Something about

It’s been sometime since I wrote, well the reason was that I was busy having fun and cricket is slowly dying a sport. Let’s see what has happened in recent times:

 Ford snubs India; well I guess we deserve it as the BCCI is the most unprofessional organization run by a few individuals as their family business. It does not even have a website (And we call it the most powerful organization in cricket)
 Sachin is back in the Indian ODI team (Give me a break, when Brian Charles Lara is dispensable, I think this guy deserves to be dropped)
 England wins Wisden Trophy, well did not expect anything else but Harmy is still wayward, hope he finds his form.
 Mali is the new ICC President (Sonn passed away) and he claims that Zimbabwe still is a force to reckon with……I think Mylapore should apply for test status!
 I personally feel that Ireland should be given test status (Rumour has it Rankins could be called into the England A side). They any day better than Zimbabwe and now a 2 time Intercontinental Champions.
 Afro-Asian cup concluded in Chennai with Asians winning 3-0. Shaun Pollock played as a batsman with half the team filled with Zimbabwean and Kenyan players.
 Former Pakistan Coach is said to have died of natural causes. Jamaican Police is sure good at investigating.

A Few points

India has won its REVENGE tour of Bangladesh. The board promised a young side and well if Dinesh Mongia was part of this young side, then god save the team.

Australia is going to boycott its tour of Zimbabwe, well what about China, India, Burma; the list goes on....India? Many may be confused, but serious Quota system people!

Michael Vaughan is injured again, why the ECB can’t just ask this guy to retire and collect his pension

England 20/20 Side

This world cup saw one of the worst performances by an English team which managed to beat all the minnows and the West Indies cricket team. The team had one star in KP and the rest were there to just make up the numbers. They never had a settled opening pair and they had Vaughan (no serious cricket since Ashes 2005), Strauss (hopelessly out of form), Bell (A Sheet Anchor) and Joyce (never opened for his county Middlesex). None of them were aggressive and they had one the worst starts that teams can have. While all the other teams had stroke players, England has a bunch of grafters. Their best player comes in at 4 while their hardest hitter was wasted at 6. It’s not that England do not have big hitters, but Duncan Fletcher selected guys who are no good at playing one day cricket and the worse is that not one of them played in their usual role. With the 20/20 WC coming later this year, there are chances that England may get a similar drubbing in a game which was popularized by them. Ali Brown, a former English One day player with an international century not to forget 2 scores of 200+ in domestic one day matches smashed a 176 which helped Surrey boost a world record total of 496. England has players and its time instead of sticking to the bubble, England experiment with some new players. Mal Loye, a guy who sweeped Lee, one of the fastest bowlers in the world for a 6 could not find a spot in the WC squad. England has to change and with the 20/20 WC fast approaching, they should take some tough big hitters rather than take grafters. If Vaughan finds his spot on the team, I am sorry to say this but England deserves to be knocked out in the first round. My English team for the 20/20 WC - Marcus Trescothick, Mal Loye, Ali Brown, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood (C), Andrew Flintoff, Ian Blackwell, Paul Nixon, Darren Gough, Jon Lewis, James Anderson. The Reserves – Ian Trott, Vikram Solanki, Michael Yardy and Stuart Broad.

The Fall of the Empire

I have finally decided to give up on England till the current management of Fletcher and Vaughan is still on the helm. Its time English cricket needs a revamp and they need to overhaul it in a big way. How can a country whose domestic cricketers play more one day matches than any other nation play so miserably? The answer lies right at the top of the order. England has never had a great opening combination and without Trescothick they are clueless. Vaughan after more than 80 odd games in about 7 odd years is yet to make a century while the Irish openers Bray and Porterfield have 2 each. Ian Bell is a class act but he is a player who is at best a grafter and can keep one end up rather then come out and destroy a bowling line up. England needs Trescothick more than ever before and he needs a solid partner. The only person I can think of is Alastair Cook. He has the technique and in the 2 games he got, he was impressive. If England thinks that KP is their best batsmen then he should bat at no. 3. The great Richards and even Lara batted only at one down when they were at their peak. England needs someone like Thorpe at no. 4 and I guess either Strauss or Joyce should take up that position. All teams need 5 and 6 to play either play reconstruction role or a stop gap hitting role. Australia was lucky to have Steve Waugh and Bevan there for a very long time. England can have Paul Collingwood and Ravi Bopara. I am sorry to say this but Flintoff should play only at no. 7 as he just lost it in him and he should play there till he gets back into form. As far the keeper, Nixon is old and its time England stop persisting with Jones, Read or even Foster. Its time they either give Prior an extended run or blood in Steve Davies or even Riki Wessels. Monty Panesar should continue to be their number one spinner with Dalrymple and Blackwell as the backup. As far as the seamers go Anderson should continue to be the spearhead with the likes of Plunkett and Mahmood as the support bowlers. England can also try some fresh cricketers like Will Jefferson and Nick Crompton at the top and the likes of Jonathan Trott in the middle. They have some young talented bowlers like Broad, Footitt and Tom Smith. The future looks good provided they pick the right squad and have a proper order. As far as today’s match goes, only a miracle can save them.

Empire crawls around!

I feel that the time has come for England to dump Duncan Fletcher and Michael Vaughan. After the dismissal performance in the 2003 World Cup, Fletcher promised to make some great changes but sadly even after 4 long years; England is still struggling and is highly dependent on the performances of other teams rather than its own performance. After the CB series which they won without the best ODI batsmen in the world currently Kevin Pietersen, I though they would do very well, but in this world cup, they have struggled even to beat minnows. Flintoff should either be opening or should be at no. 7. He is hopelessly out of form as a batsman. I still do know how Vaughan is right at the top. He may be a great test player but his one day record is so woeful that he may struggle to make it to the Bangladesh line-up. The constant chopping of Strauss has not done him any good and Joyce is better off in the middle order and he should take up the role that Thorpe and Fairbrother used to play. Bopara is still raw and frankly he does not deserve to be in the side and the dropping of Loye is a big blunder. England is too depended of Bell and KP. It’s time the other guys in the team take up some responsibilities and start playing. May be the time has come to test out Broad and see if he really has something as all great players cherish the big stage and if he is a great one in the making, then this should be the place.

Tigers Crush Sprinkboks

Bangladesh proved that they really deserve a place in the Super 8s after a crushing win over the number one side in the world. South Africa never looked they were in the hunt and I guess this has opened the Super 8s with nearly 7 teams still having a realistic chance of reaching the semi-finals. Australians remain the clear favorites with possibly New Zealand and England as 2 teams capable of beating them. The Lankans have become the dark horse but their batting is yet to fire. As far as South Africa goes, well I hate any side which was selected by a quota system rather than merit. So they deserve this loss. It’s a pity that a lot of talented white cricketers are not in this squad and Kemp is no Lance Klusener. Even now Zulu in his mid 30s should have been in the squad. But nothing can be done now. Today the old rivals will meet, Michael Vaughan’s ODI career could be ended if England losses today.

Down But Out?

After the stunning performance during the Commonwealth Bank series, I actually believed that England has finally got it right in ODIs but after their show in the WC I doubt it. Their top 3 is even worse than Ireland (4 centuries in their top 3 compared to 1 to England). Their centurion Ed Joyce is highly inconsistent and Vaughan can be a good test batmen but I am sure that he would not make even any state side on Australian domestic competition for limited over cricket. Ian Bell is a good cricketer but he never can produce a dominating innings that would dictate terms and instill fear among the opposition players. I still don’t know why Kevin Pietersen is not playing at number 3. I am sure he would do a brilliant job and it would give him more time to settle down. I also don’t see the point of Jamie Dalrymple not playing. He is much better than Ravi Bopara. Ideally now England can’t do anything about the squad. But I feel that Cook should have been in it and so does Mal Loye. This should be England’s playing XI - Michael Vaughan(C), Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Ed Joyce, Jamie Dalrymple, Paul Nixon, Liam Plunkett, Monty Panesar, James Anderson.

Marcus Trescothick should be back as soon as he recovers from his illness as they desperately need him now more than any time before.

Made in South Africa

Not only do we have South Africans playing for South Africa (Dah….Obviously), we also have these chaps representing a lot of other teams.

England - Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Strauss
Netherlands - Ryan ten Doeschate, Eric Szwarczynski and Billy Stelling
Scotland - Dewald Nel
Ireland - Andre Botha

The Lost Enigma

Graeme Hick is one of the strangest cases in world cricket. Instead of being the savior for the Zimbabwean cricket team, he decided to ply his trade for England and had to wait for ages and finally after 57 first class centuries, he finally made a debut for them against West Indies, a match which also saw another flawed genius Mark Ramprakash making his debut. Both dints make much of an impact but the seeds were sown for what turned to be a career of unfulfilled promise which was originally said to be that was supposed to be compared to the Don himself. If not for his test career, he would have still been considered the greatest ODI player for England in the 90s. Only 3 Englishmen who have played more than 100 games averages more than him. Had he decided to play the waiting game like Andy Flower, well it could have been a different story altogether and with no fear of being dropped; Hick could have always been the partner at the other end that Flower always longed for. Though he may be 40+ now, he stills destroys county line-ups at will and could dismantle any bowling line-up on his day. He still could be of some use to England. He could be the ideal No. 7 as he can still belt the ball as good as any other cricketer and his off spin is as good as Dalrymple. Yes he got lot of chances but again, he was always under the threat of being dropped and this got into his head badly. Zimbabwe loss was England’s gain but never once did they utilize him properly. His greatest movement would have been the Carlton & United Series in Australia during the 1998/99 season. He smashed 3 centuries and amasses over 500 runs in only 12 games.

Will the real Englishman please stand up!

Recently I came across news that Jacques Rudolph, the South African test player has decided to abandon his country and become a Kolpak player for Yorkshire while Saqlain Mushtaq the former Pakistani spinner has joined Sussex. The way things are going I would be surprised to see if England managed to field 5 pure Englishmen for the 2009 Ashes. Pure in a sense that people of Asian origin though are born in England, but I have excluded them for the sake of this post. The people who survived the last ashes and are expected to be included are Flintoff, Bell, Pietersen, Cook, Strauss and Panesar. May be Mahmood, Harmison, Anderson and even Hoggard. But again English fast bowers have a history of injury problems. Look at Simon Jones, no international cricket after the ashes of 2005. Among the lot who are expected to play 2 were born in South Africa (Pietersen and Strauss) and 2 of Asian origin (Panesar and Mahmood). When you look at the next generation of players, well you have guys like Broad, Davies, Jefferson and Onions, but again you have Compton, born in South Africa and Adil Rashid of Asian origin. Add guys like Joyce (Ireland), Amjad Khan (Denmark), Kervezee (Netherlands), Morgan (Ireland), plus you also have guys like Jacques Rudolph and Saqlain Mushtaq. Well this may be the Ashes XI for 2009 – Cook, Rudolph, Bell, Pietersen, Flintoff, Joyce, Davies, Panesar, Amjad Khan, Anderson and Broad. Well they have managed to have 6 pure Englishmen, great going guys; well 2020 will be a different scene all together.