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Nov. 9th, 2009 @ 12:16 am
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http://bendmyfire.livejournal.com/16755.html
It's Binga time - Brett Lee is possibly my most favorite cricketer of all time, and since it's his thirty third birthday today, I'm celebrating with a mega picspam. :)
http://bendmyfire.livejournal.com/16755.html |
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Pictures taken by me, Minaali, on their tour in Sri Lanka.
follow the fake cut---> |
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Oct. 6th, 2009 @ 12:04 am
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More pictures of my favorite NZ guys...these make a lot more sense than the earlier ones and include pics of them at a practice session.
follow the fake cut---> |
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Yay for the New Zealand victory! And while I'm celebrating...
Pictures taken by me, Minaali, on their tour in Sri Lanka.
follow the fake cut--->
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I think this idea put forth by Tendulkar is a lovely idea. It might just save 50 over cricket. |
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Sigh... it doesn't say much for the health of this community when a close-fought (even if not classic) Ashes series produces total silence for three weeks. Still, let's give it a go: in spite of the somewhat pointless and certainly overlong one-day stuff still to come against the Aussies, I've been thinking about a possible England team for the first Test against South Africa this winter and come up with this:
1. Strauss
2. Cook
3. Pietersen / Trott
4. Trott / Pietersen
5. Bopara / ?
6. Prior
7. Broad
8. Swann
9. Rashid / Sidebottom?
10. Anderson
11. Onions
Cook has a good temperament, so I'd stick with him at least for now. I don't really agree with those who say that Pietersen shouldn't bat at three - it's the hardest place to bat, so the best player should go there. But if he really doesn't want to move, then I think Trott has shown - even after one Test - that he can cope with the pressure. Bopara gets the nod ahead of Bell and Collingwood: Bell is, I say with reluctance, finally running out of chances, while Collingwood's form has deserted him and his bowling is now almost an irrelevance. The ? implies a punt on an in-form player, as happened with Trott: Carberry might be a good one, but he's just ruled himself out for the season with a broken finger.
Prior had his best Test series so far, so is a dead cert behind the stumps, Broad and Swann have to play after their recent efforts, while Onions was unlucky to be dropped for The Oval anyway. The number nine spot is a hard one: I would like to see Rashid, as we can't say "he's not ready yet" for ever and I'm not sure the later tour (Bangladesh) is the right place to start; Bell suffered from making such easy runs early in his career. Otherwise it's hard to see where to turn: Harmison overseas is a huge risk, so it might be Sidebottom almost by default. Anderson is not that good when it doesn't swing, but we may not have anyone better.Current Mood:  thoughtful |
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The Ashes so far:
If it's swinging,
the Aussies got no fight;
if it ain't,
the English got no bite. |
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What's with Edgbaston and last minute mishaps? Haddin's broken a finger *after* the toss - and thus Australia have lost not only their wicketkeeper, but also a batsman in excellent form.
And they refuse to pick Clark, in spite of Johnson and Siddle leaking runs like nobody's business. Can't they see that they missed an economical bowler in all the 3 tests they lost (2 in the Ashes in 2005, and 1 this time)?
And opening with watson, instead of moving Hussey or North up - all rather weird. Let's see how this test goes.
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The money in T20 is, as you'd expect, the reason he gives. Story, and a short segment of his interview, at Sky Sports.
On the other hand, Andrew Strauss doesn't agree.
Who's right? I know who I want to be right, but that's another matter!Current Mood:  curious |
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522
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Jul. 18th, 2009 @ 10:52 pm
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If England declare overnight, that will be Australia's target to win the game. It's over 100 more than the highest successful fourth-innings chase in a Test, yet a surprising number of people are fretting about whether the Aussies might just do it, pointing to that 674/6 declared at Cardiff. The fourth innings is a very different beast from the second innings, though: frankly, if the Aussies can break a world record by that margin then England might as well hand over the Ashes right now. England should not be tempted to bat on tomorrow, especially if (as seems likely) it's overcast.
This discussion has, though, brought up once again something that bothers me a good deal, which is the increasing prevalence of 500+ scores in Tests. This Cricinfo article about Murali points out the advantages batsmen have been given in recent years: powerful bats, flat pitches and small boundaries, not to mention two-faced bats, which I personally think should be banned in the way aluminium bats were, rather than accepted as part of the game as vast tennis racquets have been. Two-faced bats are sensationally ugly, anyway!
The ICC have been discussing the future of Test cricket, and have concluded that it is in real danger of dying out. It's hardly surprising when it's ceasing to become an even contest between bat and ball. A 600/4 pitch is every bit as poor and unfit a playing surface as a 100 all out pitch, and those venues which provide the former should be penalised just as those who provide the latter are already. I'm slightly, if cautiously, encouraged by the ECB's recent pronouncement that Test venues will no longer be selected simply according to the size of the cheque they can wave, but this needs to go further: it should be made absolutely clear that chief executives who place going the full five days above providing a sporting surface will not get any days of Test cricket.
I've enjoyed the Lord's match so far, partly for obvious partisan reasons (seeing Ponting drop an absolute dolly today has been the icing on the cake) but also because it hasn't been bat over ball the whole way, and good bowlers have had a chance to be the stars. We need more of this, otherwise the already noticeably thin ranks of world-class bowlers will shrink even further and we'll end up with a sport where all that matters is how fast the batsmen can thrash boundaries. That prospect leaves me cold.
Current Mood: contemplative |
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I'm blogging (hopefully with more dedication than past series) the Ashes at ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) englandexpects. |
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That is the headline on this article by Samar Halarnkar in the Hindustan Times. It's interesting to read that as an Englishman, given that England is often said to be unusual in its continuing support for Test cricket. That in itself is hard to judge right now, given that the sparse crowds for the West Indies series might be blamed on poor scheduling and cold weather, and an Ashes series is always going to be a draw.
I'll bow to Halarnkar's personal knowledge when it comes to India, and it's obvious to anybody that Test crowds there have declined in recent years. It's also fair to say that in reputation at least (whether fair or not is not the point here) admiration for India's impressive rise is tempered somewhat by a feeling that it's in danger of losing some of its soul in its ever more intense quest for the mighty dollar. However, I'm not entirely convinced by Halarnkar's use of statistics. To quote from the article:
In 2004, 51 Test matches were played worldwide. In 2005, 49. In 2006, 46. In 2007, 31. In 2008, 47. In 2009, 17. Yes, I can see the spike in 2008. But it’s just that, a brave spike in the declining career graph of cricket.
That sequence really tells us nothing useful, for several reasons. Firstly, the sequence is far too short to draw any sensible conclusions: if the trend is implacably downward over the next five years, then there'll be a point to be made. The inclusion of 2009 in the list is silly: we may be almost exactly halfway through the year, but here in England we've played only two-sevenths of our Test season. So the list more fairly reads 49, 46, 31, 47. I don't think you can tell anything much from that. (Correction: 51, 49, 46, 31, 47. The point stands, however.)
Secondly, a few years earlier, there had been a significant increase in Test cricket: Zimbabwe and Bangladesh joined the party, and England started to stage seven Tests each summer instead of six. The presence or absence of a two-match series against Bangladesh really doesn't tell us much. And of course quality and quantity are not the same thing: for all the years Australia were thrashing England, they consistently played far less domestic first-class cricket than we did.
I'm not trying to stick my fingers in my ears and pretend Twenty20 hadn't happened - though it might be noted that India are still startlingly reluctant to host T20 internationals, a lack of experience which may not have helped them in the recent tournament. I do think Test cricket is under threat if not managed considerately, and that even we in England shouldn't go taking it for granted. However, I think Halarnkar is wrong to extrapolate the situation in India to the cricketing world as a whole.Current Mood:  awake |
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- No “soap opera” happenings on the sidelines if you can discount the genital warts (well, the PCB cannot exist without pulling off some embarrassing stunts) and the “team unity” press conference (Dhoni does do things differently).
- No DLF maximums. A hit over the boundary is a six and not a product of a real estate company.
- No shilling of tournament magazines (which by the way is one of the crappiest ways to spend a hundred bucks…not that I spent a single rupee) and continuous thanking of the sponsors. We get the fact that they are funding your food, drink and parties. Stop banging it in our heads.
- One can actually see the action without putting the TV on mute. The T20 WC commentary team is diverse, subtle, speaks when necessary, does not shout with excitement unless something extraordinary has happened and more importantly, is knowledgeable. The IPL commentary team was the exact opposite except for its diversity. Also this time we got Kumble. The man used to bowl leg spinners, has captained the country and is a thorough gentleman. Now one can see that he can talk like Benaud also. And that voice! Holding sure got competition for the manliest voice in the commentary box.
- The boundaries are long. Very long. A six (not a maximum) has to be actually earned. It is no surprise that the most successful batsmen here are good technicians and not flat track bullies. One could say that IPL 2 also had lesser sixes. But it was more due to compulsions since the tournament was moved in the last minute and that the end of season South African pitches were not flat tracks. If it had happened in India, we sure would have seen 65 yard boundaries, flat tracks and unreal amount of DLF Maximums (not sixes). After all, it is all about repeating your sponsors’ names until it is drilled in the very essence of our being.
- There is a real purpose in watching the game. An IPL match seems just like a form of entertainment and the players seem to represent their employers and not their countries. I do not mind the Mumbai Indians losing (they do play pathetic at times) but never like the Indians losing (even when one feels that they seriously need a kick up their back sides now…which the West Indians have provided in style). City based franchisee competitions still has to find acceptance in cricket like it has in football. Then again, even the format in football is criticized as being too money centric and one that discounts club loyalty.
- The cricket is of a higher standard. The IPL does have some of the best players but not all of them are the best. The 4 overseas player restriction means that a minimum of 56 Indian players had to play. And India and for that matter any other country does not have that many world class players. So you had the finer players having to shield the weaker players. All IPL teams were a mix of great players and those whose standards were not up to it. Here there are no such issues and a team can play its 11 best players. We do have weak teams but the better teams do not seem to have weak links. Hence a match between two top teams is of a better quality than the match between the top two IPL teams.
- Not much of Modi. In the IPL, when the commentators were not shilling the magazine or the sponsors, they were singing paeans about the lisping egomaniac. Everyone was sucking up to him whether it is Shastri (Moses Modi. Really?) Granted Modi has done a great job in getting the IPL show running. However it is not as if cricket would have died a miserable death if he had not been born. In this World Cup, there was just one shot of Modi standing in his usual showman style and gesturing towards no one in particular. The commentators kept quite and I kept my finger off the mute button.
- No opening ceremony. Granted it was cancelled due to bad weather. Seems like the Gods above were in a good mood and spared us the agony.
- No strategy break. Enough said.
Current Mood: awake |
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A happy story for a change.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8016943.stm
Bedouin and Jewish kids playing cricket in the desert, with each other. This is a great idea, there's little to no contact between communities, and therfore there'll never be understanding.
Next year they're planning to give Palestinians and Jews a go in Jerusalem, wish them luck! |
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Hi Guys,
Community for Rajasthan Royals Fans. Please join and enjoy!! Post and keep updated about the activities of your favourite IPL Team!!
http://community.livejournal.com/rr_fanatic/
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
sixesandfours