Ramblings of an armchair critic

The Sightscreen

2011-11-17T20:49:00.001Z

It was mid way through the Indian tour of England, more specifically it was when I was in Birmingham and watched India lose the third test that an idea started. Along with couple more folks on twitter , began a talk about about starting a site, created by fans of the game, where one could talk about it from a fan's perspective.

A week and half ago, after quite a few Skype calls, gtalk chats, email exchanges, the idea came to fruition. Introducing The Sightscreen .This idea is a collaborative effort , and major kudos to : Aashish, Devanshu, Minal, Masuud, Subash and Shrikant.

Opinions pieces , nostalgia , stats and stadium information. We think these sections should cater to a broad spectrum of the fans of the game. Do have a look around, and appreciate all forms of feedback about the site.

Post series, a bit of ambivalence

2011-09-20T23:48:00.001+01:00

After comfortably batting out the fifth day, Australia secured their first series win since retaining the Trans - Tasman trophy early last year. Since then they had drawn the series against Pakistan in England, lost to India in India and comprehensively lost the Ashes. Post the Ashes loss, Ricky Ponting resigned from the captaincy, Michael Clarke took over. This was the first real tour for the Australian's under Clarke's reign. To come away with wins in both the ODI's and test's then is a pretty good return. I am however ambivalent to the results.

There have been a few positives to come out from the test series. The debut series for Trent Copeland and Nathan Lyon have gone fine. Barring Lyon's fiver in the first innings at Galle, combined they didn't set the series alight. They however didn't look like fish out of water.When Nathan Lyon was picked for this tour, I feared for the guy. Here was someone possibly making his debut in Sri Lanka and having to bowl against the likes of Sangakkara , Dilshan and Jayawadene on their home turf. To then come away with 8 wickets ( five of them admittedly in one innings) and going touch over 3 rpo wasn't bad returns. What needs to be kept in mind is that he had only 8 first class games, and a few ODI games with Australia A prior to this tour. He was in other terms, a virtual greenhorn. Sincerely hope the selectors stick with the guy and give him an extended run.

Trent Copeland is the sort of seamer Australia were missing for a while. Someone who could lock an end up to offer the captain a semblance of control when having Mitchell Johnson spray his stuff around. Bowling in the mid to late 120 kmph, his strength is the line and length he consistently bowled. On the flat decks in Sri Lanka he showed excellent control. To come away with 6 wickets, and conceding just over 2 rpo makes for decent return. What was impressive to note was that his line and length didn't seem to waver at any time. He also showed that he was no rabbit with the bat, and is more than a handy fielder. So much so, he was seen fielding at short cover, and at slips at various stages of the series. Would be interesting to see how the South African's play him. With his control of line and length, would make for interesting viewing. He might just have the sort of series Stuart Clark had in 2006.

Was chuffed to see that Shaun Marsh made his test debut and for at least the South African series seem to have sealed the #3 spot. Made an excellent start to his test career with a century on debut and carried on the good form in the third test. Ideally though would like to see him opening the innings for Australia. Which is where things got a bit complex with the Phil Hughes century in the second innings. He could well have been playing for his place in the X1 and with that century has surely sealed his opening spot for the Protea's tour.

The test series was however disappointing for Watson and Ponting. Both seemed to get starts during the series but neither of them went on to make that big score. Ponting showed good form in the first few ODI's and expected him to have a decent test series. Which didn't happen. Watson carried on from his Ashes series form, where in he got starts in most innings only to throw it away. Watson for me is wasted at the openers position. Ideally he should go back to #6 spot. However, both him and Clarke made it amply clear that it wasn't going to happen any time soon.

Mitchell Johnson, for someone who was the most experienced , it was another dire series. Never seemed to look like bagging wickets, and am not sure he deserves a place in the playing eleven any more. Hardly contributing with the bat, misfiring with the ball, Australia cannot afford to carry passengers when they are trying to get back into winning mode. Brad Haddin was another player who had a horrible tour. Australia took a major gamble by only selecting one specialist keeper and were lucky he didn't suffer injuries. With the bat he hardly contributed all tour but he is safe in the knowledge that Tim Paine is only coming back from injury.

It was great to see that Michael Hussey carried on his fine form from the Ashes series. Two hundreds, and two scores of 90 in five completed innings made for a superb series with the bat. His form is now going to put serious pressure on Ricky Ponting to justify his selection in the team. No small praise also to the efforts of Ryan Harris in the first two tests. 11 wickets in two tests, with a fiver in the second innings a Galle securing the all important test win. It's a shame that the knees would mean that a shortened test career is all but a given for the large hearted Harris.

Overall though, it was good to see Australia get back into some form of winning ways. The test at Galle on that pitch was a major challenge and thanks to winning the toss, they came through that test. It was slightly disappointing that even with over 100 overs at Kandy they couldn't get the win for a convincing series win. They had their backs to the wall at Colombo, but thanks to some doggedness, a placid pitch and some flaccid Sri Lankan bowling, they secured the draw.

Positive signs, yes. Tempered positive signs though.Their series in South Africa will show if this is a turn in the right direction or another false awakening.

Was the Angelo Matthews criticism warranted ?

2011-09-19T23:30:00.001+01:00

Angelo Matthews today got his maiden test century in the third test against Australia at the SSC, Colombo. It was an interesting innings and one which brought about a curious opinion piece on Cricinfo at the end of the days play.

He came to the wicket when Sri Lanka were 210/4 at the end of the 82 over, scoring at a run rate of 2.6 rpo. He then had a partnership of 121 with Dilshan at 3.4 rpo. When Dilshan got out, Matthews was on 42 made of 96 balls (SR of 44). He then had another partnership with wicket keeper Prasanna Jayawardene, scoring at 3 rpo. When Prasana Jayawardene got out, Sri Lanka were 412/5 off 145 overs, scoring at 2.8 rpo. So Sri Lanka improved their run rate after Matthews had come to the crease, albeit it wasn't entirely due to him. At that time Matthews had scored 74 runs of 177 balls (SR of 42). Sri Lanka at that stage had a lead of 96 which was no means close to being a match winning lead.

Along with the bowlers, Matthews then took another 29 overs to score 61 runs at just over 2 rpo. In fact as the Cricinfo ball by ball commentary showed, Sri Lanka scored 45 runs of 19 overs in the morning session while losing the remaining four wickets, resulting in an overall lead of 157. Matthews went to his 100 of 256 deliveries at a SR of 40. He ended up not out on 105, made of 269 deliveries, a SR of 39. So as I see it, his strike rate through out the entire innings didn't vary to a great extent. When he was playing alongside Dilshan and Jayawardene his strike rate was only marginally better.

However, today's morning session which saw Matthews get to his 100 prompted this piece by Daniel Brettig, where in he makes the claim that Angelo Matthews in his pursuit of his maiden test century put himself ahead of the team. Did he actually do it ? Brettig's opinion is that by the go slow this morning, he had wasted valuable time in his pursuit of the land mark. He acknowledges that getting a maiden hundred isn't meant to be taken lightly, but he also has a dig at the sub continent's cricketers obsession with personal land mark. Brettig's contention is that Sri Lanka needed to do all the chasing, being 0 - 1 down in the series, and thus today's morning session was just not on.

Curiously though, Michael Clarke had a different take on things, in his post days play press conference. Clarke said " Last night and today I thought they'd be a bit more proactive. In saying that, I had a lot of guys on the fence " In effect Australia were being defensive, which is perfectly understandable considering they had a lead to protect. Considering the state of play, Matthews played the percentages fine.

When Jayawardene got out, Sri Lanka had a lead of only 96, which he managed to stretch to 157. In trying to go for quick runs this morning Sri Lanka could very well have been bundled out lot quicker, and for a much lower lead. This would have played into Australia's hands as they would have had the best part of the fourth day to bat to try and get a sizeable lead, which they could have stretched further in the fifth day morning session. They then would have had the chance to try and go for a win.

Which is where I found the Brettig opinion piece interesting. Would have agreed with his line of thinking if this had transpired on day 5, when Sri Lanka would have needed as much time as possible to try and bowl out Australia. Considering it happened on day 4, I found the opinion piece odd. When the Sri Lankan innings ended close to lunch, they had a lead of 157 and there were 5 sessions of play left. It was a pretty decent position to be in. No one could then have foreseen the Phil Hughes knock or the fact that for much of the day's play Australia were scoring close to 3.5 runs per over.

That said, Australia, inspite of Phil Hughes century aren't safe yet in the test. At the end of the fourth day's play, they are only 52 runs ahead. Their advantage is the seven wickets in hand. What should give Sri Lanka hope and belief is that besides Hussey who is next in, none of the remaining Australian batsman are in great knick. All it needs is for them to grab two wickets within the first hours play and they could very well go on and win the test. Which is why I found the Australian go slow towards the back end of the day's play very odd. They could possibly have been a 100 or close to it ahead which would have made Sri Lanka's job of chasing down the target that much harder. They didn't,and therein lies the chance for Sri Lanka. Should make for a fascinating morning session.

Should Sri Lanka go on and achieve the win and draw the series they will have Angelo Matthews innings to thank. For that he deserves credit and not the criticism.

25 years on this day - the tied test at Chennai.

2011-09-18T00:59:00.000+01:00

September 18, 1986 - not a day a lot of us will remember or recollect at the drop of a hat . I certainly don't, not until the last few weeks when in one of the many hours on you tube I came across a few clips recollecting the tale of only the second tied test in cricketing history.

September 18 is when the test match started at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chepauk. When I viewed the documentary and when I think back to my memories of the ground, not much changed when I visited the ground in 1998 and 1999. The stadium though has now undergone a shift. That though isn't the point of this post.

My cricket viewing had started the same year. My first ever cricketing memory is this match, which as I see it now was also on the 18'th. School holidays and that day happened to be at some birthday party, and the match was on. Quite a painful memory. Here you lot jog down memory lane as well and relive that moment.

I don't remember much from the tied test. Truth be told, I remember Matthews bowling in a cap but wouldn't associated it with this match. Talk to anyone who follows cricket though, and if you ask them about the match, the first thing most folks remember/recollect is Dean Jones's double century made in that oppressive heat. Many would also recollect the famous line or some might even call it a sledge from Allan Border to Jones when he wanted to retire hurt. The keen fan would remember Kapil Dev's 100 in the first innings. I vaguely remember watching the final lbw which resulted in the tie, and ensuring the names of the two umpires who officiated - V Vikram Raju and DN Dotiwala are forever remembered.

Come to think of it, it was a stupendous effort from India to chase down 347 on the final day. This mind you was 25 years ago. How many teams would attempt it now ? A lot has been said about India chasing down 387 at Chennai against England in 2008 and how it was Sehwag's innings on the fourth evening that set up the chase on the final day. This target was just 40 runs lesser. It was chased down with about 30 overs lesser than the 08 Chennai test. The Indian team didn't have a Sehwag, some might say Kris Srikkanth comes close to it but look at the scorecard and no one played a Sehwag type innings.

Yet they managed a run rate of 4 rpo on the final day. In fact, look at the run rate maintained through out the test match by both teams. From memory, scoring at 3 rpo then constituted fast scoring. India had run rate of over 4 in the first innings, and pretty much 4 in the second. Australia scored at over 3 rpo in both their innings. It was that kind of a test match.

You can argue for the fielding not being the standards now, but that's counteracted with the general pace of test cricket back then. Also why didn't Border get his bowlers to bowl a negative line post tea session ? This was an Australian team not renowned for winning much back then (opposite of what Maninder Singh states in the documentary). They would rather have not lost another match. It didn't happen though, and fair credit to him for not resorting to that.

That's enough rambling from my side on a match I can't recollect too much about. Many thanks to Niharmaniyar for linking this up on you tube.

It has a few players involved in the test talking and they are - Allan Border, Dean Jones, David Boon, Kapil Dev, Kris Srikkanth, Sunil Gavaskar, Steve Waugh and Ravi Shastri. It also has views from the Australian coach Bob Simpson, umpires DN Dotivala, Vikram Raju, and reporter Mike Coward. Talking of coaches - who was India's coach then ? Anyone knows ?

Part 1 and Part 2 sets up the test match and general talk around the match and Australia's first innings.

Part 3 - Border explains the line/sledge at the beginning here. Watch Srikkanth here at over the 6 minute mark. Hilarious.

Part 4 - Border on the final day declaration.

Part 5 - Can you imagine the outrage, fines or even bans after that Tim Zoehrer / Chetan Sharma incident ( starts at 3:20) ? Didn't know of the incident until I had seen it in this clip.

Part 6 - begins with the lbw.

It must have been some test match to view, let alone play or be involved in. This documentary for me made for fascinating viewing. Listening to the players talk about the test. How I wish another of these tied tests happen sooner than later. The first tied test in 1960 between Australia and West Indies at Brisbane is only known through written pieces and grainy footage. Then it was this test in 1986. Imagine the excitement going into the final day, final over and all four results possible. We fans surely need one of these.

For obvious reasons, this test comes close in terms of the final margin of defeat. Distinctly remember following this match on ABC radio back home. This was before the days of 24 *7 cricket coverage. Another close one is of course the second Ashes test in the 2005 series. Besides these two, can't recollect too many other close matches. India's win in Mohali last year should be added to the list, but apart from it ?

Interested in folks who read this post .What do you remember from the tied test match ?

Rahul Dravid bids farewell to the ODI arena

2011-09-15T23:44:00.002+01:00

Tomorrow at Sophia Gardens in Wales, Rahul Dravid will play his 344'th and last one day international for India. He had been recalled after a gap of two years back into the Indian squad after injuries had ensured most of the original squad wouldn't be available. Looking at just the England tour alone, it wasn't the worst call the selectors made considering the form he had shown in the test series. He of course hadn't officially announced his retirement which allowed the selectors to recall him back. Four matches later and it hasn't been a recall of note and it all officially ends tomorrow.

He made his debut in this format in 1996 against Sri Lanka in Singapore. The ground being famous for being the venue where Jayasuriya scored a 50 of 17 balls, which remains the fastest in one day internationals. His debut innings wasn't anything of note, falling to Muralitharan for a single digit score. It's fair to say his first couple of years in ODI's weren't anything to write about. His one notable innings being the 84 he made in Durban in 1997 during the Standard Bank tri series final. It's a well known knock simply for the straight six he hit of Donald that night, and the subsequent foul mouthed abuse he got from Allan Donald.

It was during the World Cup in England in 1999 that Dravid made his mark in the ODI arena. While India didn't have a great World Cup to talk about, Dravid ended up as the leading run scorer. In the subsequent World Cup in South Africa he played as a batsman - wicketkeeper which allowed India to play seven front line batsman and four bowlers. Worked well for the team, as they ended up in the finals. His last and final World Cup though was the horror show in the West Indies where India were knocked out at the group stages under his captaincy. There is this poignant image of him standing alone in the middle while Sri Lanka celebrate the fall of another wicket which slide India further towards the exit. Post that World Cup exit , he didn't have much of an ODI career to speak of. After being dropped from the team, he was recalled back during the Champions Trophy in South Africa in 2009 only to again be unceremoniously dropped following that campaign. His stop start ODI career has finally run it's course and tomorrow he will don the Indian colours for one last time.

For one who is a classical batsman, Dravid featured in two 300 plus partnerships, within the span of a few months in 1999. He remains the only batsman to have such a feat. True to form and keeping with his entire career he was overshadowed in the first one by a stunning Ganguly knock, and in the second one by an equally brillaint knock from Sachin Tendulkar. He narrowly missed the record for the fastest fifty by an Indian during this innings. Nevertheless it was a stunning knock from a batsman who wasn't known to decimate bowling attacks.

While Dravid's test career has given us many memorable moments, his ODI career hasn't quite matched up to that. He's even had his only moment of controversy in his career during an ODI match in Australia. He is also responsible for this moment when Bill Lawry had one of his epic commentary moments. He wasn't too shabby a bowler in ODI's as well ! Guess after batting, wicket keeping and fielding , he can be forgiven for not showing or being allowed to show his bowling talents.

How would he be judged as an ODI player ?? His overall ODI record is pretty decent. Over 10 K runs at an average close to 40 at a strike rate just over 70. Not stunning numbers when compared to some of the other modern greats. Safe to say, the ODI arena wasn't the canvass to his liking and he bids farewell to it tomorrow.

Thanks Dravid for the memories you've provided.

Hello hello hello how low ???

2011-09-06T23:44:00.000+01:00

Coincidentally or not but on my iTunes play list Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana has started to play as I'm typing out this post. The chorus in the song makes for an apt title to the post.

First up, let me start off with a huge slice of humble pie. When the Indian innings finished, I tweeted this. Two hours later and I'm thinking how apt is the chorus to my post title . How did it come to this ?

England strolled to victory tonight. They could have easily chased another 20 runs without breaking sweat. What makes for fairly mind numbing thoughts is the fact that this England team had Samit Patel coming in at 5. He is a good striker of the ball but as yet unproven in the international arena. Following him would have been Ben Stokes, who is yet to have a bat having made his debut at Chester - le - street. Then the all rounders and bowlers. England were needing to go at over 8 runs per over from the start. Again I ask - how did they stroll to victory ?

The Indian bowling line up did miss a decent fifth bowler. Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar ( how he is in the X1 is a different issue , but he was), Munaf Patel and R Ashwin. That's four regular bowlers. Then there was Raina who bowls in ODI's. Agreed the pitch was placid and the outfield greasy from all the rain, and being a night game. Surely though the cushion of knowing that the batsman had done more than a decent job with setting England a target of 188 to get in 23 overs, should have given the bowlers a spring in their step ?

What transpired was insipid stuff. So much so, within 20 minutes of the run chase I tweeted this. How much of the form he showed today would Kieswetter take into the remaining three ODI's remains to be seen. Cook played a blinder 80* (63), proving that the 90 odd he hit against Sri Lanka at more than run a ball earlier in the summer was no flash in the pan. The whole bowling performance made for poor viewing. In reserves we have - Amit Mishra, RP Singh and another rookie in Varun Aaron.

Let's just say it's not looking too bright for the remaining three ODI's. The next one isn't quiet a must win , for sake of the series that is, but lose that and can easily see England winning the ODI series 4-0.

The second line of smell likes teen spirit goes - " it's fun to lose and to pretend ", and the song ends aptly with "a denial" in repeat.

Would those two lines come to define this whole English tour ??

Hat tip to Ricky Ponting

2011-09-03T23:26:00.000+01:00

Ricky Ponting today achieved a distinction which is simply staggering to comprehend. When Australia wrapped up the win against Sri Lanka in Galle, he become the first player to have won a 100 tests. Take a deep breath and let it sink in. One hundred test wins as a player.

Most international cricket players would consider playing a 100 tests to be a great achievement. It is. A testament to their skill set that has enabled them to get that far, their longevity in the game and crucially of course keeping themselves fit. Ricky Ponting has done all of this and more. The Galle test was his 153'th. He has been part of teams that has won 100 of them. To have won over 65 % of test matches is a stunning achievement for a player. Out of those 100 wins, 48 have come under his captaincy including the second streak of 16 consecutive wins that Australia achieved. The last of those wins was the infamous Sydney 2008 test, when this piece by Peter Roebuck called for his captaincy to be terminated.

Ponting made his test debut under Mark Taylor's captaincy when Australia were starting their reign at the top. This was followed by the Steve Waugh reign and he himself inherited the team in 2004. At the end of the Ashes 10/11 series which England won 3-1 and coinciding with Ponting's last test as captain, Australia had played over 170 tests, winning 111 of them. Fair to say his career has neatly coincided with that. What is more than impressive to note, is that in 100 of those his record is brilliant. Ponting has made over 8300 runs at an average close to 60. Words don't do justice to this achievement.

When you couple it with three consecutive world cup triumphs in the one day arena, two of those unbeaten under his captaincy and one begins to wonder. Doesn't Ricky Ponting have the best overall career as a player ? His on field demeanour and off field press quotes don't paint him in the best of light.One wonders if that aspect was toned down , wouldn't Ponting be on the same pedestal that everyone holds Steve Waugh amongst other Australians in ? As a batsman he is rated amongst the top three Australians. As an overall player though am not sure he gets the recognition he deserves. The mill stone of having lost three Ashes series as captain is one he will wear for ever. His captaincy hasn't been his greatest strength, but there aren't too many players who have had it all in their career. His fielding to date is a joy to watch. How much of it will get a mention when his career is summed up ? In my cricketing viewing , he is head and shoulders above any fielder.

On this day though, he has achieved one distinction which I think is going to be as near impossible to beat as the famous 99.94 average of Sir Donald Bradman or the batting statistics of Sachin Tendulkar. For that, Ricky Ponting deserves a hat tip from all.

The story of the block...

2011-08-26T02:10:00.013+01:00

Considered it for a while, then thought no it isn't worth it. But then came across this news article titled - why Aggers drew daggers in which the author tries to explain why Jonathan Agnew was having a hard of time in Twitter and why he's had to block folks. The reason's given in the article is laughable, and I was one of the blokes Agnew refers to here

So here goes in pictures all the exchanges I've had with Agnew.

I'll admit the first ever tweet wasn't ideal , but Agnew had this piece where in addition to (rightly) praising England ( even if a bit OTT), he get's derisive about India.

In addition to that tweet also sent him a link to this article

to which he replied so :

Nothing further, until next morning when I tweeted this to another fellow tweeter, purposely tagging along Agnew's twitter handle :

Then Agnew replied back to me :

and we started having a discussion :

this bit about him being condescending I chose to ignore then and continued the discussion

Wasn't the greatest reply back and he could have ended it here, but didn't :

put my points across and the discussion ended fine with the above tweet.

The next day of the Oval test, Alaistair Cook get's out in the first over caught by Sehwag at first slip and Agnew tweets this :
and he immediately follows it by this one :

I of course don't let this moment go, and tweet this :

Agnew's next tweet :

And then this silly reply to me :
to which I replied so :
Then for a couple of days things were fine. Rahul Dravid's dismissal in the second innings by the third umpire had the following tweets from Agnew , the one below as the third umpire was shown the same technology as the rest of us watching on TV :

To which I asked this :

Agnew's reply below :
Followed by a few tweets from me to him :

Then Agnew tweets this :
A few hours later comes the conclusion to the whole thing. He starts of with this general tweet :

Then comes the next two tweets addressed to me :

Funny isn't it. He goes ahead, makes a dig at me in a tweet and then when it's proven to be wrong replies with an innane tweet. Then when I don't agree with his views and explanations on the Dravid dismissal, he says I'm rude, disrespectful.

Whether the England team act's boorish or not, folks like Agnew and the British media will ensure that their attitude would make the team the most loathed #1.

As to the block itself, make your judgement folks.

Stages of the series..

2011-08-14T20:04:00.003+01:00

Chennai 1998, Chennai 1999, Amstelveen 2004 , three matches and at the end of all three the team I was rooting for at the stadium lost. Come Ashes 2009, had tickets for day four of the Headingley test and didn't see any play. The Australians walloping England within three days. With such a dire track record, I didn't give much thought about the England - India test series. But thanks to twitter my interest was piqued enough to try and get tickets.

What then followed was a curious tale of my own emotions on what to expect when I went for the tests at Lords, Trent Bridge and Edgbaston.

I was initially meant to be at Lords for days three and four (Saturday and Sunday), but due to reasons out my control wasn't there. Was anyway meant to be at London for some personal business the following Monday, so ended up queueing early Monday morning at Lords along with Subash (who had flown in from the US the previous day to watch the first two tests) to get tickets. Which we did. He ended up watching the whole day, while I joined him after the first session.

My expectations for the day was for India to comfortably bat out the day and leave Lords unscathed even though England had the upper hand for most of the test. When I had got to the ground eventually just before the first session was finishing, India had lost half their side and were up against it to save the test. Truth be told I wasn't full of hope on finding out the score and it duly panned out that England wrapped up the win an hour after tea. At the ground and watching the remaining batsman bat, I was not overtly impressed with what I saw. Just trying to defend with over two sessions to play was a tactic fraught with risk, and no one exemplified it better than Tendulkar, who eventually got out after 40 minutes without a run. The loss was bad enough to view, but there was enough fighting talk from lots of folk around that India would be back at Trent Bridge. Quietly I was also expecting the team to turn it around at Trent Bridge.

The Trent Bridge test started well enough for India with England being bowled out on day one inspite of the Broad/Swann partnership that took their team score beyond 200. Watched the morning session of day two and saw Laxman and Dravid comfortably negotiate all what England threw at them and score at a decent clip. It got me saying - right things are starting to fall in place and I'll have a good third days play to look forward to. On my way down to Nottingham , it went - Dravid century, Yuvraj looking good and then a Broad hat trick.. India going from 270 odd for four to 280 odd all out. In the train was dumbstruck but hope arose again when Cook got out cheaply in the second innings.

So there I was at Trent Bridge day three, a test match to be set up for a win. India still having a lead of around 50 to play with, England had 9 wickets left. Sat down with Subash and we set about setting small targets - England to be two minimum, ideally three down before the lead was erased and take it from there. Strauss was duly claimed by Sreesanth early enough, and I again went - right a few more wickets and test set up for India to win it.

Mini session by session England went about erasing, accumulating and eventually trashing it around. Even then, there was this chance with the second new ball with England ahead by over 250 but six wickets down, and crying for one burst from either Ishant or Sreesanth to clean up the tail. Never happened. End of day - score card shone brightly , England scored 417 for loss of five wickets. Any hope of the test being won was eliminated, again was a case of batting out a draw. Least said about what followed the better.

So it came to pass, I had tickets for days four and five at Edgbaston. The way the test had shaped up, India were right up against it. A minimum of 193 overs to bat out and draw the test (again !) and save their number one ranking for one more test. Set off early Saturday morning expecting to see the famed batting line up grit it out, fight for it and initially take it into day five, and then do it all over again. Yes I still had that optimistic thoughts running through, and repeated it many a time on twitter as well.

Within the first hour, the entire optimism wasn't just dented, it was blown to smithereens. Sachin's 40 was a treat to watch, and cruelly cut short in the worst possible manner - run out while backing up. Gambhir lasted one ball, Dravid went without referring a caught behind, and Laxman didn't look all comfortable in his stay. Made for deflating viewing at the ground. Amit Mishra initially, and then Praveen Kumar and Dhoni hit out in a futile show of aggression. Was extremely small succour for the Indian supporters on the ground. It was more a case of when England would clean up the rest and the entire ground was in one party atmosphere. Duly arrived an hour and bit after lunch. England thrashing India to win the series and claim the number one ranking.

I was at Lords only for day five, and saw the third days play at Trent Bridge, and the fourth days play at Edgbaston. Each time I was at the ground mentally it was from - confidence at Lords, to huge expectations at Trent Bridge, to hoping for a miracle at Edgbaston.

Just wonder if the Indian team's thinking went along similar lines...

Pictures from England - India, day 3 at Trent Bridge

2011-08-03T20:49:00.018+01:00

Half an hour for play to begin, players having their nets session

Fox Road stand filling up

Hound Road stand and players pavilion

Another view of Fox road stand

Players on field at start of play

Opening delivery by Sreesanth

Pie chuckers at play

Harbhajan in his delivery pose - the maximum turn he got on the day

The double that took Ian Bell to his hundred

Ian Bell acknowledging crowds applause

By mid afternoon, these folks were creating quite an atmosphere

Ian Bell reaching 150

Floodlights switched on at the ground

Final delivery of the day

Replay screen showing the end of days play. 417 runs scored. Misery complete.

Mid series thoughts

2011-08-03T00:26:00.002+01:00

In my preview of the England - India series, I had predicted a 1-0 series win for India. Two test matches down and that prediction hasn't just fallen flat on it's face it's gone a few hundred meters below the earth.

India have had the odd sessions of good play - the opening session and bit after lunch at Lords, the fourth morning at Lords when Ishant's three wicket burst left all thinking of a 330 odd chase, and four of the initial six sessions at Trent Bridge. Crucially though in each test when the pivotal moments appeared, England ensured that the test moved decisively in their favour. That to me has been impressive to watch.

I didn't think this English squad were as good as their media made them out to me. They then went to Australia and comprehensively won the Ashes , which made me to reconsider my views on the team. These two tests later, and the view of them being more than a decent squad holds water. England ensured that India's bad luck with injuries and absentees of their main X1 were fully capitalised upon. Good teams do that.

No denying that India has been hard done by the injury to Zaheer Khan mid way through the first day at Lords which meant the whole test was down to three main bowlers. Without him, the pace bowlers looked bereft of ideas. Didn't help that Harbhajan Singh has had two shockers - he has neither looked like taking wickets, or containing the runs. To not be able to do one is bad enough, but the combination of them meant Dhoni was virtually left hoping that lady luck would smile on him. She didn't and it showed.

They then went on to lose Gambhir for the second test due to the blow he took while fielding. While one would argue that perhaps Gambhir should have gritted it out and played through the pain barrier, I was fine with him not playing. After the Zaheer Khan debacle that left India with only 10 fit players, it would have been madness to take the risk again in the second test.

That said what was disappointing to watch was that the team seemed to be mentally shot. There didn't seem to be much of the fighting spirit coming through barring the odd spell. That wasn't what the reputation the team had built. How much of that is due to the crazy schedule that saw them land in UK a week before the first test, and due to the injuries/absentees is hard to decipher. In truth it's most likely a combination of both.

The nine day gap between the second and third tests should and will settle the team down. I'm not getting too high over the fact that Sehwag is heading to UK. He hasn't played a competitive game in about two months. To expect him to then come and turn things around is touch foolhardy. What I'm more interested in is if Zaheer and Gambhir are fully fit. Get the two of them back in the eleven and I'm quietly confident that the series can still be salvaged.

England are on a high, their media praising them to the sky , deservedly to a fair extent, albeit talk of aura building, and comparing them to the Australian team of the previous decade is just delusional. They are a long way away from reaching those levels. The team though will be hard to beat, but equally they aren't unbeatable. They have a few kinks in their armour and an Indian eleven back to almost their full strength is more than capable of exposing it.

Can't wait for the Edgbaston test...

Why so much angst ?

2011-07-28T23:48:00.002+01:00

I was amused over the last couple of days on the general tone in twitter after the first test between England and India. The English media after the test had gone over the top with their articles stating England are the real number one team in the world at the moment. The fact that India have had the number one ranking is phoney was the general gist of all articles.

For one I wasn't surprised to see such articles appear in the British press. They've not had a decent team to praise for decades and now that they have one, it is but expected. What amused me though was the general outcry on twitter by many folks on how they could do this.

England are not quite the best test team in the world, but equally they are not far off from the claims either. Since the West Indies tour of 2009, they have not lost a test series. They've gone and drawn a test series in South Africa and then last year comprehensively beat Australia in Australia to retain the Ashes. At home in the same time, they've won all their test series. Like it or not, it does make for impressive showing.

With that track record to boast of and knowing the general nature of the British press to hype even the smallest of success, post the Lords test the articles published were expected.

What I didn't get was why the Indian fans were surprised and in some cases felt it was wrong to do so. Was it more a case of frustration of the Indian teams performance at Lords manifesting itself in a different form ?

Simple advice would be to ignore the talk from the British press, hope or rather expect the Indian team to put up a better performance at Trent Bridge. It's a case of having to grin and bear it until then, since England have got the upper hand now.

Pataudi trophy series - some thoughts

2011-07-20T23:36:00.003+01:00

Finally after what seemed a fairly long wait, the England - India test series for the Pataudi trophy commences tomorrow. Some have billed it the test series for the world number one ranking and they aren't far off from the truth. Should England beat India by a two test margin or better, then they would be ranked number one in the world. The other results would ensure India remain number one. With quite a few previews out there, worth throwing my bit in as well.

The common talk going around is that with Virender Sehwag missing for the first two test at least ( and possibly all four tests) it's a big blow to India and a massive boost to England. To a certain extent that's true. On flat pitches - which is what I expect Lords and Oval to be, India will miss Sehwag purely because there isn't a more destructive batsman in the world at present. However at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston I am not too sold on how much India will miss Sehwag. Not sure his hand-eye coordination will help him succeed on those grounds. What however is indisputable ( and this despite averages showing otherwise) is the "Sehwag effect " if Strauss has to set India a target to chase. It's a mindset in all opposition captains that Sehwag is capable of chasing down any target. I can't recollect him doing that, save for that one knock in Chennai in 2008. So overall fair to say India will miss Sehwag.

You would think however that a line up that has Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Raina and Dhoni, not to mention the eccentric Harbhajan should be able to combat the English attack and put up decent totals. By decent totals I mean anything over 350. I am possibly tempting fate big time here but I reckon Dravid will have more than a decent series this time. He alongwith Laxman will hold the key. Also fully expect Sachin to get his 100'th 100, albeit I think it will come later in the series. Possibly Edgbaston. What would be interesting to observe is how quickly India can score. Gambhir, Raina and Dhoni you think should be the ones capable of doing the fast scoring. Laxman and Tendulkar do score at a decent clip and overall India should look to try and score around 3.5 rpo. This would give them time to set up the test match for their bowlers.

On the bowling side with Harbhajan being the de facto spinner, it all boils down to the choice of the third seamer to partner Zaheer and Ishant. Sreesanth had a torrid warm up game and is now down the pecking order with Praveen Kumar definitely ahead of him and possibly even Munaf Patel. I would have been tempted to play Munaf on Lords to take advantage of the slope, but media reports suggests it's a toss up between Praveen and Sreesanth. Going by his exploits in the West Indies, fully expect Praveen Kumar to be the third seamer for the first two tests. He possibly could hold the key on how well India contain the English batsman. Zaheer is coming of a break and his Lords performance could be rusty and you expect him to improve as the series progresses. India must hope that the break between the Dominica test and the Lords test hasn't done Ishant much harm in terms of losing rhythm.

What of England ? Their batting line up pretty much picks themselves and reads - Strauss, Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell and Morgan with Prior coming in at seven. Compared like for like, you have to give India the edge here, especially when you look at the combine might of Dravid - Tendulkar and Laxman. If India have to be wary of one player, it would be Pietersen. He is due a proper series after promising but not quite delivering lately. For all of Cook's recent form, Trott would be the one batsman India are going to find difficult to dislodge.

Where England though have the edge over India is in the bowling and fielding stakes. Anderson and Tremlett make for a good opening bowling partnership. The question mark is on the third seamer position - and if I had to choose between Broad and Bresnan, it would have to be Bresnan on recent form. He is also more than capable of contributing with the bat lower down. Swann will have the occasional good spell, but would be very surprised if he picks up lots of wickets. During the winter's Ashes tour, England were mighty impressive on the field and didn't miss many chances. That, along with their disciplined bowling went a long way in defeating Australia.

Overall it makes for a good match up and potentially promises to be an exciting series. However, as most hyped up series go a part of me tells me this wouldn't rise to the expected levels. Weather influences notwithstanding, the tests at London - Lords and Oval should be draws since the pitches there have been flat and with lots of runs. It then boils down to the Trent Bridge and Edgbaston tests.

I fancy India to nick one of the Trent Bridge or Edgbaston test's and win the series 1-0.

All time favourite test

2011-07-20T21:11:00.006+01:00

*WARNING - LONG POST*

This is a spontaneous post and comes about after listening to Jonathan Agnew, Chris Broad and Simon Hughes try and come up with a short list of 3 or 4 test matches from which tomorrow one will be chosen as the greatest test match of all time . The list they came up with was, in chronological order - tied test in Brisbane 1960, Headingley 1981, Kolkota 2001 and Edgbaston 2005. Not sure how much of Brisbane 1960 they remember or recollect to have it short listed but it's their call.

If I had to do the same , and from the matches I've watched ( if I could include the ones I've also listened to, then it would be different) my short list would be Chennai 1999, Bridgetown 1999, Kolkata 2001, Edgbaston 2005. The last three matches involve Australia, and the Chennai test was the first Pakistan played on Indian soil since 1987. Why do I short list these tests (and it's going to be hard to pick one from this list) but here goes..

1. Chennai 1999 - what do I remember from the test ? Saqlain getting Sachin for zero in the first innings, Afridi hitting 140 and then Venkatesh Prasad running through the Pakistan middle/lower order after tea on day 3. Meant India had to chase 271 to win. At the end of day three, India were 20 odd for two with Dravid and Sachin at the crease. Made one of the best decision of my cricket viewing days - decided to try my luck getting tickets for day 4. Meant waking up at 4 AM and heading to Chepauk to queue up ( and remember this was from the ages when it was still possible to buy tickets on the day), and by 8 AM, me and my mate had tickets.

What then followed was one of the most intriguing days of cricket I've watched. India lost Dravid to a beauty from Akram, then Azharuddin LBW to Saqlain ( dodgy decision) and then Ganguly out to a bump catch which was bizzarely NOT referred to the third umpires by the two on field umpires. Meant India were 82/5 and staring an embarrassing loss. Sachin Tendulkar then proceeded to play what I personally consider his best test innings. 136 runs made with immense concentration, battling back spasms, a turning pitch and Saqlain in his prime. Not to mention the two W's - Wasim and Waqar. It's a shame that India's lower order couldn't get the required 16 runs when he got out.

2. Bridgetown, 1999 - Steve Waugh's first series as test captain. The series was level at 1-1 and then came this test match. Memories from staying up late to watch this match include Steve Waugh getting out for 199, Ricky Ponting 100, West Indies collapsing till Sherwin Campbell and Ridley Jacobs partnership gave the West Indies first innings some respectability, Australia collapsing in the second innings to Walsh, meaning West Indies had to chase over 300 to win. In the second innings, West Indies again collapsed until Jimmy Adams joined Brian Lara, who batting like a dream. It was sensational viewing, how Lara dismantled Warne, took on McGrath and kept out Gillespie. On the final between lunch and tea Glenn McGrath bowled unchanged. He brought Australia close to the brink of victory reducing West Indies to 8 down, with 60 odd to get, with one of the batsman Walsh.

Bit by bit Lara then chipped away at the target with Ambrose playing his part, until with about 8 to get he edged Gillespie to be caught by Mark Elliot.. Walsh then kept out the remaining two deliveries of the Gillespie over. Then in the next over Healy dropped Lara while going for a catch off McGrath which would have been taken by Warne. Walsh then had to survive 5 deliveries from McGrath and then in the next over Lara crashed a Gillespie delivery through the covers to end up on 153* and conjure up a sensational win.

3. Kolkota 2001 - Australia coming into this test on the back of 16 consecutive wins. My memories ( and they are only a few since I only saw bits of this test live being based in Germany at the time) include Steve Waugh getting to a 100 on day two with Gillespie's help getting Australia to 445. India getting bowled out for 171. With a lead of 274 runs, it was a no brainer for Steve Waugh to enforce the follow on. When Glenn McGrath got Sachin out after tea on day three, I was safe and admittedly more than a bit smug thinking the Final Frontier , as coined by Steve Waugh, was conquered.

Then Day four started. Initially after the first hour and with no wickets down wasn't too concerned thinking it was around the corner ( was following the match on the net with just scores and no live feed on the day since was at my part time working place at the time), then came lunch and no wicket. When tea approached and with no wickets down yet - concern set in. Not helped of course by numerous messages on my mobile from fellow Indians taking a dig at my confident prediction end of day 3. Come end of day 4 and I cussed so badly - both at the game situation and the fact that I missed the days play. Watched morning session of day 5 to see if Laxman would get to a triple and be the first Indian to get there, he didn't. Neither did Dravid get to his double hundred. Then when Aus were chasing 380 odd to win and at tea were two wickets down - consoled myself saying with a draw they were still *unbeaten* only that the run of wins had sadly ended. The post tea session and the Aus collapse. Never heard the last of that test during my time in Germany.

4. Edgbaston 2005 - it was the first Ashes test of the series I watched. Missed the entire Lords test as I was in Hockenheim, Germany to watch Schumacher race in a Ferrari ( didn't think he would last too much longer, little did I know what would transpire). Best memory of the Lords test is my mom calling me up after every session to update me on the scores. Thanks to me, she had turned into bit of an Australian fan herself.

Was in The Netherlands, and had subscribed to Willow TV for the series. With the match being played during the day, ball by ball watching was next to impossible on week days. Still followed the match on my PC keeping an eye out for my Prof at Uni.

The match memories include Glenn McGrath being ruled out minutes before the toss, Australia winning the toss and putting England in. Watching England blaze away to a total over 400 in about 90 odd overs, then Aus getting bowled out for about 300. England then collapsing in the second innings until Flintoff hit out to set Australia a target of 282. Then Aus getting to about 50, until Flintoff got both Langer and Ponting in one over, and then steadily Australia losing wickets. Remember Gilchrist chipping a tame catch to mid on off Giles and I went - bloody numb thinking of an Aus loss. Then Warne joined Clarke to stem the rot, and it looked like they would end the day 7 wickets down.. that is until the last over from Harmison. If I recall correctly there was a Clarke straight driven four before being bowled by a slower ball by the penultimate ball. Meant Aus needed about 80 to win, two wickets in hand.

The next day which was a Sunday, logged back into Willow TV to see how far the test would last for. With Warne and Lee batting comfortably and getting closer to the target and my confidence started to soar, then Warne getting out hit wicket to who else but Flintoff. My heart sank. 50 odd to get with only Kasprowicz to come meant an England win was more than a given, or was it ?? Both Lee and Kasper chipped away, there was a dropped catch with about 20 to go.. then with target down to single figures, thought there was no way Australia wouldn't win. I was that confident, until with three runs to get Kasprowicz gloved a Harmison delivery to be taken by a tumbling Geraint Jones. Set off wild celebrations at Edgbaston. My emotions were in order - cussing loudly , and then blank stare and then going over and over that one delivery saying no it didn't happen did it ?? That loss hurt real bad. Even more than Kolkata 2001.

So after that trip down memory lane, if I had to choose one test as my Greatest Ever Test match - would go for Bridgetown, Barbados 1999.

Saw pretty much the entire test ball by ball. The other three tests - all memorable, all classics but since I'm being strict to myself, it would have to be Bridgetown, Barbados. There you go..

What's the point of warm up games ?

2011-07-17T20:08:00.004+01:00

Today on twitter there were a few folks who were wondering or rather ranting on how Somerset went about the day's play in the tour match against India. Was mildly amused at folks talking of how warm up matches should be played in the right spirit - i.e. let the touring party do as they please and let them get the most out of the game. I for one can't see why that train of thought even happens.

It may have been in the years gone by a done deal where a touring side decides on how these warm up games go. As in how many players to have - 11, 12 , 13 or .. , how many overs to bat and more. To be honest, don't recollect the Australians ever doing this when sides toured Down Under and I admired the state sides for not giving an inch, and quite frankly why should they ? Touring parties generally started the tour at Perth where at Lilac Hill they played a warm up ODI game against a Chairmans XI. More often than not, the touring sides used to lose, and sometimes get a pasting. That set them up for the rest of the tour, with the local media playing their part. Don't think Steve Harmison will forget the 2001/02 tour game where he bowled something like 12 wides, and lost his run up repeatedly during the game. It wasn't a tour he would fondly recall.

Other examples that come to mind are what South Africa did to India in the infamous 1996 tour. Sent them to play on a benign pitch in Port Elizabeth ( I think) for their warm up and then rolled out a green top at Durban. One can't forget the end result - 100 and 66 all out and the tour was doomed. There's also the famous case in 1998 when the Australians toured India. Their warm up game before the first test was against Mumbai and Sachin and the rest of the team targetted Warne in a brilliant assault.

My point is that no touring side should expect the local county/state side to roll out the welcome carpet when they play against them. That is being silly since it doesn't do them any favours in my opinion. You much rather take the game seriously, play your preferred (or as close to) starting XI for the tests to follow and try and win the game.

I for one quite enjoyed what Somerset did today. The local media will now use the match to try and show how under prepared the Indians are and of course sound all confident of England's chances in the test series. It's now up to the Indians to show come July 21'st what they are really made of.

Sheikh of tweak calls it a day...

2011-05-07T18:42:00.002+01:00

Warne announced via his twitter account (@warne888) yesterday that the last four IPL games this season will be the last four games of professional cricket for him. With that comes to an end one of the most fascinating chapters of a sportsman. While I will not expect an autobiography like ' Out of my comfort zone' by Steve Waugh, sincerely hope a book does come out. It should make for an interesting read.

Towards the back end of 2006, with the Ashes regained ( for the last time as it happens to be for now) Warne announced what was widely suspected - his retirement. The next few days I was left wondering how was I ever going to enjoy watching cricket again. Truth be told my cricket viewing didn't lessen but it never was the same watching Australia play and NOT look forward to Warne marking his run up to have his first bowl.

My fascination, respect, admiration- call it what you may , for him began with the widely talked about Frank Worrell series in the West Indies in 1995. A teenager back home in India, with cable TV just getting popular, the Cable and Wireless ( I think but could be wrong) telecast had me sitting up till the early hours of the morning watching each test. During one particular break in play, there was this discussion about spin bowling and then showing clips of how Warne was delivering his assorted stuff. It made for fascinating viewing - the subtle variations and the end result.

So much so, I tried mimicking it the next time I played cricket. Tried a million times later, and didn't even come close to matching an iota of what Warne did, day in , day out on the field. My fanboy following of Warne reached levels where I wanted to die my hair peroxide blonde, and get a ear ring, a Nike trademark "tick" ear ring. Remember a photograph in The Sportstar - Warne with a cap worn backwards, sporting that ear ring. Didn't even manage to do that either - some things just weren't meant to be.

It was from that series on , with a passion I followed his career. It didn't matter who Australia were playing and where. If there was telecast of it - I would be in front of the TV. Would sit for hours on end when Australia were bowling, waiting for McGrath/Gillespie/Kasprowicz to finish their initial spells because it then meant Warne would be on, and on for a few hours. For me that's the closest it's come to cricketing nirvana. Every over seemed to have a story woven around it. The way he plotted a batsman's dismissal, the small changes in field, the sometimes deliberate slowing down, a bit of chatter and then the walk begins....

Sadly at the end of the IPL - I will never get to see THAT WALK again in a professional environment. I was fortunate to be at Chepauk in 1998 when the famous Sachin - Warne contest happened. That day Sachin bested Warne by a fair distance. Fascinatingly enough for a guy with such an aura he was a true sportsman. Always appreciated a good knock, a good innings. For me the guy could do NO wrong. His drugs scandal, his sex scandals , his sledging - forgave him, and some of it was his personal life and none of my business.

Shane Keith Warne - for me personally the greatest cricketer that has ever graced a cricket ground. The aura that he built up around himself, maintained and carried on over 16 years as an international cricketer are memories that will never be forgotten.

End this post with a quote from the man himself " Where my ability to spin a cricket ball came from, I honestly don't know. I can only think that I was born with it. I have a skill as cricketer and fortunately cricket found me"

Cricket and it's many followers should be thankful to you for the memories you've provided. I certainly will cherish every single one of them.

Raising a pint of Guinness....

2011-03-03T00:28:00.003Z

To the Irish cricket team.

I know it's incredibly cliched to bring up Guinness with anything related to the Irish. But hey I like my beer, I like my Guinness so bringing it up just seems apt.

I missed the entire England - Ireland game live thanks to being at work. Occasionally checking the scores and after Ireland were 100 odd for 5, pretty much gave up following. An hour later was just curious to see by how many runs England had won. Got the shock of a fair while to see that not only were the Irish still batting, they were pummelling the English bowlers around. Yeah sure the English bowlers were starting to resemble a league two county side , but that is an insult to what Kevin O' Brien and his mates did.

In my earlier post I had alluded to the Hayden 100 against South Africa at St Kitt and Nevis during the WC'07 as one memory. That one came of 66 balls. Today Kevin O'Brien obliterated that record by some distance.

Saw the high lights of his knock and they were pretty clean hits. Couple of the sixes were massive. A truly outstanding innings, made even more impressive by the duration of it. He could well have got out after getting to his 50 but didn't. He just went on and on.. Stupendous stuff. A shame that he wasn't there till the very end when the winning runs were hit.

The record for the highest ever run chase in a world cup match , the fastest ever world cup century.. These are such massive highs, I fear for them on Sunday. Think they will be on the wrong end of a shellacking from India.

Sunday and what it holds can wait - today the Irish didn't just beat England, they humiliated them. For that ( and as @homertweets said) - we are all Irish for the day.

World Cup memories

2011-02-17T20:10:00.003Z

I was way too young to remember anything of the 1983 WC. Even the 1985 world series is a blur to me. 1987 Reliance world cup is where my love for cricket and initial grudging respect for Australia that later turned into a fanatic following started. Steve Waugh - the Iceman and his last over which gave Aus an 1 run win over India at Chepauk, Craig McDermott and his spell that put paid to Pakistan's hope of being at Eden Gardens for the final, Mike Veletta, David Boon, Dean Jones and of course Allan Border. Distinctly remember the photo of Border holding aloft the World Cup, on the shoulders of Craig McDermott and Dean Jones..

The 1992 world cup couldn't have been better timed, or maybe my accident trying to ride a bike was perfectly timed ! Away from school, home work , classes and all that, while watching cricket after waking up early in the mornings. Yes that was blissful. The tournament had the best format , had some good games . The Aus - India game at the Gabba, the catch dropped by Steve Waugh on the long on boundary, Raju embracing Srinath thinking the game was won, and then getting run out by David Boon who was wicket keeper. Jonty Rhodes and THAT run out, Inzamam's magical knock at Eden Park to take Pak into the final. Could any cricket fan not remember the two Wasim deliveries to Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis ??

If the 1992 world cup was perfectly timed, the 1996 one couldn't have been timed worse. Was at the same time as the CBSE board exams. Cursed my luck at the timings , my Chemistry board paper was on the day after the Aus - NZ game at Chepauk. FML. What a game that was. NZ posting close to 290. Mark Waugh's classy 100, Taylor pulling a rabbit out of the hat and sending Shane Warne at two down, Steve Waugh and Stuart Law calmly guiding the chase.. and then of course the Aus - WI semi final. The Steve Waugh delivery to dimiss Lara and then the WI brain fade after Chanderpaul got out. Shane Warne came to the party in the semi, but was totally ineffective in the final under lights against those pesky Sri Lankans. Hated the final, and the sight of Sri Lanka celebrating.

The 1999 world cup was ideal. In Univ and with games being played in UK, meant that most games could and were watched. Aus being crap early on, their infamous run *chase* against West Indies and Steve Waugh's post match comment, and then being in the position where they couldn't afford to lose any games if they were to win the world cup. To go from there and win the cup that they haven't relinquished since is stuff of legends. If the Aus - S Af super six match and the Steve Waugh innings was magical, little needs to be said of the Aus - S Af semi. Simply the best ever ODI, Shane Warne's magical spell, and of course the brain fade from Klusener/Donald and THAT run out. When it happened, remember yelling an all mighty f**k hell don't f***ing believe it so loud that my dad came from upstairs asking if all was well. The final at Lords, the magnificient Mark Waugh catch to dismiss Wajahatullah Wasti, Pak imploding big time, Aus winning it with half their overs left. Yes, was a good time to be an Aus fan.

When the 2003 world cup came along, I had moved to Germany for higher studies. Along with a few other folks chipped in to get a dish installed to watch the games. The Lara 100 against S Af, Symmo's 100 against Pak, SRT's 98 against Pak and of course the 140* by Ponting. It didn't start well for me though with news of the Shane Warne drug incident and being sent back home.. Aus winning 11 out of 11. One stat I always like Ind 125 ( their group stage score) + 234 ( their final score) = 359 ( Aus score in the final). Had the biggest grin on my face during that final. I was the ONLY one amongst 40 odd blokes watching the final who wanted an Aus win.

By the time the 2007 world cup began, I was deep into my PhD and watched only a few games. I remember the Aus - S Af group match well - Hayden's 100, Aus scoring close to 350 and S Af emboldned by the 438 game going for the target and then the run out by Watson from the boundary and Kalli's go slow that robbed S Af of all momentum. The rest of the games including the semis are a blur. The final and Gilchrist's magical innings squash ball and all. It wasn't enough for me to avenge for the 1996 final loss.

Quite like the 1996 loss to be avenged this time out. Happily take an Aus - SL final (and by coincidence will be in The Netherlands when it happens, as I was during the 2007 final) , with Aus winning it. Ponting to then retire from all forms of the game. Would be a good ending , wouldn't it ?

What I hope happens

2011-01-06T00:33:00.002Z

Australia are being thumped senseless in the last test at Sydney and quite frankly they have deserved nothing less. Two decades and a bit more of following the Australian team and this is the worst I have seen them play. That of course is an understatement - they have been abysmal. That though isn't the point of the post.

South Africa , thanks to an amazing Kallis innings ( and from what I've read - pretty inept MSD captaincy), have set India a target of 340 to win. Not sure how many overs are available but I'd guess 100 overs. So rpo 3.4.

In 1984 Gordon Greenidge powered West Indies to a 9 wicket win over England, chasing the exact same target on the last day. Ok the pitch and other aspects aren't similar , but the similarity is what I like.

So my wishlist for the last day :

1. Virender Sehwag to last until tea. None of the thump a few fours and get out to Steyn nonsense. Stay till tea.

2. India to be roughly 200 /3. 140 to get with about 30 - 35 overs left.

As I tweeted, surely the carrot of a first ever series win in S Af should mean that India should go for the win. Don't think they have the capacity to bat out for the draw - more likely that just plays into Smith's hands. Keep scoring around 3'ish till tea and Smith will have in the back of his mind that they can still lose it. As always South Africa, pressure and we all know what will then transpire, however cliched it sounds..

Oh well. Or maybe I'm just plain delusional. It is close to 1 AM, and have seen an hour and bit of English batsman pummeling the Australians senseless..

New year, first post

2011-01-04T23:58:00.002Z

What do you know, post # 50 comes up appropriately in the new year. I'll be a lazy though and just point anyone who visits this blog, to my ' Ashes postmortem' post at

http://clearcricket.wordpress.com/2011/01/02/an-ashes-postmortem/

Appreciate feedback on the write up !

Oh and Happy New Year to one and all. Trust 2011 turns out well for everyone.

Twitter and balls while tweeting...

2010-12-30T13:39:00.004Z

Not even sure what the point of this post is, maybe like the rest of my posts will just be a blur of words, but what the heck.

So last afternoon on twitter started this exchange between me and a South African journalist on the sledging incident(s) involving Sreesanth and a few South African batsman. Initially reports of the sledge from Sreesanth to Graeme Smith ( from a different source mind you) went - None of us like you. We all think you are arrogant and it's not just us , even your team mates have told us.

Where it turned strange was when this particular journalist then came on twitter saying the sledge wasn't that innocent and was more personal and used the words * watch this space*. So what is that supposed to mean - watch this space ? Am I being dumb or naive in assuming more would be revealed on twitter from the same source ?

Anyways taking the story further - I tweeted back asking - if it was more personal can you say what , since we ( and I guess others as well) have seen only the sledge as reported from the other source. Complete silence yesterday. So fair enough. Not all journalists on twitter reply to each question and that's fair enough.

Later in the evening, got reading on tweets from another South African journalist and this person had a different take on it. More along lines of it seems to be a case of he said, she said , hear say and that South African players were being precious bringing out the sledging aspect ( personal or not) when they lost the test. So I tweeted that it's amusing to see the same incident being reported/analyzed by two different journalists while including their twitter id's in the said tweet so that they would read it. Left it at that as I didn't expect any replies anyway.

So this morning I get a reply back from the S Af journalist who said the sledge was indeed personal, have facts and there is no need for analyzing them further. So I again asked - if it's personal can't you reveal more ?

What was disappointing from there on was that this journalist initially replied back ( most likely in haste ??) and then immediately started deleting those replies. Err why ? If you have the guts to reply back to someone , keep the tweets in yours and my timeline, else don't reply. Anyway I can remember the replies and they went :

"Smith and Harris said the sledges were against the mother's and wives" - this reply was immediately deleted and then changed to " Some S Af cricketers said the sledges were against mothers and wives "

to this I asked - well then what does Harris ( since I had seen the first tweet which was changed to some S Af cricketers) have to say about the abuse he dished out to Gambhir at Centurion. Was that all kosher ? And what about the Steyn chat back after pretty much every ball, the Tsotsobe chat back ??

to which I got a reply - "I'm only reporting facts and I have sources and all will be revealed soon. Please stop abusing me"

Which part of my reply back was abuse I wondered and asked - " Sorry but where exactly have I abused you ? Just asked questions on the S Af chat back to the Ind batsman and that's abuse ?"

The said journalist then replied back - " I have facts, I have sources but as journalists we can't reveal the said sources and you are forcing me to do it "

To which I replied - " no. I understand as reporters not everything can/will be revealed. Just find it a bit precious S Af bringing it out in open.."

Then the same journalist went back and further deleted those replies which said I was abusive to the said person and the bit about having sources and me forcing the person to reveal the source. Then complete silence.

Point is - if one doesn't have the balls to stand by what you tweet - then don't bloody reply back. The same person didn't even have the decency to apologise for the tweets that said I was abusive. I suppose deleting those replies were a sign of admitting guilt but heck it annoyed me.

Hence this post and bit of a rant. Oh well...

What next for Australia

2010-12-29T15:25:00.003Z

Congratulations to England for winning convincingly at Melbourne ( which was a given after bundling out Australia for 98 on the first day), thereby retaining the Ashes. They still haven't won the series though, and should Australia win at Sydney the wait for series win in Australia will continue for another 4 years at least.

The series though has brought up bare facts on the present Australian squad that were talked about, but were covered up by the odd test and series win. To do nothing about it now would be foolish and quite sure changes will be rung. The present team have issues with their batting, pace bowling and spin bowling department. Only the wicketkeepers role is certain and without issues.

Even before discussing changes to the team, which is inevitable, the first question Australian selectors have to ask and answer is what to do with Ricky Ponting. In the shorter term they simply must keep him to not jeopardise the defence of the ODI World Cup in a couple of months, but surely he will be replaced before the tour of Bangladesh. Once he is removed as captain, it's hard to see him continue. It is just not the Australian way - once removed as captain, it is as good as lights out with the career as well. This Ashes series notwithstanding, he still remains Australia's best batsman but at 36 years of age it is probably time to move on.

The question then remains - who should be the next Australian captain. Michael Clarke long designated as the next in line just doesn't seem to have the captaincy nous. While Ponting didn't either, he had the likes of Warne and McGrath along with capable back ups like Brett Lee , Michael Kasprowicz, Stuart Clark to ensure that Australian weren't ever out of any game. Now with the bowling stocks at an all time low, it would need some one with a bit extra on the brain cell front besides tossing coins. Clarke is the current T20 captain, and has stood in for Ponting for a few ODI's as well. From what I've seen during those games, he doesn't bring much different to what Ponting does, and thus for Australia it would be a retrograde step. An interesting choice from my end would be to bring in Cameron White into the squad purely as a batsman and as captain. The fact that he wasn't brought in, but Steve Smith was during the Ashes doesn't bode well but am hoping some sense prevails with the Australian selectors.

To the batting itself , with Ponting set to go it would appear Usman Khawaja is a ready replacement for the number 3 slot. Lots of rave reviews about this guy, and I guess he will eventually make his debut. Possibly at Sydney but surely later in the year against Bangladesh or in the tour of Sri Lanka in August. The other issue which needs immediate attention are the openers. Simon Katich cannot continue for much longer and Phil Hughes has a technique that needs a lot of refinement if he has to survive in the test arena. While I'd like to see Shaun Marsh drafted into the squad as one of the openers, it would be a big gamble to persist with Hughes. Maybe the low, slow pitches he will encounter in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will enable him to get some of his confidence back but personally I would be looking else where.

For me Shane Watson opening the innings is a waste. For an opener he simply hasn't shown the hunger to make the big scores. Hard grafted 50's from an opener are not the norm, hard grafted 150's are. Personally would like to see Watson shifted down to the number 6 position where he would be quite handy bat. It will also allow him to concentrate a bit more on his bowling , safe in the knowledge barring major batting collapses he won't be required immediately.

Michael Hussey would continue to be in the squad at least for a couple more series simply because it would not make sense to do a complete squad over haul at this stage. It would border on madness, and you can't drop a guy who has just scored close to 500 runs in the series. Michael Clarke on the other hand is a mystery - he is a decent batsman, reasonably good against spin but lately a sitting duck for short pitched bowling. Don't seem him getting dropped though. In the near future would love to see Mark Cosgrove get into the playing X1. He has had lot of weight issue, but Jesse Ryder of New Zealand is prime example that size doesn't always matter.

The bigger worry for Australia is in the bowling front. At the moment they don't seem to have an attack that can take 20 wickets, and without that no matter how good the batsmen, draws are the maximum you can achieve unless the opponents implode. Siddle and Hilfenhaus (even given for his poor Ashes performance) should be in the playing XI and rest of bowling attack built around them. Mitchell Johnson is too great a risk for any captain to take and for now should be put to pasture. The other names talked about are Peter George , who made his debut in India but didn't seem that flash, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc (who apparently has an action similar to Johnson !) and James Pattinson. Seen a bit of Hazlewood during the U-19 world cup earlier in the year but jury is out on the guy. Of the rest, even lesser is known. However a start needs to be made, and some of the guys given a reasonable run in the international scene to see if they can cut it out at that level.

The spinner issue is the biggest headache facing the Australian selectors. There doesn't seem to be any in the horizon. Hauritz on present evidence is the best of the lot available there, but he is not someone who would run through a line up on a wearing wicket. He is at best a containing bowler and until someone comes up in the near future this might be the best Australia should hope for.

So an ideal Australian X1 to play Sri Lanka later in the year might read something like this IMO :

1. Shaun Marsh
2. Phil Hughes / any one else out there/Shane Watson ?
3. Usman Khawaja/Michael Hussey ?
4. Michael Clarke
5. Cameron White (Captain)
6. Shane Watson/Michael Hussey
7. Brad Haddin
8. Nathan Hauritz
9. Peter Siddle
10. Ben Hilfenhaus
11. Josh Hazlewood/Peter George/James Pattinson

The above line up should be the basis in my opinion and questions should be - continue to have Watson opening and then have both Khawaja and Hussey playing ? or play two out of Shane Watson , Michael Hussey , Usman Khwaja. If there is no opener around, and they don't make the Shaun Marsh call it's a moot point but I'm hoping Marsh get's one of the openers slot as guaranteed. It's a tricky call for the selectors but that would be a starting point for a long term future of the Australian team.

It should be interesting to see how things pan out with the Australian team. Who knows maybe the Sydney test in the new year would throw some pointers.

Death of Australian cricket...

2010-12-26T20:26:00.002Z

Yesterday's opening day of the Boxing day test marked what I'd consider the death of Australian cricket as I knew , admired and followed with all my heart. To be all out for 98 on a pitch which just had a tiny tinge of life ( compared to the grassland which was the Kingsmead pitch) and against an attack which did just the basics right was impossible to fathom.

It started of well - Collingwood dropping a relative sitter compared to the stunner he took last week in Perth, and then Hughes taking 10 runs of the first over from Tremlett. Then Pietersen dropped an even simpler chance of Watson and seemingly lady luck was shining all her glory on the Australians. That just proved to be a false dawn. First Watson got a brute of a delivery from Tremlett to which he could do little, Hughes ( now how he made two hundreds against South Africa at Durban remains an eternal mystery!!!) after struggling through the first hour gave it away to Bresnan, Ponting looking good with two typical pulls for four, got a delivery which I reckon he would have missed if he was in better nick. Then the one big plus for Australia - Hussey failed, and the innings spectacularly imploded. All out for 98 , even typing it beggars belief. 98 !!!!!!!!

I reckoned the Aus attack, even if the sun had come out, would be able to make some sort of inroads into the English batting line up before close of play. Surely 3-4 wickets were on the cards ?? Even when I switched off the telly and went to bed with Eng at 52/0, I wasn't ready for the scorecard this morning - 157/0 ! The Ashes has well and truly gone and this has happened in the matter of 3 hours of mindless batting. No spine, no guts, no stomach for a fight - these were not words I have ever associated with any Australian team but this present squad is something else. Always providing a false dawn, before imploding next match/series.

Steve Waugh was in the stands yesterday, and he would have cringed with each dismissal. Here was a guy who while batting never, ever gave up. Always put a price on his wicket and no situation was too dire for him to rescue his team from. Wonder what he makes of the present squad...

As to the test, I'd expect England to bat for a good part of two days, and build up a lead close to 400 and then put Australia back in. Unless there is a storm of biblical proportions can't see anything but an England win, which would mean the Ashes retained , and for the first time since 1987 down under. The gloatings from the squad and the media though is something I'm not ready for yet but the next couple of days should help me get prepared....

Cricket musings...

2010-12-19T21:36:00.002Z

Some random thoughts after over dosing on cricket viewing for the last few days. Staying up since the early hours watching the Ashes, and then following the South Africa - India series from the post lunch session.

It would be amiss of me, to NOT congratulate Sachin Tendulkar on scoring his 50'th test century. At one stage Sunil Gavaskar's 34 centuries seemed set to last, and while Sachin wouldn't actually double it, he might on the form he's having come pretty close to it before he eventually retires. It's a shame that his 50'th test century would barring a major miracle, come in an Indian defeat.

On to the Ashes series. It's been one weird series thus far. At the end of day 3 of the first test, England were upto their usual tricks of underperforming at the Gabba, but then something clicked , or rather didn't click for the Australian attack and I had to rub my eyes at the second innings score of England 517/1 !!!!!!!! England then totally outplayed Australia at Adelaide, and deservedly won there convincingly. It didn't help that Australia were 2/3 after 10 minutes on the opening day.

Onto the third test at the WACA. Aus batting first again, and slumped to 69/5. From there to post 268 was a big bonus, especially the runs scored by Mitchell Johnson, and Peter Siddle. Then on the second day, England moved to 78/0 and then the whole test changed. Mitchell Johnson with a 6fer, England all out 187 and from there on Australia basically bossed the game. Setting England a target of 391 to chase, which the Sky Sports commentators - messers Nasser Hussain and Sir Ian Botham, thought was very much chaseable. At 81/5 and then to be eventually all out 123, to lose the test by 267 runs, in just over three days.

What amused me then was to hear all and sundry at Sky Sports comm box to still claim that it Australia with more issues than England. I'd like to ask how ? England had thumped Australia at Adelaide, and then on the first day had Aus at 69/5 and from there to lose by 267 runs means England have some serious issues themselves to sort out. James Anderson didn't look flash, Steven Finn turned in a brilliant *Ajit Ajarkar* type performance, and Graeme Swann was ineffective. Only Chris Tremlett performed well. So why is it that it's only Australia with all problems, when England will for sure have to make changes to their bowling attack, and quite possibly in their batting as well. Answers on a postcard please.

Musings at end of the season...

2010-11-14T19:37:00.004Z

First up congratulations to Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull for the clean sweep in this years Formula One championship. As a team, they had the fastest car on the grid all the way to the end of the season, which is not easy to do. Consider how Brawn GP last year had the fastest car in the first half of the season with their double diffuser, and when that advantage went, they were one amongst the lot.

As a Ferrari supporter though, Sebastian Vettel winning the title was hard to take. Not because I don't think he was deserving of it (far from it) but rather mystified as to how with them holding the aces they managed to cock it up big time. Fernando Alonso went into the final race 8 points ahead of Mark Webber, and 15 ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Alonso then conjured up that extra bit to qualify third. Surely from there, they should have closed out the championship !

The race though was an absolute disaster right from the start. Alonso lost a position to Button. Then the safety car was deployed due to a collision between Michael Schumacher and Vitantonio Luizzi, where in quite a few of the mid runners made the mandatory pit stop for tyre change. From there things just went pear shaped for Alonso. Ferrari concentrated on Webber alone, missed the rest of the cast, and possibly even underestimated the other teams and paid for it big time. Tactically this was very surprising to see from a team , that in the past were exceptionally good at it. Alonso was stuck behind Petrov after the pit stop for tyre change, didn't look like going past him and that was just part one of his problem considering how the race was panning out. Vettel literally cruised to the title, Alonso eventually finished 7'th (needing to finish 4'th to ensure the title)and lost the championship by four points.

To be fair though, Alonso had profited from Red Bull's problems when quite clearly having an inferior car. His charge post the British GP had been nothing short of sensational, and in spite of that IF either Webber or Vettel hadn't had issues the championship wouldn't have been this close. One only has to compare how Massa has done this season, and there in lies another tale of how Alonso had over achieved , or rather his talent squeezed that much extra to stay in the title hunt.

What of the Red Bull drivers ? They had the fastest car on the grid, and Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel dominated the qualifying sessions. More Vettel than Webber, think it was 17 pole positions they had together. The races though were different, and IF either of them were even a bit more lucky with mechanical issues, or been a bit smarter, the championship would have long been sewn up. That they didn't do, made this season that much more exciting. Can't help but think, with this experience it is not something they will repeat in the following seasons.

A thought on Vettel though - he's been mighty impressive when racing from the front, BUT when he's had to do some chasing he hasn't been that flash - think of Turkey and Spa as two examples. If he sorts that bit of his racing , think with Adrian Newey engineered cars, him and Red Bull will be hard to beat in the coming seasons.

119 days to the next season starting.. Can't wait for it.

Some thoughts on the Rooney news..

2010-10-19T23:07:00.003+01:00

It did take a fairly interesting development at Manchester United to break my laziness in what was pretty sporadic blogging in the first place.

Sir Alex Ferguson today confirmed the rumour that was making the rounds in the media that his star player Wayne Rooney wants to leave the club. His words to MUTV and also to the world media ahead of the Champions League clash with Bursaspour were pretty much the same - hard to understand, mystified as to why.

There's been a lot of bile spewed on Rooney by the Manchester United fans once the news was confirmed. I can't understand why though. Sure , towards the end of last season Rooney did make the comment that Manchester United was the best club in the world, and he wanted to finish his career at Old Trafford. Nice sentiments to have but in this day and age maybe too much was read by all into it. Maybe he did mean it then, but subsequent developments ( personally and on the field) could have made him change his mind.

As was pointed out in different articles on the web, he probably thinks that as a club Manchester United aren't in the forseeable future going to win much. There is some truth in that considering that players of real genuine quality are pretty slim at the moment. Besides Rooney himself, the other players of quality are in my opinion - Van der Saar, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Scholes, Giggs and Berbatov. Nani has started to show some glimpses but personally anything good out of him is bonus. Javier Hernandez seems to have some quality but it's way too early to make any proper judgement call on him. The rest of the cast are hard working with once in a while flashes of quality. Compared to some of the other clubs in Europe it does make for grim reading. Worse Van Der Saar, Scholes and Giggs are on their very last legs and then you are left with four (!!!!!!!) players.

Rooney has seen Ronaldo and Tevez leave and hasn't seen any world class players coming in as replacements. It's no coincidence that it's at the same time the Glazer debt hangs over Manchester United. The time when Man City paid a decent sum to Inter Milan to get Mario Balotelli, he saw an unknown Portugese Bebe come to Manchester United.

Putting them to gether he probably decided if he wants to win more trophies his chances lie elsewhere. It's a fair call and while I'll be optimistic of Manchester United going back to winning ways soon , it maybe time to take stock of reality and bear the poor seasons ahead. Who knows maybe Sir Alex Ferguson might pull out one last rabbit out of his hat before he retires..

If Rooney has also decided that he wants to switch to earn more money, it's fine as well. Unlike most of us, footballers have a fairly short earning span ( albeit they earn and spend truck loads more than us normal folks) and making the most of their talent is well within their rights.

I for one would have no issues, if as speculated he ends up at Manchester City. It would gall for me a lot more if he ended up in Liverpool ( if they were not in deep strife themselves) as traditionally they are the biggest rivals. Man City have had to resort to an Oil Sheikh's money to compete with Manchester United and that I look at as a big compliment. No sour grapes at all. Good luck to them to win something after 34 years...

What I hope Rooney doesn't do is not put a transfer request in January '11, wait till July'11 and then pay £5 million and walk away from Manchester United to earn his big bucks elsewhere. That would be sheer contempt for the club, fans and the manager.

Equally now what does Sir Alex Ferguson do - play him ? He is woefully out of form, seems to have an ankle niggle/injury that crops up now and again. If he doesn't play , how on earth could you sell him for something decent ? Merely based on past exploits ?? I for one would love to see how this whole thing pans out.

I don't think so

2010-08-07T02:23:00.002+01:00

It's 02:30 AM Saturday morning, I'm fairly drunk and yet I think blogging is a good thing at this moment. I guess alcohol does strange things to you. To anyone who actually reads this blog - which is not a lot considering the *feedback* I get to my posts, trust me this is fairly hard to write - been needing to check my spelling every second word !

So to the title of my post - it's the tale about how India have been the only challengers to Australia during their dominant years. I don't believe it , unless the word ' challengers' means putting up the minimal resistance before folding in !

The dominant Australian squad lasted from 1999 upto 2007 ( to the retirement of Warne/Mcgrath) . So let's see how much or how good India were.

They were humiliated 3 - 0 in the 1999 tour, won 2 -1 in India in 01 , lost 1 -2 in 04 in India , drew 1 - 1 in 04 in Aus.

Based on those simple numbers how exactly were India the biggest challengers to Aus ? I'd quiet like to know...

Team orders - what's the fuss all about

2010-08-01T20:37:00.005+01:00

Over the past two weeks the buzzwords in the F1 paddock has been team orders thanks to what Ferrari did last weekend in Hockenheim. Frankly in my humble opinion it's all mountain out of molehill situation.

I don't see why other teams felt the need to raise a stink about it. Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were clear enough from the rest to make a Ferrari 1 - 2 ( barring technical or driver errors) dead certain. How they then finished amongst themselves is no one's business. How by having Alonso finish ahead of Massa compromised the result of the race ( FIA regulation 39.1) is something I've just not got my head around. Ferrair were certain of 43 points, and they got 43 points. How should it matter to other teams if it was split Alonso 25 and Massa 18.

Was a bit rich to hear Hamilton then talk of team orders and how they should be remain banned. He though then tried to defend what Kovalainen ( his team mate in 2008) did more brazenly , also at Hockenheim in 2008. Check the video below. At least what Massa did wasn't this brazen.

Added to it he won that season's championship by one point from Massa, overtaking Glock two corners from the end. If Kovalainen didn't do his team mate the favour, there would be no championship for him to celebrate. Guess that train of thought is too much for him to do.

Equally hearing Christian Horner of Red Bull complain about team orders was even harder to take. It's clear as water who the favoured driver is within the team - isn't that indirect team orders ??

Lastly I'd take the 43 points and fine which Ferrari had to pay than what happened to the Red Bulls in Turkey. What should have been a dead certain 43 points ended up as zero. Some wise choice it turned out to be.

Why is it so hard for the team bosses to just accept that team orders exist in each and every team, and at the end there can only be ONE world champion ? In Ferrari's case it's clear that Alonso gives them the best chance of winning the world championship and I wouldn't find it one bit surprising if they do the same again this season. I'd expect nothing less.

Day of destiny awaits..

2010-07-09T00:06:00.003+01:00

On June 9'th 32 teams started off trying to win the football world cup and 62 games later, it has come down to a final between The Netherlands and Spain to decide the winner. In one sense seems apt that for the first ever world cup in Africa ( will there be more, and if so where ?), the winner will have won it for the very first time.

The Netherlands are one of the two teams that are unbeaten in the world cup , the other being that great footballing nation - New Zealand, and I sincerely hope they go on to win it. This might be their only chance for years. Spain can afford to lose this one, and still be one amongst the top favourites come the world cup in 2014 in Brazil.

The Dutch team have been efficient and haven't always been pleasing to the eye in the tournament, but I'd like to think you are standing on flimsy grounds to quibble on a record that stands at 6 wins out of 6, and if you take their qualifying into account, 14 wins out of 14. You simply can't fault that record can you ? Sure the Spanish team with their passing are good to watch, but they have a tendency to over do the ' tiki taka'. Case in point their semi final win against Germany.

My final prediction ? The Netherlands 2 Spain 1 , after extra time. Then I'd like to wish I had a damn machine to transport me immediately to Eindhoven to take part in what will be one helluva celebration.

So much for that bit of oracle work then..

2010-07-03T17:19:00.002+01:00

This post might not be coherently written ( not that I consider the rest I've managed to post are coherent or well written) but posting it after the penultimate Qfinal match at the world cup.

I had confidently predicted the Albiceleste to win the world cup come July 11'th. Initially had a Brazil - Argentina final, then a week earlier wondered if Uruguay might spoil that bit and beat Brazil and get to the final. I was fairly confident of Argentina being at the final. How very wrong I was..

Yesterday, The Netherlands put paid to the Brazilians. Came back from 0- 1 down to beat Brazil (2 - 1), who for reasons unknown totally lost shape, post the half time break. That was a result while surprising, was not hard to handle. In a weird way even felt happy a bit. Something is right about a Dutch team being present in the latter stages of the world cup.

Uruguay got past Ghana via penalty kicks, after a late late drama with goal line handling, missed penalty by Asamoah Gyan of Ghana.

I was reasonably confident that Argentina should prove strong enough to beat Germany today. How wrong I was. Argentina ended up getting thumped 4 - 0 by Germany. Didn't look like scoring themselves, while Germany looked like scoring a few more. Was one bizzare performance by Argentina. Messi was good in certain periods of the game, but failed when it's mattered most.

What of the Spain - Paraguay quarterfinal ? You would think Spain should win this one, but I'll keep my counsel to myself..

So who of The Netherlands/Uruguay/Germany/Spain/Paraguay would I like winning the world cup ? Will go for the guys wearing Orange. Hope I haven't jinxed them now...

Predictions, thoughts..

2010-06-26T13:48:00.002+01:00

From the 32 teams that started off the football world cup two weeks ago, we are now down to 16. Biggest missing teams being France ( while going out made a sorry spectacle of themselves ) and Italy ( Lippi and his team choices were to put it mildly pretty fucked up and even then to NOT beat New Zealand is downright criminal)

Starting in an hour from now, the round of 16 starts and match ups are interesting to say the least..

Uruguay - South Korea, USA - Ghana, England - Germany, Mexico - Argentina, The Netherlands - Slovakia, Japan - Paraguay, Brazil - Chile and Spain - Portugal.

The tastiest of the lot is ofcourse, Germany - England and Spain - Portugal. Brazil - Chile , Argentina - Mexico should be interesting as well.

I'd have Uruguay, USA, Germany, Argentina, The Netherlands, Japan, Brazil and Spain to win and progress further.

My semi finalists would be Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Spain.

While I'd still have Argentina the odds on to win the world cup, it remains to be seen how they approach the knock out phases. They will conceed goals no doubt, but will their strike force continue their impressive form. I'd also like Messi to start missing the posts...

Still think it will be an all South American final, with Argentina on one side, will it be Uruguay or Brazil ???? You would like to hedge your bets on Brazil but Uruguay are my dark horses and who knows if Forlan and Suarez can maintain their form. If they do Uruguay will be hard to beat even for Brazil.

Random thoughts on World Cup 2010

2010-06-20T22:10:00.004+01:00

It's been the most craziest 9 days of world cup football that I can remember, having followed it vaguely in 1986, but most intently from Italia'90 onwards.

I've followed initially what I thought gut instinct, or trusting the European teams to raise the game come the world cup, and also for some of the African teams to play above themselves since the world cup was in South Africa. Been terribly wrong on both fronts.

Thus far my predictions have, how shall I put it, sucked big time ???

I'll now wait for the group stages to end, and look at the matches lined up from the second stage onwards, to make another set of predictions, having now seen pretty much all teams play.

Still think Argentina will win the world cup. Of all the teams that have played, they are the only ones that I've enjoyed watching. Here's hoping Lionel Messi and the Albiceleste continue to entertain and I see them stepping out on the field on July 11'th.

Egg on face already...

2010-06-17T22:26:00.003+01:00

Almost a week done in the Football world cup, and my predictions in the previous post has already left me with egg on the face.

I had both France and South Africa coming through from Group A, and after tonight's result ( Mex 2 , Fra 0), neither will make it, or under the most extraordinary circumstance one of them will.

From Group B, I had Argentina, and Nigeria coming through. Argentina are pretty much there, and have done that by playing purely attacking football. When you have Gutierrez as a fullback, guess that's the only option !

Nigeria on the other hand, are on the brink of elimination. Haven't worked out the sums, but todays defeat to Greece has pretty much knocked them out.

Tomorrow should define Group D. I have Germany and Serbia coming through, and they meet tomorrow. If Germany beats Serbia, that pretty much would seal Serbia's fate. Yes I know much like South Africa/France/Nigeria there still will be mathematical chances, but frankly wouldn't see it happening.

So much for predictions...

World Cup predictions

2010-06-09T23:39:00.003+01:00

I just had to get this in. Less than 48 hours , before the month long orgy, otherwise known as the Football World Cup kicks off in Johannesburg, South Africa.

This post will be short, and no explanations for why - basically couldn't be arsed to do it :) It's all merely gut feeling, so here goes

Group A - France, South Africa to get through
Group B - Argentina, Nigeria
Group C - England, USA
Group D - Germany, Serbia
Group E - The Netherlands, Cameroon
Group F - Italy, Paraguay
Group G - Brazil, Portugal
Group H - Spain, Chile

This leads to the following group 16 matches ( winners in bold)

France (2)- Nigeria (1), England (2)- Serbia (0), Germany (2) - USA(1) , Argentina(3) - South Africa (0), The Netherlands (3) - Paraguay(1), Brazil(4) - Chile(1), Italy(2) - Cameroon(1), Spain(3) - Portugal(1)

Leading to the following quarterfinals (winners in bold)

Brazil(2) - The Netherlands (1) ( a tough one to digest this match up - fuck), France (1) - England (2), Argentina(3) - Germany(1), Italy(1) - Spain(1), Italy to win in penalty shootout ( I quite fancy Italy to spring a surprise here !)

So my semi finalists are : Brazil(3) - England(1), Argentina(2) - Italy(0)

So what odds then for the first ever world cup in Africa to have a Brazil - Argentina final !!

Final score Brazil(1) - Argentina (2). Yes I expect the Albiceleste to win the world cup, just for Lionel Messi - the man's a magician and he deserves it, even though he is only 23 (on June 24'th)

End of season turning pear shaped ?

2010-04-08T19:46:00.003+01:00

Last night's Champions League exit capped off one of the worst week for Manchester United and their supporters. Last Wednesday, they were leading in Bayern 0 -1 thanks to a second minute Rooney goal and all seemed well in the world ! Since then, things have gone pear shaped. They got played off the park at the Allianz Arena, conceeded two late goals, saw Rooney get injured.

At the moment on twitter , Mahek ( a Barcelona fan, out and about - wise choice !) commented that this looks like start of football diarrhea for MU. I countered saying it's best to get out of your worst game which is how I viewed the first leg at Bayern. It unfortunately hasn't quite panned out that way. For all of the refreeing bloopers last Saturday, Chelsea deserved to win at Old Trafford, there by taking over the lead in the premiership. Swore like mad at the end of that match, but with 5 games left there was still the chance to get back . All focus then on getting past Bayern at Old Trafford and onto the semi's for the fourth consecutive year.

Started brilliantly at Old Trafford, leading by 3 - 0 with just over 40 minutes played and then things went from bad, to worse to disastrous. First Bayern scored before the break, 1 - 3 down , but 3 -4 on aggregate they knew one more goal and it's their tie on the away goals rule. Five minutes into the second half, and Rafael gets sent off , for a second yellow - no complaints there ( unlike the Sir Alex Ferguson rant !). Rooney get's taken off - why on earth he even started is something I'm not even going to dwell on, replaced by John O' Shea. Left Man Utd with 10 men on the pitch, and with Nani now playing in the centre !! That decision beggared belief - did Ferguson forget the Man Utd philosophy to attack ?

Duly, Bayern pressed and got the all important second goal through an absolute stunner from Arjen Robben. That goal was brilliant, his post goal celebrations galled big time. 15 minutes, Man Utd need a goal and then Ferguson remembers he's got a $ 30 million striker on his bench - Berbatov. Too little, too late - it should have been a straight swap with Rooney at half time.It would have shown Bayern that Man Utd were going to continue attacking, even with just 10 men.

Fair credit to Bayern for not caving in when 0 - 3 down. I didn't give them much of a chance when the third goal went in . Not many teams can handle Old Trafford 0 - 3 down, but they did. Congratulations, and hopefully with this defeat, the miracle at the Camp Nou in 1999 will be put to rest atleast in the minds of all English commentators. 2001 and 2010 - both times Bayern Munich knocked out Manchester United at the quarterfinal stage. They went onto win the Champions League in 2001, I however don't see them doing it this year.

It leaves just the Premiership title to fight for. Truth be told, while Manchester United should or would have reached the final if they got past Bayern, I don't think they would defeat either Inter Milan or Barcelona in the final. This team doesn't quite have it.

Five games to go then in the Premiership , two points behind Chelsea. Still have to play Man City away and Tottenham at home. Have to win both the games, since I think Man Utd should beat Blackburn, Sunderland and Stoke. I'd expect Chelsea to drop points against Liverpool ( ironies for a Man Utd fan to expect help from the scousers !), if not against Tottenham. To both would be delightful, but I'd take a defeat to Liverpool very nicely, thank you.

Here's hoping the Champions League exit proves to be a blessing in disguise come the end of the English Premiership League. 19 league titles, four in a row - I'd live with that nicely for this season. Hopefully it won't be just the Carling cup to talk about..

p.s : Why did I , a Chennai bred bloke feel so grumpy and pissed off the whole of today, after watching the defeat for an English club in an European club competition ??? I'd like to think that's the beauty of soccer and being a fan - it transcends continents and boundaries...

Soccer for a while...

2010-03-19T23:35:00.010Z

It doesn't help that the cricket, be it the IPL or the Aus - NZ hasn't thrown up enough controversy to rant about ! So I'll switch focus to soccer, what with the English Premier League coming to an exciting end, Champions League soccer at the business end and the World Cup Soccer is less than 100 days from kick off !

A simple wish on the soccer front - Manchester United to win the Premiership title for the fourth year running - no English club has done it before, and it would take them to 19 League titles. Puts them one ahead of their greatest rivals - Liverpool.

There was this famous banner at Anfield road all those years ago, when Liverpool was miles ahead of Manchester United with respect to number of league titles. Famous words on that banner that has come back to bite them hard and how ! Liverpool last won the league in the 1989/90 season. They are yet to win the English Premier League title as it is known now, while Manchester United have won it 11 times, since it's inception in 1992. Manchester United won the Premiership last year to equal Liverpool's tally of 18. When Manchester United went to Liverpool in this season's fixture the Red Devils fans came back with this repartee to that banner. Need to go one step further this season to really rub it into the scousers.

I don't mind losing in the Champions League, if it means that the Premiership title stays at Old Trafford. If Manchester United do win both the Premiership and Champions League, then a certain Wayne Rooney would need to stay injury free and in form till the end of the season. Might be a touch fanciful and greedy asking for both. Barcelona are the best club team in Europe now and even though I am a passionate Manchester United fan, I don't think they have it in them to beat Barcelona, should a repeat of last year's Champions League final happen.

Liverpool visit Old Trafford this Sunday for a 13:30 kick off. In the runup to the title, after Liverpool, Manchester United still have to play Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur amongst other teams in their remaining fixtures. Won't be easy, but if there's one team that has traditionally finished strong towards the end of a season it's Manchester United. I will be quietly confident of the Red Devils pulling it off. When it does happen, I've promised myself to celebrate it like no other sporting celebration I've done.

Update - Manchester United did go ahead and beat Liverpool. This win is just one of the few they HAVE to win, if the four in a row titles dream is to come through. In two weeks time Chelsea comes calling to Old Trafford - this is one game Manchester United cannot afford to lose.

Those were the good times...

2010-03-05T22:42:00.003Z

Ah Fridays - during my time in The Netherlands it meant one thing from 17:00 - Borrel. It was time to stop the serious PhD work, crack open a bottle of beer and let the relaxation start . Usually it would be quite a lot of ranting on the stuff that didn't work, taking the piss out of the profs, and generally talking nonsense. Typically we used to stay till about 22:30, by when we had to clear up the meeting room ( yep that's where the fridge with ice cold beers used to stay ), and head out of the campus to avoid being shut in.

It didn't mean the night had ended - rather would mean heading to a local fast food joint, eat something before hitting the town for more pints. Head home around 4 in the morning and sleep off the best part of Saturday morning. This never did any good for the body or wallet and yet religiously was the schedule to follow.

I'd love to go back a few years and relive it all - for now though it will stay as good memories.

p.s : It was after one such Friday night, that in spite of hitting the bed only around 4, I woke up at 8 to get my hair ' highlighted'. Gave my Prof and a few other blokes a right royal shock on the Monday.. I wouldn't contemplate doing it now..

This takes some cake and more.

2010-03-04T21:55:00.004Z

At the end of the Kolkotta test I had referred to what I had considered to be boorish behaviour on the Indian team's part post the win. Little did I know, Australia or rather Mitchell Johnson in particular would oblige with some nonsense from their end. What makes it worse, besides the behaviour itself, was the laughable punishment handed out to Mitchell Johnson.

I think Ranjan Madugalle is the match refree, and I'm not sure why he didn't ban Johnson for a game or three. In the spat at Perth last year, Johnson was seen to push Suleiman Benn away. A few months later and he has been found guilty to get into another physical altercation with Styris. What else is needed to get the bloke banned ?

Gautam Gambhir was famously banned for one match, after he was seen to brush Watson's shoulder. This was after the constant barrage of words he was getting from all and sundry within vicinity.

In one instance, after repeated verbal barrage, if you have a shoulder to shoulder contact, a ban is in place. On the other hand, twice in a few months you are clearly seen to get into physical altercations, and yet you only lose 60 % of your match fees. The earlier this blindlingly obvious disparity in justice is dealt with, the better.

As to the playing hard but fair statement that is always parroted , it's only going to get worse, if this is anything to go by

http://www.cricinfo.com/nzvaus2010/content/current/story/450822.html

Sachin take a bow mate

2010-02-24T23:32:00.002Z

For once I'm happy with one of Sachin's record. He's had so many of them, he atleast gives you choices !

Was at work, and thus missed the whole innings. Would do absolutely no justice to comment on it, even if I watch highlights of it. Wouldn't be right either.

This is one record that NO ONE can ever take away from him, sure there might be a time when some one else scores 250. But the fact that he became the first ever to score a double hundred can never be taken away from him. It's akin to Charles Bannerman scoring the first even century in tests, or John Edrich ( I think, might be wrong), to get to first century in one day internationals.

Cheers Sachin and congratulations - couldn't have happened to a better man !

Controversial call if I've seen one

2010-02-21T17:34:00.003Z

I might even come back and have to eat humble pie, if further video clips show otherwise ! Ah well, my blog, my rant or observation, so there goes..

Back to the topic, I'm not really sure how the third umpire ruled the Tendulkar save in the penultimate ball of the South African innings as fine. 7 needed of two balls, and if that had been given as a 4, and with what transpired later, the match would have ended in a tie.

Sure, there will be lots of you who would say, what's the guarantee Langeveldt would have got the required two runs. Fair enough.

We were never given that chance were we ?? Hence I'd like to think South Africa have every right to feel aggrieved. Of course they were also to blame for not appealing enough in the Indian Innings. Referring to an Ashish Nehra run out - which was out, but since it was not referred to, wasn't given. He went on to get another 10 odd runs.

I guess from another side, you could say they deserved this loss since they were daft in the field.

I'd be very surprised if India don't go on and win the series 3 - 0.

One final word - I'm impressed with MSD's demeanour on the field. I can't imagine either one of Azhar, SRT, Ganguly or even Dravid being that calm after the rubbish that both Nehra and Sree Santh bowled towards the end. I guess when as a captain you remain cool, it lifts the rest of the team.

Has MSD had a meeting with uber cool Steve Waugh ???

p.s : When Albie Morkel got out, and showed disappointment at presumably the decision ( it was out), Sunil Gavaskar came up with this gem. It went so - Ah Albie is showing his disappointment at the decision because it was given by an Indian Umpire !! Wonder how much more nonsense would come out from him. It was such a stupid and irresponsible comment to make.

Think carefully, which Asian commentator is good now ?? Possibly Harsha Bhogle. Of the remaining lot ?? Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar and Laxman Sivaramakrishnan from India, Rameez Raja, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, for Pakistan, and for Sri Lanka - Ranil Abenayake, Russel Arnold. Not even taking any Bangladesh representative !

It's a horrible list of choices available and I can only hope that when the WC2011 comes, half of them aren't near a mike . Anyway to get a case of selective laryngitis for them ??????

Sydney 08 and Eden 10 - the difference ???

2010-02-18T20:17:00.003Z

I'm not going to talk about the last day's events at Kolkotta bar what transpired after the last wicket fell.

As I saw it on the highlights on Sky, the last wicket fell, Harbhajan went on a run and the rest of the team members ran behind him delirious that the win had been secured. It meant that they stay ranked #1. Fair enough. It did take some time for them to then go back and congratulate Hashim Amla for a superhuman effort.

So how is this OK, while what Ponting and the rest of the Australian squad did post the Sydney test wrong !

India had just won a test, while the Australian team had won a record equalling 16'th consecutive win. The Sydney test was under the scanner for all the wrong reasons and thus you could at the moment of victory try and understand the outpouring of emotions from the Australians. But NO they got roasted for celebrating wildly, and making Anil Kumble wait.

So what did the Indian team do today ? Didn't they make Amla wait while they celebrated wildly , with Harbhajan Singh gesturing to certain sections with contempt ?

Fat chance anyone would bring this up !

p.s : Anyone who reads this post would think I'm bonkers. Fair enough. While the Australians weren't by any stretch the model of decent behaviour in that match, my take per se is merely on just the events after the match finished. IMHO the Australians took way too much flak for their post match celebrations. They deserved the criticism for their behaviour during the match, but NOT for how they celebrated the win.

Appetite for destruction..

2010-02-17T23:35:00.010Z

After Master of Puppets by Metallica, this is the next album that I'm a huge fan of. It's one awesome album. Funnily enough the album cover pictured above was OK, while the original album cover below was NOT !

Either way I'm not sure my mom would have approved - she thought I was a bit off the rockers when I walked in one day grinning from ear to ear with this CD in hand ! I guess in hindsight the album cover they settled on was relatively easier to explain compared to trying and explaining the one above !

This was the debut album by Guns N' Roses, it start's off with Welcome to the Jungle. It's hard to think of a more impressive opening song in a debut album. The songs just keep rolling in . How about Paradise City ?? Classic opening line - Take me down to the Paradise City where the grass is green and the girls are pretty !

The definitive highlight of the album has to be Sweet Child O Mine. Listen below and ponder - a better opening riff to a song ??? I'd like to think NOT. To think Slash played the opening riff in a casual jam session !

The original line up went on to record Lies, Use your Illusion I and II, and then their last album - The Spaghetti Incident ? None of those though struck a chord with me like this one. It' a shame they disbanded in the mid 90's over what was a struggle between Slash and Axl Rose on which direction the band should head. Axl Rose still is in a band he calls Guns N' Roses but they can't shine a light to the original members !

I'd end this post with a line from the opening song - welcome to the jungle, it get's worse here everyday !

Take that as a hint as to what the blog posts ahead may/may not look like !

What a steal

2010-02-16T23:13:00.002Z

I'm a self confessed Manchester United supporter. Ever since Prime Sports ( which later became Star Sports) started to beam the English Premier League , I was hooked onto this team. All their wins would keep me in happy spirits, and their defeats would rankle much like a defeat for the Australian cricket team.

One of the funniest moments supporting Manchester United came when I was still back home in India. It was 1999 and was the Champions League final - Manchester United vs Bayern Munich. Now the Champions League final starts at 20:45 CET which is 01:15 AM IST. Man Utd were losing 0 - 1, until Teddy Sheringham equalised and then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the winning goal in added time second half. I let out such a whoop of joy, it woke my dad up. He came down fuming - it's 03:00 AM what are you doing up so late and why you screaming.. Little would he know what those goals meant for Manchester United. That sealed the golden treble - Premiership/FA Cup and the holy grail Champions League.

Now why am I telling all this ? It's just a simple introduction to my brief post on tonight's Champions League pre quarters first leg game for Man Utd. It was against AC Milan at the San Siro. Man Utd went 0 - 1 down in the 3'rd minute and by every account should have been wiped off the floor and tie within 30 minutes. Yet they went into half time 1 - 1, thanks to a freakish Paul Scholes goal. Then in the second half two Wayne Rooney headers left them 3 - 1 ahead, and the tie all but their's. Then they were sloppy and let Seedorf pull one back for AC Milan. It ended 3 -2 for Man Utd. Their first win at the San Siro and with 3 away goals to boot. By no right should they have drawn, let alone won this game. But they did, and I can't wait for March 10'th for the return leg at the ' Theater of Dreams '.

Hoping Tendulkar retires ASAP...

2010-02-15T18:48:00.006Z

If Tendulkar retires, we wouldn't then be 'treated' to the utter crass scyophancy dished out by Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar. Those two guys are utterly intolerable to listen to when Tendulkar is at the crease.

Today was no exception. When Tendulkar was on 99, the amount of froth dished out was to be heard. It's one thing to admire or even be a fan of someone, to do it so openly is taking it to a different level. There is no comparison to what dross the two of them dish out.

Here's wishing for a really early retirement of Sachin Tendulkar , to save our ears !

p.s : Just now heard the piece when Tendulkar reached his 100. Neither of them could contain their excitement when he was one run away. The amusing bit came when he flicked the ball for four to reach the 100. Gavaskar was slowly building up his praise and Shastri jumped him to the gun when it happened. You could hear Gavaskar fuming inwardly - how on earth you steal this moment from me ...

Master, master where's the dreams that I've been after....

2010-01-31T22:32:00.007Z

My all time favourite album is - Master of Puppets, by Metallica in their glory years.It was their third studio album and in my opinion their best album ever. Starting from the opening song Battery ( video below), to Master of Puppets, Leper Messiah, Sanitarium. There aren't too many albums that have so many songs that I like. What makes this album poignant is that it was the last album featuring Cliff Burton, the original bassist of the band. He died tragically in a bus accident in Sweden, while on tour promoting the album. RIP Cliff...

I was lucky that Metallica were on a tour titled ' Escape from the studio ' in 2006. They played the entire Master of Puppets album LIVE, including Orion. Any fan of Metallica will tell you that they rarely play Orion live.I saw them on that tour in a concert in Arnhem, The Netherlands. Supreme bliss that night.....

Here's them playing Orion Live - this is from the same tour , from the Rock am Ring , Nurburging, Germany. Enjoy folks !

ROFLMAO

2010-01-31T22:11:00.002Z

I found this link, on one of my favourite blogsites ( http://jauntyjaywalking.blogspot.com )

If you like the antics of the roadrunner and the wily e- coyote, this will have you in splits. It certainly had me in splits.

How daft is Afridi ?

2010-01-31T21:52:00.003Z

The only thing that was sad about the ' biting the cherry' incident was that it came in the last match of an utterly dire ODI series between Australia and Pakistan. I had predicted a 4 -1 Aus win , and today Pakistan seemed to be on their way to win. I'm thinking post the bite(s), Afridi just lost the plot. To do it once was daft enough, but twice !!!!! In this day and age of cricket telecasting , you have to be pretty thick skulled to think you can get away with things like this.

Here's one of the biting incident :

What makes this worse is that he then commented that all teams do ball tampering. Where and on what basis does he make this statement ??

The reaction from Intikhab Alam is priceless ( from Cricinfo) : " It just happened, probably he was eating an apple "

Makes the Stuart Broad/James Anderson ball tampering allegations childish.Albeit my views on their antics are pretty clear on this blog.

Afridi also has prior fame for trying to moonwalk on the pitch :

Thick skulled beyond belief. To think this was his chance of showing the Pakistan selectors his captaincy skills !

Best sledge ??

2010-01-18T23:08:00.002Z

I've no idea why this one came up in my head, but I think this is one of the better sledges I've heard.

It was Shane Warne's final innings as a batsman at Sydney. Paul Collingwood and he were having a right royal sledging match, each not giving a quarter and then Warne came up with this gem - you are an MBE* right ? Must Be Embarassed I guess !! Trust Warne to come up with a classic sledge.

* - Collingwood alongwith the rest of the English team were awarded MBE's for having won back the Ashes in 2005. While the rest of the team possibly deserved it , Collingwoords contribution was 3 & 7 in the only test he played.

Random mumblings

2010-01-18T22:25:00.004Z

So Australia completed their 3-0 sweep of Pakistan, making it 12 consecutive victories over them. Sri Lanka are the other team to have done this, against Bangladesh. I had predicted a double 3-0 win for Australia in their summer of cricket and it ended 5-0. Barring the Sydney test , it was one of the most boring Australian summer of cricket I can recall. At least next year, the Poms head down under, for the Ashes.

Talking of the Poms, was good to see that they didn't ' steal ' a win against South Africa, much like how they won the ' Ashes' . Yes, I still can't believe or even recover from last summer's Ashes defeat. Of course only a Pom would write that 1-1 was a fair result.

Read this to have a laugh. Seriously how deluded is this guy ??

http://www.cricinfo.com/rsaveng09/content/current/story/444891.html

Meanwhile, it's been hilarious to read all and sundry in the media having a go at Sehwag for telling something everyone knows. So much for telling the truth. Bangladesh did well to restrict India for less than 250, but they are doing their best to emulate them by slumping to 59/3. What odds for a typical Bangladesh collapse tomorrow ? If I expect one guy to do well, it would be their captain Shakibul Hasan, for the rest I have no hope. I think they would go and make Sehwag's statement true !

Time for another set of predictions, this time for the two ODI series Down Under.

Aus 4 , Pak 1
Aus 3, West Indies 2

To be honest, can't wait for South Africa to land in India for the two test series. How hard would it have been to make it a three test series, and ditch the 3 meaningless ODI's ??? Guess we should thank BCCI for even making this two test series a possibility !!!!

Ponting as the best of the decade - not quite right !

2010-01-14T21:57:00.006Z

Cricinfo announced today that their panel consisting of (current and former) players , sports writers and commentators rates Ricky Ponting as the player of the decade. The numbers Ponting has stacked up makes impressive reading ( over 9000 runs in both forms of the game, averaging over 58 in tests and 44 in one day internationals). However if you dig into those stats further, his numbers in India don't make for impressive reading. Averaging just a paltry 21.

Further muddling the choice, is the on field persona he brings and what he made/makes Australia portray. Even for a avid Australian cricket fan like me , it does makes for cringe-worthy viewing. It wasn't that under Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor or Allan Border, Australia were angels, but under Ponting they've pushed the boundaries of acceptable behaviour.

Taken all of that into consideration, does Ponting deserve the accolade ? If I had to choose, it would have to be either Jacques Kallis or Glenn McGrath that deserves the award.

I guess Kallis didn't get the award simply because he has never portrayed a flashy streak to his game. His dour approach to the game sadly lessens his achievements - however lame that sounds. For just sheer numbers, save for Sir Garfield Sobers, no other allrounder even comes close to him.

Choosing Glenn McGrath would again bring about question about his on field persona, for if ever a bowler liked a chirp it was Pigeon ! His get out clauses are that he wasn't the captain of Australia and he didn't publicly lecture on acceptable behaviour like Ponting.

http://www.cricinfo.com/decadereview2009/content/story/440770.html

Staggering numbers, especially in Asia - also known as the graveyard of bowlers save for the odd decent pitch.

So why did the so called experts, not take this into account ? In a decade where averaging 55 is the old 50 ( http://www.cricinfo.com/decadereview2009/content/story/441892.html), surely a bowler who has averaged in the low 20's deserves the award !

p.s : this stat's work just makes giving the award to Ponting seem even more absurd

http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/442971.html

Has Sehwag said more than he should have ?

2010-01-11T20:17:00.003Z

There are two trains of thought when you read the interview of Sehwag by Boria Mujumdar in Open magazine

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/sports/100-is-never-enough

One thought is that Sehwag is being Sehwag , i.e. not bound by any norm. He speaks as he bats - keeping it real simple and to the fact.

The other is that by saying things like - when I get past 70 only I can get myself out, and other quotes, he is setting himself up for criticism's if and when he fails.

Personally I quite like the fact that he's spoken this way. There have been numerous quotes by sportsmen, who claim to have targetted or achieved something AFTER the event has occured. In his case, the goals and targets are clear cut and upfront !

If we do it, then it's ok. Else blasphemy...

2010-01-10T13:09:00.003Z

My contempt for the English team and their media has just gone up a few notches in the last few days. More specifically it's their reaction to the antics of Broad and Anderson during the third day of the third test against South Africa.

The sheer number of articles, and I'm not even sure this is even remotely close to what is out there in the open, that has come up to defend the bowlers actions baffles me. It's amazing that none of these writers ( and it includes some former players as well) seem to understand what the issue is. Maybe they all need to be locked up in a room and the following point drilled into their heads - it doesn't matter if the ball condition didn't change, it's purely the action that is wrong. Period.

Sample some of these articles, to have a laugh on a Sunday afternoon

First up is Boycott : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/6951569/Geoffrey-Boycott-Ball-tampering-row-is-much-ado-about-very-little-really.html

Next up is Martin Johnson

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/martin_johnson/article6982167.ece

This one by Ed Smith is incredulous - does this bloke even have proof to make this statement ?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article6978462.ece

Now I wonder if these same guys would be ok if Aus beat Eng in the last test of the Ashes series in Down Under to regain the Ashes, and where in the middle of the test Johnson and Bollinger did exactly what Broad and Anderson did !

I definitely think NOT. Masters of hypocrisy is what the English cricketers and media are famed for and they haven't disappointed anyone this time as well !

How dumb are these guys ?

2010-01-09T17:14:00.007Z

I couldn't believe my eyes when I read this

http://www.cricinfo.com/rsaveng09/content/current/story/443197.html

In fact, I was wondering when either of them would open their mouth and if something sensible would come out. It hasn't and really am I surprised ? In his few years playing International cricket, Broad hasn't endeared himself to anyone outside of his team, with his antics and his mutterings. The cake is at the end of the article, when you take into account of what the cameras caught Anderson doing !!

Isn't it clear to the players themselves that what they did wrong was the fact that, willfully or not, their actions might have changed the condition of the ball. It doesn't matter if in the end the ball condition changed, it's the action that counts. How on earth Anderson thinks what he did was just laziness astounds me. It's clear the pictures don't show him in any great light, and he would have been well advised to shut up. He just got away scot free, and someday would love to ask Mahanama - how and why !

What has been disappointing in this whole affair is the inaction of Mahanama and the ICC. Surely their actions deemed censure and a fine at the very least, if not a straight ban for Anderson. When Tendulkar was banned for one test during the South Africa tour in 01, it was clear from the cameras that he shouldn't have been doing what he did. Fair enough, he got the ban, with all the brouhaha it brought.

So if that is alleged tampering, why isn't what Anderson did the same ? Equally amusing are the reactions of Atherton, Vaughan and Hussain - former three English skippers. Is it any coincidence that Atherton ( he of the dirt in pocket , at Lords against South Africa in 94) supports the players, while the other two aren't impressed one bit ???

Does the English team deserve any praise ??

2010-01-08T19:55:00.003Z

First up, the stat that in the last 14 odd tests England have lost only twice. My bad in stating they've lost only once in my previous post. Impressive - sure, but wait - how many have they won then ? Twice against West Indies, twice against Australia and once against South Africa. Five wins out of 14 isn't praise worthy especially when you consider that in three drawn tests - they were one wicket away from losing.

So to answer the query - an emphatic NO ! What their tests do provide is comedy - can't think of too many teams who do collapses like the English team. Sure there is Pakistan - but when Pakistan fire, they are brillaint to watch.

How on earth can a batting line up that has Cook, Trott, Collingwood and Bell actually entertain !!!!! Me thinks insomniacs should start watching this team bat - they'll be asleep within minutes.

Can't wait for this team to head down under and get whipped there. Only then will the hurt from last summer start to lessen.

Random thoughts on the South Africa - England test

2010-01-07T21:20:00.003Z

Are England the luckiest team in the world, and conversely are South Africa the unluckiest ?? By all accounts South Africa should have won this test comfortably and gone into the final test at Joburg thinking they could yet win the series. Now they must win at Joburg or it's a second straight series defeat at home to England. Now what odds were there for that to happen ?

Two measly wickets, one in the first test, and one here have prevented South Africa from being 2-1 up.

In one sense you could argue that if you can't bowl out a team in a day and half, then maybe you don't deserve to win. Even more galling is that SOuth Africa until recently were the #1 test team. It goes to show just how impressive the Aus reign at the top was. They reached the summit and stayed there for years, winning every where and pretty much under all sorts of match situations.

Even when South Africa were #1, you just had to look at the team and ask - surely not this team ! Smith, De Villiers, Kallis, Steyn and possibly Boucher are the only truly world class players. Simple query - who amongst the present South African team could get into the Aus squad of the 2000's ? Steyn for either Lee/Gillespie, and possibly Kallis for Martyn.

It's been a pretty disappointing series for South Africa - drew the T20's, lost the ODI series and now can only square the test series. All of this against a pretty mediocre England side.

The English media would surely now go overboard - having won the Ashes, and now this would prompt them to think getting to #1 is possible. I for one though can't see it happening. They will point to the fact that England have only lost 1 out of their last 14 or so tests, but the rest weren't wins either.

Final test prediction ??? Surely third time lucky for South Africa and a 1-1 drawn series.

Houdini act by Aus, helped in large doses by Pakistan

2010-01-06T21:41:00.010Z

Even for an aussie cricket fanatic, today's win in Sydney was something else. Ever since the mid 90's I've always backed Aus to come out of any match on the right side. More often than not, they've done it. Latest being their mighty impressive ODI series win against India with what was basically their second XI.

All that said and done, I was in pretty thin ice going into today's play. I had a friendly bet with JQ (jauntyjaywalking.blogspot.com) in another blog ( maidenbowling.blogspot.com) that Aus would come out of this test unscathed !

Aus were effectively 80/8 when day 4 started. I had honestly expected them to add a max of 40 runs, if Hussey decided to open his shoulders. Pakistan however decided that he shouldn't have that much of a bother, and decided to make things explicably simple. Right from the start, it appeared as if Pak were the team under pressure and trying to prevent Aus from scoring boundaries. What made Yousuf put about 5 men in the boundary each time Hussey was on strike beats me. Then when Siddle came on strike, he didn't attack enough. In the 2.5 hours morning session, they created one chance which Akmal promptly muffed up. Then after quickly bowling out Aus in the post lunch session, they decided to become Collapistan.

They had about 60 overs on the fourth day and the whole of day 5 to get 175. That equates to rpo of just over 1 !!! The Aus attack read : Siddle, Johnson, Bollinger and Hauritz. Put them together, and surely they could get the 175 and level the series. To fall short by 35 runs is just plain shameful. Barring Umar Akmal ( who looks a real treat), the rest should hang their heads in shame.

In the end though, it's just another case of me backing Aus , and they coming out on the right side.Admittedly I had thought this was beyond them, little did I know Pakistan would prove the perfect guests !

India's test achievement set me thinking...

2009-11-28T19:35:00.002Z

Of the test's that I've watched, which has been India's best test win ? A whole host of people would go for the miracle at Kolkatta in 2001. I wouldn't though, incredible as the win was. I just like wins which have been achieved abroad - it's just that much harder, it's the team against pretty much everything else.

So then I would obviously start thinking of all the overseas wins achieved by India. I can't recollect even one from the 90's - I'm sure it can't be true that India didn't win anything abroad in the 90's, but I can't be bothered to confirm the fact. Brings us quickly to the 2000's - of the lot I can think of, these come to mind :

Eng in 2002 , Adelaide 2003, Multan/Rawalpindi in 04, WI in 06, Joburg in 06, Perth in 07. Of this lot, the ones in Perth in 07, Joburg in 06, and Rawalpindi in 04 rank higher than the rest IMHO. So of the three , I would rank the Joburg win in 2006 as India's best test win.

India were absolutely hammered in the ODI's that preceded the series, having no chance for win even in one of those. There was the issue of Ganguly coming back into the squad after the infamous spat with Chappell, which wouldn't have done team morale much good. Then the test was at Joburg and a greenish pitch awaited them. Overcame all the odds stacked against them and they gave South Africa a real spanking. It was a pity they didn't close the series, but went on to lose it 1 - 2.

Ind - SL some observation

2009-11-28T12:23:00.002Z

The title is misleading and I'll get it out of the way first hand. Needed a sane enough title for the post ! Just watched highlights of the second test and it was midly amusing seeing Harbhajan's antics on getting his wickets.His pent up emotion release after getting rid of Herath in the second innings was just plain stupid. Equally amusing was seeing how happy Dhoni was with each Harbhajan Singh ! Seems like they both knew that having Harbhajan in the squad is just plain wrong :-)

Interesting stat

2009-11-27T23:23:00.004Z

Just came across this stat at the blog - Eye on cricket. India has won 100 test matches - today's win against SL was the 100'th. The stat that caught my eye was this - Sachin Tendulkar has been part of 57 of those wins.

India played it's first test in 1932, and it's taken 77 years to get to it's 100'th test win. Tendulkar has been part of Indian cricket for 20 years and he's been involved in more than half of their wins ! I've always had this nagging doubt that Sachin hasn't won enough matches, but can't quibble with a 57 % winning number I guess !

A bit mystifying...

2009-11-27T22:18:00.003Z

Most evenings I hit the youtube site and watch/listen to my favourite heavy metal bands. As I do this ritual, one comment about me from a friend of mine during my university days rings ! After hearing my taste of music and my favourite cricketing team commented - you are one f***ing weird Indian ! Wonder why he said that :-) Is it the choice of music ? Most likely , since here in UK as well, people just don't get the fact that I like heavy metal. Somehow the notion of an Indian listening to heavy metal seems weird/wrong. Do the rest of the world think of us as passive people who listen to soothing music all the time ? or is it the facade created by Bollywood ? I would love to know the answer to this...

This has to be Metallica's best song

2009-11-27T22:13:00.001Z

The proper Metallica !

2009-11-27T22:12:00.001Z

A break for no reason !

2009-11-27T21:55:00.003Z

Well it didn't take long did it ? I've blogged for three consecutive days and then it's just been silence ! So much for blogging in earnest :-) The trouble I'm having is chosing on what topic to blog about !

There's just too much cricket being played at this moment ! All the 8 test playing nations are involved, but not one of the series is riveting enough for me to blog about. I haven't been this disappointed at the start of the Aus cricket summer - WI and Pak just don't do it for me. WI would be easily beaten, and with Pakistan there might be semblance of a contest, but Aus would win that series as well easily. Ideally one of India, South Africa or the bloody Poms should visit down under each year.

Away from cricket, this Sunday is a veritable soccer feast on Sky. Starting at 13:30, it's the Merseyside derby, then Arsenal - Chelsea, and to end it is the ' El Clasico'. I just hope Gunners beat Chelsea, and with Man Utd playing Portsmouth, it would make the gap down to 2 amongst the three of them. Perfect.

Sachin Tendulkar twenty years on

2009-11-14T22:39:00.005Z

Nov 15'th 1989 was the first time the international world saw Sachin Tendulkar diplay his wares. Twenty years on, and he still continues to display his amazing talent. I'm not his biggest fan, not like the many millions back home at least. I like to watch him bat and don't deny it. He does bring an aesthetic touch to batting.

There ends though my appreciation of Sachin Tendulkar. He's amassed records, like the rest of us breathing and yet I personally feel he hasn't done enough considering his talent. This might be churlish, and also there is only so much one man can do. It was such a poor reflection of the Indian team, that get Sachin and match over. It was that mentality and image that changed me to an Australian supporter.

I've only seen Sachin bat live twice in a stadium. The second time was IMHO the best innings he has ever played. It was against Pakistan at Chepauk in 1999. I skipped college for the day, and went with my mate to the ground at 6 in the morning to queue for tickets. He didn't disappoint me, but the lack of spine from the other batsmen, and then the tail enders was simply unbelivable. Of course, a year earlier he had decimated Shane Warne at the very ground. Sadly enough, on both days I went back home angry at the turn of events.

How long would Sachin Tendulkar play ? A fair guess is that the WC 2011 would be his swansong. While I would dearly love for Australia to win a fourth successive world cup, it would be at least a perfect time for him to call time on his career on a high.

Cheers Sachin and thanks for the memories !

Two links for that Chennai innings against Pakistan

The best finish to a football game

2009-11-13T23:03:00.000Z

Shane Warne

2009-11-13T20:57:00.003Z

The first name that comes to my mind when I talk cricket is Shane Warne. It's only obvious then that my first ever post on cricket would be about the Sheikh of tweak. It's two years since he retired from the international scene, but thanks to the IPL I at least get to see him once a year.

Why Warne ? I remember growing up back home in India, staying up late watching West Indies play Australia in West Indies. This was the seminal series which saw the decline of West Indies as a powerhouse and the rise of Australia to number one status. It wasn't the teams that interested me though, it was Warne. If I recollect correctly, it was a Cable and Wireless production and they had this new innovation. A camera that focussed on the bowler's hand. During one particular break, they focussed on Warne. That was when I was hooked line and sinker onto Warne - corny as this may sound.

That was 1995 and from there on, I would get up early when the Australian summer of cricket would commence, stay up late when Australia would play in England, South Africa or West Indies, just to watch Warne cast his mesmerising spells. He never once disappointed me. I could sit for hours on end watching him twirl away - it was never a dull moment when he was bowling.

In 1998 when Aus came to India, I went to Chepauk stadium to watch Warne bowl. While he got hammered by Tendulkar, never once did he shirk from bowling on that day. I was bitterly disappointed when the news of his failed drugs test broke out before the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. I feared this was it for Warne in the international arena. Little did I know then, he would play on for another three years, become the leading wicket taker in the world and retire with that tag. Long overtaken by Murali, but for me the one abiding memory will always be of Warne staring at the batsmen at the top of his mark and beginning his walk to the wicket. You knew then something magical would inevitably happen !

What is my favourite Warne bowling memory ? His performance in the 1999 World Cup Semi Final against South Africa. Defending 213 , South Africa were 50 odd for no loss, when Steve Waugh turned to Warne. What followed later was just pure genius.

Thanks Shane for all the memories !!

Here's the legend talking of how to do it - easier said than done !

A perfect way to begin blogging in earnest !

2009-11-13T20:18:00.001Z

This is it !

2009-11-13T20:00:00.000Z

Finally I've decide to start my own blog. How long would this last ? Time would tell. Fine name that I've chosen as well ! Does Friday the 13'th bode well to start something new ?

So what could anyone who would care to drop by expect ? Posts on cricket, soccer, formula one are but just three topics at the top of my head. Would post the odd music video as well - would be biased towards rock/heavy metal.

So the ride has begun !