Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, said he was disappointed those organisational issues surrounding the World Cup remained unresolved and added that the legal proceedings the PCB has brought against the ICC would continue. "I had hoped and expected the support of my Asian co-hosts in resolving these organizational difficulties," he said. "I am deeply disappointed that no progress was made despite the intervention of both the ICC president (David Morgan) and vice-president (Sharad Pawar).
"This means that rather than harmony amongst the co-hosts of the 2011 World Cup we will have disagreement and legal dispute. I do hope that they will reconsider their unreasonable stance so that the legal dispute can be resolved and a hugely successful World Cup organized in 2011."
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The four co-hosts - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, had a meeting under the chairmanship of Sharad Pawar to suggest as to where the 14 matches, originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan, could be played.
However, according to the sources, Shashank Manohar flatly refused to allow PCB to host their matches in UAE. "The PCB matches can only be held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh (if not in Pakistan for security reasons)", he is believed to have said to the PCB.
The PCB has now again initiated the legal proceedings with the ICC. The PCB chief Ejaz Butt is also likely to raise the security levels in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the ICC meeting on June 25. "What if Government of India does not allow Pakistan team to play in India or Pakistan government refuses to send team to India", Butt is likely to raise the questions.
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"We sought support of our fellow Asian co-hosts for matches to be played under the aegis of PCB in a safe neutral venue. Despite the fact that these discussions had been brokered by ICC President David Morgan and ICC Vice President Sharad Pawar who is Chairman of World Cup Central Organizing Committee, no progress was made," PCB said in a statement.
"This will mean that organizational issues surrounding the 2011 World Cup remain unresolved and that the legal proceedings the PCB has brought against the ICC in Dubai and in Lahore will continue," it added.
Sources said India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had asked Pakistan to accept the hosting fees for the 14 matches totaling USD 10.5 million but to forget about hosting the matches at home or at neutral venues.
"At one stage Pakistan was told they could host four or five matches at neutral venues but Butt declined insisting on Pakistan getting its full quota of 14 matches," one source privy to the meetings said. PTI
Saturday, June 20, 2009
What is the truth?
Thursday, June 18, 2009
How is that out?
1.2 | Parnell to Shahzaib Hasan, OUT, What a stunner from Van der Merwe. South Africa roar as they get into a huddle. It was a short of length delivery, going away from Shahzaib who top-edges the pull over mid-on. Van der Merwe swung back, ran ahead and dived forward to take a sharp catch. |
| Shahzaib Hasan c van der Merwe b Parnell 0 (2b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00 |
Watch the front of his hands - they are facing the ground when he completes the catch. Which begs the question - how is that a legitimate catch?
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Not bad
!The Indian team for the West Indies
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Yuvraj Singh [ Images ] (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir [ Images ], Rohit Sharma [ Images ], Harbhajan Singh [ Images ], Pragyan Ojha [ Images ], Yusuf Pathan [ Images ], Murali Vijay, S Badrinath, RP Singh [ Images ], Praveen Kumar [ Images ], Ishant Sharma [ Images ], Abhishek Nayar, Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja [ Images ], Dinesh Karthik [ Images ].
Ishant could probably have been rested and Munaf drafted in. Also, I would have liked to see Virat Kohli have a go ahead of either Murali Vijay or Badri.
That said, a fairly balanced side. Go well!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Bouncebackability
India's campaign ends with three losses out of three in the Super 8's phase. The campaign will be dissected, faults identified, players blamed, tactics called into question.
What interests me right now is how India bounces back after this set back.
We have history here. Post Sydney, there was Perth. Post the MCG T20, there was the CB series campaign. Post the Asia Cup was the taming of the M&M's. Ditto the Test series in Sri Lanka.
Next up is the tour to the Caribbean. Different format of the game, one where Dhoni's tactic of coming at 3 pays greater dividends. Then the Champions Trophy, followed by the Test series against Sri Lanka.
And plenty of rest in between.
Which translates to time out to evaluate what went wrong and why.
Personally, I think India panicked. Maybe it was the pressure of being the defending Champions. Maybe the media sideshow distracted the team. Maybe the Sehwag injury derailed the team plans. Maybe it was fatigue, coming as they were after playing 6 weeks of IPL. Maybe they were found out tactically.
Whatever the reason, there are 10 months between now and the next World Cup to straighten things out. And with the Champions Trophy in October, there is a ready milestone to evaluate whether things are going to plan or there are certain aspects that need more work.
There is way too much quality in this team to write them off after this set back. And in a perverse way, this set back may be the best thing to happen to this team.
The naysayers can take their pot shots now, because I strongly believe that this team will bounce back - stronger and tougher.
Click Image to Enlarge 
Did he say anything different?
Gary Kirsten, the India coach, says mental fatigue will be his team's biggest challenge during the World Twenty20 in England next month. The event starts on June 5 but India play their first warm-up game on June 1, just seven days after the IPL ends in South Africa. Kirsten also believes India, the defending champions, will be under added pressure during the ICC tournament but says the team has shown it is capable of handling such situations.
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June 16, 2009
Gary Kirsten, the India coach, has said players' fatigue levels and the minor injuries they carried from the IPL to the ICC World Twenty20 contributed to the champions' early exit. He felt India never reached the "intensity that you need at the international game" where the standard of cricket is much higher than it was in the recent IPL.
"Fatigue was definitely a factor, as were many other things," Kirsten said the day after India's defeat against England. "I don't want to use that as an excuse but it was a factor. We weren't an energetic team, like we were in New Zealand where the levels of energy were really good. We didn't get up to the same level on this tour." This is not the first time that Kirsten has brought up this issue. In an interview to Cricinfo last month, the India coach had pointed out that the team had been on the road for a long while and said that mental fatigue was its biggest challenge for the World Twenty20.
Seriously, how dumb does one have to be to qualify as a journalist?
Monday, June 15, 2009
England's traditional weakness comes to the fore
as they were thoroughly outplayed by the West Indies in a must win game at the Kensington Oval.Over the top? I thought so.
England inability to play a lofted shot with any degree of conviction came to bite them in the rear as they were outclassed by the West Indies in a must win game for both teams.
But given that I have been hearing Nasser Hussain grate on and on about "India's traditional weakness against short pitched bowling", this was as good an opportunity to stick the boot in.
Because Nasser Hussain makes a lazy argument. And like Goebbels, he believes that if he makes the point enough number of times, it will become accepted as the truth.
I had previously argued here regarding Indians being quality players of spin that
What we have had, and consistently at that, is 2-3 very good players of spin every decade and a team nucleus that revolved around this.and
We had, in every era, a few good and more than capable players of spin.. But what we had, even more, were quality spinners.And the same argument holds to playing short pitched bowling at pace.
And because we have had quality spinners and since the spinners and the batsmen played each other more regularly in domestic cricket, the tacit assumption has been made that Indians were very good players of spin.
Growing up in Mumbai, playing with the hard tennis ball, pulling, if not hooking the ball was a natural instinct, given that we played on cement pitches and unless the ball was really pitched up, the horizontal bat shots were the way to go.
The constraint was that the "pitch" would invariably be sandwiched between two buildings. Which meant that any attempt to play the ball in the air jeopardized window panes. Which meant that aeriel shots had to be shelved. Which meant no hooks, no pulls.
Playing on maidans was not better. While you could hook and pull, and the rising ball gave enough opportunities to play the shot, the paucity of fielders meant that runs behind the wicket were a no no and the pull was inevitably played in front of the wicket.
And the hook ceased to exist in the lexicon.
Even today, that is true of maidan cricket.
The other great truism of playing cricket on the maidans was that the ball wouldn't travel on the dusty surface.. So the concept of timing never really existed. The way to accrue maximum runs was to whack the living daylights off the ball. And for that, you needed a heavier piece of willow ( for maximum returns).
Long story short - it is not as if kids don't play throat high short pitched bowling growing up. But given the constraints that they face, they improvise.
Again in domestic cricket, it is not as if the bumper is not present. But because the bounce on the wickets is on the lower side, a short ball inevitably sits up between the waist and the stomach - an ideal height to play the pull in front of the wicket.
And because there aren't express pacemen available at will in the domestic game, the batsmen get conditioned to play against the slower pace.
Very rarely do batsmen find themselves confronted with a pacy wicket with bounce that takes a length ball at waist height. When that happens, timing goes awry. And because one uses a heavier willow, adjusting "up" becomes a bigger problem.
Which is why Indians are late on the shot.
Not because it is a weakness but because it is a surprise. And adjusting takes time.
If Indians were "traditionally weak" at playing short pitched fast bowling, how does one explain the 13 hundreds Sunil Gavaskar accrued against the greatest fast bowling line up ever assembled. Opening the batting, In pre helmet days. ?
Finally, does Nasser Hussain remember this
and this
South Africa overpowered a new-look England side who went to the Wanderers full of optimism and left realising the scale of the task ahead. It was South Africa's tenth consecutive home Test win, equalling India's winning sequence from December 1988 to November 1994, and only their second victory by an innings against England. The first had been in 1905-06 at Cape Town, by an innings and 16 runs. This later one was completed before lunch on the fourth morning but, with rain and bad light causing interruptions, there were less than three days of playing time. The match was dominated by South Africa's peerless new-ball pairing of Donald and Pollock, who exploited perfect conditions for fast bowling to claim 19 wickets between them. Poor England. They turned up on the first morning to find a damp, spongy pitch underfoot and heavy, low clouds overhead. Then Cronje won the toss. It took just 17 deliveries to put all England's plans and preparation through a shredder as they lost four wickets for two runs, their worst start to a Test match.He should - he was England's captain in both matches.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Worth a read
This article, in the Wisden Cricketer, reproduced in full
The Irish Problem
Ireland feel they have nowhere to go, they can’t play Tests, they struggle to host one-dayers and England are stealing their players. Richard Gillis investigates
Eoin Morgan’s selection for the England Twenty20 and one-day international squad was greeted with a resigned shrug by Ireland’s cricket authorities, who sent the Dublin-born batsman off with their best wishes for a long and lucrative international career. No point in fighting the inevitable after all. “We’ve known for a long time that Eoin was destined to play for England, and the squad is happy for him that he’s got there and realised his ambition,” says Phil Simmons, Ireland’s coach.
But as he prepares to swap the Shamrock for the Three Lions, the story behind Morgan’s decision reveals much about the realpolitik of international cricket and the cynicism of the counties, while prompting Ireland’s leading cricket executive to question the value of the ICC’s £200million global strategy.
Rewind to April 2007, when England played Ireland in the Super Eight stage of the World Cup, following the sensational Irish victory over Pakistan on St Patrick’s Day in Jamaica the week before. Opening the England innings was another talented Middlesex left-hander who, like Morgan, was brought up in the competitive Dublin club leagues. Ed Joyce’s runs had ensured Irish qualification for the World Cup: at the 2005 ICC Trophy he scored 399 runs at an average of 99.75. But the match in Guyana was a personal disaster – he was dismissed, shouldering arms to Boyd Rankin for one and dropped three catches. The match signalled the end, for now at least, of Joyce’s international career and his role in England’s lacklustre World Cup campaign contrasted starkly to Ireland’s heroics, which elevated them to ninth in the ODI rankings.
Financially, the World Cup revealed the distance between the top Associate nations and the Test-playing group. For winning through to the Super Eights, Ireland won £36,000 in prize money, a figure that pales when set next to the £7million participation fee received by Zimbabwe’s cricket authorities, whose team Ireland had left behind in Jamaica.
However, the World Cup put Ireland in the global spotlight and, back in Dublin, Irish Cricket Union chief executive Warren Deutrom set about capitalising on this new-found status. Deutrom is a former ICC and ECB executive, attuned to the inner workings of the cricket economy with a contact book to match. He noted a clause in India’s domestic television deal that stipulated 25 matches should be held ‘out of market’, and saw a role for Ireland in hosting potentially lucrative India ODIs in the northern hemisphere. Discussions with Lalit Modi, the Indian board vice president, led to the setting up of the Future Series, a three-game ODI rubber between India and South Africa, with two friendlies against the hosts Ireland.
These games took place in June 2007 at Stormont Castle in Belfast but were blighted by poor weather and empty stands; the most memorable moment came when Sachin Tendulkar, wearing four sweaters, was clean bowled by 26-year-old Roger Whelan, who then retired to sing lead vocals with The Stimulants, a thrash-metal band from Dublin.
But in London the Future Series was being viewed with something approaching horror by ECB chief executive David Collier. By hosting international cricket on a regular basis Ireland’s growing commercial ambitions would potentially clash with England’s northern hemisphere monopoly, and reduce the value of the ECB’s television rights, for which Sky had paid £220million in 2005.
Collier’s initial response was to threaten the ICU with expulsion from the Friends Provident Trophy. The issue was ultimately resolved with a pay-off: the ICU would stop hosting India in return for England visiting for a potential sell-out ODI every other year. In addition, the ECB paid a six-figure sum to take ownership of Ireland’s television rights. There is a double standard here, not lost on cricket followers in Ireland: when the ECB offered to host IPL matches earlier this year, Collier was attempting to do exactly what he stopped Ireland doing.
Meanwhile, Eoin Morgan was another for whom the Future Series was a watershed moment. He had entered the 2007 ICC World Cup to much media fanfare but like Joyce endured a torrid time, averaging 10.11 for the tournament. And in May 2007, Morgan decided to play for his county rather than country against South Africa and India, despite the ICC’s ruling that stipulates county players be released for international games. Sensitive to how this would go down at home, Morgan took the unusual step of issuing a statement to explain his decision: “If I had gone away and played for Ireland,” he said, “Middlesex indicated that if my replacement scored runs, then they would be above me in the fight for places. They weren’t in a position to give me any guarantee about my place.”
By agreeing to release Morgan, Middlesex had complied with the letter of the ICC rules but they then shifted the responsibility for the decision on to a 20-year-old.
For Deutrom, the loss of his best player, then as now, merely reflects the wider issue. He poses a question that strikes at the heart of the ICC’s global strategy.
“What is the point of Associate cricket?” he says, laying down a challenge to Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, and his former employers in Dubai. “Ireland has proved itself head and shoulders above the rest of the Associate nations, winning all the available titles in every form of the game – four-day, 50-over and Twenty20. Yet we are bumping up against a glass ceiling. What does the ICC want us to do? How do we get from high-performance programme to the higher echelons of the world game? There is no road map for us. The issue brings to question the whole mission statement of the ICC High Performance Programme: what is it preparing teams for?
“The Future Tours Programme for 2012 onwards is currently under discussion,” he says. “There is little discussion about accommodating any more Full Members. So three or four years from now there will be no new entrants into the cosy club of full Test members. That is a significant frustration. It shows that despite the massive investment in the Associate programme, costing over £200million over seven years, there is no stepping stone from No.1 of the Associate countries, (out of 94 countries) into the Test world.
“What is the point,” he says, “of the Intercontinental Cup?” This is the ICC’s four-day, eight-team, round-robin competition which, according to the ICC, “aims to eventually establish a ranking for Associate Members in the longer form of the game to complement current rankings from the World Cricket League one-day tournaments. This will provide a more complete indication of the cricket development of the top Associate countries”.
However, to Deutrom, the costs outweigh the benefits: “There is no prize money, no competitive incentive at the end of it, such as the chance to play a Test match or a multi-day match against a Full Member. We win a tin cup but nothing else.”
The cost of participation in the event is considerable he says, running to nearly £87,000, for which the ICU gets financial assistance from the ICC in terms of flights and accommodation for a set number of players to participate. “We have won it three years on the trot and it costs an extraordinary amount of money. But in terms of financial priority, it is difficult to argue that four-day cricket is high up there with qualifying for 50-over and 20-over World Cups by paying to host ODIs. If we thought it was leading somewhere I’m sure we would want to invest in it further.”
“Inclusion in the Future Tours Programme,” he says, “gives guaranteed fixtures, which allows the ICU board to put together a commercial package with some certainty. This makes it interesting for broadcasters, and then sponsors, ticketing and hospitality. Currently, we don’t know what next year’s fixtures are going to be. We are not saying that Ireland deserves to be a Test nation tomorrow but what steps do we need to take to get there?”
An ICC spokesman told TWC: “The pathway that Warren Deutrom refers to is currently under consideration. Any decision to increase the number of Full Members would ultimately be a matter for the ICC Board, which is made up of representatives of each of the Full Member boards around the world and three Associate representatives.” It’s worth noting that Zimbabwe won the ICC Trophy three times in a row (1982, 1986 and 1990) and dominated Associate cricket for 10 years before it was made a Full Member in 1992.
Dublin bookmakers don’t seem to rate Ireland’s chances of joining them, and have noted the Chinese cricket authorities target to gain Test status by 2020. What price China playing Tests before Ireland? That’s a bet Eoin Morgan just took.In defence of Team India
or why this exit out of the World Cup is what we need.
Losing in the World Cup this year is no big deal. There is the Champions Trophy to be played later in the year and then there is the next edition of the T20 World Cup next year. Followed by the Champions Trophy.
So in terms of silverware, there are enough and more opportunities for the team in the near future.
For too long, things have been going swimmingly well. Dhoni is a captain who can do no wrong, the team batting delivers on cue and the bowling holds its own. The fielding standards fluctuate, but on the whole, India is a safe catching side.
And there the love love relation with the press.
All of which changes now.
Personally, I think we have the team that will win us the World Cup in 2011. But what we need, every now and again, is a reality check.
The T20 World Cup of 2009 provided that.
We were outplayed, out thought and out muscled. Our fielding was below par, our game plans were all over the place, we panicked.
And not because India has a "traditional weakness" against the short ball. Any team that plays on a wickets with more than usual bounce is going to suffer. It was India's turn on this occasion.
Coming into the Super 8's after playing two weak teams on a belter at Trent Bridge, India was caught on the back foot at Lords.
And in the scramble to regain lost ground, they messed up. Royally.
The batting order was all over the place, the team experimented in the Super 8's and not before, Dhoni's captaincy left a lot to be desired.
And these are just the observations of a lay watcher of the game.
The way forward is now for the team to address these issues. Not because we lost, but the outcome will impact our progress in 2011.
Talent wise, there is very little wrong with the team. Game plan wise too, having power hitters all through the batting order in the shorter formats of the games is brilliant. The problem is with managing expectation and with sticking to plans.
Too much improvisation is also not a good thing.
India play the West Indies next before a forced break. Sri Lanka is next, in November.
Between now and then, players will have enough time to rest and regroup. If India can overcome its other big issue, of hitting the ground running, we will be onto something!
Round 2
Piyush Chawla completed a memorable Sussex debut by claiming 6 for 152 to help his new team to a 10-wicket victory against Worcestershire at New Road. The home side fought hard to stave off defeat as Moeen Ali hit 124 and added 208 in 63 overs for the fourth wicket with Daryl Mitchell, but once they were separated the last seven wickets fell for 111. James Kirtley made the breakthrough when he had Ali caught down the leg side after a 205-ball innings before Chawla took over. He removed Mitchell, caught at slip, and Ashley Noffke in quick succession and soon added Gareth Batty. Michael Yardy and Chris Nash knocked off the 61 runs needed in 10 overs to give Sussex their first Championship win for 11 months.
June 24th 2009, Hove. Sussex versus the Australians. Game on!
PS:- Round 1 was the Buchanan side show where everyone from Tim Nielson all the way through to Stuart McGill had a say about the matter.
Outplayed!
19.6 | Harbhajan Singh to Mascarenhas, 5 wides, what's gone wrong here! Singh - down the leg side, and short fine-leg has made a complete hash of things to let through five wides! That was Yuvraj's mess-up at short fine-leg |
19.6 | Harbhajan Singh to Mascarenhas, no run, outside off - oh well bowled! A dot ball with which to finish |
India lose to England by 3 runs!
Let the inquisition begin!
