All those who nurtured the hope that the Australians would have a bad day at the office were left disappointed in the end. Nobody from the Australian team took sick leave, privilege leave or casual leave as they went about their work in real earnest to stamp their authority on the game and show the rest of the cricketing world who was the boss.
Sunny G raises a toast for the Australians.I am no expert, but I don’t think all is lost. Nor do I believe that India must blindly adopt what Australia or England does.
Wrights John.
The feud between the Indian cricket board and the International Cricket Council (ICC) could get worse. The reason? The ICC was selling green coloured Indian team t-shirts and caps as official merchandise during the World Cup in the West Indies. And the BCCI is not happy.
Calcutta: The Bangladesh-bound players, one understands, have “reservations” over the contracts couriered to them last week, but they’ve got to sign on the dotted line before heading for Dhaka/Chittagong.writes LP Sahi.
Although the Board of Control for Cricket in India has made some noises to the effect that it would like to see India's players sign their central contracts before the tour of Bangladesh, it is difficult to see this happening, given the extensive work that will go into the lead-up to the actual signing of the contracts.writes Anand Vasu.
8 more days before we know the outcome on this one.
There are few surprises in the choices, although there is no back-up wicketkeeper or specialist spinner in the side. Ravi Rampaul returns while there is an overdue call-up for allrounder Darren Sammy.
No Tino Best, no Omari Banks, no Marlon Samuels.
--
India plays its three tests against the Poms at Lords, Trent Bridge and Kennington Oval. Here are the scoresheets from the early part of the County Championships on these three grounds.
Kennington Oval
Surrey v Yorkshire
Surrey v Hampshire
Trent Bridge
Nottinghamshire v Leicestershire
Nottinghamshire v Glamorgan
Lords
Middlesex v Northamptonshire
What is interesting is the number of runs scored by the teams so early in the season. Also interesting is the number of wickets taken by the spinners.
Given that we travel to Old Blighty later in the English summer, if the current trend continues, expect drier wickets with a lot more runs and with the spinners coming to their own as the game progresses. 3 spinners anyone?
37 comments:
Homer, a fully fit West Indian pace attack of Edwards, Taylor and Powell would be a beauty to watch, and quite threatening to boot.
Samir,
If they are fit and firing, should be a fun series.
also, not to forget Ravi Rampaul..(at least thats what the CricInfo site says, though he does not feature in the listed XIV).
Cheers
" expect drier wickets with a lot more runs and with the spinners coming to their own as the game progresses. 3 spinners anyone?"
Which 3 spinners--can you name? I cannot think of anyone apart from Kumble. Bhajji has forgotten to take wickets and another new spinner is not even on the horizon!!
And why do you think it'll be good for India only?? Why can't England smash us and then bundle us out with their spinners?
Chandan,
we are carrying Ramesh Powar and Anil Kumble along with Piyush Chawla to BD.
Bhajji, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra,Rajesh Pawar, S.Vidyut, Murali Karthik - there are spinners available .
The Poms have Monty - and Adil Rashid if they chose to gamble- who else do they have?
These two will be enough along with their quality pacers. I've been very impressed by Rashid. He is much better than Kaneria and as he develops, he'll be a deadly bowler.
The bowlers you have names--apart from Kumble everyone will be murdered!
Hey Homer,
Did you read Wright's article?? He too is talking about making the Duleep Trophy the most important domestic tournament and Ranji Trophy to act as a feeder to the zonal competional!!!
Wow!!
Why doesn't India try this?? Each FC team will get to play at least 10 matches and each zone would play 10 matches with the finalists playing the 11th match too.
It'll be wonderful!!
Chandan,
I am not so sure the poms will murder our spinners - if you look at the scorecards, the spinners have come on their own early in the season and the trend should continue as it gets warmer.
In the bowlers match ups, I think we should do pretty well. It will all boil down to the batting choices we make.
As regards the domestic setup, Kartikeya has some wonderful ideas on how to make the domestic season more competitive while maintaining its inclusive nature.
I couldn't get any on his blog!! His blogging has been obsessed by WC of late, in which I had lost interest!
Chandan,
Here you go
http://cricketingview.blogspot.com/2007/04/real-problem-domestic-format-which-will.html#links
This is what I replied to Kartikeya:
Where is the competition? How many good players does each team posssess? If you're going to have matches between two weak teams, what are you going to get? How will you identify the good players? how will you stop the scenario of a Robin Uthappa scoring at the average of 100 in a season and then coming a cropper against iternational attacks?
For this you HAVE to go back to making Duleep Trophy your premier domestic tournament, 90 strongest players from 5 zones and NCA academy playing 10 matches each every season. Meanwhile the Ranji Trophy will go ahead simultaneously with the rest of the player, and whichever player is injured or loses form in the Duleep Trophy, can be replaced by an in-form player from any of the Ranji teams of that particular zone.
Duleep trophy will be played on 6 venues only:
Kolkata (East zone)
Mohali (North zone)
Chennai (South zone)
Mumbai (West zone)
Nagpur (Central zone)
Bangalore (for the NCA )
This way you'll also ensure that NCA has a greater part to play in the country and hence should be functional for the whole year.
--------------------
Now you tell me, which idea do you like better?
Wow ! Its about the Aussies and its Sunny Side up ! Thats nice to see ..
And Katich's slammed a 220* the day after not being in a 25 man aussie contract list...
Homer, what was that about IP and counties again ? :)
Chandan,
Lets walk through this - I will play Devil's advocate.
Firstly, the selection of the 90 strongest players- how will you do that?
Will Team india players be automatic selections for the Duleep Trophy? If so, thats 15 players less in the selection stakes, leaving 75 players to be selected from a pool of 420 odd players.
Will the NCA selection be limited to U19 or do U17 also come in to play? And will these players add to the quality of the cricket or diminish it?
And lastly, the point Kartikeya was making - what happens to the concept of team - either at the Ranji level or at the Duleep Trophy levels?
lol Sfx.. told ya :)
Duleep trophy selection will be done by the national selectors. NCA squad will be the squad of emerging players who'd be honing their skills for the next level. Board will have to focus on forming a Academy team that way. And this will give us a very clear indication of future and these players would be monitored for future induction in the national team. This will help board form a vision.
Team India player's selection will depend unpon their availability. I doubt if they'll be available then. But if available and fit, they must take part.
Concept of teams?? All the teams will be playing. Ranji as well as Duleep. So where is the harm? It'll be better if you explain this point to me.
Chandan,
If the NCA is honing the skills of emerging players, why the Duleep Trophy? And will the remaining 75 players just make up the numbers?
As regards the concept of teams, the argument is that individual players will be plying for themselves and not thier teams at either the Ranji or Duleep Trophy level because the focus will be on thier numbers and not team performance.
NCA squad will be announced for one year. I hope you know about the Academy team concept of other countries.
Now secondly, Duleep trophy because they'll be playing with the best players available in the country.
And how will the rest 75 just make up the numbers? They'll be 15 best players from every zone, playing with each other in two round robin and that'll make 10 matches for each team. The finalists will play the 11th match.
And they'll have to play for the team because selectors will/should certainly consider that aspect while selecting.
So, it'll be a ladder like situation.
1. Play well at club level and you're selected for the Ranji side.
2. Play well at the Ranji level and you're selected for Duleep Trophy.
3. play well at Duleep trophy level and you're selected for the national team.
And I also liked Wright's idea about having all the practices for these Duleep Trophy sides which we have for national sides: like fitness regime and all that.
Now if a player plays for himself at any of these levels, there are more chances that he'd play for himself at national level too, if selected. So selectors have to pay attention to that!
Now tell me how did you like the idea? I wish we could have a message board where we could discuss with more freedom!:)
Chandan,
1. I understand the Academy concept and it is viable as long as the Academy is open 12 months of the year. In our case, the Academy runs for 3 months in the year.
2. The concept of playing for a team is abstract. Far too often, Indian players have been accused of playing for themselves and thier numbers and not the team. And if the Ranji Trophy is a stage for selection for the Duleep Trophy, you can understand why I doubt the intensity with which individual players will play for the team.
3. Regarding Wrights idea, here is something I had put down a while ago
http://dopaisekatamasha.blogspot.com/2007/04/on-domestic-cricket.html
tell me what you think.
4, Finally, message boards.. The idea is good in theory but far too often, message boards become a venue for slanging matches and vile abuse. And in the din, the ideas that are aired get drowned ( mixing metaphors am I :))
Personally, I am more comfortable with the comments section of this blog and others because the community is smaller and despite disagreements, the conversation is civil. Anyways, thats just me :)
But yeah, on the whole, a graded structure for performance evaluation is the way to go, if we can iron out the intangibles including team ethic.
here is a thought - what if there was a draft like in the NFL for the Duleep Trophy?
instead of a zonal election, the 5 zones and the NCA could bid in the draft with the team finishing dead last in the last draft getting first choice in the current one.
Team performance could be linked in to monetary benefits so that the zone winning it all this yar will get monetary remuneration and a greater chunk of the Tests/ODIs for the next cricket season?
This way, there is not only incentive for individual players to perform but also on the zones to ensure that the players perform as a team. which means that at the ranji level too, individual zones will have to focus on the team aspect ..
So, here is what I suggest - the Duleep Trophy becomes the first tournament in the domestic calender, followed by the Ranji, Challenger etc. At the end of the domestic season, the draft takes place depending on which zone ended up where.
Beginning of the next season, zonal camps take place followed by the Duleep Trophy. Following this, individual Ranji camps happen and then the domestic season.
also, as mentioned in http://dopaisekatamasha.blogspot.com/2007/04/on-domestic-cricket.html, contracts can be handed out at both Ranji and Duleep Trophy levels for individual players, with the Duleep Trophy being an added contract in addition to the Ranji one ( and far more stringent).
This way, we ensure competitiveness at every level, we have the graded performance criteria and we can make a push for players buying into the team concept.
Tell me what you think.
The thought is good. By I wanted Ranji and Duleep trophy to go side by side, running simultaneously.
But to think that the state associations will be as successful would be a far cry. I thought I'd be content with NCA running for the whole year round for the while and having a strong competition at domestic level.
Why do you think there will be lack of intensity? If there is, then it is going to be carried at the highest level. This has to be ensured that all the players give their best.
Ok. we'll discuss about it tomorrow as it is getting quite late here in India.:)
interesting thought that Chandan, running the two competitions in parallel. Does that imply the Dullep and Ranji teams will be mutually exclusive? If so, what happens to the feeder concept?
Ensuring players give their best is fine.. how to ensure this is the million dollar question.
Cheers :)
Homer, until both the tournaments run side by side, like international cricket and domestic cricket often does, how is one tournament going to feed the higher one?
You start the Ranji trophy, After 3 matches and on the basis on the performance in the previous season, you choose the zonal players.
Then both the tournaments go side by side, with the best 90 from all over the country sweating it out in one, and the others in the Ranji tournament. Even one player losing form in Duleep can be replaced by an in-form Ranji player from that zone.
If players won't give their best to say Ranji: they won't be chosen for Duleep. If they don't give their best to Duleep, they won't be chosen for the national side!!
So the motivation for Ranji players will be:
1.to win the tournament.
2.to be chosen for their zonal squads.
Same would apply for Duleep:
1. win the tournament
2. get chosen for the national side.
I liked Wright's idea about players playing in Duleep trophy getting more fee/match than Ranji players too.
Where do you think we'll have problem?
Chandan,
If the tourneys run in parallel, how will they implement a ladder like structure?
Also, if you are talking of a pool of 90, then none of the Ranji players will get a chance for the current Duleeo Trophy season.
The players taking part in Duleep will be superior to those playing in Ranji. Once the 90 that are chosen for Duleep, won't play ranji unless they are dropped because of injury or bad form.
As I said, on the basis of 3 Ranji matches this year and their performance last year, the Duleep squad will be chosen.
Again the players doing well in Ranji will always have a chance of replacing a poorly performing Duleep player. This is the ladder structure.
Play badly in Duleep, go back to Ranji. Those who play consistently well in Ranji have a chance to play Duleep.
Am I making sense here?
Chandan,
But in effect we will now have 34 teams playing instead of 28 and the pool of players will expand from 420 players to 510.
Also, if players are dropped from Duleep for injury or bad form, why would the Ranji team pick them up?
Think about it - instead of being a feeder, the Ranji Duleep combo will further muddle the existing domstic scene.
Actually they'll pick him up for precisely the same reason why Punjab would pick Harbhajan even if he has been dropped from the Indian side, or Worcestershire chose Zaheer even though he was rejected by India.
I did not want to have the same players in both the tournaments, just for sake of our cricket. Now for the moment I suppose you are thinking more from heart, keeping Mumbai in your mind.
But for me it is clear:
Players have to graduate from clubs to play Ranji,
Graduate from ranji to play Duleep.
Graduate from Duleep to play in national team.
Competition won't be muddled at all. 90 players will be playing Duleep,
420 players playing Ranji.
Those 6 teams that we have will play ONLY IN ONE tournament.
Other 27 will play in another.
Why do you want them to add? You have to think that Ranji is one rung lower to Duleep.
Chandan,
Instead of Harbhajan, if we were talking say Navneet Ricky - would the same argument hold?
Also, if I understand correctly, then 15 players from the pool of 90 will represent India for that season and then the cycle repeats?
Players who'll be chosen for India might not get time to participate in all the Duleep Trophy matches. So the players chosen for the national team will do their national duty, and that spot will be filled by another from Ranji. If and when they return, one of the weaker players of the zone will have to make way for them.
Is there something which I'm unable to understand what you're saying?
Chandan,
So what is the incentive then for the Duleep Trophy players?
If there is a demotion from Team India then that will imply a player from the Duleep Trophy making way for this player - which in turn means a demotion for a player from the Duleep trophy players ranji team.
I am trying to understand the modalities involved with the whole setup.
If there is a demotion from team India, and if the national selectors would want him to compete in Duleep, he'll be chosen, as any other player from that zone. If they would think that he needed rest, then so be it.
Ultimately, you've to see that say a Sachin Tendulkar is demoted, is West zone keen to play him to strengthen their side? If yes, he'll be chosen. If no, he'll go back to Mumbai, that is if Mumbai would think that he is more valuable than one of the players in their squads.
If Harbhajan has been demoted, obviously the selectors want him to get back to his attacking best. Now for that, it'll do a world of good to him if he playes in 10 or 11 such matches against tough opposition, not soft ones like Orissa or Haryana!
So Homer,
You didn't tell me about this idea. How did you like it in comparison with the present one?
Chandan,
I need to think through the demotion aspect of the player and the monetary losses suffered as a consequence. What could be the possible lacunae in implementing this and how it will impact the team structure.
But overall, I am beginning to see your point of view and appreciate it.
Cheers
If you think about it (demotion aspect in which I'm not detecting any problem and impact on the team structure) and get some idea, do email me. I hope you got my e-mail which I sent you (Allan Border's article).
Good night (as per India time:)!
Chandan,
Thanks much for the link.. much appreciated.
The article was very enlightening.
i will shoot you an email on my doubts, if any and also they way I look at the structure, based on our conversations.
Feel free to slap my wrist if I am out of order :).
Cheerio and have a wonderful week ahead :)
A Duleep Trophy with squads selected by the national selectors is a bad idea in my view, because
1. It ensures that all combinations remain scratch combinations, and hence puts paid to any possibility that any of the sides will ever by design prove to be greater than the sum of their parts.
2. It creates an additional tier which is unnecessary. The pecking order would be Ranji Trophy Cricket, then Duleep Trophy Cricket, then International Cricket. This would make it more difficult for young players to make the India side. It would in a sense bureaucratize the system.
The way to go in my view is to raise the profile of the Ranji Trophy. If the best talent is indeed in the smaller centers, then the thing to do is to give smaller Ranji teams a bigger stage.
Each first class cricket must have a contract with a Ranji Trophy side. Further a finite number of players would be contracted by the BCCI each year - say 30 (theres 30 probables). These players would have responsibilities over and above their Ranji Trophy responsibilities.
The season has to be gruelling - in terms of travel, in terms of match schedule.....
A core team management has to be defined for First class Cricket in India - comprising of a Coach/Cricket Manager, a batting coach, a bowling Coach, a fielding Coach, a fitness trainer, a physiotherapist with an analyst being optional. Every first class team, including the India side has to have this set up.
The first class games as well as the Ranji games should be televised.
This will make local cricket associations and local cricket facilities of much higher quality.
One major domestic tournament - the Ranji Trophy, and One major domestic One Day tournament - the Ranji ODI tournament should be the major silverware available.
I would scrap the Salve Challenger trophy and replace it with a knock out ODI tournament based on the earlier year's Ranji One Day tournament league table.
The Irani Trophy would be the India Test Team v Rest of India. The Rest of India side would effectively be the India A side.
The national selection committee would only select the India and India A sides.
ALL Ranji sides will be required to field second elevens, which will compete in a parallel national tournament of 3 day matches, which will not be televised. This will NOT be First Class Matches.
Kartikeya,
Then how does the Duleep Trophy fit in and what is the criteria for selection?
Also, as Chandan suggested, should the Ranji and Duleep Trophies run in parallel with a promotion/relegation system for players?
There would be no zonal tournament. The Duleep Trophy as we know it would be scrapped.
Without a West Zone Cricket Association, with Cricket Clubs affiliated to such an Association, no West Zone team can be a real "team". So there is no point having a West Zone team at all.
To answer your earlier post Kartikeya:
1. What do you mean by "It ensures that all combinations remain ,scratch combinations, and hence puts paid to any possibility that any of the sides will ever by design prove to be greater than the sum of their parts.". If you find a team of 6 batsmen 5 bowlers and a keeper, why would it be any different from our national side where players come from every part of India? why should the combination remain a scratch?
2.That additional tier is necessary because there is a vast gulf between the domestic cricket in India and the international cricket. Also compounding the problem is the number of teams that we have and instead of reducing it, the BCCI will look to increase it to strengthen its voting. Duleep trophy will have the 90 best players of India in the squad. Or you can even keep it 72 members--as you'd like!
And just tell me why should the pecking order be Ranji first where we have 27 teams, with many teams not even having one good player in it? Just give me one reason!
As for scrapping the Duleep trophy, BCCI is taking every step which might just sink cricket for ever! So whats new?
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