Finally, a Test Match
Good morning. At long last, we have a test match.
Personally, I’m interested to see how Bishoo, Rampaul and Simmons fair in the longer game. That will tell us a lot about the future of West Indies cricket.
Deep Backward Point
Blog against the machine.
May 11, 2011
The Continuing Curse of the Pakistani Cricket Captain
After Afridi hinted at trouble between himself and Waqar, rumors began that he would not be the ODI captain on the next tour.
If so, they better start looking for #15. Perhaps Pakistan is ripe for the Buchanan’s multiple captains theory!
May 11, 2011
Zaltz
Andy Zaltzman is back blogging after a month of cricket detoxification:
In an effort to make the pre-Twenty20 era of cricket retrospectively more exciting, the IPL is being officially backdated. The 1976 IPL has been won by the now defunct Visakhapatnam Visigoths, led by Indian Test legend Gundappa Viswanath and part-owned by legendary film director Satyajit Ray and Scottish pop stars the Bay City Rollers. In a tense final in Madras, they defeated the Delhi Daredevils, for whom Geoff Boycott scored an undefeated 23 off 65 balls as his team narrowly failed to chase down the Visigoths’ total of 93 for 4, an imposing total for the time. The losing semi-finalists were the Punjab Pranksters and the Chennai Benevolent Dictators, later rebranded as the Super Kings.
May 7, 2011
Strauss
English Cricket Enters an Era of Better Hair
While the world worries about a three captain strategy, what worried me even more was the unceremonious limited overs retirement of Andrew Strauss.
As an India fan, this has been especially perplexing. A few weeks ago, Strauss played the 2nd-most devastating knock of the World Cup, after Taylor’s decimation of Pakistan. And now he retires.
While his 2011 hasn’t been great, 2010 was the best year of his career. In 14 innings, he scored at an average of almost 58, a strike rate near 100 with two 100s and eight 50s. In 2010, he had more 50s, more 100s, more 4s, more 6s, a higher average, a higher strike rate and more runs than any other year in his career.
It’s not as though England are having a terrific ODI run, where they can afford to lose their top performer.
∞
Alastair Cook is a fine batsman, made the cover of Wisden, has great hair and went to the right schools but– it’s been said a billion times– but why would you name an ODI captain who couldn’t even make the 15 of your World Cup squad? Pietersen, Broad and Shahzad were sent back home injured from the World Cup, and even then, Cook was not invited, which means effectively he is not in the top 18 picks for the England ODI team.
At least he won’t replace someone who actually deserved to be in the squad on cricketing merit. He’ll replacing the retiring Strauss.
Related articles
- England name Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad as new captains (independent.co.uk)
May 6, 2011
IPL: 100% Recycled Material, Dispose Without Guilt
Tariq Engineer reports for Cricinfo:
[A] cumulative total of 146.4 million viewers have watched all the games so far, a number that exceeds the 143.7 million that saw the entire 2010 season (60 games). This suggests that while the IPL continues to attract new fans, they are watching each game for shorter periods.
Two reasons come to mind:
- If you train your audience to respond only to the thrills, and not the sport, then sooner or later they will only tune in for the thrills. The IPL becomes one of the many programs to channel-surf through, between musical reality show #31 and political shouting match #33.
- Even in this short, thrilling format, most games are one-sided and decided early.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that audiences are just suffering from cricket or IPL fatigue.
April 27, 2011
The Kirsten Era: In Numbers
The Duncan Fletcher era is upon us. The Gary Kirsten era in Indian cricket has been quite something to watch. Especially when coupled with Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Here are some highlights, as I’ve been combing through the statistics of the past few years:
Test record:
- India played 33 tests under Kirsten, won 16, lost 6, drawn 11.
- In the previous 3 years, India won 11, lost 6 drawn 13.
- Basically, India learned how to convert potential draws to wins. What Australia learned under Steve Waugh.
- At home: 10 wins, 2 losses, 7 draws. Away: 6 wins, 4 losses, 4 draws.
- Sri Lanka and South Africa are the only test teams to have beaten India in the Kirsten era.
- Only 1 out of 12 series was lost (Sri Lanka in ’08). No test series have been lost under Dhoni.
- In the previous 3 years, 3 out of 11 series were lost.
One Day record:
- India played 93 ODIs under Kirsten, won 59, lost 29 and tied 1.
- In the previous 3 years, India won 48 and lost 42. The win percentage has gone up dramatically.
- India won 14 out of 21 ODI series, including the World Cup.
- Home: 24 wins, 7 losses, 1 tied. Away: 35 wins, 22 losses.
- In the previous 3 years, India lost more away ODIs than they won. This is where their improvement has been most obvious.
In a way, this is merely a continuation of the 21st century revolution.
Related Articles
- Fletcher named as new coach of India (guardian.co.uk)
April 27, 2011
All the High-Paying Jobs Have Moved to Bangalore
West Indies have learned what other industries have known for some time-- all the high-paying jobs have moved to Bangalore!
April 27, 2011
The Objective of Playing in the IPL
Ducking Beamers asks: what is the objective of a domestic player in the IPL?
But does it ever really translate into something more meaningful for these players? [..] Is it worth it for most of these players? Look at the top run getters and wicket-takers of 2009 — not many no-names there. A cursory look at the other seasons shows the same trends — a few low-fame players (Vinay Kumar, N. Ohja, A.T. Rayadu) — but not much else.
So, what is the objective?
Short answer: to increase your salary next year.
Long answer:
- There’s an off chance they make it to the internationals.
- They make a considerable amount of money.
- It’s not like they don’t contribute to a win, just because they don’t figure in the top 10 wickets/runs. Just take a look at today’s RCB v. DD match: Ojha, Rao, Mithun, Mohammed all played significant roles. And that’s where it gets interesting– if they do well this year, even if they don’t get selected for India, their IPL salary next year will go up considerably.
In fact, I would argue that in a tournament like the IPL where there is no real allegiance to the team, the goal of every single player is to be worth more next year.
April 26, 2011
How the IPL Helps the International Game
Image by Dhammika Heenpella / Images of Sri Lanka via Flickr
Malinga on his return to the international game in 2009:
“Because of the IPL I got a chance to come back to the national team,” he said at a media conference in Colombo. “After the injury nobody looked after me and I was not offered a contract. But thanks to the IPL I didn’t lose anything but I improved my cricket a lot. I’m saddened the way I was treated but not disappointed.”
The IPL takes a lot of heat for ruining the international game. Malinga’s retirement has been held up as an example of everything that’s wrong with the IPL, but without the IPL he may not have had a career to retire from.
April 20, 2011
Yorkshire v. England
David Hopps on Yorkshire:
One of the oddities of English cricketing life is the underlying hostility felt towards the national team from a section of the Yorkshire cricket-loving public. The assumption is that supporting England is somehow not entirely wholesome, and is likely to be followed by other errors of life such as marrying someone from Kent and buying a four-bedroom detached in Tunbridge Wells.
∞
Any guesses why:
- Yorkshire is my favorite county cricket team?
- Tunbridge Wells cricket ground has a mythical quality?
Hint: The answers to these questions had a batting partnership mentioned in this blog post.
Deep Backward Point 