What motivates them to play in the IPL?

Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist, Ganguly, Kumble and Hayden have all retired, from all international and domestic cricket, in the last 2.5 years.

Yet, they all played in the IPL, both this season and the last.

What motivates them to play in the tournament? Is it the competitive urge? Is it the curiosity to find out if they're still good enough to compete with other current players? Is it the money? Did they retire because they were tired of living out of suitcases for nearly 9 months a year? Is it the will to try and master a relatively unfamiliar form of the game? Is it to pass on their decades of cricketing wisdom on to youngsters who'd be in awe of sharing the same dressing room with them?

If it is the competitive urge, why did they retire in the first place? Were they "pushed"? So maybe its a way of cocking a snoop at the selectors or team management.

Again, if it is about wanting to find out if they're still good enough, what's the big deal? They've excelled in their field over the past 10-15 years. So it is plain and obvious that even 1-2 years after retiring, they'd be much better than the average player at the IPL, perhaps even in the 80th percentile (i.e. in the top 20% of the players at the IPL). So why even try checking?

Is it about mastering T20 and learning "new tricks"? Quite possibly so, given that between all of them, they've played 24 T20 internationals and coincidentally, only the Aussies in that list (Hayden - 13, Gilchrist - 9 and McGrath - 2) have played T20 internationals.

Of the lot, it is fair to say that Gilchrist, Hayden, Warne and Kumble (perhaps in that order) have achieved the most in this format with McGrath having a great run last year but strangely not featuring in the playing XI at all this year while Ganguly has had two horrible tournaments barring 2-3 good knocks. Hayden and Gilchrist were the top run-scorers this season while Gilchrist was at #6 last time. Warne was the 2nd highest wicket-taker last time and slipped to #10 this time. Kumble had 2 of the 4 best bowling performances this time even as he got within 2 wickets of the purple cap. McGrath was in the top 10 wicket-takers last time. Ganguly had 2 entries in the top 11 innings scores last time around.

Is it about passing on their gyaan? Again, quite possibly so. I'm sure these chaps are nice enough to try and motivate their teammates through their attitude to preparation, their winning spirit, their focus, etc. Then again, barriers are bound to crop up in a team which has players from multiple countries/cultures. So not all the youngsters would be able to/keen to absorb the gyaan.

Were they sick and tired of being part of the tours & tournaments circus for the best part of 10+ years? Quite possible, because they would have felt the need to give more time to their families and the IPL is just a month-long tournament.

Is it about the money? Most certainly so. The money is huge, and even though McGrath would have been disappointed at not featuring in the playing XI, he earned quite a lot (he was "bought" last year for USD 350,000). None of these players would actually be in a situation where they desperately need money, but hey, who's going to be stupid enough to say no?!

As a parting note, Ganesh pointed me to 53-year old Shirley-Ann Bonaparte. What prompts her to play on, 30 years after she last turned out for West Indies' women's team, now representing the USA women's team?

Labels: ganguly, gilchrist, hayden, indian premier league, ipl 2009, kumble, mcgrath, twenty20, warne

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:23 pm | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
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ICC's "best ever" rankings

Yesterday, the ICC announced that Matthew Hayden was ranked 10th in the all-time 'best ever rating' list. I thought the announcement was rather unwarranted, except perhaps as a retirement present, for there wasn't really any other reason to make this announcement. Maybe visits to the ICC's website were dwindling. Perhaps Google AdSense wasn't giving them enough revenue.

Anyone could have visited the player rankings site and found out which batsmen or bowlers had the highest ratings. Any "all-time" list that doesn't include Sachin Tendulkar is bound to be viewed as casus belli by India's news-hungry media & clueless 'fans'. Thankfully, the BCCI hasn't reacted so far. Following the 'outrage', the ICC put out a clarification.

The original media release said "Such outstanding ratings can only be achieved by players who display consistent excellence over a prolonged period of time". The clarification said "The rankings give an indication of how players peaked during their careers but do not give a full picture of those players' level of consistency or longevity in the game" I'm fairly sure the two statements are contradictory when they refer to the correlation between the ranking & longevity.

Let's set the record straight - the 'best ever' ranking is a value for the peak performance of a player. It doesn't imply that is his career mean or median. All it provides is a rating, a value at a point in time (say after a test series). Based on the ICC's all-time list, it seems like ratings of 900 and above are very difficult for people to achieve (Tests: 25 batsmen, 19 bowlers & ODIs: 8 batsmen, 5 bowlers). It's the sort of rating you get from having multiple brilliant performances in the time gap between the ratings getting updated.

Sample this: Don Bradman had test scores of 132, 127*, 201 & 57* to help him get the all-time high rating of 961. Joel Garner had ODI bowling performances of 3/29, 2/26, 0/6, 2/16 & 4/10 (3/29 in 10 overs being his costliest effort) to help him get to a #1 rating of 940. Syd Barnes had test bowling performances of 3/26, 5/102, 7/56 & 7/88 for a #1 rating of 932 (and never played test cricket again!). Viv Richards had ODI scores of 51(50), 80*(39), 53(57) & 66(39) to get a #1 rating of 935.

With a huge "We told you so" smirk on my face, let me point out that nearly 2.5 years ago, just after the ICC Player Rankings site was launched, we wrote

To determine the 'best ever' batsmen and bowlers, the site uses the highest rating at a given point in time. Wouldn't it have been better, and a fairer judgement of who the best really is/was, if the players' ratings had been averaged over their career? If Sunil Gavaskar is ahead of Lara, Miandad, Haynes & Tendulkar in the all-time one-day batting list, Peter May and Matthew Hayden are ahead of Richards, Gavaskar & Lara in the all-time test batting list and Tony Lock is ahead of Warne, Lindwall and Trueman in the test bowling list and Ewen Chatfield is ahead of Kumble, Vaas & Wasim in one-dayers, then David Lloyd's backside is indeed a fire engine.

Just sample these to get an idea of how moronic this 'best ever' ranking is: Botham is a "better" test bowler than Marshall, Hadlee, Warne, Donald, Lillee, Gibbs, Holding, Kumble, Akram, etc. Gary Kirsten is a "better" ODI batsman than de Silva, Mark Waugh, Ganguly, Jayasuriya, Gilchrist, Ponting, Azhar, Inzamam, Symonds, Sehwag, etc. Maninder is a "better" ODI bowler than Akram, Bond, Bracken, Saqlain, Kumble, Warne, Imran, etc. Botham is a "better" test batsman than Zaheer Abbas, de Silva, Thorpe, Mark Waugh, Langer, etc.

Just take the entire ranking with a large bucket-ful of salt. May the farce be with you!

Labels: hayden, icc, rankings, tendulkar

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:40 pm | Sledge/Read 5 sledge(s)
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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)
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Hayden's hubris

Matthew Hayden told the Courier Mail that he felt he was going to be the obvious target of India's bowlers, especially Harbhajan Singh.

Having played over there and played well over there, I think I'm going to be the obvious target

I imagine he was referring to the verbals, because he averaged 30.5 from 8 innings and scored a single fifty during Australia's test series win in India in 2004.

I'm not implying that he's a crap batsman. But I do think his numbers (8200+ runs at an average of 53.5, with 30 centuries) are totally out of proportion with his ability & talent. I definitely hate the sight of him (obnoxious huge weed, perhaps?), maybe because of the way he looks so arrogant while batting. Viv Richards also showed his arrogance, but he had the ability for sure. In my opinion, Hayden's numbers are greatly inflated by poor bowling attacks. It's not his fault, for you can't expect him to throw away his wicket when he's facing pathetic bowlers.

That said, it's entirely likely that he will do very well in the forthcoming series in India. But it may well be a case of hubris.

Maybe Harbhajan should just say "We don't particularly care about Hayden. We're targetting Mitchell Johnson's batting since he averages 56 against us."

It was always on the cards though that Hayden's penchant for verbal diarrhea would reveal itself before the series started. He has always said stupid things.

• Sub-continental batsmen focus too much on personal landmarks.
  
• Wondering if Katich was dropped because he didn't convert his starts into big scores when he'd made 26, 30, 58, 39, 23, 9, 35 & 24 in the 2004 series in India.
  
• India's bowlers didn't know how to get him out, and were focussed on keeping him quiet, a charge that Harbhajan dismissed straightaway.
  
• Winning in India in 2004 drained Australia, so they screwed up the 2005 Ashes.
  
• Warns Monty Panesar that Australia's batsmen normally have left-arm spinners for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This, when Murali Kartik and (especially) Daniel Vettori had already taken enough wickets against Australia to roobish the claim.
  
• Challenging Ishant Sharma for a boxing bout.
  
• Calling Harbhajan an 'obnoxious little weed'.

Labels: aus v ind 2008, australia, hayden, sledging, verbal diarrhea

Thus spake Jagadish @ 1:14 am | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
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IPL - Injury Prone League?

The news that Matthew Hayden will return home from Australia's on-going tour of the West Indies has Jon Pierik (Herald Sun) up in arms, since Hayden apparently aggravated his achilles tendon injury while playing in the Indian Premier League.

However, Hayden is not the only player to miss out on international assignments because of an injury sustained or aggravated while playing in the IPL.

Zaheer Khan's ankle injury, which ruled him out of the tour to Australia after just one test as well as the home series against South Africa, apparently resurfaced while playing in the IPL.

Sachin Tendulkar didn't heed the recommendation by John Gloster that he take rest. He played the first test against South Africa and ended up missing the rest of the series as well as nearly half of his side's games in the IPL. Perhaps he was still unfit when he returned, since he didn't exactly fare too well, as is fairly obvious from the numbers: 188 runs from 7 innings at a strike rate of 106.

Now, he will be missing two ODI series because of the injury.

All this makes me wonder if talk about international cricket being more important than the IPL is hogwash. If that indeed were the case, players wouldn't be risking aggravating injuries when they had international commitments immediately after the IPL ended.

Labels: australia, hayden, india, indian premier league, injury, ipl 2008, tendulkar, twenty20, zaheer khan

Thus spake Jagadish @ 5:08 pm | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
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Some nitpicking on a superb day for cricket fans

This isn't a party-pooper sort of post, but I guess its the right day to get it off my chest, in no particular order.

• Harbhajan and Yuvraj shadow-boxing after Hayden got out was totally hilarious. I'm very surprised Ponting doesn't see the funny side of it. He told NDTV something like "Harbhajan finds new ways to celebrate. It wasn't very funny". I agree with you, Ricky. It's hard to find it funny when you're copping it! Then again, it certainly wasn't an unprovoked celebration!
  
• Apparently Harbhajan is in trouble with the match referee for making monkey gestures and spitting, both directed at a section of the SCG crowd. Is this guy a moron or what? He's just about managing to get into trouble every week! He was in a definite soup over the 'monkey' abuse issue, and evaded a ban because of a combination of inter-board politics, administrative gaffes and a lack of conclusive evidence.
  
• Brett Lee's beamer to Sachin Tendulkar is just another beamer in his international career. Notice how none of the commentators actually says 'beamer'. He seems to keep bowling one so regularly. Please find me other bowlers who do that. In 2005, he bowled one to Abdur Razzaq in retaliation to Razzaq bowling him a beamer. Then, it was McCullum's turn, which drove the Kiwis mad even as some Aussies made some pathetic excuses about lack of height, the ball slipping, it wasn't high enough to qualify as a beamer, etc.. He didn't apparently learn from his 'mistake', for he then bowled one to Trescothick during Australia's Ashes tour in 2005. I have absolutely no doubt that Tendulkar accepted the apology mainly to avoid yet another controversy.
  
• Was it really tough to lipread what Virat Kohli, the India under-19 team captain, was shouting after his side won the tournament? Hint #1: There were two words he kept repeating. Hint #2: The first word has 4 alphabets, the second has 3. Hint #3: The first word starts with f, the second starts with o. I know he was letting off steam. It's huge pressure for a young kid. But there're younger kids watching the television, those aspiring to be under-19 captains one day. Such language is unacceptable. After all, if the national team cricketers abuse opponents, or their mothers, it is assumed that it is a must-do thing in international cricket!

Labels: australia, beamer, Commonwealth Bank Series, harbhajan, hayden, india, lee, ponting, tendulkar, under-19 world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 12:35 am | Sledge/Read 3 sledge(s)
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Harbhajan v/s Hayden & Ponting

Apparently during an India v Australia game at Adelaide ten days ago or so, there was a fair amount of banter between Ponting and Harbhajan, going by this PTI report.

Apparently, Ponting kept having a go at Harbhajan in Adelaide, asking him "to show what he had got" in the middle.

Harbhajan, on his part, had then cheekily remarked: "Mate, whatever I have shown in the middle has been better than yours' in the series so far."

It appeared to have stung the Australian captain who asked Harbhajan to "f... off" after the latter was dismissed.

If the dialogue reported did indeed happen, it is a superb response from Harbhajan! Remember that at that point in time, Ricky Ponting had scored 25 runs from 5 innings, which he duly rectified the moment he got a nice batting track at Sydney to score a century. Harbhajan, in contrast, had 3/74 from 22 overs.

I totally loved that retort. Does anyone else also think that Hayden's comments to the Brisbane radio station on Harbhajan being an 'obnoxious little weed' and about taking on Ishant in a boxing ring should land him in quite a lot of trouble?

As per the ICC's code of conduct, using language that is obscene, offensive or insulting is a level-1 offence (upto 50% of the match fee penalty). Using language that is obscene, offensive or of a seriously insulting nature (barring the verbals that happen during a game) is a level-2 offence (upto 100% of the match fee penalty and a 1 test/2 ODI ban). After the appeal hearing, Harbhajan was found guilty of a level-2 offence.

Obnoxious implies Harbhajan is annoying, offensive or disgustingly objectionable. Little refers to Harbhajan being smaller-built in comparison to Hayden (and the rest of his teammates). This is obviously a case of racial stereotyping, and hence vilification (just like Tony Greig's "Those little Shri Lonkans" chant). Weed again refers to Harbhajan being obnoxious and detrimental.

Clearly this is a case of offensive and seriously insulting language. If someone tells me I'm a weed, I'd be pretty offended and feel insulted about it, since it implies that I shouldn't be existing. Add in the 'little' part and this very clearly qualifies as a racist remark. Actually this also makes for a libel/defamation suit since Hayden said "That is why he's been charged more than anyone that has ever played in the history of cricket." while referring to Harbhajan. That is totally incorrect. As pointed out in an earlier post, Inzamam has been charged the most number of times.

Yet, I have this nagging feeling Hayden will be let off by Cricket Australia and the ICC, despite being charged with breaching the Code of Behaviour, with a minor slap on the wrists and receive a letter that reads something like

Dear Matthew,
I saw your remark on Harbhajan being an 'obnoxious little weed' the other day.

I'd be really grateful if you could tone down your language. We've got tons of problems with those BCCI buggers. We need the money!

We'll be putting out a media release soon charging you under some clause of our code of conduct. Let me know if that is ok with you.

Cheers

James (CEO, just in case you forgot)

PS: I loved your imitation of Ishant's Indian accent *ROFLMAO*

Update at 6.30 pm: Was I clairvoyant or what? Hayden has been 'reprimanded'. Basically, he's got away with it. Perhaps insulting opposition players is acceptable for Cricket Australia.

Labels: australia, Commonwealth Bank Series, harbhajan, hayden, india, ponting, racism, sledging

Thus spake Jagadish @ 6:35 pm | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
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Hayden is definitely lunatic

What else do I conclude for this comment from him on Ishant Sharma?

He is 19, why doesn't he just worry about his bowling for a while? I like the idea of actually getting into the ring. I like that, let's bring that one.

Labels: australia, Commonwealth Bank Series, harbhajan, hayden, india, ishant, racism, sledging

Thus spake Ganesh @ 3:04 pm | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
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Australia vs England - Fourth Test - Day 1 & 2

Whenever there is a low score in the first innings of a match I like to reserve judgement until we see the other side bat - so often you realise conditions aren't what they appear or some factor is influencing things, and the game is more even than it appears. So too I warned on Boxing Day as England's dismal performance unfolded. Out psyched and out played. Warnie took all before him - big players perform on big occasions - this was one of the biggest, and Warnie is one of the biggest. Five wickets on Boxing Day, the first of which was his 700th and didn't he do it in style. A classic, dipping, drifting leg break, straight through the gate of Andrew Strauss just when the Aussies needed a wicket too - fantastic, unforgettable stuff. Then it was Australia's turn - and led by Freddie Flintoff, they managed to stay in the hunt.

A great morning session had them right in the hunt with Australia at one stage slipping to 5 for 80 odd - enter the men-mountain - twin peaks - Symonds and Hayden. Awesome stuff. They turned things around in one session and by tea, England looked, in fact "were" insipid.

England are out of this match! They were poor, soft and unimaginative in the second session and now, 5 nil is a very real possibility. Without Vaughan at the helm, they've lost their hardness - their belief and their competitiveness.

I'm not saying for a second, Flintoff is not a leader - he is, but I don't think he's a captain. You have to be a leader of sorts to be captain, of course, but you don't have to be a captain to be leader. Flintoff's leadership in the 2005 Ashes series was far more effective than it is now. I read a lot about the difference between management and leadership. Flintoff can lead his side like Braveheart (is that a bad analogy to use in this scenario?) but he doesn't manage it real well. Vaughan has been sadly missed, for the slant he adds to leading the side, and managing it also.

England will need to regroup quickly after this tour - my money now is on the 5 nil result the Aussies so desperately want. What a way for this champion side to go out, and go out they will, as many won't play Tests again after this - and no-one will take their title away for a long time.

England will then have plenty of re-grouping to do, and I feel they should stop paying so little attention to the One Day game. Sure, I don't place even 1/4 the importance on success in that arena, but they need to grab back that team morale, that "feeling" that was so obvious just 15 months ago - and with a World Cup around the corner, what better way to put this disaster behind them. Can they do it? They can - they should let Flintoff lead by his performances, but not by title.

Congrats too to Andrew Symonds. What an awesome innings! Do you get the feeling he was happy to risk his maiden Test century, just so he could bring it up with a towering six! How appropriate.

How stiff must poor Watson be feeling now. Clarke, now Symonds have now more or less relegated him to a fringe player. And Matthew Hayden - how much must he love the MCG? That's something like 5 centuries in 6 Tests in Melbourne for him. That aggressive stand in the middle of the mess that was 5 for 85, was something.

Cross posted on STUmpcam

Labels: ashes, ashes 2006, australia, england, flintoff, hayden, symonds, vaughan

Thus spake Stuart Helwig @ 3:43 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Someone hasn't a clue

Picture this. Australia are 117/5 when Monty Panesar comes in to bowl on day two at the MCG, trying to get out of a hole (self-dug and thanks to some good bowling). He bowls a lovely first over. But he was bowling to a field, amazingly enough, which was totally unsuitable for the situation. There was a fielder at long-off and a fielder at long-on. I'd have thought that with folks like Hayden and Symonds, who love to take on spinners, especially by hitting down the ground, Flintoff would have not had those fielders in the deep, inviting Hayden and Symonds to take a few risks.

But they didn't even have to, when they could just tap the ball down the ground and get four singles an over! This was perhaps the exact moment when England lost its grip. A test match that could have been a fascinating, low-scoring one is now doomed to be a one-sided one with the low-scores, in all likelihood, emanating from only one side!

I've commented a couple of times recently about how captaining a side with two spinners isn't exactly easy. I am now convinced that Flintoff can't even captain a side with one spinner in it!

Labels: ashes, ashes 2006, australia, england, flintoff, hayden, panesar, spin, symonds

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:13 am | Sledge/Read 3 sledge(s)
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For Matthew Hayden

However, in order to paint a clearer picture of the scenario, it is worthwhile looking further back.

For so long winning a Test series against Australia had been our focus. England had failed so often over the years, and while we were winning other series on a consistent basis, the mountain was there for us to climb against Australia.

Overcoming that hurdle in 2005 was enormously satisfying, and much as happened to Australia after they reclaimed the Ashes, the series took a heavy toll on us all, physically and emotionally.

So after defeating Pakistan and drawing in India following that enormous campaign, we probably thought it was all just going to go our way again having started the Ashes series in such convincing fashion at...er...Adelaide? But as history now shows that certainly wasn't the case, and as the Ashes series unfolded I realised, probably two Tests too late, that I had gradually lost touch with the selectorial hunches that had been so successful for me in years gone by.

Signed, Duncan Fletcher.

Labels: ashes, ashes 2006, australia, england, excuses, fletcher, hayden

Thus spake Geoff @ 4:33 am | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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Matthew Hayden warns Monty Panesar

In an interview with Cricinfo, Matthew Hayden, the best test batsman of the last decade, a major 2005 Ashes flop and one-day discard, sent out an open challenge to England's new star, Monty Panesar.

Monty Panesar will be under pressure from the moment he arrives in Australia, just simply because of the way we play spin bowling. As a left-hander I've got a natural advantage over Monty because the ball is spinning into me. It's the same for the other aggressive left-handers we've got in our order.

After seeing this quote of his, we've got off-the-record confirmation that Murali Kartik, who took 4/44 and 3/52 at the Wankhede against Australia in 2004, and Daniel Vettori, who has six 5fers and one 10fer against Australia from 14 tests, have sent Hayden an email which just reads

Hi Matthew

Nice to read what you wrote about handling left-arm spinners.
Hope you remember us.

Love

Daniel Vettori & Murali Kartik

His quotes also make me wonder about what Australia's right-handers plan to do, perhaps bat left-handed? Maybe he's just taking off on coach John Buchanan's thoughts in 2003 on ambi-dextrous cricketers

Hayden's verbal diarrhea attacks are a frequent occurence though. Earlier this year, he blamed Australia's Ashes loss on a year-long hangover. Before that, he claimed that India's bowlers didn't know how to get him out during Australia's victorious series in 2004, a claim that Harbhajan Singh summarily dismissed. A long time ago, he said that sub-continental batsmen were selfish when it came to personal landmarks.

Labels: hayden, verbal diarrhea

Thus spake Jagadish @ 6:19 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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