England

Quotes of the day

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From the world of cricket come the lines below. Talk about hitting below the belt!!

It was in Jamaica that Mike Gatting became the first batsman, as opposed to bowler, to be accused of ball-tampering after being struck in the face by Malcolm Marshall. When they finally retrieved the ball, which had richocheted so far it was located somewhere around the mid-off region, they found, or so legend has it, a piece of Gatting’s nose embedded in it.

Martin Johnson, Times Online

The new age cricketing wife or girlfriend tends to be a brassy sort of gal who can’t wait to tell the Allan Border Medal interviewer who designed her dress and her hanky – both of which happened to be the same size.

Robert Craddock, The Courier Mail

Cricket becomes interesting…

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… once again!!

A long long time ago, test cricket became boring. Not because of the run rates or the draws. But because one team beat everyone else, every God damn time. And then as it happens with everything else, the winds of change started blowing.

McGrath, Warne, Langer and Gilchrist retired. About a year ago Ponting and Hayden decided they could not bat anymore. Symonds found things more important than playing. Hussey and Clarke were ok, but they couldn’t carry nine other. Lee lost his mojo. Krezja is a pathetic excuse of a spinner (tonnes in first four innings!!), even Symonds and Clarke bowl before him. Only Mitchell Johnson looks like he can do some damage. But then one bowler doesn’t a test match win.

India started the downturn, and Australia lost at WACA. Can you believe that?? They lost at the WACA. It was the Australian fortress, and they had not lost there in more than a decade. They cheered for a victory that was more a farce than anything else.

In fact, the entire Australian team lost is so much that they lost again at WACA. That is a first in history. Back to back losses at the WACA for Australia. Who woulda thought?? 

But here is the thing. The test world has become interesting again. India, SA, England and Australia are now equal contenders for Test supremacy, and possibly Sri Lanka.

India has a good batting line up, and a promising bowling department. Australia still have Ponting and Hayden, and along with Clarke, Symonds and Hussey can bat anyone out of a test. England with KP and Flintoff would have a realistic chance at the Ashes, but methinks they need another good bowler. SA seems to have buried the ghosts of the past, and seem to have a good batting line up, and perhaps the best bowling with Ntini, Steyn, and Morkel.

So here it is. To exciting times ahead.

India in England

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The Good: India in tests. Tendulkar, in sublime touch and his responses to the decisions against him, from the disbelief to the smile, priceless. Kevin Pietersen in the first test. Vaughn in the second. Kumble in the third, with the bat. Mascarenhas in the sixth ODI. Utthappa in the sixth ODI, even though many shots were pure luck. Monty’s fielding efforts. Ganguly giving Broad a piece of his mind.

The Bad: India in ODIs. Selection of Ajit Agarkar, some one give me one good reason. The on-field behaviour of both India and England. Indian batting in the final ODI.

The Ugly: Indians on the field. The umpiring. The series has to be the best case for increasing the use of technology in cricket. These umpires could are no Dickie Birds. Dravid’s captaincy – only thing that came close to the umpiring. Matt Prior behind the wickets. Powar, all times except when he bowled, and if I may ask, what’s with the hairband? Paul Collingwood, after his runout, in the sixth ODI. Yuvraj, with the ball, in the sixth ODI.

For a better article on use of tech, go here. And if you are generally fed up of India’s dismal performance in cricket maybe this will cheer you up.

[tags]Cricket, Hockey, Sports, India, England[/tags]

Rocking at the Oval

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The Indian team is already on a roll in the third test at the Brit Oval.

Imagine India winning test series outside the subcontinent without any century, without any significant contribution from Rahul “the Wall” Dravid (this is the one off thing in a long long time). This is so interesting. Everyone has done his bit and Dhoni has played magically to take the English bowlers to the cleaners.

Even Kumble has come up with a half century. Keep rocking guys!

Update: Hats off to Kumble for his first Test century, the most faithful soldier to Indian cricket.

Some updates

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I have been terribly busy over the past few weeks and the next couple are not going to be any different. Meanwhile, here are some tidbits from the recent past.

  • Came across an interesting mail from Anu Vaidyanathan, the interesting bit being her mail signature. Her designation at PatNMarks is “CEO and Chief Herder of Cats“. Very nice.
  • India has kicked some serious British ass in the Trent Bridge test. I now hope that India go on to win the series and Zaheer Khan sends the English team some jelly beans.
  • The reaction of Ganguly at being give out, caught behind, was priceless. Also, judging by his looks in dressing room, I am guessing that Simon Taufel and he are not going out for dinner sometime soon.