Tuesday, December 30, 2008
South Africa cricket
When I was 8 years old, India won the Cricket World Cup by beating the mighty West Indians. Then the West Indians came to India, played a series of matches and thrashed the Indian team right proper. Around that time, Thums Up, the cola company, came up with some prizes including "flickers" of cricket stars, tiny cricket balls and cricket bats. We had to collect Thums Up bottle caps with cricketers' pictures for a long time to get any of those prizes.
In collecting those, I started recognizing most of the players from the cricket teams of the day -- Botham, Lillee, Holding, Marshall, Richards etc.
Somebody did explain to me at the time that the South Africans couldn't play against other teams because of some complicated reason. They also said that South Africa was far and away the best team in the world -- even better than West Indies. Yet another older buddy convinced me they were physically superior. Since I'd seen the almost-7 ft Big Bird Joel Garner (W. Indies) in action, I figured the South Africans were all at least 8 ft tall and bigger and stronger -- superhuman really -- and I was forever curious about them.
So when Hansie Cronje and boys started playing cricket in the post-apartheid days, I was mighty disappointed. They were decent cricketers, but not physically very impressive. They did have Jonty Rhodes -- that freak of nature -- but he was NOT 8 ft tall. So I dismissed them as irrelevant in the big cricketing scheme, even though they came close to being the best sides in the world many many times since their return from the wilderness.
Now things are different. They are the best side in the world -- the team to beat, the No. 1 side. I just wish they had some 8 footers though. At least a couple. That would make them perfect.
Link
In collecting those, I started recognizing most of the players from the cricket teams of the day -- Botham, Lillee, Holding, Marshall, Richards etc.
Somebody did explain to me at the time that the South Africans couldn't play against other teams because of some complicated reason. They also said that South Africa was far and away the best team in the world -- even better than West Indies. Yet another older buddy convinced me they were physically superior. Since I'd seen the almost-7 ft Big Bird Joel Garner (W. Indies) in action, I figured the South Africans were all at least 8 ft tall and bigger and stronger -- superhuman really -- and I was forever curious about them.
So when Hansie Cronje and boys started playing cricket in the post-apartheid days, I was mighty disappointed. They were decent cricketers, but not physically very impressive. They did have Jonty Rhodes -- that freak of nature -- but he was NOT 8 ft tall. So I dismissed them as irrelevant in the big cricketing scheme, even though they came close to being the best sides in the world many many times since their return from the wilderness.
Now things are different. They are the best side in the world -- the team to beat, the No. 1 side. I just wish they had some 8 footers though. At least a couple. That would make them perfect.
Labels: cricket
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Monday, December 29, 2008
India a cricketing superpower? Gimme a break!
While the Aussies are going down big time against South Africa in their test series at home, some desis think it's their chance to take over as the dominant team in the world. To me, that sounds bogus. India has won a couple of series at home, but lost badly against Sri Lanka there, and drew with South Africa at home as well. They are a good team, but nowhere close to the all-conquering South Africans, imho.
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Labels: cricket
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Sunday, February 18, 2007
World Cup Injury List
Ian Chappell says that the World Cup could turn out to be a "Well Cup" - the team that's well wins. I think most of the stars will figure out a way to recover in time for the tournament. But here's the partial list of injured players:
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- England: Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen, James Anderson
- India: Sachin Tendulkar
- Australia: Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Brett Lee, Ricky Ponting
- New Zealand: Jacob Oram, Kyle Mills
- Pakistan: Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammed Asif, Umar Gul
- S. Africa: Andre Nel
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Sunday, February 11, 2007
World Cup semi-finalist predictions: Feb 11 edition
S. Africa, for sure. Australia, still pretty sure, with some chances of a wobble. The home-team advantage is huge. So W. Indies could sneak through. The fourth team is hard to predict. England are playing pretty well, but they may go back into their shell. Indians are playing well, but other teams are out-preparing them - teams like Sri Lanka. I'd give the fourth slot to Sri Lanka on current form.
S. Africa, Australia, W. Indies, Sri Lanka.
S. Africa, Australia, W. Indies, Sri Lanka.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
The most hilarious tournament ever: England beats both Australia and New Zealand
You can call it "the game of glorious uncertainties." I just think it's funny. England lost every single game they played in Australia this season including a 5-match test series which they lost 5-0. Then they win 5 matches in the Commonwealth Bank Triangular series against Australia and New Zealand and they become champions. Australia loses this tournament at home for the first time in 14 years.
Does this change things for the World Cup? For one, it buys England some respect which is always useful. They did it without Kevin Peitersen or Michael Vaughan. Maybe all England needed to do was to get rid of Kevin Pietersen - disruptive influence that he'd become. Hopefully KP, now chastened, will come back and play a better game a la Ganguly.
Australia will have to play much much better, especially against S. Africa if they are to retain the World Cup. They'll miss Symonds and they may have peaked too early.
Link
Does this change things for the World Cup? For one, it buys England some respect which is always useful. They did it without Kevin Peitersen or Michael Vaughan. Maybe all England needed to do was to get rid of Kevin Pietersen - disruptive influence that he'd become. Hopefully KP, now chastened, will come back and play a better game a la Ganguly.
Australia will have to play much much better, especially against S. Africa if they are to retain the World Cup. They'll miss Symonds and they may have peaked too early.
Labels: australia, cricket, england
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Friday, February 09, 2007
Rana Naved scores 7 runs off of the last ball
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Australia losing the plot? Did they peak too early?
Australia started at 170 for 1 in 30 overs in the first of the 3-game finals of the CB Series triangular, but finished the innings on 252, losing 6 for 23... Against England. Unbelievable. This is a wide-open World Cup friends!
Update: England have beaten Australia. Australia has peaked too early. If Australia does not come back fighting like crazy in the last 2 games, then that's it for them. Of course, they'll still make it to the semi-finals, but they won't have a chance against S. Africa.
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Update: England have beaten Australia. Australia has peaked too early. If Australia does not come back fighting like crazy in the last 2 games, then that's it for them. Of course, they'll still make it to the semi-finals, but they won't have a chance against S. Africa.
Labels: australia, cricket, england
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Ricky Ponting complains about too many matches against India
Ricky Ponting complains that Australia is playing too many games against India and not enough against the other countries. Before this, he was complaining about too much cricket in general. I don't think there is too much cricket. A few reasons:
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- Australia could not play much cricket and be like New Zealand: a talented team that can't win on the big stage.
- It's wrong to diss the Indian advertiser and the Indian viewer who are basically underwriting the whole cricket venture around the world.
- There isn't too much cricket - NBA players play 80 games a year in regular season + the playoffs. From Cricinfo stats, it seems like the cricketers' workload is comparable - about 80-90 days of international cricket per year at most. It's harder for the bowlers, of course. But mature teams should be able to rotate their bowlers.
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Wednesday, February 07, 2007
It's going to be hard to predict this world cup
Pakistan scored 351-4 against S. Africa who are, to me, a shoo-in for the World Cup semi-finals. Even the finals. I wouldn't have given Pakistan a chance, but look at them today!
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Labels: cricket, pakistan, s.africa
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Top teams for World Cup 2007: Feb 7 edition
After New Zealand's exit from the triangular tournament in Australia with a defeat against England, it is pretty much clear that they are not cut out for the big time. Two major reasons why they don't stand a chance:
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- They just don't play enough cricket. They can't deal with pressure and they fold easily. They don't have enough depth and one or two injuries or form issues are enough to break their rhythm completely.
- They are a tiny country with not enough cricketers. They just won't have enough talent to compete at the highest levels.
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Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Ganguly back as captain - for an over or two
From Prem Panicker's report on the 4th ODI between India and W. Indies:
Funny. No "hai-hai"s for Dada this time.
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PostScript: An unlooked for moment came early in the West Indies chase. Sachin Tendulkar was off the field; Rahul Dravid pulled up with a knee niggle of some kind and, for a very brief while, the clock turned right back as Sourav Ganguly marshaled the field as default captain.
Tendulkar walked back onto the field shortly thereafter; Dravid was back an over later, too. But the roars that greeted Ganguly as he directed traffic spoke to the fact that in public perception, he is if anything larger today than when he was last seen in action.
Absence: nothing like it to soften the heart.
Funny. No "hai-hai"s for Dada this time.
Labels: cricket
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