Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Brilliant

The Old Batsman

Short of a Length

Outside The Line

Monday, December 22, 2008

187 runs to win. 7 wickets to get. A 5th day pitch. The best two teams on the planet. A tussle for the #1 spot. The second highest successful run chase in the history of the game.. The highest successful run chase in Australia.

And a 1000 people.. Or maybe 2000. Thats all.

During the Border Gavaskar Trophy, there was a general consensus that Test Cricket was dying. And that consensus was based on ground attendence. Never mind the fact that the television rating were off the charts, the lack of people inside stadias was presented as proof that Test cricket was dying.

Now, Indian stadiums have never been spectator friendly. Lack of facilities and bad viewing are only two of the many reasons why people avoid the stadium experience. And the two best stadiums in the country ( Mohali and Nagpur) are located sufficiently far from the city to deter people from travelling.

But no... Test cricket was dying because of a percieved lack of interest among Indians.

Forward fast to Perth.

England and Australia remain the two bastions of in stadia viewership for Test cricket. Watching a test match in the stadium is a part of the culture. And yet, barely a 100 people showed up to watch the final day's proceedings.

And in the meanwhile, I come across this in the Sydney Morning Herald

Early indicators suggest the first Test between Australia and South Africa will prove a ratings winner for Channel Nine and the match also seems to have attracted a keen following overseas. The two televisions in the Indian team dressing room at Mohali were tuned into the Perth Test. And Tony Cozier, commentating the New Zealand-West Indies Test in Napier, apparently went to air complaining of sleep deprivation from watching the "real Test" being played at Perth's WACA Ground.

So, the death of Test Cricket because of Indian "disinterest" in the longest form of the game is a tad exaggerated.

I worry, however, because the countries were Test cricket viewing is a part of the culture, are giving up on this.. And I worry because, in the countries where in stadia cricket viewing is a summer ritual, cricket is not the most dominant sport. Australia has the AFL and the Rugby code. England has football. New Zealand ahs Rugby. And in these economic times, people may not necessarily be willing to shell top dollar for a day' cricket viewing.

And administocratic greed does not help either. Full price tickets for the final day's play at Perth. 100 pound tickets at the Brit Oval. And a Sky TV subscription to watch the game on TV.

So no, India will not usher in the death of Test cricket. Because there is a sizeable fan base for the longest form of the game in the second most populous country in the world..

Test cricket will die because the bastions of the longest form of the game have abdicated their stewardship.

Geniuses!

It is not only the Indian selectors who are periodically prone to brain fades... On a wicket that Ricky Ponting described as "almost subcontinental in nature" last year, what do the Australian selectors do

The uncapped Ben Hilfenhaus has been called to provide Australia with another bowling option for the second Test on Boxing Day as they attempt to recover from the demoralising defeat to South Africa in Perth. Jason Krejza, the offspinner, has been dropped for Nathan Hauritz while Peter Siddle holds his place in a 13-man squad despite not taking a wicket at the WACA.

What is the logic of dropping an attacking off spinner for a defensive one? If Ricky Ponting wants to stench the runs from one end, he has Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds. And Simon Katich..

Jason Krejza is a wicket taker. And he bowled pretty well at Perth ( despite the numbers). Given that Australia find one wicket taker per match ( and the rest of the "attack" make up the numbers), it is galling to see a man who took 12 wickets in a Test 3 matches ago being sidelined for a guy who cant get a contract from his state side!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Why I am not surprised

Two matches, two record chases. The world is agog with what is a safe 4th innings total on the back of India's successful chase of 387 and South Africa's even more surprising chase of 414.

Thing is, I am not surprised.

Here is a list of the top 15 run chases in Test cricket

Innings by innings list
Team	Score	Overs	RPO	Lead	Inns	Result	Opposition	Ground	Start Date
West Indies	418/7	128.5	3.24	1	4	won	v Australia	St John's	9 May 2003
South Africa	414/4	119.2	3.46	1	4	won	v Australia	Perth	17 Dec 2008
India	406/4	147.0	2.76	4	4	won	v West Indies	Port of Spain	7 Apr 1976
Australia	404/3	114.1	3.53	1	4	won	v England	Leeds	22 Jul 1948
India	387/4	98.3	3.92	1	4	won	v England	Chennai	11 Dec 2008
Australia	369/6	113.5	3.24	1	4	won	v Pakistan	Hobart	18 Nov 1999
Australia	362/7	101.0	3.58	4	4	won	v West Indies	Georgetown	31 Mar 1978
Sri Lanka	352/9	113.3	3.10	1	4	won	v South Africa	Colombo (PSS)	4 Aug 2006
West Indies	348/5	69.0x8	3.78	4	4	won	v New Zealand	Auckland	27 Feb 1969
West Indies	344/1	66.1	5.19	3	4	won	v England	Lord's	28 Jun 1984
Australia	342/8	87.2x8	2.93	4	4	won	v India	Perth	16 Dec 1977
South Africa	340/5	104.5	3.24	6	4	won	v Australia	Durban	15 Mar 2002
Australia	336/5	123.6x8	2.03	1	4	won	v South Africa	Durban	20 Jan 1950
Australia	334/6	79.1	4.21	4	4	won	v South Africa	Cape Town	8 Mar 2002
England	332/7	159.5	2.07	1	4	won	v Australia	Melbourne	29 Dec 1928

Barring 4 matches, in all the remaining games, the team batting last has had around 100 overs ( or more) in which to pace their run chase,

100 overs translates to 3 sessions and a bit.

The other interesting thing is that there are only two matches where the team batting last has had a run rate in excess of 4 runs/over ( India came close with 3.92 in their chase against England).

Here is the third interesting thing - the third innings score in each of the games reads

Australia 417
Australia 319
West Indies 271/6 decl
England 365/8 decl
England 311/9 decl
Pakistan 392
West Indies 439
South Africa 311
New Zealand 297/8 decl
England 300/9 decl
India 330/9 decl
Australia 186
South Africa 99
South Africa 473
Australia 351

Two games out of 15 featuring a 3rd innings collapse.The remaining games has the team batting first trying to force the issue ( or batting themselves into a position of apparent domination).

The inference is this - If I can score big in the third innings (on a Day 4 wicket) at a fair clip, odds are that the opposition can do the same. And if there is enough time left in the game, odds are that the opposition will do just that!

From a captaincy standpoint, I think the focus now changes to time rather than runs - if I have 300 runs but I leave the opposition 75 overs instead of 90 to achieve that score, odds are that I can take wickets because the opposition will go for the runs first up and if I get early wickets, odds are that I can force the opposition to crumble by applying pressure once I make the initial break through.

Pressure works both ways.. Fielding captains control the pace and the tempo of the game. Captains who do a better job of marshaling resources and controlling the pace of the game will do a much better job of closing the game ( either by way of a draw or a win).

So no, this is not an era of the great run chase ( although with T20, mindsets on what constitutes a good score has altered). But mindsets do not translate to ability. And ability is what delivers results.. A run rate of 4 runs/over is gettable in the minds of the batsmen.. But actually getting it is a whole different ball game.