Cricket Wrap-Up - India vs South Africa Test 1, New Zealand vs England

A very good friend of mine had been kind enough to share his views on the recently concluded New Zealand - England cricket series and the ongoing India-South Africa cricket series. I'd like to thank him for sharing some of his views and insights into the series.

India vs South Africa
India versus South Africa - great test match. Good on Sehwag with 319, and a pity he didn't get closer to Brian Lara's record. That must be some battingwicket, because everybody is scoring good runs. However, I think SouthAfrican bowling attack came back well on 4th day, and it headed to a draw. Could'nt see a result. There is very little in both teams - both on top of game. I think South Africa will get better as Test series goes on, so India will need to be at their best. I am picking South Africa win this test series. They have the all round package, unless Kumble and Harbhajan Singh can tweak some magic.

New Zealand vs England
The ultimate difference between the New Zealand cricket test team andEngland cricket test team is that their batsmen went on to make 100's. There is a mental block in New Zealand batsman to go and get a bigscore, and over 100. Only Taylor may 120 in Hamilton, and I think he has a lot of class. Fleming always looks the goods but never goes on wtih it, Jamie How is a good prospect - plays like a test bastman, and sadly Matthew Sinclair and Matthew Bell are all at sea in their games at the moment. Vettori, in the last three years, after Mark Richardson has been our best batsman and he bats at number 7.
Never really fan of Geoffrey Boycott as a batsman, but in a test match,like Dravid you dig in, work at your game, and try to score a 100. I thought Monty Panesar bowled a really teasing line and New Zealanders and they did not know how to play him too well. Played across the line, and got out, and didn't read him too well. Now, we are off to England, and that is going to be a great test series, but you've got to say England looks the favourites.

Team India 2.0

India have won the Commonwealth Bank series by comprehensively outplaying Australia in both games of the finals series – beating the top ranked team in the world in their own backyard. What is more they have completed their victories in a thoroughly professional manner putting to rest all the demons and controversy off the field.

Actions speak louder than words and in the end it was this young Indian side led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni that let their bats and the ball do all the talking – in fact the ball really talked in the hands of Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma.

A fairytale ending to the series for a young Indian side missing it’s superstars – barring Tendulkar, written off before the series even began and coming back to stun the World Champions and not only win but do so with style. Less than six months ago, this young Indian team was lifting aloft the World Twenty-20 final – which spurred amongst other things the Indian Premier League but more importantly a new era in Indian cricket.

Kudos to the players and coaching staff – but also to the selectors for retaining their faith in youth and moving forward with the transition to a core team for the next world cup. Indian cricket looks to be in good hands with no shortage of players having also just won the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia.

But with Indian cricket, one never knows – for there are countless players who burst onto the world cricket stage only to disappear out of even state cricket into retirement and beyond…never to return.
Let’s hope this isn’t the beginning of the end.

It's Just Not Cricket

The last decade has been a turbulent one for World Cricket – with the dizzying highs of England’s Ashes triumph to the shocking lows of the match fixing saga…

But that was all behind us… Twenty 20 cricket had smashed its way on to the world stage with a World Cup tournament second to none. And after the fiasco that was the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, it was a welcome change to have a global tournament where supporters would be praying for their team to win and not to ensure there wasn’t an electricity cut! – As an aside kudos to South Africa cricket for organising such a fantastic world cup. They did it with the 2003 world cup and have followed suit with the Twenty 20. This would support a very strong case for the next football (soccer for any Americans out there…) world cup to be staged in Africa.

Just as normal service seemed to have resumed in the cricket world today, a new interruption occurs – a Racism row in an India-Australia series. The immediate reaction to a statement like this has always been ‘What have the Aussies done now?’ (Unfortunately, there have been several incidents where they have lacked indiscretion and insensitivity when it comes to other cultures – a la Dean Jones and Darren Lehmann). But they seemed to have learnt from the past or maybe it was all that time Brett Lee spent singing with Asha Bhosle!

This time around, the Aussies are on the receiving end – to be more precise; one Aussie – Andrew Symonds. The claims are that he was subjected to monkey noises and taunts as he came out to bat by the crowd – most recently in Mumbai. There have been some culprits identified but no real action taken - herein lies the issue. Not that there was some childish, ignorant idiot in the crowd doing what he thought was a lot of fun, but that this issue has not been nipped in the bud (of course it doesn’t help that there are players in the team that instigate and promote such reckless behaviour). What is most appalling is that the BCCI proudly states that they have not complied with the ICC ruling to appoint a racism commissioner to stamp out this behaviour in the game. The reason; India is too big. Surely a board that is supposed to manage all aspects of cricket in India can find a way. Further, Mr Niranjan Shah, Secretary of the BCCI, argues for Symonds to prove that he was subjected to abuse. Surely, Mr Shah, that is what the board should do!

Here’s something for Mr Niranjan Shah and the BCCI to ponder:

Have every cricket board appoint a racism commissioner for their state – this should not just combat racial abuse at visiting international teams but at state teams as well. World articles talk about the caste issue in India but that is not as prevalent as something more dangerous – the state bias; South versus North; State vs State.

Have an overall chief commissioner present at every international series akin to the match umpire.

Impose strict bans and fines on improper crowd behaviour – it may mean that security actually have to work for a living rather than watch the game but then…

Of course this will cost money (that the BCCI has in bucketfuls – gold bucketfuls) and it will take a lot of process and paperwork (which the BCCI also already has). But before any of this, the BCCI has to take the matter seriously. This is NOT something that can be brushed aside and must be dealt with swiftly!

This is one occasion where the issue of racism must be stamped out immediately without partiality – it has no place today – either in the game or our day to day lives. Most importantly, it puts a damper on what is still perceived to be a gentleman’s game - it's just not cricket!

My Kingdom for a Coach

Graham Ford is India’s new coach – well, not really. He has turned down the job for ‘personal reasons’. As many columnists have pointed out (including Mukul Kesavan and Ian Chappell), the BCCI were very egoistical (for lack of a better word or rather because there is no better word) in their selection process for the coach. Of course, one could expect nothing less from an organisation that utilise an equally cumbersome and political process to select the cricket team itself. But cricket selection is the topic for another rant blog!

The BCCI in all their glory probably felt that the lure of several zeros before a decimal point would be all that is required to entice their chosen candidate to the coaching role. Alas, that was not to be. It seems Graham Ford put his personal life before his career and of course, money – a train of thought that would probably be lost on the BCCI.

Several comments have emerged as to why he turned down the job. The speculation is rife from his tentativeness to be in the subcontinent to the apparent shock at the appalling state of affairs within the BCCI. Of course, the other speculation is that he simply wanted a free trip to India. Is it so hard to believe that his personal circumstances may simply have changed? Or that after further contemplation, he simply didn’t feel it was the right opportunity for him at the moment? Could it be that his reason’s were oh so simple and obvious?

On thing is for certain, I wouldn’t want the Jamaican police investigating his reasons for turning down the job!

It's only a game

The cricket world cup is upon us. 16 nations take on each other in the idyllic paradise that is the West Indies to see who will be triumphant and crowned world champions come 28^th April 2007. It has been a week of dizzying highs and plummeting lows from shock wins by Bangladesh against India and Ireland knocking out former world champions Pakistan. But there won’t be any celebrations today… today, the whole cricketing world is in mourning. Bob Woolmer, Pakistani coach, has passed away after being found unconscious in his hotel room.

Yesterday, when Bangladesh and Ireland triumphed at the world cup, there would have been millions of Indians and Pakistanis in disbelief. But it’s only a game, India and Pakistan will play another day and World Cups will keep coming around. On a day like this, there is no carnival atmosphere or celebrations. A day like today puts everything in perspective. Win or lose, as the cliché goes, It’s only a game. For there are far more important things in life.

Today the entire cricketing world unites for a greater reason, a more important purpose – to pay their respects to Bob Woolmer, an ambassador of the game, a fantastic player, a tremendous coach but most importantly a friend and compatriot of the cricketing fraternity.

John Wright’s Indian Summers - Prologue to a review

Firstly to avoid any confusion this is a book review and not that of someone’s holidays in India. Though to some that’s exactly what John Wright had.

The setting is India - a concoction of colour and culture. Over 1 billion people and every single one of them cricket crazy. India was reeling from the implications and allegations of the match fixing saga (aka Hansiegate). The team being it's usual mercurial self which such great achievements as losses to Kenya.

Enter John Wright. The former New Zealand opener and captain. Mooted as a candidate for the Indian coaching job. Certainly not the frontrunner – after all he was a foreigner. India had never had a foreign coach and there certainly wasn’t a shortage of former Indian players rushing for the job. As fate would have, this former Canterbury lad from one of the smallest countries in the world (where the sheep far outweigh the people) was to coach the most populous cricketing nation in the world through several heady and giddy years.

Indian Summers is John Wright’s personal account and thoughts on his journey and time with the Indian cricket team. John Wright has written this book in much the same way he played and coached (I realise after reading the book) – sharp and straight to the point. Nice and simple. It feels like reading his diary and joining him on the tumultuous rollercoaster ride when he was Indian coach – enduring the dizzying highs and the cavernous lows. Not to say it is dry, quite the contrary in fact. John has lent his rather quirky and witty sense of humour through the book while not missing the point.

What it is not and never claims to be is a gossipy, trashy, tell-all, scandal-ridden behind the scenes recount of a team filled with such talented players who miraculously seem to find a little time in their busy ad-filled, restaurant-running, endorsement-packed lives to play a bit of cricket. There are no great revelations of factions within the team or scandalous dressing room altercations between players and coach. And I for one have to say it is a nice refreshing change….