Sportolysis
has moved to its new home at
The new URL corresponding to
http://www.sportolysis.blogsome.com/
is
http://www.sportolysis.com/
So remember to check out sportolysis.com because i won’t be posting here any more.
Finally I make the shift to my own domain name with the full version of wordpress to exploit. It is a momentous occassion. Blogsome has been a wonderful host but it is time to move on.
Hope you join in with me in the ride.
A few days ago I asked the question, “Has England let the opportunity slip in the battle for No. 2 and chasing Australia?”
A win in Mumbai is now needed for England to remain in the race. Very difficult but it is the only way England can stop the opportunity from slipping. No one said the battle was ever going to be easy!
England did win in Mumbai and showed strength in the face of adversity. The persistance was evidant in the way England batted in the post tea session on Day 4 - with planning to go for the shots only once England felt safe. The persistance was also evident on Day 5. The pitch had not deteriorated. It was playing much better than most 5 day pitches play. England kept the ball in a line which made Indians play. Ball after ball this line was maintained. There was hardly any straying. The discipline and superb bowling effort was a pleasure to watch.
Defensive mindset
India has been defensive in mind set in this series. In the first test they went for the shots very late. That was when the score line read 0-0. Here the score line was 1-0. So it was unlikely that they would go for runs and risk drawing the series. The plan would be to play out the first session and a half or two sessions and if wickets are in hand after that, see if going for the target during a small phase is a good option.
This is where I think India erred. Defensive play is never a good option regardless of the situation. Dravid almost got into a shell and Tendulkar survived a few close LBW shouts which would have been plumb had they been a bit closer to the wicket. Safeguarding your wicket is needed in such situations. But in the process playing the natural game as far as possible should not be forgotten. If you let the bowlers dominate, they will gain in confidence and get on you sooner rather than later.
With the dismissals of Dravid and Tendulkar the inevitable occured. A game which was always going to be near impossible for India to win (no team has ever chased 300 in the 4th inning in India in more than 70 years of test cricket) would not be a battle of survival. But did India have a man for the job? An injured Sehwag, flashy Yuvraj and ultra flashy Dhoni do not enthuse confidence.
Lack of responsibility
Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh decided there was no chance India would win this match. Dhoni skied one but Monty Panesar was unsighted. Dhoni skiwed another one with the same shot. Panesar made no mistake this time. Harbhajan Singh played agressively and played a suicidal shot to get out while a specialist batsman in Yuvraj Singh remained at the other end. It didn’t matter what shots Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh had played to get out. The arrogance of the shot plays were infuriating enough.
It is never easy to lose a test match. That India did not compete against a battling England caused much more pain. There is no shame in fighting bravely and losing. But to not fight at all smacks of irresponsibility which has to be shunned. I do feel sorry for Anil Kumble here. He personifies consistent persistance. If only others had similar attitudes.
Chasing Australia
The race for number 2 continues to be enthralling despite India falling further. England, despite it’s throwing matches away from comfortable positions (Multan and Mohali) have managed regain lost ground. South Africa fought but lost the first test versus Australia. They have to do better in the remaining two tests. A fourth team in South Africa competing for the sport would make things much more interesting.
As things stand right now, England and Pakistan are neck and neck. It is nicely setup for Pakistan’s tour of England. I hope Shoaib Akhtar is fit and both teams are able to play their First XIs. England would want to come back strongly after their recent series loss in Pakistan. Pakistan would want to show that they are a team to be taken seriously and not a bunch of inconsistent performers. Pakistan has already started walking on this road with their recent performances. It is a matter of whether they have it in them to take the next step in England.
Applauding Freddie
All said and done, the England in India series will be remembered most for the performances of Andrew Flintoff. He sacrificed the joy of seeing his son being born. He stood up to the challenge of captaining his side. He bowled. He even batted. In all this he kept battling on and inspiring his team mates to do the same. Flintoff won the Man of the Match for his performances in the third test and the Man of the Series. In between all this, he has also gained much more respect from cricket fans from around the world.
A superman in every sense of the word.
With Sehwag missing most of the time in the field in England’s second inning due to injury, he can bat only lower down the order.
Debate between Jawagal Srinath and Dean Jones occurs on who should open with Jaffer. Jones reckons it should be Munaf Patel.
No he wasn’t joking as he backed it up:
I would say Munaf Patel. If he gets quick 15 runs, India could be off to a flyer. Certainly he is wasted at number XI and should bat up higher.
Hmm.
In the Commonwealth Games trials, Jones bettered her 200 metre breast stroke mark a few months ago. This time she breaks her mark in the 100 metre breast stroke at the Commonwealth Games. CNN reports:
Jones set the first world record of the Games, shattering her previous mark by 0.62 seconds in the 100m breaststroke to clock one minute 05.09 seconds.
Who said breaking records and setting new standards was difficult?
Rahul Bhatia wrote a wonderful small piece on his blog where he fears India wont matter once Tendulkar is gone. The following is what I have to say on the same:
Some generations leave their darlings on people. Some players who are chrished a lot more than the game itself.
In these times we forget that the game goes on. It went on after Bradman in Australia and many cherished players in many eras.
For us, who have been priveleged to have our cricketing ‘wonder years’ in the era of Tendulkar, specially Indian fans as others may cherish a Lara or a Warne, and not necessarily to the same extent, cricket will indeed never be the same.
But we will look back and feel proud about being in the same era as Tendulkar. Our love for the game wont decrease. We are likely to appreciate many finer aspects of the game once there isn’t a Tendulkar. We often have done the same (appreciate the game a lot more) when we watch tests of other nations for example.
That said, I am confident it is not over for Tendulkar.
After the news of the FIR against Jagmohan Dalmiya comes the news that Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) will not host any Champions Trophy matches. A CAB representative wasn’t even present at the meeting. Was it because of the FIR and thus a means of protest? Also was the reason to not distribute the match because the CAB wanted the latter matches? Did CAB put strict conditions because of the FIR? Did CAB put strict conditions at all?
We might never know.
The English Team was at cross roads in Pakistan. I had written on the same nearly 3 months ago which can be read here. I titled it facing adveristy. In the period which has followed since then, England has enountered a lot of adversity. A menacing Shoaib Akhtar in Pakistan and a series of unfortunate events leading 4 of their first XI to withdraw from the tour of India being unquestionably the biggest external adversities. The internal weaknesses they have shown shouldn’t be forgotten.
With the collapse in Pakistan and throwing away a match England should have probably drawn in India in the second test of the series in Mohali, it has probably let slip the opportunity to challenge Australia for now. From being the unquestionable number 2 side, it has gone down a step in the close battle of the number 2.
In fact, it also finds itself at a position inferior to Pakistan. Pakistan appear to have lost Shoaib Akhtar for the immediate future. However there is some time to go for Pakistan’s tour of England. If Pakistan can manage even a draw in that series, it would mean that Pakistan has set itself above the current English side.
And what about South Africa? South Africa played superbly in Australia. It is now involved in the home series versus Australia. If South Africa can manage a victory or even a draw, it can be accepted as a strong team despite Glenn McGrath not playing in the current series and despite what Chris Fogarty has to say regarding only the Ashes mattering, test cricket is about more than just The Ashes. John Stern analyses the current situation and the mouth watering prospect which lies ahead of us much more judiciously.
India may be finding bowlers (Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla) who might show some potency in times to come. However, with it playing just 2 test series in the run up to World Cup 2007 and having lost the series to Pakistan (despite it being like a 1 test series), India finds itself behind the pack in this chase. Did New Zealand not go behind a huge distance in one session in their home series versus Pakistan where Shoaib Akhtar wrecked them? It did India no favours that for them that the home series versus England was always going to be The Nothing Series. India in fact loosened their noose in the tussle they failed to win their last series in the West Indies. That they lost the home series versus Australia did them no favours. They have been chasing as a back runner since then and will have to keep persisting. They do not find themselves in the picture before the pyajama cricket - World Cup 2007 is done and dusted with.
Climbing up the ladder is difficult. It requires consistent brilliant performances. New Zealand is finding it out the hard way. It is doomed in mid table for the time being. Has England let it’s opportnity slip by two collapses, one in Pakistan and one in India? The importance is not in that England lost. England would be respectable losers after drawing their first test match in India. The importance was in the manner in which a match which should have been drawn was lost. A win in Mumbai is now needed for England to remain in the race. Very difficult but it is the only way England can stop the opportunity from slipping. No one said the battle was ever going to be easy!
Pakistan does have a small lead ahead of the rest of the pack - England, South Africa and India. South Africa has the best chance to contend with Pakistan. While all this is going on, Australia cannot work out who the right players are for their international side. A side which boasted of depth finds itself bringing back older warriors who were discarded after the Ashes war was lost. The batsmen are not showing consistency. There is no sign of a future Glenn McGrath or Shane Warne. Most importantly, Australia has set such high standards for themselves that they will themselves find it difficult to maintain these levels. Even if McGrath and Warne do manage to play for a few more years, it will be very difficult for Australia to not slip from it’s high intensity performances is now characterized with. Some would argue that the slipping has already started.
Very interesting times to be a test cricket fan.
I had written on resisting evils earlier. Rio Ferdinand has asked UEFA to stop the lip service and act. Racism was shown to Eto’o months ago and the South African team during their tour to Australia recently. There have been so so many incidents even if we chalk out only incidents from post January 2005. Wasn’t it only a year ago when Ashley Cole and Shuan Wright-Phillips were abused by Spanish supporters in a friendly in Madrid? It is time sport starts acting. Football excites as few sports can and it is in this excitement that inherent biases surface from the deep core.
Zidane is seen here with a T-shirt which calls to stamp out racism:
Racism is a crime. There is no place for it.
Update: FIFA has decided to take real actions to stamp out racism. Definitely a positive move.
I have started a column at Desicritics called The Flipper.
The following is the inaugral issue of the same. Small parts of it are repeats of short posts earlier.
Corey Flintoff, son of Andrew Flintoff, was born just a few days ago. English cricket fans are already predicting the 2025 Ashes to be Corey’s Ashes (similar to Ian Botham’s Ashes in 1981.) Yeah right! Just like the 2005 Ashes were Liam Botham’s Ashes. Liam Botham, Ian Botham’s son, did play country cricket for Hampshire and took the wicket of Mike Gatting as part of his early exploits. But his true calling was rugby to the dismay of the millions of English fans.
For all we know, the sons of cricketing greats do not become greats. Cricinfo published an article on the subject. Does any one recall W.G. Grace junior, Richard Hutton, Eric Bedser, Mali Richards, Ron Headley or John Bradman? How many people for that matter will remember Rohan Gavaskar 20 years from now? Some cricketers, like Chris Cairns and Yuvraj Singh, have achieved more glory compared to their fathers. However, how many sons have even emulated a great cricketing father, let alone surpass his achievements? Mohinder Amarnath? Lala Amarnath was not a great player though he has been one of the most controversial cricketers in Indian cricket history.
It is near impossible to emulate a great father. This is why I squirm when I see photographs of junior Tendulkar or junior Inzamam in the papers. Let the kids be. It is a great injustice to the children of famous cricketers. John Bradman in fact changed his family name to Bradsen for a while when he was finding it impossible to lead his own life and create an identity for himself. Sadly, expectations and comparisons are part of the human psyche. This does not change the reality that the lives of the sons and daughters of famous people get affected adversely in more ways than we can imagine because of the unrealistic expectations of the fans and the media lapping up to this expectation. I feel extremely sorry for Corey Flintoff whenever I hear any one mention his name because of this.
One aspect of the English fans I do admire tremendously is their ability to laugh at themselves. Essex guys will make fun of Yorkshire guys, Yorkshire guys will make fun of the eccentricities of the Surrey guys and so on and so forth. The jokes never end. It is all in good spirit and creates a healthy sporting atmosphere. Individuals are hardly spared either. So Ricky Clarke and Ian Salisbury are quite popular as centre pieces in jokes because of their ordinary records.
Andre Agassi is organising an effort to keep the 5 Bjorg Wimbledon trophies in the sport. I hope the move is successful.
More than whether Tendulkar scores runs (which hasn’t been great in tests lately), there is disappointment at large at the way he scores his runs.
I think this is where people are largely mistaken. He can’t score runs the way he did in 1998. I remember he was even more aggressive in his early days and used to get out so much more in the 1992-1996 period.
I do see Tendulkar has curtailed the risk in his batting and removed getting out shots a lot. Despite this he is getting out. So people say he should play in way x, way y. I think it should be left to him to figure out, or him to consult who ever he wants, if he wants.
Just to speak about batting styles, Dravid comes to mind. His one day batting was highly criticised. He has been such a good one day player because he has the batting base required to adopt.
Tendulkar too has the batting base required to adopt. Has his body deteriorated so much that he cannot perform at test level? I strongly don’t believe it but we can only ascertain after he finishes his career for sure.
I do not buy the logic that he has lost it mentally. Maybe he is doing things wrong mentally, maybe he isn’t. But how can a player who has one of the best cricketing brains lose it mentally when mental prowess is bound to increase over a cricketers career.
South Africa chase 434 to win the 5 match one day series. Is this the greatest one day match of all time? I have been a strong backer of the first one dayer between India and Pakistan in 2003. A lot of people will still feel the South Africa-Australia World Cup 1999 semi-final was better than this. I would not give this game the best one day game tag because it wasn’t a contest between the bat and the ball - some thing which is essential to me when I judge the greatest games.
If a team was dismissed for 65 and another team dismissed team 1 for a total below 65, would you call it the greatest one dayer? Not really. So why even consider this conclusion here.
However, no team had even made 400 before this match, let alone chase such a score. Crap bowling from both teams? Most definitely. But it takes more than crap bowling to score 400. It takes even more to chase such such a 434. Has one day cricket taken another step forward with further insignificance of bowlers? It appears so. The bowling standards and the batting adapatability has been increasing with every year. A total of 230 was par score in the early 90s and a total of more than 250 a winning one.
I can rejoice for the moment and savour the victory regardless of the future.
Stephen Fleming has said the following to Mark Richardson -
The transcript of the conversation
Richardson: Ok thanks good luck.
Fleming: Thanks mate (interview ends) Yeah, you’re an idiot, that’s ridiculous, seriously that’s just ridiculous. Two things, you’ve forgotten who your mates are, some of your comments in the changing room? and the other thing is your just an idiot talking about scoring rates and picking up the uh the tempo of games, you were one of the most boring players to watch and from what I’ve seen so far in your commentary position is crap. You’re forgetting who your mates are mate, about six months ago you were with us.
The video can be viewed on Cricketweb.
Why should person x’s opinion in the commentary box matter to the players so much? Even if he is critical of scoring rates or is speaking crap, I don’t understand why players take it so personally.
The team mates bit is an excuse which isn’t acceptable to justify irresponsible, pathetic conduct.
Now this is a common thing, make no mistake - players being disgusted with commentators because they are criticising them, some times justifiably, some times unjustifiably according to them.
Now why can’t a player see that the commentator is doing a job and ignore it like they ignore press? A commentator, even if he is a former team mate, isn’t as important regardless of whether he is speaking right or wrong.
It is always undesired behaviour from a player trying to manipulate commentators and influence them to speak in favour of a specific player. When a commentator, specially a former team mate does the opposite, you get pissed off.
Now maybe Richardson was at fault earlier in the changing room. So what? Fleming is the one playing international cricket at the moment and not Richardson. Fleming is the captain, not Richardson. Richardson is just a commentator right now.
Richardson was doing his job. Now whether he was doing it poorly or aptly isn’t an issue at all. Such insults always happen. This time it has come out in the open and I am glad it has. Will Fleming apologise publicly? I hope it does. However, the tarnished image of Fleming will not be repaired that easily.
Update: Sky sports have said that the story is a spoof. It doesn’t look like spoof to me!
Update 2: Okat it was indeed a spoof. Fleming and Richardson are seen laughing with each other after the footage.
Reason for the shell shocked look on the face of Richardson? He was trying to control his laughter.
So controlling laughter = looks like crying.
Fleming was superb and oscar winning performance from both.
The 4th LOI between RSA and Australia was superb. I watched the last 30 overs or so. Cricket was the real winner in it. Thank god RSA didn’t lose because of the rain but because of persistent Aussie tail batting. As a South African fan, feelings of deja vu and horror were very much there when the rain looked like becoming stronger. Also, I thought the umpiring was superb in tight conditions, and it was excellent cricket all the way despite not being extra ordinary. A superb contest tilting from one end to the other.
Sets up the decider perfectly for Jo’burg.
English pie bowler, legend, bad boy of English cricket in the 90s, Aussie Basher, star of the the DVD Tuffers’ Duffers, winner of television show I’m a celebrity, key spinner and no. 11 of the Awkward XI, widely know as The Cat for his dressing room naps (I will not use the word ’sleeping’ here to avoid tarnishing the name of the legend) has added one more chapter to his legacy.
Tuffers will captain the English Celebrity XI to tour India to raise money for charity. Reports cricinfo:
A celebrity cricket team - comprising such luminaries as Phil Tufnell, Jack Russell and Harry Judd, the drummer from the pop group, McFly - has set off for India to take on the stars of Bollywood and raise money for Sport Relief… In 2004, Sport Relief raised £16.5m, and the team members will be able to witness at first hand how the money is being spent. This year’s event will take place on July 15.
Barca have been drawn to face Portuguese club Benfica in the quarters of the Champions League. They will next face AC Milan or French Champions Lyon should they advance to the semis. In the final, they will face any of Juventus, Arsenal, Inter, Ajax or Villarreal.
A revenge for the 1994 Champions League finals loss to Milan in the semis, victory over the superb Juventus in the final. I can see it right now! 
I do hope Arsenal does not do any thing extra ordinary in the first game or even comes up with a draw. They have been struggling domestically and are the ongly English Club left. Any promise would mean all the English newspapers yelling for Arsenal to do a repeat of Liverpool last year. Well every day is not Sunday and it ain’t gonna happen!
I do hope Arsenal crash out as fast as possible also because it could mean they cannot afford Thierry Henry for long and he might come to Barcelona. Certainly mouth watering prospects for me!
The 8-6 defeat Canada inflicted on the US in the inaugral World Baseball Classic surprised many. A group of minor leaguers defeated MLB stars. Quite a shock for the US.
The World Baseball Classic is the first international tournament whete MLB players are taking part. 16 countries are divided into groups of 4 each. Even the Nippon Professional Baseball league players are taking part.
The US needs a victory over South Africa now to still have control over its destiny. Else they would hope for Mexico to lose one of its games. Now would US really want to depend upon junior Mexico?
When the Soviet Union defeated the US in basketball (with Arvidas Sabonis playing the key role) albeit under tremendous controversy, there were shockwaves. Basketball has become a much more global game since then. The draft last year had Andrew Bogut, an Australian as number 1 pick for the first time. The World Baseball Classic will certainly help in the improvement of baseball in the countries which are participating. In time it can develop as the real world cup of baseball.
India had a go at the target much later than they should have. Winning matches when the smallest of windows exists is what makes a great team. With 40 overs to go and 250 to chase, why did India not go for at least quick singles so that they would be in a position to chase the target later on?
They made a dash with 8 an over required and when it was too late. A lot of praise in the media was heaped on them. I wasn’t impressed by the lack of steel which would have been required to go for the target earlier.
Unfortunately, I didn’t highlight this aspect earlier engrossed in other sports. Thank god Tim de Lisle does the needful in his latest piece.
Barcelona drew with Chelsea 1-1 in the second leg of the Champions League pre quarter finals to advance on aggregate (3-2) having won the first leg 2-1.
Revenge is sweet. Last year was heart breaking for the fans of Barcelona including yours truly. The exit after losing to Chelsea in the two leg Champions League pre quarters was very hard to digest. After all Barcelona was playing excellent football. Being excellent is not good enough though. The game is so uncertain that it can change within minutes. You have to fight against the unpredictable nature of the game itself. That is when a team keeps winning which translates to real greatness.
Coming to the game. Chelsea started off controversially arriving late in the tunnel. Jose Mourinho was already there but the team wasn’t. It meant that the start was delayed by three minutes. The early game saw some excellent passes between Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho. A great and a possible future great combining to create magic. Messi limped off in the 25th minute, which may explain why he missed the weekend La Liga match, to be replaced by Henrik Larsson.
The first half was tight with Barcelona having more possession. They had a lot more chances as well. Chelsea managed a few chances which were more dangerous but without result. Crespo replaced Drogba in the 58th minute while Mourinho theatricals were showing no signs of reducing in the back ground. Crespo soon had a real chance of scoring but strike was wide to the anguish of Chelsea.
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