur. New Zealand batting may not be a pushover as anticipated.
Mark Greatbach was correct when he said after the Banglawash, "We played like dicks" and he is also correct when he says "we've got a chance next week to actually put it right." For New Zealand's batting isn't quite the dud it was made to look at by the Bangaldeshis. In Ross Taylor, McCallum, Vettori and Ryder, New Zealand have batsmen who might actually feel 'at home' back in India. Each one of them is capable of staying at the wicket, expending time as well as perfectly capable of quick scoring. If India persists with sporting pitchs and the toss falls in favour of the Kiwis, it's just possible that the New Zealanders will push Indian bowlers in at least one innings, if not both.
They are coming in to play with a provocation to do better. In a place where they have consistently spent a fair bit of time every year for the past two-three years thanks to IPL. And given their intrinsic ability to rustle up something most unexpectedly, one feels Kiwi batting is not to be discounted totally. While McIntosh, Guptill and Watling do not wear impressive batting records, one must also take into account traditional Indian hospitality towards newbies, formless batsmen, returning stars and average journeymen among visitors. Make no mistake, it is a tradition that refuses to change here in India.
All this might leave you wondering if I am not overestimating New Zealand's batting potential.I truly believe it is not so. While I do not believe New Zealand, as a team, are capable of winning even one Test, I am also aware that their batsmen can do enough, if they put all their assets together, to stymie India's charge to victory. And that is what bothers me - India needs to win all just to stay even-stevens with the points on the ratings table. Even a draw withdraws points from the kitty due to the disparity in ratings. And that adds an additional requirement for India's approach towards the Kiwis - they must be taken up like a team in top flight.
There are a few brave men in the Kiwi bowling attack led by the captain himself, Mr.Vettori, but they, unless one of them is blessed with a charm, is unlikely to make great inroads into the Indian line-up. Not twice in the same match at least. And that is after careful consideration that I say it...not under the influence of any euphoria or complex of superiority.
Without Bond, the Kiwis begin hamstrung. Chris Martin is a game performer, especially if the conditions suit him. There are three new bowlers in McKay, Arnell and Bennett, and one of them, may spring a surprise. No gurantees but the unknownness about them might work for a short while into the series. Jeetan Patel and co. shouldn't bother.
The Indian team is balanced and the selectors have done well to persist with the candidates who did well. A top team must be seen to dominate weak teams and India has more incentive than that to win all three Tests, weather permitting. If it wants to retain its points, it must win all three Tests.
Ishant Sharma's return is welcome and he must bowl as much as he can in Test matches.
Pujara is in with a chance to play again - not that lightning strikes twice etc etc, but if somebody is indeed injured or if he is preferred over Vijay, I am sure Pujara will bat in a fashion that will enhance his Test claims as well as stimulate thought about his inclusion into the probables for the 2011 World Cup.
While the Test scenario is pretty loaded against the Kiwis, one cannot say the same about LOIs. That will be a different ball game and will be closer than Tests.
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
The New Pleasure
Khalil Gibran narrates his experiences with a new pleasure he invented for himself in a parable included in his book of poems and parables, The Madman
Last night I invented a new pleasure, and as I was giving it the first trial, an angel and devil came rushing towards my house. They met at the door and fought with each other over my newly created pleasure; the one crying, "It is a sin!" - the other, "It is a virtue!"
In many ways, Sunil Gavaskar must be feeling today very much like what the great Lebanese - American poet, Gibran, might have visualized at the time of penning down that parable, but with an Indian twist. A slew of Indian devils, instead of Gibran's one, have already knocked on Gavaskar's door, without a matching number of angels rushing to it. It appears, with the invention of his interest in Kochi, Sunny bhai seems to have given an opportunity for all people to come to their conclusions and categorize him and his actions as per their motive, information and comprehension.
Over the past two-three days, news channels have latched on to a new byte in this extended frenzy of sports scandals and scandalization sweeping across India this year. Gavaskar was clearly the next bait put out to the viewers. While watching various channels, many thoughts sprang up in my mind. The relevant one among those are four - 1) Do news channel 'reporters' and 'presenters' ever listen to what one of their interviewees is saying before instantly bandying about a more than visible contrarian scrolling marquee across the screen? 2) Or do they have a keener sense than viewers that detects deceit, deception, dishonesty and disinformation in the unspoken depths of the interviewee's response? 3) If they have something else, some concrete proof, other than what had been presented till then, to base their headlines on, why not reveal that too to avoid such a confusion...or, if they haven't possession of it till ? 4) Suppose their ability to detect the undetected doesn't come off as intended by them, do news channels have a methodology...technology...to rebuild the person up from the rubble?
We were not benumbed by the zealous battering of the storytellers who presented the story across many channels, but, mind you, there was a time when one felt not far from it. To me it looked like they were feeding off a common source and each other. And all this made us go and examine the hardcopy of what has ben said thus far by the main protagonists.
I turned to NDTV website to refresh my memory of what was said behind/beneath the scrolling marquees of all news channels. The complete interview can read at NDTV.
NDTV: You are saying that Mr. Sunil Gavaskar will be supporting your team and is a part of your team. Why are you revealing it at this point?
Gaikwad: In fact, Mr. Sunil Gavaskar has unconditionally supported the Rendezvous Sports Pvt. Ltd. and in between I think the consortium partners, and we as a team of Gaikwads, have approached him if he could look into the cricketing aspects of the IPL Kochi team. But he was not very sure of joining that, and may be now he has declared his unconditional support to the IPL Kochi team. At the time of bidding, Rendezvous Sports Pvt. Ltd, we all consciously bid for the Kerala Cricket Association and the state of Kerala, the Kochi team, of course keeping in mind that Mr. Shashi Tharoor was very keen and had been a mentor. So we had always thought of doing whatever we decided, and in between when it was the question of who would be advisor to us on cricketing matters, it was a unanimous decision by everyone that Mr. Sunil Gavaskar is one of the best, but then he refused to participate with us as he was a member of the governing council.
NDTV: At this point do you believe he will help sort out the differences within the franchise?
Gaikwad: [...] but when he was a member of the council he had strictly said that he won't be able to speak to us on this matter, till I take the permission of the board or till I am no more a member of the governing council. Keeping this in mind. I think we did approach him, once he was out of the governing council. At the same time, some consortium partners have also approached him once he was out of the governing council.
NDTV: But Mr. Gaikwad, at the time of the bid, Mr. Gavaskar was a member of the council. Isn't that a conflict of interest?
Gaikwad: At the time of the bid he was not a part of us, now he is not a part of the council and so he wants to be a part of us. It is clearly a decision by Mr. Sunil Gavaskar based on the fact that we have jointly and individually approached him to guide us on the cricketing issues.
NDTV: But were there some talks when he was a part of the IPL?
Gaikwad: No, how can there be talks? Because we had no guts to talk to him when he was in the capacity at the management in IPL. I think we have are all grown up, individually and collectively.
NDTV: But it was initially said that a former Indian captain was a part of the Kochi franchise, and pushed it to get the bid?
Gaikwad: The bid was strictly won on the 333.333 million offer we had put. I think if the bid was won on the capacity of an individual or someone from inside the BCCI, then I think they would have preferred the Adani group - that is a 150,000 crore company rather than supporting a consortium madly in love with cricket.
That was one of the protagonists who, it is being suggested to us by various portals, is being ingenious with the truth when he is saying that. But we fans are not told what is it that those portals have which makes that above interview ingenious?
Let us read what Gavaskar says in response...this time at Times of India.
The main parts are
"I have been approached for taking care of their cricketing operations and there is nothing in writing. Let all their internal issues get resolved and afterwards, may be, I will take a call on that. The association as of now is pretty much in the air and things like formal association is not there,"
"Nothing can be said further till what's happening today and tomorrow. Once BCCI takes a decision tomorrow, then one can react about the future association with the Kochi franchise. If that does not happen, I am quiet happy for what I am doing at the moment.."
"Kochi is not the only franchisee which has approached me. I have been approached by many other franchises even before the first auction was done. Nothing has come through. Basically, they talk about the cricketing aspect. But I am not so sure what I am getting at,"
"That is not correct at all. Nothing to do with investing. Absolutely nothing," he said when asked if he is going to have any stake in the team.
"It is not an individual case, it is a case for the whole franchise. I am not sure whether they are taking my name. But BCCI will only look into the merits of the case."
There must be something viewers are missing...maybe there are subtle shifty giveaways not visible in print or to the untrained eye of the viewer. Yes, I was confused when upon most channels the banners screamed sin but the audio-video suggested something else.
If the news channels have some credible proof upon which they have sailed ahead despite the interviews, then the fans of the game must be taken into confidence as well. Otherwise it looks like needless drama.
Finally, from the TOI site, Gaikwad reiterates a point.
"We approached him after he was no longer a member of the IPL Governing Council. We offered Sunil Gavaskar to act in an advisory capacity with the franchise and he had accepted the offer," Gaikwad said.
We are, in the fashion of telenews 'reporters' and 'presenters', drawn to join the hysteria and ask in RodTidwelleian fashion of them "Show us the Sin!"
"Yeah! Louder!"
"Show us the Sin!"
"Yes, but, brother, you got to spill out that sh-t!"
"Show us the Sin!"
Till then, cut back on the new pleasure of trial without proof. Read More......
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Ashish Nehra - Is it too late in the day?
Nehra could be a late bloomer and one whose body has just become comfortable with the workload expected of it, and despite India's resources not that great as to refuse his contribution, it is just possible that it might be too late for him to play a significant role in India's Test match adventures. I would rather he has more matches under his belt than just the one Ranji match before the SA tour to form an opinion on his durability, but before the SA series there aren't as many.
It would be sad carrying someone all the way across only to become a passenger yet again due to fitness issues. India is at a point in Test match cricket, where it can ill afford to lose services of one of its playing members. India Test team is slowly trying to become a new generation, well-oiled, well-broken in vehicle for the nation's continuing stay at th top of the order. It can ill-afford to be hamstrung suddenly during a match, especially when there is history.
These things are more important now given the new system coming in place where the top four of a cycle will enter a play-off situation. Each match becomes important.
Of his skillS, there is no doubt. Moreover, they can only have improved with exprience. That said, there are a few younger bowlers trying to occupy the empty spaces in India's fast bowling shelves. Zak's act is a tough one to emulate. If Nehra has it in him and is truly fit and healthy, it'll be to India's advantage to welcome him back. Let's hope Nehra has the strength and tenacity to duplicate that success which Zak has enjoyed in his last coming.
Significant step in the definition of BCCI
One of the peculiarities of Indian Cricket has been that traditionally, BCCI, the controlling body of Cricket in India, has straddled a grey zone of existence. The nebula that it has been till this judgement, has also, by its very absence of a concrete shape or definition, been a convenient shield for BCCI besides being a skateboard of sorts to elide over rough, questioning impulses of energy.
It has been described as 'not a corporate body' and 'not a government body', as per the situation from which the question arose. As a result, BCCI has been greatly successful in overcoming barriers erected in the path of sport's progress in this country. To date, BCCI, has not explicitly used the advantages derived from existence under a nebulous definition for only their personal aggrandisement as other well-defined sports bodies of India consistently practice, but have also invested into the sport they represent, with reasonable interest. knowledge and care.
IPL has changed the dynamics somewhat and has given rise to new questions. BCCI took care to create a separate arm - a frankly commercial arm called IPL - and took care to keep it at a distance to prevent dragging BCCI also into the theoretical definition of a commercial, corporate body. But this tightrope act is difficult to maintain now with the growing commercial interactions which BCCI must participate in thanks to the growth of the game it nurtures. The clouds over IPL's transparency have also pushed BCCI closer towards a definition, one way or the other. Even if it was the BCCI to go ahead and institute its own internal proceedings. It's another question if the motives were slightly more political to begin with instead of the altruistic desire to be absolutely transparent.
ICL, in its brief existence, had forced BCCI to address many pending questions. One of those questions, which BCCI managed to escape from without completing the procss of answering thanks to the retirement of that league (at least for now), was that of representation.
Did BCCI represent India in Cricket? And if so, on what basis? If private bodies were allowed to represent India, then what stopped rival private bodies to emerge and compete for the right to represent? Who would grant that right - Traditional and historical acceptance, people, or the Government?
Kerala HC's judgement, we must clarify that we haven't read it and are going only by the extracts in news articles, removes a bit of this nebulousness from around BCCI and begins to lower it into a definite shape.
There are advantages and disadvantages of this - while accountability and transparency could be the most important gained advantages, all the ills, pathologies and diseases that afflict and disable other sporting structures, and all the constant unnecessary interference from everybody, will also flow into the circulating life-blood of BCCI and contaminate it to certain ruin. TV news channels can have a field run playing BCCI just for the sake of it...because they have no news item to put up that day. Disgruntled elements can RTI BCCI into an immobile organisation incapable of acting swiftly (within law) to protect Indian Cricket's interests in this quickly changing world.
But all that said, transparency...information...accountability...even if to a small extent, are good for the followers and the game.
My own impression is that BCCI needs to be more transparent and caring of spectators besides just themselves and players. It may help BCCI to do that.
BCCI may now, very soon, depending upon the Supreme Court ruling on the matter, simply have to design a website of their own after all, and post their financials, tenders etc on it.
One another advantage is this judgement and process could be that it proves to be the precursor of dispensation with the 'honorary' system of governance and execution which runs parallel to the recent, selective, control given over to paid posts.
The sad thing is, in all the good BCCI has done, this was one they could also have done very easily themselves without direction from courts. Transparency doesn't need direction. Now, because of some internal politics, they might have to prepare to also deal with all the ailments that completely disable all other sports in India.
Sunday, 24 October 2010
Russell Degnan offers database to share
Russell Degnan of Knotted Paths is passing on David Barry's (of Pappu's Plane and Cricinfo) database, handed over to him by Barry himself, for those interested in maintaining their own data system.
Statistically inclined may find a visit there useful.
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Upon the popular quest to define Greatness through Grimness Factor in Cricket
While formulating those "All Time" lists of cricket for commerce, for intellectualization of the idle pasttime of watching cricket, or to simply kill cricket-less time; or while comparing two players with similar attributes separated by significantly vast slices of time for the same reasons as above, the one thing everybody, in their own individual and collective ways are doing - subjectively or via parameters based on assumptions and created along for the purpose of quantifying subjective variables - is establishing first an artificial "grimness factor" and then seeing who performed how in a 'grim' situation during a match. The grimmer the merrier! And the master of the grimmest naturally being the greatest.
Grass upon a pitch in England on a cold cloudy morning on Day One may appear grim, especially to subcontinental cousins of cricket, or a hard-baked but cracked pitch on the secnd day maybe an Englishman's idea of grimness in India, or chasing 700 to win on the final day and a batsman scoring 600 individually in partnership with nos. nine, jack and ten to achieve it may count as a grim battle, or maybe a batsman without a helmet being battered by cartridges of 10-foot tall pace devils on a lumpy-bumpy pitch might count as a grim factor - and so on and so forth - there can be any number of factors or a combination to define 'grimness' of a situation. Then a search is made for a player so that he could be installed into the most grim corner of all thus created by a bevy of chaps who simply like to define grim and its degrees.
Now, way back, in the sixties during the flower power and freedom days enlightened by whacky baccy and stuff like that, there existed an author of great novels in the US - Truman Capote - who in a fit of high intellectual activity, decided to coin a term 'the grims' to contrast and counter those who called out to people as 'the gays'. His reasonng suggested that while the latter group were like the fun-loving, irresponsible grasshoper of Aesop's, the former were more like the grim, diligent ants.
Soon, it was taken up by those who fell in the latter group, and interpreted and employed 'the grims' a little differently during their growing activism towards larger acceptability. All the radicals of this movement were said to have spent their time trying to install all the heteros with degrees of grimness and their activities with grimness factors to sowmehow make they themselves sound/look/appear superior to or more equal than heteros. It became a fad, a passion, an intellectual pasttime with those happy activists to heighten the grimness factor of the heteros' existence. They devised standards, values and variables and went ahead describing the 'other type' the they wanted to. [source]
Of course, in the writing of this article, I have realized that 'grimness factor' is not such an original term as I thought it was when it struck me this morning. It has also been employed, I discovered, in bawdy humour found on the net to mean other completely different things.
The thing is, how does it matter whether Sir Viv was the most destructive or Sehwag is? Or if Sir Don was the greatest or Lara was or Tendulkar is? In the context of their times and plays, each was or is a great. Those who had the opportunity to see more greats should be happy to have seen so many capable players deliver their best.
In fact, if such a geriatric, still alive, were to fit players from different eras into other eras...like setting pieces in an addictive jigsaw puzzle game, it's understandable and can be seen as a way they have devised to keep the mind and memory active and their persons occupied. But what about those who read from the book or go by the ear? Having been born only yesterday or the day before? And then go about making all those assumptions to create factors which measure maximum grimness and player performance in them?
Why do they wish to attach good players with grimness factors at all? And fawn over the most grim of them all?
Sports should remain simple, sportsmen seen, their plays enjoyed, talked about and stashed away in memories. Peculiarly, man always rates greatness as one who has functioned best or most in grimness.
We have never encouraged on this blog, the formation of such 'lists' based on artifical grimness factors. A person's top fifty or 100 is different...it is merely a list of their favorite players and very different from the kind of statistically based lists portals seem to like generating for cricket followers' consumption.
Disturbing e-mail
As often mentioned by me, the main reason I gave up following cricket in forums and switched to blogging was the racism and unpleasantness which was the first rule in any discussion. In my years at various forums, I admit, I gradually ceased to enjoy the plain discussions of cricket and found myself engaged more in trying to maintain a semblance of order to the discussion and coax posters out of deliberate manipulation of each other, of facts and everything else associated with divided humans. I had not joined cricket forums to be a web policeman but to merely listen to cricket chat and stories and contribute the odd quip or two.
Sure enough, there came a time when I began to be irate about such baiting and some posters who were interested in overt and covert manipulations based on nationalities and race or religion. I too began to be engaged in 'fighting fire with fire'. Then I decided to quit the scene in toto. I might have joined the odd forum or two since and have left due to the same patterns of practices employed there, or maybe still maintain some meberships and visit occasionally those, which though frankly and overtly and blatantly racist, also provide useful cricket discussions...cricket content... not available on any of the other forums. Most are rehashes or just plain sniping at each other.
This blog was started in anger born out those forums, in disillusionment and preplexment at the realisation of what web existence was like, and was meant to be my sanctuary to return to my basic interest. It didn't matter to me if I had to talk to myself - I just wanted to start scrapbooking like I used to many decades ago. Nobody saw my scrapbooks then, in a way, I was taking only to myself back then too, but this electronic medium is more convenient and being on web allows the advantage of sharing the scrapbook.
I cannot say if there is anything worth preserving here, most are scraps rather than elements of books, but it serves my purpose and provides me with some enjoyable relief.
However, it has taken time for my anger and outrage to dissipate and I realize I have changed irreversibly to now look at some kind of posters with suspicion...as potential troublemakers. Perhaps it is my error and weakness. In some cases, I have tendered unconditional apologies on this very blog, via comments or posts, when I felt I exceeded.
Enjoyment - that's the element we miss in our seriousness to express our views. And, sometimes (people might say 'often' in my case) we go haywire in that seriousness, to browbeat people to accept our viewpoint or emphasize it or disagree.
Of course discussion should be animated, otherwise it is not fun, but it shouldn't be nasty. Nastiness slips in easily in this combination of so many provocations and opportunities.
Talking about nastiness and what kind of attitudes people bring to forums, let me show you a copy of a forwarded e-mail I received recently from an old friend I know to be a far more sensible and controlled person that I, and with whom I have shared many forum years. He is an interpid debater but not a careless one. I know him to base his views on careful research and analysis, and always grants points without a shred of ego.
From:Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx< xxxxxxxxxxx.xx@xxxxxmail.com >
Date: 14 Oct 10 20:02:07
Subject: XXX and you
To: xxxx@xx.com
hey are you the guy who USED to be on xxx xxx and was called xxxxxx or xxxxxxxxxxxxx...anyhow just wanted to learn that the reason you are banned is because I complained about you over and over. And you want to know why? Because you are a piece of shit. And Indian. I don't like Indians, or indeed any foreigners coming on the website for which I have paid and trash talking my country. Which is what you did. In future, if you want to badmouth England, stick to Indian sites, or advertisement sites, not ones which are free because the people in that country paid for it. Now fuck you and fuck off, hope you enjoy your time in your poverty ridden shithole of a nation, I know I wou ld not.
I can imagine the sorts who must not have been able to keep up with the discussions and always have a stash of nastiness handy to fall back upon. It is surprising to know that the sender of this mail and one who managed to convince the administrators of that forum through sheer hounding, is probably being educated in a well-known centre of learning.
One may disagree with posts, one may find views uncomfortable, people either leave the discussion after a point or just state they disagree and move on without rancour. But on some forums there are a breed who like to create deliberate nuisance, hound posters, provoke them into misrepresenting themselves...it's game, it's their reason to forum under the guise of being a fan of the forum's theme, it's their entertainment to be obnoxious and make people do something they wouldn't normally. Far worse, at some forums, administrators and moderators of forums also tend to encourage one view against the other, one's behaviour against others, rather than deal with things even-handedly and after carefully follwing the train of posts over time culminating in whatever unpleasantness that has arisen.
There are a few brilliant forums too and excellent posters with whom you can forget bandwith and time while in discussion. It's not all that bad, but there are plenty of prominent forums which, basically, are a waste of time.
To my outraged friend, all I can offer are words of comfort, and while being banned unfairly hurts and makes one contemplate action, I say to him to let it go as bad rubbish. Don't chase garbage - there are options in this world.
That place was one of the two the main reasons I quit forumming I once indulged in so excessively.
Everybody's got to know the reality of this world - actual or virtual - sometime or the other, and learn to respond and not react. So to any youngsters, more like young teens, looking to enrol at cricket forums, my advice is choose your forums well and don't get hassled much. There can be many disturbing posts...hate filled...prickly ones. There are chaps there who can be filthy and devious. Bank upon yourself to maintain cleanliness from your end. And never reveal too much of yourself. Read More......
Lost potential
India had a chance to play its youngsters in three ODIs against the top ODI side of the cricketing realm, Australia, yet it chose to introduce a serious element of risk to the enterprise by locating the three ODIs in coastal areas - two of them, either along the shores of the Arabian Sea or not very far from it.
Which is very silly of course.
Every Indian knows about the south-west monsoon and the effects of its retreat.
Kochi and Goa, everybody knows, are certain tips to recieve rainfall in this period. Visakha, windwardly on the eastern coast along the Bay of Bengal, escaped fortuitously.
Even if the Western Ghats place Kochi and Goa on the leeward side of the retreating South-West Monsoon (or Northwest Monsoon as per modern nomenclature), the two relevant regions receive almost 20% of their annual rainfall from October through December thanks to this. It is said to begin in the 2nd to 3rd week of October, usually around 20-22nd, in bouquets of 3-4 days of rainfall. Anyway, from June till the end of September, they are in the grip of the sou'west monsoons.
Today, Goa has 20% rain chance at 2 am, 0% at 5 am, and 20% for all remaining hour-segments except at 5.00 pm on a day which is predicted to be cloudy with showers overall.
The only optimistic aspect in this is the quantity of precipitation is said to be trace amounts for today. Let us see what kind of infrastructure Goa possesses to get the game going ASAP if and when precipitation relents. Even if they do choose to start the game sometime, interruptions will be there.
We all saw what Kochi provided.
Immature favouritism of its vote-bank members and possible childish grudges against certain regions create such nonsensical situations. They say there is a rotation policy - then that policy is quite silly if it does not take into account regional weather patterns and seasons.
BCCI could have chosen any city in the northern parts of India for this is the opening of the traditional cricketing season in these parts of the world. There are so many alternatives - from Jaipur, Mohali, Kanpur, Lucknow, Delhi, Faridabad to name just a few.
Look, there is no doubt that in the past two decades, Indians have been led to believe that Cricket in India will be organized in an increasingly polished manner and with progressive purpose. Allocation of matches to centres remains one bad egg from this new India Cricket Shining era. BCCI needs to change this pronto so as to minimize the effect of weather on its cricketing ambitions - whatever they are.
I do not know how the finances work for BCCI - maybe like current film producers, the match is pre-sold and insured and they do not stand to lose financially...at least not much...but think Cricket. For a change. Think about our plan towards the World Cup. Think about opportunities we lose to run final checks on our probables. If we had a plan and road-map in place firstly, such things should have been taken into account by BCCI research team members who provide such inputs to creation of the roadmap.
These are not freak rains or cloudbursts...these are recorded annual events in that region during this part of the year, and which have been happening probably since this Madagascarian fragment of Gondwanaland crashed into the Asian land mass.
BCCI, hypermature in many aspects, is childishly soft in some basic ones. Not a good image for a Super-pro body. Maybe the current BCCI admins wish to slip back into the dark shell of orthodox mediocrity after a spell of harsh glamour and its bitter aftertaste, and issues like umprofessional scheduling are merely indicative of those regressive desires.
For a series with purpose and promise ( Indo-Ozzie series are still marquee ones across all formats...they haven't lost that rating yet ), two Tests were bad to begin with, and scheduling ODIs in rainfall-areas was worse.
Is a good one...yes.
This pre-Ashes England Doubles XI seen on Betfair page.
I love Broad's.
Thursday, 21 October 2010
My only problem...
...with this article is its India-centric obsession when the author himself mentions other members in the panel, and implied suggestion in the entire article that the negative in it is synonymous with India. India may be the dominant member in the world of cricket but is not the only member, and nothing happens without consent and participation of most members. I bet the author knows about all that more than I and must therefore take pains to balance the article accordingly.
Either of World Cup or the ICC Champions Trophy needs to be svelte and a theme given to the ICC CT. Make that a qualifying leaving out the top four teams of the annual ODI rankings out, if you will, instead of a new qualifying tournament which will only make the annual ODI table meaningless and clutter up further the calendar. Keeping the top four performers of the past four year is not a bad idea by any stretch of imagination.
I also sincerely feel that ICC T20 World Cup should be the main international engine...with maybe 40 or more countries with qualifiers leagues etc., and 50-50 must be shifted to the most serious and able nations in terms of infrastructure and facitlities.
It sounds good to take up cudgels on behalf of the Associate Members, especially when they themselves are finding it difficult to take a full day off from work over and over again to play ODIs (ICC developmental funds cannot be used for salaries of players), and finding sponsors for their teams. T20 is right up their street...it has TV potential, better saleability and therefore better chances of sponsorships, and doesn't require leave from work (many Associate Member players are part-timers and that's an undeniable and unmentioned reality which can only change through their chosen sport) because it can be played in after-work hours.
I have a few articles on this theme here and maybe in 4-5 year old archives of BBC and other forums. In fact just earlier this month itself, I had reiterated some of these points from 2007 discussions in an article titled Precursor of Two-Tier System is here.
By the way, if Australia or England were to slip to say no.8, presuming they begin to lose a lot in ODIs, will the author imply that perhaps they were the reason for such a plan? The author must know that such a scenario where either or both teams slip, is entirely plausible. The possibility of the said author doing that is an interesting one to perhaps open a book with one or all of the leading English betmasters!
Another curious point is th mention of the 2007 WC being a financial disaster due to India's exit. I mean there are other countries playing the game...and that makes me wonder. Organisation was indeed poor as it turned out - whether it was the ICC or its partner-in-arms, WICB, maybe those close to the action can tell us.
Cricket Watching Bloggers
We watch Cricket with our eyes
And frequently listen to with our ears;
But when the spoor of opportunity suddenly rises
And in a spell, we taste success or ashes
Then we realize it's the mind that really plays the game
We let our limbs loose upon vast grounds in exercise
Sometimes for Cricket, to everyone's mirth or odd cheer;
But when the whiff of a subtle sport arises
From inside pages, throbbing with inspiration, drama, joy, anguish
Then we reveal it's the heart that truly pens the game.
- soulberry
Sorry about dumping this on you all, but the impulse was strong. Surely, it can't be much worse than the regular kind of posts here! Just killing no-Cricket time. Read More......
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
An important innings from Virat Kohli
In the first day-night encounter ever at Visakhapatnam, two transitional teams engaged, deep into the evening, in a contest which could be the preview for many more in the subsequent five-ten years. One of the two, Australia, picked up the gauntlet Indian bowlers had flung initially down at them and threw it right back at the Indian batsmen, thanks to a fine partnership between Clarke and Hussey initially, and then through the final acceleration provided by Cameron White in partnership with Michael Clarke. They set up a daunting target of 290 for the Indian youngsters to shoot at.
India's Shikhar Dhawan got the debut monkey off his back with a blob, but the chunk of India's batting line-up for the next five years - Yuvraj, Raina and Kohli - ensured Australia will have more waiting to do before registering a win on this 2010 tour of India. Kohli anchored the Indian reply, with Yuvraj building the base, and later, Raina exploding through like a drag car on nitro to take India racing past the finish line with, as it turned out, a margin to spare. There could not have been a more affirmative confirmation of Young India's batting talent as was seen last evening on the shores of the Bay of Bengal.
The Indian captain, MS Dhoni, reversed a losing trend and called right at the toss. The pitch looked good for batting but this being the first game under lights here, there was doubt as to whether dew could be a factor later on. Therefore, Dhoni opted to bowl first, have a look at the wicket and chase later under lights.
Ashish Nehra is the kind of bowler with the new white ball who leaves one wondering why he doesn't play for India in the longer game. But that question lingers only till th white ball is new. Nehra was making the ball talk and Shaun Marsh, who was mostly guessing for the two overs he was at the crease, was bowled for nothing. India was off to a great start and Australia were disappointed yet again by Marsh. A handful of overs later, Tim Paine, who opened the batting instead of Dave Warner who was expected to play but did not, holed out to mid-on playing too early. Nehra had struck again and India was looking very good. Far better than what they were looking in their new uniforms.
It was at this stage that Australian captain, Michael Clarke, the formless vice-captain of the concluded Test series, forged a partnership with Michael Hussey. Australia's Mr.Cricket, began and quickly got into cruise mode, as if to confirm to himself the denial that has descended upon him. Picking off the singles and spanking the careless deliveries, they built a steady, professional platform from which, if the Australian team were capable, they could launch themselves.
Thanks to tight bowling by India and a bit of 'stickiness' in the nature of the wicket along with the care that goes into innings building, Australia were held by Indian bowlers to 170 runs by the 40th over. Hussey had perished meanwhile following his cutomary half-century. Clarke was on the threshold of a wonderfully crafted, responsible hundred. A casual follower of Indian cricket might have been highly optimistic at that stage of limiting Australia to a medium total, but one who is a regular follower of it would have been found calculating upon a further 100 runs in the final ten overs. As it turned out, Australia scored 119 off the final ten overs.
Cameron White, perhaps the designated enforcer of the Australian batting line-up, certainly played like one. He thrashed bowlers all around the wicket. He lifted a couiple of knee-high balls with powerful wrists over the ropes. Almost like spooning. In those blurry overs, it appeared like the bowlers had changed character and the previous 40 overs didn't happen. Indian bowling looked like clueless novices. That was the impact of Cameron White's assault on India.
Indian bowling retains this disability at the death - of not being able to strangle an opposition they have been dominating through the match. It doesn't matter who the personnel are, this death over capability has been lost in evolution.
So the anticipated 270 became a target of 290. Michael Clarke finished with a fine unbeaten 111 while White stole the glamour.
The Indian batting team is basically a test of a hypothesis. The players in it have been selcted after a process of culling barring two - Dhawan and Tiwary being inducted into this process of natural selection through exposure to graded stimuli. Dhawan, it appeared, brought too much along with him in his head while leaving his calm, cool and mind behind in the dressing room. McKay's second delivery, and also the second delivery of India's response, was rather innocuous, just short of good length, decent pace and didn't appear to do anything much. It was the nervy debutant, Shikhar Dhawan, who appeared to have done just that much to allow the ball to slip between the bat and pad and carsh into the stumps. Dhawan's build up to the moment, his ambitions and hopes and all the prayers he must have uttered, lay still beside them, as heavy as the ball that lay in spent motionlessness at the feet of the broken stumps.
From behind his stoic face, from behind Dhawan's undisturbed lips emerged a bestial wail of disappointment. Inside him every sinew revolted at this twist of fate, but not a tremor disturbed his demeanour as he walked off the pitch...till he was midway to the dressing room. There...then... the bat banged into the ground a little harder just the once and a wry smile creased his face. Dhawan was in control again. He was human once again. He was living once more...but now wondering if chance would ever return to him again. He had toiled many years uncomplainingly for this opportunity.
Murali Vijay adopted Sehwag's role. Delectably timing strokes through gaps as the men rushed in to bowl at him, quicker and quicker. He was imperious as only a man in form can be. Then he edged one to the keeper - in attempting to glide one to third man. Sunil Gavaskar absolutely LOVES this stroke and has often aired his views on it.
It was at this juncture that the firm of Kohli and Singh came together to pour in substannce into the foundations laid by Vijay. Later, Raina did for India what White did for Australia with a whirlwind unbeaten 71 to take India beyond Australia's reach.
The two innings were identical twins. Rarely are both innings spitting images of each other.
India's gains from this match were however different from Australia's.
While the veterans sweated it out for Australia, India's youngsters gained in stature with their display. Kohli, Raina and Ashwin were quite outstanding.
Raina continues to impress. Only thing, when the going's good, he must ensure he maximizes it in terms of consistency. In this match, Raina, our designated finisher and backbone of the batting order, to our joy, stayed till the very end instead of getting out a few steps from the target like he is prone to do. When he has the mantle, he must play regally.
Yuvraj looked determined but showed his rustiness once in a while. There were times one felt he was playing from memory and was consciously trying to replay a career. We hope he sheds the load that hands upon his mind and simply plays like Yuvraj. If God wills nothing can prevent him from having a Test career to his liking. He must continue to do what he now knows he should have done. A few more substantial innings under stress in Ranji and he should be back in reckoning. Patience will be something he'll have to show again.
Regarding Kohli, one is heartened to see this young man give up his petty distracted state and recognize the value of having good all-round seasons in all formats of the game. He is, once again, attentive to his career, game and the requirements thereof. If one recalls, Kohli's reputation was made in Ranji Trophy following his Youth World Cup success. Somewhere along the way, his game fragmented, his form became unreliable and his focus very fuzzy. One hopes he makes it a point to play as much Ranji as his team allows him and he scores heavily in them constantly, for we believe, that before Rahane or Mukund, it is this boy who should be blooded into Test cricket.
Yep, Kohli has the goods to be an Indian cricketer for a long time.
BRIEF SCORES
Australia: 289 - 3 (50) Clarke 111* (139), White 89* (49), Hussey 69 (77). Nehra 2-57, Ashwin 1-34
India: 292 - 5 (48.5) Kohli 118 (121), Raina 71* (47), Singh 58 (87), McKay 3-55, Hastings 2-44
India lead the series 1-0.
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Krishna Poonia should have rejected Samuels glory bid outright
One would have hoped that Krishna Poonia, who comfortably trumped her field during the Commonwealth Games, would have outrightly rejected the sly attempt by the Australian athlete to cash in on Poonia's glory without having to go through the process of competing for and earning it.
The issue here is not whether Krishna Poonia will be annointed world champion if the Australian athlete loses - that annointment will not happen even if Dani will be beaten - but, it legitimizes a non-recognized route without having to undergo the process. Poonia can be World Champion only if she wins the medal at World Championships or Olympics...not after winning in an alley-scrap in Australia.
Now tomorrow anybody can rise up and challenge the next gold medal winner at any championship - I can probably challenge Bolt - whether I beat him or not is not the question, what right have I earned to challenge so? If Bolt refuses, I can crow, if Bolt takes me on and let's assume I can run a bit and have been planning my training to peak for this event rather than the championship for which Bolt had been training and won before, it isn't a fair call on my part.
What prevented the Australian champion from entering the field, participating in a recognized event and winning the glory she now desperately wants to short-cut into?
Knowles said Samuels had skipped the CWG because she feared she might get sick. He refuted claims about Samuels' form, saying she had been in the best of shape in 2010.
If hearesay makes Dani fall ill enough to squeal out of the process of competition, she should remain sick..and remain humble and quiet and wait for the next valid opportunity. Not try and mug Poonia off her charted route, on Dani's chosen sidewalk.
It is said, Poonia has been throwing better than the purported champion this season: could that have been the reason this Australian athlete failed to turn up for the Commonwealth Games but is, instead, calling for a Bangkok style alley-corner kickboxing wrap and run match?
Worse, could the Australian champion have feared urine sample collection in proper competition? No..let's not baulk at the question, this so called 'challenge' is what makes us look at every motive and reason behind it. When the athlete so grandly refused to participate in the Games. The excuse then being some hearsay she happened to base her decision on.
Krishna Poonia has larger goals ahead than backyard dice-throwing with an Australian champ who runs from proper competition. Poonia is a nation's medal hope at the Asian Games where top countries like China and Japan will be attending. Her preparation for that must not be derailed by side-business parlour operators. She should not lose focus.
Let us reverse the roles - say if Poonia had 'challenged' Dani for her title while her attention was focussed on preparing for another event, would that champion have even given a ear to Poonia's dare? Even if a 100 crore rupees were offered instead of the measly 20,000 dollars? Dani wouldn't have even botherd to reply. You can bet my Ozzie detecting nose, she wouldn't even have responded. By the way, if those dollars she is offering are Australian, their value further reduces in Rupee terms.
The thing is this athlete who escaped the complete process of preparation, participation, competing and winning in a tournament is banking upon Poonia being baited by a dare to upset her training.
Let the Australian wait - now that the dare has been accepted, let the Australian wait and let it be at the convenience of Poonia after her obligations in other major events are completed. If out of competition shot at Poonia is what the Ozzie wants, let her wait...the time will be decided by Poonia.
Unless of course Poonia is stupid enough to fall completely for the Australian's ill-meaning short-cut lure. If she was so eager or outraged, she should have participated in the CWG.
Best would have been to throw this nonsense 'challenge' right out of the window, but now that Poonia's taken it on, it must not be the focus till she has won the Asiad at least. Winning India a gold at Asiad must be her prime focus now...when she has the time later, maybe she can amble over and thrash Dani in her alley fight.
Even better of course would be for this supposed Australian champ, Dani Samuels, to retract this ill-mannered 'challenge' and apologize to Poonia for trying to trifle the Indian athlete's dedication and guts in participating in an international event and winning from the field there. But one doubts if this champion from Oz has that kind of courtesy. Is she honorable enough to recognize a champion when she sees one? To be one? And offer the challenge instead at the World Chapionship or Olympics? Is she woman enough to do that? One wonders where this hare-brained idea came from and who sanctioned it?
A true champion is one who can get out of her (his) comfort zone and compete and win. Dani, if a champion, should have taken the lead in participating at Delhi and proved her credentials there. Just hear that spokesman of hers speak! He says "we are serious about the challenge, whether in Australia..." The fellow, this coach or spokesman for Dani Samuels, should know India was also very serious about the challenge of CWG...did he or Dani take a nation's word and come to compete? His effing word, or a squealer-off-from-competiton's word is certainly not worthier than a proud nation's promise. And that's what these Ozzies want to show...to show a nation can be put down by the odd Australian pipsqueak or two.
No guts, no glory, Dani! Remember that! You should've participated in CWG if you wanted a slice of glory so badly!
----
CREDIT
Image of Krishna Poonia - Rediff Sports Read More......
Sunday, 17 October 2010
West Indies Shaken Up
The team for Sri Lanka has been announced by WICB and is as follows
- Darren Sammy – Captain
- Brendan Nash – Vice Captain (for the Test Series v Sri Lanka)
- Christopher Gayle – refused central contract
- Adrian Barath
- Carlton Baugh Jr – Wicketkeeper
- Sulieman Benn
- Darren Bravo
- Dwayne Bravo – refused central contract
- Shivnarine Chanderpaul
- Nelon Pascal
- Kemar Roach
- Andre Russell
- Shane Shillingford
- Devon Smith
- Devon Thomas – Wicketkeeper
As one can see, drastic changes have been effected and are very much related to the pattern of acceptance of the Central Contract.
The team and the new captain of West Indies, Darren Sammy, have been recieved by West Indian fans with mixed feelings.
Selection matters are never easy and certainly cannot satisfy all in the West Indian set up.
The prime accusations against the team and captain have been that 1) it is favoritism visible in the selection of most players from the group of islands from which the influential administrators hail from 2) Darren Sammy would be hard-pressed to qualify for the first eleven purely on merit 3) vendetta against the WIPA adherents and those who are said to have opted for lucrative overseas contracts over West indian contracts and 4) omission of Ramnaresh Sarwan who is said to have done well on West Indies' last tour of Sri Lanka.
Given the circumstances under which West Indies cricket exists and functions, levels of accumulated frustrations from diffrent directions might have driven WICB and the selection panel to look for certain qualities other than pure cricketing skills as a starting point. In that sense it may be natural for administrators to turn towards the players they know better than others - from their home region. When communication is a serious problem between limbs of West Indian cricket, this may be the percieved solution even if not necessarily be the best.
Sammy is classified as an all-rounder with respectable figures in the domestic structure of West Indies. Since Chris Gayle spurned the WICB contract, it was natural that somebody else might be appointed for a captain should also be a contracted player. The only player in the 'A' category of contracts was Shiv Chanderpaul, and there isn't much debate about him being spared the burden of West Indian captaincy to allow him to perform with the bat without encumberances. As one can see from the selected team, there isn't any alternative considering that a few selected players have opted against contracts. Moreover, Sammy is reputed to have shown a bit of flair for captaincy while directing his domestic team in regional tournaments.
One never knows with such things - they can work beautifully to make everybody look foolish, but for that, possession of effective cricketing skills, individually and collectively as a team, is an asset.
There can be no concealment of the war that is raging between WIPA and WICB. There is also a perception among observers of West Indian cricket that the fans tend to identify with either group in distinct ethnic tones. Adherence to WIPA tenets are seen to be more Trinibagian and Asiatic Guyanese culture, while the WICB is painted in more Afro-Caribbean motifs. This is the impression gained from the nature of discussion among West indian fans of the game.
Given that there isn't any shred of love lost between WICB and WIPA and given that regional and ethnic distinctions do matter in Caribbean cricket as famously recorded in CLR James' social treatise on West Indian cricket, it shouldn't be surprising if both factors were functional during the selection process.
Why should't they be? If the relationship between WICB and WIPA is attritional, then it is the most natural thing to do. Sagacious concession of space to each other is less common in modern organisational warfare, or can only be given upto a limit and point.
As far as ethnic considerations are concerned, there are precedences where selectors from a region have tended to favour players from their region. While that too may not be the most professional application of principles of meritorious selection practices, it is therefore understandable and not unexpected in the prevailing atmosphere. Strangely, sometimes when there is all fog, lighting a fire, while causing smoke to add, can lighten the immediate fog and act like a beacon through it for some distance. The only problem is this is said to be a different kind of smoke - a poisoned one - especially when Sarwan's name crops up in discussion.
Over the Ramnaresh Sarwan issue, WICB had issued a clarification as to why he was not considered for central contracts. Based upon those clarification, even if rebutted by WIPA subsequently, it was unlikely that Sarwan could have instituted the changes wanted by WICB in his structure in such a short time. So his non-selection, while defying cricketing logic adheres, contrastingly, to a logical course of action.
Coming back to the team, it is apparent that Tino Best's last gasp demolition of the Guyanese team continuing into the selection meeting, did not sway the selectors from the reputation that is percieved to be surrounding Best. Having watched him bowl a few hours ago on the live webcast of their 50-50 tournament, Tino best was in devastating form and bowling, as they say, 'with pace like fiyah'. Kemar Roach and he in tandem would have tested the best, but Test cricket is a different game compared to regional 50-50. The quality of batsmen is different to start with and endurance is the major factor.
The inability to sustain intensity over long spells on heartbreaking Lankan pitches is a factor wich is said to weigh down his reputation, and therefore, his selection.
It is a thin team as far as cricketing resources go and will require large bolus doses of enthusiasm, dedication, persistence, courage and intelligence to make best use of available skills.
Sri Lanka will not be shivering in their boots when seeing this team, but that is exactly how West Indies today might want it - to cash in on whatever surprise element and complacency they can find in Lanka.
Barath and Darren Bravo have an opportunity to further their credentials. Watch these two exciting players. Serious reputations are in the making.
In a similar vein, Nash, the former Australian turned Jamaican, ascends to vice-captaincy. Some fans felt Nash might have been a good choice for transitional captain. Maybe WICB selectors weren't looking for a transitional captain but a long-term solution in Darren Sammy who bears a Mike Brearly like reputation in West Indian domestic circles. And yes, they dropped Ramdin, said to be the best keeper in the region, for Carlton Baugh Jr. in teir quest for a consistent batsman-keeper as against a keeper-batsman.
Keiron Pollard has a long way to go in West indian psyche to make it to the Test team. One isn't sure if Pollard is troubled by it all, or is keenly upon that road.
While all the dust is swirling around him in devils, Sammy sees inspiration coming from no less than Jesus himself. According to the controversial captaincy appointee, if the sinless Jesus was crucified, it entitles him (Sammy) to be crucified a million times. And he tucks in heartily into a delicious steam fish supper at Cuddy'z (Courtney Walsh's joint) in a spirit of forgiveness and care-less ness while celebrating his joy. Read More......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
