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June 5, 2006
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 06/05/2006 in The Players
It is infuriating when you come to another city with some urgent business and find that the other party is going to be very late for the rendezvous. Every place is not a cricket field though, and sometimes discretion asks you to look the other way till you have digested the green stuff instead of letting it out.
Finding little else to do in the silly free time, I cross the road and stroll into a nearby internet cafe, where I am writing this post....
Okay, okay, I'm coming to the cricket fast.
Continue reading "Samba Cricket"
Comments (2)
May 22, 2006
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 05/22/2006 in The Players
Peter Roebuck muses here on ageing greats Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar as each batting icon runs his own steeple chase against time. Sentiments left aside, every leading cricketer needs to take a few ahead-of-the-game decisions about his playing future just around this "early to mid thirties" phase of his career, when every little stretch of 'poor form' starts getting viewed suspiciously without exception.
The game splitting up into two formats spiritually different from one another did nothing to aid such complex decisions. Jai Arjun Singh once wondered about the astonishing brevity of the graph of a cricketer's life in this blog. The archetypal modern player has a lot more incentives than his earlier counterparts for playing on. Personal milestones, dedication to the team's cause and love of the game are all there and are now joined by the crack of mass adulation of a growing global audience and thoughts of maximising financial returns in order to insure the very long post retirement life ahead. "Let me try one more season," he would probably tell himself at a corner of the dressing room while the youthful raise the decibels oblivious of his turmoil.
The trick is to tell playing on from staying on. A player who comes thus far in his career must walk this emotional tightrope to a longer career over the trap of carrying on beyond his "sell-by date" (to quote Jai) and time his departure from the great stage while the halo is still intact. He needs to do it sensing that gentle tap on the shoulder from Father Time, else he leaves himself at the mercy of earthlings named selectors. Going by the trends, this particular sense of timing is a rare gift even amongst players of sublime virtues.
Comments (4)
April 30, 2006
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 04/30/2006 in The Players
No I'm not posing as Nostradamus, nor am I busting some secret tournament fixing by ICC. That is not a take on possible World Cup winning teams from the future. It's just the distribution of future Cup hosting rights as announced by the ICC today.
Hold on mates - look who all are missing out on a home World Cup! Bad luck Punter, Straussie and Fleming but you do not get to play a World Cup at home.
Continue reading "Sub-continent get the World Cup in 2011, Aus-NZ in 2015, Eng 2019"
Comments (2)
April 23, 2006
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 04/23/2006 in The Players
…and who better than a South African named Herschelle Gibbs to testify for its quirks? Ask him about his last one-day innings; chances are you will notice the old sparkle come back to his eyes. It was that scarcely believable knock of 175 out of 438, a sublime innings that orchestrated the greatest one-day chase against the topmost ODI team in the world.
The downward spiral of Gibbs' form that followed the innings of his life was once again scarcely believable. In the 4 tests he played since that 5th one-dayer against Australia Gibbs has eked out a dismal 121 runs - less than what he got in that one innings - over 8 completed innings at an average of 15.12. This, on top of a meagre average of 25.70 over his last 10 Tests, has left the selectors with little option but to drop him from South African Test squad after the 1st of 3 Tests that the home team are scheduled to play against New Zealand. Suddenly that innings seems like a thing of the distant past!
The game sure is full of uncertainties, many of them far from glorious to the players.
Comments (1)
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"
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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"
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February 10, 2006
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 02/10/2006 in The Players
A toddler wobbles his way into the large room with big, soft settees. Papa is perched on one of them with a crunchy pack of edibles, gaze lost in that peculiar rectangle of radiance. Moving images keep leaping out of it. Our Tom Thumb ambles up unnoticed to a chin-high centre table and forgets the need of his unaccustomed limbs to be rested after every little exertion. Holding on to the prop he looks on intently, trying to figure out that ball game played by little men inside the box.
This might well have been the introduction to this addictive game for some of the present stars of international cricket. They would live up to a dream and achieve the glory of representing their nations at the highest level. A new chapter is inserted in their budding career book as they walk into the field of play, first international caps clutched firmly.
Continue reading "Irfan, Kevin and Clarke: The Rising Stars"
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January 6, 2006
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 01/06/2006 in The Players
(continued from earlier post)
Let us now leave aside the organisational worries of Rahul Dravid the team administrator and analyse Dravid the batsman in a larger context: his claim to the ‘world’s best batsman’ spot.
In his recent piece for The Courier Mail, Jon Pierik nominates Ponting as the best batsman in the world based on his recent form at the toughest batting position, no. 3. Not many can grudge Pierik his views on the Australian all-time great or debate the uncertainties associated with batting one-down. Some impressive career stats on the phenomenal consistency and all-conquering nature of Ponting’s form were quite awe-inspiring. The sole non-negotiable disappointment, however, regarding the point-wise comparison of Ponting with other greats in that story was the glaring absence of Rahul Dravid in the piece.
A look at Rahul’s career summary in Tests can help showcase the Indian's undeniable gems one by one in a familiar manner reminiscent of Dravid’s varied skills embellishing themselves over a typical long innings. To borrow Pierik’s words, any doubters who believe that Dravid should not be in contention for the top batsman’s slot should try a potion of these for a gulp:
Continue reading "Rahul Dravid: too"
Comments (9)
January 3, 2006
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 01/03/2006 in The Players
Ashwell Prince has generally projected himself well on most outings since the first we saw of him. He was initiated to international cricket during a much-awaited Test series in 2001-02 when South Africa were nightmarishly hammered at home by Adam Gilchrist and Australia. Amid the rubble of demolished reputations Prince managed to stay up to portray the part of this doughty newcomer not born with the silver spoon of phenomenal talent yet prepared to take the hard route to the next level.
Since that debut of his, Prince has done only moderate justice to the opportunities offered to him by the UCBSA. He has looked a better batsman than his average of 32 in Test cricket suggests. His batsmanship, though, is quite a loud shout away from that other Prince of world cricket, Brian Lara. Ashwell is, in some ways, a fill-in for the retired Gary Kirsten at another batting position. An analogy with the pre-2001 Justin Langer would perhaps be as appropriate.
Continue reading "Prince makes the grade"
Comments (3)
December 26, 2005
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 12/26/2005 in The Players
Just finished watching an episode of a new cricket show where they revisited the watershed innings of a fringe player from the outskirts of Delhi named Virender Sehwag. He chose this particular tri-series match against New Zealand in Sri Lanka 2001 to announce his arrival. The Sachin-less Indian skipper Sourav came out to chase the Kiwis’ respectable 260+ with this new all-rounder (haunting term that) in tow who till then had just this one ODI fifty and a batting average of 15 to show for his prowess.
Watching a replay is that much more fun when your favourite players are known to have done well in it. It is a dream come true for you as their success now has the inevitability of a Marvan Atapattu run-out. Sehwag rattled off a 68-ball hundred (as far as I recall) and left the irksome show host gasping for a ‘break’, 82% of Viru's runs coming in boundaries.
Continue reading "A day out with a dazzler, and the season of batting gifts"
Comments (1)
December 23, 2005
Posted by Angshuman Hazra on 12/23/2005 in The Players
Shane Warne, that genius of a leg-spinner, is proving to be a far better exponent of the googly in real life. The googly is half-truth of a delivery, where the leg spinner leads batsmen to believe that the ball would be bowled normally. But at the last moment he subtly alters the release to impart a reverse spin on it. It resembles the hoax of a magician, or an unverifiable statement from a crooked political man. Precisely the imagery invoked by his latest controversial statement expressing disgust for the lack of opportunities for him to pick up cheap wickets unlike ‘some blokes’.
The comment was disguised so as to communicate a loathing for such wickets, but the bitterness of expression betrays an underlying insinuation that he has started wanting them badly in order to stay ahead of all (or maybe one) competition. Forever.
Continue reading "A googly for Murali"
Comments (7)
December 20, 2005
Posted by Scott Wickstein on 12/20/2005 in The Players
From what we have seen so far of South Africa in Australia, there has been a definite change in South Africa's bowling attack, and that is that Makhaya Ntini is now clearly the most penetrative option in Graeme Smith's hand. Shaun Pollock remains as a fine bowler who can keep things tight, but Ntini does appear to be the bowler more likely to take a wicket.
Ntini has come a long way since I first saw him in Australia as a youngster in South Africa's 1997/98 tour. He was just one of a group of young 'players of colour' that had been fast-tracked by the South African cricket authorities. However, he has taken advantage of that 'fast-tracking' to be a very fine bowler; maybe not of the very first rank, but certainly there is nothing 'token' about him now; he would be one of the first men picked in the South African side. He certainly showed his worth in the First Test against Australia, taking 5 for 64- moreover, those five wickets were all in Australia's top seven.
Continue reading "Ntini should not tamper with his winning formula"
Comments (3)
December 7, 2005
Posted by Scott Wickstein on 12/07/2005 in The Players
Even at the age of 35, no one doubts that Glenn McGrath is one of the world's leading fast bowlers, even if it is an age since he pushed the speedometer past 140 kmph. He may not be the fastest bowler but he is still one of the best, spearheading the Australian attack for a decade now.
Sometimes though, I feel that for all of his wonderful achievements, Glenn McGrath might be somewhat under appreciated, at least in Australia. To understand how much he's done, the joy of StatsGuru comes to our aid. If you look at the career summary for Glenn McGrath, it is pretty obvious- he has done everything that a bowler could do, and he's done it year in, year out, against all comers, in every part of the world. And he's still doing it. So far this summer, close to his 36th birthday, he's taken 16 wickets at 20.43
Continue reading "Does Glenn McGrath get his due?"
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