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Team Australia in problem solving mode

After their debacle in India hardly a couple of weeks ago, the Team Australia probably already figured what has been missing in them. The following have been the real issues for Australia.

  • Their experienced batsmen like Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting did not fire at the top of the order

  • The bowling department lacked versatality with no quality spinners around. Stuart Clark, who is almost in the McGrawth pedigree, was injured

  • The mood swings of extremely talented all rounders like Andrew Symonds is costing the team a lot and the team composition and morale suddenly changed

Australia is searching for and in need of a new combination

There is no doubt that Shane Warne or Glen McGrawth cannot be easily replaced. However, what they could do is to get the team composition right and build the team around that principle. At the same time too much of experiments can cost them a lot as well. For example, there is no explanation why Shane Watson and Shaun Marsh need to wait forever to have a fixed slot for themselves. With Matthew Hayden hopelessly out of form and getting no younger, can’t they fix the opening slot first?

The spinner slot seems to be the biggest issue for Australia at the moment. The experimentation is continuing here with even mediocre spinners getting recall – Nathan Hauritz being the latest, who is back to the squad after a break of seven years or so. I really can’t see a quality spinner coming out of the current probables – once Warne and McGill were gone, it was a big void there!

Brett Lee, who has been fighting some personal issues, is still not anywhere near his best. Fortunately, Mitchel Johnson and Stuart Clark are doing a decent job to cover that up. But outside Australia all of them may suffer.

What is going good?

One good thing that has happened to Australia, of late, is the comeback (again) boy Simon Katich‘s form. When you are in and out of the team (think of VVS) it’s very hard to come back motivated but Katich is an altogether new person now who is matured and who really want the baggy green cap. Hope Cricket Australia appreciates his effort at least now. Another good thing is the Captain-next, Michael Clarke‘s form as well as energy levels. I guess, he may get into Ponting’s shoes earlier than we all thought.

Good luck to Australia’s future plans! A few things are getting better with the ongoing home test series against New Zealand. One needs to wait and watch whether the same will be the case against quality test sides.

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Champions League Twenty20 & England – India Test Series under Terror threat

The worst has happend again and last night’s terror attack in multiple locations in Mumbai has raised concerns on whether it is safe to conduct the Champions League Twenty20 matches and continue even the ongoing England’s tour of India. Mumbai has been identified as one of the key venues for the first edition of the colorful Twenty20 event that was to start next week. The second test between India and England was also scheduled for this venue. Now in the wake of the terror attacks, I doubt if it is even safe to continue with these schedules. Moreover, the visiting teams have a real reason to stay away from their plans due to two main reasons:

1. As of the situation this morning, 6 foreign nationals were killed in the terror attack last night and a few others have been held hostages.

2. For the first time, the attacks have taken place in laxury hotels, where majority of the cricketers will be usually put up for such events .

Ponting talks about it and England board reviews situation

The Punter has pounced on the opportunity to immediately declare that it may not be safe to continue with the Champions League T20 in this situation. He even went ahead and said that probably another country should host the event now (which means that the event could be postponed). Two Australian clubs – Western Australia and Victoria – were to be part of the Twenty20 event along with two teams from India, South Africa and one team from Pakistan and England respectively.

Double standards?

Ponting (like the Pakistani board earlier this year) has every reason to shout because, time and again, when it comes to terror attacks in India, many cricket boards have shown their back to the players by putting their life at risk. When similar things happen in Pakistan or Sri Lanka, they are much stricter. Like I mentioned in the last post, money is everything and BCCI can set the rules as they are the richest! Not sure if that can work this time as the value of human life should be considered equal anywhere on the earth!

Though, terror attacks in India are mostly said to be originating from Pakistan, when it comes to a sports event, I guess the governance should be impartial. Pakistan even lost the Champions Trophy opportunity due to terror scare, political situation etc. Even if I am an Indian, I must say that, this time around, the Champions League should be postponed and give more importance to human lives than cricket and money!

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It is all about Money – WICB doesn’t have It, The English players want More, Symonds ready to settle for Less

Cricket is ‘flourishing’ where money is… India is the fastest growing economy among the cricket playing nations and that is reflecting in the way the game is played and paid as well. While other cricketing boards and players are crying for money to save cricket the BCCI’s pockets are always full!

West Indies Cricket Board in trouble

The WICB has asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) for a loan of US $3 million, to save cricket in that part of the world with a great cricketing past. How painful is it watch West Indies cricket degrading the way it did over the past ten years or so. In the rat race between those who have money, the WICB seems to have lost out! One of the issues that the ICC and WICB themselves need to look into is whether the West Indian countries and islands now need to seperate out and form individual international teams?

English players want the IPL ‘experience’

The likes of Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen have come out openly to state that they want to play the Indian Premier League (IPL) season II. Andrew Flintoff feels that the IPL has given a lot of experience to the Indians and done good to their cricket but who doesn’t know that they are after money?

The English Cricket Board, in the meantime, has clearly indicated that those who want to play IPL may do so at the cost of their central contracts. Looks like, the board has learned a lesson or two after several counties got involved with the rebel ICL and was on the verge of legal actions from ICL earlier this year.

Andrew Symonds ready to settle for a low pay?

It seems Andrew Symonds offered to ‘work’ for a contract lowered by $250,000 this year as a discount towards his off-field activities. The Australian board however, stressed that the sportspersons on international duty should be responsible enough to understand their roles and hence no cuts for the time being. Cricket fraternity feels that Symonds may still retain his contract this year as well, despite some ‘minor’ behavioral issues.

Well, he can afford to loose $250,000 a year as his income from IPL may compensate that or even more.

With the IPL and cash rich BCCI flexing their muscles, the world wide cricketing bodies and players seem to suffer more. I think it’s time BCCI realized where to draw the line. The money power has definitely got into their heads and even trying to influence ICC every now and then. The latest examples being (1) the warning to ICC against the Gautam Gambhir test ban, though everyone knew that the player was guilty, and (2) requesting the English Board to postpone the first test match by a day because it happens to be just a day after the Champions Twenty20 league final (where Dhoni might play, just in case Chennai Super Kings qualify for the final). It’s a shame on cricket that BCCI’s schedules are taking precedence over the ICC Test match schedules that were scheduled months and years back! It’s all about Money!!!

Tail Piece: The economic slowdown is showing on cricket stars’ pay and sponsorships as well. The Pak board is all set for a pay-cut on the players contracts this year. Others may follow as well?

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Australia – New Zealand test series – 1st Test Review

We had an exceptional test match at the Gabba, Brisbane that highlighted the bowling performances mainly, by both the teams. Barring Michael Clarke and Simon Katich in the first and second innings respectively there were not any great batting performances. Good to see that Michael Clarke is getting more and more ready to take over the reigns where as the always sidelined and soft spoken Katich is suddenly everything of Australia’s top order with Hayden and Ponting miseries continuing.

New Zealand’s Lazy approach after initial spurt

Time and again this has happened. I thought, New Zeland got out of this mode after Vettori started showing more and more fighting spirit and pouring in more inspiration. But none of the New Zealand batsmen showed the intend to stay longer and infact, they lost the match on second day itself. After restricting Australia to a mere 214 in the first innings, they should have taken a vital 40-50 runs lead in the first innings. Had the game spread into the whole of 4th day, things could have been different.

Pace Bowling…

This is the first time I am seeing the teenager Kiwi, Thimothy Southee bowling! In fact, after seeing him ripping through Aussies’ top order in the first innings, I thought a new star is born for NZ. Anyways, Chris Martin is getting a little older. The Martin-Southee-O’Brien pace combo looks good though the main difference between the New Zealand pace team and other test playing nations pace battery is that NZ doesn’t have a quality left hand pace bowler. Nevertheless, this is one of their finest attacks in years.

I guess we are talking too much about the NZ bowling here. Australian bowling attack seems to have regrouped very well after they fell apart in the dead pitches of India.

Hayden and Ponting

Both these old stalwarts failed miserably again. Ponting is also finding it difficult to cope with his low over-rates yet again. According to me the main problem here are two:

1. Not having a quality spin bowler who could bowl 20 or 25 overs in two or three spells every day. The all-pace attack usually consumes more time.
2. Too many left-right hand combinations in the opposition team.

It is high time the Australian think tank did something about this issue. This can also prove to be bad for the opposition team as their momentum is sometimes lost due to Ponting overdoing stuff on the field.

Despite the victory, the Australian team is not the same again and I am predicting that their downside is yet to be seen (along side the recession that the world is witnessing right now)

Tail Piece: The media seems to be too much obsessed with what Andrew Symonds is doing on a daily basis. I guess, it’s time to leave the talented all rounder alone so that he gets back on track as early as possible.

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Not A Single Buck-Worth-Lewis Rule plays spoil sport again!

India has just clinched the home ODI series against England after taking an unassailable 4-0 lead in the 7 match ODI series. The Indian team did an exceptional job so far in the ‘friendly and used to’ pitch conditions. What’s exciting to see is the new energy, vibe and aggression in the Dhoni-led Indian team. And kudos to Garry Kirsten who along with Dhoni seems to be the luckiest pair in years.

The England team on the other hand, has been still getting used to the Indian conditions and before they realized whatever happened the series was out of their hands. To be fair on England, they have been steadily improving – though not at a great pace – in the past two-three games.

What really marred England’s hopes was the controversial Duckworth-Lewis method of calculating the target in the case of a cut-short game. It’s really worth investing some time to see whether this 12 year old method is good enough to cover all scenarios of an interrupted game.

What happend in Kanpur?

The early morning smoggy conditions in Kanpur delayed the start of the game. It’s known to the locals (and may be even to the Indian umpire) that it gets darker in the evening, even as early as 4:30. If the game was delayed by 45 minutes in the morning itself, and likely to have an early closure by 45 minutes or so, why didn’t they go for a 40 over match? Giving the advantage all of a sudden to the team batting second was really unfair. And as Ravi Shastri mentioned in the post match review, why can’t the use the flood lights and complete the remaining 9 or 10 overs?

Bangalore

It was clear from the beginning that it was a rainy day. The rain interrupted the match a couple of times and Indian scored 166 in 22 overs. And the target for England was 198! Now that’s RIDICULOUS by whichever rules. I mean, how can they ask somebody to score 20% more runs than actually required to win a match, just because some stupid rule is applied?

The Duckworth-Lewis system. Is it really worth?

The D/L method was introduced in 1996-97 and it was the pet project of two undergraduate students. For the past 12 years it has created several controversies and raised many questions already. Moreover, since the rule has been introduced the one-day game rules have changed several times with introductions like power play, ball change after 34th over and also too many day and night matches. If ICC can’t come up with a better alternative, why can’t they even scrap the rule and if possible do a re-match else declare the game as draw?

If you are interested, please take a look at the Online Duckworth-Lewis Calculator.

My sympathies are still with the England team, though Indians played better cricket! However it’s high time the authorities looked into the laws and rules under dispute.

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Selection Controversy & Leak out of confidential BCCI matters

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is in spotlight for a not so good reason for the first time! Apparently the Indian skipper is not happy with the selection of Irfan Pathan, at the cost of R.P. Singh, for the reminder of India-England ODI series.

Now, the key thing here is that neither Dhoni nor the BCCI spokesperson has talked about it! The media has been talking about this ‘FLASH NEWS’ continuously and even made statements that Dhoni is willing to relinquish his captaincy. Dhoni later clarified that he’s not commented anything to the public or media and that slowed down our stupid TV channels’ energy levels for good.

Scenario 1

Supposing that Dhoni has taken a stand against the dropping of R.P.Singh, I would think that he’s living in fool’s paradise. It’s not even a year since he got the most prestigious and responsible role in Indian cricket. He has really proved his worth and continuously improving as well. At this point of time, if he wants to flex his muscles, he may become nobody in no time. Also, just in case he has been speaking to the media on this topic, it is again bad for the Indian team and Dhoni himself.

Scenario 2

If Dhoni fought in the selection committee meeting with his playing eleven in mind, but played it diplomatically (which I think he would have done), somebody else within the BCCI selection panel or in the office is leaking out confidential news to the media. This is not the first time that confidential matters have been leaked out (They even leaked out Greg Chappel’s mail to BCCI on Ganguly matters).

If scenario 2 is the case, somebody within BCCI or in the vicinity there in is making money out of all these backdoor activities.

I thought things were getting better with the Indian cricket – both on and off the field, on the game as well as governance. It seems not everything is fine yet!