BCCI & TEN Sports, ICC "Hall of fame" and Michael Vaughan retires

Sometime last week, the BCCI announced that India would play a tri-series in Sri Lanka, with New Zealand being the third team. The announcement came a few days after India were thrashed at the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup leading a lot of folks, including the coach Gary Kirsten, to proclaim that fatigue was one of the main reasons for the pathetic showing.

Maybe the BCCI was making a point - "You chaps can keep bleating about burnout. Until you actually collectively start pulling out of series, we'll keep milking you for what it's worth". So doesn't this previously unscheduled 4-match ODI series present a wonderful opportunity for players like the skipper Dhoni, Ishant, Gambhir and Yuvraj to excuse themselves from this tour?

Maybe there's a commercial angle that doesn't seem so obvious here. This would be the 3rd consecutive unscheduled series (or hastily arranged series) that is being played in a country where TEN Sports has the telecast rights for the Indian TV audience. The first was the ODI series in Sri Lanka and the second is the on-going 4-match ODI series in West Indies.

It does seem too much of a coincidence. But perhaps not when you realize that TEN Sports was in fact launched in India by none other than Lalit Modi and his MEN distributed the channel for a few years.

TEN Sports is partly owned by Zee, and the BCCI has basically not been on talking terms with Zee (Subhash Chandra) ever since he took the BCCI to court over the BCCI's allotment of TV rights 4-5 years ago when Zee Sports first won the rights only for the BCCI to move the goalposts when ESPN-Star bleated.

Now, after the BCCI announced an amnesty scheme for those affiliated with the ICL, maybe the BCCI and Zee Sports are becoming friends again. Maybe, like I predicted a year ago, the ICL would be wound-up and the quid pro-quo would involve TV rights, IPL team ownership, etc.

So maybe the new-found bonhomie explains why the BCCI is scheduling matches in these countries/regions. After all, surely the BCCI would have earned more revenue (gate proceeds, in-stadia advertising, etc.) if the games had been played in India.

Now, moving on to the ICC. At the start of the year, the ICC announced that it was creating a "Hall of fame" and the first list would have 55 players.

That '55' number sounds so arbitrary. Why wasn't it 50, surely a more 'round' number? Or did the ICC think they'd create 5 teams of 11 players each from the first batch of inductees? Given that the only wicket-keepers they've picked are Knott, Marsh and Walcott (who only kept wickets in 15 out of the 44 tests he played in), there's no way they could have got 5 playing XIs.

Ok, so that 55 is just a number picked out of the someone's nose. What was the criteria for picking these players? Test records? ODI records? Contribution to the advancement of cricket [especially applicable for those who played in the first 2-3 decades of test cricket perhaps]? Domestic cricket records? Gut-feel? Only those who'd retired before a specific date? There're a few players who really make me wonder about the criteria.

Barry Richards is universally considered to be among the best batsmen who never got to showcase his wares long enough in test cricket (4 tests at a batting average of 72 against a bowling 'attack' of Garth McKenzie, Ashley Mallett and John Gleeson). Watching this video of him batting convinces me that the perception about him isn't wrong. Yet, the hard facts are that he only played 7 innings.

Was David Gower such a good player? Obviously he was a very attractive batsman to watch, and was good enough to make bowlers look ridiculous. But he didn't do it often enough, and most certainly not when the bowling was of decent quality (averaging 33 against West Indies, for example).

Javed Miandad retired from international cricket multiple times, the last occasion being after Pakistan were knocked out of the 1996 World Cup. Martin Crowe played his last international cricket game 3-4 months before Miandad retired. So clearly 1995 doesn't seem to be the cut-off year. Perhaps it is 1996. Why 1996?

Surely, if David Gower finds a place on the basis of him being lovely to watch, Crowe must be a shoo-in, especially considering he averaged 45 against West Indies, 50 against Pakistan and 48 against Australia!

As noted in multiple tweets, Michael Vaughan retired from all forms of professional cricket yesterday, 11 months after he quit as captain. Exactly 3 years ago, I wrote about how he was only 32 and nearly retired because of his wonky knee.

Vaughan was a very pleasing batsman to watch, especially in 2002 and early 2003 when he was consistently dismantling India's and Australia's bowlers. However, the runs pretty much dried up after that series, and the most he averaged in a year after 2002 was 47.6 in 2007. It certainly wasn't for lack of opportunity, since between 2003 and 2008, he played at least 9 tests every year, including against West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

The reality is that Vaughan under-achieved as a batsman. On that front, I'd rank him alongside Stephen Fleming, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly and Damien Martyn (until 2-3 years ago, Mahela Jayawardene would have also been included in this list). TV commentary, newspaper columns, reality TV adjudication, etc. beckon and I hope he does well in his new roles.

Labels: ashes, ashes 2009, bcci, book cricket, england, hall of fame, icc, lalit modi, retire, ten sports, tv rights, vaughan

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:23 pm | Sledge/Read 6 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Gunther glares at Andre Nel retirement press conference

In perhaps not too surprising a move, Andre Nel has announced his retirement from international cricket and will be joining Surrey from this English cricket season. He isn't actually joining them as an overseas player. Since he is South African, and since South Africa has a trade agreement with the European Union (see "Kolpak Ruling" text), he is eligible to ply his trade in the UK and not be treated as an immigrant/foreign worker.

Naturally, this suits Surrey, because now they can actually sign up some other player as an overseas player. The surprising bit though is that as per the ECB rules, players are eligible to be picked as 'Kolpak players' only if they have quit domestic cricket in their country and haven't played first-class cricket in the previous 12 months. In the case of Nel, the latter isn't true, since he's been playing the current domestic season in South Africa. As recently as 3 weeks ago, he was playing for Gauteng. I guess this means the ECB has agreed for an exception on that clause.

The reason I reckon the retirement news isn't too surprising is because he hasn't been picked for South Africa for over a year now, and the likes of the Morkels & Steyn have firmly established themselves as the next-generation quicks.

Andre Nel did a pretty decent job for South Africa, typically bowling first change or second change, and still picking up 123 wickets at an average of ~ 32 and strike rate of 62.

However, it isn't just his bowling that we'll recall. I'm fairly sure he's probably the only cricketer to claim that his alter ego plays cricket, by the name of Gunther. Sounds crazy isn't it?

He was first in the news when he bounced & hit Donald in a domestic game and burst into tears for felling his idol. He's not spent too much time away from the headlines since then.

I daresay he's made a lot of entertaining viewing over the years, with his odd bowling style, his glaring & eye-balling, his antics, constant chattering, etc. At times, he made Dennis Lillee look like Javagal Srinath when it came to body language. The risk with the antics though is that sometimes you're the pigeon, and sometimes you're the statue.

Labels: book cricket, england, kolpak, nel, retire, south africa, surrey

Thus spake Jagadish @ 10:13 pm | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Hayden announces retirement

A few hours ago, as we noted on Twitter, Matthew Hayden announced his retirement from all representative cricket, including book cricket. You can also see the video of his press conference.

As has been made obvious far too often on this blog, Hayden ranks pretty high in our list of "must-hate" cricketers. So that pretty much guarantees we aren't going to waste too much time in nostalgia.

Is it good riddance? Naah, we'll miss the verbal diarrhea for sure!

Labels: australia, book cricket, hayden, retire

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:25 am | Sledge/Read 11 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Anil Kumble retires

It was a piece of news that I'd been dreading for the last couple of days. Anil Kumble was clearly not going to play at Nagpur, given that he was coming back from one injury and ended up suffering another. The final test was beginning four days after the Kotla one ended, which meant time to recover was almost non-existent. His days as a test cricketer were also coming to an end, and playing the series against England was highly unlikely since for today's Indian cricketers, the satisfaction is when you retire after winning against Australia or Pakistan, compared to doing so after an England series.

So in a sense, I was quite prepared for the retirement announcement when it came, late on day five of the test. Yet, that didn't prevent me from choking up, shedding a tear or two, and feeling quite emotional. I didn't quite feel this emotional when the news of Sourav Ganguly's retirement trickled in.

For starters, Ganguly's been a regular for 12 years. But Kumble has been part of the furniture for nearly two decades. Two decades accounts for 80% of the time that I've followed cricket with any degree of seriousness. Also, I'd always felt that Ganguly would be the first to go. It's not as though Kumble had a couple of years more left in him, but it is much more easier to replace someone with 7000 test runs than someone with 600 test wickets! Think about it - 600 wickets is about the same as 12,000 runs (if you assume that a 5 wicket haul is about the same as a century) while 7,000 runs is like 350 wickets. They're both tough acts to replace, but match winning bowlers (& especially spinners) are harder to come by because pitches are so much more flatter nowadays.

To me, as a cricket fan, the emotional bonding with Anil has been different from what it was for Sourav. Although both had similar traits (enormous pride, refusal to take a step back, relentlessly aggressive, incorrectly tagged with labels such as "can't spin" or "can't play bouncy stuff", both made spectacular comebacks, both did a wonderful job of helping/grooming youngsters, etc.), they were as different as chalk and cheese. I don't think Anil Kumble has ever turned up in the match referee's room charged for an offense that he committed. In contrast, match referees would, especially when Ganguly was captain, block a half-hour slot in their calendars marked 'Code of conduct hearing with Indian captain at the end of the game' as soon as they had confirmation that he was leading the side.

In any case, this isn't the forum to analyze and contrast Ganguly & Kumble. Let me stick to Kumble.

Anil, you've been an inspiration to an entire generation of cricketers in India. You've symbolized the adage of giving 100% and playing for the team, regardless of fitness, form or match situation. When Harbhajan was picked as the main spinner for the 2001 series, I've seen you at the nets, arm in sling, mentoring him. Yet, when he was continuously picked as the first-choice spinner, you manage to reinvent your bowling almost completely, to ensure that even if the average went up marginally (27 to 29), the strike rate reduced (70 to 65). Yet, there're a few folks (admittedly myopic Aussies) who bizarrely rate Stuart MacGill higher.

The batting has improved by leaps and bounds in the recent past. There was the test century at The Oval. Later, at Sydney, during the final stages, you were the only one holding up the fort. At Adelaide, there was another superb effort to help the side go past 500. As for the fielding, maybe now we'll have to look for a specialist gully fielder, or agree with Gavaskar's frequent rant and stop putting in a fielder there!

As a result of you not having featured in ODIs consistently from 2003 or so, people with short memories have probably forgotten that you are in the top 10 ODI wicket takers list too. Whenever the opposition batsmen had taken a special liking to the medium paced stuff doled out, the captain would always throw you the ball by the 10th over, expecting you to take wickets and control the flow of runs. He'd also need you to take wickets between the 20th and the 40th over. Oh, and he would also need you around during the slog!

Let's just say the captaincy wasn't quite your cuppa, and I disagreed with appointing you ahead of Dhoni.

It's been a privilege watching you play. I really hope the BCCI doesn't waste a wonderful opportunity to ensure that the leg-spin successors (Mishra, Chawla, etc.) continue to gain from your gyaan.

Previous posts on Kumble: 50+ caught Dravid bowled Kumble dismissals, 1000 first-class wickets, India v Pakistan at Eden, 2004 - a year of plenty, going past Kapil's 434, ODI future, Can he go past 500?, 7/48 on day one & 400 test wickets.

As for the game per se, I think the turning point was the defensive declaration on day two. India should have declared at 550. When it became apparent that there was no declaration at that time, my jaw dropped. Those extra 50 runs were actually quite meaningless. The pitch wasn't helping the bowlers at all, so India could have actually bowled another hour at Australia's batsmen. Instead of ending the day at 50/0, they could have been 2 down. Defensive declarations seem to be a favourite with Indian captains, at least in the recent past, - Sydney 2004 and Oval 2007 come to mind.

All of Australia's batsmen have now scored runs. That's not a good scenario for India who're still missing out on runs from Dravid. Australia's bowlers still haven't got their act together while India's were totally ineffective at Delhi. The pitch has had a significant role to play - it was totally flat. If 22 wickets fall over the course of 5 days, 5 on the last day & 8 being the most wickets to fall in a day's play, then there's a serious problem with it. Nice 'retirement gift' from the curator!

The Nagpur test is at a new stadium. With new stadiums, pitches can behave unpredictably - either assist spin because of being underprepared, or assist batsmen throughout because of being overprepared. If it's the latter, I wouldn't be surprised if Australia sneak in a win.

To end on a statistical note, Laxman became the 5th player to score a double century and a fifty without being dismissed. So far, Anil Kumble and Shane Warne are the only ones to take 500 wickets and score 2000 runs in tests, and Kumble is the only one to take 500 wickets and score a test century! Kumble is #2 on the list of most balls bowled in internationals and has conceded the most runs.

Labels: aus v ind 2008, book cricket, india, kumble, retire

Thus spake Jagadish @ 10:00 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Breaking news: Sourav Ganguly announces retirement

News trickling in just now - Sourav Ganguly has announced his retirement. He will be quitting after the test series against Australia.

It is unclear if he will be retiring from all forms of cricket, including book cricket. Remember, he captained the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL last year. Will he play in the 2009 edition?

The retirement, in my opinion, is poorly timed. The announcement means that he will definitely be picked for all four tests. It puts immense pressure on him, and the team. Just think back to Steve Waugh's farewell series against India in 2003/04. I'm fairly sure that Waugh's decision to announce his retirement before the series definitely impacted Australia's performances.

The other reason it is poorly timed is that it basically ensures that the likes of Kaif, Badrinath, Raina or Yuvraj have no hope of playing the series, barring injury affecting the rest of the middle-order.

Almost exactly a month ago, he declared that he had two more years of cricket left in him. So what has changed now in the meantime, especially considering he was picked for the first two tests?

There's so much you can write about him - being picked in 1992, a comeback in 1996, becoming India's best batsman in ODIs for 3-4 years (despite the presence of Tendulkar), his captaincy, the fact that the Indian team drastically improved its away performances when he was captain, driving opponents nuts with his own version of 'mental disintegration', the shirtless celebration at Lord's while continously mouthing obscenities, his repeat visits to the match referee room, the brilliant knock at Brisbane, his spat with Greg Chappell, being picked as an all-rounder, being picked for the tour of Pakistan in 2006, his batting in South Africa during his 2006 comeback, his double hundred late last year, his brilliant 80-odd against South Africa a few months ago, and so much more!

Will we hear of another retirement when the series ends?

Sourav, thanks for the memories.

Labels: aus v ind 2008, book cricket, breaking news, ganguly, india, retire

Thus spake Jagadish @ 5:04 pm | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Mushtaq Ahmed retires from county cricket after his right arm goes on strike

For the past few years, the only competitive cricket Mushtaq Ahmed had been playing was while representing Sussex, the 2007 County Championship winners, in England's domestic tournaments. Hence, his retirement from county cricket also potentially means an end to his cricket career. It is unlikely that he will play in Pakistan's domestic tournaments for two reasons: his knee trouble is obviously troubling him, and he signed up for the ICL. Nevertheless, the book cricket league can use his skills!

The Sussex CCC press release says

Taking 598 wickets in all competitions and bowling over 26,000 overs, Mushtaq has bowled his way in to the record books and has become an integral part of the Sussex community.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that amounts to a wicket every 43 overs. In my opinion, that is quite a pathetic strike rate (260+ balls per wicket). Admittedly it includes bowling in limited overs games where you could go 2-3 games without a wicket despite bowling 10 overs each time. Even then, a strike rate of 260 is abysmal. I know its probably unfair to compare it with test bowling strike rates, but Mushy would be at #2 in the all-time worst strike rate list! Funnily enough, #1 is Asoka de Silva, a very ordinary umpire who was in the wilderness for the past couple of years but is now #1 in the ICC's Elite Panel of umpires (#1 since the list is in alphabetical order!)

But there seems to be something fundamentally totally wrong about that stat. Mushy's been playing for Sussex since 2003. Over 6 years, if he's bowled 26000 overs, it works out to 4300+ overs per season. That is one heck of a bowling effort! In the previous 3 seasons, for which I was able to dig up information on Cricinfo, he had bowled 1894 overs in first-class cricket, 334 overs in List A games & 70 overs in T20 games, amounting to a total of 2298 overs in those forms of the game across 3 seasons. How could he have bowled 4300 overs a season!?

Then I suspected something. Could it have been 'over 26000 balls' instead of 'over 26000 overs'? That seemed a possibility, since it would have worked out to a strike rate of 40 or so. It was confirmed from CricketArchive's listing of Mushtaq Ahmed's bowling statistics for each team he represented in first-class, List A and Twenty20 games. He had bowled 26503 balls for Sussex, taking 598 wickets for them (strike rate of 44.32, avg. of 25.37).

Needless to say, this was a stupid gaffe from Sussex! Even worse, every single news agency and website used the numbers without any sort of thought about whether it made sense!

I didn't see too much of him, but whatever I did, convinced me that he would definitely be in my list of top 10 spinners over the last 15 years. He ends up with over 1400 first-class wickets.

He was Pakistan's assistant coach during the 2007 World Cup.

Labels: book cricket, england, mushtaq ahmed, pakistan, retire, statistic, sussex

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:50 am | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Jason Gillespie retires to play in the ICL

Jason Gillespie today announced his retirement from first-class cricket in Australia. He will be signing up for the Indian Cricket League.

Gillespie was dropped from the Ashes-losing Australian side in 2005, but he made a mini-comeback when he was picked against Bangladesh. He then scored a double century against them at Chittagong, on his birthday, which is very likely to remain the highest score by a nightwatchman for a very long time!

While he did pick up 8 cheap wickets in the series, he was never recalled to the side.

Here's the stat question: Is Gillespie's 201 the second highest score made by a batsman in his last test? I know for a fact that Ponsford scored over 250 in his last test.

Labels: australia, book cricket, gillespie, indian cricket league, retire, statistic, twenty20

Thus spake Jagadish @ 1:32 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Crisis time for cricket?

It doesn't seem like a great time to be a cricket administrator, especially if you aren't an Indian cricket administrator. I'd say this is a pretty testing time for cricket and I really hope the powers-that-be recognize it and fix the real problems.

New Zealand cricket could really do with some help. Shane Bond's NZ Cricket contract was terminated since he wanted to play in the Indian Cricket League. Scott Styris retired from test cricket to focus on playing limited overs cricket. He'd only played 8 tests in the last 3 years, compared to 49 ODIs and 13 Twenty20 games in that same period. I just don't understand exactly how playing 3 tests a year stressed him out. Most other players play between 8 and 12 tests a year on an average! Stephen Fleming may retire from test cricket less than a year after retiring from ODIs after the 2007 World Cup. A whole bunch of Pakistani cricketers, including Mohammad Sami and Naved-ul-Hasan Rana, have joined the ICL.

Update on 14 Feb: Stephen Fleming has confirmed that he will retire after New Zealand's upcoming test series against England.

The Indian Cricket League isn't the only reason why players are retiring. The Indian Premier League (website) is also likely to result in several cricketers in the twilight of their careers retiring to earn a lot of money for a few weeks of effort. Adam Gilchrist is possibly only the first of a long list. Australia's star players are at loggerheads with their cricket board over potential sponsor clashes in the Indian Premier League. Simon Taufel is indicating that he may not renew his umpiring contract with the ICC. Given the umpiring cock-ups we've seen recently and the number of umpires available/eligible, this is a huge problem for the ICC. I'm fairly sure quite a few English county sides are worried as well, since the star overseas players they have signed up, at huge costs, would miss a few weeks of their county commitments to play in the IPL. There was a suggestion by an administrator (possibly from the IPL committee) that the ICC's Future Tours Programme (FTP) could be changed to accomodate IPL tournaments.

But is it fair to assume that the BCCI is the only one which will be sitting pretty? I'm not so sure about it. As various commentators have observed, given the amount of money the franchise owners have pumped in, they will eventually demand that their players be more frequently available to them. Even if they agree to priority being given for international cricket commitments, the owners could insist that the players join the teams late and play IPL games instead of playing in warm-up games. Alternately, they could insist that players play for their IPL sides when they're rested or in-between tours. Will the IPL cannibalize the BCCI's domestic cricket tournaments? Eventually, could the IPL cannibalize international cricket per se to the extent that players will opt for the IPL over an international tour?

So what are the problems here?

• Availability of players: The IPL may insist, eventually when it is successful, that players need to spend more time playing their league rather than international cricket. Can cricket boards make it very clear to the IPL and the franchisees that their contracted players will be available only if they are fit and there are no international or domestic commitments? They may allow players who are dropped to participate in the IPL. Hence this implies that the board's international commitments and domestic cricket tournaments take precedence over the IPL tournaments.
  
• Players retiring to play in the IPL: Once a player retires from international cricket, they are no longer contracted to the cricket board. Hence the board cannot bar a player from playing in the IPL. At most, if the player is still playing domestic cricket, then his state association can do something about it.
  
• Umpires causing the same problems as players: Like Taufel is possibly hinting, he could join the IPL at the expense of his international umpiring career. Also, umpires could opt to umpire IPL games rather than tests or ODIs.
  
• Player/Umpire contracts being terminated since they want to be part of the ICL: This potentially results in a dwindling player/umpire pool for the cricket board since the current ICC policy is that the ICL is an unauthorized tournament.

Labels: australia, bcci, bond, book cricket, fleming, icc, india, indian cricket league, indian premier league, ipl 2008, new zealand, retire, stephen fleming, styris, taufel, twenty20, umpires

Thus spake Jagadish @ 6:00 pm | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Sanath Jayasuriya retires from tests, for now

Sanath Jayasuriya, dropped from the test side in 2005 first retired from test cricket in March 2006.

A couple of months later, he promptly reneged on his promise.

Confirming a report in The Sunday Times in November, Jayasuriya has now announced his retirement from tests, on the same day that he smacked James Anderson for six consecutive boundaries in an over.

18.1 Anderson to Jayasuriya, FOUR, wide and overpitched, dismissively thumped in the air over extra cover
18.2 Anderson to Jayasuriya, FOUR, dropped horrible one-day slash, the ball flies high to first slip, Bell gets both hands to it above his head but can't cling on ... that was travelling and Jayasuriya was saved by the fact he hit it so hard
18.3 Anderson to Jayasuriya, FOUR, square drive for four to add to Anderson's annoyance
18.4 Anderson to Jayasuriya, FOUR, pulled through square leg, a much better shot, genuine and timed
18.5 Anderson to Jayasuriya, FOUR, as is that, thumped high over extra cover to bring up his fifty off 62 balls
18.6 Anderson to Jayasuriya, FOUR, he can ... steered down to the vacant third man area, well placed and Anderson shakes his head in disbelief ... he could have had a wicket and instead he has 24 off the over.

Previous instances blogged about here: Lara v Kaneria, Afridi v Harbhajan and Sarwan v Munaf. The last batsman to hit all six balls of a six ball over for four was Chris Gayle.

*Yawn*: In other cricketing news, Murali took his 61st five wicket haul and 709th test wicket to go past Shane Warne.

Labels: book cricket, jayasuriya, murali, retire, warne

Thus spake Jagadish @ 6:16 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Darren Lehmann retires

Darren Lehmann announced his retirement from first-class cricket today.

He is one of two chaps to have hit the winning runs in a World Cup final, and most likely the only one to have authored the final act in two finals. He hit the winning runs in 1999 and caught Zaheer Khan, India's last wicket, in 2003.

Lehmann has not played international cricket since February 2005. He was named Cricketer of the Year in 2004. In 2003, he was banned for five games after screaming out a racist comment which was heard by the Sri Lankan team.

The fact that he announced his retirement from 'first-class cricket' indicates to me that he will, in all likelihood, join the Indian Cricket League or the Indian Premier League or the Universal Book Cricket League.

Labels: australia, book cricket, indian cricket league, indian premier league, lehmann, retire, twenty20

Thus spake Jagadish @ 7:18 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Craig McMillan retires

Craig McMillan, who once suffered the ignominy of not picked to play against Bangladesh, has just announced his decision to retire from international and domestic cricket.

Does this mean he will sign-up for the Indian Cricket League? Or will he be content playing book cricket?

Labels: book cricket, indian cricket league, mcmillan, new zealand, twenty20

Thus spake Jagadish @ 1:26 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

More joy expected today!

Mahesh wrote to us confirming that Ashley Giles will be announcing his retirement today. The Times had a one paragraph note on this.

The widely anticipated announcement of the enforced retirement of Ashley Giles, 34, the Warwickshire and England spin bowler, is expected to be made tomorrow. The 2005 Ashes hero, who has been plagued by a persistent hip injury, will admit defeat in his battle for fitness after surgery in Colorado failed to improve the problem.

Stop wondering if he's going to make it to the all-time book cricket XI. The answer is an emphatic NO!

Update: Here's the ECB Media Release.

Labels: book cricket, england, giles, injury, retire

Thus spake Jagadish @ 5:33 pm | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Nathan Astle quits cricket

Nathan Astle, who retired from international cricket earlier this year, has now quit all forms of cricket (excluding book cricket) and isn't in Canterbury's contracted players list.

This move guarantees him a spot in the All-Star ODI book cricket XI. The side now reads: Craig Wishart, Nathan Astle, Damien Martyn, Graham Thorpe, Michael Bevan (c), Andy Flower (wk), Chris Cairns, Heath Streak, Phil DeFreitas, Venkatesh Prasad and Allan Donald.

Labels: astle, book cricket, retire

Thus spake Jagadish @ 5:10 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Andy Flower picked for book cricket XIs

Andy Flower has quit first-class cricket and is now assistant to Peter Moores, England's coach after Duncan Fletcher quit during the World Cup.

As a result, Flower thus becomes eligible for the all-star book cricket XI. Given his awesome batting and safe wicket-keeping, he edges out Ridley Jacobs from the one-day XI. I'm also tempted to include him in the test XI ahead of Jack Russell, since the team would have 5 bowlers.

So the new teams, following Andy Flower's retirement and McGrath quitting cricket at the end of that whats-its-name tournament which involved 15 minnows, are:

Tests: Mark Richardson, Michael Slater, Nasser Hussain, Damien Martyn, Graham Thorpe, Andy Flower (wk), Chris Cairns, Heath Streak (c), Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Glenn McGrath and Allan Donald.

ODIs: Craig Wishart, Michael Slater/Nasser Hussain, Damien Martyn, Graham Thorpe, Andy Flower (wk), Michael Bevan (c), Chris Cairns, Heath Streak, Glenn McGrath and Allan Donald.

Labels: andy flower, book cricket, coach, england, flower, retire, zimbabwe

Thus spake Jagadish @ 1:55 am | 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 ]

Inzamam ends his one-day innings

This day, fifteen years ago, Inzamam made his first real impact in international cricket, with that brilliant 60*(37) v New Zealand in the 1992 World Cup semi-final.

Perhaps it was fitting that he ended his one-day innings today, facing almost the same number of balls, but only scoring 37 as Pakistan piled up 349 against Zimbabwe. He seemed determined to play as 'violent' an innings as he had magically done all those years ago. I remember watching that Auckland game live (?) and I was torn between admiring his batting & Moin's pluck and feeling sorry for my then favourite cricketer Martin Crowe who'd batted brilliantly. I'm sure New Zealand (and John Wright who led in Crowe's absence when New Zealand bowled) were quite confident of winning. The highest score against them in the competition was 230 by India. But Pakistan was the only side which they had lost to. As it turned out, a few overs of brilliance turned the game.

Inzamam retired from one-day cricket after Pakistan's shock defeat last week against Ireland.



While we will of course miss the comedy he provided (running between the wickets, his bear-like appearance, being dismissed 'obstructing the field', etc.), we will still get to see him in test cricket. Inzy's a wonderful test batsman - one of the better subcontinental batsmen when it comes to play pace and one of the best players of spin around.

Thanks for the memories, Inzy. Do let us know when you quit competitive cricket altogether. You're a welcome addition to the book cricket XI.

Labels: 2007 world cup, book cricket, inzamam, pakistan, retire, world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 12:00 am | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Adieu Astle

Nathan Astle today joined this winter's summer's other retirees, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, and lots of others.

Unfortunately he has not yet confirmed his retirement from book cricket. If he does, then he's assured a spot at the top of the order in the All-Star ODI side. It's arguable whether or not he'd make the Test side ahead of Mark Richardson and Michael Slater. New Zealand haven't had many good openers in recent years, and two of them have now retired!

Labels: astle, book cricket, retire

Thus spake Geoff @ 6:06 am | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Bye Bevo

Michael Bevan (ODI avg. 53.58, runs per inning 35.26, strike rate 74.16) announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. He thus becomes eligible for a spot in the All-Star Book Cricket XI.

Unfortunately, there's no way he's going to get into a test side ahead of middle-order batsmen like Hussain, Martyn and Thorpe. Bevan was coolness personified in the one-day game, no target beyond him. Try arguing with 4510 runs from positions 5, 6 and 7 from 138 innings and 1725 runs from 45 innings in successful chases! In fact, Bevan was quite successful at #4 where Australia tried him at that position between 2000 and 2001. I wonder why they pushed him back to #5 or #6 after that. Bevan's poor showing in the 2003/04 VB Series involving India and Zimbabwe where he only made 195 runs, most of them against Zimbabwe, was perhaps the main reason he got dropped a series later.

But there's absolutely no way he's going to miss out on a spot in the one-day side which would probably read: Craig Wishart, Michael Slater/Nasser Hussain, Damien Martyn, Graham Thorpe, Michael Bevan (c), Chris Cairns, Heath Streak, Phil DeFreitas, Ridley Jacobs (wk), Venkatesh Prasad and Allan Donald.

That's a pathetic opening pair. I'm sure we'll see this side become much better after the 2007 World Cup.

Labels: bevan, book cricket, retire

Thus spake Jagadish @ 5:57 pm | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

'Tis the time to retire

So, the rumours turned out to be reality. Shane Warne today confirmed that he was retiring from international cricket after the final Ashes test at Sydney.

Interestingly enough, England winning the 2005 Ashes was what made him stick around for one more year. So perhaps, we ought to be thanking England's victorious team of 2005 for giving us the privilege of watching his theatrics for another year!

Shane, it's been a pleasure watching you bowl perform, over the past 15 years, right from the time Ravi Shastri and Sachin Tendulkar tore into you at Sydney in early-1992. Have fun!

In other news retirements, Homesick Harmison has decided to retire from one-day international cricket.

England's one-day squad for the triangular one-day series, also involving Australia and New Zealand (I suppose it does take three sides to make a triangle. Then again, not involving Australia and New Zealand would perhaps be the only way England won that one-day series!), tentatively contains the wonderful ODI batsman, Michael Vaughan and "Mr. Can't bat, can't field", Monty Panesar. "Mr. Can bat, can keep", Geraint Jones has been put out to pasture. England're carrying two wicket-keepers, one of them a 36-year old, for a series where they're unlikely to feature in anything more than 8 games.

Updates:

Warne writes about how he told Ponting about his decision to quit.

The next aspect worth wondering about is how Australia will cope with the absence of Warne and McGrath from the next season/year/test tour. In fact, with Australia's next test series possibly in June (in Zimbabwe), and more likely to be in November, at home against Sri Lanka, I'm fairly sure that we will see a good sized exodus happening - on grounds of boredom, form, etc. While it is possible that Gilchrist will play on, Hayden's poor showing so far (except for one knock of 90), and him being overlooked for the World Cup, could fast-track his retirement. It'd be easier for Australia to cope without McGrath in one-dayers. But losing Warne and McGrath at the same time in tests could be devastating. McGrath's retirement thrusts Brett Lee (219 wickets from 57 tests, bowling avg. 32.4 and strike rate 54.2) into the forefront as the leader of the fast bowler pack, a role that I'm not convinced he can play, especially in test cricket.

I think Australia have missed a trick by not developing enough spin backup for Warne. The only serious contender is Stuart MacGill, who's shite and nearly 36. The others, like Nathan Hauritz, Dan Cullen and Cameron White, have hardly been given any opportunities in international cricket, especially to bowl in tandem with a master.

Myopic Christopher Martin-Jenkins rates MacGill as the #2 leggie! Just as well he didn't say #3 was Ian Salisbury or Chris Schofield.

Stuart MacGill, the second-best leg spinner in world cricket, who turns the ball as much as Warne, has a better disguised googly and has taken 198 wickets at 27 in his 40 Tests, will be an able replacement for a while if the selectors are prepared to overlook his volatile temperament.

Labels: ashes, ashes 2006, australia, book cricket, england, harmison, panesar, retire, shastri, tendulkar, vaughan, warne

Thus spake Jagadish @ 10:23 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath set to retire

Reports from Australia suggest that Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath are set to announce their retirement from test cricket effective from the end of the Ashes series.

This would mean that Shane Warne has retired from international cricket, since he quit one-day internationals effective from the 2003 World Cup, which he never played in. But he still won't find a place in the All-Star Book Cricket XI since, in all likelihood, he'll continue to play for Hampshire.

I'm fairly sure that Glenn McGrath will play at the 2007 World Cup.

Labels: ashes, ashes 2006, australia, book cricket, mcgrath, retire, warne

Thus spake Jagadish @ 1:33 pm | Sledge/Read 3 sledge(s)
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]