 |
« August 2007 |
| October 2007 »
September 30, 2007
Posted on 09/30/2007 in Sri Lankan cricket
The Telegraph’s travel section contains a piece about what England fans may find when they travel to Sri Lanka this winter… and a hint as to whether or not Galle will be ready for 18 December. In the same paper, a moving article by Kumar Sangakkara recollects his memories of the tsunami and how proud he is of the resilient Sri Lankans.
Posted on 09/30/2007 in Indian Cricket
Peter Roebuck believes Anil Kumble would make a good Test captain for India. He writes in the Hindu:
As a cricketer, Kumble has surpassed expectations. It might be the same as a tactician and leader. On the rare occasions this unsmiling tweaker has directed operations he has shown the sort of flexibility and aggression supposedly absent in contemplative types.
But then Kumble merely resembles a librarian. At heart he is a lion. And he can still roar, continues to take wickets and has even scored his first Test century, an innings that reminded observers that he had started as a batsman.
Posted on 09/30/2007 in New Zealand cricket
Mark Richardson, the former New Zealand batsman, writing in the New Zealand Herald, offers his views on the team selected for the tour of South Africa. He has sympathy for Lou Vincent and Sinclair and believes they have missed out because they're not specialist openers.
If you're Sinclair or Vincent where do you bat for your province? Do you open, hoping for the usual test incumbent failures or do you patiently position yourself? The simple answer is to bat where you score the most runs. But that just enhances the problem for both these two because for Sinclair that's three and Vincent it's four.
Posted on 09/30/2007 in English cricket
Justin Langer's positive move at Somerset may echo through county championship in 2008, writes Jon Henderson in the Observer.
He says he is certain the change in Somerset's fortunes in 2007 was the result of his visit to the committee after a second drawn match at Taunton dominated by batsmen, this one against Derbyshire. Langer wanted grassier pitches to make it a more equal contest between bat and ball. 'I got 300 in that first game and, OK, I received the accolades for doing it, but I don't want to play any game of cricket in those conditions,' he says, referring to the shorn strips that were being rolled out at the County Ground. 'They break the heart of the bowlers and they break the heart of everyone playing the game - except perhaps the batsmen who cash in. I want to play in games that are competitive, always going forward.'
Posted on 09/30/2007 in Indian Cricket
|
|
|
Fitness problems and lack of intensity have been cited as reasons for Munaf Patel's absence from the Indian team
© AFP
|
|
Munaf Patel, not picked in the Twenty20 side and dropped from the one-day team, is hurt by the constant questioning of his fitness and lack of intensity. He asks why others are being asked questions about him when he is in the best position to answer them. Ajay S Shankar interviews him in the Sunday Express:
My family, my parents, two sisters, we used to survive on Rs 1000 a month. And for people like me, there are only two ways to reach there — Bollywood or cricket. But after earning a lot of money, you feel a bit numb about it, inside. That’s when you realise that what’s really important is your izzat, the respect. You don’t get that with money, any amount of money. Cricket has given me the money, and the respect. But now, with all this talk of lack of fitness and intensity, it’s a question of my izzat. And that’s really hurting.”
On being asked about his injuries and dip in form, Munaf turns defensive:
... 17 months since debut, goals? “Shall I say 500 wickets? It will be good for your headline. I am just trying to work hard, leave me alone.” Seven Tests, 25 wickets, but only one Test this year, comeback? “Dekho, if you perform, take wickets, nobody can stop you.” Fourteen ODIs in the first six months, just 11 games in the last 10 months, McGrath action? “Woh sab mera problem hai. This is not your problem.”
Posted on 09/30/2007 in Indian Cricket
It seems filmmakers have spotted potential in Sreesanth, known for his on-field antics and drama. PTI reports a director in Kerala who wants to make his first film starring Sreesanth alongside popular Malayalam filmstar Mamooty.
Abu said Sreesanth's role would be more than just a cameo.
"It will not be a guest role, but certainly an important role, which will have its influence on the story," he asserted.
Posted on 09/30/2007 in Indian Cricket
Times of India's Joseph Hoover comes down hard on Rahul Dravid's decision to resign from the Indian captaincy.
He is known to be an astute cricketer, a fine judge of the line of the ball, shouldering arms to deliveries which are a shade outside off stump. He is a good timer of the ball and is known to be careful about everything he does and says. But he timed his resignation poorly. It probably must rank as one of the most dastardly getaways in Indian cricket.
Rahul Bhattacharya offers his thoughts in the Tehelka magazine.
Slowly the job would have eroded Dravid. Captaincy unwittingly compels you to focus on things you may not really want to. For instance, he cared very much for what appeared in the media and this was a mistake. It was apparent to see that his impatience with the press had been growing.
September 29, 2007
Posted on 09/29/2007 in Twenty20
Even if the maths had been kind to the South Africans, writes Tom Eaton in the Mail & Guardian Online, they were simply not quick-witted enough to compete at the Twenty20 event.
Put a bowling machine 22 yards away and South Africans will hit it as far -- perhaps further -- than anyone in the world. But put a brain and will behind that ball and, well ...
Posted on 09/29/2007 in English cricket
|
|
|
Russell, in his familiar stance, in his final years as a player
© Cricinfo
|
|
Jack Russell, the endearingly eccentric former England wicketkeeper, is turning his immense talents to football. Russell is coaching the goalkeepers of his local side, Forest Green Rovers, and has found the buzz to be every bit as intoxicating as Test match cricket.
"Gary Owers, who played in the FA Cup final for Sunderland in 1992 and for Bristol City before he became Forest Green manager, lived round the corner and popped in to see me one day," recalls Russell.
"He had heard me on the radio, comparing a wicketkeeper standing back to pace bowlers with goalkeepers trying to save penalties and he thought the two arts probably shared many coaching principles.
"Gary asked me to come down and work with his goalkeeping coach Mick Byrne at training sessions - and I've ended up on the bench on matchdays, helping out during the warm-up and even filling in at the odd practice match.
Now I clean my boots every Friday night, put the dubbing on, and I get the same adrenalin rush, the same excitement, as I used to get when driving to a Test match.
"The current manager, Jim Harvey, even lets me chip in with the odd word in the dressing room and it's been an incredibly rewarding role - Forest Green's keeper Ryan Robinson has been picked for England's non-league side and we've made a decent start this season.
Mike Walters has the full story in today's Mirror.
Posted on 09/29/2007 in Indian Cricket
Yusuf Pathan has always been in the shadow of his younger brother, Irfan. But life has changed after he made his debut in India's triumph over Pakistan in the final of the World Twenty20. The Hindu’s KC Vijaya Kumar caught up with Yusuf in Baroda.
“Before I was known only here,” Yusuf said and pointed out to the fans and officials assembled at the Reliance Cricket Stadium, his home ground, here on Friday. “And now everyone knows me, yes in that sense things have changed forever.”
Posted on 09/29/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
|
|
|
Stuart Broad and Yuvraj Singh laugh it off after batsman hit bowler for six sixes in an over
© Getty Images
|
| Stuart Broad recently joined the list of bowlers who were hit for six sixes in an over when he was taken apart by Yuvraj Singh in the Super Eights stage of the ICC World Twenty20. The Times of India’s Avijit Ghosh analyses the psychological impact of being on the receiving end of such an onslaught.
London-based sports psychologist Victor Thompson explains. "The main risk is that the bowler will interpret the sixes as evidence that he has failed as a bowler," he says. According to the sports psychologist, a bowler should focus on the challenge and not the threat of the situation to prevent from crumbling psychologically.
"He should analyse his delivery and look for ways to test and beat the batsman. He must keep his body language confident and positive: upright, purposeful, chest high. He should also recall similar situations before where he has had success and shown grit against a challenging batsman. Other techniques can also help but these can give most bowlers a boost," Thompson says in an email interview.
Florida-based performance psychologist John F Murray compares the event to a pitcher getting hammered in baseball. "The effect depends entirely on a player’s experience, self-confidence, maturity and resilience. If a player is high in these factors then catastrophic failure has little effect and the player usually recovers well and may even return with increased confidence and focus," he says.
September 28, 2007
Posted on 09/28/2007 in New Zealand cricket
Recalled New Zealand Test opener Michael Papps reckons he has no lasting hang-ups about being hit by fast bowlers, writes Tim Dunbar in The Press.
The gritty Papps says he is comfortable with the likelihood the South African pacemen will be trying to rattle his helmet with bouncers in the upcoming two-test series. "Oh, fine with it. It's just one of those things that happens in cricket. I've been pinned before, mate, and I'm sure I will be pinned again."
Meanwhile Craig Cumming, Papps's fellow opener, has secured a spot as a second opener. He finds a place ahead of Jamie How for the two-test cricket series in South Africa in November. Jonathan Millmow reports in The Dominion Post.
Interested in Chris Martin's plans for the forthcoming season? Click here.
Posted on 09/28/2007 in Indian Cricket
Lokendra Pratap Sahi interviews Ricky Ponting on the upcoming one-dayers against India and talks to Sourav Ganguly on India's Twenty20 win in the Kolkata-based Telegraph.
And Hindustan Times' Kamal Siddiqi finds out what the sentiments are in Pakistan after the team's loss to India in the World Twenty20 final.
Posted on 09/28/2007 in Twenty20
|
|
|
Rohit Brijnath: "Twenty20 was invented by someone whose idea of understatement is Clint Eastwood with a six-gun and a scowl"
© Getty Images
|
|
Twenty20 attracts to a point because it is not supposed to be taken too seriously, writes Rohit Brijnath in the Sportstar.
Twenty20 was invented by someone who grew up with ‘Rollerball’ posters in his room, and whose idea of understatement is Clint Eastwood with a six-gun and a scowl.
It’s a game that is the remarkable mix of many stolen parts: it has borrowed the idea that plot is irrelevant from Van Damme movies, it’s scrounged the concept of “music at changeovers” from the U.S. Open tennis, it’s spawned its own version of basketball’s dancing girls, it’s crude version of football’s penalty shoot-out, it’s got a hockey-style on-ground bench, and bears a resemblance to golf with its bizarre rules (what in God’s name is the free hit, some might well ask?). All that’s left is for Twenty20 to become a contact sport.
But, Brijnath goes on to admit, Twenty20 is enjoyable perhapsbecause it is new, because India is winning and because it makes one feel younger.
Twenty20 is the future, but it’s also the past. The game we embrace now is the one we left behind. Every shot played by Yuvraj that night against England was only an echo of our boyhood, when the water tank at the end of the lane was six, you couldn’t hit square because you might interfere with Mr. Ghosh’s breakfast, and if you took more than two singles in a row you were a nerd.
Michael Henderson is suitably less impressed with the format. He writes in the Daily Telegraph:
No matter how loudly people cheer, silence is always more memorable at a sporting event than noise... There may be some merit in this new-fangled game if an interest in it leads some of those young people towards the less immediate but altogether richer rewards of Test cricket. But surely I am not alone in thinking that the inaugural ICC World Twenty20, won by India, was not quite as remarkable as stout Cortez stumbling across the Pacific.
Posted on 09/28/2007 in Indian Cricket
|
|
|
Many players in India's trophy-winning Twenty20 squad came from smaller towns
© Getty Images
|
|
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's remark: “A lot of players are coming up from small towns and they are mentally and physically tougher than those from cities" got Mid-Day's Anand Naik thinking if it was indeed true that players emerging from smaller towns had the ability to face adversity better than those from cities. He spoke to psychologists, coaches and BCC Talent Research officials for answers.
“In cities, there are a lot of options," said Dr BP Bam, a renowned sports psychologist. "So if one meets with a problem, he has an option to do something else. But in a small town, one will have to fight the problem because of lack of options. During this process, he becomes much more stronger and realises that he can achieve a lot by not giving up,” Bam added.
Posted on 09/28/2007 in Indian Cricket
The first leg with captaincy has been more or less smooth for Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But how when things are not as rosy, how will he manage defeat, criticism and dressing-room grumbles, asks Rohit Brijnath in the Hindu.
Dhoni has earned his million love letters, and a period where India should suspend judgement and let him grow. He had better be as tough as he looks for the BCCI’s job is simply to make his harder. Giving one crore to Yuvraj Singh for hitting six shots, however beautiful, is not just vulgar in a poor country, it is a celebration of individualism when Indian captains are valiantly trying to sell the idea of ‘team’.
In the Hindustan Times Pradeep Magazine celebrates the arrival of youth and a new fearless India.
September 27, 2007
Posted on 09/27/2007 in Indian Cricket
Irfan Pathan talks to Kadambari Murali, of the Hindustan Times, about his comeback and about winning the ICC World Twenty20.
It was an amazingly happy experience. He is energetic, positive, always there for you. We relaxed under him, with him, told ourselves that finally, this was just a game. We continually promised ourselves that we would give 100 per cent every time, there was no substitute for that, yet, we refused to let the pressure of situation get to us. We enjoyed ourselves, each other and at the end of the day, that showed.
Is it tougher playing Pakistan and being a Muslim, and one from Gujarat? I’m asking this against the backdrop of Shoaib Malik’s remarks, however inadvertent…
Posted on 09/27/2007 in Indian Cricket
Is winning the World Twenty20 more than just a sporting achievement? According to Ashok Malik,of the Pioneer, nations sometimes use sporting achievement to write a letter to the world and hidden in the on-field performance is a code for the dynamics of the society it represents.
It has become a bit of a cliché to describe the cricket team as an emblem of 'changing India'. Yet change cannot be measured without its inevitable corollary, comparison - what is one changing from?
If the T20 triumph (and triumphalism) does indeed represent the 'new' India, it would be useful to put it beside the success in the Prudential World Cup in 1983 and the failure only earlier this year in the conventional limited-overs (Fifty50) World Cup. It is also important to place all three teams - phenomena, really - against the contextual backdrop: The panorama of Indian society and political economy
.
While in 1983, Malik writes, the high point of the Indian team's triumphant return was being invited for tea with the prime minister but in 2007 congratulatory messages from the PM were insignificant.
The Prime Minister's congratulatory messages are hardly worthy of page one. Neither did anybody expect Mr Rahul Gandhi's appointment as Congress general secretary to displace Irfan Pathan's two-wicket over from news channel specials.
R Kaushik reviews India's World Twenty20 campaign in the Deccan Herald.
If the Class of '83 will forever be remembered as Kapil's Devils, then the band of '07 will go down in history as Dhoni's Daredevils.
And in the financial daily Mint, Amit Varma insists cricket has enough drama in its DNA to be enthralling in any span of time.
Posted on 09/27/2007 in Indian Cricket
Mahendra Singh Dhoni led India to an unexpected victory at the inaugural ICC World Twenty20, but now he has tougher tasks ahead - negotiating 12 ODIs against Australia and Pakistan.
G Rajaraman writes in Outlook magazine that Dhoni's candour masks a rush of kinetics.
Dhoni realises that leading Team India is going to be one of the most challenging jobs in world cricket. "Yes, I think it is. It seriously is, I am telling you," he says. To be sure, along with startling reflexes and wrists of supple steel that defies coaching-book proprieties, the 26-year-old brings a native sense of humour that will help him in the teeth of the storms and the stresses that go with the job.
Meanwhile the Twenty20 triumph has convinced Makarand Waingankar that Dhoni is a born leader and should now be appointed Indian captain for all forms of cricket. He writes in the Hindu
Indian cricket was gradually getting into the mode of cricket of the ’60s and ’70s when a player could be hidden on the field.
No longer will such players dream of playing the game. It was ‘a run saved is run scored’. But from now on, it will be ‘a boundary saved, a run scored’.
September 26, 2007
Posted on 09/26/2007 in Indian Cricket
|
"If I were to say that Rahul was affected by Greg's departure, I do not think I would be far off the mark. The two had forged a wonderful relationship based on trust and respect"
© Getty Images
|
|
"How Rahul Dravid managed to lead and keep his head above water is probably one of the best instances of man management ever exhibited in the history of the game," writes Rajan Bala in the Week.
Before he became captain, I had asked him how badly he wanted it. He told me: "Let it be clear I have not told you. But I want it very badly. Then the kingmaker is in Kolkata." This was a reference to Jagmohan Dalmiya. Now the kingmaker is in Mumbai and that, too, a government bigwig. He wants Tendulkar as captain. And so does the chairman of the selection committee. So Rahul decided he had better go as it would not take much to relieve him of the responsibility. That he had a relatively poor run of scores in England enabled him to trot out the excuse that he needs to concentrate on his batting.
Ask him and he would tell you off the record that he was feeling hemmed in. He was never able to assert himself and would have had a tough time fitting V.V.S. Laxman into the Test playing eleven against the claims of Yuvraj Singh. The fact is Laxman always deserved to bat higher than Ganguly, but that was quite impossible for Rahul to ensure. No specialist batsman likes to regularly partner the tail and thank heavens there was Dhoni at number seven to make it worthwhile.
Posted on 09/26/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
|
|
|
The future of Indian cricket belongs to cricketers with young and willing legs and arms and uncluttered minds
© Getty Images
|
|
India's victory at the ICC World Twenty20 has prompted the country's national dailies to remark on the event in their editorials. Here is a collection of opinions:
The Hindu says that it is clear the future of Indian cricket belongs to cricketers with young and willing legs and arms and uncluttered minds. But it warns against the success being blown out of proportion.
There are two clear messages from South Africa for the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The first is that the time may be just right to consider easing out the old guard. The other is that the BCCI must not allow this Twenty20 triumph to lead to a slow cannibalisation of Test cricket.
The Times of India calls for a celebration of diversity that defines this young Indian side.
The Hindustan Times observes that the changing face of Indian cricket reflects a deeper social and political transformation that the country has gone through.
Most sociologists would see this as confirmation of the rise of small-town India: to the multi-storey malls in Rohtak, you can now add the residence of Joginder Sharma. This is the India for whom playing cricket is a vehicle of social mobility, of finally unshackling an oppressive system where the public school tie appeared to matter more than ability. With its uniquely meritocratic approach, cricket could do what few other fields of activity in this country provided: a chance to excel and be recognised, irrespective of one’s lineage.
But it cautions against vieweing cricketers as catalysts of social change.
Don’t forget the euphoria of the 1983 win was followed by the horrific anti-Sikh riots just a year later. 2007 may be a watershed moment in Indian cricket, but beyond the boundary life isn’t quite so smooth.
September 25, 2007
Posted on 09/25/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
Peter Roebuck began the tournament as a Twenty20 sceptic. Since then he has discovered that the format has much to offer, as he explains in the Age.
Arguably, Twenty20 is better in small doses but it has stated its case impressively and now must be part and parcel of the program. Apart from anything else, helped by a notably cheerful commentary team, it makes entertaining television.
Jon Pierik writes in the Herald Sun that the way India celebrated their triumph was proof Twenty20 matters.
There is no time to think, just do what comes naturally. Veteran commentator and former England batsman David Lloyd went as a far as describing the celebrations as unprecedented on a cricket field. This sheer delight in winning a tournament most people dismissed can only be a good thing for a sport that hasn't had much to cheer about recently.
Posted on 09/25/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
|
|
|
The competition has been packaged as any fast food should be: attractively presented for rapid consumption and instant gratification with no pretensions
© Getty Images
|
|
After the end to an exciting inaugural World Twenty20, Mike Haysman – always a fan of the format – says it’s time for change in his article in SuperCricket.
The ICC can no longer ignore the popularity of the shortest form and needs to accommodate the wishes of their fanatical paying public. This injection is exactly what the game needs to rejuvenate the sport and whilst Test cricket needs to be protected and preserved, the relatively sluggish 50 over game can step aside and allow the new pretender centre stage.
Fazeer Mohammed, writing in the Trinidad and Tobago Express, seems to agree.
From the pulsating curtain-raiser at the Wanderers between South Africa and the West Indies to today's final matching India against Pakistan at the same venue, this tournament has spanned all of two weeks, including two rest days either side of Saturday's semi-finals. Compared to the attention-sapping two-month duration of the last two World Cup events - the International Cricket Council's flagship tournament - the competition has been packaged as any fast food should be: attractively presented for rapid consumption and instant gratification with no pretensions towards the proper nutrition that is needed to sustain the long-term health of the traditional form of the game.
A column in the Indian Express suggests that Twenty20 is not a dumbing down of the game.
Contrary to fears that cricket matches are becoming mindless slog-fests, T20 intensifies scrutiny of the game. Every delivery matters, every shot, every catch, every dive. With such little scope to make amends, freeloaders are caught out immediately.
Remember John Wright’s wry observation that the way limited-overs cricket was headed, any day now all eleven players would be picked for their batting. Most teams already go into ODIs with just four regular bowlers, even three. T20 has reversed that. The last fortnight in South Africa has shown that amongst well-matched teams the fifth bowler matters.
Posted on 09/25/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
A new-look Indian team has emerged in the format that’s been a hit the world over, says Somini Sengupta in the New York Times.
Not only was the game different, but the team was unlike those past. Its members played fast and furious. They danced victoriously on the cricket pitch. At news conferences, they spoke Hinglish, a mongrel of Hindi and English that has become the lingua franca of the young small-town Indian.
Although Pakistan may have lost the final, Kamran Abbasi in the Dawn says it was cricket that was the winner at the Wanderers. He also feels that it's a great start for the newcomers at the helm of the Pakistan team.
There is no shame in this defeat even though it might be at the hands of Pakistan’s biggest rivals. Malik and Lawson have revived Pakistan as a force in world cricket. It is an era begun with energy, passion, discipline and much excitement.
September 24, 2007
Posted on 09/24/2007 in Twenty20
It's fair to say that Australia has not embraced Twenty20 cricket to the same extent as other nations. Their defeat in the semi-final against India was the first time they had failed to reach the final of a major world tournament since 2004, and while India and Pakistan slug it out in Johannesburg, the Aussies are pondering the future of their beloved game. For Gideon Haigh, among others, the future is not entirely bright.
So the administrators have a hit on their hands, a hit that will reverberate. We have already seen the best-case scenario: a successful tournament still tinged with novelty.
Through time, however, it is likely that the main beneficiaries will be commercial intermediaries.
Cricket will make a great deal of money in the short term, money it has no obvious need for and will mostly waste, and it will be left a coarser, crueller, crasser game as a result. Now that the Twenty20 world championship is over, another proverb comes to mind: be careful what you wish for.
Posted on 09/24/2007 in English cricket
|
|
|
'A brilliant left-handed catch by Adams off Naved to dismiss Stuart Law at Liverpool on the second day of August was probably the single most important moment of Sussex’s season'
© Getty Images
|
|
Sussex, who lifted the Championship trophy on Saturday in a thrilling finale to the 2007 season, played and behaved “in the manner of a convincing international team” according to Mark Nicholas in the The Daily Telegraph.
The lion's share of this credit must go to Chris Adams, a brilliant man and fine leader. I wonder how often he and Yorkshire wonder about destiny, for last winter he had all but signed the papers that would take him from Hove to Headingley. It will irk him to have let them down but his instinct was right to stay put.
Doubtless, there is more to this than meets the eye but on the surface it has a satisfactory feel. Yorkshire have been superbly led by a Yorkshireman, albeit one who hobbles a bit these days, and Darren Gough's infectious enthusiasm should have long-term benefits. Sussex have their adopted son Adams, once of Derbyshire, to ride roughshod over doubters and continue the winning culture that is so much of his own making. Of course, they are lucky with Mushtaq Ahmed but many a county has had golden overseas players and failed to motivate them so productively or, indeed, to build a side around them with such effect.
Meanwhile in The Times, Christopher Martin-Jenkins also singles out Adams for praise.
A brilliant left-handed catch by Adams off Naved to dismiss Stuart Law at Liverpool on the second day of August was probably the single most important moment of Sussex’s season. It came early in a compelling performance by the bowlers in the fourth innings on a ground where Lancashire had beaten them last year. The long Lancashire drought - 73 years and counting since the last outright title – would surely have ended had they won that match but, in the end, it was Durham who matched Sussex for the number of games won, seven, and who deservedly finished as runners-up in a season in which they also won the Friends Provident Trophy and gained promotion from the second division of the NatWest Pro40.
In The Guardian Vic Marks insists Mushtaq Ahmed has been absolutely instrumental (again):
The Sussex philosophy has been on the lines of 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'. So Mushtaq bowls and bowls, but the rest know their parts and the personnel around him changes steadily. For example, Andy Hodd behind the stumps has meant that Matt Prior's absence has barely been a factor.
But Mushtaq has been the key yet again. He is easily the most prolific leg-spinner in county cricket, even with Shane Warne in the contest. Is it his well-disguised googly or his renewed devotion as a Muslim? 'My life was not disciplined when I started playing for Somerset [in the nineties]. I was living a western life. I wasn't praying. I wasn't reading the Koran'. And his form fell away. Sussex remain the grateful beneficiaries of his renewal.
Posted on 09/24/2007 in
Graeme Pollock, the legendary South African batsman, is impressed with Yuvraj Singh. In an interview with Sanjeev Samyal, of the Mumbai-based Mid Day, he talks about Yuvraj's batting technique.
Timing was my strength. Yuvraj does time the ball well; doesn’t over-hit it. He has strokes on both sides of the wicket, so did I. And, he is a good player of the bad ball as was I. To be a good player of the bad ball is very important, that is when you will hurt the bowler the most.
September 23, 2007
Posted on 09/23/2007 in English cricket
In The Sunday Telegraph Mike Atherton draws a comparison between Andrew Flintoff and the Northern Rock bank.
Andrew Flintoff is the Northern Rock of cricket. A once-powerful brand built from humble and parochial beginnings, now undermined by questionable management strategy with his stock currently in freefall and his future uncertain.
Unlike the account holders of Northern Rock, Flintoff's fans and sponsors have not withdrawn their support – after all, such sportsmen engender deeper feelings of goodwill than mere financial institutions – but they are beginning to feel a little short-changed. Flintoff hasn't played a Test match since January and the chances of him playing Test cricket this winter must now be slim.
Atherton warns that England’s management of Flintoff also leaves something to be desired.
It took an outsider like Ricky Ponting recently to articulate what has been obvious for a while, that Flintoff needs to give his ankle an immediate and complete break. It seemed a strange decision to play him against India, in a match irrelevant to England's immediate prospects. You could argue that he hasn't exactly been burdened with too much cricket of late, but rehabilitation and training is not the same as rest. That seems the only option now.
September 22, 2007
Posted on 09/22/2007 in Commentary
'Cricket and baseball, have inherited paths of development that has been entrenched in the political economies, where they have thrived," says Srinivasan Ramani in the Post.
Globalisation and the transfer of momentum into the emerging liberalised economies of the colonies is changing the nature of cricket now. From being a sport that was used to buttress nationalism, it is now taking the American professional route, a market-oriented one.
... Conversely, the re-emergence of nationalism in countries such as Japan has brought new trends in baseball. Japanese professional baseball players, many of whom are stars earning their bread in the MLB in America, were successful in winning the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006
Posted on 09/22/2007 in English cricket
The end of the county season draws nigh and for Richard Montgomerie, it's been a pretty successful campaign. His county, Sussex, are on the verge of being crowned champions for the third time in five years. But at the age of 36, there's no guarantee that he'll be around for much longer, and with that in mind, he's embarking on a new career ... as a teacher.
For the last couple of winters Montogmerie has been studying for an Open University PGCE qualification and the circumstances in question are "two or three" offers to teach chemistry next year. It is hardly surprising - the prospect of a scientist and a cricket coach rolled into one must be irresistible for potential employers.
"I was doing some module work this morning! Very exciting it was," he enthuses. "This winter I've got an eight-week and a 10-week [school] placement. I have talked to a couple of schools. That's why I've got to make a decision, there are jobs there for me."
September 21, 2007
Posted on 09/21/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
"The South African cricket team are not a bunch of chokers. We know, because they tell us so," writes Michael Doman on Independent Online. "Yet on Thursday night in Durban they were rudely dumped out of the World Twenty20 by India when they buckled under the pressure of having to chase a victory target of 154 in 20 overs."
The other cry in the wake of South Africa's demise is: Where was Jacques Kallis when needed. Not selected in the squad... and in hindsight perhaps this was a mistake. The people are impatient for success. Yet remember that two of Saturday's semifinalists, India and Pakistan, did not make it past the first round of the 2007 World Cup.
Posted on 09/21/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
|
|
|
Rohit Sharma - Next in line
© AFP
|
|
Rohit Sharma has been talked about for long in Mumbai cricket circles and it was only a matter of time before the whole country would sit up and take notice of him. After his match-winning 50 against South Africa which helped India advance to the semi-finals, his family spent a sleepless night, and they were hardly complaining. Read the full piece in Rediff.
The telephone would not stop ringing and the 15 people assembled in Dinesh Lad's room at Star Line building Gorai in the far suburbs of Mumbai couldn't believe that the boy next door had made it big.
Also read Sandeep Dwivedi's article in the Indian Express.
But Sharma’s friends keep it simple as they can’t stop speaking about last night’s ‘kadak’ knock. They speak fondly about Indian cricket’s newest star, who hasn’t changed a bit and still constantly keeps in touch with them. No doubt, Sharma groaned about his cell phone bill to a journalist recently and asked him to keep in touch through mail.
September 20, 2007
Posted on 09/20/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
Soumya Bhattacharya writes in the Hindustan Times why Twenty20 doesn't seem like cricket to him.
It appears to be not so much a speeded-up, watered-down version of cricket, a sort of cricket-lite for dummies who are incapable of comprehending the complexities and subtleties of the greatest game in the world, but an utter impostor. It has whittled away at cricket’s essence; it has snuffed out its soul; it is unrecognisable as the game I adore.
Posted on 09/20/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
Big hits are nothing new, but in his column for the Guardian Mike Selvey says cricket's overdoing it a bit too much. Getting closer to the matter, Selvey's view is that new lightweight bats mean limited-overs cricket is in danger of turning into a predictable slogarama.
There is some phenomenal ball-striking taking place, the size of some of the boundaries notwithstanding. Before Yuvraj Singh's outrageous six sixes in an over off Stuart Broad yesterday, the longest hits so far, presumably measured by laser, have been belted by Pakistan's Misbah ul-Haq off Australia's Nathan Bracken, stunning 111-metre front foot drives both. These, and many of the numerous maximums hit this past week or so, have been the result of perfect striking and supreme confidence; six anywhere, anytime. The bats don't half help, though; these disposable lightweight lumps of willow, all volume and no density. It is these characteristics that still bother me.
Writing in the Hindu, Steve Waugh hopes Mahendra Singh Dhoni's appointment as ODI captain doesn't detract from India's task at hand - qualifying for the semi-finals of the ICC World Twenty20.
Waugh also feels the Australians are taking time to come to grips with the Twenty20 format, and seem to be caught between wanting to play the way they do in 50-over cricket and trying to innovate.
September 19, 2007
Posted on 09/19/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
Australia's insistence on using Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds as their spinners, rather than the specialist Brad Hogg, is hurting them significantly at the ICC World Twenty20, as Peter Roebuck explains in the Sydney Morning Herald.
As the Pakistanis rattled along, Adam Gilchrist must have wished he had Brad Hogg's more potent brew at his disposal. Arguably, Hogg's batting was also missed as the tailenders swished away like a drunken headmaster. Not that it was easy for the Australians to change a team that has been serving them well. Nevertheless, spin has been to the foremost in this Twenty20. As with the film industry, it is often written off but refuses to die. Not for the first time, Daniel Vettori has been as dangerous as any paceman.
Posted on 09/19/2007 in Indian Cricket
|
|
|
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's first assignment as ODI captain will be the home series against Australia and Pakistan
© AFP
|
| Mahendra Singh Dhoni is now India's one-day captain and Rohit Brijnath, writing in the Hindu, feels Dhoni must be protected while taking on this high-pressure job.
The BCCI must give the captain a media officer to act as a buffer. India’s media is massive, and no different from say English football where informed reporters work alongside less salubrious souls, but it can overpower a captain. A wise, organised team manager (as opposed to fellows who sight-see) eases tensions, he affords the captain more time and space. A smart coach does the homework, runs practices, deflects criticism. These are the very basic protections.
Meanwhile, the Times of India's Avijit Ghosh profiles the increasing prevalence of small-town cricketers.
Dhoni's rise isn't just about the invisible geographical jostling between small-town India and the metros. It is also about the shifting equation of classes. Even in the past cricketers from underprivileged backgrounds, notably Eknath Solkar, have played for India.
But the son of a pump operator becoming India's captain perhaps explains why the game continues to attract millions across the country: for all its flaws, cricket remains a forceful avenue of social mobility where compared to nepotism-driven Bollywood, the chances of finding a platform to perform and succeed is far better.
Posted on 09/19/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
|
|
|
"Why, oh why, KP, couldn't you have kept your trap shut?"
© Getty Images
|
|
Convincing as Twenty20 cricket has become, it would be dangerous for the game to lose sight of the advantages that are still clear in 50-over cricket, writes Mark Nicholas in the Daily Telegraph.
Twenty20 is exciting because it is condensed. It is the natural heir to the 40-over cricket that quickly established itself in the late Sixties as the "new black" – hip, fast, accessible and satisfying. Previously unseen audiences were as seduced then as they are now. Forty years on, it is obvious to everyone except the people who run the game in England day-to-day, that the 40-over format is a white elephant. In fact, it is more dangerous than that. It is an energy sapper, an injury-sucker and a diversion from the accepted formats that are played everywhere else in the world.
Nicholas also requests Kevin Pietersen to stop bleating and just get on with his game.
In the same publication, Mike Atherton says that Twenty20 cricket is a threat to the game's future. Atherton's view is that the appetite for Twenty20 is insatiable, and he's ready to lay a large wager that eventually 50-over cricket will be rendered extinct as a result.
James Lawton shares similar views in his column in the Independent.
Twenty20 is not cricket. It does not have growth, that sublime building of skill and concentration and timing which makes the Test game so ultimately intriguing – nor much of the declining, but sometimes still visible, fundamental qualities of the game which are offered down the food chain until, as in the crudest making of an omelette, the eggs are smashed in the version which is now having imposed upon it, in another money-grubbing lunge, the dignity of a world title.
In the process, cricket uses up its prime talent with the profligacy of a doomed punter chasing from one casino to another.
Over in the Times, David Fulton feels England's top sports stars are resorting to the blandest of platitudes. Fulton too criticises Pietersen's call to "humiliate" Australia by knocking them out of the World Twenty20 - which backfired spectacularly, by the way - and wonders how KP felt it would somehow serve as an act of revenge for the Ashes whitewash.
Posted on 09/19/2007 in Australian cricket
Australia’s Twenty20 international against India in February could draw the biggest crowd of the Australian season, Peter Lalor writes in the Australian. Cricket Victoria expects more than 80,000 fans will flock to the MCG for the three-hour fixture.
There are only two international Twenty20 matches scheduled for summer. Last year, nearly 30,000 turned out to see the Twenty20 final between Victoria and Tasmania. One state official said that the new form was "where the big bucks are" and claimed it was the only state generating a profit. Costs for the Twenty20 matches are considerably lower than for one-day internationals or Pura Cup matches.
In the same paper, Malcolm Conn suggests that the ICC World Twenty20 should be used a template for future World Cups.
This is a far cry from almost two months of the often soporific cricket that dragged itself around the Caribbean this year for the traditional World Cup, which was fittingly decided in total darkness amid complete chaos as Australia claimed a third successive title.
September 18, 2007
Posted on 09/18/2007 in Pakistan cricket
In the Age, Peter Roebuck analyses Geoff Lawson's first few games as a national coach and decides that perhaps Lawson was just what Pakistan needed.
He did not have much to lose, a steady but peripheral media career and a tangential involvement in the game. Why not go for broke? From the Pakistan perspective, Lawson was the right choice. Proven candidates had not applied. At least he wanted the job and was prepared to look past current complications. Moreover, he was an outsider and came with a clean plate.
Posted on 09/18/2007 in English cricket
Mark Greatbatch’s time at Warwickshire has been far from happy, and with his contract about to be ended with a year to run, it would be easy to dismiss his departure as just another example of someone jettisoned because of the failure of his team.
But George Dobell of the Birmingham Post has followed his two years as coach closely, and he reports that this is no simple case of a county finding a scapegoat.
Continue reading "Will anyone mourn the coach's departure?"
Posted on 09/18/2007 in Indian Cricket
|
|
|
Polly Umrigar quit as India captain in the 1958-59 home series against West Indies due to a selection dispute
© Cricinfo Ltd.
|
| Makarand Waingankar, writing in the Hindu, looks back at some of the controversial captaincy-related incidents in Indian cricket.
The captaincy of the Indian cricket team is a jigsaw puzzle. It is also a facet that is guaranteed to create suspense and debate.
Hardly had Ajit Wadekar returned home, he was besieged by waiting journalists for his comments as he had dethroned captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi for the West Indies tour of 1971. He was too shocked to react.
Earlier in the 1958-59 home series against the West Indies, it was a merry-go-round when four captains were appointed for a five-Test match series.
Of the four, Polly Umrigar quit on the morning of the Madras Test when he received a telegram from Ratibhai Patel, the then president of the BCCI, asking him to play off-spinner Jasu Patel instead of opening batsman AK Sengupta, who was Umrigar’s choice, as the team needed a batsman. Eventually Sengupta played, but Vinoo Mankad led the team.
September 17, 2007
Posted on 09/17/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
It has only taken a week for Peter Roebuck to soften his anti-Twenty20 stance. He explains in the Sydney Morning Herald that although he is not yet a convert, he now understands that some good can come from the shortest format of the game.
Above all, the tournament has maintained its momentum. Thankfully, the ICC learnt from the mistakes made in the last long-winded World Cup. Matches have been rattling along so that interest has not wavered. Tickets have been cheap, $4 in the popular areas, and no attempt has been made to dampen spirits. To the contrary, music has been encouraged as well as silly costumes and amusing antics.
Robert Craddock, writing in the Courier-Mail, still has significant reservations.
I find it's like watching that old 1960s television show Combat (with Vic Morrow) where people got shot up at the rate of 100 deaths per minute. Eventually you get to the stage where you go "Oh, another one, anything else happening?" It doesn't push my buttons but you simply have to accept that cricket needs it.
September 16, 2007
Posted on 09/16/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
With the ICC Twenty20 seemingly a hit with the spectators unlike the tedious World Cup in the Caribbean, Michael Atherton ponders the implications for 50-over cricket in The Sunday Telegraph. He says the announcement of the Champions League and the 25% increase in number of Twenty20 games in the next English county season are a portent of things to come.
The appetite for Twenty20 is insatiable. While all eyes have focused on South Africa, there were two developments elsewhere which suggest that eventually Twenty20 cricket could well become the dominant form of the game. I'd certainly lay a large wager that eventually 50-over cricket will be rendered extinct.
Posted on 09/16/2007 in Twenty20
Twenty20 has had its share of detractors, with the Australian's Peter Lalor being its latest critic. Lalor argues against cricket's new format, and has found an ally in Greg Chappell, the former Australia captain.
Now money is a good thing, but everybody knows that it can do strange things to people and to sport.
Former Test captain and the previous India coach, Greg Chappell, has been watching the lantana-like spread of Twenty20 with some concern. He says that while he is happy with the new game being played as a fundraiser at the domestic level, he is concerned that it might affect the focus of our most important breeding grounds for Test players -- the states.
Chappell points out that the one-day game has so distracted most of the other cricketing nations that they have fallen away in the five-day game. He worries that the simplistic Twenty20 form could do further damage. For a start, he finds the form is naive and needs development. "It's got limitations as a form, it is very one-dimensional," Chappell says. "It's certainly not the panacea for our ills as some consider it."
September 14, 2007
Posted on 09/14/2007 in Indian Cricket
This was a fair time for Rahul Dravid to resign as the captain, feels Rohit Brijnath. In a BBC column, he says the off-field strains of captaincy reduced Dravid's enjoyment of the game.
Surrounded by his team, or in the dressing room, Dravid found the ultimate contentment, but like most Indian captains it is the off-field demands/politics/chaos that wearies the mind and greys the hair. Leading India ages men before their time. In some ways, ironically, perhaps a thoughtful man was guilty of taking his job too seriously.
He also says that the new captain shouldn't be one of the old hands but a youngster.
Sehwag, Dhoni, Yuvraj and Kaif have not convinced us completely of their Test qualifications in recent times, yet one of these men must lead, slip, fall, learn. India cannot go backwards and rely again on its older men. They have done enough.
Posted on 09/14/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
Australia were beaten by a younger, fitter, brighter Zimbabwe outfit on Wednesday, according to Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The Aussies looked leaden. Not so long ago, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist dominated a World Cup campaign. Here, they lost their wickets to poorly executed back-foot shots. Having played practice matches on firmer pitches, none of the Australians timed the ball sweetly, especially off the back foot. Ponting himself played an awful shot, a slog sweep that merely made matters worse. Perhaps the Australians had watched the opening match and thought every ball had to be dispatched into the stands. Certainly the batsmen did not adjust their games to meet the conditions. None of the Australian batsmen played county cricket this winter, and it showed.
Australia’s players weren’t the only ones looking sheepish after the match. Adam Hamilton writes in the Herald Sun that punters around the world lost tens of millions of dollars because of the upset.
"When the Aussies got into $1.01 we still matched more than $400,000. That's the shortest odds possible," Betfair’s Hugh Taggart said. "What's even more staggering is that a further $2.8 million was matched at $1.02. It's safe to assume there's more interest in Twenty20 than we first thought."
September 13, 2007
Posted on 09/13/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck says he can't be content with Twenty20 given the nature of the format.
Satisfaction was lacking. Twenty20 tolerates batting without consequence. It is a slogathon. None of the subtleties of the game were seen, the speculations in the stands, the mid-pitch debates. Everyone is a hitter.
Posted on 09/13/2007 in Zimbabwe cricket
There’s not much to cheer in Zimbabwe these days, so you can forgive the state-run Herald newspaper, the only mainstream publication in the country, from going overboard after Zimbabwe’s stunning win against Australia. It was unsurprising that the match is the lead story on the front page.
One commentator noted that now everyone knew why the Australian national side was banned by its government from coming to Zimbabwe for a one-day international series this month.
Zimbabwe had won the hearts of the crowd for their commitment in all departments and it was no surprise that virtually everyone waited for their chance to congratulate the victorious players who went on a victory lap. The electronic scoreboard stayed with the message "Congratulations Zimbabwe" for the night.
Perhaps fortunately, the result came too late for today’s Australian papers, but tomorrow’s are unlikely to be too forgiving to Ricky Ponting’s side.
David Hopps in The Guardian notes:
It was also an embarrassing start for Tim Nielsen, Australia's new coach, whose side were 50-1 on favourites, but who looked unprepared both physically and mentally. They had practiced on the featherbed pitches of Johannesburg and entirely failed to adapt to the more hostile conditions in Cape Town.
In The Daily Telegraph, Simon Briggs says it was down to preparation.
Beset by political troubles, Zimbabwe have suspended themselves voluntarily from Test cricket indefinitely. There are many within the sport who believe they should not be allowed to compete at all until the tyrant Robert Mugabe is deposed. But whatever the real-world backdrop, this team have clearly prepared themselves with great efficiency for this tournament. Their bowling was disciplined, and their batting cool-headed.
September 12, 2007
Posted on 09/12/2007 in South African cricket
South Africa's thrilling victory in last night's opening encounter against West Indies at Johannesburg has given the ICC World Twenty20 the perfect start. But, says David Hopps in The Guardian, it will take more than just moments like that to arrest the alarming disintegration of South Africa's national team, with every day bringing another disgruntled player into the headlines.
Even success for South Africa in Twenty20 would not remove the feeling that an aged side is growing old gracelessly. Jacques Kallis has resigned as South Africa's vice captain after he was omitted from the Twenty20 squad and Mark Boucher was fined for criticizing his omission. Andrew Hall has announced his retirement and is heading for the breakaway Indian Cricket League. The ill feeling does not stop there.
September 11, 2007
Posted on 09/11/2007 in Australian cricket
In his column in the Australian, Ricky Ponting writes about why it was time to be a husband first and a cricketer second when he looked after his ill wife, how a police escort rushed him to the ICC Awards night, and whether Alex Kountouris, the team physio, thinks Ponting should play Australia’s opening game at the ICC World Twenty20.
Alex grabbed me during the awards night and asked me if I was going to be right to play and I said "absolutely" but that indicates to me that he and a few others might think differently. A lot of the guys are still having trouble sleeping after being here a week, so with the schedule I've been on, I expect to be waking up early over the next few days at least. That mightn't help my cause.
In the Courier-Mail, Robert Craddock reflects on Ponting’s rise from impish scallywag to Australia’s best batsman since Bradman.
Being a star has never stopped Ponting from being himself, as evidenced by the journey, the night before an Ashes tour, when he travelled in the back of a mate's car with one of his racing greyhounds from Launceston to Hobart, feeding the dog a celebratory Kit Kat on the way home after it won at $13.
Craddock also looks at the tug-of-war that is developing for the Twenty20 services of Glenn McGrath.
In the Age, Chloe Saltau speaks to Mr Cricket, Michael Hussey, about his four-month break from the game, during which his wife gave birth three months prematurely.
Posted on 09/11/2007 in New Zealand cricket
Geoff Longley writes in the Press that an end to the Stephen Fleming saga will probably come this week, with Daniel Vettori likely to take over as Test captain.
It is understood the New Zealand captaincy issue has been resolved without acrimony and there seems no suggestion of Fleming charging off to the Twenty20 rebels in a huff having been bypassed for the captaincy. That would have been a black mark on Fleming's largely outstanding association with the game in this country and a sad note on which to farewell NZC, with whom he has had a 15-year association.
September 10, 2007
Posted on 09/10/2007 in ICC World Twenty20
In case you hadn't noticed, there's a World Cup going on. Well, there are two but on this site we'd better stick with the cricket one. So here's a link to the TV ads that have been publicising the campaign for the last four or five weeks in South Africa – and, just like the competition, they've been very well received by the public.
|
