Cricket digs its own grave

Yesterday was a bad day if you were a fan of cricket, and wanted the game to survive. Funnily though, 8 out of the 10 test playing nations were involved in games yesterday and it should have been a moment of celebration, because its not something that happens too often.

Really, it should have been a fantastic sequence of games. Imagine someone in India would start watching the Trans-Tasman trophy test from 6 in the morning, switch to the England v India ODI at 9 am, then move on to the Zimbabwe-Sri Lanka ODI around 1 pm and then the Bangladesh-South Africa test at 2 pm. So basically there was cricket for something like 15 hours of the day.

The problem was that of the 4 games, 2 were guaranteed to be mismatches, and going by the past two one-dayers, the Eng-Ind ODI was also expected to be one. As it turned out, the NZ-Aus test and the Eng-Ind ODI were really enthralling to follow, while even a passionate fan of the game like me couldn't really bother about the remaining two games. Surely, that's not a good thing for cricket!

Zimbabwe collapsed from 124/3 in 27 overs to 127 all out in 31! Murali got 3 in an over, Mendis got 2 in an over. Bangladesh, after conceding 441 to South Africa, including a score of 299/1 at the end of the first day (after choosing to field first, no less, thus qualifying for a Cricket 24x7 captaincy clanger award!) were in danger of being dismissed for less than 100 and only managed to get 150 because of Mushfiqur Rahum & Shahadat Hossain. The big question was if Graeme Smith would take the huge risk and impose the follow-on!

As it turned out, while the on-field quality was poor in these two games, the other two interesting games showcased the worst of cricket's rules.

Let's start with the Australia v New Zealand test, where Daniel Vettori won the toss and sent Australia in despite the fact that the last time a visiting team won a test after sending Australia in was 1986!

Having batted for all of 20 balls, after coming in to bat at #5, Michael Clarke took a juice break. Why didn't the umpires step in and tell him to take his water break during the drinks or lunch interval? If the conditions are hot and humid, as they presumably were at the Gabba yesterday, why can't the umpires carry around a bottle or two of Gatorade (with ICC sponsor logo etc. on it) with them and get the players to take a swig whenever they feel thirsty? Instead, the 12th man or 13th man runs out during an break (in-between overs, or when a third umpire referral is pending, or when the ball is being retrieved/changed) and time is unnecessarily wasted waiting for the errand boy to get his fat arse off the field of play.

Then, after Clarke had finished his juice, it was ridiculous that New Zealand's bowlers & fielders hadn't yet gone back to their marks and were not ready to bowl. Australia were 55/3 at that stage. Any team that was desperate to make a mark would have been all set to have a go. An over or so later, Clarke got hit in the abdomen guard, and another bottle of juice was ferried out to him. That just proves my point - the umpires should keep a bottle or two with them so that the 12th man doesn't have to run these stupid errands.

It isn't just test cricket that showed the rules to be silly yesterday. The India v England one-dayer first was truncated to 49 overs a side even though play started 45 minutes late. What's the big deal about 1 over a side being reduced? That's like hardly 4-5 minutes each innings. So they really could have just gone in with a 50-over game.

Then, as it happened during the England v New Zealand one-dayer earlier this year, although play was lost, the lunch break was barely impacted. It's not as though the players have a seven course meal at lunch. In any case, only 13-15 out of the 22 players, and the umpires, will have to get their lunch done rapidly. If the ostrich ICC doesn't want to change the rules on truncating the lunch break, at least the umpires could be given the authority to accept a request from both captains to shorten the break!

The other problem was that the floodlights couldn't be used. This is something that I wrote about after the India v Australia test at Bangalore. It is downright stupid to require both teams to agree on usage of floodlights. It should be the host association's responsibility to provide good quality floodlights. The ICC must lay down & enforce the rule that all grounds which host tests, one-day internationals and Twenty20 internationals must have lights of an acceptable quality. If the lights are non-existent or aren't good enough, then the venue gets struck off until the lights are fixed. If the game is impacted due to bad light, (the floodlights don't work at all or don't provide quality & sufficient lighting) then the game is awarded to the visiting team. If the venue is a neutral one, the game is a draw/no-result.

Lastly, how on earth does Tony Greig manage to get away with commenting on a test match when he's so completely involved (on the executive board, no less!) with the ICL? Surely the BCCI has been sleeping. If it can prevent players from signing up for counties that have ICL players on the roster, it can also put pressure on boards to ensure that the broadcasters and telecasters don't have anyone associated with the Indian Cricket League on their list of commentators or anchors!

Labels: bad light, bcci, cricket 24x7 captaincy clanger, eng v ind 2008, icc, lunch, minnows, ostrich, playing conditions

Thus spake Jagadish @ 5:36 am | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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Collingwood targets 'inexperienced' Indian middle-order

At the press conference before the start of the second ODI against India, Paul Collingwood, England's skipper until a few months ago, laid out England's plans of world domination competing in the one-dayers against India.

• Get the tall big fast bowlers to bounce out the puny Indians.
  
• Get early wickets.
  
• Put pressure on the inexperienced middle order.

The 'inexperienced' middle order that he refers to has over 400 ODIs between three players (51 for Suresh Raina, 29 for Rohit Sharma, 215 for Yuvraj Singh & 121 for Mahendra Singh Dhoni).

I guess if he feels that way about the 'experience' factor, it's his opinion and he's entitled to it. So can we then assume that England will not revert to the oft-repeated 'inexperienced team' excuse if (or when?) they do get mercilessly thrashed in the rest of the series?

After all, the England lineup for the first one-dayer had Ian Bell (50 ODIs), Matt Prior (28), Owais Shah (47), Kevin Pietersen (82), Andrew Flintoff (133), Paul Collingwood (149), Ravi Bopara (28), Stuart Broad (37), Samit Patel (7), Steve Harmison (51) & James Anderson (97).

Update: Just realized that Kevin Pietersen is the latest entrant to the Cricket 24x7 Captaincy Clanger club. He put in India at Rajkot after winning the toss and watched them make a humongous 387, and obviously England lost! Only 15 other captains have done it, with Ranatunga & Ashraful having done it twice!

Labels: cricket 24x7 captaincy clanger, eng v ind 2008, england, excuses

Thus spake Jagadish @ 6:10 am | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
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Don't send the opposition in to bat around the 20th of March

It has already happened once earlier: Australia v India @ the Wanderers on 23 March 2003.

Rahul Dravid did exactly what Ganguly did, the only differences being that it was in a test starting on 18 March, against England at the Wankhede.

Surely this also finds a place in the test blunders hall of shame, along with Ricky Ponting giving England first strike at Edgbaston last year, Nasser sending Australia in at Brisbane, Azhar sending England in at Lord's in 1990 and a few others. The one-day list is crying out for some additions. Will there be any in the seven one-dayers?

Labels: cricket 24x7 captaincy clanger

Thus spake Jagadish @ 12:19 am | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Trescothick wins award

While it isn't (obviously) currently as prestigious as what Flintoff won a few days ago, England's stand-in skipper Marcus Trescothick has been awarded the inaugural "Cricket 24x7 Clanger" award. We will also nominate him for a place in the next edition of Classic Cricket Clangers.

Just what did Marcus Trescothick do to gain this nomination? Well, he won the toss and perhaps banking on the advantage provided, sent Pakistan in to bat at Karachi. All he ended up doing was watching helplessly as his bowlers got mauled for 356 runs. A special mention for Younis Khan, who was out for a duck, after facing two balls.

Trescothick however isn't the first such captain and it is highly likely he won't be the last either. If ever we do institute a lifetime achievement award, India's then skipper Sourav Ganguly will certainly be one of the nominees, for sending Australia in to bat at Johannesburg in a World Cup final and staring at a target of 360. Special mentions for Zaheer Khan and Srinath for their combined blistering opening spell which set Australia up.

Interestingly enough, three other such clangers happened in World Cup games, two of them featuring [then] minnows. Sri Lanka's captain Duleep Mendis put West Indies in at Karachi in the 1987 Reliance World Cup and saw Viv Richards blast 181 off 125 balls as West Indies made 360. Special mentions for Richie Richardson who was dismissed for a golden duck and Asantha de Mel who disappeared for 97 runs from 10 overs, but had the last laugh when he took Viv's wicket.

Maurice Odumbe's faith in his bowlers was proved unjusified as Sri Lanka piled up 398 at Kandy, the highest total in one-day history, in the 1996 World Cup. Aravinda de Silva made 145. A special mention for Hashan Tillakaratne, run out first ball for a duck.

Sri Lanka were at the receiving end in 1999 when Arjuna Ranatunga sent India in at Taunton, probably banking on India's batting faring poorly in swinging conditions. Sourav Ganguly (183) and Rahul Dravid (145) put on 318 in 45 overs as India scored 373. Special mentions for Ajay (thanks Minal) Sachin Tendulkar (2 in 3 balls), Ajay Jadeja (5 in 4 balls), Robin Singh (first ball duck) and Chaminda Vaas, who took a wicket with his fifth ball and saw his remaining 55 deliveries disappear for 78 runs with no hope of a wicket.

Tatenda Taibu played the perfect host and asked New Zealand to bat first at Bulawayo in the first match of the triangular series earlier this year, also involving India. He hadn't reckoned with Lou Vincent adding Taibu to his Christmas cards list after scoring 172, with New Zealand making 397, one short of Sri Lanka's record. But they only got to bat for 44 overs, so they could have actually scored more than 450. A special mention for Andy Blignaut, whose two wickets in 9 overs cost 48 runs each.

A few months after manhandling Kenya (above), Sri Lanka learnt a wonderfully valuable lesson: Sometimes you're the pigeon, sometimes you're the statue. Ranatunga sent Pakistan in at the Nairobi Gymkhana and watched Shahid Afridi create a world record in his first innings, a century in 37 deliveries as Pakistan made 371. A very special mention for Azhar Mahmood, out without facing. One for Jayasuriya as well, conceding 94 from his 10 overs.

So which one do you think has been the best worst clanger of them all? Let us restrict ourselves to one-dayers at this point in time!

Labels: cricket 24x7 captaincy clanger

Thus spake Jagadish @ 12:46 am | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
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