Knickers in a twist

For those that haven’t yet seen it, it’s worth taking a look at England’s plans to get the Aussies out.

© Getty Images

It’s interesting to see their plan to get the Aussies to “knick” [sic] the ball.

A vote for McGrath

This blog is all but dead. But I had to come out of retirement to pay tribute to the one man, if any, who can be credited for transforming a very good Australian unit to the best outfit the world has ever seen.

While the cricket world goes ga-ga over Warne, the genial (off-field) McGrath will quietly play second-fiddle. This post is not meant to take anything away from Warne, every bit a champion as there was any, but to put McGrath’s contributions with the ball in perspective. McGrath’s stats are far superior than Warne’s, slice them however you want. His average is nearly 4 points better; his strike rate nearly 6 balls better. If that doesn’t convince you, consider how Australia has fared in his absence. Or the percentage of wickets that included the one of the top six batsmen. The only reason Warne has more wickets than McGrath is because, being a spinner, he can bowl many more deliveries. Most importantly, McGrath has been outstanding against all opposition in all conditions all over the world. Apart from taking those crucial early wickets, he’s gotten vital breakthroughs virtually everytime his captain has turned to him. No batsman can claim to have had the better of him. He has kept the best batsmen of his time on a leash (Tendulkar), if not completely dominated them (Lara). Warne, of course, has a huge blemish on his record against the Indian batsmen. While McGrath may not be as entertaining or flamboyant as Warne, he was certainly more effective.

Remember McGrath not by what you see in the on-going Ashes series. The fast bowlers’ banes — age and injury — have rendered him to be merely good for quite some time now. Instead, for all the non-Australians out there, recall the time and again that he’s dashed your hopes. It still hurts.

It’s a testament to his fitness and commitment that he has lasted this long in international cricket. The time is right for him to bow out, and he will be sorely missed. Stuart Clark has huge boots to fill (although the initial signs are good from Australia’s perspective). The greatest cricketer I’ve seen, bar none, will be playing his last Test next week, and I’ll be watching.

Baseball in Manipur

Continuing the theme of the last two posts…

Link to video

Cricket v Baseball

Check out this great article from Mike Marqusee, a US-born cricket tragic who’s now a Brit and loves both the games dearly.

Sticks and balls

Junior Cricket in LA

It’s a Hairy mess

I have no clue what’s going to happen next, but Hair better have something to back him up. If he didn’t actually see anybody tampering with the ball, but arrived at the assumption by looking at the condition of the ball, it’s hard not to feel for Pakistan. Accusing anybody of cheating is a big deal, especially in a manner for which there’s no precedent. Hair’s case is further weakened by the scoreline. 230/3 is a good score in any situation, much less with a tampered ball. But two wrongs don’t make a right.

We learn from history that we do not learn from history.
— Georg Hegel

Gavaskar once walked off the field, and that has been his biggest regret in life. Inzy, apparently, doesn’t know that. Pakistan gave up the moral high-ground when they refused to take the field, and deserve the loss. They could’ve registered their complaint in many ways, and would’ve found a lot more support if they’d waited until the end of the day to pursue a proper course of action. Instead, now Inzamam faces an uncertain future.

He wanted to protest, he’s done it. He’s committed the crime, now he must be a man and face the consequence without dragging the rest of the team and his country into it. It would behoove him to quietly accept whatever ban he’s handed. Hopefully, the person making the decision will take the circumstances into account and give him the minimum penalty. Justice should be for all and Hair must account for his actions as well, with severe penalties if found irrational.

Blast from the past

I couldn’t help but burst into laughter when I read how the Barmy Army sledged Murali back in 2003.

Throw, throw, throw the ball, gently down the seam
Murali, Murali, Murali, Murali, chucks it like a dream
Bowl, bowl, bowl the ball, gently through the air
Murali, Murali, Murali, Murali, here comes Darrell Hair … No Ball!

Even the great man himself must’ve chuckled when he first heard this. Bloody brilliant. Here are Cricinfo’s best quotes from 2003.

Bye, bye Gilo

England just won the second Test against Pakistan emphatically, thanks in no small part to some brilliant performances, one of which came from Monty Panesar. Panesar seems to have gone from zero to hero in no time, and has firmly ensconced himself in the English squad. After a tough international baptism in India (avg. 62.4, strike rate 141.6 from 3 Tests), he’s turned things around in England (avg. 22.8, strike rate 45.95 from 5 Tests), and this against two subcontinental teams that are traditionally good players of spin. Giles never came close to bowling like that even in his dreams. Along the way, I hear, Monty’s gathered a cult following among the fan base for his mannerisms and idiosyncracies. Having been nicknamed Monty helped as well. When I first saw him a few months ago, I remember thinking that he wasn’t ready for international cricket. He was diffident, unsure in his appeals, and exuded all the nervelessness of an off-balance tight-rope walker. And then there was his fielding. A few months on, his shortcomings have endeared him to the British crowd, and the team management feels he’s making up for them in the bowling department. I don’t remember the last time England unearthed such a spin prospect. We can be certain that come November, it will be Panesar, and not the aging Giles, taking the field against Australia.

Tendulkar & Dravid

Excerpt from Rahul Bhattacharya’s Pundits from Pakistan (describing a game during India’s historic tour of Pakistan in 2003-04):

In Dravid, he found a sharp, hard-running ally, and who played a cracking reverse sweep which may have plucked a string of nostalgia in Tendulkar’s heart. Tendulkar used to play it just like that half a decade ago, and then he gave it up. Half a decade ago, Dravid would have scolded himself and performed twenty push-ups if he had attempted that stroke even in a dream.

The greatest bowler of all time?

Were it not for umpires’ tendency to not give batsmen out LBW when they take a stride forward, Kumble could very well have the most tally of wickets in cricket at this point. I’ve noticed this a lot. Kumble gets batsmen out LBW a lot, but only a small fraction of those are given (mostly because the batsman takes a step forward). Kumble’s habits don’t help him much either: he appeals just as vociferously for balls pitching outside leg or clearly missing the stumps, which is just plain ridiculous. Kumble doesn’t impart too much spin or bounce on the ball, so he’s hitting the stumps a lot. On all kinds of pitches, against all kinds of batsmen. While watching on TV, I can tell that; and Hawkeye usually confirms that. So, he has so many valid LBW shouts that aren’t even entertained by the umpires.

Technological assistance will help him, whenever it gets here. Hawkeye’s not going to be offiicial anytime soon, so Kumble might never have the benefit of that technology. But just being able to re-appeal against the on-field umpire’s decisions should help.