Sports : life magnified

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.

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 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.

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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.

Kevin Pieterson has shaved his head for the hot Indian tour. But he continues to influence a generation of sports fans. Human rights are being violated to supress Kevin Pieterson fans. Read all about it here. [Hat tip: Rick Eyre]

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.

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.

More than 150 Indian Bloggers have joined The Blank Noise Project to highlight the harassment of women on Indian streets. Why should any one have to bear indignity because of the gender?

I have had my women friends speak on harassment, leering they have to go through. Not being a woman, I am not the right person to speak from personal experience on the issue. Only a woman can truly express how she feels on the issue.

I am all for equality though and in that vein, am strongly behind the intentions of the cause. I would like to highlight on the state of equality in sport in general taking this opportunity. Most sports have a far less following for the women’s game compared to the men’s game. Tennis, athletics apart how many games can you think of where you can recount names of women sports people? Do they try less or are the games less interesting to watch?

Why is there hardly a following for Women’s football, cricket, basketball, et all? Apart from the lack of general interest of people, the participation of women is also far behind because of society at large. Indian, Pakistani women are discouraged to play in the sun as it is apparently going to cause their skin to become darker, hence ugly. People don’t want to marry dark women. White skin is supposedly more beautiful. India does not have the WNBA but the Women’s Railways Basketball team has just as dedicated and sincere players.

Most of those who do manage to play the game have to retire way before they reach their prime. Pressure from parents and society to marry is too much to resist beyond a point. These problems are specifically worse in the subcontinent. When sports people sacrifice marriage, kids in many countries, in the subcontinent such bold decisions are looked down upon rather than being applauded.

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The selection panel keeps making a joke of themselves. I had spoken regarding the inconsistencies which they are displaying. It keeps getting worse.

First, Mr. More decides to state that Sourav Ganguly will not find a place in the squad in the tenure of the current selection panel:

We took a decision that we have to look ahead. We decided that so much has been said on this issue, that we wanted to send a message across that, this is what we are looking at, and as far as this committee is concerned, this is what we have decided, that we will not look back at. We are definitely looking beyond Ganguly even if he were to perform well in domestic cricket.

How can they say the selection committee has shut the door completely on any player? We do not know what a player will do in the future, what situation the team is going to be in. If Ganguly decides to carry on playing, which he has, it is his right. To rule out any player, despite his age or just because he isn’t performing to satisfactory levels of a panel speaks of autocracy. The statements made by Kiran More have been irresponsbile. They show an irrational streak and lack of judgement - lack of qualities which show a chairman of a selection panel cannot do the job at hand with discretion and maturity which is required.

Other teams have looked ahead in the past and it is not uncommon to look beyond specific players. Australia have done it with Steve Waugh Mark Waugh, Michael Bevan, Darren Lehmann and Matthew Hayden. India may well have done it with V.V.S.Laxman and Anil Kumble recently. Even during the captaincy of Ganguly, Robin Singh was discarded on the same lines.

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I wrote on how it is back to the drawing board for Australia a few weeks back. They are performing very poorly in the current series and the latest misery has been the 196 run loss to South Africa, folding up for mere 93.

Back to the drawing board indeed despite some players missing.

One word which charecterises this English team and separates it from teams of the past is fight. Whatever the match situation, whatever the crisis situation, the team will give it their best shot. A sharp contrast to the frequent collapses we saw from English teams of the past. You will say that they did collapse in Pakistan but that was a one off rather than a norm.

I doubt if any one expected England to fight back the way they did after being down 246/7 at the end of day 1. No one certainly expected them to end up with 393. Bravo Paul Collingwood. He showed a few English batsmen who let a situation of advantage (winning the toss and thus having India to bat last on a crumbling pitch) slip the worth of staying at the wicket and limiting stroke play for the larger team cause. The support from the tail was admirable. It highlighted that word again - fight.

Of course the highlight of the match so far has been the youngsters coming to the party. If it was Alastair Cook showing common sense yesterday and Sreesanth showing that he has loads of talent, swinging ability (not related to his break dance ability) and yes, common sense. Its funny how in test cricket loads of talent means nothing if you do not have common sense. You don’t need to be flashy, you don’t need to be a Sachin Tendulkar or a Brian Lara. You can be a Paul Collingwood, a Sreesanth or a Alastair Cook and still do a good job. The saying - test cricket is as much played in the head as in the field - is very true.

Coming back to today - I have a strong feeling we are seeing the future of both these teams in this match. If Suresh Raina and Piyush Chawla get a run later on in the series, it might well be looked back as the series where certain people showed their mettle for the first time. Like India in Pakistan(1989) is looked back upon for instance.

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Not since Ray Bright has a specialist left arm orthodox spinner represented Australia at the senior level. Some recent non-specialists to do it include former Australian captain Allan Border and Michael Clarke. Jack McNamara is latest of a rare Australian breed. He has already toured India and Sri Lanka as part of the Australian under-19 team. He speaks about his experiences so far, on playing for Australia and many other aspects in an interview I had with him.

How did you take to cricket? Tell us a bit about your progress to an Australia under-19 cricketer.

My father, like a lot of people who grew up in rural Australia, suscribed to the stereotypically Australian ‘Football in winter, cricket in Summer’ theory, so I guess a bit of that caught onto me. I was always a bit better at cricket, and since we live so close to a park, I ended up heading to train with the Under 12s when I was 7. I bowled medium pace (well, I thought it was quick) until I was 12, when the coach of the U/14 local representative team saw my left arm spinners and told me I’d be a better chance of making the side bowling spin. Since then it’s been a pretty good ride - Victorian U/17s and U/19s, and was fortunate enough to be selected for the Australian side on my performances at the most recent U/19 National Carnival, in combination with my results for the Camberwell Magpies in Melbourne’s Premier Cricket.

Who are your heroes/idols?

Daniel Vettori is probably the guy who I most enjoy watching. I guess being left arm, and having played a number of times - and bowled extremely well - in Australia, means that he’s someone I can watch and learn off, more than a right arm off-spinner. His lines are always pretty good, but its his length that I most enjoy, and his willingness to get hit to take a wicket. That’s something that I think he’s more prepared to do than any other spinner in the world.

Also, Ray Bright - the ex-Australian and Victorian spinner, has been a mentor, of sorts, since I was about 14. He’s involved heavily in Victorian cricket as a selector, but is often there at the youth programs working with us young spinners, taken his own time to conduct a few one-on-one sessions, and has been a great sounding board to bounce ideas off, having so much experience himself.

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England’s tour to India was always going to be a big series. England, coming off a series loss in Pakistan, had it all to prove in India. A Test team has to show that it can compete in all conditions and circumstances – then, and only then can it be recognized as one of the better teams of an era. India, having just lost the series in Pakistan, needed to set things straight - mouth watering prospect for a cricket fan.

Then Ashley Giles, England’s number one spinner, gets injured. Marcus Trescothick withdraws for personal reasons, Michael Vaughan, England’s inspirational captain, gets injured and finally Simon Jones, vital in the scheme of things in the subcontinent, decides to join the injury brigade.

So England’s pace attack is left with Steve Harmison (who hasn’t been as effective off late) and Matthew Hoggard (who relies on movement and wasn’t going to be the most important player in the subcontinent anyway). James Anderson, Liam Plunkett, Shaun Udal, Monty Panesar and Ian Blackwell aren’t exactly expected to set the world on fire in India. How will England then get 20 Indian wickets? It is certainly an uphill task.

A win looks improbable then. How about a draw? The English openers are likely to be Andrew Strauss (in poor form) and Alastair Cook (making his Test debut and again, not expected to set the world on fire). Kevin Pietersen still has a lot to prove. Owais Shah or Paul Collingwood (whoever is selected) do not compare to the Indian batsmen. England would have to rely on Ian Bell and some heroics from Andrew Flintoff. The more you look at the English squad, the more you realize how weak it is. (more…)

When a Danish newspaper published a cartoon of David Boon without a moustache, Tasmanians from around the world started rioting.

Courtesy - David Boon Facts