Thursday, June 11, 2009

Diabolique

Remember this

RT Ponting* b Chawla 41

MJ Clarke lbw b Chawla 18

B Lee lbw b Chawla 0

MG Johnson c Chopra b Chawla 5

PM Siddle lbw b Chawla 2

The tale of the day was best captured by Ponting's struggles against legspinner Piyush Chawla in the second session. It got off to a familiar start: crease-bound, he pushed out his bat tentatively. He picked the googlies dangerously late, mistook the sliders for legbreaks and, as a result, often played with the bat facing cover and saw the ball rolling away off the inside edge.

Chawla offered Ponting a brief respite with a long-hop and an over-pitched delivery, which were hit for fours, but won the battle with a fizzing googly that found the yawning gap between bat and pad. Ponting had lunged forward to play for the legspin but lost his middle stump.

Now get this

Sussex has roped in Indian leg-spinner Piyush Chawla as a short-term replacement for Pakistan pacer Yasir Arafat. The 20-year-old Uttar Pradesh leggie will make his Sussex debut on Thursday, against Worcestershire in the LV County Championship.

"We've been looking for a bowler who can potentially change the course of a game and we're sure Piyush will fit the bill," Sussex Professional Cricket Manager Mark Robinson said.

Australia play Sussex at Hove starting June 24.

11 comments:

jrod said...

It is a constant battle between Hampshire and Sussex for who has the better overseas spinner.

Homer said...

Maybe so UJ, but the fact that Sussex has chosen to replace a pacer with a spinner ( and a leggie to boot) and the fact that Mushtaq Ahmed had so much success at Sussex and the fact that Ponting has had his troubles against Chawla is too much of a coincidence.

Someone in the English setup has his/her thinking hat on!

Cheers,

jrod said...

I doubt that this was an English tactic, this was Sussex wanting a leggie. Look at the Phil Hughes/Stuart Clark debacle, county crickets don't plan to help the English side.

Homer said...

UJ,

"Chawla will be with Sussex until at least the end of the month when Arafat is due to return. " - interesting no?

If Sussex wanted a leggie, surely they could have thought something more long term for him.

And Stuart Clark has yet to play a single game in the county season, doesn't he?

Cheers,

Q said...

So Sussex have roped in Chawla to soften the Aussies up before the Ashes?

Anonymous said...

As a pre-plan to capture the Ashes, the Aussies have sent John Buchanan to English camp.

That basically neutralises every thing Sussex does to soften Ponting.

I have heard from reliable sources than John is going to do another KKR to England.

So the final result for the Ashes is not going to change. 5-0 with Buch as Aussie coach. 5-0 again for Australia with Buch as English consultant.

Homer said...

Q,

Sussex's schedule till the end of the month reads

v Somerset at Hove
Jun 16-19 (11:00 local, 10:00 GMT)

South Division v Surrey at Hove
Jun 22 (19:00 local, 18:00 GMT)

Tour Match v Australians at Hove
Jun 24-27 (11:00 local, 10:00 GMT)

South Division v Middlesex at Lord's
Jun 28 (14:30 local, 13:30 GMT)

One 4 day game, 2 one day games and the Tour match.

So yes, I think the Chawla ploy is to soften the Aussies before the Ashes.

Cheers,

Homer said...

Anonymous,

Buchanan's stint is currently slated for one week - a week that coincides with the Aussies playing the Plions. After that, everything is up in the air.

Shades of Fletcher in the Proteas camp during the South Africa tour to Australia?

Thanks for your comments and welcome to the blog.

Cheers,

Anonymous said...

Well, the Fletcher stint didnt quite help South Africa as the results were even stevens 3-3.

Such is the effect of John that one week is good enough to bring high flying English to ground. Me thinks.

Me thinks what effect would Piyush Chawla have on Ashes ? Even if he continues to dominate Ponting thats not going to help English cause that well.

Hazy picture right now.

Homer said...

Anonymous,

Australia did lose the home series for the first time since 1993.

And given Australia's vulnerability against spin and Chawla's prior domination of Ponting, you really dont think it will have any ramifications for the Ashes?

Cheers,

Anonymous said...

Agreed.

The home series loss had more to do than just Fletcher stint. Dale Steyn's form with the ball, Smith batting of his life and add collective slump of Australian batting.

It would be keen to see how Chawla, if plays, nails Phil Hughes and Michael Clarke.