Problems aplenty for Australia

Though the Aussies have just crushed every possible opponent and have won the World Cup for the third successive time, its not without a few problems. Infact, Rohit Brijnath aptly explains their problems and compares with India and also sees that India are better off even without the victories. He sums up brilliantly...

In short, the Australians play brilliant cricket but do not enjoy the game. Not like us. Which is why, one can now reveal, they sent Greg Chappell to India. But apparently en route he forgot his orders. He thought he was here to teach. But it was to learn.

He has infact written it even before the World Cup final victory, but does it matter at all?

Labels: 2007 world cup, australia, sri lanka, world cup, world cup final

Thus spake Ganesh @ 11:56 am | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

A round Telegraph table

Scyld Berry moderates a wonderful discussion at a virtual round-table between Atherton, Strauss, Sangakkara and Ian Chappell. As you'd expect from these folks, there's a lot of sense. Ian Chappell though had me in splits quite a few times.

Berry: Was it too long? The ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed didn't think so until last week.

Chappell: Malcolm has been living in Dubai for too long. As I've said before, they've got a hotel under the sea there and a ski resort in the desert. It's too far away from reality.

Berry: Plenty of room in the dressing-room for ice-baths?

Chappell: Is an ice-bath where you keep the beers for after the game?

Berry: Let us turn, Kumar, to your stumping of Brian Lara in Guyana.

Sangakkara: Sometimes I break the stumps far too often and this time I was lucky. I have to stand up a lot now. Wickets are getting better and medium-pace or fast-medium bowlers are beginning to suffer [from batsmen going down the pitch] and you have to stand up.

Chappell: Are wickets getting better or slower....

Berry: Andrew, what was your favourite moment?

Chappell: Getting picked?

Labels: 2007 world cup, strauss, world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:29 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

World Cup final run-rates

Australia scored the quickest ever in a World Cup final; Sri Lanka had the quickest score for a losing team. Sri Lanka also lost their record as the only team to have reached the World Cup final and never lost. Winners in bold:

Year	Team	Runs	Wickets	Overs	RpW	RpO
2007	Australia	281	4	38	70.25	7.39
2003	Australia	359	2	50	179.50	7.18
1999	Australia	133	2	20	66.50	6.65
2007	Sri Lanka	215	8	36	26.88	5.97
2003	India	234	10	39.4	23.40	5.95
1996	Sri Lanka	245	3	46.2	81.67	5.29
1987	Australia	253	5	50	50.60	5.06
1992	Pakistan	249	6	50	41.50	4.98
1987	England	246	8	50	30.75	4.92
1975	West Indies	291	8	60	36.38	4.85
1996	Australia	241	7	50	34.43	4.82
1979	West Indies	286	9	60	31.78	4.77
1975	Australia	274	10	58.4	27.40	4.67
1992	England	227	10	49.2	22.70	4.60
1979	England	194	10	51	19.40	3.80
1999	Pakistan	132	10	39	13.20	3.38
1983	India	183	10	54.4	18.30	3.35
1983	West Indies	140	10	52	14.00	2.69

Labels: 2007 world cup, final, run-rate, world cup, world cup final

Thus spake Geoff @ 8:57 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

What the rest of the cricketing world should not do

After yesterday's World Cup win, Glenn McGrath retired from international cricket, indeed from all forms of cricket, which makes him an automatic inclusion in the All-Star Book Cricket XI, in tests and ODIs. This means that the test XI would be: Mark Richardson, Michael Slater, Nasser Hussain, Damien Martyn, Graham Thorpe, Chris Cairns, Heath Streak (c), Jack Russell (wk), Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Glenn McGrath and Allan Donald. Fitzpatrick replaces Pearson while McGrath comes in instead of DeFreitas.

The ODI XI would be: Craig Wishart, Michael Slater/Nasser Hussain, Damien Martyn, Graham Thorpe, Michael Bevan (c), Chris Cairns, Heath Streak, Ridley Jacobs (wk), Glenn McGrath and Allan Donald. Once again, he replaces DeFreitas in the side.

Oh, for a good spinner to form two world beating sides!

What the other cricketing teams cannot and must not do is to wait for Australia's bowling lineup to disintegrate in the absence of Warne & McGrath. That may or may not happen. Even if it does, it could be short-lived. The onus is on the other teams to improve and become better each day - physically & mentally, at batting, bowling and fielding.

Australia have taken one-day cricket to a new level, especially after Ricky Ponting took over. New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa have, at different points in time during the tournament, looked capable of rocking Australia's boat. But these were unsustained efforts. To beat Australia now, opponents need to be at the top of their game across 100 overs, like I pointed out after the ICC Champions Trophy. Sri Lanka bowled well (barring Vaas) for the first half-dozen overs. Sri Lanka batted well for around half-a-dozen overs when Sangakkara and Jayasuriya stepped it up. It was never going to be enough!

Labels: 2007 world cup, book cricket, mcgrath, retire, world cup, world cup final

Thus spake Jagadish @ 4:13 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

A fitting end...

Well, what can you say about the calamity, the debacle, the shamozzle that was the final of the 2007 World Cup other than, fitting.

The best team won - the most worthy challenger throughout the tournament made it to the final, Glenn McGrath goes out on a high, and the long drawn out, badly organised tournament ended in a debacle, in darkness, with wides being called, video referees making decisions, all this, after the batsmen had already left the field for bad light. This tournament will not be forgotten now and changes will be made. A thrilling cracker of a final would've pushed all the other nonsense to the background and maybe have smoothed some issues over - now, we will never forget it.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought once you went off for light of rain, you couldn't come back until the light improves or the rain stops.

If we believe the commentators, there was even talk of coming back the next day to complete the match, at one point - what a joke.

Anyway, the important points are - Sri Lanka were gallant in defeat, I guess acknowledging that they were probably not going to win anyway, but clearly could have been quite justified in being very upset at how their assault on a winning total was inhibited by lack of accurate information and organisation - and, that other point - Australia won the World Cup.

You beauty!

Labels: 2007 world cup, australia, bad light, gilchrist, mcgrath, sri lanka, world cup, world cup final

Thus spake Stuart Helwig @ 7:09 am | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

One nice big laugh at Rudi Koertzen please!

Neither his country, nor he will be out on the field during the final tomorrow.

Steve Bucknor's presence in his fifth consecutive final is the clearest indicator of how crappy West Indies have been, especially in one-day cricket, over the past 15 years. David Shepherd umpired three consecutive finals (1996, 1999 and 2003). That shows how poor England were at one-day cricket! Zimbabwe have never had an umpire in a World Cup final, which is an obvious indicator of how good they have been!

Labels: 2007 world cup, australia, bucknor, koertzen, sri lanka, umpires, world cup, world cup final

Thus spake Jagadish @ 1:49 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Go, the sub-continent

Sri Lanka: The last team to beat Australia in a World Cup final.

Pakistan: The last team to beat Australia in a World Cup game.

India: The last team to play Australia in a World Cup final.

Bangladesh: The last team I will mention here.

Labels: 2007 world cup, australia, bangladesh, india, pakistan, sri lanka, world cup, world cup final

Thus spake Jagadish @ 9:03 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Capitulation - Outplayed and out-psyched

I commented over on Will's site during the first devastating and match winning 10 overs of the Aus v SA semi-final, that I haven't enjoyed watching a one day match this much since 1999 - yep, that other semi-final.

Contrasting means, to the same end though. Many people say "we want good close, exciting matches". They must be supporters of other sides! When it's your side playing, I don't care how much they win by, and just quietly when it's South Africa you're thumping - I say bring it on! I'd rather that than a tie any day.

I sat down to take in this game thinking I wouldn't be able to stay up late enough into the night (with work the next day) to see anything too decisive. Especially when South Africa won what everyone thought would be potentially a match winning toss - I figured they'd post some sort of reasonable total and Australia would struggle. I honestly thought, based on what Botham and other commentators were saying, that 250 odd would be too much for the Aussie's to chase down, under pressure, late on a dieing wicket.

Well the wicket never got a chance to die, and by the time I was forced to retire to bed, the matched seemed fairly safe. Thanks mainly to a mind melt down by captain Graeme Smith, who seemed to think he was Matty Hayden, walking down the track - twice - missing both, the first nearly an edge and second taking off stump, then disintergration by Kallis, who was completely sucked in by the Aussie's talk. Kallis fell hook, line and sinker for the talk about "letting him occupy the crease and take up valulable deliveries", managing to strike one nice four then being cleaned up by a regulation, full pitched McGrath ball, while Kallis was stretching across from somewhere over on the leg side? Mind boggling! Even Andre Nell was seen to be shaking his head - no doubt because bowling to the looming low total was never going to leave him much room for sledging.

McGrath, who many believed shouldn't go on this tour, moved to front runner for taking out the player of the series. No-one will write him of now, even when he's been out of the game for 10 years! He cleaned up Kallis, was lucky when Prince chased what, had it not been for his thick outside edge would've been a side, then, possibly the most important one of all - Boucher - so often a lower order thorn in the side of the opposition, was dismissed by a ripper, moving away, taking the edged and finished off by big Matty Hayden. At 5 for 27, SA got another let off with Gibbs given not out, from what seemd like a fairly obvious inside edge. 6 for 27 would've seen a total around 50 I believe, as it was they only managed to limp to 149.

Australia cruised passed, the one concern - Gilchrist again failing. Surely now, he'll make up for everything with a classic Gilly ton in Glenn McGrath's fair well performance, a World Cup Final which could be a "three-peat" for the Aussies.

Labels: 2007 world cup, australia, south africa, world cup, world cup final

Thus spake Stuart Helwig @ 8:22 am | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Sri Lankan Party at Sabina



In today's first semi final of Cricket World Cup 2007, Sri Lanka stamped their class on the Kiwis and urged on by strong crowd support went on to crush the Kiwis by 81 runs. Winning the toss, the Sri Lankans, showing the bravado that has won them many fans, elected to bat first on a wicket that promised to assist New Zealand's pacers.

Captain Mahela Jayawardene's decision seemed to backfire in the third over, when star batsman Sanath Jayasuriya's stumps were clattered by a James Franklin delivery. Franklin bowled well at the star of the innings, but the same couldn't be said for Shane Bond, who picked the worst time to have a bad performance. His first over went for 9 runs as he strayed down leg side, allowing Upul Tharanga to glance the ball for a boundary down to fine leg. The day would get much worse for Bond.





Bond had his worst day of the tournament.


After Jayasuriya's dismissal, Tharanga took the fight to the Kiwis, hitting 73 off 74 deliveries. He received little support at the other end, as Kumar Sangakkara consumed all of 42 deliveries in making 18, while not rotating the strike. When Sangakkara got out, Jayawardene replaced him and struggled the keep the scoreboard ticking over at the start of his innings. His first 25 runs came in more than 50 deliveries, at a time when Tharanga was going at more than a run-a-ball at the other end. In fact it seemed that Jayawardene was more content to block deliveries rather than to give the strike back to Tharanga. When Tharanga was dismissed, first Chamara Silva (21 off 33) and then Tillakaratne Dilshan, 30 off 27, continued where Tharanga left off. However it was Jayawardene who was the real star of the show. Breaking lose of his shackles, Jayawardene blasted 98 runs off the last 62 deliveries he faced. His first World Cup ton of 115n.o. off only 109 deliveries was extremely well placed as his first 19 deliveries had yielded only 2 runs. He received a little luck though in the 46th over when a top edged sweep burst through Shane Bond's hands at fine leg, only to land exactly on top of the boundary rope for six.

With every four and six of the Sri Lankan innings, the roughly 75% full Sabina Park cheered loudly, as horns blared, drums were beaten and music flowed from all around the ground. There were many Sri Lankans and Kiwis, but there were also English, Pakistani, Indian and West Indies supporters in attendance and the majority of them threw their support behind the dashing Sri Lankans. It was the kind of atmosphere that the World Cup had missed for much of the tournament.




Some Indian and Pakistani fans even united in their support for Sri Lanka.



Jayawardene's heroics had lifted Sri Lanka to 289/5 off 50 overs, presenting a challenge that seemed very steep for the Kiwis. The Lankans had scored 102 off their last 10 overs to reach the daunting total. New Zealand's ace Bond, had gone for 59 runs off his 10 overs. He had been averaging less than 3 runs per over previously in the tournament.



Lasith Malinga bowled with pace and venom.

When the Kiwis set out to bat, they were pinned down early by brilliant fast bowling from Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga. Malinga had New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming lbw in the second over. Vaas and Malinga took full advantage of the overcast conditions and Malinga in particular bowled at seering pace early on. In one stretch, with Malinga touching 94mph, poor Ross Taylor could not even get a touch on Malinga's deliveries as he was beaten repeatedly by pace and movement.


After the early damage had been done, a stubborn Peter Fulton and an attacking Scott Styris took New Zealand to 105/2 in the 22nd over. Styris' innings was threatening to bring New Zealand back into the game, before he chipped a tame catch to Jayasuriya off Dilshan. The fall of Styris' wicket triggered a collapsed for the Kiwis as they lost 5 wickets for 11 runs to the spin of Muttiah Muralitharan and Jayasuriya. Muralitharan proved to be more than a handful and his off breaks and doosras baffled the Kiwis.



Murali's 4/31 took him past the 50 wicket mark in World Cups and gave him 23 wickets in this World Cup, tying teammate Vaas for the highest ever total in a single World Cup.

The Kiwis' dramatic slide from 105/2 to 116/7 was too much to overcome and a tenth wicket partnership of 59 between Franklin (30n.o) and Jeetan Patel (34) only delayed the inevitable. When Patel holed out to Dilhara Fernando at long on, New Zealand had lost by 81 runs. The Sri Lankan bowling except for Fernando and to a lesser extent Jayasuriya, was stifling. After such an imperious start to the tournament the Kiwis' World Cup ended with two consecutive defeats in which they lost by a combined 286 runs.

Sri Lanka will now await the winner of tomorrow's second semi final between Australia and South Africa. After going for 45 off 5 overs, including 5 no balls and a wide and being warned twice in his first over for running on the pitch, Fernando will be hard pressed to be in the squad for the finals on Saturday, but otherwise the Sri Lankans will be looking to these same players to recapture the glory of their 1996 World Cup triumph.

(Croos posted from Rain, No Play)

Labels: 2007 world cup, new zealand, sri lanka, world cup, world cup final

Thus spake Sean @ 7:44 am | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Bucknor all set to have his wish granted, Rudi moves one step closer

Over two years ago, Bucknor made it amply clear that he didn't want West Indies in the World Cup final, and that is exactly what happened.

A year ago, Rudi Koertzen had a similar wish, and South Africa are one step away from increasing the chances of his dream becoming a reality.

Try my warped logic. Now we know why the BCCI has ensured that there is no umpire on the ICC's Elite panel. Given the high profile nature of Indian cricket, it is fairly obvious that other cricket boards would be waiting in a huge queue to get India to play against them (No tests please, we're the BCCI!). This therefore means that Indian umpires will not umpire lots of games. The solution is obviously to ensure that there're no Indian umpires around, because the other one (sending the Indian team to lesser number of tournaments) is clearly unacceptable.

Labels: 2007 world cup, bucknor, koertzen, umpires, world cup, world cup final

Thus spake Jagadish @ 6:02 pm | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

May the sledging begin ...

If there's an Australia v South Africa game coming up, it is fairly obvious that Aussies will bleat on about South Africa being chokers while South Africa will deny it and claim that they've moved on.

Surprisingly, for someone who (blame it on the ghost-writer!) has a history of being a loose cannon (See 'Sack Ganguly', 'We need stronger opposition', 'Stuart MacGill is the 2nd best spinner', 'Stuart MacGill is the 3rd best spinner' and 'Stop the stereo-typing, Sunny!'), Mark Waugh has made a fair amount of sense with his latest column in the Sun-Herald on this choking issue, and a few others.

Plenty of people are dismissing Australia's World Cup semi-final opponents South Africa as little or no threat to our title hopes because they're a team of "chokers" who crumble when the screws are turned.

Believe that at your peril.

Then again, there maybe a choking issue there. At least, the stats say so. South Africa haven't beaten Australia in a World Cup game for 4 tournaments so far. If the scene was even in the 1990s (19-19 & 1 tie, that game), it becomes very lopsided in this decade (16-9, despite South Africa winning twice in a series)

Labels: 2007 world cup, australia, south africa, world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 3:55 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

KP Spoils Lara's Day

Or better put, Marlon Samuels spoiled Lara's day.

In front of the largest crowd of the World Cup so far, Chris Gayle and Devon Smith, gave the West Indies a solid platform. They put on 131 for the first wicket, with Gayle, who seemed out of sorts at the start of his innings, finding his form to make a brisk 79 off 58 balls. Smith played fairly well for his 61, but too often failed to give the strike back to the dashing Gayle and consumed all of 106 deliveries.

At the fall of Gayle's wicket, caught at third man, the crowd called out for Lara, and he came out to thunderous applause. The England players saluted Lara by forming a guard of honour as he walked out to the middle for the final time in his international career. Lara played well for his 18 runs, tantalising his spellbound audience with three fours. After Smith fell to a brilliant Paul Collingwood catch, Samuels joined Lara at the crease. And then the unthinkable. Samuels hit a delivery down to mid on and called Lara for a run that was never on. When Samuels stopped and finally realised that the run was not on, it was too late for Lara as Kevin Pietersen swooped in and hit the wicket as Lara desperately tried in vain to make it back. Samuels went on to make a superb 51 off 39 deliveries, but gave it away when he hit a Michael Vaughan delivery straight to mid on's lap.

The West Indies eventually made 300 all out in 49.5 overs, but they should have had at least about 20 - 30 more. Especially when the Windies were well placed at 250/4 after 40 overs. The Windies' futility in the last 10 overs is highlighted by the fact that of the 50 runs they scored in this period, 10 came by Jerome Taylor off one Flintoff over. In fact, they lost 6 wickets for 42 runs within the last 8 overs.

On the true Kensington pitch, 300 was very gettable and England made the Windies pay for their ineptitude at the end of their innings. England started positively as Vaughan (79) and Ravi Bopara (26) batting at number 3, took England to 101 in the 16th over. Dwayne Bravo then took over in the field as after several missed attempts, he finally hit the stumps to run out Bopara. He repeated the trick and ran out Vaughan at 154/3. When Jamie Dalrymple suicidally ran himself out at 189/6 in the 36th over it looked like the Windies would send Lara off with a win.

But that was not to be as a splendid 90 ball 100 by Pietersen and a dogged 38 by keeper Paul Nixon carried England to 269 in the 47th over. Pietersen brought up his ton with a massive six off Taylor's first delivery in the 47th over. But Taylor soon had his revenge as he uprooted KP's leg stump with his very next delivery. Pietersen tried to repeat the shot but missed the ball completely. It again seemed for Windies fans that the game had been won when three balls later, Liam Plunkett picked out a fielder in the deep.

England's task of getting 30 from the final three overs with only 2 wickets left, seemed steep. However Collymore failed to bowl full and straight in the 48th over and paid the price as Nixon plundered 3 fours. England were gifted a fourth boundary in the over when keeper Randin could only parry a Collymore bouncer over his head and down to the boundary rope. England only needed 4 from the final over, but a Bravo slower ball gave the Windies some hope as he comprehensively bowled Nixon, leaving bowlers Stuart Broad and James Anderson to get 3 off 4 balls. Broad was up to the challenge and hit the winning runs over Lara's head. It was ironic that on Lara's day, he had to run after the ball as the batsmen scored the winning runs. England had won by 1 wicket with only 1 ball left. Full credit to England as both sides fought valiantly for whatever pride was at stake. Lara probably missed a trick though, as with Samuels off the field for much of the England innings, he only bowled Gayle and Sarwan (1/21 off 5 overs) for a combined 10 overs. Pacers on both sides struggled throughout the match and Vaughan's offspin (3/39 from 10) earlier in the day demonstrated that taking the pace off the ball was the way to go on this Kensington pitch.

Did I entertain?

In the on-field interview, when asked what would be his final words to his fans, Lara asked the crowd "Did I entertain?" and was greeted with rapturous approval. Lara then jogged around the outfield and hopped the advertising boards to get closer to his fans. We will miss you, Brian Charles Lara. We will miss those thunderous cover drives and those deft late cuts. We will miss the high back lift and the one-legged pulls that you made famous. We will miss your genius and yes, you did entertain.

(Cross-posted from Rain, No Play)

Labels: 2007 world cup, england, lara, pietersen, west indies, world cup

Thus spake Sean @ 8:22 am | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

All-conquering Aussies reduce Kiwis to minnows

Australia 348 New Zealand 133

At least the West Indies didn't lose to Australia this bad. Not even Scotland lost to them this bad.

Australia firmly stamped their authority on the tournament and especially on the Kiwis today. In a ruthlessly efficient performance the Australians blasted the Kiwis for a 215 run defeat. This was the sixth victory of over 200 runs at this tournament, the other 5 by minnows Scotland, Holland and Bermuda. On this day, New Zealand firmly belonged in that company as they were outclassed on every level. It must have been sweet revenge for the Aussies, who suffered a rare sweep just 2 months ago against these same Kiwis.

After the early loss of Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden blasted the New Zealand attack around the park in Grenada. The Kiwis were noticeably missing their best bowler in Shane Bond, said to be ill, and opening bowlers Michael Mason and James Franklin had no answer for Ponting and Hayden as they both went at 9+ runs per over. After Hayden was third out for 103 off 100 balls in the 33rd over, New Zealand gained a measure of control over the innings as the slow bowling of Daniel Vettori, Jeetan Patel and Scott Styris limited the run feast. It was then that Shane Watson, in his first match back from injury clobbered the Kiwis for 50 off 28 balls taking Australia's total to 348/6.

New Zealand got off to a promising reply at 21 in the 4th over, but captain Stephen Fleming was given out caught behind off Tait when the ball clearly brushed his arm and missed the bat. From there, the Kiwis lost wickets regularly as only Peter Fulton (62) offered any resistance to Tait, McGrath and Hogg. When Fulton was last out, bowled behind his legs by Hogg, the Kiwis had succomed to their largest ever ODI defeat.

Australia have now won 21 straight World Cup matches. They haven't had much resistance at this World Cup, with only England briefly threatening to put up a challenging score against them. I wonder what would happen if a team, like South Africa, batted first and put over 300 on the board? What would happen then if a team refused to fold meekly before the Aussies?

(Cross-Posted from Rain, No Play)

Labels: 2007 world cup, australia, new zealand, world cup

Thus spake Sean @ 10:57 am | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Farewell, 'Prince' Lara

Today’s victory by the West Indies over Bangladesh was overshadowed by the post match press conference when Windies captain Brian Lara stunningly announced that he would be retiring from international cricket after the Windies’ final World Cup match on Saturday. That Lara would retire from ODIs after the World Cup was well known, and he reiterated that a few days ago. However, Lara had previously indicated that he wanted to tour England during the summer, citing his desire to make a Test century at Lords, so his retirement from Tests is a surprise as well. Some will read between the lines and surmise that Lara learnt that the selectors intended not to pick him for the tour to England, so he decided to go out on his own. Whatever the reason for his decision to retire from international cricket, Lara deserves to retire on his own terms.There has been two sides to Lara’s career – his brilliance with the willow and his failures as captain. There have been occasions in the past, and will be in the future, to question Lara’s tactics on the field and his behaviour off it, but now is the time to reflect on the career of a man who made a habit of breaking records.

In the debate surrounding who the best batsman in the world is, many names would be frequently mentioned, but to any West Indian, there would be only one name. Especially in the Test arena, none of Lara’s contemporaries can match his appetite for runs. The only blemish on his record as a batsman was the rut that he found himself in between November 1996 and April 2001 when he saw his Test average drop by over 12 runs from just over 60 to just below 48. If Lara had the consistency of Tendulkar or Ponting, then there would be no question as to who the finest batsman of his time was.

Lara is the only man to have broken the record for the highest Test score, lost it and then regained it. At his retirement he will simultaneously hold the records for the highest Test score (400 n.o.), the highest First Class score (501n.o.) and the highest career run total in Tests (11,953). His career would have spanned 17 years and produced some of the finest moments in the history of cricket.


The fact that his record breaking Test innings of 375 and 400n.o. are not even considered by most to be his finest, speaks to the quality of career that the Prince of Port of Spain enjoyed. His splendid debut century 277 against Australia at Sydney in 1993 was a sign of things to come. That innings certainly ranks up there among his best ever, and Lara's own fondness of that innings and of that ground led him to name his daughter Sydney. Unlike many who made their debut ton a big one, Lara continued to press for runs and his seemingly insatiable appetite for runs resulted in him breaking Sir Garry Sobers' long standing world record the following year with his 375 in Antigua against England. He followed that up a mere 2 months later with his 501 n.o. for Warwickshire to set the mark for highest First Class score ever. That innings came off only 427 balls and included over 300 runs in boundaries with 62 fours and 10 sixes.

His finest Test innings, however, probably came during the extended dry spell mentioned above. In March of 1999, after being beaten by Australia by over 300 runs in the first test in Trinidad, including being bowled out for a humiliating 51 in the second innings, Lara led the fight back and almost single handedly won the series from the Aussies. His match winning 213 at Sabina Park was followed by arguably the greatest innings played by a batsman other than Don Bradman. In Barbados, with the West Indies needing 308 to win in the second innings, Lara made a magnificent 153n.o. as wickets tumbled at the other end. His 9th wicket partnership of 54 with Curtly Ambrose (12) made the difference after the Windies had been 248/8 against the likes of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.

Perhaps Lara's most remarkable Test series was in Sri Lanka in 2001, when he scored 688 runs mastering a rampant Muralitharan. Lara scored 3 centuries in the series including 221 and 130 in a losing effort in third and final test. It was only the sixth time in Test history that a batsman sored a ton and a double in the same match. So dominant was Lara when compared to the rest of his teammates, that he amassed a whopping 42% of the Windies' three match total.

In the ODI arena, his most memorable innings is probably his match-winning 111 off 97 balls against South Africa in the 1996 World Cup quarter finals. The highlight of his ODI career, according to Lara himself was the Windies improbable triumph in the 2004 Champions Trophy. In ODI cricket, he is one of 7 men to have scored more than 10,000 runs.

Lara is retiring when he still is near the top of his game. At the current World Cup, he is averaging just over 41, while in his last Test series in Pakistan, he topped the West Indies batting with 448 runs at an average of 89.60, including a glorious 216. At one stretch in that innings Lara scored 60 runs from 29 Danish Kaneria deliveries. Only Don Bradman (12) has scored more Test double centuries than Lara's 9. In fact, Lara retires either first or second on the list of most scores of 100 or more (34, 2nd to Tendulkar's 35), over 150 (19, 1st all time), over 200 (9, 2nd to Bradman's 12), over 300 (2, joint first with Bradman), and 400+ (1st, his 400n.o. is Test cricket's sole quadruple century). Among the records that Lara holds is the one for most Test runs in an over. He made 28 off one Robin Peterson over in South Africa in 2003. He also has the third highest - 26 off one Kaneria over in that final double century of his in Pakistan. With that final double century in Pakistan, Lara joined the exclusive club of 6 men who have scored a century before lunch in a Test match.

Lara was the face of West Indies cricket for the last decade and a half. He is the West Indies' most capped player in ODIs (299 after his final match) and second in Tests (131, Courtney Walsh played in 132). He holds virtually all the important West Indies batting records. While Lara is a symbolic link to the golden era of West Indies cricket, having played on the last dominant West Indies teams in the early nineties, the majority of his playing years were spent with the West Indies in decline. The fact that he has lost more Tests than any other player (63 Test losses) is a testament to the decline in talent around him.

Lara's legacy will be debated for years to come. Whether or not his at times seemingly surly and aloof attitude has hurt West Indies' cricket more than his genius on the field has helped it will also be debated by cricket pundits. What is clear, however, is that Lara is one of most talented men to have ever played this game, and that the West Indies would have lost the last of their all-time great players from an era so fondly remembered.

(Cross-posted from Rain, No Play)

Labels: 2007 world cup, lara, retire, west indies, world cup

Thus spake Sean @ 10:35 am | Sledge/Read 3 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

The first captaincy change - Shoaib Malik is Pakistan's skipper

The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced that Shoaib Malik is the new Pakistan captain until the end of the year.

Other captains expected to be cast aside in the near future, as a result of their teams' performances in the World Cup, are Brian Lara (possibly both tests and ODIs) and Michael Vaughan (ODIs).

I do expect Stephen Fleming to quit as captain, possibly handing over to Daniel Vettori.

The one captain on thin ground would possibly be Rahul Dravid while no-one knows what would happen to Prosper Utseya.

Labels: 2007 world cup, captaincy, dravid, england, fleming, india, lara, pakistan, shoaib malik, stephen fleming, utseya, vaughan, world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 4:33 pm | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Staying in the present

One of my favourite cricketers, Martin Crowe, gave a very good explanation on a talk show with Harsha Bhogle a few years ago, about how on earth he managed to get out to Arjuna Ranatunga (16 test wickets) after making 299 at Wellington in 1991.

His answer was brilliant and, to me, it is applicable in each and every aspect of our lives. I'm not quoting him, but he said something like he was thinking about how he would celebrate becoming the first New Zealander to score a triple century, about how the crowd would cheer him, etc. He wasn't focussing on the next ball. His aim should have been to score a run (at least) if the ball was there to be hit, or to block it out if it was a good ball. He wasn't in the present, though. As a result, he got out, to Ranatunga.

Sri Lanka, if Asantha de Mel, their chief selector is to be believed, rested Vaas and Murali for the game against Australia to ensure that the two bowlers were preserved for the finals against Australia.

It was a decision, a ploy, to keep our key strike bowlers away from the Australian game. We wanted to bring the players out for the finals with Australia. We did not want to give the Australians a free dress rehearsal. We are saving our armoury for the finals,

de Mel obviously contradicted Jayawardene who said earlier that the duo had been rested to ensure that they didn't aggravate existing niggling injuries. I've admired Sri Lanka's cricket throughout the tournament. But if what de Mel says is right, I hope they don't even get to the final. I'm not necessarily saying so, since teams can have specific strategies. But you never assume you're going to get to a final, especially when you need to win a semi-final to get to the final.

de Mel's comments would undoubtedly fire up South Africa and New Zealand, assuming that South Africa play Australia and New Zealand play Sri Lanka like I wrote earlier today, since he implies that Sri Lanka will defeat New Zealand and Australia will do likewise to South Africa.

Labels: 2007 world cup, australia, martin crowe, ranatunga, sri lanka, world cup, world cup final

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:11 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

England out of the World Cup

Labels: 2007 world cup, andrew hall, england, graeme smith, ian botham, south africa, vaughan, world cup

Thus spake Unknown @ 7:23 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

SA takes 10 wickets - finally

For me, the most impressive part of the win of yesterday, was the fact that SA took 10 wickets (2nd time this tournament previous was the win against Sri Lanka). Finally SA takes 10 wickets. I assume the pitch had something to do with it, and also the pressure of this crunch game may have gotten to England, but SA took 10.

This feat will prove the real challenge when SA will (almost 100% likelihood) play Australia in St Lucia. If SA can make some inroads, and take wickets semi-regularly, the game will be on, and it will be tight.

But SA takes wickets like this: Create pressure, and then take the wicket. The only 1 ball wicket taker is Ntini, but he is not on song this world cup. I guess I have to say Langeveldt too, as he has a hat-trick behind his name.

The next exciting game is NZ vs Aus, and I am really, really looking forward to that.

If NZ can beat Australia, then they could have slight doubts when SA gets them, and it could count for SA. But if Australia beats them, they may have overconfidence, and it seems SA is peaking at the moment.

Labels: 2007 world cup, england, south africa, world cup

Thus spake Reenen @ 4:20 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

World Cup semi-finalists decided

South Africa have joined Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in the semi-final list after whipping England at Barbados. It is fair to say that the four best sides of the tournament will play the semis, for none of the other contenders with a long shot, England and West Indies, have played well enough to deserve a place in the last four.

Although the remaining games are of academic interest since the semis lineup is already decided, what will be of interest is who plays who in the semi finals at Jamaica and St. Lucia. If Australia win against New Zealand, they will obviously top the table. That would also more or less ensure that Sri Lanka would be #2 assuming Sri Lanka whip Ireland today. Even if Australia lose to New Zealand, as long as it isn't a humiliating defeat, their net run-rate will ensure that they will top the table. South Africa's net run rate is the lowest of the four. It is so low that it would take some strange and terrible cricket from the other teams to allow South Africa to improve their ranking. So it is very very likely that the semi-final lineup would be Sri Lanka v New Zealand on 24 April at Jamaica and Australia v South Africa at St. Lucia.

Most of the games in Jamaica in this World Cup have been low-scoring ones, Pakistan v Zimbabwe where Pakistan made 349 being the only time a side made 250 at the ground. St. Lucia seems to have assisted batsmen a little more, with 3 scores above 250.

We're now finally nearing the business end of the tournament, and it feels ridiculous that although the semi-finalists are decided, we've to wait for nearly another week before the first semi-final! I really hope that the ICC and the organizers of the 2011 World Cup do something about the scheduling so that people retain interest in the tournament.

Labels: 2007 world cup, australia, england, new zealand, south africa, sri lanka, world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 10:44 am | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

What is it about Grenada?

Grenada, a tiny island of just over 100,000 residents, has been the scene of some 'indiscretions' by at least two cricket teams at the World Cup. The slogan of the Grenada Board of Tourism is "Spice Up Your Life" and some cricketers definitely have been enjoying the Spice Isle to the maximum. Apparently Grenada has quite a party scene!

On Good Friday (April 6) night, a group of West Indian cricketers were enjoying themselves at Grenada's Club Bananas, when an irrate fan accosted one player in particular and brandished a firearm at him. Maybe the fan was upset at seeing the West Indians partying only days before the crucial April 10 South Africa game while they were humiliated in their previous three Super 8 matches. Fortunately, no one was hurt during the incident. Team spokesman Imran Khan confirmed the incident and stressed that the player involved was not Brian Lara as had been reported in the media.

Now comes word that several South African players were seen intoxicated after late night drinking also in Grenada last Saturday night. This was the night of their 5 wicket loss to New Zealand. It seems that they needed to drown their sorrows away as they stare down another disappointing World Cup campaign.

To be fair, while these latest incidents happened in Grenada, teams have been enjoying themselves all over the Caribbean. England ex-vice captain Andrew Flintoff's drunken pedalo incident happened in St. Lucia, while West Indian team members have reportedly been spotted partying at clubs in Guyana and captain Lara was photographed enjoying the carnival at the Mas Camp in Jamaica during the first round.

I wonder why we haven't heard stories about the Australians, Sri Lankans or New Zealanders out in the clubs. They must be too busy with their cricket. The party-poopers!

(Cross posted from Rain, No Play)

Labels: 2007 world cup, grenada, world cup

Thus spake Sean @ 9:26 am | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]