Australia strategically lost, now they're laughing at England for progressing

It's funny how Shane Warne's brain works. I daresay quite a few other Aussie cricketers (current and former), cricket administrators and cricket commentators/writers would have also thought along similar lines after Australia were bundled out of the T20 World Cup.

Shane Warne in his column

Although Australia will still be hurting, this could be a blessing in disguise for the Ashes. They will be able to have a short break to get this out of their systems and then tick along with their practice out of the spotlight before the warm-ups. They have one focus now, no distractions before July 8 in Cardiff.

So let's see how the column would have read in a few other situations.

• Australia progress to stage 2, England don't: England will be hurting, this could have been a great opportunity to get in some more confidence and match-practice ahead of the Ashes. Their confidence would have taken a battering. England is where T20 began and they play so much of it. They have got two T20 tournaments a year lined up from 2010. They're the hosts and they just didn't up. It's no good playing only warm-ups before such an important series.


• Both teams progress to stage 2: Australia will take a lot of confidence going in to the Super Eight stage. They were among the pre-tournament favourites, but they went into this tournament pretty cold. England, on the other hand, had enough match-practice with the games against West Indies. As for the impact on the Ashes, will it impact the way England bat in the tests? It's no good scoring 180 in 20 overs in a test match if you're all out by then. Australia, on the other hand, have players who can adapt to all forms of the game.


• Both teams are knocked-out in the first round: England's confidence would have taken a battering. They're the hosts and they just didn't up. This will seriously impact their Ashes prospects. Australia never really take T20 seriously, but England is where T20 began and they play so much of it. They have got two T20 tournaments a year lined up from 2010.

Labels: australia, twenty20 world cup, warne

Thus spake Jagadish @ 9:00 am | Sledge/Read 6 sledge(s)
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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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Michael Clarke barks up the wrong tree

A classic example of the idiom 'barking up the wrong tree' is when Michael Clarke (bowling record against India, in India - tests: avg. 2.16, strike rate 7.3; odis: avg. 18.8, strike rate 21) consults Shane Warne (bowling record against India, in India - tests: avg. 43.11, strike rate 81; odis: avg. 52.85, strike rate 66) on how to bowl to Indian batsmen in India.

Jamie Pandaram makes the whole thing even more laughable when he starts his report on Clarke taking tips from Warne with the words 'Shane Warne may yet come back to haunt India next month'!

PS: There's no reason to believe that the title of the post is a snide reference to Michael Clarke's canine-referencing nickname! It just rhymed nicely, and fitted the context.

Labels: australia, clarke, india, warne

Thus spake Jagadish @ 12:18 am | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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Let's embrace IPL, but with a little more maturity

Graeme Smith's catch off Ganguly was looking perfectly right to me. It was as fair as you can get and I was baffled when the third umpire ruled it not out. Also, Ganguly should not have asked the on-field umpire to check with the third umpire. I expected a few words to be exchanged, knowing Ganguly, Smith & Warne and that did happen.

But, what I saw on news channels this morning was atrocious. They were trying to make it yet another India v Australia issue. There were even clips of the Sydney test where Australia clearly played foul. But, for heaven's sake, let's not mix the IPL with international cricket.

Everyone should learn to see IPL as a stand-alone league and it will definitely help the game in all ways. Let's not drag in issues in international cricket and extend the verbal warfare to IPL as well.

I have started to love IPL and I'm not particularly concerned about all the talk of Bollywood, cheergirls and too much glamour, as I love the cricket that's being played and it's extremely nice to see McGrath and Sehwag celebrating Dravid's dismissal or Afridi knocking fists with Rohit Sharma after the latter's sixer or Sohail Tanvir getting ecstatic after dismissing Salman Butt and being hugged by a lesser known Indian cricketer or Laxman, along with Symonds and Gilchrist, plotting ways to dismiss Watson.

To me, instances like these make IPL very interesting though I still like international cricket and Test cricket is definitely my first love. IPL is superb cricket entertainment without the international boundaries. Let's keep it that way and not create unnecessary controversies. Things are bad as it is with two Indian cricketers having a go at each other. Let's not make it worse by bringing international cricket's enmity into IPL.

Let IPL live for long and forever as I definitely feel that it would reduce animosity among players and it would be carried over to international games as well which is eventually what we are all looking for, in the best interests of the game.

Labels: ganguly, graeme smith, india, indian premier league, ipl 2008, twenty20, umpires, walking, warne

Thus spake Ganesh @ 1:59 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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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)
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A stats post

VVS Laxman got his second test wicket, the first being Adam Sanford, in 2002.

Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble combined for the 51st time in test cricket. They're now level with Taylor & Warne. Murali and Jayawardene have the record, with 63 dismissals.

PS: I really hope India bat out the next 1.5 days at Eden Gardens, ensuring that Pakistan's bowlers are not fit enough to take the field at Bangalore. The escape scripted by Misbah, Akmal and Sami would have given them a lot of motivation, so declaring would be a pretty poor idea.

Labels: catching, dravid, fielding, india, jayawardene, kumble, laxman, murali, pakistan, statistic, taylor, warne

Thus spake Jagadish @ 1:09 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Warne-Murali trophy? Naah!

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of test cricket between Australia and Sri Lanka (lest we forget, they've played the grand total of eight series in this period), there is a proposal by Sri Lanka's cricket board to name a trophy after the two spinning legends.

I have a few [better, imho!] suggestions. If they wanted to use legendary spinners, then why not name it the McIntyre-Dharmasena trophy? If they wanted to celebrate batting under-achievers in tests, why not name it the Law (avg. infinity)-Nawaz (Test batting avg. of 99) trophy? If they had to celebrate pleasing batting, then they could have named it the Waugh (Mark, not Steve! Are you serious?!) - De Silva trophy? They could also name it the 'Audi' trophy in honour of Mark Waugh's four ducks in a row against Sri Lanka (facing a total of 12 balls) and pocket a nice sponsorship from Volkswagen in the bargain! To honour two bowlers with dubious actions, may I suggest the Mura-Lee trophy?

Labels: aravinda de silva, australia, humour, mark waugh, murali, sri lanka, warne

Thus spake Jagadish @ 6:44 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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One leg-spinner on another

Murali is the 'leading cricketer in the world', while Shane Warne is on the cover of the 2007 edition of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

The five cricketers of 2006 are Mahela Jayawardene, Mark Ramprakash, Mohammed Yousuf, Monty Panesar and Paul Collingwood.

Michael Atherton can always boast that while Shane Warne didn't get Dilip Vengsarkar out in a test match, while he did. Athers, whose writing is always as enjoyable to read as his batting was, praises Warne's respect for the game. The only jarring part in his piece is when he talks about batsmen who've played Warne well.

No right-hander, in my view, played him better than Kevin Pietersen, who had such exquisite balance that he was able to change direction — with the drift — while still advancing down the pitch.

Pietersen obviously did bat well in 2005 and 2006, but there's this other gent by the name VVS Laxman did so across four series, reducing Warne to a bit part most of the time. It was only in the 2004 series that Warne got Laxman out cheaply and often. Then again, its Athers' article. Maybe he didn't see Laxman bat against Warne.

Wisden 2006 had a section on cricket blogs, and this blog found a place on page 1570!

Labels: almanack, atherton, collingwood, jayawardene, mohammad yousuf, murali, panesar, ramprakash, warne, wisden

Thus spake Jagadish @ 7:58 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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Let's go back to Warne

Ray Chesterton, undoubtedly deeply agonized by Australia's current series of losses, has emphatically demanded that the best way to stem the rot is to bring back Shane Warne.

He sounds pretty desperate, actually. Sample these lines:

• He would lift morale and sharpen the attack.
  
• He is the only option as Australia search for ways to make the team whole again.
  
• When Warne retired from representative cricket last month Australia had just regained the Ashes 5-0 and the future looked secure. Now it doesn't.
  
• Warne would be the lift in confidence this team needs.
  
• Even now, Hughes might well have more control than Australia's bowlers showed.
  
• Someone has to convince him he should. There is no time to waste.

The reference to Australia's bowlers is timely. The Bladder had something similar today in an obviously tongue-in-cheek report titled Buchanan 'within days of pinpointing Aussie problems'.

Buchanan said he would continue his investigation after lunch, which Shane Watson, Nathan Bracken, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait, Brad Hogg, Adam Voges and Cameron White were bringing back from the bakery. "Pies again, fellas?" Buchanan said. "Ah well, let’s hope that helps me think."

Warne's been long retired from one-day internationals. But more importantly, even in the case of injuries to players in the squad of 15, teams aren't allowed to bring in players outside of the preliminary squad of 30 players announced in January.

Then again, it isn't the first time we've heard an Australian seek to move the goalposts. Dean Jones did it two years ago when he wanted two white balls to be used per innings to allow Australia to make 400. Let's not forget that Australia did indeed score 400, a year later, without any change in the number of white balls per innings. But the only problem was that South Africa scored one run more and won the GODOAT.

Labels: 2007 world cup, australia, warne, world cup, world cup squads

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:01 am | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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Australia vs England - Fifth Test - Day 3

Australia a tail in front...

The total first innings runs scored by batsmen at numbers 7 through 11, for Australia, 173, for England, 4!!! Australia's lead, 102!

They often say that batting is all about building partnerships - today we saw a few valuable partnerships, some built in a disciplined manner, some built with gay-abandon by players with confidence that if they did so, the guys below them were capable and motivated to do the same. Gilchrist and Symonds in particular batted very well, when they would've far preferred to belt the opposition attack into submission they instead batted with care and constraint to ensure Australia made it close to England's total - this discipline, belief and commitment highlighted a major difference between the two sides today.

Then, enter Shane Warne, as only Warne can...it was always going to happen quickly, or not at all. He was going to enjoy it, one way or the other. We all flirted with the idea (dream) of that elusive 100 in his last test, but the dream died with an over ambitious shot on 71. At least he wasn't left wondering...

Australia went passed England's first innings total in style, then England immediately went defensive. I think they were basically saying, if you're going to get a lead, you're going to do it slowly, to give us a chance of a draw. When you're 4 nil down I suppose this is understandable, but really - it's Day 3!?! With Australia batting last a small first innings lead may not be enough for them. To immediately drop out the slips, where you've picked up Gilchrist so often, was very negative and a sign of Flintoff's defeatist attitude this series. Going negative at this point could just have snuffed out any chance of a win here for England. Australia's tail chipped and lobbed the ball around as Clark was played in nicely, by England's defensive field positions, helped too by some smashing from Warne and a lead was built - big enough to fill the dressing room with enthusiasm and energy - which spilled onto the field and saw Cook fall early.

So we get down to 2 results for England - a draw or a loss.

Australia hit the field, full of beans, England, again frustrated and despondent at the prospect of chasing down a lead then trying to give their tired bowling attack something to work with. Australia knowing, early in-roads will set up a victory. Early in roads it was, followed by middle order in roads. Then, Monty Panesar at number 7! I can't believe, as the Channel 9 commentators would have us believe, this was at night watchman - what for?? To protect Read?? Unlikely. I think perhaps the bottom 5 for England are simply drawing straws these days, and it was Monty's turn...surely they can't seriously be trying to protect anyone in that tail...

Steve Waugh proved to us all, you have to be prepared to lose, in order to win. England don't appear to have learned this, although they have certainly learnt to lose this summer, they don't appear to be prepared to risk one more, in an attempt to chalk up a victory. If this lack of confidence and fight spills over to the ODI series it's going to be a miserable World Cup campaign as well. This is supposed to be the second ranked Test Nation in the World - I find that hard to believe just at the moment.

Labels: ashes, ashes 2006, australia, england, warne

Thus spake Stuart Helwig @ 4:18 pm | Sledge/Read 3 sledge(s)
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Meaningless stat of the day

When Andrew Strauss, Warne's 700th "test" wicket, was asked how he felt to be #700, he said:

I think there are probably 699 other guys who felt pretty bad after getting out to Shane Warne and I'm no different today.

When I read that quote, I knew he was obviously wrong. There couldn't have been 699 other players who got out to Warne in test cricket, given Warne'd dismissed several players multiple times.

So here's the list of those who've taken 400 test wickets and dismissed at least 200 batsmen.

Bowler	Count
Murali	270
Kumble	243
Warne	236
McGrath	216
Wasim Akram	205

It does seem highly unlikely to me that Warne can get ahead of Kumble, especially since Warne seems to have dismissed every member of the current England team out at least once! England can help Warne get to #2 by getting the Academy side to play at Sydney rather than the main team. They can't do worse, I suppose!

Labels: ashes, ashes 2006, australia, england, kumble, mcgrath, murali, pollock, statistic, strauss, warne, wasim akram

Thus spake Jagadish @ 7:27 pm | Sledge/Read 6 sledge(s)
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Australia minus McGrath and Warne

Following up to my wondering about how Australia would cope with the possible absence of both, Warne and McGrath, here's how Australia's done in test cricket when neither of them have played (obviously in tests since both made their debuts).

Game	Result
T5, v England, 2003	Lost
T1, v West Indies, 2003	Won
T2, v West Indies, 2003	Won
T1, v Zimbabwe, 2003	Won
T2, v Zimbabwe, 2003	Won
T1, v India, 2003	Draw
T2, v India, 2003	Lost
T3, v India, 2003	Won
T4, v India, 2004	Draw

There's definitely a trend there, despite a perfectly acceptable record of Played 9, Won 5, Lost 2, Drawn 2. India was the only "strong" team that Australia encountered during 2003 when Warne and McGrath were away for a long stretch of time. India was the only side that Australia faltered against. Yes, England won at Sydney, but I'd perhaps put that down to a "dead-rubber" syndrome. Zimbabwe were never really meant to be on the same ground anyway!

Perhaps, there's light at the end of the tunnel for Australia's opponents now! I can't figure out why this strategy wasn't so bloody obvious earlier - Just wait for Warne and McGrath to grow old and retire!

Labels: australia, england, india, mcgrath, warne, west indies, zimbabwe

Thus spake Jagadish @ 9:20 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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'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)
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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)
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