The Ashes 2009 - Curtain Raiser

I I have been away for the past couple of months or so primarily for two reasons. Firstly I did not feel motivated enough to cover the India NZ series because it was kind of one sided. The only reason for me to cover that would have been if things had not gone per the form guide. Less interesting series, but I watched it all the same. The second reason is that these past 2-3 months have been completely flooded with the T20 games. We had the IPL-II and then the T20 World Cup. Like to watch those games but that is slam-bang cricket not classic cricket. This time though there was some level of strategy in IPL because the teams had more experience and the choice of venue brought the bowlers in play.

Now Aussies are in England for a revenge series and they would like to retain and defend the Ashes. For Ricky Ponting this will be a personal agenda for he was the captain of the Australian team that handed over the Ashes to the Poms in England last time. That is an unforgivable sin as far as the Australian public is concerned and any captain would not like to be in that situation. Having already committed that sin, the only thing Ponting can do is to comeback and thrash the English team and win the Ashes in a convincing manner. But that is easier said than done. In my opinion both teams have undergone massive changes some planned some unplanned. They are rebuilding and therefore it is going to be an interesting contest. Aussies are a step ahead in their preparation but they are away from home turf and they have the motivation to win. England on the other hand are a bit demoralize after Pieteren fiasco and the happenings on their Windies tour. But they are capable of putting up a fight. Hence I am quite eager to see the start of the first test match.

Finally John Buchanan is in the news again. After his controversial stint with KKR in the IPL he has been chucked out and has been recruited by the English team as a consultant. Now that should bring a smile on Punters face because John will cast one of theories again and will spoil England’s preparations. Some of the old Australian players have already expressed their opinion and I liked the comment from Shane Warne. He said that John will probably conduct a boot-camp and have Freddie and Pietersen with bruised knees. On John Buchanan and his preposterous theories one can only say that the dog’s tail will always curl up.

Champions strike back

What a strong response from the Aussies when everyone thought they would struggle in SA. They have come back strongly and made a statement of sorts to everyone who questioned their superiority. There was that period of uncertainty when the new team had not settled in and the old boys had hung up their boots. If SA had maintained the intensity and hit them hard at that time things would have been different. Now they have a few of their regulars coming back and the confidence can only go up. Hats off to Ricky Ponting too, for surviving this critical period and pulling his team out of the mini crisis.

A sad day for Pakistan Cricket

Today’s events in Lahore will deal a devastating blow to competitive international cricket in Pakistan for a good 2-3 years. The Pakistan government is imminently responsible for letting this happen in broad day light and it was their responsibility to ensure that the visitors were well protected. I get the feeling that the government or the lack of it in Pakistan is letting the militancy grow rather rapidly. They have to take control of their destiny and reinforce some order of law and unless they show some stern actions the country will be ruined.

As cricket lovers all of us are going to miss some genuinely talented and controversial cricketers from this country.

Bucknor decides to retire, Indians celebrate!!

The nemesis of the Indian Test team and Sachin Tendulkar in particular, Steve Bucknor has decided to call it a day after the SA-Australia series. That piece of news must have caused a mini celebration in the Indian camp currently in NZ. Bucknor never embraced the technology and the options available to him to make good decisions but rather stuck to his old fashioned ways of umpiring. As the age caught up with him and the technology improved, his mistakes became glaringly visible. He was not called Silent Death for nothing.

He was instrumental in quite a few dubious decisions against the India team and specifically against Sachin. In my opinion his worst decision was the not out verdict for a caught behind appeal against Symonds in the infamous Sydney test. Then there is another one against Sachin in Pakistan where he ruled him out in fading light when the fielding team also could not have seen the ball. And there is another one where the ball hit Sachin on the shoulder and he was ruled OUT. He also had reported Rahul Dravid for ball tampering. The list goes on and on.

I think the quality of cricket umpiring can only improve with his departure. Also the Indian batsmen can now walk freely to the crease and not have their innings short circuited by Mr. Bucknor.

Windies’ resurrection or England’s hour of gloom

Last week I was pretty surprised by the astonishing turn of events at the Sabina Park oval where England were playing the Windies. What an amazing game, England were 24/7 at one stage in their second essay after both teams scored over 300 runs in the first innings. England lost eventually by an innings when they were bowled out for 51.

Now, according to the form book England have done quite well recently and they played some good cricket while in India before their tour got abruptly shortened by the unfortunate events of 26/11. Then they had that bizarre showdown between the captain and coach resulting in both of them being sacked from their job. There was also some talk about players’ loyalty to either or both. Events such as these can be quite distracting and it demoralizes the team completely. Added to that was the anxiety about the IPL auction for season 2. I also think that Englishmen when they go to tour the Caribeans always get confused between holidays and work days. So they end up partying on work days. Some or all of these factors probably contributed to the amazing turn of events.

I don’t want to take anything away from the West Indies though. They batted really well to overtake the England score and then Jerome Taylor bowled that inspired spell of 9-4-11-5 in the second innings. Gayle and Sarwan scored centuries and were supported by some good batting down the order. Gayle also redeemed himself at the same venue where five years ago Steve Harmison took 7-12 and bowled out the West Indies for 47.

So I really don’t know if we are seeing a resurrection of the West Indies of the past or this is just a bad day at office for England, We will know as the series progresses, but let me tell you I for one will be very happy to see the Windies bounce back.

Ponting Goes?

After the Boxing Day test match I wrote that the blame for the Australian downward spiral lies with Ponting and he must go. Looks like in less than a month after that, Cricket Australia has also come to the same conclusion, but they are calling this “rest” rather than a “sack”. Now I wonder which player worth his salt would like to let go an opportunity to thrash a weak team (NZ) and win some critics back rather than take a leisurely holiday. Secondly, as Steve Waugh said, if from here Michael Clarke wins the series 4-1 then how do the selectors bring back Ponting? Therefore I think this is a subtle message to Ponting to step down. This is the hard Australian “Perform or Perish” policy at work. We have seen how ruthless these guys are and some recent examples are Mark Waugh, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh.

Ponting is still a good batsman and a stellar fielder but the Aussies don’t have the tradition of ex-captains playing as normal players in the team. I think what Ponting also did not have was the true Australian sportsmanlike attitude. He was almost desperate to win at any cost and if that meant a Sydney like affair he would take that path with his eyes closed. He also influenced the players of his generation to play the same way and therefore possibly you have Hayden, Symonds and some others being loathed by other teams.

The other news that came from down under was the exclusion of Symonds from the SA tour. I think it is going to be very difficult for him to make a comeback. He is mentally not a very strong person and hence keeps getting in trouble with the authorities and players on a regular basis. Having talent is one thing and being able to handle the pressure and responsibility that comes with the role is another.

So it looks like a complete rebuilding of the Australian team is on the cards.

Oh no not Sydney Again!!

Almost exactly to the day one year ago, one had a déjà vu feeling of Australians desperately trying to win a test match. Last year it was a win to create a record and this year it was a win to stop a record being created. Both test matches had quite a few elements in common. There was a catch that was claimed incorrectly by Australia in each game. There was drama till the last few overs and there was the Australian win, if one reads only the result column on the score sheet, in the end.

Ricky Ponting yet again displayed his lack of sportsmanship and common sense when he jumped the third umpire and claimed that a catch was taken cleanly. Like Sourav Ganguly last year, it was Jacques Kallis who lobbed a simple leading edge back to the bowler. The bowler dived full length and claimed a catch. The umpires conferred and decided to go upstairs for confirmation. As they were debating, our man Ricky walks up to the umpire with his index finger held up. How stupid is that? From what I saw in the replays one angle did provide enough room to raise some doubts. However, the third umpire ruled in favor of the fielding side in the end.

When the match seemed to be over the last pair played out enough time and when the ninth wicket fell it was enough to force Graeme Smith to discard the cast on his hand and walk out in the field like a wounded gladiator. He got a standing ovation just for walking out in that hastily assembled kit of his. The man did not have the strength to tie his own shoe laces and still he walked to play out the last few overs. (Apparently he used his old trousers, Kallis’s shirt and Harris’s pull over with the hamburger stain. Then Morne Morkel helped him put the pads and shoes on.). What a brave effort. In the end he fell short by 10 deliveries but he won the hearts of millions like me. As the Age described it in the report as “South Africa lost without losing, Australia won without taking a prize. Trite as it sounds, the unconditional winner of yesterday's chewed-to-the-quick nailbiter at the SCG was the game of Test cricket, latterly much scorned as being too slow and passive for its times.”. Peter Roebuck announced in his article Exhilarating performance proves that Test cricket is alive and well. So in the end Australia retain No 1 ranking but just by a whisker. We will soon see what chopping and churning takes place there before the next season.

Finally, I never liked Asoka de Silva as an umpire simply because of the confidence he has in giving a dead wrong decision. Time and again when the bowler least expects to get an LBW decision, our man confidently raises the dreaded finger. He committed similar errors in this match and also allowed a five ball over. This man’s performance needs to be assessed and possibly he needs to be removed from the elite panel. What hurts is the fact that he himself has played Test match cricket.