The tour game

I followed, with some interest, the tour game between the Australians and the Jamaicans. And not because Ricky Ponting was in a good place and had had adequate practice against net bowlers in India ( he scored 17).

The reason I was interested in seeing how the match progressed was the Australian slip cordon and the catching.

Australia made a mess of the catching in the series against India ( both Tests and ODIs). And from the looks of it, there has not been much improvement in that regard ( 3-4 chances grassed including Haddin dropping Baugh on 7. Baugh went on to score 111).

And what makes it more interesting is the news that Matthew Hayden is iffy to start the first Test because of an Achilles heel injury.

So, Australia could well be without their regular first slipper,Ricky Ponting is no second slipper and with Clarke missing, the third slip option is also up for grabs.

And for all the talk of batting and bowling, how the slip cordon goes will determine the amount of success the Australians have in the Frank Worrell Trophy.

On scheduling

Remember when the England tour to India was announced? Remember all the brick bats hurled at the BCCI for electing a 2 test 7 ODI format in place of 3 tests?

Most of the criticism levelled then fell in three broad categories

• The death of Test cricket
• The BCCI's greed
• The BCCI's skewed priorities

all of which made sense then. And a lot of the criticism seemed justified. Until yesterday evening.

Here is the itinerary of New Zealand's tour to Australia later this year

New Zealand itinerary
Tour game v New South Wales, November 13-16, Sydney
1st Test, November 20-24, Brisbane
2nd Test, November 28-December 2, Adelaide
1st ODI, February 1, Perth
2nd ODI, February 6, Melbourne
3rd ODI, February 8, Sydney
4th ODI, February 10, Adelaide
5th ODI, February 13, Brisbane
Twenty20, February 15, Sydney

2 tests, 5 ODI's, 1 Twenty 20. I repeat - 2 Tests, 5 ODIs and 1 Twenty-20.

It has been over 12 hours since the itinerary was published.. But not a peep anywhere on

• The death of Test cricket
• CA's greed
• CA's skewed priorities

Different strokes for different folks?

A propah Englishman speaks..

I discount everything the South African Mercenary (tm) says because he is just that, a South African mercenary.

But when a proper Englishman changes his tune in the space of a little more than 2 weeks, it deserves all the attention it can get

Ravi Bopara on the 7th of May

"Of course when figures like these are put in front of you it is tempting," Bopara said, "but my goal is to play regularly for England so I'm confident that if I continue to score runs and take wickets for Essex, then I will hopefully play for England this summer and for many years to come.

"All my cricketing idols have had successful international careers and I want to emulate them. My decision was made with England in mind. I'm playing well and with a Test series coming up, if there was an injury to our batting line-up I'd like to think I'd be next in line."

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Ravi Bopara, today

"The England team picked itself for this summer, they'd won the series in New Zealand and the batsman in particular were doing well, I understood that and knew I had to prove myself again to get back into contention by playing four-day cricket for Essex and doing well, which is happening for me right now," said Bopara. "The decision I made [not to join the IPL] was just based on this season. I don't know what my decisions will be in the future, but if things continue as they are, and the offer comes along again, then I'll have a think about it, and if things haven't change for me with regards to England than I may have to reconsider my options.

PS:- Where is Sean Morris when you need him?

Shreevats Goswami

A more refined version of Robin Uthappa... Like Uthappa, plays a lot behind the wicket but looks a lot more in control when he does so.

He also seems to have a good ball sense.

And, like Abhishek Nayar, his temperament is pleasing.

His progress in the Ranji season will be worth following.

What is the truth?

THE LURE of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and its riches continues to drive a wedge between players and administrators. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) have been under mounting pressure from the IPL to release Brendon McCullum, the New Zealand wicket-keeper, for the semi-finals and final of the tournament. And such is the draw of McCullum that it is believed that NZC have turned down an offer of $1m from IPL commissioner Lalit Modi to release him.
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The Sunday Times newspaper in England claimed NZC had turned down the offer, which involved McCullum being excused from the three-day tour match against Northamptonshire to return to India for the IPL's semifinal and final.

Scheduling makes it a legitimate possibility with both the Northampton match and the IPL's semifinals and final to be played from May 30-June 1.

But Vaughan said there had been no offer put to him from IPL boss Lalit Modi. "It's complete news to me," Vaughan said.

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So who is going to retract their story and offer an apology?

Interesting news...

England's players have rejected the chance to play in a $20million winner-takes-all Twenty20 showdown against Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford's All-Star West Indies XI due to start in 2010.

The players are keen to take part in the annual big-money match at Stanford's private ground in Antigua, and an annual quadrangular tournament in England, featuring the hosts, the All-Star XI and two other international sides, initially from Pakistan, Sri Lanka or New Zealand. But the prospect of winning — or losing — such an enormous sum of money as £10m, perhaps on the misfortune of a dropped catch or the outcome of the last ball of the game, has proved too much.

Those who dont learn from History

England 247/2 on Day 1 of the Lords Test against India 2007

74.1

Singh to Pietersen, no run, back of a length outside off stump, Pietersen gets across and turns it away but cant beat midwicket

Some 12 overs are scheduled to be bowled. Lets see if that happens. Okay, we're set for play. RP will once again try and complete an over against KP. 6.18 pm I take that back. Play will start in just under ten minutes. The umpires and Indians are out there, we're just waiting for the England batsmen. 6.09 pm Looks unlikely we'll have any play today. The umpires, Taufel and Bucknor, have out the light meter and they inspect the light. It has gotten worse, and the batsmen are only too eager to head back inside.

are condemned to repeat it

England 68/0 against New Zealand, Day 2 of the Lords Test 2008

5.40pm Oh dear, they're off for bad light again, just when England were batting positively. It was inevitable though, Steve Bucknor has been checking his little pocket-held device after every ball, like a man expecting an urgent text message from home. His colleague Simon Taufel said during the previous break the batsmen are not obliged to take the light offer, which is of course true, but Cook and Strauss were never going to stay out there this late in the day. They added 42 in 9.3 overs in that abbreviated session, which could prove to be the last of the day. We shall see

Good job!

Mumbai, May 16 (IANS) The Indian cricket board has decided to redraw the list of the 30 best umpires on its elite panel. The umpires committee of the board consisting of representatives of the five zones, S. Venkataraghavan, director of umpires, and Stanley Saldhana, manager-game development besides Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Niranjan Shah and honorary secretary M.P. Pandove met at the Cricket Centre in the Wankhede Stadium earlier this month.

The committee meeting decided to re-draw the list of elite panel, which will be done by Venkataraghavan on the basis of the performance of the umpires, according to a BCCI statement Friday.

Among others, the committee decided that an examination for the new umpires be conducted here in July. It was also decided that each state association may sponsor four candidates out of which two should be former first class players having played a minimum of 15 matches.

Further, the performance of elite panel umpires would be closely monitored during the next season so that the committee may take a decision to promote good umpires to the international panel, the meeting decided.

Play of the day

Mumbai's staggered slip cordon.. A slightly wide first slip and a wide second slip...Very interesting and very very effective.

20.4 overs

The duration of today's game between Mumbai and the Hukh's boys.

Kumble's successor?

19.3	Mishra to Singh, OUT, he's got the hat-trick! RP charges down the track and swings wildly, Mishra bowls the flatter, faster and straighter ball, RP misses and Karthik breaks the stumps with the batsman well short, Mishra loves sit, he's a hero , the Kotla cheers itself hoarse
	RP Singh st Karthik b Mishra 1 (2b 0x4 0x6) SR: 50.00
That should be it for Deccan, but stranger things have happened! Mishra's on a hat-trick.
19.2	Mishra to Ojha, OUT, caught again! Mishra's got his fourth, Ojha charges down the pitch and tries to heave down the ground, Mishra slips in the goodly and Ojha slices the ball high in the air towards cover where Dilshan takes a simple catch
	PP Ojha c Dilshan b Mishra 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
Ojha's the new batsman, 15 needed off 5. That was so close to being six.
19.1	Mishra to Ravi Teja, OUT, he's cleared the boundary! No he hasn't, Malik's taken the catch at long off! Mishra bowled the flatter and faster ball outside off stump, Teja made room and hit it with a flat bat towards long off where Malik moved to his left and held on to a hard catch
	DB Ravi Teja c sub (Shoaib Malik) b Mishra 9 (5b 0x4 1x6) SR: 180.00

5/17 in 4 overs. A decent leg break and a pretty good googly.. Can he be the go to guy in the period between Kumble's retirement and Piyush Chawla's maturity?

Go the Kiwis!

Plenty of material all around, talking of how the Poms will roll the Kiwis..The English press is in full gung ho mode.. The Kiwi press is almost apologetic for being in England at this time..

Me, I am backing the Kiwis.. 1-0 Harry Potter's boys.

And the reason for this is simple - momentum.

None of the Pom top 6 have really set the county scene ablaze thus far. And while the bowlers have had good county outings, the Kiwi bowlers are as good, if not better than their English counterparts , especially in swinging and seaming conditions.

And the Kiwis are coming into the test match on the back of a win against Essex and a hard fought draw against the Plions. Also, the Kiwis have a couple of 100s to show for their efforts.Which augurs well for thier match preparedness.

If they can hold the Poms to a stalemate at Lords, watch as the English press turns against their own. And when that happens, whatever little advantage the Poms have vis a vis personnel, disappears.

The Kiwis have nothing to lose. Not so the Poms.. Advantage Kiwis.

Confused are us!

Ahmedabad will host the first Test between India and England when Michael Vaughan's team come to India for a two-Test and seven-ODI series in November-December, the final itinerary of which will be announced soon by the BCCI.
The second Test of the series will be played in Mumbai before the two teams lock horns in a one-day series.
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Pawar said the MCA has also decided to demolish the present Wankhede Stadium structure and re-build it from scratch as the present infrastructure was not adequate.

“We had a meeting with the Mumbai Hockey Association and they have given us in writing that one portion of their space can be utilised by us. There’s no way we can conduct the World Cup final in present conditions. ICC will not accept it. We need to build better facilities for all, including for the media,” he said.
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Now, wasnt the Wankhede supposed to undergo renovation after the Champions Trophy in 2006?

And, in all honesty, does the BCCI expect the entire Wankhede edifice to be torn down and rebuilt in the span of 2 years and a bit ( given that the England tour ends in December and the World Cup is scheduled in Feb/March 2011)?

The Rahul Dravid lament

O Fortuna, the wiki entry

Another nail in the ICC coffin

Mumbai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has stepped up its initiative to eradicate racism by urging its members to incorporate and celebrate ‘Diversity Day’ from the 2009 season. The ICC has told the members that as a part of its pledge to the Spirit of Cricket it is committed to celebrating diversity within the sport, which fits alongside the ICC’s work to ensure that there is no place for racism in cricket.

Never mind Zimbabwe, never mind the Prick's rantings, lets have Diversity Day!

PS:- Jagadish has a pertinent question for the ICC.