Different Strokes
Golden Goofs
Amid all the lists of top players, teams, innings and what have you of the World Cup, I haven't noticed any booby prizes being handed out, and that is a serious omission
Mike Holmans
25-Feb-2013
Amid all the lists of top players, teams, innings and what have you of the World Cup, I haven't noticed any booby prizes being handed out, and that is a serious omission. No World Cup can be complete without its share of goofs, howlers and blunders.
I can only make a few nominations because I didn't watch that many matches all the way through and there were several of which I saw none at all, so there will be many worthy contenders I have missed and I would be grateful for anyone else's accounts of incidents which made them laugh out loud or squirm in agony (if perpetrated by the team you support).
My favourite of all the gaffes I saw was the Missed Catch of the Cup. Not “dropped catch” because it was not even touched, relatively easy though it was. Netherlands' Ryan ten Doeschate had started to cut loose in their match against England when he skied one high and deep over the bowler's head. Kevin Pietersen and James Anderson were fielding at long-on and long-off, and both set off to try and catch it. Either of them could have made it, but they saw each other coming and both stopped and looked at each other as the ball fell harmlessly between them. It was straight out of a cartoon, and I whiled away the boring bits of some other games imagining how it would have looked in a Bugs Bunny or Pink Panther short.
Full postEnd of the cricket season, end of an era
Ricky Ponting's retirement as captain marks the end of a golden era in Australian cricket, the likes of which I do not believe we will ever see again
Michael Jeh
25-Feb-2013
Ricky Ponting's retirement as captain marks the end of a golden era in Australian cricket, the likes of which I do not believe we will ever see again. His greatness as a batsman still has some years to run out if the Australian selectors are prepared to dispense with tradition and pick the best batsman in the country even though he is no longer captain. Kim Hughes was the last captain I can think of who resigned the captaincy and returned to the ranks in 1984, but his tenure was short-lived at the hands of a mighty West Indian bowling attack. I can't see Ponting suffering that same fate - he is too good a player for that and there aren't any bowling attacks capable of dismantling him in that fashion.
It will be interesting to watch Ponting assimilate back into the nucleus of the team and see if the relief of the burden of captaincy, and the accompanying media spotlight, relaxes or frustrates him. I suspect his sheer class as a batsman will win the day. Watching the way he celebrated his century in Ahmedabad last week suggested a man with yet unfinished business and a steely determination to keep proving people wrong. I predicted his century on my radio programme a few days before the match but to be honest, it was hardly a brave prediction. His record in big matches, coupled with his skill and mental strength pointed to the very real possibility that he would play an innings of some significance very soon. And so it was proved.
The end of the Ponting era and the end of the World Cup also heralds the end of the cricket season in Australia. From grown men to little boys, the kits are being packed up and cricket disappears from the everyday landscape for at least five months. That's one reason why I think Australia will struggle to repeat a period of success that started with the latter part of the Border era and finished today with Ponting. Unlike the Asian countries for whom cricket has no real natural predator, Australia has a strong football culture (AFL, rugby codes, soccer) and it's cricket infrastructure is never going to be able to compete with the sheer numbers of the people for whom cricket is much more than just another sport.
Full postThe ultimate cricket contest
Both teams have their raw sporting assets, but everybody knows this is a contest that is going to be won or lost in the head
Saad Shafqat
25-Feb-2013
An India-Pakistan semi-final [in a World Cup] has never happened before and is unlikely to happen again for at least another generation. On the basis of rarity alone, therefore, this would be an encounter to cherish. But the matter goes well beyond the obvious.
Sports ultimately are a form of make-believe, but here we have a sporting rivalry with roots so deep that it is no longer clear which is the genuine conflict and which is the proxy. If you took a survey of Indians and Pakistanis today, they will not be clear whether it is more important to
defeat your neighbour in cricket or war. Quite likely, a majority will prefer victory in cricket. To this extent, the goal of any cricket diplomacy has already been achieved.
Both teams have their raw sporting assets, but everybody knows this is a contest that is going to be won or lost in the head. Pakistan is a team that in recent times has been punched in the face, kicked in the ribs, slapped around, and spat upon which means they now have almost nothing to lose. This gives them an edge in fearlessness. India, on the other hand, are riding a tidal wave of support and popularity, which means they have already secured the upper hand. This gives them an edge in confidence.
Full postCan Australia's golden era ever be matched?
Ricky Ponting's retirement as captain marks the end of a golden era in Australian cricket, the likes of which I do not believe we will ever see again
Michael Jeh
25-Feb-2013
Ricky Ponting's retirement as captain marks the end of a golden era in Australian cricket, the likes of which I do not believe we will ever see again. His greatness as a batsman still has some years to run if the Australian selectors are prepared to dispense with tradition and still pick the best batsman in the country even though he is no longer captain. Kim Hughes was the last captain I can think of who resigned the captaincy and returned to the ranks in 1984 but his tenure was short-lived at the hands of a mighty West Indian bowling attack. I can't see Ponting suffering that same fate - he is too good a player for that and there aren't any bowling attacks capable of dismantling him in that fashion.
It will be interesting to watch Ponting assimilate back into the nucleus of the team and see if the relief of the burden of captaincy, and the accompanying media spotlight, relaxes or frustrates him. I suspect his sheer class as a batsman will win the day. Watching the way he celebrated his century in Ahmedabad last week suggested a man with yet unfinished business and a steely determination to keep proving people wrong. I predicted his century on my radio program a few days before the match but to be honest, it was hardly a brave prediction. His record in big matches, coupled with his skill and mental strength pointed to the very real possibility that he would play an innings of some significance very soon. And so it proved.
The end of the Ponting era and the end of the World Cup also heralds the end of the cricket season in Australia. From grown men to little boys, the kits are being packed up and cricket disappears from the everyday landscape for at least five months. That's one reason why I think Australia will struggle to repeat a period of success that started with the latter part of the Border era and finished today with Ponting. Unlike the Asian countries for whom cricket has no real natural predator, Australia has a strong football culture (AFL, rugby codes, soccer) and it's cricket infrastructure is never going to be able to compete with the sheer numbers of people for whom cricket is much more than another sport.
Full postSix out of ten for England
At least they weren't embarrassing
Mike Holmans
25-Feb-2013
At least they weren't embarrassing. They arrive home as disappointed losers rather than hopeless chumps. There is no need to put bags over their heads and smuggle them out of the airport in an unmarked coach; cricket fans spotting them in the arrivals hall are more likely to smile sympathetically and mutter “bad luck” than to hurl abuse, as they might have at the national jokes which England's previous three World Cup parties became.
In their matches against India and South Africa, they showed that they belonged on the world stage; had the groups led on to a Super Eight stage, they would have carried forward more points than anyone else since they did not lose to a major team until the quarter-final.
However, the quarter-final was always the realistic limit of their ambitions. They may well have been weary after a long tour of Australia with no real break before the World Cup. They were certainly unlucky with the succession of injuries, which meant that they never had the same squad to choose from for consecutive matches.
Full postEngland win over West Indies a huge relief
When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping - so that's what I did.
Mike Holmans
25-Feb-2013
When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping - so that's what I did.
As far as I was concerned, England's 243 would not be enough and when Chris Gayle smashed Tim Bresnan's first over for 18, it all looked pretty inevitable. Gayle is usually one of my favourite batsmen to watch, but this time I wasn't in the mood. Had it been an ODI in a bilateral series, I could happily have sat back and wallowed in some extravagant strokeplay, but watching him hammering nails into the coffin of England's World Cup was just going to be too painful. I wandered out to buy food for dinner and have a relaxing cup of coffee.
When I got home and checked the score on ESPNcricinfo, it was 204/6, which was still hopeless for England. I opened another tab and caught up on the news. Then I noticed that the score had flicked round to 223/9, which made it bearable to turn on the TV and watch the end. Knowing the result made it essential to watch the highlights later on to find out how the drama had unfolded.
Full postAnything but dull
The cricketing gods are merciless on those of us who pontificate about the game
Mike Holmans
25-Feb-2013
The cricketing gods are merciless on those of us who pontificate about the game. When I, an England fan, moaned gloomily before the World Cup started that the long group stage was likely to be an interminable bore, they clearly took note and delivered the most thrilling group stage an England fan could possibly have wished for. Only to England fans, mind you, as matches not involving them have nearly all gone the way one would have predicted and the finishes have mostly been anything but close (note “nearly all” and “mostly” - the India-SA game was an absolute classic), but there's an omelette big enough for ten waiting to be made with the egg streaming off my face right now.
The paradox of England's performances is that if they manage to qualify for the quarter-finals, they will probably do so in fourth place without having lost to any of the top three in their group, which takes some doing.
Obviously it's their fallibility against the minnows that has caused the hair-tearing, rendering many young England fans prematurely bald, but it's as though they have decided to match their performance to the quality of opposition. Were we to have seen Andrew Strauss nodding in satisfaction at a handy five wides when Bangladesh were falling behind the rate, we'd all be suspecting the mother of all betting scams was in progress, but the looks of total bewilderment on the faces of everyone are utterly convincing evidence that they are as baffled as us spectators.
Full postSpinning tracks are good for cricket
Every time a pitch on the subcontinent spins a bit, it apparently devalues the integrity of cricket
Michael Jeh
25-Feb-2013
Every time a pitch on the subcontinent spins a bit, it apparently devalues the integrity of cricket. It seems that "good" cricket should only ever be played on fast, bouncy, batsmen-friendly pitches that start to spin a little bit very late in the game. Anything other than that, if it's played in the subcontinent, is not really cricket. Apparently. Especially after Shane Warne retired.
Ricky Ponting's thinly-veiled swipe at the pitch at Premadasa Stadium in Colombo is the latest instalment in that line of reasoning. Likening it to "rolled mud" is another (polite?) way of saying that it was unfair or doctored or against the way cricket should be played. To be honest, I haven't watched a ball of the World Cup yet but after reading these comments, I took a good, hard look at the scorecard from the match and then watched the replay before I wrote this piece. From that limited perspective, I have these arguments to put forward to advocate for more pitches like this in world cricket.
Firstly, as Ponting himself admitted, the Sri Lankans "had a pretty good idea that it was going to be that slow and low and was going to spin a fair bit, hence the reason they played their spinners." Duh! So what's the problem with that Ricky? You could choose to play all of your spinners if you wanted to. You are allowed to nominate your team before the toss, you know. Oh that's right, you went into a World Cup campaign on the subcontinent with a predominantly fast bowling attack and a spinner (Krezja) who was chosen after all the other options had been exhausted. And that's somebody else's fault?
Full postLet's hope the World Cup doesn't kill ODIs
I know we are all supposed to be terribly excited about the World Cup, but I am having some difficulty summoning up the enthusiasm
Mike Holmans
25-Feb-2013
I know we are all supposed to be terribly excited about the World Cup, but I am having some difficulty summoning up the enthusiasm. Partly, of course, because the injury to Eoin Morgan makes it highly unlikely that my team will get past the quarter-finals, but I think mostly because of the interminable time it will take to reach that stage.
One of the advantages claimed for the limited-over formats over Test cricket is that at least there is always a winner and a loser (unless there is a washout), but surely that is only an advantage if the result actually matters? The 2011 World Cup format means that we face five weeks of matches in which it largely doesn't. Unless one of the eight seeds has a horrible run and one of Ireland, Zimbabwe or (most likely) Bangladesh has a very good one, we already know who will be in the quarter-finals. This does not augur well for drama: it's just about certain that by the time we get to the group match between Sri Lanka and Australia in three weeks time, for instance, there will only be bragging rights at stake.
I understand the commercial imperative of making sure that India cannot repeat their embarrassment of getting knocked out as early as they did last time with the consequent disastrous effect on global viewing figures, but it means that we are going to need some really scintillating cricket if we are not all to be sound asleep by the time the quarter-finals loom into view.
Full postCricket will need to adapt to cultural shift in Australia
At a time when Australian cricket is going through a bit of a soul-searching period, it is a good time to ask some questions about the long-term health (viability) of a sport like cricket in a country that, unlike the subcontinent, has many
Michael Jeh
25-Feb-2013
At a time when Australian cricket is going through a bit of a soul-searching period, it is a good time to ask some questions about the long-term health (viability) of a sport like cricket in a country that, unlike the subcontinent, has many competitors for hearts and minds. The Australian Sports Commission have commissioned a report into sport that was highlighted in the Weekend Australian yesterday. Revealingly, the headline is entitled "Ugly truth of Australian sport" and the synopsis paints an interesting, perhaps even disturbing, picture of the landscape of sport in this country, especially in relation to the juniors who are at the at the very heart of our long-term future.
Specifically in relation to cricket, the report suggests that 97% of cricketers have experienced sledging at some point in their careers. Whilst past generations of Australian cricketers, even at club level, have shown a cultural tendency to view sledging as an entirely normal part of the cricketing experience, I am not so sure that this indifference will continue into the next generation with the same casual shrug of the shoulders and the promise of a beer afterwards in the change rooms.
Well, to begin with, it is now increasingly the case (in the cities anyway) that cricketers rarely tend to sit in the dressing room for hours afterwards, sipping a beer or three in their jocks and swapping tall stories, jokes and local cricketing folklore. The young lads that I play with (and against) tend to switch on their mobile phones as soon as they enter the change rooms after play and make immediate plans to meet friends at another location. I cannot think of the last occasion when they even stayed long enough to have a shower after the game. It's the modern style of social interaction and I have no issue with it but it is a significant shift away from the 'dressing room culture' that has long been a part of club cricket in Australia (perhaps elsewhere too). Perhaps bush/country/regional cricket still enjoys that sort of old-fashioned camaraderie where it becomes slightly easier to embrace the notion of "what happens on the field stays on the field". That philosophy has long been at the cornerstone of the Australian defence of sledging and until recently, that has generally been a system that has worked.
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