NOOO!!!

Be the soap operatic, melodramatic bugger that you are, and say it was all wrong. You don;t mean to go out. Not just yet.
What do I watch when Australia plays now?

the race is on

I can’t say this with too much vehemence, but I sometimes feel like there is too much political correctness going around for my liking. Rather, the need for it. And the perceived need for this utmost care in most issues has also spawned the easy option of falling back on bigotry as excuses/explanations for too many situations.

Before I ramble too much (what’s new) in this hopefully returning post to Playing From Home (or work, as the case may be), let me clarify. Its easy for any suspect decision taken by someone whose skin colour doesn’t need Fair & Lovely to be labelled racist. It’s a scary trend, and without actually making a call on the merits of any case per se, its hardly comforting to know that the non Asian members of this sport can spend quite a bit of time worrying that decisions against their subcontinental colleagues will be misconstrued. Its almost as shameful as being racist, is using the race card indiscriminately. (and well said, NK.)

Then there’s the CA chief, who believes that “stupid Indian” is not racist. I don’t care to quibble on semantics, but is that the only question? What are you gaining by making that point? Surely not being ‘racist’ doesn’t preclude the phrase from being crude, boorish and quite simply pathetic? I haven’t been to a game Down Under, so I naturally can’t say; and not for a moment do I think that this is true of all the crowds, or most of the people in Australia. But there are enough to make this an issue and smear the sporting spirit that country is so proud of (and indeed, looked up to for). Get down to trying to fix it, not making irrelevant points.

on a bad length

I find the ICC ruling on pitch standards a trifle worrying. It could well turn out to be just a measure to ensure that sub standard, one-sided or pitches that are plain dangerous aren’t found anymore (which is what its purpose should be).

According to the ICC's parameters, the perfect pitch for Test cricket should
have "good carry, limited seam movement and consistent bounce throughout, little
or no turn on the first two days but natural wear sufficient to be responsive to
spin later in the game."

It’s the way it is worded that puts me off a bit; it defines how a ‘good’ pitch should be. In my mind, the ICC need only define what is a not good pitch. As long as a strip meets those conditions, there should be no further interference. A good pitch in cricket can mean many different things and I just hope the ICC has the purpose of this pitch ‘standardisation’ sorted out clearly. Next thing you know they’ll want standardise the cloud cover.

In other irritations, this overdose of cricket is becoming truly maddening. A glance at the ICC’s FTP for the next six years, and you’ll see a liberal dosage of 7 match ODI series- especially involving India. Some of the statistics regarding free days/weeks and playing days in a year are startling. I can see the most ardent fan just tiring of endless, relatively meaningless matches.

And what do they do in the midst of this debate? They issue a curt gag on the Indian vice-captain. Bah!

recently...

That day, I was close enough to take a photo of this, the most amazing of trophies....and I got one with me in it as well, of course. Its a good feeling, I tell you.

state of shock

As the utter insanity unfolds at The Wanderers, the only thing crazier for me is that I am not watching a shred of it. A highlights package tomorrow, sure- but its unbelievable I am not watching the most impossibly exciting one-day match, possibly ever.

434. Shock.
It sinks in- more shock.
'Poor SA'- sympathy.
SA replies- amazement.
SA actually gets close- sheer disbelief.

update: 14 off the 45th over, and Van der Wath is on to 27 off 12. SA need 47 from the last 30 balls, and in between pinching myself to know this is really happening, I am as breathless as pure silence in front of a tv monitor can be.
update: they need 20 off 15, and someone explain to me why, with 3 overs to go, Lee is not bowlingthe 48th and 50th (when he has three over left!). Instead Lewis, who before the over had 98 taken off his 9 overs, is brought on. What??
Now it is 13 off 12!! The unthinkable is round the corner!

And they've done it. Forgive me if I need to recover. The state of shock I started this post with has been added to with a weird sort of helpless, numb, mad incomprehension at what's just happened.

the geese again

So while i was talking about geese, eggs and their colour, Mr Modi and the BCCI were enumerating just how well balanced and sensible they are. here is their take, and the Mumbai Mirror's, on the small matter of money. Falling television ratings (and general perception being less excited ) with each passing series is obviously the precise reason to play Pakistan more often.

Keep at it guys, you fill me with confidence and pride.

excitement

The second test is underway at Mohali, and it is terribly exciting to see both Munaf Patel and Piyush Chawla (the boy was born in 1988...88!) in the lineup. I can't quite decide which one I am more expectant about, so I'll just go ahead and wait with bated breath on both. Best of luck, chaps.

odds

Sure, the future is what you look ahead to. But who told Kiran More that his statement had any point whatsoever? So there are going to be lots of debates about this (like this call for their heads), and more fuel to a fire that needs to die out yesterday, but really- does the head of the selection committee have no sense of tact at all?

Meanwhile, it would seem the ratings on television for the India Pak series have dropped across the three series since 2004. Somewhere here there are cricketing equivalents of geese, eggs and the colour gold, but who’s to tell hungry boards that?

bah

What a bummer.
Michael Vaughan and Trescothick are out of the first test (at the very least), while Jones is uncertain after (another) injury scare in the nets. I know there are many who would rejoice at this, and others who are saying “heck, its their problem if they can’t even stay fit’”. While the second might have its merits, it doesn’t take away from the fact this series would have been funner with the English captain, vice captain and potential strike bowler in the side, not out of it.
Oh, well.

Desicritics

One has become a part of Desicritics, where one hopes to once in a while (or more) spout some gyaan or thoughts on different things, though cricket looks the most likely to provide fodder....

onwards, then.

the past, England and some pointlessness

I am all for people expressing their opinions freely.

Yet my first reaction after reading Dileep Premachandran’s latest, was one of disappointment. I always look forward to his pieces, more so the non-reporting kind- opinion pieces or features. This one just left me flat, asking no one in particular- “er, what exactly was the point of this?”.

Sure, there was some reminiscing- which can be pleasing- and lots of honesty, which is welcome. But really, it said little to me besides suggesting that Dileep is holding on to his dislike for the England team and English cricketers for all the wrong reasons. One foot stuck in the past, clinging on to the monotony of Aussie dominance for support, in a time when both that past and the monotony are unwanted.

See, the thing is this- I actually get this concept of ‘anyone but England’. I felt it for years as well, but because of the colonial hangover- not in me but what I saw reflected in some English cricketers. And mostly because they were a boring team, with little charisma for someone who was just finding the joys of cricket and passion in it. Or so I saw it.
But I don’t cling on to it, because I would like to believe I have let this current team start to show me that good, hard, fun cricket overrides any childhood prejudices or perceptions. I don’t cling on to it just because its there.

And oh, I don’t think he’s being racist, not at all. But the point is valid- how would he, or any Indian, react to a similar article from an Englishman? I am, unfortunately, sure there will be defensive reactions, claiming racist bias. So ok, maybe he won’t react thus, and that's fair enough- he needn’t molly-coddle his readers.

I just believe there could have been something in the piece, though, that left us feeling he had moved on a bit, and appreciated the beginning of change in the current bunch- not just on the field, but off it. That he doesn’t seem to acknowledge this at all is what leaves me feeling incomplete; this feeling of having read something uni-dimensional. This is Dileep Premachandran, after all- I really like his writing.

And for the record, I am not now a rabid England supporter, but if they play good cricket and look like they’re enjoying the game and what it has to offer, all it has to offer, I might like them more.

cross posted on Desicritics

GICs*

then there's a (very) funnyMan's post on Indian cricketers. Despite all the cracking up, the Sachin entry I liked best.
Couldn't help it. I am like that only. Also.

*Great Indian cricketers

Punter

This gem from TheSpin's Quote of the week:

"I would not have Bangladesh and Zimbabwe playing Tests at present"

- Ricky Ponting, quoted in the Telegraph, on February 14

"If it takes teams like Australia playing teams like Bangladesh for the developing Test nations to improve their skills, then I'm all for it. I'm looking forward to the challenge of leading Australia in Bangladesh"

- Ricky Ponting two days later, after a quiet word from Cricket Australia

And while we're at Charlie Brown, what's with his steely graphite-al resolve to continue with his bat a bit more? Is it me, or isn't this just flagrant disregard?

on bowl-out over, one in progress?

As India stutter starting their hunt for 162 runs and a series win, the twenty 20 between NZ and West indies ends in thrilling fashion. After a low score from the Windies, the Kiwis could not do much better- in fact no better at all, but also no worse. Match tied, a bowlout would decide who won. After three rounds (thats 6 bowlers bowling 2 balls each) with not a single ball hitting the stumps, the policeman struck twice in two and eventually the kiwis won! So the windies bowlers finished with no hits from 8 attempts!

Despite myself, I am interested- I would like to watch a Twenty-20 right proper, at least to know if it is as much fun as it threatens to be.

sane, superstitious, strange

Feels good to hear a sane and fair voice on Sachin. As always, Rohit Brijnath is a good read.

He does not ask for favours, but only to be accorded the same dignity he
has brought to the game. We need not swoon over him, neither must we revile him.
...
Tendulkar was always a reluctant God and perhaps it is just that we
have become impatient worshippers. His decline may eventually be more revealing
about us than about him.

and while on Sachin- this is quirky,interesting:

“I realised (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni was going great guns… I decided not to come
out of the shower thinking the momentum might just get lost. I asked Harbhajan
(Singh) to keep me updated on the score from outside.
“I must have had the longest shower of my life… It almost stretched to 40 minutes"

...while Judy here (from the surfer) does something odd but its all good for a scrapbook I suppose.

ha!

I can't believe Cricinfo actually published this...

Javed Miandad, on Asif's prospects at Headingley later this year:

Gaand phaar de ga angrez ki ("He will blow the a*****es of the English")

Priceless

wronging rights

I haven’t bought the rights to write this, but I’m going to ahead and say it anyway.

I can’t for the life of me understand how the PCB could sell “global SMS rights” for the Pakistan-India series. A certain Vectracom went ahead and lapped it up, as must be, of course, anything that has the Pakistan- India tag. Marksman Marketing Services thought they too had hit the bullseye by grabbing the said rights for India, as must any rights that are attached to anything India- Pakistan. Now a Chennai court has inexplicably held up the appeal by these Marksman sharp shooters and stopped any score updates by mobile networks in India.

There was a period of time where I thought- am I missing something here? But I realised that this is simply unfigure-outable- how can anyone own the rights to disseminate this information? This logic can be extended indefinitely- forget live scores on the net, updates via RSS or tickers at the bottom of news channels- not unless these guys buy the rights to do it.

You could, of course, call a friend who’s watching it on telly and ask him, but listen- just be sure he has obtained the rights to tell you, ok? You never know…

understanding and obstructing

So the YogiBear says he can’t say much because he is bound by ICC regulations. He then promptly proceeds to say as much as he could on his dismissal yesterday, and the ‘larger picture’ which he believes it is part of.

I am not even sure whether I should go into this right now, but by writing that article (or crediting it with his name), Inzamam has done the very thing he claims to have advised his boys to not- make an issue of his dismissal. More so because he seems to be bothered as much with his dismissal per se, as with his belief that the Indians have acted in a spirit that does not belonging to the great gentleman’s game.

One gets the impression that his outburst (for this is what it must classify as) is borne more of frustration- after Faisalabad and Peshawar, he seems to be at a loss at understanding the laws of the game he plays. Sorry, Inzy, that’s nobody’s fault but yours. As is the fact that yesterday, you were strolling a couple of feet out of crease when the ball was still in play. Add to that your words questioning the sense of fair play in the opposing captain and his boys, and you’ve just made a hat-trick of goofups in the space of a day.

6 for 23!

A scrambled end of 6 for 23, and India has ended at least 15-20 runs short of what they were heading for. Truth be told, if you don't defend 328 you dont deserve to win at all, but given the way this pitch has played and the way things went the last time india was here, you never know...

And hello- where the hell did Sreesanth get that helmet from?

supersub

Ok. i dont get this. Whats with Arshad Khan as the super sub, when Pakistan decided to win the toss and bowl? Do you see yourself using your supersub in an optimum way now? Baffling.

update: so it seems to have worked out ok (at least in terms of an option), given that Gul got hammered for a mere 35 off his 3 overs. But I still maintain thats providence, and the initial decision still makes little sense to me.

and again...

You know , I don't get it.
in the third test, they were going on about how Sachin was looking real good in that second dig, he was determined etc...he was out within a few runs of that.
Now they're at it again. Dean Jones talks about how Sachin is looking in good nick ("I reall really get the feeling..."), when the man is on 10. 10.
Sheesh.

oi england!

Is it really a subcontinental war you're preparing for, or is this just your version of bondage bonding?

(thanks zainub)

It was so cool...

listening to 'Kajra Re' play in the stadium at Karachi during the lunch break- crowd cheers, whistles and all.
Truly.

the past

Reading about cricket seems always to be just round the corner for me. It is not for lack of interest, for I still think of myself as a cricket…well fan. Of the game, then of a team and players. Yet, I would also instinctively not call myself a cricketing illiterate by any stretch, though a fountain of information on it would be a bit much too.
I suppose, if one’s fingers are in pies (such as this blog) that are directly connected to cricket, it also makes sense for one to keep up to date with not only the present but some measure of the past.

How relevant this is for someone who skills lie on the field of play, is quite another thing. We can’t seriously expect a cricketer to be well versed with history, or at least not believe that it is required of him. I must say I was a bit staggered as well with Sehwag’s response. I even ventured to believe that “"No. I don't know anything about them. I haven't heard about them”, could merely mean he wasn’t thinking about Roy and Mankad vis-a vis the partnership he was involved in, but who am I kidding. Harsha Bhogle, for one, believes being scandalised loses out to pragmatism.

I suppose the fact that a leading cricketer is not even aware of a couple of the early heroes of the game in his country could be construed as shameless disregard for heritage. From an Aussie player, for one, I would be truly shocked to see such ignorance. In India though. I think a player’s background plays a huge role. We would expect a Dravid to be well versed with his cricket history- he is, for sure, inspired by it. But a typical Indian team is made up of such a motley bunch- the cultural background, the education, they way they are brought up… all point to unpredictable off-the field profiles of Indian cricketers.

Atherton’s absorbing piece on not bunking history draws this out:

It won't make him a better player, but it gives him a link with both the past and the future; it provides some context and some meaning, so that, long after the bones have stiffened and the eyes have gone, it still matters. He is simply one link in the chain.

I think another part of his piece mixes up the issue though. The tradition of a player number being stitched on to shirts and caps might not be widespread in the cricketing world, but is one that mostly draws approving nods. A sense of history, is what we say it provides. In saying the very England players who displayed a scant knowledge of their cricketing history are the ones who instigated this tradition, he figures that:

By instigating such a custom, today's players show a surreptitious interest in what went before them and, by inference, what will come after them.

For me, this is different from learning about your cricketing past to give context to your present. A player number is just that. It probably gives a sense of existence; a feeling that you are part of a honour-roll of a select few that have represented the country; more a sense of self than an awareness of context; you are a link in the chain, but with an identity.

But that’s just me. If you ask Sehwag about 239, he’ll probably just say it’s a low score for him.

> Vaneisa Baksh, to finish off her longish piece inspired by Lagaan, points young people in the game toward cricket literature. (hat tip: ryan)

gift

I only managed to see the one (relatively inconclusive) replay of his dismissal, but did Sachin actually gift his wicket yesterday?

update: gaurav definitely thinks so.
damn. that book would a depressing bestseller.

Of inevitability and power

Sometime in the near future, you can expect to see a stodgy but articulate chap standing on one leg, hands firmly grasped around a mouldy pillar, its base creaking in crumbling mud. That chap would be ol’ Athers, and the pillar he’ll be so dearly clinging onto will be an illusion borne of an archaic impression of the world order.

At best sharp, precise and handy with his laptop; at worst Michael Atherton has shown glimpses of a perspective still mired in a word I myself am loathe to use- a colonial attitude. If he has his way, we will all be standing with him in that very quagmire. Except, as he himself points out, a lot of the people in the cricketing world are not from that order, and do not believe- indeed, have no reason to- in the need for a continuance of status quo.
It seems pretty obvious to most but the likes of him, that there is no justification for the home seasons, or itineraries, of England and Australia to be sacrosanct, and those of the others pliable accordingly. Nor is there any reason for those with the financial clout to let those without it run the game as they wish.

Yet, for me, this is not about Michael Atherton, nor his diatribe against the BCCI, nor his new-found passion for the ICC. At the end of it all, it calls for little surprise, that the one member that effectively funds this sport, is the one who will call most of the shots. It may not be the best setup, but it is the most inevitable in a sport that is as much about bat and ball as about banks and balance sheets. Romanticism about a sport that uplifts and impassions first and earns people money later, is exactly that- a rose-tinted view that I would be the first to enjoy, but one none of us can realistically expect the world to live by.

What pinches in all of this- in fact, has pinched since well before the doughty former England opener stirred up sub continental indignation- is the way the inevitability of today’s cricket world seems to panning out. The alacrity with which the new BCCI regime has fast-tracked it’s new ideas smacks less of the desire to right any perceived wrongs, and more of a frenzied wish to rake in as much as they can while the cherry is still red. Worse, it reeks of a selfishness that is, if not unexpected, particularly distasteful in its intensity. It would have made sense- for themselves more than anyone else- if the BCCI had, for once, delved into their musty tact-store and used some of that precious commodity. With their obvious economic strength in the game comes the requirement for grounded feet and, dare I say, even some good-heartedness. That they project neither is a sad, disheartening and unnerving truth.
Perhaps they missed out on the Spiderman phenomenon, or they might have listened to old Uncle Parker’s advice. You know- that bit about great power and responsibility…

Meanwhile, Athers would do well to cling on not to that pillar of cricket he is rooting for, but rather to the lip-smacking prospect of new traditions being created, and co-existing with the old ones.

pakistan...

What a lovely entry on the pakistan tour diary here. Nothing revelatory or spectacular, but lovely nevertheless. it reminds me of these musings of mine....which i have a sudden urge to pen down again...but not at this time...maybe tomorrow...

over a grand for 7. whoa.

What an astounding pile-up of runs, and what astounding batting performances for me to completely miss! Sheesh.
Like the blitzkreig from Afridi (and lesser from Akmal) and the foundations laid by Yousuf and Younis, Sehwag and Dravid's innings have been on a eminently forgettable strip, but a lot of the batting we have seen is memorable despite that. To come out nearly 700 runs behind against your arch rival and its excellent bowling attack and pound it to dust thus (yes, yes what a sodding pitch this is) is an amazing display of will, strength and skill. Especially considering that bit of mess that the team and its peripheral issues are in right now...

test bat

I don't need to get into the absurd rates the Pakistanis scored at yesterday, and now the Indian openers have chugged along at over 5 an over. Hats off to the adventurous spirit of their blades, but really- what the heck sort of pitch is this anyway? test cricket? Nah, just test the bowlers...

100 for the 7th wicket

From a startling 71/6, Australia have recovered to a (as yet still unimposing) 172/6.
What is head-shakingly amazing yet almost predictable in its uniqueness, is Australia's ability to not let a bad situation slide into abject despair. Bret Lee is on 44 of a mere 54 balls and with Huseey past his 50, they might actually not need to lose a bowler to accommodate Hopes the batsman, which seemed a virtual certainty when Clarke departed. Now I will be suprised if the bowlers don't make a match of it.

I have oft spoken about and discussed over work, lunch or beer what it is that drives the Australians thus. There may be temporary answers, but I rarely feel closer to actually understanding what lies behind their indomitable (and insatiable) spirit.

that sinking feeling

This is so depressing, whatever elements of untruth may be in it- pleading with ganguly? ugh.

Apparently Dean Jones was on yesterday (on similar footage of Dravid, Ganguly and Chappell), that indeed it was Ganguly who was pleading to be included in the playing XI. It all smacks of the petty and political behaviour we have all become used to so vocally disliking over the last few years. It seems, in some ways, that it is a vestige of those times- to accommodate this one 'issue'- but it still leaves one terribly disheartened.

Far, far more than 326/2.

a gilly special underway. this is delicious. I wouldn't have minded seeing teh Aussies under some pressure, but what better than a Gilly hundred to take them out of the...
there you go- out. 86. aargh.