The Surfer
Bhuvneshwar and Praveen: products of Victoria Park
21-Jul-2013
Uttar Pradesh has the fine honour of producing some of India's current best exponents of swing bowling. Two notable examples, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Praveen Kumar, honed their craft in Meerut's Victoria Park, which has long enjoyed the reputation of being a green pitch which takes appreciable swing. Karthik Krishnaswamy, writing for The Indian Express, explores their respective stories.
The Victoria Park outfield, freshened by an early morning shower, is lush but perfectly mown. You imagine that it would take a while for an SG ball to lose its shine here. At other times of the year, conditions might be dry and parched or close to freezing. Whatever the weather is like, the ground is always dotted with figures in white.
Root plays adagio with the bat
Malcom Knox praises Joe Root for his technically adept innings in the Sydney Morning Herald, while John Townsend defends Ian Bell's decision to stand his ground in the Independent
ESPNcricinfo staff
21-Jul-2013
With a near unassailable lead of 566 runs, England have nearly shut Australia out of the Lord's Test. The highlight of their performance on the third day was Joe Root's maiden Test hundred as an opener. In his column for the Sydney Morning Herald, Malcolm Knox praises Root for his technically adept innings.
His century was a lesson in the tempo of Test match batting, much like Murali Vijay's had been in India. Admired, yes. Heeded? We'll see. The Australians would prefer other teachers.
John Townsend, in the Independent defends Ian Bell, who chose to stand his ground after Steve Smith claimed a catch off Ryan Harris' bowling. Townsend says Bell's actions are similar to what most Australian batsmen would have done in the same situation.
Former Australia coach John Buchanan made it a team rule some years ago that no batsman should walk on a low catch, even an obvious one, because the likelihood of the video confirming the capture was virtually non-existent. Some players were uncomfortable with the policy but none doubted its rationale. Bell has adopted the Australian way, just as he took to sledging when he first played in Australia a decade ago.
'An X-rated disaster movie of a collapse'
Australia's batsmen collapsed on Friday, as a number of poor shots and techniques saw the visitors bundled out for 128.
20-Jul-2013
Australia's batting collapse on Friday virtually put to rest, any and all hopes of a closely fought Ashes Test, as the visitors pushed the self-destruct button with a number of poor shots to get bundled out for 128. Greg Baum, of The Age, sums up Australia's "comical" display.
Of Australia's many collapses in recent times - including its 47 in Cape Town two years ago - this was the most slapstick. Flash followed upon swipe, upon prod, upon bungled referral, upon panicky run-out. England scarcely had to do more than introduce the ball to play. Australia shot itself in its Achilles heel.
Shane Watson's poor performances have been one of the major causes behind Australia's recent losses. In the Independent, John Townsend sheds more light on the cricketer's biggest weakness.
Watson gets out lbw in 30 per cent of his dismissals. No batsman to play as many as Watson's 43 Tests equals that figure. His strength is his weakness. That powerful front leg plants down the pitch, the heavy bat sweeps through but has to go around the pad rather than through the ball and a delivery that a more nimble-footed batsman would pick off through midwicket becomes a deadly missile screaming in through a tiny gap in an otherwise impregnable defence.
What's so good about Tests?
Citing examples of two contrasting yet thrilling matches on starsports.com, Mukul Kesavan compares Tests and ODIs with the help of the tri-series final between India and Sri Lanka and the first Ashes Test played at Trent Bridge
19-Jul-2013
Citing examples of two contrasting yet thrilling matches on starsports.com, Mukul Kesavan compares Tests and ODIs with the help of the tri-series final between India and Sri Lanka and the first Ashes Test played at Trent Bridge. Even though both matches went down to the wire, why was the Test a better instance of a clash between the two teams' strengths? Kesavan also argues against the rationale behind the 10-overs quota rule for bowlers in ODIs and how it reduces the intensity in the shorter format.
The comparison is useful in two ways. First, it helps us appreciate the vintage pleasures of Test cricket at a time when our palates have been debased by a steady diet of limited-overs plonk. And second, it might help us reform the formulaic tedium of ODI cricket by incorporating into it the strengths of the long game.
Take the ten overs rule. It must have been designed to prevent selectors from packing teams with batsmen, but when you consider that Anderson nearly broke down after a dozen overs on the trot, it is hard to see a team taking the field with just two bowlers prepared to bowl twenty five overs apiece. Once we accept that every team will play three or four bowlers for its own good, what is the rationale for a rule that forces a team to use at least five bowlers because no bowler can bowl more than ten overs in an innings?
Full postNotes from a memorable first day at Lord's
Andrew Alderson in the
19-Jul-2013
Andrew Alderson in the New Zealand Herald soaks in the atmosphere in the run-up to the second Test, from MCC members queuing up outside Lord's from 2am in the morning to a few delicious culinary treats.
The Lord's lunch and afternoon tea - the lamb off the bone in a rich tomato sauce made you grateful to be a carnivore. The sponge cake for afternoon tea was as good as Grandma's efforts out of the coal range when you were a kid.
Mathew Sinclair: a man of many skills
Former New Zealand batsman Matthew Sinclair, who retired earlier this week, shares memories of his career in the New Zealand Herald
ESPNcricinfo staff
19-Jul-2013
Earlier this week, New Zealand batsman Mathew Sinclair called time on a 13-year career. In an interview with David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald, Sinclair looks back on his life and career, including vocational stints in port work, stevedoring, fence work and retail, and shares a few regrets.
What bugs me was my (lack of) consistency within the Test environment. I felt like every game I was picked was a do-or-die situation. If I didn't score runs, I'd be dropped. My first-class record is second to none - people would say "Why can't you do that at international level?" Maybe I could have had more support to build my self-confidence. A lot of my coaching principles are around being positive. The game is hard enough as it is.
India's Man of Steel
MS Dhoni's heroics at the Port-of-Spain have done little to keep critics away, as he still continues to come under fire from various quarters for "leaving things too late".
19-Jul-2013
Despite being widely regarded as "the greatest finisher of the game", MS Dhoni has not been without his share of critics and doubters. Even after his heroics in Port-of-Spain, the skipper came under fire from various quarters for "leaving things too late". Sandeep Dwivedi of the Indian Express comes out with a staunch defence for India's most successful captain.
Dhoni avoids taking risks in the period between overs 45 and 49. Apparently blind to the escalating run-rate, he protects the tail-enders by conceding dot balls or taking singles. His agenda in such games is to be alive till the final over for that all-or-nothing face-off with the death bowler. It isn't so much a gamble as a dare. By virtue of playing countless close IPL games, possessing a multi-dimensional arsenal of strokes and a mind that never panics, the odds of untying the ropes and surfacing triumphantly over the waters favour cricket's Houdini. His final-over winning shots are as precious as gold dust for fans. They also provide a popularity spike for the game and give the team, keen to make a habit of winning, a boost.
The Lord's Ashes experience
Former England captain Michael Vaughan, in the Telegraph, paints a picture of the experience that awaits the English and Australian players on Thursday at Lord's
18-Jul-2013
Former England captain Michael Vaughan is no stranger to the charm of Lord's. He has strode out through the Long Room twelve times in his career, seven of which were as captain. In the Telegraph, he paints a picture of the experience that awaits the English and Australian players at the home of cricket on Thursday.
The Long Room is crammed like a busy bar. You walk through the narrow tunnel created by the stewards, go through the double doors and down the steps at the front of the pavilion. This is when the hairs on the back of the neck stand up. If you can, take in this moment. Whichever team goes out first should be thinking: "How lucky are we to be playing cricket right here, right now." It does not get any better.
The Mercurial Mr Afridi
Aditya Iyer of the Indian Express explores a worrying trend in Shahid Afridi's comebacks, where the Pakistan allrounder announces himself in style but later fizzles out
17-Jul-2013
Shahid Afridi marked his return to one-day cricket with the second-best bowling figures in history, to go along with a typically swashbuckling half-century that powered his side to a 126-run victory over West Indies at Providence. Aditya Iyer of the Indian Express, explores the Pakistan allrounder's previous comebacks, most of which had begun with a spectacular performance and nothing of note thereafter.
Again, you were the Man of the Match. Of course you were. In a career where you have been dropped five times, each of the returns have been marked with you being the standout player of the match. You were one of stalwarts from the 2003 World Cup squad to be axed after the loss to India. But when India visited your land in 2004, you were picked for the Rawalpindi ODI. You opened and scored a 58-ball 80 to give Pakistan a 12-run win. But you wouldn't score a total of 80 runs over your next eight innings. And that has been the true story of your comebacks.
'Mickeyleaks' won't hurt Australia
17-Jul-2013
The claims of major tension between Michael Clarke and Shane Watson made by Mickey Arthur in his legal documents seeking compensation from Cricket Australia won't hurt the Australian camp in the lead-up to the Lord's Test, writes Greg Baum in the Age.
But look at it through the players' eyes. The fact of the Clarke/Watson rift, and other faultlines, is not news to them. Nor is the claim - strenuously denied - that it was Watson who dobbed in Warner. The language in the leaked log of claims is purple, but that is only a colour. Arthur is distant from the Australian team now, in time and place. The figures attached to his claim might might raise eyebrows, but not hair.
In the Daily Telegraph, Malcolm Conn argues that it is not necessary for players to get along, but Arthur's claims highlight one of the reasons he was axed.
How did it come to this? What was the coach doing if all this was going on under his reign? It reinforces the notion that Arthur was sacked because he was too nice a bloke. That players did not respect him enough and were taking advantage of him.
