Cricket Tournaments

Both are attacking openers and are an asset for their teams, especially in the shorter formats of the game. Chris Gayle and Virender Sehwag have so much in common that it might actually be written in a book. But the difference between both of them lies in their attitude towards the game, and this is where I dare say that Sehwag has outclassed Gayle.

Gayle has been West Indies’ lifeline especially after the retirement of Brian Lara. West Indies need to win matches, and for that Gayle has always been under the pump to fire. And he has sometimes taken the pressure in his stride or succumbed to it. He has not won enough matches for his country and the reason clearly is his reluctance to change. The fact that he is 30 now; he is the team’s senior statesman, if not captain. He is the team’s best batsman, and so he has to play the role of the ‘Mr. Dependable’, without really tinkering around with his natural game a great deal.

Gayle may have a wonderful temperament, but his callous attitude and fitness is frustrating to see. He always wants to hit the ball out of the park by the ‘stand and deliver method’. The number of times it works only can be counted on our fingers. If Gayle fails, West Indies is demoralized to a certain extent and as a result a loss lingers.

On the other hand, Sehwag is 31 but has understood the importance of his wicket at the crease with experience. Though India has a strong batting line-up, Sehwag knows that he can be win more matches for his nation if he enjoys his batting a lot more by staying at the crease for a longer period of time. And the beauty of it is that he is still considered to be a threat to any bowling attack in the world, because he is not afraid to play his natural game. He has become wiser and mature and this World Cup has given birth to a new Sehwag, which is good for Indian cricket in the long run once Sachin Tendulkar calls it a day.

Gayle’s very similar in ways to Sehwag. Both rely on hand eye coordination so why is it that Sehwag seems to be more consistent than Gayle?

The Windies dasher must introspect, indeed, a lot can be learnt from Viru’s learning’s. After all, Sehwag too was in the same phase a couple of years back when he was dropped from the team. It’s made him a much wiser man now, benefitting team India eminently.

So change works after all and it is high time for some one like Chris Gayle to learn from Virender Sehwag and become more adaptable in his batting. Maybe that is one of the reasons why he was not picked for the IPL this time around!

Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen has been a revelation, right throughout his five years of international cricket. He has dominated every bowling attack possible, and has left no margin for error in helping England win not just at home, but also abroad. He is an equally good player in all three formats of the game.

However, the so-called ‘law of averages’ tends to catch up with many cricketers in some points of their careers. And Pietersen has suffered from this since the last ten months or so. Even the most ardent Pietersen fan is likely to believe that he is not at his best, at the moment despite a wonderful World Twenty20 in the West Indies. This is because of one particular reason – the emergence of left-arm spinners in world cricket.

Great batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Lara have played so well right throughout their careers that there are no apparent weaknesses which can be spotted when they are batting. So, Pietersen cannot be in the list of greats yet, because he has this rather peculiar weakness of getting dismissed against the left-arm spinner.

Pietersen, no doubt is a fine-quality player of pace bowling when he can play any shot on both sides of the wicket. However, spin can make Pietersen look silly at times, just as how Sehwag often is tempted when spinners are bowling to him.

Pietersen emerged as one of England’s valuable players in 2005 in the one-day series in South Africa. The three hundreds which he had scored in seven matches, clearly showed how he can bat on hard, bouncy tracks. However, what many didn’t observe was that Pietersen struggled to play Nicky Boje in that series and got out to his bowling once.

So the problem remained but he was able to flourish thanks to no regular left-arm spinner in the Australian team in the 2005 Ashes. His blossoming was due to his innovation against spinners, which was risky but successful. He invented the switch-hit in 2006 off the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan, when he hit a huge six at Leeds. He took on Pakistan’s slow bowlers well at home. For that matter, even in the 2007 World Cup, he played really well because of his aggressive attitude towards spin bowling.

However, captaincy was thrust on to him in 2008 and the threat of injury loomed large after playing three years of non-stop international cricket. This is when his agility also reduced to a certain extent. A lean run followed in 2009 as it was evident that the emergence of left-arm spinners had an effect on his batting.

In the tour of New Zealand and the return series in 2008, Daniel Vettori troubled Pietersen and curbed his scoring to a large extent, if not taking his wicket. Even in the IPL 2009 in South Africa, Kevin Pietersen was playing as captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in a match against Delhi Daredevils.

Vettori, playing for the Daredevils was bought on to bowl by captain Virender Sehwag when he was batting. Pietersen tried the switch-hit but was comprehensively bowled by Vettori. In the 2009 tour to South Africa, he returned to play for England after an Achilles injury.

In the ODIS there, unlike the last time when he burst into top-flight cricket with a brilliant performance, he failed miserably. And in Bangladesh in March 2010, the problem of left-arm spin had taken centre-stage. In the ODIS, Pietersen’s poor form had continued as Abdur Razzak, Bangladesh’s spinner picked up his wicket in 2 ODIS and the captain Shakib al Hasan picked him in the first ODI. It was a similar story in the Tests.

Shakib continued to dominate with the wicket of Pietersen, especially with the flighted delivery from around the wicket, which comes back to hit the middle stump. That ball has a lot of use as it can either get the batsman lbw or bowled or even catch out on the off-side or at short leg. And that is exactly what happened with Pietersen.

Despite having a healthy average of 40 in the Test series, Pietersen could have gone on to make more runs, if he hadn’t been dismissed by Shakib on those turning wickets in Bangladesh. And in the recent Test series against Bangladesh at home, he tried to break the shackles by playing at his aggressive best, but he didn’t get the better of Shakib once again.

This is a major worry for Strauss and co if England are aiming to be World No.1 in all three formats of the game in atleast the next 2 or 3 years. Perhaps, its time that Pietersen changes his approach towards batting altogether to become a much better player for England, who need some experience to rely on.

As if there weren’t enough things wrong in West Indies cricket, Sulieman Benn was sent off the field by skipper Chris Gayle during the fourth ODI against South Africa. While it sounds rather bizarre than Benn couldn’t comply with his skipper’s request to bowl from over the wicket, the whole fiasco, in a sense, exemplifies all things wrong with West Indies cricket.

When a bowler is unable to execute the basics on the field, expecting them to win would be a miraculous dream. No surprises then that the Caribbeans have lost both the T20s as well as the four ODIs, and a 5-0 whitewash now seems imminent.

Innumerable articles have been written about the disaster called the West Indies cricket team, most with good intentions, since everybody loves the Calypso style of cricket. Still, nothing seems to change in West Indies cricket. Since the exit of Richie Richardson in the mid 90s, the mantle of captaincy has been passed on to every possible personnel in hope of rejuvenation.

But none among Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh, Carl Hooper or Chris Gayle has been able to lead Windies’ resurgence. To be fair to the skippers, as they say, a captain is only as good as his team. And as far as West Indies cricket is concerned, a lot of it boils down to the mental aptitude of the players, which clearly isn’t the best in the current team.

Under the given circumstances, it is strange that Gayle has come out and chosen to say that he is happy with the team’s effort. It is understood that South Africa is by a wide margin the better of the two sides. But, instead of going through the motions, this fact should have encouraged the underdogs to go all out and prove a point.

In the process, if they had lost the series, it wouldn’t have mattered much since they weren’t expected to win anyways. However, the lack of application and consistency on the part of both the batsmen and the bowlers has been utterly disappointing.

In the third game, they couldn’t chase down a mediocre total of 224, and in the fourth match they were unsuccessful in defending a 300 plus score, clearly demonstrated that they lack the will to win.

The one good point that Gayle mentioned after the series loss was that they he feared the team might forget the art of winning. As things stand, this is becoming quite a distinct possibility. But, thankfully the otherwise jovial skipper recognizes the danger. It was also pleasing to hear that the team has cut down on the party count, and is focusing far more seriously on the practice front.

These sacrifices would count for little though if West Indies cannot turn things around soon. Also, Gayle isn’t getting any younger, and so he needs to instill a sense of confidence in the side by the time he quits the international arena.

Going back to where we began, in an ironic sense, it was good to see Gayle treating his left-arm spinner harshly. Discipline is one aspect that has never found too much respect among West Indian cricket lately. And, if the reprimand can help Benn get a better hang of himself as a cricketer, and as a person, West Indies can only benefit.

Donald Bradman

Want to be a great batsman: Make sure you are not TALL

What distinguishes the good and the great batsmen from each other?

Hours of concentration, determination, hard work and technique.  If one ever needed proof that good things do come in small packages we don’t have to look beyond the cricketing circle. The following statistic proves the above:

These men are not just here proving a point; they have crossed the periphery of greatness. At least 7 out of the 8 batsmen mentioned above featuring in the Top 8 run getters in the world be it in the test or one day format. The only one missing out being Sir Donald Bradman but, who can ever question the greatness of THE “DON”.

What is it with these batsmen? Are they able to pick length better or is it just pure co-incidence. Are the good length balls to short for them? It is important for every bowler to change their length depending on the height and the manner in which a batsman plays. What’s the problem here? Perhaps, the bowlers have just not adapted to these “kind” of batsmen.

Is the recipe to being a great batsman being short? Perhaps, one of the shorties could tell.

Indeed, good things do come in SMALL packages.

It’s been over 100 years since the game’s inception—a lot has changed. The game has swayed from bowlers to batsmen. Some of the factors deciding this could be:

Placid wickets: Flat decks are found in most stadiums across the world. This is due to the commercialization of the game as people like to see more runs scored. As the era has moved on, we see a gradual change from uncovered to covered pitches. In the times of English opener Geoffrey Boycott, the pitches were uncovered thus making batting extremely difficult.

However, in the recent era, pitches are covered to protect from adverse weather conditions. A stat to confirm the above – in the 1990’s, only Sachin Tendulkar, Steve Waugh, Brian Lara and XYZ averaged over 50 after playing 20 Tests where as in the 2000’s there’s been a increased rise in the number of batsmen averaging over 50.

Rules:
In order to help batsman take advantage of the new ball, the ICC, after the 1983 World Cup, introduced field restrictions which basically meant that only two fielders would be allowed outside the 30-yard circle for the first 15 Overs. This was tweaked a little when in 2005 when the power-plays were introduced which is an extended version of the field restrictions.

One bouncer per over: To add to this, in 1992, in order to control the aggressive nature of the bowlers, the ICC introduced the one bouncer per over rule. Not a very famous rule amongst the commoners, the ICC had banned bouncers for a 7 year period. However, they re-instated the rule. Thank goodness for that!

Free hit: The inception of the free hit in 2007 just after the Twenty-20 World Cup only added to the agony of the bowlers. Yet, another rule in favour of the batsmen. The free hit means that if the bowler oversteps, the batsman has an opportunity to play a big shot without any fear of being given out. The only possible way of getting out is a run-out. And worse, one run is already added to the batting team’s total (no ball).

Equipments: One of the ongoing issues that has sparked off a debate amongst experts being the size of the cricket bat. Bat widths seem to be growing year after year. The fact of the matter being if that can happen; then why can’t something be done to the 5 and a half ounce cherry. Why isn’t the ball made smaller/lighter? Why favour the batsmen?
The ICC is still to answer this.

Ground sizes: Grounds in South Africa, West Indies and New Zealand are too small in size thus leaving the bowlers with no margin for error.

One of the major reasons to this (batting friendly game) is the sponsors. Take for case Test cricket. The sponsors in order to fill in maximum commercial slots try and take the game to 5 days which doesn’t happen on a green wicket. The ICC needs to take heed of this and make cricket a contest between bat and ball and not a ‘video game’.

A dominant 189 run partnership between Ricky Ponting and Simon Katich swung the pendulum firmly in Australia’s favour in day 2 of the First npower Ashes Test, Cardiff.

England amassed an extra 99 runs in the morning session before finally being bowled out for 435. Australia’s start was electric, with Phil Hughes hitting a run a ball 30 before lunch. Andrew Flintoff eventually had him caught behind, but after that the play was all Australia as Simon Katich and Ricky Ponting hit centuries as Australia ended the day on 249-1, trailing England’s total by 186.

England’s start to the day was very positive. Beginning on 336/7 Stuart Broad struck two delightful fours off Peter Siddle, one a scorcher past mid off. The Nottinghamshire man met an unlucky end to his innings, a ball from Mitchell Johnson hit the underside of his thigh pad and dragged back onto his stumps.

Broad’s demise didn’t stem the scoring however, Graham Swann looked to be forceful, and keep the scoreboard ticking over, night-watchman James Anderson also got in on the act as the pair pushed three’s to the long square boundaries at the SWALEC Stadium. The positivity forced Ricky Ponting to spread sweepers on both the square boundary.

England’s aggression forced the Australian skipper to bring on Nathan Hauritz. And no doubt to the delight of batsman Graham Swann – an no doubt all of the England camp, Hauritz’s first ball spun sharply off the pitch, past the keeper for four byes.

Undeterred, Swann went after Hauritz – striking two consecutive boundaries down the ground followed by an audacious reverse sweep that went to the third man boundary. Swann and Anderson’s 50 run partnership coming up in just 38 balls as England were racing along at 7 an over in the morning session.

James Anderson fell trying to hit Hauritz over the top, and Monty Panesar after struggling for a short while, eventually edging the off-spinner to Ricky Ponting a gully.

Phil Hughes got off to a flyer at the beginning of the Australian innings, Stuart Broad imparticular on the receiving end of Hughes’ aggression as Australia made it to 39-0 in a short spell before the lunch break.

Immediately after lunch Andrew Flintoff was bought into the attack bowling around the wicket to Hughes. The over was lively, short pitched, but to Hughes’ credit – he evaded the short ball well.

A short while later Flintoff forced opener Simon Katich to punt one back at him, he stuck his giant claw in the direction of the ball, and agonisingly for him and for England, the ball popped out and down to the ground.

But the breakthrough finally came when Flintoff had Hughes get an inside edge through to ‘keeper Matt Prior who took a smart catch diving away to his right – Hughes departing for 36.

In the following over Stuart Broad had close LBW appeals against both Katich and Ricky Ponting. Katich got a feather of an inside edge on his, and Ponting had himself well outside the line of the off stump – but Broad, England and the fans, were defiantly fired up.

The pair settled in for the afternoon session, as England turned to both spinners Graham Swann and Monty Panesar without fortune. On the stroke of tea Ponting scored a 2 off Broad to take himself to 11,001 test runs – joining the select group of Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Allan Border.

Simon Katich went past 50 as Australia reached 143-1 at tea, the Flintoff/Hughes battle aside – Australia’s session.

It was much of the same after the break, the pair bought up their 100 partnership of 179 balls. Andrew Strauss tried every option available to him, but Ponting and Katich stood firm as Australia bought the 200 up. The run rate continued at 3.5 an over and England struggled to get any movement with the ball, or much life out of the pitch.

On the stroke of stumps Simon Katich bought up his hundred off 214 balls, and Ponting likewise off 155 balls. Australia ended the day in a dominant position – only 1 wicket down, and trailing by only 186 runs.