Cover Points : Graeme Smith

Smith smites England

dcsiva — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Graeme Smith extraordinary century gives South Africa their first series win in England since their re-entry into the international game:

Smith made an unbeaten 154 as South Africa won by five wickets to take a winning 2-0 lead in the four-Test series. "I've had some meaningful innings in my life but with the whole situation and for the people back home, it's bigger than just us, this victory. I'd have to say it's my best innings," said Smith.
England counterpart Michael Vaughan said defeat was a bitter blow but paid tribute to Smith. "We've all just witnessed a very, very special innings. The way Graeme Smith came out and played was as good as I've seen anyone chase down that sort of target under that sort of pressure."
South Africa were set to make 281, by 70 runs the highest successful fourth innings chase in a Test match at Edgbaston and South Africa's fourth highest of all time.

Brian Carpenter calls it just right:

The undefeated 154 with which he took his country to its first victory on English soil since the summer before I was born was a true classic, combining determination, measured strokeplay, good judgement and the priceless ability to ignore what was going on at the other end, namely that a series of batsmen were getting pinned by deliveries which they didn't see.

And here's The Tooting Trumpet back again with a wonderful piece on the meaning of it all:

If you’re a Son of the Voortrekkers or the Zulu or any other group of the Rainbow Nation, this is a proud day. Your captain, Graeme Smith, has emerged from the IPL winning Rajasthan Royals a less intense, but equally driven man, who has learned much from the greatest captain Test cricket never saw, one SK Warne, and delivered a series win in England for the first time since 1965. If you’re a Son of The Old Dart, it’s like the Fletcher years (1999-2006) never happened.

Next up, Australia in December.

Pressure cricket and defending the Shield

dcsiva — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:32:00 GMT

Flintoff is finally ready for his comeback. The only thing, don't put any pressure on him, says Michael Vaughan:

"I don't want to put him under any more pressure than the media has already. He just needs to be able to bowl like he can, hopefully whack it like he does, and try to get his performance level to where it was before. But 18 months is a long time out. It might take him a little time to adjust."
England still seem unclear how to use Flintoff in Friday's match, though it is probable that he will replace Paul Collingwood, thus limiting England to only five specialist batsmen. And here is the first question: is a man who is averaging 22 in first-class cricket this season going to leave England vulnerable, especially on a ground where Flintoff has previously recorded four straight ducks?

On the other hand, consider the pressure the Saffer batsmen were under in their second innings. That's what Test cricket is all about. Here's King Cricket:

We were hugely, hugely impressed with Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie in the Lord’s Test. We don’t care what the pitch was like - just imagine coming out to bat after you’ve been so comprehensively trampled for three days. Imagine what would have happened to England in the same situation.
Beaten men play crap cricket. These pair summoned some almighty resolve to do what they did. Playing one beautiful shot is easy - that’s a one-off. Playing virtually no stupid shots for an entire day is quite another. You can’t fluke that. That is near-superhuman concentration.

And speaking of pressue, when will Mark Ramprakash score his 100th 100? When no one is looking? Third Umpire has a county roundup.

Finally, and by no means least, the Pura Cup has become the Sheffield Shield once again. They actually had to rebuild the shield itself, or was it just a planned restoration?

Warne-ing Ganguly

dcsiva — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:03:00 GMT

Another controversy hits the IPL. Having one per week seems about right, although from the way the little punishments are being handed out it seems that the powers in charge aren't in control of the process yet! One big surprise is the liberal handing out of punishments to umpires. I guess they're not in charge on the field anymore, much less off it.

Nestaquin has a detailed and well-written summary of the game taken as a whole. Ganesh argues that the media's spin on this as an Australia vs India thing is a very bad idea, but Ottayan conversely suggests that Warne's lauding of Graeme Smith is a remarkable building of bridges between Aussies and Saffers. Ducking Beamers has some youtube clips, sides with Warne, but points out that Warne

slips up a bit when he says that the "Indian umpire" caved; I’m not sure his ethnic background had anything to do with his decision.

And finally Q has the quotes from the press conference. Spirit of cricket, indeed.

ICL misrecognition and Kanpur whine

dcsiva — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:06:00 GMT

The ICL lawyers have finally sought official recognition directly from the ICC itself. Makes sense, given that India just beat the World, right? Malcolm Speed says that the BCCI has never officially unrecognized the ICL, so the whole thing is still up for grabs. I wish I knew what the ICL's grand plan is...

"There are two parts to that. Until recently the ICL had never sought recognition from the ICC, so it never asked the question. About ten days ago lawyers acting on behalf of ICL contacted ICC and sought recognition from the ICC," said Malcolm Speed, the outgoing CEO of ICC, on Wednesday during an interaction with reporters.

"We are awaiting advice from our lawyers on that issue and I expect it within the next week or so (after which) we'll respond to the ICL lawyers," Speed added.

"The question is never been asked whether ICC will recognize ICL one way or the other. It's a fairly complicated legal issue and we are taking legal advice," said the ICC CEO who will step down from his post in June.

Jrod is resolutely pesimissitic about the whole thing.

Meanwhile, Suresh Menon has a column on Graeme Smith having cheese and no whine about the Kanpur pitch, the one the ICC will be probing.