Not really fair, is it?

A bit unfair, no to write off the England team after just one day, no? Especially if we were to remember how the last series panned out… And day 2 has not been exactly one-sided now, has it?

And if music is your thing, here’s a song about Brett Lee killing Freddie Flintoff. Sing it to the tune of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

Brett Lee just killed a man

Bowled a ball around his head,

hit his temple, now he’s dead.

Freddie, your time has come

Your Ashes urn was here but now it’s blown away

Technorati : Ashes, Australian Media, England v Australia

Deja vu?

India finally got their tour of South Africa off the ground. And I am sure they must be wishing they had not! For their performance last night was a hark back to the 1996 tour I remember vividly. The bowlers (M/s Prasad and Srinath) got the team on top with a fiery spell of bowling in the first Test only to have the batsmen bungle up royally. And how badly they bungled up last night at Durban… Incidentally, the venue for this debacle is the same as the match referred to in 1996.

The bowlers looked and perhaps played their part but the batsmen never got their bearings about them. A look at the scorecard would reveal that three of the top four batsmen were clean bowled (Jaffer’s wasn’t as clean, but he was bowled nonetheless) and this only shows a lack of application. The technique is there, but fear has been struck in the hearts of the mighty Indian batsmen.

Going by last night’s performance, India would be very lucky to come away with even one victory in the remaining three ODIs. Wonder what Mr Chappell had to say after the match…

Update: Some others in the blogosphere lament India’s performance here. It’s real good! By the Greatbong!

Technorati : cricket, durban ODI, india v south africa, kallis, tendulkar

The Windies are back?

It’s not often that Brian Lara takes on a bowling attack the way he has in the second Test against Pakistan. It’s great to see and heartwarming when one thinks that the WI will host the next World Cup. The WI team has been in a mini-resurgent phase for a while now and perhaps this is the time they make good of whatever promise they hold. They do seem to have (cliche alert) the perfect blend of youth and experience in Lara, Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Gayle, Morton (yes, he has promise) and Bravo.

The bowling, though, seems to be a little one-dimensional with Taylor and Collymore the only two capable of making any inroads. On the whole, though, this is a side that has potential (as they amply displayed in the Champions Trophy by almost defending it). Go Windies!

2nd Test Scorecard

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Good audio stuff

Tony Greig talks on Cricinfo. Good stuff. Wish they could colour it up a bit. But there is a nice old-world feel to it like listening to the radio. Give it a go.

When I had breakfast with the Indian cricket team…

I am currently in Chennai and living at a rather nice hotel. Our flight landed about 20 mins late last night and so we were even later in hitting the bed. So when I woke up this morning, I was a bit groggy and thought i saw Mohammed Kaif walk out of the lift when I descended the stairs. Hm.

For a split second, I wondered why I imagined I saw Mohd. Kaif and not say, Catherine Zeta-Jones. Good question, na? That’s because I did see him and not just imagine. And in the rest of the split second (I managed to split the second into two ), I gathered my thoughts, composed myself and managed a “Hey, Hi!”. Not very eloquent, I agree, but given my state of mind, I think I did well.

The next shock was when I saw Suresh Raina at the breakfast spread getting some juice. Hu? Yes him. And then just after him came Harbhajan Singh. So I decided to look around. And lo and behold! There sat the Indian cricketers. M S Dhoni, Ajit Agarakar, Dinesh Mongia, Irfan Pathan and even Rahul Dravid.

A colleague claims to have spoken to Dravid and told him about the work we do (:)). But I could not stop gasping and staring thorugh breakfast. After messaging everyone who I knew would appreciate the gravity of the event, my life seemed set.

Never have I looked forward to breakfast more (except of course when… )

Technorati : blogcamp.in, chennai, cricket, harbhajan, india, irfan pathan, m s dhoni, rahul dravid

Racism rears its head in Cricket… again

Yet again, an Australian cricketer (albeit former) was at the centre of a “racial abuse” storm. The guilty party this time: former Aussie batsman Dean Jones. His crime: Calling Hashim Amla a “terrorist” when on air. His justification: “It was a silly and completely insensitive thing to say and, obviously, it was never supposed to be heard over the air”.

The silly and insensitive part we agree to. But what about stupid? What does he mean “It was never supposed to be heard…” never mind where. On Air or not, he has no business saying this. For one, he is a public figure and must display more responsibility of what he says.

Of course, this is not the first time that an Australian player has been found guilty of such abuse. Darren Lehmann was the guilty one last time around.

While players have been found guilty, even the crowds in Australia have not been any better. Remember the infamous tour when South African players were called names by the crowd? Something needs to be done and quick. So what if Australia are the best cricket team in the world? That does not give them any right to abuse others.

[Darren Lehmann v Sri Lanka]

Technorati : australia, cricket, racism, south africa, sri lanka

Shivnarine Chanderpaul resigns

Captain of the West Indies cricket team, Shivnarine Chanderpaul has resigned. In a statement, he said:
“…I would like to take this opportunity to tender my resignation as captain with immediate effect. This would give me an opportunity to focus on my batting and other areas of my cricket …where I would be able to make a more significant contribution to the team, by being more focused on my batting etc…”

As captain, I would think he had done an average job. His batting record is good, but win-loss is utterly disastrous. Well, he did have a team of some odd-balls!

Chanderpaul Records:
Batting:
Tests- 14
Runs- 1038
Avg- 47.18 (better than career avg)
Best- 203* 100s/50s- 3/3

Win-Loss:
Wins- 1
Losses- 10
Draw- 3

Interestingly, he did play more away matches as captain (8 vs 6). On the whole, he was rather clerical as a captain. Not inspiring, and always understated. Most notably, on their current tour of NZ, when WI had the last Test in their grasp, he hardly led from the front and as a result the batting caved in meekly on the last 2 days.
On the field too, he was almost absent and one had to look hard to know that he was the captain. While the WICB has said that a replacement would be announced soon, I shudder to think who it would be. Lara? Doubtful, but not improbable. Sarwan? Hmm… that would be interesting. Perhaps it would help him as a player too, the extra responsibility, that is. Gayle? Why not? He can do a lot of thinking in the dressing room… he doesn’t bat too long and has all the time in the slips. His bowling sure has come along well!
These three apart, I really don’t see anyone who could lead the WI team ably till the World Cup. That would, one guesses, their target considering they are hosts.
More turmoil for the already beleagured, once-powerful cluster of islands…

Where Are The ‘Wind’ies?

Man I miss the calypso cricket! Where are the Brian Laras and Courtney Walsh’s and Curtly Ambroses? Heck, I’d even settle for the Carl Hoopers right now! By that, I don’t mean Hooper was any less a player than the gentlemen mentioned before, but just that he wasn’t exactly the flamboyant, outrageously talented and athletic West Indian you’d normally expect.

The current team is an apology of a team. They can’t bat (bar a couple of them), they can’t bowl (bar none) and they can’t field (bar maybe the gully team from Mahim West). So what happened? I suppose somewhere around the early nineties, when a new team needed to be formed, not much emphasis was laid on planning on the future. I remember a lanky Anderson Cummins who could bowl somewhat fast and accurate but he was one who never seemed like he could last a Test match.

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It’s time…

Before I write anything else, here's the schedule for the next fortnight: My car, my new car, my car and did I mention, my Car??
I'm obsessed… can't help it, tho!! She'll be here tomorrow morning… and I shall heed to some of my friends' suggestions not to blow up too much decorating it, but a CD-Player, I agree is a must. To be honest, I'm too numb and dumbstruck to do anything right now… can't even concentrate on work (hope my ed doesn't read this!).
All the same, in about 16 hours and 22 minutes, I'll have my new car. All I have done the last two days is burn CDs in office and now I have 12 CDs with MP3s (that's about 8 GB of music!!). I seriously hope I can finally drive tomorrow.
It's been three months since the search began and the whole process finally culminates tomorrow. It had almost become a part of our (me and Tosh!) life to go car hunting every damn weekend. Now we'll probably just end up driving around aimlessly… that sounds like fun, wot say?
To all those who I will not be able to meet in person, here's a virtual pedha! Tond god kara!!