I arrived just before 6pm on Thursday, less than thirty minutes before the ticket auction ended. Checking quickly into my room, I then rushed down the street to an internet cafe` to find that the forty dollar ticket I had bid on was now up to nearly twice that amount. After consultation with my credit card, it was decided that no matter what the cost, I had to win this auction! Ninety bucks, and a large amount of frantic clicking later, the ticket was mine.

A phone call from the seller organised a time to pick up the ticket, and shortly thereafter I was in possesion of what promised to be a piece of Australian Cricket History. Returning to my hotel room, I clutched my prize to my chest and drifted off to sleep, enjoying sweet dreams of what the morning might bring. Maybe Marcus Trescothick would field near me...

The alarm I had set to go off at eight o'clock must have been near sick of the sound of it's own beeping by the time I woke up at nine. This left me with very little time to get to the game, and it was with alacrity that I ran down to my car, barely washed and completely unshaven, and raced toward the game.

With the capital's landmarks quickly flashing past me, I noticed two guys waiting at a rapidly approaching bus stop, both wearing Australian Cricket Team shirts and sombreros. With screeching tires and accompanying smoke, I slid to a halt right in front of them.

"Get in boys, we're going to the cricket!"

They jumped in and I took off again, this time armed with two locals who knew where Manuka Oval was. In less than five minutes we'd arrived, parked the car, and joined the excited throng of people waiting to gain entry into the tour opener. Wishing my impromptu guides well, we parted ways and I went to find my seat.

I was sitting in Bay 4. Having not been to Manuka Oval before, I don't know what every area is like. What I *can* tell you is that Bay 4 in Canberra shares a lot in common with Bay 13 at the MCG; it's inhabitants are loud, passionate, and generally quite funny. I was home. Settling in, I was greeted traditionally by those who'd already taken up what was a prime position.

"G'day, hows it goin'?"

To my left were a group of guys in white singlets with "52 Boon" written accross their backs, in homage to the great Tasmanian's drinking exploits. To my right were a pair of blokes in blue singlets and corked hats. Everyone was in good spirits, and we all seemed to be here to see the same things.

"I hope Monty fields near us," was one man's wish.

"I hope Marcus Trescothick fields near us," was my reply. "I'd like an opportunity to ask him if he's recovered from the mysterious stress ailment he's been suffering from".

"I hope Flintoff gets bugger all runs," came from another direction.

This was one we all agreed on. For this day to go well for Australian supporters - or the biased ones at least - Flintoff would need to be controlled. In fact, so would Pietersen, Trescothick, Strauss... it didn't warrant thinking about.

The game started off slowly and with an early wicket to the English, before Cosgrove joined Jaques at the crease, and runs started to flow, and with the flowing of the runs came the flowing of the alcohol and festivities. Attention from the crowd seemed equally torn between commentating on the rising run rate, and commentating on passers by.

"Boonie! Boonie!" was the cry as a portly gentleman with a moustache wandered past with a puzzled look on his face. The same confused expression was worn by a gentleman wearing a turban who was greeted with cheers of "Monty! Monty!".

"Is she even here to watch the game?" demanded one spectator. The girl in question had been spotted wandering back and forth past our bay all day apparently oblivious to the game, a cardinal sin to some. The irony of his question appeared lost on him, as he finished his beer and stood to return to the bar.

To the pleasure of many Monty Panesar had been assigned to field near us for much of the day, and while his general ground fielding had been surprisingly good, his attempts of backing up on incoming throws brought delight to many. When he came on to bowl his three overs, he was replaced by - thank the heavens - Marcus Trescothick.

If you haven't heard about Marcus Trescothick's well documented mental problems with "stress", you're either not an avid cricket follower, or you've been living under a rock. As a person, I sympathised with him, and wished him well. As an Australian Cricket Supporter, I was champing at the bit to get an opportunity to have a little chat to him over the boundary fence.

Upon yelling his name for the first time, I noticed Trescothick flinch. Good. Though he didn't turn around, I knew he could hear me.

"Marcus! Hows you're mental health?" I yelled. Another slight flinch, but he didn't turn around.

"I hear you're suffering from mental health issues and stress Marcus, I just wanted to make sure you're ok. Are you ok?"

For the next few minutes Marcus and I chatted. That is to say, I yelled out questions about his mental health, while he initially tried to ignore them. He eventually gave me a thumbs up, which I found strangely at odds with the grim expression on his face. He seemed a little tense. When he didn't come back to field near our bay for the rest of the day, then later came out and made less than a handful of runs, I took that to mean that maybe he was still suffering from stress. Poor guy.

The break in innings provided an opportunity to wander around behind the stands and soak up some of the usual and not so usual sights of a day's cricket in Australia. There were kids playing a small chaotic game of cricket behind a drinks stand, more reserved elderly types enjoying picnics, larrakins of all descriptions, and even a random group of guys trying to get everyone to "Step up and sign the jersey! Anyone can do it, it's free! Yes, that's right, even you English can sign it! It's a piece of history!" When I asked them if they'd managed to see any cricket between getting people to sign their Australian Rugby Union jersey, they asked me who was playing. Nice.

On my way back to my seat, I passed Stephen Harmison and Ian Bell. Both were in English kit, apparently en route to training in the nets some further one hundred meters down the path.

"Its going to be a long summer Harmy..." was my comment to him.

He nodded tersely in response.

"...for you!" I quickly followed up, remembering his tendency to get homesick on long tours.

Bell just smiled when I informed him he could play for a better team than England. Not Australia mind you, but a better team than England certainly.

I decided the game could wait, but an opportunity to enjoy Harmison and Bell in the nets couldn't, so I followed them and was able to watch from about fifty meters away, without having to leave the ground. For about ten minutes I loudly applauded every missed shot, laughed when Harmison bowled wide, and intermittently cried "no-ball" when I thought Harmison had overstepped. From fifty meters away, I wasn't really able to see the crease so I erred on the side of caution, no-balling him every third delivery or so.

After enjoying this immensely, I was almost back to my seat when I was stopped by one of the English team's minders. He asked me if we could chat, and I agreed whole heartedly.

"You've been down watching the English practise in the nets," he said.

"Yep, I have." I replied.

"We'd just like you to tone it down a little bit if you could..."

Tone it down? What the hell?

"Well, I haven't sworn, I wasn't racist.. What exactly do you want from me?" I asked.

"You're having a good day aren't you?" came the question.

"Yep, I'm having a great day!" I answered honestly.

"Well... we just want everyone to have good day."

Never have those words carried so much underlying menace. With England's run chase barely underway, and apparently no way to reason with the minder (read: goon) I let it go with a "Sure mate, whatever." and went on my way.

The rest of the day passed similarly to the first. The surrounding crowd drank more, got merrier, louder, and more excited as England collapsed under the weight of a required run-rate of almost seven per over from the beginning. Things became momentarily tense when Flintoff joined Pietersen at the crease, but when the two of them were dismissed within a short time of each other, the game was over in any real sense.

As the ninth wicket fell, and Monty Panesar strode to the crease, I decided to make my way back to the hotel to sleep before the long drive home. As I left the ground, I once again passed the nets, and noticed Harmison still toiling away inside. Standing at the gate was the same minder I'd spoken to earlier in the day. I took the opportunity to ask him to show me the list of things that can and can't be said to the English team during their tour here, but he was unable to produce such a list.

Instead he just turned away, apparently satisfied that he was doing a good job. My opinion of his work was slightly different, so I shared this opinion of his choice of role in protecting the English team with a few choice words before leaving happy in the knowledge that I'd done my bit.

The Ashes start (minus Marcus Trescothick) on November 23rd. It's definately on.

Chappell has taken 72 wkts in the 74 ODI's he played!! Now I know what makes him bowl so much at the top order men in the nets.

Strike rates and economy rates of individual players are functions of average strike rates / economy rates for that era and need to be viewed as such. You need to make a few adjustments while judging specialist bowlers and batsmen from different generations with those figures. But for the all rounders the relevant figures, as indicated in Rajesh's article, are differentials of batting and bowling figures - and that should essentially cancel out such 'generation gaps'.

Clarification: Players' career batting strike rates are already available on the individual player pages of cricinfo. In the post above I was suggesting their incorporation on statsguru so that we get filtered values of strike rates.

While many elite athletes are still capable of maintaining society's standards for morals and ethics, plenty cling on to the school boy mentality they were never forced to relinquish due to the all-forgiving cocoon they're wrapped in. Ego and arrogance are justified as self belief, stubborness as grit & determination, and humour such as Dean Jones' thought of as larrakinism. After life in cricket finished for Jones, he moved into coaching and commentary after a quick public relations course in how not to make an arse of yourself. It either didn't include a lesson on always treating the microphone as though it's on, or Deano didn't listen that day.

Mike Gibson & Ian Chappel: The 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth games was set to the domestic political back drop of native land rights for Indigenous Australians, and when a troope of Aboriginal dancers entered the arena Gibson exclaimed "I don't know what that chant is, but I hope they aren't about to claim that piece of land out in the middle."
As Gibson was off-air at the time, and this was just sport in general, not cricket, this would have escaped the list and public knowledge, if Ian Chappel hadn't thought it humourous enough to include in a collection of anecdotes published entilted "Smile Sport!" in 1983. If this sort of humour is good enough for Chappel to print, and nobody objects, with the pepetuation of racial stereotypes and socially inflammatory repercussions, why are the Word Police so vigourously chasing Jones for the same crime? Is it just because it's in a different media?

Jeff Thomson: During the 2001 Ashes tour, Thommo was waiting on the field for the cameras to start rolling so he could tell viewers it was raining, and play had been delayed. At least, he thought he was waiting for the cameras to start. Unknown to the great blond quick, while English viewers were watching commercials, their Australian counterparts could see and hear him exclaim "F*#%ing rain! Great weather for f*#%ing ducks!". When the coverage next crossed to the Australian studio, the best that could be mustered was a joke about how, like the rest of us, Thommo was frustrated by the rain, and obviously didn't realise he was on air. If there was an apology attatched, it went unnoticed, and the slip up certainly didn't create the uproar that the latest incident has. Given that the broadcast was in the middle of the Australian night, perhaps it's not what you say, but when you say it.

Tony Greig: On the 10th October 1999, dUring his commentary on a game at North Sydney Oval for Channel 9, the television coverage of the game was being spliced with scenic footage of the surroundings. During one such venture, the cameras spotted a couple of newlyweds standing outside a nearby church, and zoomed in. As the image of Mark and Marlene Cases Zorn became clear, the sight of an a woman of Asian decent marrying a Caucasian man prompted former English captain Greig to ask "Do you think she’s been flown in?", a reference which was interpretted by many, the bride and groom included, to be a vulgar and tasteless insult. Greig was asked for a personal on-air apology, but one was not forthcoming, with Greig and Channel 9 instead apologising through an executive via phone - more than a week after the incident. Greig was briefly suspended from commentary as a result, and while it's said he faced an internal inquiry over the incident, he's back as a permanent member of the Channel 9 team.

It's a common cliche for a commentator to say a bowler is 'terrorising a batsman', and it seems a logical progression to call bowlers in such form terrorists. Sadly for Jones though, Amla's appearance and religion meant the comment has been interpretted perhaps more strongly than intended. The married couple targeted in the previous example did take offence and were deeply insulted by Tony Greig's comments, unlike Hashim Amla who seems unscarred by the recent events. In many ways Greig's incident was worse than any of the other examples because there really wasn't any other interpretation for the remark, it was sloppy in that it was caught on microphone, and the apology was badly handled at best.

So why do all of these people have futures in sport commentary while Jones is abandoned like a Tuesday afternoon run chase? Is it simply due to the political incorrectness of such a statement, at best inappropriate, at worst racial vilification? Perhaps South African Cricket saw this as an opportunity to demonstrate how far removed current policies are from those of Apartheid in years gone by. Whatever the case, this has set a new precedent for commentators to live up to, and television networks to enforce. Whether or not this new standard can be maintained while former players make up the bulk of international commentary teams waits to be seen.

It is often said that reverse (super) swing is poorly understood, but in fact it is a simple and straightforward technique that you can try in your own backyard. All you need is a tennis ball, a roll of electrical insulation tape, and a set of stumps to aim at. Cover one half of the ball with strips of tape and hold it down the center, with the taped side entirely to one side. For a toe-bruising yorker, keep the taped side towards leg and deliver the ball aiming for second slip. About two-thirds of the way the ball will curve like a banana and crash into the base of middle and leg. The faster you are the better, but you don't have to be very quick to create the effect. To bowl a menacing outswinger, keep the taped side facing off and aim for fine leg. The physics is elementary. The smooth, taped side creates less turbulence than the uncovered, rough side of the tennis ball. Less turbulence means lesser resistance, and the ball moves in that direction.

Is the turbulence effect, that obviously functions inversely as the ‘expected’ effect explained above (let’s call it that), so strong that it overcomes this expected effect and reverses it to a degree that it becomes too negligible to even deserve a mention from Shafqat? And does the cricket ball behave in exactly the same fashion as the tape ball? In case you think of dismissing the above words of Shafqat as a typo there’s further confirmation of what he intends to say:

Super swing is simpler to understand, easier to learn, more accurate, and perfectly reproducible. Delivered at speeds over 90 mph, it can be a lethal weapon, some would even say a weapon of mass destruction. It doesn't matter what your action is or how you cock your wrist. All that matters is which way the smoother surface is facing. Provided there is enough difference between the rough and shiny sides, the ball will always move towards the smoother surface. It isn't the 'reverse' of anything. That's just the way it is.

Not for nothing is aerodynamics excluded from science syllabi for fifth standard students and there should be a lot more to the mechanism of swing than simplistic explanations. Simply put, the ball behaves as it does and it is up to us to find out how it moves. There’s no use expecting it to do this or that just because our expectations soar only as far as our knowledge allow them to.

Maybe ‘turbulence’ does weird and big things to the quickly hurled cricket ball and Shafqat’s statement may be based on that. How I wish this scientific misery of cricket lovers to end once for all through extensive studies on this front by a handful of crazy cricket lovers pretending as brilliant scientists.

Oh – I must kick myself hard for forgetting to thank Shafqat profusely. Controversies have deluged cricket over the last month and it is a long time since we all discussed ball, bat and such things that are easier to relate to. At least Shafqat has started a debate that we would love to shout ourselves hoarse about. Would love to read a more detailed account by him about those words of his.

Do add your views here and help enlighten me if you have understood Saad Shafqat's point. In case you wondered, I regard myself to be an on-the-verge-of-retirement non-pro medium pacer who generally swings the ball right up. And as Shafqat mentions in his post, I agree with Imran Khan that it would swing the same (almost) all the time irrespective of the way the ball is held.

More stuff on swing bowling mechanism has been discussed here, here and here.

Test cricket in the year 2006 has so far been generally disappointing. If we delve deeper for reasons we find that most of these Test series were afflicted by at least two of the four principal causes behind nondescript matches: mismatch in strengths of rival sides, loss of key players through injury, pitches that are unconducive to rivetting cricket (bat dominating ball being the bigger problem) and safety first approach from skippers.

India v Pak @ Pak: C & D; rating - avg.
Eng v India @ Ind: B, C & D; rating - disappointing
Sri Lanka v. Eng @ Eng: B, rating - good
Aus vs. RSA @ RSA: A, rating - avg.
Ind vs. WI @ WI: B, C & D; rating - disappointing
Pak vs. Eng @ Eng: B, D and E (NIGHTMARISH CATCHING); rating - disappointing

(A friend pleaded that I upgrade my rating for the ongoing Eng-v-Pak series to 'avg' after that pole vault dismissal of Inzamam at Headingley. I'm sorry to disappoint him so.)

Amidst all this comes a breath of fresh air: the RSA vs. Sri Lanka series at the latter's home territory. It started off with strong suggestions of factor 'A' over the initial three recordbreaking days of the 1st Test. But the South Africans batted valiantly over the last two days and went close to dragging a virtual goner to a draw. And now this cliffhanger of a 2nd Test unfolds at Colombo's P Saravanamattu Stadium.

The three innings completed so far in the ongoing contest have all produced scores between 300 and 400 and the fourth one, barring a brilliant Ntini spell early in the 5th morning, is also heading towards a similar total irrespective of the outcome.

The bowling of either side has been both excellent and tidy while the batting was as brilliant as it was purposeful. The rivals have been incessantly up at each other's throats. All of this would not happen without positive thinking going on between both skippers' ears.

The match is evenly poised and a result is certain unless weather intervenes. Sri Lanka need 90 more to attain what promises to be their highest ever 4th innings winning total of 352 and they have 5 wickets remaining. Captain courageous Mahela Jayawardene is still at the crease on 77 and Nicky Boje is asking questions of batsmen. The dangerous Makhaya Ntini would be raring to go for that final burst on the morrow.

The way things are poised now at close of 4th day's play, cricket lovers could hardly have asked for a better celebration of the 1st anniversary of that unforgettable Ashes 2nd Test at Edgbaston that ended today last year.

Update: There's always some risk in taking early calls in cricket. Annoyed that the celebration is taking place elsewhere, the Angel of English cricket twists the ongoing Headingley match and takes out factor D to set up a final day thriller that looked improbable when England took guard late on the 3rd evening.

Dinesh Mongia and Ashish Nehra are two players who brought out contrasting reactions from me as I watched the drama unfold in South Africa during the last World Cup. While in Nehra's case it was all "hip hip hurrah", I dreaded the sight of Mongia walking in. Through the course of India's campaign, he never looked like he deserved his place ahead of Laxman.

Though I agree with Anand Vasu when he says that that Mongia’s inclusion is a case of short term pragmatism, it strikes me as incongruous that Mongia has been asked to leave Leicester early where he has been one of their top performers. In fact, considering his average this year and that he will miss out on four more stints at the crease, this early departure might even prevent him from completing 1000 first class runs for Leicestershire this season.

The BCCI’s demand is especially striking when you consider that Nehra who is playing club cricket in England has been allowed to stay away from a camp that he was invited to in order to assess his fitness, something that has not been his strong point in the past.

But apart from all this, why do I get this feeling that both Nehra and Mongia will not make the squad in the near future? In Mongia’s case, it is obvious that, with the current composition of the squad, he has a tough fight in his hands.

In Nehra’s case however, it is different. To the consipiracy theorist in me, it seems that, with Nehra’s history, the selectors are hoping to let the law of averages work itself into the equation and that he shall break down yet again in action in England with his club team, rather than on tour with India.

Will I eat my words? At least in Mongia’s case, I hope I do. The man deserves another chance, at least on the basis of current form.

Crowe browses through Bangladesh's Test graph and announces:

"Bangladesh have played a staggering 44 Tests, for one win, over just six years - they simply aren't going to make it."

The bitter part about this latest Crowe blunder: people otherwise respectful of his country's cricketing heritage are now forced to remind him of the struggle that his own beloved New Zealand Test side returned over THIRTY long years of taking flight. Before they finally became a good side, that is.

We assume Mr. Martin Crowe needs a refresher on that episode. Well the 52 Test matches New Zealand played in their first 31 years [10th Jan 1930 to 31st Dec 1960] yielded exactly 1 Test win and 27 losses for them, not quite unlike the Bangladesh figures over 'just six years' and 'staggering 44 tests'. On the other hand Bangladesh can claim that the mid-20th-century New Zealanders were far more fortunate to be playing fewer Test matches at such hopeless times and getting their own sweet time to recover between dampening defeats.

Those stats for Bangladesh tell a sorry tale indeed. But the team has flashed some signs of 'growing up' in the last third of this six year period. The fawns of Test cricket have shown their elder brothers that they need some more time, and then they will also join the merry sprint.

Development of a quality team involves investment of time, talent and - importantly - patience. And this last mentioned virtue needs to be shown by the protagonists and audiences alike. Belonging to a nation that shares Bangladesh's history of struggle during early days, Martin Crowe could be expected to speak up for a slowly improving new entrant rather than recommending guillotine for them.

Coming to think of it, if more people like Martin Crowe existed in the power corridors of cricket during the 1950's and 60's then some team might have had to relinquish Test status after a declaration that 'they simply aren't going to make it' and we might never have seen a fine Test batsman named Martin Crowe playing for a well admired side lovingly called the Kiwis.

I am sure to come back and reminisce upon this one just before the 2007 World Cup (surely, and I may even make a fresh set of predictions then to challenge this one!) and re-read it again after the 2007 World Cup is over. Likewise I invite reader friends to leave seeds of their wildest thoughts on the matter here and reap some fun for themselves later on.

Most fun comes from reading a wild-thought post when a number of friends add their thoughts and comments of all kinds, shades and sizes to your thought. The resultant collage is often wonderful to come back to for pure fun.

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New Zealand: Both Test and One-Day fortunes of this team swing as if it were a centre-of-gravity toy named “Shane Bond’s fitness”. In order to make an impact the team needs one or two of their numerous Man Fridays in batting and bowling departments to show up as Robinson Crusoe during the big event.

Sri Lanka: Discussed recently in detail here. This is a team with its sight firmly on glory. Fielding reflects the current attitude of sub-continent teams like no words ever can and Sri Lanka are outta-this-world with that aspect right now. Murali looks as relentless as ever and Vaas has declared his farewell with the big event. We can expect them to breathe fire then.

England: This is an utterly unpredictable setup (the word ‘team’ never presented itself) today. Memories of their performances in last year’s Natwest and Ashes prevent cricket lovers from losing hope and writing them off just yet, even after than 0-5 nightmare loss against Sri Lanka. Achievement of potential in sport though has a lot to do with fitness and any progress in the World Cup will be related to the percentage of main players like Flintoff, Vaughan and Hoggard that report fit after Ashes 2006-07.

Australia: “Pack hunting” advantage is gone from the bowling of the awesome side that conquered South Africa in 2003 and lot depends on Lee these days. Rest is still the best, with Ponting “The Dream: Extended” better than the best.

South Africa: Steadily improving in ODI’s over the last year, and recently drove in 438 stakes to slay the demon that was the “chokers” tag. Good performances in the Sri Lanka tri-series tournament and ICC trophy can prop them up as dark horses as similar conditions await them in the West Indies.

Pakistan: A B-I-G team in this form of the game anywhere, anytime. The longest ODI batting lineup in the world. Assuming their bowling is back to full strength by early next year, only their often-ragged catching and Inzamam’s laidback captaincy at crucial moments can be worrisome leaks in the boat that takes them to another WC semi final appearance.

Now we come to the two teams I have followed with regularity over the last month.

West Indies: Home advantage can see them through to Super Six. Sounds silly but much of the progress they make will depend on how many opposition middle order batsmen allow their medium pacers to dish out those brilliantly disguised slower balls and earn wickets off them.

However their new fast bowlers Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor are smart long-term prospects and may even be a handful in 2007 if we see quick wickets at some World Cup venues; development of such talents demand more attention than occasional first class matches and exposure to first class cricket in other countries should be arranged to help them hone their skills. [e.g. Outside of the 24 Tests he played in 3 years, Fidel Edwards has played only 14 first class matches during the four plus years till date since his first class debut].

Dave Mohammad looked a nice chinaman bowling prospect for the future. Everything else, barring those and Sarwan and Lara, is pretty much in the middle zone.

India: Where does that last sentence put India who just lost an ODI series 4-1 to them? Not much needs to be read in there actually. Their key one-day players Irfan Pathan and Mahendra Dhoni lost form in the last series. India have come back with a whole year’s task pending on those West Indian slower balls, as well as the ones they are going to surely face NOW from other teams.

They also have other areas needing attention. India played their last ODI tournament almost a year ago in Zimbabwe; since then they have only played 2-team series. The Indian fielding can do with some sprucing up. Also, most of India’s matches of late have been day affairs.

So there’s plenty of ‘vision-chasing’ scheduled for the ‘greatest chasers of the world’ in the next half-year. That spot in the semi finals seems ever so little less of a certainty now than it was before a fateful Dwayne Bravo yorker sneaked in through Yuvraj Singh’s gate to decide a match.

I summarise my early prediction for CWC’07:

Semis: Australia, Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan (in that order)
Super six: South Africa and one of West Indies / England

I take the pleasure of reflecting on some feats that Sri Lankans registered recently during a heady month-and-half long patch. The brave little men seem to be finding their feet on foreign shores, finally.

Principal features: The show of spine started right at the top with their talented captain Mahela Jayawardene. He took over as skipper due to non-availability of the injured Marvan Atapattu (who is also a vital batsman for them on overseas fixtures) at the start of the series. Here he crafted a masterly rearguard century to set the ball rolling.

That tremendous fightback, aided by generous assistance from a few things English like butter fingers and weather, should rank amongst the best achievements in Sri Lankan Test cricket. It is a feat that even the staunchest supporter of the entertaining islanders would not have given them a chance of achieving in view of the team's history as poor travellers.

Sri Lankans will hope that Chaminda Vaas the batsman, with a worthily bloated series average of 92, has changed some of history in this series.

Memories revisited: Much of that 1st Test charted a pattern close to the famous 2001 Kolkata Test between India and Australia. On an individual note, skipper Jayawardene's inspirational knock set the tone for the series and was, in spirit, the Sri Lankan equivalent of Sourav Ganguly's 144 at Brisbane in 2003. [The Indian connection of those examples is purely coincidental and should not be held against me;)]

2) The Lankans lost the second Test and, at 139/8 during their first innings of the 3rd and final match, were down to familiar hopelessness at one stage. But they rallied thereafter thru vital Vaas' batting and finally won the thriller through mystic Murali's bowling. A series levelled by rearguards and pullbacks is always a sweet prize. Even the dejected English will eke out a smile against the grind if you ask them about their recent tour of India.

Memories revisited: Sri Lanka's very own tremendous come-from-behind Test series victory in Pakistan (1995), a first ever for a 3 Test series. And that was Sri Lanka BEFORE the 1996 World Cup!

3) The one day wonder: For viewers watching the game thousands of miles away it is indeed difficult to gauge the process that goes into transforming a team. An attempt to unravel the mystery becomes that much more complicated if you chose to pick a team that lost a one day series in the subcontinent 6-1 to their erstwhile whipping boys India eight months back. Because they just turned the tide by completing a 5-0 whitewash of the English home boys.

Principal feature: [Astonishing feature really, other than a depleted, clueless opposition team completely 'in sync' with their mission] 3 different batsmen - Tharanga, Jayawardene and another creaking gentleman (a discussion on him is, as always, a separate issue) - scored 2 hundreds apiece over the five match series! Those add up to 6 centuries in 5 matches - one in each of the first four matches with the last ODI yielding two record annihilating tons from the openers. Consistency and teamwork seldom had better examples.

One way to put the unexpected outcome of this one-day series in perspective is to follow this Lankan side for a few months. For all we know, it may be more of a Sri Lankan zenith than an English nadir. [English Citizenship, here I come.]

4) The rebirth of Sri Lanka's most loved one-day batsman: Bigger totals than England's 321 in the 5th ODI have been chased down in one-dayers. At least one of those I watched was even achieved with very little hiccups, but none of those chases could make a mockery of a very big target as Sanath Jayasuriya chose to. Rather fitting for Sanath, that, for an ugly farewell with a damaged wrist is hardly the end that he deserved. The shorter version of the game cannot do without its truest servant just yet.

His 2nd successive 150 plus knock (and the small matter of ensuring a world record total for his team) yesterday against the lesser Netherlands has little claim to great significance. It is but a bold signature of confirmation that he is indeed back for one last hurrah.

Memories revisited: Singapur 1996

Tailpiece: Sri Lanka are suddenly the joint favourites for this year's ICC trophy in my book along with Australia, assuming Murali's availability. It is important that they continue their brilliant resurgence in that 'mannequin' tourney and prove to themselves and their detractors that they have not peaked too early for the 'main event' next year.

I remember the fate of a rather early Indian crest at this time of 1998, another preceding year to a Cricket World Cup. But if you ask me, the Sri Lankans may well be peaking at the right time for the big party. Why? Because they did it so perfectly a decade ago. Memories of their steady build-up to the 1996 world Cup are not too dusty yet, a dream run triggered by that watershed series victory in Pakistani territory.

The only 2 bowlers to take modern Australian batsmen for breakfast, lunch and dinner over full series, Sir Richard Hadlee and Harbhajan Singh, were born on the same day, 29 years apart.

Corollary: If we extrapolate that occurence then someone born somewhere on the 3rd July of 2009 may grow up to manhandle Aussie batsmen again.

A freakish eye injury Karim received from a Kumble delivery in Bangladesh's 1st ever Test match unfortunately ended his career in late 2000. That incident also triggered off a never ending procession of keeping prospects. They came, they kept, and they kept changing.

Ajay Ratra was picked for a very short duration in early 2002 before being dumped for the 17 year old Parthiv Patel. Parthiv Patel promised much in his first year and then petered away with the gloves, all the while improving with the bat. Dinesh Karthik succeeded Parthiv and looked the best Indian gloveman amongst the boys that donned the gloves in this millenium.

Unfortunately for Dinesh his half-year stay in the Indian team coincided with a low phase of Indian cricket and the emergence of an explosive batsman named Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who could also keep in one-dayers. Karthik, inspite of decent glovework and gutsy shows with the bat in Test matches, got replaced first from the 50 over side and then from the Test matches.

At the best of times Mahendra Singh Dhoni does standard work against fast bowling, impressing more in Tests than one dayers. However he can sometimes be the proverbial English batsman on the wrong side of the stumps with the spinners bowling. At present India look ready to pay for it over a limited duration in the hope of and as an investment into a glorious future, one where Dhoni improves his keeping from continued exposure to quality spinners and provides India the extra leverage afforded by Adam Gilchrist to his side.

Nothing wrong with that, except that Dhoni must win a battle in his mind before getting to the next step to 'Gilchristhood'. It is no mean task to remember at all times his real role when wearing whites, which is quite different and less glamorous than the way Indian press and cricket lovers love to portray his image as a bat wielding Rambo. Dhoni appears to be owner of a level head for now, but roads are known to be slippery for someone on a fast track to stardom in India.

For starters Dhoni would do well the remember that Gilchrist does not care retorting to even the greatest criticism of his unconventional batting methods but even a word of curtness about his keeping is enough to change the expression of his face. Dhoni needs to likewise remember that rather than an established middle order bat who can keep wickets, he is needed more as the aspiring Test wicketkeeper who can bat. Those small white pads are decidedly less charismatic, but his team needs him to shine in them.

In the eventuality of Dhoni not passing muster, India may have to revert back to Dinesh Karthik, which may not be necessarily a bad step. Karthik has the makings of a decent-keeper-gutsy-bat, if not a Gilchrist, and that should do for a start.

What would that make of Dhoni? Do we suggest dropping him? Far from it, he can be the greatest no. 6 ever to play for India.

[to be concluded.....Phew!]

But for skipper Dravid that results in removing the only trustworthy catcher from the slip cordon. So the skipper often helplessly leaves VRV, Sreesanth and Patel to their own methods. That partly explains the blow-hot-blow-cold performances of Munaf Patel, Vikram Singh and S Sresanth.

Going to the larger picture we have another Catch-22. I would not be surprised if this catching lacuna is as much reason behind the Indian team management's decision to abstain from playing two specialist spinners in Tests as worries about Harbhajan's form or lack of batsmen in the side that are part-time seamers.

That nightmarish 3rd Test versus England may have left a scar, one that refuses to heal even in the refreshingly picturesque isles at the other end of the globe. "What use are two spinners when you have no one to reap their harvest at point blank?" may be the question chasing the team management on the eve of every Test, which is truly a less-than-positive frame of mind.

I am sure the present scenario looks bleaker than it should and the young brigade will put their hands up soon. [I say that with great hope and...well, little else but faith in Yuvraj and Kaif.] They better do that, for it is a rare time in Indian cricket that even the presence of Kumble at the gully lends a reassuring touch of solidity from the reliable past to an unwieldy present. To think Kumble was considered a goods train in that past....

This series of posts may have be disappointing in one aspect: after so much of writing we could still not offer a road map to redemption, as that is beyond our rational jurisdiction. It is not a principal skill like bowling or batting we are talking about. Catching is a secondary skill, at least yet so in Tests. The solution cannot therefore start from the routine 'look for other options'.

It is an area which does not have sufficient records to quantify its importance. There is a reason to it: those stats would necessarily have to be damning in nature. For example, in order to understand the importance of catches we would then find out the total 'leakage' that a player has conceded in his career in terms of runs scored by batsmen dropped by him.

The pool of India's first class cricketers are mostly names, rather than faces, to general viewers and the Challenger trophy (another ODI format contest, a very brief one) is amongst the few peeps we have at them. From evidences it may not be too erroneous to assume that India do not have too many youngsters out there that can be expected to field a lot better than Yuvraj, Kaif or Raina.

Maybe the present crop of cricketers play far too much of the one day stuff compared to first class matches and are simply not 'brought up' on the extremely specialised fielding skills demanded by Test cricket. And that is a sad thing.

The current post should have effectively ended the ongoing series of posts but in life and cricket (in that order) the no-ball comes back to haunt at the end of the over, pinching you by going for a four. That seventh and last delivery, one that aptly raises an issue that has hurt India the most in recent times, comes next as the (relief-laden) concluding post.

[Next: Wicket Keeping]

Ken: Who's your favourite cricketer?

Nuatali: My favourite cricket is Shane Warne. Warnie is hysterical. He's just funny. My friends don't get it, but I think he's a riot.

Andrew: Mark Waugh. A great fielder, and one of the classiest batsmen I ever saw. Elegant, and always entertaining.

Matthew: Steve Waugh, Mr Reliable.

Ken: What is your favourite cricketing moment?

Nuatali: When the guy with the dark hair won the game for Australia.. What's his name? Yea! Michael Bevan! That was great!

Andrew: Well it's not my favourite moment, but it's the one that always sticks out in my mind most: when Craig McDermott and Alan Border fell 2 runs short in the run chase at the MCG. Whenever anyone asks me for a cricketing moment, that's the one I think of.

Matthew: When Steve Waugh got his century off the last ball at the SCG before the end of the day. I was there, and it was great.

Ken: How often do you attend to Test matches?

Nuatali: This is my first time. My friend goes every year, which is why I'm here lining up. I'm so nervous, she'll kill me if I don't get tickets!

Andrew: I go to the Brisbane Test every year, and have done for the last 20 years.

Matthew: I try to go to one Test in Sydney every year.

Ken: Did you order any of the pre-release tickets offered to members of the Australian Cricket Family? If so, why are you lining up today? If not, why not?

Nuatali: I didn't find out about the Australian Cricket Family until two days after the SCG game sold out. Then, when the final round of tickets went on sale, I lined up at the wrong place, Ticketmaster, not Ticketek! (Sales for the Sydney Test were held by Ticketek, for Melbourne by Ticketmaster.)

Andrew: My friends and I got tickets for day 1 and day 2 for the GABBA in the presale, and then yesterday we got two more tickets as well. All of the tickets we got for the Brisbane game were duds, so I thought I'd try my luck for the Melbourne Test.

Matthew: I didn't try to get tickets in the presale because a friend was going to get some through a contact. That fell through, so now here I am!

Ken: What tickets do you hope to get today?

Nuatali: 2 Platinum tickets hopefully, for Boxing Day.

Andrew: Anything on Boxing Day.

Matthew: Any tickets. I'm not fussy.

Ken: What is your Ashes prediction?

Nuatali: 4-1 to Australia!

Andrew: 3-1 to Australia, with 1 hard fought draw.

Matthew: 4-0 to Australia.

As I put my pen & notepad away, the doors to Ticketmaster opened. Hurrying toward the desk, we were told there were no tickets available for day 1. "The best 2 tickets you can give me for day 2 then please" was my reply. Seconds later I was holding 2 tickets for the MCG, I was over a hundred dollars poorer, and I'd been none-to-subtly shoved out of the way by Nuatali. When finally I stopped to actually check and see what the "best tickets available" had been, I had to laugh. Somewhere in the top of the MCG you'll find me, oxygen tank under one arm, esky under the other. There's nothing quite like a bird's eye view.

As for the brief survey, well, I know it doesn't mean all that much. But perhaps it gives insight into the sort of people that will wait 40 minutes in the cold of a winter's morning to get seats right at the back of an event one thousand kilometers away. The Boxing Day Test is the Mecca of Australian sport, and this year I make my pilgrimage.

With no disrespect to stylish Jaffer's considerable talent, the Mumbai opener is a batsman in the VVS mould and his presence makes sure we are playing 7 middle order batsmen (in terms of methods employed to score runs) in our lineup. It is fine, even recommended, when the team plays in the subcontinent or the present West Indies, but that is as far as I dare advocate.

With a catching crisis looming large the Indians are learning of a silent value addition from Chopra that has gone missing since his departure: back in 2003 Akash used to be a brilliant close in catcher who snapped up many touch-and-go half chances in the 2003-04 tour down under.

Someone in the mould of Akash Chopra needs to be amongst the first choice openers for tours to those three nations mentioned above. Horses for courses? Yes, of course! Chopra, or any other cricketer thought to better suit that role of a traditional Test opener with good close in catching skills, needs to be identified and taken in the fold. Considering the off-and-on path that such a 'highly specialised role' player's Test-call-up-graph is expected to chart, offering a contract will be the logical way to keep the person focussed on the strengths of his game.

[next: The Skipper's Catch-22]

With most Australian batsmen today making debut at the fag end of their 3rd decades in life, reason tells us not to expect Australian catching to reach any new highs in the immediate future. In a way the Australians are also feeling the pangs of fielding succession, albeit to a lesser degree than the Indians under Rahul Dravid.

[next: Remembering Akash Chopra]