Saturday, September 30, 2006

Video: Jim Laker's remarkable 19/90

Jim Laker's remarkable achievement in the Old Trafford Ashes Test of 1956.
The first time a bowler took 10 wickets in an innings.
At the end of the Test, off-spinner Jim's figures read 19/90.

How to judge the shot to play



The batsman's job is to score as many runs as possible.

But to build an innings, a batsman needs sound judgement to work out which deliveries to defend, leave or score off.

Even top class batsmen give their wicket away because of poor shot selection, so it's not an easy science.

The batsman has approximately 12 shots to choose from either side of the wicket.

So stroke selection depends on the line, length and speed of a delivery.

Click to read more about How to judge the the shot to play

Quick Commentary: Bishen Singh Bedi

"Look around.
The Australian team plays cricket the Aussie way;
the South Africans do it their way.
For the life of me, I don't understand why we can't play the game the Indian way."

~Bishen Singh Bedi, in Outlook.

Chappell and Dravid can't flex this


They were seeing the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies as the hour of reckoning. But eight defeats in the last 14 matches, including five in a row to the West Indies, has backdated the crunch situation by six months. That is, to just about now.

The team's recent showing has left coach Greg Chappell and captain Rahul Dravid with little choice: they have to deliver the goods in the ICC Champions Trophy, on in India from October 7-November 5. Now consider this: India has never won the Champions trophy outright, having lost to New Zealand in the Nairobi final in 2000 and shared the title with Sri Lanka in a rain-hit tournament in the island nation in 2002.

Is the team ready to improve on that? Well, going by the trough it slipped into in the West Indies and the inertia it displayed in the DLF Cup in Kuala Lumpur last month, it will take one hell of a standing leap for Team India to come out of this one.

Read more as Outlook demands that Chappell and Dravid have to deliver. And now.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Disrepute ban for Inzamam

Inzamam's four-match ban is the least he could have been given Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has been cleared of ball-tampering, but banned for four one-day internationals for bringing the game into disrepute. Read more

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Kangaroo dawdle

The topic of controversial umpiring decisions has always held centre stage in cricket and the much dreaded ‘Pakistani umpires’ of the 70s and 80s have now given way to the even more dreaded pro-Aussie umpires of the 2000s.



Let us trace the beginning of the so called invincibility of the Aussies. It basically started with Steve Waugh’s proclamation after the 1997 World Cup and was buttressed by their exploits against all the major cricketing sides in the world after that. Gradually the ‘Caribbean Calypso’ was replaced by the ‘Kangaroo dawdle’ and the World went yellow acknowledging the tactical, physical and logistical prowess of the Aussies.

However, it wasn’t as simple as all that. There was also a concerted effort behind the scenes to intimidate the umpires as well in favor of the Aussies. Key batsmen of the opposition routinely fell to doubtful decisions. Arrogant Aussie umpires like Darrell Hair took on Asian Superstars like Muralitharan and got away with it. The underlying message was simple. Its either the Aussie way or the highway. Seasoned umpires like Venkatraghavan and Steve Bucknor buckled under pressure. Remember the Semi final between Windies and Australia which was also Ritchie Richardson’s last international match. Four doubtful LBWs were given by Venkat in that match to Warne and the Aussies won a match that they should have lost. Subsequently as a reward Venkat was a regular as a neutral umpire in almost every series down under. Umpires like David Shepherd, an Englishman who resisted Aussie pressure tactics were quite easily shunted out. Read the rest of this fascinating post by Yogesh Saigal.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Chappell's moment of infamy

Australia v/s New Zealand. 1 February 1981, MCG.

15 were required from the final over. Hadlee hit the first ball for 4, was lbw to the second. Smith took twos off ball 3 and 4, and was bowled by the 5th. McKechnie came to the wicket with 7 required, and Greg Chappell instructed his brother Trevor to bowl the final ball underarm, rolling along the ground.


Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Allan Border's one-handed deflected catch

Fielding at first slip, Allan Border takes a great one-handed deflected catch. Australia v/s West Indies.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Chappell to seniors: Get back to basics

Coach Greg Chappell says senior players, including Sachin Tendulkar, need to get back to the basics, reports MSN Cricket.


Speaking about the next batch of senior players slated to take guard at the rolling camp here tomorrow, Chappell said: "There will be some variations, but sometimes the senior players need to get back to the basics as well".


"I think this (the ongoing rolling camp) is an opportunity to get them back to the basics", the former Australian captain said.


"The good thing about good players like Tendulkar, (Virender) Sehwag, (Rahul) Dravid, Yuvraj (Singh) and (Mohammed) Kaif is that these guys have been around for a long time but they are prepared to revisit the basics from time to time.