The Surfer

Quota system not a long-term solution

An editorial in the Namibian criticises the new quota system adopted by the country's cricket bosses and says that if it has to be in place it should have a fixed duration

An editorial in the Namibian criticises the new quota system adopted by the country's cricket bosses and says that if it has to be in place it should have a fixed duration.
We want to suggest, for cricket, as for the rest of the country: if the instant gratification of a quota system is needed, determine its duration right from the start. Leaving it open-ended only harms the sport, or other facets of society, when colour, a person's elite status, or some unclear criteria is used in the selection process.
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Forget nationalism, enjoy the cricket

Having made several cricket trips to Sri Lanka, Anand Vasu writes in Wisden India that there was something refreshing and different about this World T20

Having made several cricket trips to Sri Lanka, Anand Vasu writes in Wisden India that there was something refreshing and different about this World T20. The hospitality in the wilderness of Hambantota was one such example and the liberating feeling of not having to follow India's fortunes on a daily basis was another. It was also a chance to learn some interesting facts about players.
I learnt that Dilshan Munaweera was a studious boy who spoke impeccable English and that it was Sanath Jayasuriya who introduced Ajantha Mendis to his future wife Yoshini, at the sidelines of a match. Had I been covering the Indian team, or even following their fortunes closely like so many fans are compelled to by their sense of nationalism, I would've likely been so engrossed in what the team composition was for the next match, or the form of a certain player, that I would have missed the best things about a world tournament - the sheer breadth of experiences on offer, the amazing stories behind the ordinary characters, the role every last piece plays in the bigger picture of this great game.
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Zimbabwe's 20 years of trouble

October 18 will mark 20 years since Zimbabwe's entry into the cricketing elite - they played their first Test on that day in 1992

An Englishman, Alan Butcher, now coaches Zimbabwe, and there are other good men - including Grant Flower, Campbell and Heath Streak - involved in the game there, but, cruelly, maladministration and financial crises still blithely walk hand in hand.
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Can technology keep umpiring clean?

The sting operation on the umpires show that the problem of match-fixing is not just limited to the players

For years old-timers have moaned about the fading importance of on-field officials but in these depressing times the need of a virtual eye on all actions that influence the result can't be overstated. Umpires may feel redundant because of the advent of infra-red imaging, ball-tracking technology and super sensitive sound receivers on cricket fields, but when trust is lost, second opinions aren't just advisable, they should be made mandatory.
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Not quite a redemption song

While it's fine to toast West Indies' success at the World T20, it will be a travesty to spark off comparisons with what was achieved three decades ago by Clive Lloyd's team

Why the desire to trivialise history for the sake of a newspaper headline or a band running across a television screen? What's worse is the content of the articles and TV discussions in which Sunday night's champions are being celebrated as "freewheeling" cricketers, "just like their predecessors were 33 years ago". It's a reinforcement of the racist stereotype that West Indies cricket thought it had shed long ago. Their fast bowlers were not quick because they were "naturally gifted", or because they were tall, strong and Black.
In the Guardian, Andy Wilson and Vic Marks list out the best and worst moments of the World T20.
And how to improve the tournament? - I'd go for two groups of six, with the top two from each qualifying for the semi finals. This would allow the tournament to start with a bang, as opposed to the damp squib in the current system, make every game meaningful, and give the less-fancied countries - Ireland, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe - more of a crack. AW
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Spirit of cricket? Do me a favour

Mark Butcher, Surrey legend and former England player, points out the impracticalities of spirit of cricket in All Out Cricket

Mark Butcher, Surrey legend and former England player, points out the impracticalities of spirit of cricket in All Out Cricket. Cricket and life, he writes, teach harsh lessons. Stupidity should be no defence in either
Cricket has always had its own sense of morality - a gentleman's code if you will. I recall the quaint practice of 'clapping in' the new batsman. Lovely on the surface of course; but the seven-year-old Michael Holding in me had thoughts of rearranging the poor unfortunate's new dental work. Cricket - like the world in which it is set - has a brutal beauty and is governed by law and order. For the most part!
I conclude that the Spirit of Cricket is a commendable notion but is not without significant flaws in its interpretation. The Laws of cricket are comprehensive and most of the recent wrangles have come about because of a lack of understanding of such Laws, as opposed to massive breaches of some unrealistic utopian code.
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The age of the Six

Hitting a six is no longer the rarity it used to be, writes Barney Ronay in the Guardian; it has become the defining image of the modern game

This is not intended to denigrate the complexities, technical and narrative, of Twenty20 cricket. It is simply to acknowledge that in a sport that lends itself more than most human occupations to a sense of ages passing - new dawns, old dawns, periods of mawkish, sodden, quavering reflection - we are currently passing through what is best characterised not as the age of Uncertainty or the Age of Revolution, but as the Age of The Six. The six is no longer a variation, an explosion, a tactical oddity, but an end in itself, the basic unit of cricketing success in the sport's noisiest and most lucrative form.
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Glass ceiling over women's cricket

The attention the Women' World Twenty20 matches received from the journalists and the spectators in Sri Lanka was trifling compared to the men's game

The ICC has a significant annual budget set aside for the women's game and promotes the game actively. Seven out of 11 national boards now have their female cricketers on central contracts, thus allowing them semi-professional or professional stability. To qualify as an associate member of the ICC, countries must have a women's set-up as well....
....For all the progress being made, it is maybe not happening quick enough, or evenly enough. At an ICC brunch on the day of the final, organised especially to promote the women's game, the general consensus was that the gap between the top four, including sides such as Australia and England, and the rest was increasing. More cricket for countries such as Pakistan, India and Bangladesh will be important.
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Indian players must play in leagues the world over

India's failure to reach the semi-final of the World Twenty20, despite the presence of the Indian Premier League, is due to the fact that the Indian players don't play in such leagues the world over

A good starting point is to relook their policy of not allowing Indian players to participate in other similar leagues around the world. In fact, permitting the big names of India to participate will actually showcase their true worth. In their backyard and in their local gig, many an Indian has risen to quick fame with a few innings of note or sharp spells of bowling. But none of them have risen to a superstar level.
If the board does not develop a long-term strategy and implement it to create the superstars of tomorrow, it won't be long before the IPL drowns in its own perceived glory.
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'Time for Kohli to replace Dhoni'

India have endured 18 ordinary months in international cricket, and many are of the opinion that MS Dhoni has kept his captaincy just because there are no viable alternatives

Over the last year, he has first been picked as captain and is then somehow fit into the XI, especially in Test and Twenty20 cricket. Over the seven Tests he played in England and Australia, Dhoni scored a mere 322 runs at an average of 27. In the World Twenty20, he batted all of 51 balls in the entire competition, when several occasions demanded he promote himself in the batting order. In the longest and shortest formats of the game, Dhoni is captain first and wicketkeeper-batsman almost as an afterthought.
Boria Majumdar, writing in Outlook, thinks similarly. Although he mentions Test and ODI captaincy shouldn't be thrust upon him just yet, but he should be given T20 captaincy, after the latest World Twenty20 debacle.
With Dhoni's India not making the semi-finals of the T20 world cup yet again after being inaugural champions in 2007, fans' patience is fast running out. It is imperative that Indian cricket is fast brought back on track. We have been starved of a major success for 18 long months and need a new champion with younger blood at the helm. Without doubt, it is time to give it to Virat.
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