Different Strokes (old)
Let's not be beastly to the Indians.
I was bemused to see ICC CEO Malcolm Speed, of all people, lecture India’s cricket board on its responsibility to cricket the other day
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
I was bemused to see ICC CEO Malcolm Speed, of all people, lecture India’s cricket board on its responsibility to cricket the other day. The cause of this lecture was India’s desire to scrap the commercially insane Future Tours Program that the ICC somehow foisted on the cricket world in 2004.
And I was even more bemused to see the normally sensible Michael Atherton accuse the Indian cricket board of being selfish and the ‘big beast’ of international cricket in the Sunday Telegraph. Atherton’s complaints reek of hypocrisy given that the ECB did not exactly give the 2004 Champion’s Trophy the prime time place on England’s cricket schedule.
But the 2006 Champion’s Trophy is a distraction- the real dispute seems to be to be about the Future Tours Program.
To me, it seems that the FTP is doomed, because it is built on the fallacy that the ten full members are a gathering of equals. They are of course, nothing of the sort. There are three full members. India, Australia and England, all of which have a large enough cricket base to support them financially. I consider them ‘full members’ because these nations are able to host Test Cricket matches and make a profit on them, or, at the very least, not lose large sums of money on them.
Full postA few thoughts on intimidation and express bowling
Brett Lee is getting quite a few mentions in despatches in the cricket world, which is not surprising
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Brett Lee is getting quite a few mentions in despatches in the cricket world, which is not surprising. Truly fast bowlers get our attention.
Not all the attention is favourable, of course. The cricket community has long had mixed feelings about the genuine express merchants. Certainly, the thrill of sheer pace and the element of danger that the batsmen face in taking them on is part of the attraction of the game. But the resulting adrenaline, conflict, and the injuries that speed merchants inflict on batsmen conflict with cricket’s ‘gentleman’s game’ heritage.
Since Jeff Thomson burst onto the cricketing world in 1974, there has been a steady stream of truly fast and dangerous bowlers. What is their role in a game that needs and wants the excitement that they provide, given the questions that they pose to the sport’s commitment to being a ‘gentleman’s game’?
I must confess to being an unabashed fan of the role of the speed merchant in cricket. There is no conflict in my mind between being an honourable and respected sportsman and also using pace as a weapon to inflict fear, uncertainty and doubt in the mind of the batsman. I do not see anything unethical about intimidation as a tactic. Cricket at the highest level should be a test of all the batsman’s skills, including his character and his ability to overcome his fear.
Full postCricket in the year 2020
Okay, so I picked the particular year as a lame Monday morning pun, but my point is to try and take a peek at what the game might look like fifteen or twenty years from now.
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Okay, so I picked the particular year as a lame Monday morning pun, but my point is to try and take a peek at what the game might look like fifteen or twenty years from now.
What role will technology take within umpiring? Will any of the developing nations have made it to Test status and be thriving? Will Mike Atherton have replaced Malcolm Speed at the ICC? Will India still be calling the scheduling shots?
It seems to me that as we stride boldly into 2006, we could be at somewhat of an important juncture in world cricket. Or in other words....Stuff is happening! And like my fourth form physics teacher said, every action has to have an opposite and equal reaction, (I think).
Anyway, if you have a view on what cricket will look like in 2020 or beyond, please share it, space suits ‘n’ all.
Full postA middle order nicety
They say sport is a great teacher
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
They say sport is a great teacher. So then, what is it that strikes you most when you look at the current Indian middle order? From a purely cricketing sense, there is the stoic artistry of Dravid, the measured genius of Tendulkar, and the wispy, dreamy rhythms of VVS. This, bookended by the remorseless aggression of Sehwag, and the moody, feisty strokeplay of Ganguly or at times the muscular timing and presence of Yuvraj. We'll focus on the middle three for now, because they happen to share very similar personality traits. And, that's more or less the topic at hand.
Let's look at them in batting order. I first saw Dravid live at the grounds during the Sahara Cup, Toronto, 1997. Cricinfo was strictly volunteer-based, and a friend and I were semi-designated, semi-self-appointed (friend used to help with Cricinfo software, I used to get up every morning and type up a cricket roundup on rec.sport.cricket listening to World Service on short-wave, so we were thought to be fairly disciplined cricket followers) reporters. We spotted Dravid as he came down the stairs of the press box, and not wanting to miss on a potential first interview opportunity, we shouted a cheery Hey Rahul. Dravid, absolutely unspoilt by his early-career 90s in England and that brilliant 148 at the Wanderers, smiled a polite, intelligent smile, when we said we were from Cricinfo. He said he checked the site often. What struck you immediately even then, was he was a bit different from your everyday cricketer. A cricketer with whom you could talk things other than cricket. A quiet, well-read cricketer who might have been a bit out of place in most dressing rooms.
Courteous as ever, he said he had to get permission to do an interview and therefore, couldn't do it right then. And, then, we got so overwhelmed at exchanging a couple of pleasantries with a certain GS Sobers that we forgot everything else and walked around in some kind of vague haze.
Back to Dravid. Even then, everytime he played a shot, it was almost as if he'd be doing a subconscious appraisal of it, seeing if it were of the finest technique and style. A sort of romantic Spartan. You wished he'd give more free rein to his instinct. You wanted to see him flow.
Full postThe white ball wonder
When the cricket equipment manufacturer Kookaburra, describes the composition of their cricket balls, you can almost taste the century of history the company has behind it
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
When the cricket equipment manufacturer Kookaburra, describes the composition of their cricket balls, you can almost taste the century of history the company has behind it. “Five layers of cork and worsted yarn” is a phrase that conjures images of Alfred Grace Thompson, a migrant harness maker and Kookaburra’s founder, carefully crafting a cricket ball with the help of his two sons. Add a touch of “first grade alum tanned steer hide cover with finest linen stitching” and you can almost hear the sound of the ball connecting with a cricket bat. (A sound that Kookaburra lay a tongue in cheek claim to patenting.)
Kookaburra provides these wonderful descriptions of its entire range of cricket balls for all surfaces and in all colours and according to the manufacturer there is no discernible difference between the red and white variety of its products. Both are lovingly crafted from identical materials in a mirror image process. The difference, they say is only in the colour applied to the hide of the unfortunate steer.
However, place a white ball in the right hand of Brett Lee and you could be forgiven for thinking that Alfred Thompson had left a bottle of fairy dust in his factory with instructions to add a few drops to each white ball that gently plopped off his Kookaburra production line.
On the night that Brett Lee posted his career best one day figures of 5 for 22 picking up his first five wicket bag against South Africa in the process, it seems an apt time to note that Lee has increasingly of late demonstrated a sublime control of the white ball.
Full postThe Gods of All Things??
Bishen Singh Bedi, that gruff and wonderfully entertaining doyen of classical spin bowling in India, sounded almost gleeful in this morning's papers, when commenting about how the world record for the highest opening stand in cricket is still intact
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Bishen Singh Bedi, that gruff and wonderfully entertaining doyen of classical spin bowling in India, sounded almost gleeful in this morning's papers, when commenting about how the world record for the highest opening stand in cricket is still intact.
His article contains a brief line on how Sehwag was not aware of who Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy were. Perhaps therein, he concludes, "lies justice well delivered". True, true. Or, wait a minute- did he just say that one's ability to break records should be directly linked to one's knowledge of the Game's Great and Glorious Past???
Now, I'm all for knowing about cricket history and lore and so forth. I could spend hours with a well written book on cricket, reading about the Victor Trumpers and the Mushtaq Alis. But, thats a personal choice. I learn about cricket history because I am interested in it.
So, why should the members of our team be expected to have a comprehensive knowledge of cricket history? If they are interested in it, thats good for them, but if they aren't, let them be! Trying to put down people, and saying that they dont deserve certain records because they weren't aware of those records is a bit too much, isn't it?
Full postOpening for India
Jamie Alter's piece on India's sorry trend of making the most unlikely of batsmen open the innings kinda set me off today
Anantha
25-Feb-2013
Jamie Alter's piece on India's sorry trend of making the most unlikely of batsmen open the innings kinda set me off today. A couple of weeks ago, when the Indian team to Pakistan was to be announced, I wondered whether the possible exclusion of Gambhir from the squad was going to be another notch in the "drop them like a hot brick" attitude that seems to have plagued the Indian selectors. And using Cricinfo's Statsguru as a reference, I came up with this analysis.
I considered the career averages of the seven regular openers (including Sehwag) and the number of Tests they played before being dropped for good (Wasim Jaffer has not technically made a comeback). The inference I hoped to make was that any struggling batsman was bound to succeed given a long run, something that openers in India haven't been having for a long time now. I certainly could make that reference, as you can see, with Sehwag having the best record. And then Multan '04 came to mind and then I realised that Sehwag's 55 plus average is also the result of a few huge scores, something that he has not had in sometime now (well I certainly hope that this 96 at Lahore is built up to something more substantial, since India needs it). Which is when I decided to take Sehwag out of the equation and look at the career progression of the rest of the six regular openers that India has had in the recent past. And what I came up with, was this.
So we see that every single opener had been the middle of a lean run when he was dropped. But, is their dropping justified? Well, I still don't think so. And that is because I still believe in the inference that I made even before I started this analysis.
Let us assume for a moment that my inference was true. Then what else would justify this trend? I suspect that that dreaded word - technique, might be used. Ramesh for one was said to possess a less than perfect technique. And recently Gambhir has been talked about in similar breath. But then Sehwag is the best proof to debunk the technique theories. So is it hand to eye co-ordination that's the clinching factor? That Sehwag has and IMHO Ramesh had more than a fair bit of that as well. So, is it that other quality that has been thrown about, i.e., attitude? Chopra seems to be a level headed guy (his writing demonstrates that) and though one or two of the openers have been described otherwise, that may not be the only reason.
Full postEight and a half: A bit about Lahore pitch and Indian bowling
Movie connoisseurs may please return to other websites for there can be nothing but disappointment for them in this post if it showed up on their google search
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Movie connoisseurs may please return to other websites for there can be nothing but disappointment for them in this post if it showed up on their google search. This is not a review of the classic Fellini movie going by the same name.
That figure in the header is the simple answer to a simple question asked in various formats over the last couple of days by journalists, commentators, cricket viewers and cricketers alike:
After how many years are we seeing as batsman-friendly a cricket pitch as the one being used for the ongoing 1st Indo-Pak Test at Lahore?
As per my calculations, for the first time since that India v Sri Lanka Test match in 1997 we are witnessing bowler-killing of this magnitude. Then the Indians had batted first, battled extreme negative bowling from Sri Lankans to put up a seemingly formidable 537 after 5 sessions of play and declared late in 2nd day – only to run errands for over 3 days thereon in a trivial Sri Lankan Innings of 952/6. The 3rd and 4th days saw no fall of wicket. I repeat that incredible part – no wicket fell over 2 full days of uninterrupted cricket after Nilesh Kulkarni, the lanky, debutante left-arm spinner got a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket to end the 2nd day's proceedings.
Full postSpirit of a bowler: A comment on "The power of a six"
This is a post that reacts to a view expressed in the Different Strokes post mentioned in the topic
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
This is a post that reacts to a view expressed in the Different Strokes post mentioned in the topic.
------
Zainub, as far as highlighting Afridi's one-point approach to the game is concerned the piece is fine. We are all fortunate that Woolmer is so far quite unable to ‘rectify’ Afridi and rob us of such entertainment in the process. Shahid Afridi is unique in cricket and should be spared the conventions.
However your last paragraph indicates that just like most others who write about that Miandad six in the print media on either side of the Indus River you too think more from the point of view of a batsman than that of a bowler - least of all an attacking bowler like Harbhajan. Batsmen love to think that they ‘scar’ bowlers. Natural, as they would like to get even after being shaken by certain dismissals. That is why the Gavaskars, the Ramizes and others of their ilk – all batsmen - would invariably impress the thought (of an over-boundary being a mental injury to the bowler) on young followers of the game whenever a bowler is hit for a relatively big six.
A true bowler can be scarred by one and only one depressing development - his skipper’s reluctance to bowl him. You will see a bowler score eighty runs with the bat and not take a wicket and go for 6 sixes in an over in the same game, and continue having such days for an entire season, but he will still come back next season (if picked by selectors) / next match / next day / even next ball – thinking not of switching trade but of picking up another wicket.
He would always want to be the one holding the red leather, even when his tormentor is batting. Why on earth will someone who can back himself to win matches – that greatest of gifts that is denied even the greatest of batsmen except in exceptional circumstances (I classify ODI's under these) - worry about conceding a set of half-dozens for a period longer than that particular evening? Ask even a part-time player like me, a bowler who once conceded 5 sixes in an over (of a 10 over match) for my ‘mohalla’ (neighbourhood) team and yet was back next match not thinking much about it. In fact I completely forgot the last day’s horrors at one stage of this second match and was getting annoyed when the team leader refused to bowl me (understandably, on hindsight) until the match was all but won!
Full postThe Self-Image of Pakistan's Pace Bowling
This wasn't entirely unexpected
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
This wasn't entirely unexpected. After crowing and crowing about preparing "greentops" and "pacy pitches", the Pakistanis at Lahore turned out a track so placid that school-kids could survive against a test attack on it.
Bob Woolmer is no dunce. As an outsider, he doesn't suffer from as many delusions of grandeur as the Pakistani experts. He knows that a decision to prepare a seamer-friendly track could end up backfiring if the Indian pace trio runs through the Pakistan line-up. He also knows that the ICC Test Rankings are determined on the basis of the most recent home and away series results against all sides. Since the last Indo-Pak series in Pakistan was won by India 2-1, it makes sense to play safe and go for a drawn series. A drawn series would earn points for Pakistan and lose them for India.
Shoaib AKhtar is fast, but he is not accurate, nagging, or miserly most of the times. He produces one or two torrid troubling spells per series, but even that spell is not always enough to run through line-ups. Rana Naved, despite being a much improved honest trier, is just that - a much improved honest trier. Then there's Sami. Sami's bowling average, despite being almost a permanent fixture in the team, is more than Ajit Agarkar, who's been in and out of the Indian team. Gather ardent supporters of the "Pick Agarkar for Tests" school of thought and you would struggle to populate a dinner table. Yet, in Pakistan, which should ideally adhere to higher standards of pace bowling, you don't see many people advocating Sami's exclusion.
I am sorry, but having grown up watching the products of the pace assembly line-up, it is just pathetically tragic to see the self-image of Pakistan bowling having dipped to an extent where Sami and Rana are considered very good bowlers.
Full postMost Read
Writers