Steve Bucknor, left me with adjectives..fuming out of my mouth, from the time he made some ludicrus decisions against India. Steve Bucknor, till a few years back, was one of the most respected umpires, until he started giving some crazy decisions from his stubborn self. The first "shocker" from Bucknor came when I was a jumping jack in class 5, 1992, where Javagal Srinath's direct hit, had Jonty Rhodes, short of his ground at Johannesburg, and Bucknor's ego told him not to move his hands animatedly towards the umpire watching the idiot box.
Steve Bucknor with a 120 matches, must realise its time to move on, as such stubborness in not referring to the third umpire is certainly not the way to go about when so much of Technology is available. Umpire Mark Benson, too played his part by contributing his chunk of errors towards compounding India's misfortunes. It'all the more heartburn as these decisions stand in way between a victory and a devesatting defeat.
There have been some marked men in the past, who have been India's nemesis in the past like Darrel Hair, Asoka De Silva and Bucknor-Benso combo seem to be fighting it out to compete in the India Nemesis Team-Of the men in white coats(Alright! its a T shirt Now). Mr Bucknor, you are ageing, and its time you move on before more disgrace covers you in shame. Your eyes have enough vision to saunter around the Jamaican beaches to have a lovely retirement, basking in the glory of your service to cricket as one of the most longstanding umpires. This isnt the time for you to alternate every 4 minutes between the Randwick and Brewlongle stands at the SCG.
And what happens to me??? Damn I invested 8 hours... at a time when my compatriots are busy burning midnight oil over assigments cases and placement related issues, and all I get is Ponting and Gilchrist showing their fingers at television, as if bad mouthing the avid Indian fan. Frustration it certainly is, and how much ever, India loses, who knows even on placement day, I would spend the minute before my interview sending a message to 57333 for the cricket scores.
THATS LIFE!
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
11/10/2006
What does it take to the beat the Aussies
Ashes-What the Poms should do?
The Poms have just started their tour down under and have been just thrashed by a second string Australian XI by 186 runs. Will the Poms be thrashed severely in the Ashes? My take on the Poms is that as long as they are able to have a steady bowling attack that can unsettle and dishevell a few aussies, who knows the Aussies can be given a run for their money.
England needs to settle into a strategy where their batsmen need to dominate the Aussies at more than 3 an over and not to try to match the high Aussie run rate.Sometimes the advantage that Australia gives the opposition by their fast run scoring is, the time it gives the opponents to strategise against the aussies.Thats how India almost knoocked the wind out of the Aussie sails in 04.The Aussie strength lies in their mental mien that they exude, while that is just what England lack.Performance under testing conditions makes you belive in yourslf and since the aussies have done that quite consistently for some time, I presume hiccups for the aussies would be quite minimal and what England need to ensure is that they strategise well on and off the field.
10 Tips for England to keep the urn.
1) Dont give up on Verbal Banter.Give the aussies as good as they get.
2) Try to bounce out the Australians like the English summer of 05.
3) Attack the Aussies to make them lose 2o wickets.
4) England for heavens sake, please get out of your slumber and start performing from Test 1, as the first 2 tests have always been warm up games for England, as seen in the 94,98 and 03 series, the English performances start to peak only after the Sydney test matches.
5) Have the Barmy army in full force to vociferously support you.
6) Dont prepare Tactics against warne, just learn to hold on for dear life.
7)Learn to defend Mcgrath and Co and negate them and then attack after being settled.
8) If you are in a winning position, dont try harakiri against the Aussies, they are getting too bored.
9).Dont do foolish things and have your players injured.If I remember right the 93 or 94 series against the Aussies had 34 different English players playing in 5 test matches and the one day series.
10) Remind the Aussies hard that they lost the ashes last time and let Ponting and Warne only be spectators
10/24/2006
The Ashes-Part 2
Ashes Part 2 – Obituary of English Cricket
A hundred and twenty four years back, when the English cricket team lost for the first time to the Australians at the Oval,The Sporting Times in 1882 carried a satirical obituary stating that the English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.
Fast Forward now to 2006, Yesterday, October 21st , the 7th match of the ICC Champions trophy , where before the toss, the match seemed to have all the makings of a thriller, but the contest flattered to deceive and was a totally one sided contest, with England being a pale shadow of what it was a year back when the Ashes was won by them. Cornered tigers, they say are more dangerous, but the cornered Kangaroo can actually be more ruthless, and this match hyped as the “Ashes “battle, saw a clinical display by the Aussies to demolish England. Having seen the way England has performed in the last 26 one day internationals (winning 5),I assume its time they renew the “ashes” and burn another bail, to mourn the obituary of English cricket all over again.
English cricket fans could have never had it worse, this is their team’s worst patch in recent years and it doesn’t seem like improving any soon though. Ricky Ponting won the toss and inserted the opposition, as is the wont of most captains preferring to bowl first during the afternoon, than to lay their hands on a moist ball later in the evening, with the dew compounding their problems manifold. The English openers got off to a splendid start with Bell and Strauss, going hell after leather; bring 50 from the first 10 overs. Ian bell, was severe on Bracken and Mcgrath, with 60% of Bell’s runs coming in the region of point and midwicket as he packed 6 boundaries in those regions. At 83 for no loss from 18 overs, England was well set for a 250+ score, when their usual listless batting style came to the fore.
IMAGE SOURCE-CRICINFO AND GETTY IMAGES
Did some body say “we have a match on here”? Martyn seemingly didn’t’ hear that and went on to produce an innings laced with audacious shots that seemed to bludgeon the English bowlers into submission, while Hussey on the other hand was content playing second fiddle. Martyn picked his bunny in Harmison, who seemingly was still fresh from the insipid bowling effort against India, and Martyn clubbed him for three fours in an over, and that scathing attack that Martyn delivered seemed to knock the wind out of England’s sails with Martyn reaching a quick fire 50 off 35 deliveries.
A hundred and twenty four years back, when the English cricket team lost for the first time to the Australians at the Oval,The Sporting Times in 1882 carried a satirical obituary stating that the English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.
Fast Forward now to 2006, Yesterday, October 21st , the 7th match of the ICC Champions trophy , where before the toss, the match seemed to have all the makings of a thriller, but the contest flattered to deceive and was a totally one sided contest, with England being a pale shadow of what it was a year back when the Ashes was won by them. Cornered tigers, they say are more dangerous, but the cornered Kangaroo can actually be more ruthless, and this match hyped as the “Ashes “battle, saw a clinical display by the Aussies to demolish England. Having seen the way England has performed in the last 26 one day internationals (winning 5),I assume its time they renew the “ashes” and burn another bail, to mourn the obituary of English cricket all over again.
English cricket fans could have never had it worse, this is their team’s worst patch in recent years and it doesn’t seem like improving any soon though. Ricky Ponting won the toss and inserted the opposition, as is the wont of most captains preferring to bowl first during the afternoon, than to lay their hands on a moist ball later in the evening, with the dew compounding their problems manifold. The English openers got off to a splendid start with Bell and Strauss, going hell after leather; bring 50 from the first 10 overs. Ian bell, was severe on Bracken and Mcgrath, with 60% of Bell’s runs coming in the region of point and midwicket as he packed 6 boundaries in those regions. At 83 for no loss from 18 overs, England was well set for a 250+ score, when their usual listless batting style came to the fore.
IMAGE SOURCE-CRICINFO AND GETTY IMAGES
Bell seemed a totally changed player, from what had one seen him against the Aussies in the last ashes series, and just as he was about to get into change gears, the brakes were applied by a rather ugly long hop from Shane Watson, which Bell mistimed into the hands of the cover fieldsman Mike Hussey. This was the beginning of the end, as batsmen fell like 9 pins, no one showing resilience to spend some time at the wicket and accumulate runs. Peterson, the next batsman in, did his reputation no justice, when he poked his bat at an away going delivery by Mitchell Johnson, whose delivery had just done enough to elicit the edge, straight down Gilchrist’s throat, and the Aussies were cock-a-hoop with the Poms reduced to 85-2.
It took some excellent bowling from Australia here on, to stifle the run scoring from 5 an over to less than 4 runs, as Strauss and Flintoff seemed to struggle to get runs, after the double whammy that the Aussies struck. Soon frustration gave way for 2 indiscrete shots from the skipper Flintoff and his deputy, when they departed in the space of 3 overs and 5 runs, with England in a huge mess at 115/4. In came Michael Yardy, and his promotion ahead of England’s highest run getter this season, Paul Collingwood, certainly warranted a debate, but even before you could spell d-e-b-a-t-e , Yardy was gone, to a doubtful decision, caught down the leg side, but even if he had been given the benefit of the doubt, he hardly looked convincing in the 4 runs he scored, consuming 15 balls. After that it was a procession that followed that more or less sealed England’s fate at 169, hardly looking like troubling Ponting’s men.
The problem plaguing English cricket, is that apart from Pieterson, Strauss and Collingwood, nobody really has the ability to turn a match around or the confidence to pace the innings. Andrew Flintoff is just back after a long lay off, and will take some time to get into the groove, while the rest like Dalrymple, Read and Hardy , being more so batsmen who would prefer the safe mode of stroking singles. Another major problem for England has been pacing the innings, as their batsmen don’t seem to rotate the strike well, and consume a lot of balls before getting out, helping the team cause to no end.
The Australian chase started like the bullet train, with Gilchrist and Watson putting on a quick fire 30 in 4 overs before Gilchrist succumbed to rush of blood, being comprehensively bowled by Mahmood, off the latter’s first delivery, which followed a brief flood light power failure break, that seemed to have undone the Aussie’s concentration. Ponting didn’t last long before, playing an Anderson delivery to the slip cordon which Strauss juggled, but managed to hold the ball for dear life and England were ecstatic with the cheap dismissal of the Aussie captain. More disaster was to follow when Shane Watson, under edged an intended pull on his stumps to the leave the Aussies tottering at 34-3.
Bell seemed a totally changed player, from what had one seen him against the Aussies in the last ashes series, and just as he was about to get into change gears, the brakes were applied by a rather ugly long hop from Shane Watson, which Bell mistimed into the hands of the cover fieldsman Mike Hussey. This was the beginning of the end, as batsmen fell like 9 pins, no one showing resilience to spend some time at the wicket and accumulate runs. Peterson, the next batsman in, did his reputation no justice, when he poked his bat at an away going delivery by Mitchell Johnson, whose delivery had just done enough to elicit the edge, straight down Gilchrist’s throat, and the Aussies were cock-a-hoop with the Poms reduced to 85-2.
It took some excellent bowling from Australia here on, to stifle the run scoring from 5 an over to less than 4 runs, as Strauss and Flintoff seemed to struggle to get runs, after the double whammy that the Aussies struck. Soon frustration gave way for 2 indiscrete shots from the skipper Flintoff and his deputy, when they departed in the space of 3 overs and 5 runs, with England in a huge mess at 115/4. In came Michael Yardy, and his promotion ahead of England’s highest run getter this season, Paul Collingwood, certainly warranted a debate, but even before you could spell d-e-b-a-t-e , Yardy was gone, to a doubtful decision, caught down the leg side, but even if he had been given the benefit of the doubt, he hardly looked convincing in the 4 runs he scored, consuming 15 balls. After that it was a procession that followed that more or less sealed England’s fate at 169, hardly looking like troubling Ponting’s men.
The problem plaguing English cricket, is that apart from Pieterson, Strauss and Collingwood, nobody really has the ability to turn a match around or the confidence to pace the innings. Andrew Flintoff is just back after a long lay off, and will take some time to get into the groove, while the rest like Dalrymple, Read and Hardy , being more so batsmen who would prefer the safe mode of stroking singles. Another major problem for England has been pacing the innings, as their batsmen don’t seem to rotate the strike well, and consume a lot of balls before getting out, helping the team cause to no end.
The Australian chase started like the bullet train, with Gilchrist and Watson putting on a quick fire 30 in 4 overs before Gilchrist succumbed to rush of blood, being comprehensively bowled by Mahmood, off the latter’s first delivery, which followed a brief flood light power failure break, that seemed to have undone the Aussie’s concentration. Ponting didn’t last long before, playing an Anderson delivery to the slip cordon which Strauss juggled, but managed to hold the ball for dear life and England were ecstatic with the cheap dismissal of the Aussie captain. More disaster was to follow when Shane Watson, under edged an intended pull on his stumps to the leave the Aussies tottering at 34-3.
IMAGE SOURCE-CRICINFO AND GETTY IMAGES
Did some body say “we have a match on here”? Martyn seemingly didn’t’ hear that and went on to produce an innings laced with audacious shots that seemed to bludgeon the English bowlers into submission, while Hussey on the other hand was content playing second fiddle. Martyn picked his bunny in Harmison, who seemingly was still fresh from the insipid bowling effort against India, and Martyn clubbed him for three fours in an over, and that scathing attack that Martyn delivered seemed to knock the wind out of England’s sails with Martyn reaching a quick fire 50 off 35 deliveries.
IMAGE SOURCE-CRICINFO AND GETTY IMAGES
Martyn’s swashbuckling innings came to an end when Harmison priced him in the dying stages of the match, after Martyn knicked an innocuous delivery from Harmison. Martyn’s initial carnage had brought Australia 19 short of a victory, before he was dismissed for a strokeful 78. Hussey and Clarke carried out the formalities by seeing the Aussies through by 6 wickets.
So one elimination has been decided here, England will most probably go back home after their next match against the West Indies, but can still expect a favor or two technically speaking from India. If India beats both the Caribbeans and the Aussies, and England managed to defeat the West Indies by a huge margin, then it will boil down to net run rate amongst West-Indies,Australia and England. But whether India has the might to do England a favour is question that hangs in balance,as India’s one day form all too recently has not been that impressive to make the Ladbrokes put their money on them.
Martyn’s swashbuckling innings came to an end when Harmison priced him in the dying stages of the match, after Martyn knicked an innocuous delivery from Harmison. Martyn’s initial carnage had brought Australia 19 short of a victory, before he was dismissed for a strokeful 78. Hussey and Clarke carried out the formalities by seeing the Aussies through by 6 wickets.
So one elimination has been decided here, England will most probably go back home after their next match against the West Indies, but can still expect a favor or two technically speaking from India. If India beats both the Caribbeans and the Aussies, and England managed to defeat the West Indies by a huge margin, then it will boil down to net run rate amongst West-Indies,Australia and England. But whether India has the might to do England a favour is question that hangs in balance,as India’s one day form all too recently has not been that impressive to make the Ladbrokes put their money on them.
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The fact that I had a 4 day long weekend, and some time to spare on saturday helped me compose this little piece.Cricket related journalism is something I'd love to do, so hence a write up on the match, with me envisioning myself to be a sports columnist. :-)
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10/19/2006
Cricket at its best
The ICC Champions trophy 06 seems to be getting better after 2 extremely close and keenly contested matches,where more than Pakistan or the West Indies, the spirit of Cricket was the winner.Both the matches went down to the wire and only guys with nerves of steel, managed to see their side thru, namely Abdul Razzaq and Jerome Taylor, the respective lynchpin's in their teams victory. Last night as the score board read 32 runs of 30 balls with 5 wickets at hand,I was just thinking that there was no way that Australia was going to lose this game,as if any one can snatch defeat from the jaws of victoy, then dont look beyond the Indian cricket team.A couple of years back, India was at this very position against the Aussies at Melbourne with 31 required of 30 balls.6 wickets in hand and Saurav and Yuvaraj at the crease at 257/4 off 45, the game was just a few shots away frm India's grasp, but India flattered to decieve and lost that game(Click here to see scores).
After seeing Autralia's bewildering collapse last night,I am convinced the law of probability is finally catching up with the men from down under.
After seeing Autralia's bewildering collapse last night,I am convinced the law of probability is finally catching up with the men from down under.
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