World Cup Thoughts - March 12th

Writing in Anger and Disappointment. Certainly not a good thing to do. But here goes.

• Today was March 12. Seems to be the day the South Africans do not choke. 5 years ago they beat Australia in THAT game in Johannesburg.
• First 40 overs with the bat, India were AWESOME.
• Sebwag's 4Play. 5th game in a row, he hits the 1st ball for boundary.
• Another SRT 100 in vain.
• The Batting powerplay is the game changer and usually messing up the batsmen more than the bowlers.
• Losing 9 wickets for 29 runs. Thats a collapse to be envious of. A freakish display nonetheless and hopefully not going to happen repeatedly.
• The powerpacked batting line up failed miserably at the end today and still scored nearly 300 runs. And we failed to defend these many runs. Bowling is Worrying.
• Should still qualify through but after that what happens is anybody's guess.
• Somehow can't be enthused about either of tomorrow's matches (New Zealand vs Kenya and Australia vs Canada)

P.S. I am not picking any more calls during the last over of the game. 

World Cup Thoughts - March 11th

Before I begin today's post, some thoughts on the Earthqauke and tsunami in Japan. Nature putting on a "Shock and Awe" show to make everything else seem so insignificant.

England were playing today. Match had to be exciting. Here are the thoughts after today's matches.

• Who is fixing all the England matches. Loses to Ireland and Bangladesh. Still not out of the QF race because they beat South Africa and stole a point from India. 
• The match winning 9th wicket partnership reminded me of the Kumble-Srinath heist on Australia in the Titan Cup match in 1996.
• Eoin Morgan must have been now wanting to play more and more for the Irish rather than the English.
• Ireland are certainly not a minnow. haven't really been outplayed by anyone and actually have been favorite to win at some point in all the matches so far.
• Yesterday, Zimbabwe did take 6 Sri Lankan wickets for some 20 odd runs but the those 282 scored before really hurt them. 
• There was another screw-up with the UDRS system. Gary Wilson was given out at a very critical stage in lets say "dubious" circumstances post review. Did not see this happen directly. But thanks to Sridhar for pointing this out. (More details in his post here)

Tomorrow is a big game. India taking on South Africa to decide the top of the table.

World Cup Thoughts - March 9th

It was an India match day, so a post has to come. Missed most of the game due to being at work. Only saw the end bits. Here are the thoughts for the day.

• First, Piyush Chawla - From the reactions on the internet, he is fast replacing Ravindra Jadeja as the most abused Indian cricketer.
• It seems to be a new strategy. Zaheer opens the innings, the other pacer opens from the other and after one over Yusuf starts over. Not a bad move given that except Praveen Kumar (and he is not playing), the other Indian pacers seem to prefer bowling with the older ball.
• 4 in 4 for Sehwag. 4th innings in the World Cup and he starts with a boundary of the first ball. Thats a nice little habit to have. Had read somewhere that Sir Jack Hobbs (the greatest run accumulator in 1st Class cricket) liked to take a single off the first ball he faced. So Sehwag should be doing well.
• Yuvraj Singh had another good day in the office. But the rest of the team seemed to be taking it easy. Still the Seven Samurai managed to get the job done in the end.
• I thought India had made it to the Quarters by now. But it seems I was wrong. There is an odd chance that we have not. If WI beat Eng, Eng beat Ban, WI beat Ind, Ire beat WI, SA beat Ind, Ire beat SA, SA beat Ban & Ire beat Neth, Ind could still miss out. (Source - @espncricinfo)
• And to end with some new titles for Kamran Akmal - Here is what he has been described as by the master of Awesome cricket writing Andy Zaltzman -  the Maharajah of Missed Chances, the Don Corleone of Dropped Catches, the Earl of Err, the Pharaoh of Fumble, Lance Corporal Granite Hands

World Cup Thoughts - March 8th

Wasn't really sure of posting a blog today. But there was one hell of an innings by Luteru Ross Poutua Lote Taylor which forced me to.

• Apparently Kenya & Canada played a World Cup match yesterday. Who won? And it was a waste of electricity playing the game under lights.
• New Zealand - Pakistan was interesting for a total of 13 overs. The last 6 from the Kiwi innings and the first 7 of Pakistan's. A picture of the Kiwi Manhattan tells all the story. (Picture from Cricinfo)

• How does Kamran Akmal get to keep wickets for a Test playing country? Today was even lower than his normally pathetic levels of keeping. The Pakistanis must be really wishing that ICC had prevented him from being selected in the squad.
• Ross Taylor was given a birthday gift by Kamran Akmal on 0. A catch let go for 4, and then another one dropped two balls later. Taylor went on to hammer the bowlers in the end. 
• I don't think I have seen a faster team 100 than those scored at the end of the New Zealand innings.
• Conspiracy theorists might like to believe this match to be fixed. But to me this was just a case of Pakistan being Pakistan, at their inconsistent best. And all of a sudden, they are not looking the favorites anymore.
• New Zealand, I had almost written off. But the way that they demolished Zimbabwe and now beaten Pakistan, it must have done them a world of good. Vettori's injury would be a concern though.
• Kenya have become the first team to be officially out of running for the cup. Now the World Cup 2011 is a 13 horse race.
• In other news, its become more and more difficult keeping track of the injured list. Broad & Pietersen are also out of the World Cup for now (some of the injured have come back, so can't say that they will not return)

India takes on the Dutch tomorrow. Should be an easy win for us. But funny things have been happening here.

World Cup Thoughts - March 6th

Not posted here in a while. Contrary to what might seem given the frequency of posts here, I actually have a regular job, with a 6 day work week at that, which sometimes makes me earn my salary. So since my last posting, where both my predictions went horribly wrong, 5 matches have taken place. Here are the World Cup thoughts as of date.

• New Zealand are now in a neither here nor there kind of situation. They get thrashed by the big teams and indulge in some heavy-duty minnow bashing when they get the chance.
• Whatever happened to Bangladesh. All out for 58, certainly wasn't expected and that too against West Indies. This was followed by the shameful incident of stone throwing at the West Indies team bus. Even more ridiculous was the explanation provided by the police, that the fans thought it to be the Bangladesh team bus. As if throwing stones at your own players is acceptable behavior.
• If their was an award for the "Most Entertaining Team of the World Cup" it has to go to England. Another close match. 
• Don't like to use the word, but South Africa choked today. When AB de Villiers and du Plessis were crawling towards the target, I wondered if the South Africans were planning to choke. And thats what they did. A flurry of wickets and England out of nowhere found themselves at the top of the Group table.
• It seems all captains have found the way to get Kevin Pietersen out. Just put any left arm spinner against him. Today it was Robin Peterson's turn to get KP.
• I believe the Irish are going to become the most loved team of the World Cup. Another fighting display this time against India. They were BRILLIANT in the field. Trent Johnston's chicken dance routine was funny. And George Dockrell is an impressive young spinner. Certainly looks like getting into the England team soon.
• Yusuf Pathan showed how to best deal with a small target in a nervous run chase. 5 balls faced from a bowler who had just taken out Dhoni. 2 straight huge sixes and a four. Can't be more confidence destroying than that.
• Never visit the barber's shop while an India game is on. My neck was literally on line with a raazor blade uncomfortably close while everyone debated the DRS review. One unnerving experience to say the least.

So tomorrow we have the game between Canad and Kenya. Not even worth predicting.

World Cup Thoughts - March 3rd

After the grand Irish victory, yesternight, 2 seemingly boring matches were lined up. Here are today's World Cup thoughts.

• South Africa hammered Netherlands by 232 run margin. The batting machine was efficient with Amla & de Villiers getting centuries while no one really clicked for the Dutch.
• The 2nd game between Canada and Pakistan turned out to be much closer than expected. Pakistan certainly in quite a bit of bother till Afridi came up with a 5-wicket haul.
• Canada looked liked an immigrant XI more than anything else.
• They might have been beaten on the field but the Canadians certainly did not fall behind on thee verbal front. It was certainly funny seeing all the talk going on.
• ICC seemed to be using this game to popularise the concept of the UDRS. Daryll Harper made one mistake after another and then kept on getting corrected by the Decision Review System. 
• Tomorrow 2 critical matches from the Quarter-final perspective are lined up. Zimbabwe against new Zealand and Bangladesh against West Indies. My predictions - Zimababwe and Bangladesh to win.

Cricketing Joke of the Day

Q. What do you say when the "Laughing Buddha" becomes serious?

A. Gautam Gambhir [Gautam being the name of Buddha and Gambhir meaning "serious"]

Can We Cricket? Yes We Can!

The picture which sums it all up for Irish Cricket.

World Cup Thoughts - March 2nd

Here are the thoughts after one of the best games in the World Cup history. 

• The English have taken upon themselves the task of making the World Cup worth watching. A struggling win against the Dutch, a crazy tie against India and now a high scoring defeat against the Irish. The winter Ashes thrashing of the Australians already seems like a lifetime away.
• You always tend to support the underdog (except when the underdog is thrashing up your team). But the Irish really dug a big hole (it was more like a crater after a meteorite impact) for themselves, letting the English score 327, then got 5 down for 113 before going for victory.
• Kevin O'Brien was AWESOME. Pure and near chanceless slogging. And he had great support from Alex Cusack and John Mooney.
• The Irish today showed how to use the Batting Powerplay, unlike most teams. They used it as a shock value, did not wait till the end or even the change of ball. And it changed the momentum of game.
• Unfortunately, the best Irish player in the world was not playing for either side today. Wonder how Eoin Morgan must be feeling today.
• Funniest Comment - From the BBC text commentary "Could this match also be seen as a recruitment opportunity for England? Is it considered bad form to steal the other team's best players during a tournament? Or a match?". The ICC qualification rules are weird but it seems England can actually pick an Irish player as a replacement in case of injuries but the Irish will have to wait 4 years to take him back. 
• ICC still planning to allow only 10 teams in the 2015 Cup?
• Ireland/ICC should immediately take steps for Test status. Nobody really wants anymore cases like Ed Joyce. (A really nice of Ed Joyce is here)
• Group B has been thrown wide open by this result. Some team is going to miss out big time. England face off against South Africa, West Indies & Bangladesh. Certainly not going to be easy.
• India need to be very worried about Ireland now.

Now for some other thoughts.

• Post the spot fixing scandal, anything even remotely out of ordinary is being treated as a suspect. ICC investigating into slow Australian start against Zimbabwe, while some Sri Lankan TV channel has accused Jayawardene & Samaraweera of deliberately losing against Pakistan. Some are also questioning Shane Warne's tweet about India-England match getting tied. Cloud of suspicion is never good. And the ICC/Boards must act if anything untoward is found.
• And finally to Lasith Malinga. Does not play when I make him my trump player, but on getting dropped from my team, makes a comeback and taakes a hat-trick.

Jharkhand - Vijay Hazare Trophy Champions 2010-11

With the World Cup going on, there was hardly any focus on the Vijay Hazare Trophy (the dometic one-day championship) going on. Jharkhand beat Gujarat by a massive margin of 159 runs to lift the trophy, the first ever domestic title win for the state. This has been a truly magnificent performance by Sarabh Tiwary and company. They had won all 4 preliminary matches, then beat Mumbai in the Quarter-finals, Vidarbha in the semis and now Gujarat in the finals. This performance shows that cricket has truly spread across India.

Some of the credit for this win does go to MS Dhoni, the first star cricketer from Jharkhand. His India duties may have prevented him from playing for the state now but he has been the real inspiration for this team. Saurabh Tiwary has already made his India debut. Ishank Jaggi is fast becoming one of the more consistent batsmen on the domestic circuit. A few others like Varun Aaron have got IPL contracts. The best part of this team is that the cricketers are entirely home grown and not hired professionals from other states.

Hoping this is the first of the many, many trophies to come.

World Cup Thoughts - Feb 28th

After the fantastic tied match between India and England, the World Cup went back to sleep on Monday with 2 low profile one-sided matches taking place. The only good thing was that in the hangover of the India-England game these two went almost unnoticed. Here are the thoughts for the day.

• Zimbabwe indulged in some minnow bashing. Played a whole army of spinners and thrashed Canada. Tatenda Taibu (who yours truly had selected as the Trump player in his cricinfo league) picked up the Man of the Match while Ray Price (another slection :D) destroyed the Canadian top order.
• Netherlands just could not sustain the momentum from the previous game against England and were destroyed by the West Indies. My players (RTD & Bravo) did not have that good a game. 
• A world cup hattrick does deserv special mention for Kemar Roach.
• I have said it before, spin will rule the Cup. And that is why I have a feeling that Zimbabwe might sneak into the Quarters ahead of the Kiwis. Even West Indies are opening the bowling with Benn.
• The Associates are better off batting first, given most of the games are day-nighters. Score big and then funny things can happen while chasing under the lights.
•  Today's prediction - Sri Lanka (the biggest of the minnow bashers) will roll over Kenya.