Cover Points : Sri Lanka

The rest of the story

gchakravarthy — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:45:00 GMT

Not too long ago, India's captain, MS Dhoni, was being hailed for his worker bee grade of professionalism. Now, his team mates, and to some extent he himself, would only be given a B-grade for their work.

Even his famously metronomic coach, whose made run-getting such a chore that Detroit wanted to rectuit him as a robot for their screw-tightening plant, had warned of exhaustion (read: motivational fatigue) before the World T20 ... and surely made it a talking point soon after India's exit from it.

Recently, he left another byte-mark about next year's IPL already.

While the players are fatigued, many have been wondering if the fans themselves are as well. In England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, where the sports seasons are very well demarcated, the followers of cricket seem to be able to maintain some kind of sanity. Many of Australia's internationally active cricket heroes followed their lead by skipping on IPL this time around, but did it help?

If Pakistan and Sri Lanka's 1st Test match in Galle is any indication, the answer might be: Yes!

The match has been very closely contested - well, at least until the fourth day - by two teams which are overflowing with hitherto unseen faces. It might not be a coincidence that this quality of cricket came after a prolonged and forced hiatus for Pakistan and even if not as prolonged, an equally forced, break from Sri Lanka's perspective. Of course, one could see that this break also had its impact on the quality of fielding in the Pakistani side ... but that could be "put down" to just lack of match practice ... after all this is their first Test in ...

But the vigor and drive from both teams was quite palpable and rather refreshing, especially in the face of recent Test series between the West Indies and England where all the hot air surrounding the matches seemed to have evaporated and taken away with it some of the mojo from the cricketers' as well.

In contrast, one Pakistani's mojo seems to be on the rising, and considering its already heliotropic tendencies, one wonders how much room there is to rise further. He has had considerable amount of rest as well.

A dead rubber.

gchakravarthy — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:05:00 GMT

Most of the debates over the past two weeks have been over the quality of both the pitches on view in the two-Test series. As a few armed men would have it, it was not the pitches alone that ended up being dead in Pakistan. Hafsa, on "The Dawn Blog" seems to be arriving at a conclusion along similar lines, just a couple of hours after the attacks on the cricket convoy from hotel to stadium was reported:

This deadly attack simply means no international team will be willing to come and play any sport in Pakistan.

On wellpitched.com , "Sledgehammer" went one step further or, more appropriately, one foot deeper, and wrote what could be one of the first obituaries for the sport iitself in Pakistan:

I think the title says it all. Today's disgusting and shameful attacks have sealed the deal. There is no reason for any foreign team to tour Pakistan.

Dominic Cork, who was on the commentary team there, had this immediate reaction:

"I won't be coming back here while I'm still living. I don't think international teams should come back to this country, whether it's 10 or 20 years."

The news may sound shocking and seem to vindicate most teams' stance of not even remotely taking a stance on any pitch in Pakistan. But it may well have been the "satisfactory levels of security" repeatedly promised by the PCB and accepted by the Sri Lankan Sports Minister just ten days ago, that seems to have left the Sri Lankan players alive.

But Sanjeev Miglani from Reuter's "FactBox" reminds one and all about the pre-existing security concerns for cricket to be taking place in Pakistan even before this :

Sri Lanka's cricket team were touring Pakistan after India pulled out in the wake of the Mumbai attacks
Until the Sri Lankan series Pakistan had gone without test cricket for more then a year and was keen to have international cricket at home.
Australia postponed a test tour in April 2008 and the International Cricket Council also put off the Champions Trophy after South Africa raised security concerns about playing in Pakistan.
In 2002, a bomb exploded in Karachi while the New Zealand cricket team were touring, killing 13 people including 11 French navy experts.
The ICC last month asked the organisers to plan alternate venues due to security concerns.

Two other, much-publicised, assumptions seem to have also been gunned down by this incident. The first of these having been initiated by Imran Khan in the aftermath of the myriad cancellations of international cricketing events in Pakistan in 2008:

There is no problem about the security of cricketers in Pakistan.

his logic being

The terrorists will never target cricketers knowing that they will then lose the battle of hearts and minds of the people. Cricketers are safe in Pakistan

The second of those assumptions was that Sri Lanka being one of those seemingly rare friendly nations, especially one that chose to prove this friendship by defying what had almost become as commonplace a tenet in cricket as "bowling within oneself" or the more annoying "it ain't over until the last ball is bowled", was immune to the ire of any lurking attackers.

As far as assumptions go, chances are Samaraweera would have assumed that his double double would not be followed by so much trouble. Chances also are that he would gladly give up those four tons of runs for never having to face the predicament of him ending up on the wrong side of four kilograms of explosives. But chance is a funny thing and many know it better than an international cricketer, those many being the rest of the citizens of the subcontinent, because and brace yourself ... "after all, cricket imitates life itself".

And then there were (n)one - Part 1 - The wins

arvi — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 02:10:00 GMT

Agatha Christie's famous novel did have one left in the end though the readers find that out only in the end. Similarly, when Edwards walked in,walked in the latest thriller @ ARG(ggg), England could have been forgotten for thinking that it was a...(read more)

ICL = International Cricket League?

dcsiva — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:49:00 GMT

Arjuna Ranatunga the administrator is carrying on the mysterious ways he developed as captain. I can't begin to imagine what has possessed the man, especially given that SL's current players are still agitating for playing in the IPL next year, not touring England. Good luck to him anyway!

Having predicted the creation of a Sri Lanka team in the ICL, which looks one giant step closer to happening now, Soulberry is now thinking ICL tie-ups with Stanford:

ICL comes that much closer to recognition/acceptance and a possible tie-up with Stanford at some point in the future may not be a pipe-dream anymore.

SL has solved the problem of keeping its players well-paid and happy with one stroke. Others are sure to follow.

Jrod puts it in the way only he could:

But say what you will, it takes a fair man to stick his middle digit up at a millionaire kidnapper.

Would you?

I cannot believe me and Arjuna agree on anything.

If Arjuna had a blog, oh the angry comments he would get.

That would teach him for this anti establishment behaviour.

Finally, Kartikeya gives us a run-down on the Irani Trophy, both review and preview.

Sri Lanka Cricket and its IPL players

dcsiva — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:02:00 GMT

Sri Lanka Cricket and its players are still battling with one another. The brief summary: SLC granted permission to contract with the IPL teams next year; the ECB pulled out of their invitation to Zimbabwe to tour to England; SLC signed up to tour to England instead; and SLC now want their top players to go to England instead of playing for the IPL. The Daily News says the players are reluctant to meet the SLC:

The Minister of Sports and Recreation Gamini Lokuge yesterday appointed Duleep Mendis Chief Executive Officer of Sri Lanka Cricket to mediate and resolve the crisis between the SLC Interim Committee and the players who have signed to play in next year’s Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament.

The second session of the high profile Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament will clash with Sri Lanka’s tour to England next year and the Minister was expected to deliver the final verdict following a discussion with both parties.

However the Minister was forced to delay the final decision as the players had informed their inability to attend the meeting. As a result Duleep Mendis former Sri Lanka captain and the Chief Executive Officer of the SLC took over the responsibilities of finding a solution for this issue.

The Daily Mirror writes that the players---Jayawardene, Muralitharan, and Jayasuriya, among others---are considering retirement:

SLC sources said that the cricketers had refused to budge and had warned that they are ready to take even extreme measures such as contemplating retirement from national team to honour the IPL contracts they have already signed, if they have no other choice. They have reportedly pointed out that the England tour was hastily arranged later by SLC officials without consulting the cricketers who were under IPL contracts.

The future of cricket will be about a combination of city based Twenty20 cricket and the occasinoal game of Test cricket. This is probably a good thing.

Lanka progress and Fab Four decline

dcsiva — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:57:00 GMT

As England wrap up a final Test win against South Africa, with that cynical little man back in action, Sri Lanka win the series against India. Straight Point breaks out a statistics analysis against sleepy Fab Four supporters to argue that the Fab Four are in permanent decline not just in a temporary dip:

i wanted to put stats of other two (sehwag and gambirs) but i dropped the idea coz figures were embarrassing to compare...

if you further break it series per series basis...i.e. starting from Oz series to SA to SL series or breaking it from last 20 innings to last 15 to last 10 to even last 5 innings...

whichever way you wanna look at it...i am sure that...the decline will appear more continuously downwards...almost like a pattern...indicating that the fall in form is not temporary...or sudden...as we are being made to believe...

I'm not sure I'm awake yet. Mohan meanwhile sees a silver lining in Tendulkar getting injured---Badrinath gets a recall. But as Ottayan points out, the Vir-Gati opening combination that Tendulkar would have disrupted means that Badrinath is unlikely to play.

Lastly, a quiz from Patrick Kidd to help wake me up.

Bouncing back wins

dcsiva — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:30:00 GMT

Sri Lanka may have rubber wristed spinners, but as Dileep Premachandran puts it, the Indians have bounced back big. A huge victory for India. Sehwag, Harbhajan, Gambhir, and of course Ishant Sharma all had roles to play in the comeback series leveller. Samir Chopra is glad that Sehwag's battling double century didn't go to waste as all the other batsmen fell to Mendis:

Phew. So India didn't waste Sehwag's classic 201 in the Galle Test (this is only the third time that India have won a test in which Sehwag has scored a ton; a more criminal waste of a cricketer's contributions would be hard to find).

Srikanth, tongue firmly in cheek, suggests that Delhi beat the Lankans:

The two Delhi openers and their opening fast bowler (on the final day) with a significant contribution from their Punjabi neighbor won the test for India handsomely. The Sri Lankan batting looked very ordinary on the final day as the Indians through some lethal pace bowling and good catching ran through the line up. It was a good team performance on the final day but it is impossible not to recognize that this test match was hardly an Indian victory but for the fact that Sehwag single handled carried the Indian batting.

Five days to Colombo and the series' decider.

Review, referral, reappeal

dcsiva — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:17:00 GMT

The first ever reviews (read "legalised challenges") of umpiring decisions in Test cricket has taken place. And Sri Lanka have piled up over 400 runs with 3 century scorers. Jagadish has a few suggestions, including a novel way of handling Jacques Kallis, and argues that there'd be less player dissent:

The one good thing that may come out of the referral system is that meaningless appeals could come down. e.g. if a batsman is struck on the pads and it looks fairly adjacent, previously there'd have been very vociferous appealing hoping that the umpire would ignore the obvious inside edge off the bat. Now, since the batsman can question the decision, such appeals would be reduced. You could also see less instances of player dissent.

Straight Point argues that the result of less pressure on the umpires will be even less reviews:

it will slowly but surely eliminate theatrical appeals used to pressurize umps...knowing at back of your mind that even if you get the decision in your favor, it will definitely be reviewed...

needless to say that this will definitely ease pressure on umpires and in turn we will see more good decisions from them...

hence resulting in less referrals...?

But, as Ottayan asks in the comments, what of the pressure that appeals put on the batsmen themselves? Kartikeya argues that the very first use of the new law by Kumble was absurd. How could the players have a better view of an LBW decision that the bowling umpire? After all, the players can't wait for a TV replay before asking for review. Also, on no-balls and improving the system:

Then there is the issue of the no-ball being checked by the third umpire when the review is made. Dismissals which occur off deliveries which are ruled as no-balls are not checked! If the third umpire were allowed to review decisions without prompting from either the batsman or the fielding captain, he would have identified that Mark Benson ruling a no-ball on a delivery where Zaheer Khan had Warnapura caught and bowled was wrong.

...

Cricket cannot afford to have players and umpires as adversaries. The referral system directly undermines the Umpires, and does so in the worst possible way. It ought to be scrapped immediately and if it is to be replaced at all, it should be replaced with a simple system where the third umpire is instructed to be in constant communication with the on-field umpires whenever an appeal is made by the fielding side and a decision is made by the on-field umpires.

And Samir Chopra comments on the Dilshan review. Do batsmen tend to misjudge snicks when their bat simultaneously makes contact with the ground?
Finally, Patrick Kidd has some comments on the now well-established review system in tennis, thanks to Hawk-Eye.

Rethinking Headingley and battling Lanka

dcsiva — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:41:00 GMT

As England try to regroup after being thrashed at Headingley, the recriminations and rethinking is everywhere. Here's Will on what to do with Broad. And part of King Cricket's tongue in cheek proposal:

Buoyed by their mind-addling repast, the selectors brought in a barely-known Antipodean roofer and promoted Tim Ambrose to number six on the strength of his seven-ball four at Lord’s. So what treats have they got in store for us come the next Test?
Well after showing admirable resilience with the bat, James Anderson will surely move up to number three in order to protect Michael Vaughan from the new ball. Stuart Broad will move up to four as the team’s strokemaker and also to protect Michael Vaughan from the newish ball.

Ottayan argues for patience during upcoming Indian tour to Sri Lanka. Doesn't every team go to Sri Lanka with that plan?

And, on an entirely different note, Patrick Kidd quotes someone writing in to him about Don Bradman's "average" birthday:

"There will be plenty of celebration regarding Don Bradman's 100th birthday on August 27, 2008. Has there been any thought as to when he would have turned 99.94? This would be on August 5 (using 99.94 rounded) or August 6 (using his un-rounded average of 99.94285714286 etc)."

Nice one! Finally the next step up from Twenty20 now that we're all so jaded by it:

The rules of roller-cricket is the same as that of the cricket. However, the number of players participating in a team has been fixed at seven. Each game will be of 25 overs a side, he said.
Jacob said the game is not costly, as one can get a skater for Rs 400.
...
The popularity of the game is steadily rising and there are enquiries from various schools for starting camps, he said.
A roller-cricket tournament has also been planned in the state, he said.

Taking Mendis out for a spin

dcsiva — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:38:00 GMT

Terry Jenner and Guddappa Viswanath are among the chorus of voices on Ajantha Mendis. Jenner is surprised that Mendis does not have a stock ball:

"Mendis needs to develop the stock ball which is very essential for leg break bowlers. When I heard that he doesn't have stock ball, I was amazed," said the Australian great, who is in New Delhi to oversee a bowlers' camp.
"World's best spinners have great stock ball. Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan] was one of them. As a coach, we need to teach basics not magic deliveries," he added.

And yet Mendis also requires greater variety?

"What he is doing has been done before by bowlers like John Gleeson. He is a good bowler but I am doubtful about his success in Australian and South African pitches. He does not have variety in his bowling," Jenner said.

Viswanath suggests that the Indian batsmen can easily handle Mendis. Apparently, they should watch his wrist and fingers:

"You've got to pick him [Mendis] up at the time of delivery. Our batsmen need to observe Mendis's wrist and finger movements at the time of delivery...then he'll become easier to negotiate," the 59-year-old said on the sidelines of a Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) function in New Delhi on Monday.

What does Vishy think they have they been watching until now? On the other hand he did deal with Jack Gleason pretty well back in the day.

Sri Lanka all tear shaped

dcsiva — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:57:00 GMT

Sri Lanka Cricket just solved a payrise problem---Ottayan says that their debts have been cleared by the upcoming India tour---but are in all kinds of trouble over the newly scheduled tour next year to England. Looks like they're seriously considering letting their star players play in the IPL next year instead of touring England:

"The issue is yet to be finalised and very much at a discussion stage," the source said, asking to remain anonymous. He said they were awaiting a response from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Some 13 Sri Lankan cricketers, including star players Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara, have signed three-year contracts to play in the IPL.

The players argued they received permission to play in the IPL before the ECB came up with the idea of replacing Zimbabwe with Sri Lanka for the early part of the summer 2009.

Meanwhile the MCC, Surrey, Hampshire and Lancashire have been caught with a plan for a 50 million pound Twenty20 for the top nine counties only:

The quartet had planned to launch their manifesto at Tuesday's board meeting of the England and Wales Cricket Board but it was leaked yesterday. Tuesday's meeting will now be an explosive one. While the competition, it is claimed, could realise £85m annually, some of which would be passed on to all the 18 existing counties, those outside the charmed circle are bound to resist. The basic principle that all counties participate in domestic competitions is the bedrock of the existing domestic system.

Not only that, but the ECB wouldn't be fully in charge. And the backlash has been swift in coming. Finally, a brilliant post on Michael Vaughan by David Barry.

The Mendis carrom ball

dcsiva — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:58:00 GMT

India take on Sri Lanka in a one month series, containing 3 Tests and 5 ODIs. The big draw is, of course, Ajantha Mendis. Here's Mohan on the Indian squad:

The major surprise is that Virender Sehwag is vice-captain of the Test team!
After his comments on the idiocy of back-to-back games in the Asia Cup and after his comment that he was “running on reserve”, not unexpectedly, M. S. Dhoni, Team India Test vice-captain, has opted out of the Tests citing fatigue.

Also, Irfan has been dropped and Ojha included. Ottayan has the stats on all the hard work Dhoni has been putting in for the team.

Ducking Beamers has a post on that mystery of a bowler, Mendis, and his carrom ball. Meanwhile the really shocking news has been Pepsi's non-renewal of Tendulkar's contract. "Insider trading" on his retirement, perhaps?

Chanders and big hitting

dcsiva — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:23:00 GMT

An astonishing result in the West Indies vs. Sri Lanka series, as Lanka collapse but keep going, and the Windies start slow, collapse, then recover with some big hitting from Chanderpaul. Island Express points to the beginning of the West Indies innings:

Yesterday, the struggle against the Vaasdomination continued, with Gayle prepared to leave almost everything outside off against Vaas, and continue his buccaneering ways against whoever was bowling at the other end. Vaas swung the ball, well into the second powerplay, and Gayle continued to wait, gleefully accepting his luck on the way. Amarasinghe got some stick and Gayle got himself a fifty in what was in the final analysis, a captain's knock.

Samir Chopra says it's the first time ever that a six was needed and delivered off the last ball:

Sorry, Pakistan fans, the Miandad six doesn't count. Four were needed then. And neither does the Mujtaba six. Seven were needed then.

The Atheist notes that Fifty50 might have some life left in it yet.