Guest Spot
Seize the period of unstable equilibrium, boys
A Test match generally trundles along at a sedate pace, but it is also besieged by moments of acute instability. The ones who take advantage of it win
Subash Jayaraman
30-Dec-2013
Test cricket is an incredibly hard sport. Despite the length of the span over which a match unfolds, the outcome can be decided by short passages of play when the game is in equilibrium, waiting for one or the other team to gain ascendancy. The Ashes, the only Test series now with five matches, extends over such a long time, it is easy to overlook the crucial turning points and focus on the larger narratives. The 4-0 scoreline in this year's Ashes suggests a thorough beat-down, and of Australia dominating and overpowering a feeble England team, but the differences between the two teams are a bit more nuanced and fine than that allows for.
In physics, equilibrium is generally said to be in one of three states: stable, unstable and neutral. When a body is in neutral equilibrium, even when a deviation occurs, it continues to remain neutral. A common example given is that of a ball lying on flat ground. Imagine the scenario of a Test match on a dead pitch, like the one India played Sri Lanka in at the SSC in 2010. Even as wickets fell, the match remained in a state of stalemate, and was eventually drawn.
If a body is in stable equilibrium, when a small deviation from that state occurs, forces emerge that tend to return the body to stable equilibrium. An example of such a state is a ball placed in a bowl. If the ball were to be moved from its state of equilibrium at the bottom of the bowl, gravity will eventually restore it to that state. In cricket, such a state is comparable to that after the fall of two wickets following a sizeable opening stand. Temporarily there is instability, but often the batsmen following up shore up the situation and the Test match continues at a more sedate pace.
Full postEnglish cricket's pointless brainwaves
Rebranding the domestic T20 competition smacks of just another fiddle that will only confuse fans
Sam Blackledge
07-Dec-2013
Next year's English domestic T20 competition will have a new title. The counties will line up for the start of the NatWest T20 Blast, rebranded to "attract a wider audience", who will "combine a weekend night out with watching cricket", according to ECB chief executive David Collier.
Fair enough, I suppose. T20 was invented ten years ago as a way to liven up the English game, to inject some razzmatazz into what was seen by many as a slow, dull and stilted sport. At first it seemed to work - shorter matches, more sixes and extraneous entertainment put bums on seats, and the T20 model exploded worldwide. In hindsight it may be seen as the most revolutionary idea of cricket's modern age. But the authorities clearly feel the original format needs an overhaul.
Next year every team will play 14 qualifying matches, up from ten previously. They will mostly be played on Friday evenings, to fit in with the "night out at the cricket" theory. So rather than a short, sharp competition slotted in between the longer formats, T20 will be integrated as part of the regular season. The intentions behind this seem sound - cricket is entertainment, and the more people enjoy it the better, financially and otherwise. The problem is, the ECB doesn't seem to know its target market. Is it, as Collier suggests, aiming T20 at adults looking for a Friday night out? Or does it, as the poor embattled soul who controls the ECB's Twitter feed said, see it as "a great way for families to spend time together"?
Full postAndy, Vishy and me
Flashback to 1975, when the mighty West Indians came up against a pint-sized giant at the Chepauk
Sankaran Krishna
11-Nov-2013
I could barely sleep all night. My alarm was set for 6am and I rose about a minute before it went off.
I was 15 years old, it was January 11, 1975, and Madras was abuzz. The beloved annual harvest festival, Pongal, was a day or two away, and cricket was in the air. On my study table - laden with books on trigonometry, physics and chemistry- lay a small booklet: a five-day ticket to the fourth Test between India and Clive Lloyd's West Indies, beginning in few hours' time at Chepauk Stadium.
Unlike previous occasions, I did not have to share this Test with anyone - it was all mine. I lived and breathed cricket in those days. Like many, my interest in the game was inversely proportional to my ability at it. Despite trying very hard, it seemed impossible for me to get in line against that hard red ball on a zippy matting wicket, facing bigger schoolmates who could bowl seriously fast. My bowling was not so much military-medium as civilian-slow. And the best that could be said of my fielding was that it was safe. But I could - and did - fantasise about metamorphosing from a bespectacled and scrawny "substitute" into an athletic and swaggering allrounder.
Full postHow to prepare to bowl in village cricket
No net practice required since your time umpiring while your team bats will tell you everything you need. Then just pray the ball leaves your hand
Scott Oliver
10-Nov-2013
With this occasional series probing the lichen-filled pond of village cricket having previously offered guidance on how to set the field and insight into preparing to bat, we shall continue on down the food chain and examine how the village cricketer readies himself to bowl.
Where to begin?
Funnily enough, this is the precise question pondered by the village bowler every single match, for nothing is more quintessentially village than a bowler actually running out his run-up to mark it each time he has a chuck.
Full postSpare a thought for Vinay Kumar
Having suffered against belligerent batsmen at the club level, the writer empathises with a bowler who conceded 102 runs in nine overs
Subash Jayaraman
06-Nov-2013
Cricket, like any other sport, provides the stage for its players to put on performances that push the boundaries of what was thought to be possible. But the very best can sometimes go hand in hand with the very worst. When South Africa successfully chased 434 runs against Australia in 2006, that remarkable chase expanded possibilities, while also providing us a piece of trivia in Mick Lewis, who had the worst returns in the history of ODIs.
Poor Vinay Kumar almost pulled a Mick Lewis last week. He is now the new owner of a shiny fifth spot in the all-time list of ODI bowling ineptitude. If it is any consolation to him, he made only the greatest spinner the game has known vacate the spot for him.
I made a few wisecracks at his expense as his nightmare was unfolding (9-0-102-1), but it must have been so hard on him. Sure, he is not express fast, he was bowling to batsmen who were swinging at almost everything, and any error in length or line was summarily punished. The size of the Chinnaswamy Stadium didn't help either. Bowlers much more experienced than him, much faster than he ever could be, also feature on the list of expensive analyses, some of them multiple times, notably Lasith Malinga, Dale Steyn, James Anderson and Brett Lee.
Full postWaiting for the boys
You're never too grown up to be an autograph-hunting, hotel foyer-pacing fan
Saad Shafqat
20-Oct-2013
The lobby of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Abu Dhabi, where the South Africa and Pakistan teams were lodged during the first Test of the current series, is conducive to indulging some fantasies. Its cavernous dimensions, opulent décor and gleaming floors of flawless Italian marble transport you into a world of palaces and kings. it is a newly built facility and occupancy is only just picking up. The place is perpetually neat, orderly and uncluttered. There is plenty of plush seating around, and seats are always available.
There is, in particular, this couch that is rather strategically placed in the lobby's precise geometric centre. Facing away from the entrance, it looks directly at the top of a wide flight of stairs emerging from the floor below. Beyond that are glass windows through which you can see the tops of palm trees edging the bank of the city's Grand Canal, a saltwater inlet coming in from the sea.
A friend and I found ourselves perched on this very couch at 7:45am on the second morning of the first Test, when South Africa were 245 for 8 overnight, with Hashim Amla still batting on 118. With our Pakistan shirts and matching floppy hats, my friend and I were eager to take in a full day's Test cricket and looked the part. Buses for both teams were positioned at the hotel entrance, so we figured the players would start appearing any minute as they finished breakfast a floor below.
Full postThe no-commentary broadcast option
It's time to provide viewers with a choice, and perhaps force commentators to step up their game in the process
Subash Jayaraman
09-Oct-2013
Whenever I'm watching a cricket match, I'm also tracking Twitter. It's filled with trolls and cynics, funny folk and wannabe comedians, critics and stats nerds. It can be enjoyable, excruciating and informative all at once, but all in all, it's good fun. These hardcore cricket nuts have an opinion on everything under the sun, and can be quite blunt and vocal, but one thing they all agree upon, and gang up against, is cricket commentary and the cliché-spewing automaton it has become.
It is quite common to see people tweet, "What did he say? Watching on mute." These are fans who want to follow cricket on TV but are willing to sacrifice the sounds of the game because they cannot put up with the inanities and over-the-top one-eyed pontifications that pass for expert commentary. They have chosen to forego one of the essential ingredients of enjoying any sporting event - its sounds. In fact, they have been forced to make that choice.
There is a possible solution - besides the obvious option of hiring commentators who are really good at their jobs - and that is to provide a parallel feed that serves "nerdy" cricket fans: with commentary that isn't mind-numbing and formulaic. But no television broadcaster would ever do that as it would increase the cost of production substantially, and hence would be economically unfeasible. In a recent podcast, commentator Harsha Bhogle said that though cricket nuts who would like a parallel feed may be a vocal section of the audience, and hence give the impression of being large in numbers, they actually represent a small segment of the total watchers, and TV broadcasters cannot cater to that minority.
Full postPakistan and the Whatmore factor
The coach's tenure has coincided with a slump in the team's fortunes. The board needs to think about the 2015 World Cup and appoint someone else now
Mazher Arshad
19-Sep-2013
In the lead-up to the last day of the second Test in Harare, there were some comparisons drawn between this game and the nail-biter Pakistan won by one wicket a decade ago against Bangladesh in Multan. By the end of the match there remained only one thing in common: the coach of the losing side in both instances was Dav Whatmore.
It is probably justifiable to say that when Whatmore was appointed Pakistan coach in March 2012, it was the first time he had taken charge of an established international team. It might sound a bit harsh on Sri Lanka, but they had won only four of the 58 Tests and 49 of the 185 ODIs they had played until 1995, when Whatmore took charge. Bangladesh had hardly anything to boast about apart from the 1999 World Cup win against Pakistan when Whatmore became their coach in 2003. Even Whatmore's IPL experience - he was named Kolkata Knight Riders coach after they finished last in 2009 - is with a team far from established.
If you look at Pakistan's recent record before Whatmore became their coach, they had just whitewashed England 3-0 and lost only one out of their last 15 Tests.
Full postLet the umpire call it
These days being consistent is valued more than making the right decision. It's time we backed umpires to use their discretion when it comes to issues like bad light
Sahil Dutta
14-Sep-2013
What makes a good umpiring decision? Thirteen years ago England were chasing an unlikely late-evening victory, against Pakistan in Karachi, in light that was manifestly poor. Conditions were unfair to the fielding team, who couldn't see the ball, and dangerous for the batsmen. Yet the umpires - Steve Bucknor and Mohammad Nazir - got approval from the batsmen and stayed on. Their reasoning was that Moin Khan, the Pakistan captain, had deliberately wasted time and so had no right now to complain.
Last month Michael Clarke's self-indulgence combined with Kevin Pietersen's to gift a capacity crowd a stirring Sunday-evening finish. A middling Ashes series was set for a spectacular denouement. Yet with the climax in sight, the umpires pulled the plug on the party and sent everyone home four overs from the finish. Why? Because the light had dipped below a benchmark level.
In Karachi the umpires used their common sense. Strong-willed and sensible, they spat on the rule book but ensured a fair and memorable result. At The Oval the umpires were consistent. The precedent was set earlier in the series and no matter the context, rules were rules and needed respecting.
Full postThe five stages of grieving
A village cricketer begins his quest when his youthful heart is first sent soaring by a hero, and is thereafter tantalised by the possibilities of batsmanship
Scott Oliver
18-Aug-2013
As any village cricketer knows, preparing to bat doesn't begin with the clearing of the throat and the tremulous request for "middle-and-leg, please". It doesn't begin with the palpitating padding up or the fretful pacing that precede it, nor with the half-arsed throwdowns on the outfield.
It doesn't begin at the breakfast table that morning (or, if it's a Sunday game, with the all-day breakfast baguette and Red Bull purchased at the bargain price of £8.70 from some unlovely petrol station); nor even the night before, when, daydreaming in the shower, you find yourself thrusting the back of your hand out in an imaginary extra-cover drive, finishing with arm at full extension in a position that looks like a horny bird-of-paradise or Billy Bowden's version of the Nazi salute. It doesn't begin with the ominous stomach-churning tensions of the midweek nets - that flustered twilight swiping at the knackered opening bowler's legspin - or even with the anguished aftermath of your previous dismissal.
No, for the village cricketer (perhaps for them all), it begins at the moment your youthful heart is first sent soaring by a genius, a hero, and is thereafter tantalised by the possibilities of batsmanship - possibilities that are, for you, impossible (if only your heart could face up to it). Whether daunting or inspiring, this is the true beginnings of the innings - the imaginnings - an emotional wellspring that gushes every time the glory-addicted village batsman strides out to the middle in his weekly bid for transcendence, his ritual accommodation of death.
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