mere funde

Category: Cricket

  • Too much cricket?

    England opener Marcus Trescothick has quit the Ashes Series citing stress related disorders. He had also cited stress when he pulled out of England’s tour of India earlier this year as well as the Champions Trophy.

    The stylish bastman, a consistent performer (he scored well over a thousand in Tests for three consecutive years), had been the backbone of the English batting line up along with Kevin Pietersen during their amazing Ashes victory last year.

    This brings us to the main question. Is he unable to handle pressure or is he a victim of too much cricket being played? Cricket, unlike football, tennis, and basketball, is no more a seasonal game and is played through the year all over the world. Players spend a lot of time away from their families traveling to various places, at times even to meaningless places like Malaysia to play in meaningless contests. Is it taking a toll on their physical and mental fitness. Adam Gilchrist, one of the toughest cricketers around, has in the past criticised the ICC for imposing no upper limit to the number of matches being played in a year.

    I tend to agree with people who think that we have had too much of cricket, and remember too much of anything is bad. Its taking its toll on the players physical fitness as well as their mental makeup. Its not only the body that is tired after a five day game but also the mind. Also the players are required to handle the pressures and expectations of playing for the national team. One cannot concentrate for that long without mental fatigue setting in. As more and more players start facing physical problems early in their careers and the problems of Treschothick surfacing, I hope ICC sits up and takes notice. Else we might lose many more Trescothicks.

    Meanwhile, I hope he fends off the bouncers from the demons in his head and we get to see him again.

  • Hair-Ball-ing controversy!!

    Darrell Hair seems to beat the current bad boy cricket (Sohaib Akhtar) when it comes to being the centre of a cricketing controversy. The apparently no nonsense umpire has been removed from the elite panel of umpires and will no longer be officiating in International matches.

    While the media from Down Under and Britain are crying foul and terming it as strong arm tactics of the Asian bloc, Mr. Hair is not stranger to courting controversy. Lets take a look at his career which has never remained free from the limelight.

    1992. Adelaide Test. India vs Australia. In this match eight Indians fell victim to LBW decisions but only two of their appeals were upheld. Australia won by a narrow margin of 38 runs. Wisden felt that the entire affair was “marred … by controversy over lbw decisions – eight times Indians were given out, while all but two of their own appeals were rejected”.

    1994. Adelaide Test. South Africa vs Australia. Peter Kirsten had an animated talk with Mr. Hair after a series of Proteans were declared out LBW. Kirsten was promptly declared out LBW in the next innings, and South Africa lost the game. Many felt that the decision was flimsy at the best.

    1995. Melbourne Test. Sri Lanka vs Australia. Mr. Hair infamously no-balled Murali (from the bowlers end) for chucking. Now though the Aussies agree that Mr. Hair is very fair in all his dealings, I am ready to bet that such instances are not very common in the cricketing arena where the leg umpire is generally the one to declare a ball as being “thrown”. Lot of water has flown under the bridge since then. ICC has cleared Murali of all charges. Mr. Hair was charged (note, not penalised) for bringing the game into disrepute by calling Murali’s action “diabolical” in his autobiography.

    2005. Faisalabad Test. Pakistan vs England. Mr. Hair declares Inzamam run out for leaving his crease while taking evasive action. Cricketing gurus feel it is contradictory to cricketing laws that stipulate that batsman cannot be run out if he leaves his ground due to evasive action. [Side note: I was happy as the decision against Tendulkar at Eden Garden is avenged.]

    2006. Oval Test. Pakistan vs England. Mr. Hair, in consultation with Mr. Doctrove, declare the ball as being tampered with penalise Pakistan 5 runs and change the ball. Now, we all now that Pakistan has long faced such charges and are often in trouble for tampering with the ball and getting “some” reverse swing. Anyways, Pakistan decide that they had done nothing wrong and decide to not take the field as a mark of protest. Mr. Hair declares the match as forfieted and awards it to England. An enquiry committee then finds the ball being not tampered with and clear Pakistan of ball tampering charges but penalise them for bringing the game into disrepute. This was done after hearing the views of former cricketer Geoff Boycott and TV analyst Simon Hughes.

    On the receiving end of Mr. Hair’s decisions have been India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Africa while on the other end stand Australia and England. Now, only if someone could explain me why the so called Asian bloc (supported by South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe) was for, while Australia and England (supported by New Zealand) are against, the suspension of Mr. Hair?

  • Sachin, Scorsese and Sunday

    Cricketing greats choose Lara over Sachin as the greatest of our era. While agree that Lara is definitely the more stylish of the two, I rate Sachin much higher for just one reason. Lara (or any other great) never had to carry the hopes of a billion people alone. There was time people used to say “Lets go home and cry. We cannot win from here on.” (actually happened in Sarjah, when Sachin mauled the Aussies) when Tendulkar was dismissed.So say all you can and rate all you can, Sachin remains there alone, head and shoulders above all greats (probably just a tad bit below the Don though.) Here is something that explains it all, from JaiArjun Singh,

    But Tendulkar is a batsman in a sport that thrives on them. Even his worst critics, even those who denounce him in the final analysis as being a false god, will – if only years after his retirement – find it somewhere in their embittered hearts to acknowledge that there was a time, however brief, when he brightened their gloomiest hours like no one else could.

    I might probably watch The Departed (#62 on IMDB Top 250) today. It has been rated as the greatest Scorsese movie after the Goodfellas (#22 on IMDB Top 250). Review after I am done with it. Even if it is half as good, it would be worth the money I spend on it.

    Last but not the least. Ending it with a quote for the day from the movie Good Will Hunting.

    Lambeau: Sometimes I wish I had never met you. Because then I could go to sleep at night not knowing there was someone like you out there.

  • Champions Trophy – Ind vs Aus

    I love Geoff Boycott for three things. HIs love for Dada ;), his accent and his kick ass comments. Ruddy balls and a nothing shot. Here is a piece from Siddharth Vaidyanthan (Cricinfo), in almost similar tone, taking pot shots at the injury Yuvraj has picked up before the all important India-Australia match. Check it out here.

    Cricinfo – ‘There will be no excuses’ – Ponting

    Best part:

    Typing in kho-kho gives you 3,040,000 search results on Google. “Ancient Indian sport”, “running and chasing”, “chariot race in the Mahabharata”. Crucially, “it does demand physical fitness, strength, speed, stamina, and a certain amount of ability”. Yuvraj can’t be faulted for the first four attributes, after injuring himself this morning, but maybe he was a bit short on ability.

    Ponting admitted Australia were “desperate” to win the Champions Trophy. Can India go on to stop them? Sri Lanka and Pakistan couldn’t stop their respective opponents and if India end up losing tomorrow, it will be the first time in 31 years – since the 1975 World Cup – that a subcontinent team has failed to make the semi-finals of a major tournament. Maybe they need to start mastering kho-kho.

    But I do wish that Sachin kicks some serious Aussie ass.

  • Four Greats. One Great Weekend!!!

    The exit of Argentina from the Football World Cup 2006 meant that my interest in it was over and I focused again on the other two sports I love. Cricket and F1. And interesting stuff happened in both over the weekend.

    In F1, the US Grand Prix brought a sense of deja vu as only 9 of the 22 cars finished the race with Nico Rosberg being the only one out of points. The first corner on the first lap was a mess and resulted in the elimination of a lot of cars (including the “ever unlucky” Kimi) and yellow flag for around 6 laps. As soon as the yellow flag was removed another accident removed a few more cars from contention and brought back the yellow flag. Felipe Massa (who is a great driver on his day) was in the lead then held on to it till the first round of pitstops where Schumacher drove the Ferrari like crazy on the entry and exit laps (like only he can) to reclaim the top spot. He then drove a brilliant race from there on to gain a 12+ seconds lead before the final lap. I have always felt that one of the greatest strengths of Michael Schumacher is the way he drives is car in and out of the pits and the way he blazes his way away just after the pitstop with the new rubber on the car. Also, the fact that the Indianapolis track is better for the Bridgestone helped Michael’s case. Alonso’s Renault seemed a bit off colour and the guy had to give up his third place on the starting grid to team-mate Fisichella after showing resistance for a couple of laps.

    After the race Michael has cut down the Spaniard (reminds me of Crowe in The Gladiator) Alonso’s lead to 19 points with 8 races to go in the season. It also brought up a Ferrai 1-2 after a year (the last one being at the last Grand Prix fiasco here last year). Also the Contructors Championship lead has been cut down to 26 points.

    In cricket, Jayasuriya and Tharanga tore into the English attach to chase down 322 in 37.3 odd overs and the way Jayasuriya was going (152 off 99 balls) a 400 run target wouldn’t have been difficult at all. To add insult to injury, it completed a 5-0 whitewash of England in England. Also they erased the long standing 285 run opening stand held by Ganguly and Tendulkar to 286.

    The best event, however, was a very sweet Indian victory in the West Indies. This is only the second Indian series victory in WI and has come after 35 long years. Also it is a first actual Indian test series victory outside the subcontinent (Zimbabwe was a farce, though the victory against Pakistan was of much better quality) in 20 years and has finally erased the dubious record of sorts. Kumble was ecstatic after taking the last wicket and the joy of the Indian team was there for all to see. Dravid and Kumble’s batting and Sreesanth and Bhajji’s bowling in the first innings and Dravid’s batting and Sreesanth and Kumble’s bowling in the second were the highpoints of the Indian team. Dravid (the Man of the Match and the series) was a manual on how to bat on a difficult wicket. I have been a great critic of Dravid the captain and a great fan of Dravid the batsman. This test match (and the series on the whole) again showed why Dravid is easily one of the finest craftsmen in the trade and explained his being called “The Wall”. Also, the test highlighted the utility of Anil Kumble to the Indian team and I sincerely hpe that the Indian selectors (led by the irrepressible Kiran More) would see sense and keep him in the scheme of things for the WC2007. Kumble bowling India to victory reminded me of his valiant attempt to bowl with a broken jaw. It almost seemed a poetical justice that this man gets the final wicket lead India to a victory that will be remembered for some time to come.

    A low point in the test, however, came just before lunch on the third day when Lara missed a Harbhajan ball that spun miles and turned around and mockingly applauded the curator for making a turner despite his request for a pacy one. The fact that the amount of spin on the ball would have put Indian tracks to shame did not seem to go down well with the WI captain. Agreed that Lara did not get the team and pitches to match his demands but that does not justify his on-field behaviour. There are forums to express such displeasure and the cricket field is the last one of those. Also it once again shows the difference between Tendulkar and Lara. Tendulkar by his behaviour and demeanour has achieved the status of a demi god while the mercurial Carribean batsman is still a mortal. Through out the series the only glimpse of the great Lara was in the third test when Lara anchored the WI and averted an otherwise clear defeat. I hope Lara realizes his mistake and apologises for his naive behaviour on the field.

    Once the dust settles India must realize that the victory has come against a comparatively inexperienced and weak WI team and that bigger and tougher battles lay ahead and that to prove themselves many more such victories are required.

    PS: Also the past weeks sporting events consisted of news concerning two more greats. First was the exit of one of the best tennis players (and my all time favourite) Andre Agassi from Wimbledon. Next was the superb play of the legendary Zidane against the mighty Brazil to take France into the semis of the FIFA World Cup. I wish I could write about those too.