|
« February 2006 |
| April 2006 »
March 31, 2006
Posted by Chandrahas Choudhury on 03/31/2006 in Bowling
Ramesh Powar is that rare thing: the genuinely slow bowler, someone whose bowling never quite "arrives". One knows that Powar is a tease even before he rolls his arm over: the substantial Powar waistline, the zany red Powar sunglasses, the glimmer of a Powar grin that appears on the ten-step Powar gambol to the wicket, all convey to the batsman the air of a seriously unserious cricketer having a bit of a lark. But there is no harm in all this. Spin bowling, after all, is basically about subterfuge.
But beneath the air of the court jester is a seriously good off-spin bowler. Powar's lack of speed (he bowls under 50 mph; as comparison, Harbhajan Singh bowls at around 55) has little to do with the speed of his arm and everything to do with how high he tosses the ball up. This makes it difficult to play him from the crease, not just because he gives you so little pace to work with but also because he gets bounce from flight.
Continue reading "On the bowling of Ramesh Powar"
Comments (102)
March 30, 2006
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 03/30/2006 in India-Pakistan
I am quite an Afridi with the 'remote' in hand, checking out on every channel once every 15 minutes so as not to miss out on this great movie or that NatGeo / Discovery program or a cricket match that suddenly turned into a thrill-a-minute affair. You'll probably agree that it always is a sick feeling to learn next day from mocking pals with wide grins that you were in front of the television and yet missed out on 'the' event.
Continue reading "Learn from thy neighbours..."
Comments (8)
March 29, 2006
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 03/29/2006 in Miscellaneous
Take a 5th day match report of Mumbai Test and perform the following precise operations:
Continue reading "Cricket reporting made easy"
Comments (2)
March 28, 2006
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 03/28/2006 in Miscellaneous
"Hell! He had just this one over to play and it would be tea."
Viewed from outside the boundary ropes, cricket can often be an easy game to play. Everything the players attempt on the field is but child's play to the majority of us watching from the stands, peeping at the internet scorecard, and gazing at the idiot box. We have seen ex-players failing the temptation to step into this armchair-critic mode.
"C'mon pal, you simply cannot afford to have such an ordinary yorker at this level."
England are 23/2 chasing India's 203 in the 1st ODI. How's this one for the barmy army to boo their dismissed batsmen?
"Sure your coach tells you a thousand times that Pathan swings one way, but you still have to gift him your wicket through another left-handed nick or right-handed lbw."
A bit too long for the regular couch-potato's liking, I guess.
Comments (0)
Posted by Chris on 03/28/2006 in Miscellaneous
Whether you love it or loathe it, sledging is a part of the game. Some cricketers have carved slices of history out of classic sledges and others.....well....some others just don’t get it.
Continue reading "Someone please teach Andre how to sledge"
Comments (7)
March 23, 2006
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 03/23/2006 in The Players
Javagal Srinath. Nasser Hussain. Names that may perhaps induce some cricket lovers from England and India to sift through their memory bank for glimpses of the 1996 series between India and England, the one that launched Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid in Test cricket amongst four other rookies.
None will vote for this series if it were to compete for the ‘greatest ever’ tag. Nevertheless it featured some memorable moments of attritional cricket. Most of it happened in the decisive 1st Test of the series through a duel between Hussain and Srinath. Hussain was on a comeback and showed no inclination to let go of his chance to book a long run in the England side. Srinath approached his peak as a fast bowler.
Continue reading "A forgotten duel, and anecdotelessness of ex-players"
Comments (1)
Posted by Zainub Razvi on 03/23/2006 in The Players
In many ways Inzamam ul Haque epitomizes everything I love about cricket it self. So languor apparently, yet so exciting, at times so truly spectacular yet inherently so simple. Perhaps that’s precisely why Inzi’s been such a pillar of success and achievements; the intrinsic nature of the game complements his innate personality almost perfectly. I can’t for once imagine him being a sportsperson in another other capacity.
Continue reading "Why I love Inzi"
Comments (1)
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 03/23/2006 in India
A young fast bowler (YFB) enters an interview hall. YOS, off-spinning mate from his state team, crosses him at the door. Some batsmen are seen exchanging heated words with security personnel at the gate. A banner outside the hall reads "Recruitment of bowlers for Indian Test team". A few good men (FGM) are waiting. They stop shaking their heads and face him.
FGM-1: I must say that you look impressive, boy. Tell us what you can do for the team.
Continue reading "The Gold Rush"
Comments (1)
March 22, 2006
Posted by Chris on 03/22/2006 in Miscellaneous
If the cricketing nations of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were a design company looking to bid on a printing contract for a multinational organisation, they would by now have been told to pack up their printing press and hit the road.
But the ICC is not your everyday multinational and this is cricket not commerce, meaning the World Cup 2011 bid submitted by the Asian nations has been generously allowed to remain in contention despite falling foul of the guidelines generated by the ICC.
Continue reading "Tender treatment"
Comments (2)
Posted by Gaurav Sabnis on 03/22/2006 in India
No it is not a typo. It is not meant to be Godot, but GOTOT.
Waiting for Godot is a play by Samuel Beckett about two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, waiting for someone named Godot. Who exactly Godot is, why they want to meet him, etc is never revealed. The repititive plot just has the two tramps conversing, and waiting for Godot, who incidentally, never turns up.
Waiting for GOTOT is a "play" that has been in progress for almost 17 years now. GOTOT stands for "Grand Outstanding Tendulkar-Owned Test".
Continue reading "Waiting for GOTOT"
Comments (19)
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 03/22/2006 in Miscellaneous
Australia score 434 in fifty overs at Johannesburg and South Africa hunt them down with a wicket and a delivery to spare. Thrilling indeed - because they made a match of it as the script progressed, because none dared guess the result till it came.
Sri Lanka struggle to 130 all out against Pakistan at the Premadasa in the 2nd ODI and then hit back to have their opponents at 82/6. They made a match of it too.
Continue reading "'Even contest' grounds"
Comments (3)
March 21, 2006
Posted by Gaurav Sabnis on 03/21/2006 in
Lost in the din of Dravid's wrong toss and the Tendulkar Boo-Boo is a story no one has paid any attention towards - the Wankhede pitch. The previous test match at Wankhede lasted barely two days, and a pitch which would have made minefields look like beach resorts was held responsible.
This time though, the pitch has made absolutely no news....and that in itself is good news. The Wankhede ground staff has gone a fair distance towards redeeming itself after the 2004 nightmare.
The pitch had a grassy look to it on the first morning, tricking Dravid into electing to field. Though the Indians picked only 3 wickets, it must be said that the pitch had bounce, and the bounce persists even now on day 4. The English seamers were able to get bounce and movement off the seam and reduced India to a mess. But once a batsman played himself in, he was able to play quite comfortably and only a rash shot or bad luck would dismiss him as Dhoni, Pathan, Yuvraj and Dravid would testify.
Day three onwards the pitch has deteriorated a bit and the roughs have formed, but the surprising bounce persists, and the pitch is well suited for a bat-vs-ball contest. As I write this post, England are all out towards the end of Day 4 and India will be chasing 313 at a runrate of around 3.
This sets up a thrilling last day, since the pitch even on day 5 has a bit for both sides, which is a rarity. Usually in India pitches either break up and turn into the proverbial dustbowls like in Bangalore, or ease out even further and become belters like Nagpur. A pitch like Chepauk which stays alive right untul the last session is a rarity.
And a Wankhede pitch which sees the match evenly poised even as it enters the fifth day is a pleasant surprise.
Comments (1)
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 03/21/2006 in India
A player making his 100th Test appearance can expect a few lines to be written in praise of him. Rahul Dravid already got more than his fair share of it. I saw no harm in doing the ‘in’ thing and put up a piece about his current assignment as Indian skipper. That was a sucker and I got completely off the topic thereon. On second thoughts the current duscussion on one of his major concerns befits the occasion better than a retrospect of past laurels of a man who never finds the time or inclination to rest on them.
The Indian top order collapse in the Nagpur Test was alarming - less for the occurrence and more for its familiarity. We have now seen one such in all but one of the Test matches since Dravid took over - and that includes the 1st Test of the Sri Lanka series where play started on 4th day. Stats will tell you that India have lost only one of the eight Tests (the ongoing one is excluded) but fortunately for Dravid his team has pulled off more rearguards in the past three series than skipper Tendulkar had seen in the two tenures he served at the helm.
Continue reading "Bring the left handers up the order"
Comments (1)
March 20, 2006
Posted by Chris on 03/20/2006 in West Indies
If I say “Golden Arches”, you think “McDonalds”. If I say “Bill Clinton’s cigar”, you think…..well, you get the idea.
Unfortunately, if I say “West Indies”, you are unlikely these days to think “4 frightening quicks” and the reason is painfully obvious when you watch their pitiful performances of late.
Continue reading "Where did all the quicks go?"
Comments (1)
March 16, 2006
Posted by Chris on 03/16/2006 in England
It seems a fashionable moment in time to be having a crack at England. Sir Viv Richards has proclaimed the criteria for “greatness” (and to be fair, he’s one of only a handful of people that can get away with doing so) and has found England wanting.
Continue reading "Kicking a dog when he’s down"
Comments (5)
March 14, 2006
Posted by Chris on 03/14/2006 in Miscellaneous
Poor old Mick Lewis. None for 113 is the worst ever bowling performance in a one day international. That kind of statistic has a habit of sticking to a player like a teenage girl to a Kevin Pietersen fan site.
Continue reading "Stuff that sticks"
Comments (2)
March 13, 2006
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 03/13/2006 in Miscellaneous
5.00 pm IST: Channel surfing was never so much fun. Kumble was taking the English middle order on a ride at Mohali on one button and the Australian captain was batting like some eye-candy Terminator at Johannesburg on another. Found time to message my friend Samir about the folly of Smith referring to Ponting's Aussies as 'chokers' in press. Little need of charging such rivals up on the eve of a decider, I opined.
5:30 pm IST: Australia have crossed 400 and are still going strong. I thought of postponing the imminent 3-hour evening journey back to Haldia (my workplace) and stay back at Kolkata. "Great batting is sure to continue in the South African chase dear; don't miss it" - the Johannesburg pitch enticed with a smile. But what of the very early wake up tomorrow?
Continue reading "12th March, 2006: while I was travelling"
Comments (2)
March 12, 2006
Posted by Chris on 03/12/2006 in Miscellaneous
Cricketers can be a canny lot, prone to using any means possible to eek out an advantage, however small. A well aimed sledge or a gnarly comment at a press conference are examples of cricketers flirting with the spirit of the game but staying faithful to its laws in the hope of inducing rash responses from the opposition. By and large these are tolerated if not exactly condoned tactics.
When a player oversteps the line though, such as Michael Atherton’s PocketGate affair in 1994, they tend to receive a public flogging. Ball tampering is a no fly zone with the cricket authorities.
Continue reading "Replacement ball swings out Windies"
Comments (3)
|
