Iain O'Brien's Cricket Blog

 

It’s been a while and I don’t really know where to start.

 

Firstly, I guess, we lost the first Test.  Old news really, but it wasn’t a strong enough performance from us.  To go down as we did in the fourth innings was, well, weak. 

 

While in Galle, 12 of the 15 guys got sick.  It seemed like it was just a matter of time before the whole travelling party got sick.  Over the course of the match a few of the guys were so ill that they couldn’t even get themselves to the ground.  It wasn’t pretty.  The thing about whatever we got was that it lasted less than 24 hours but the side effects of being sick meant that energy was hard to find for the next few days afterwards.

 

I got sick at the end of Day Three.  We had come off for Tea and Sri Lanka had declared; it was about an hour after that that I started to go downhill.  Soon after I was vomiting and feeling very average.  The timing of the onset was as good as it could have been, if there is ever a good time to get sick.  I knew that I’d be back at the hotel soon and be able to spend as much time as I had to that night going back and forth from my bed and the toilet; and there were quite a few trips.  I felt ok in the morning; I had the option to stay at the hotel for the morning and come down to the ground at lunch.  I wanted to watch the boys bat and be a part of the changing room so I headed down with the team. 

 

Recovering from it has taken longer than I thought.  Putting the weight back on and getting energy back has been tough.  The two days training before the match were a little subdued, still getting through what I needed to too be ready for this Test.

 

I was a little nervous about selection for this Test.  I hadn’t had a great game in Galle, three wickets that cost me around 60 a piece and going for almost 6’s per over.  Not good at all.  So on one hand I was prepared to make way for Tuffy and on the other I was thinking that before that Test I had been a pretty good performer and deserved the next Test.  I think, so far in this Test, I’ve generally performed up to the standard I’ve set myself in the previous 12-18 months. 

 

We really wanted to bat first in this match and when, from the changing room, we saw Kumar head to the Toss Interview first, we knew we were bowling; no one needed to ask Dan to make sure.

 

I had a good first spell, sweat poring off and face getting redder and redder.  I managed to keep Dilshan quiet, something I couldn’t do at Galle, with better lengths.  My first spell of six overs went for 10.  That’s 30 runs less than my first four overs at Galle!!??  It was in my second spell when I picked up a wicket.  The first ball of my 8^th over Dilshan smashed one back to me, I guess I have to call it a dropped chance, but if I had of caught that one you’d still be hearing me celebrating it.  It hit me hard; I hardly had time to move my hands even in self defence.  I followed through and asked Dilshan “is that all you’ve got, you’re going to have to hit it harder than that!”  I do say some silly things sometimes.  Next ball, it didn’t quite come out of my hand quite right and was shorter and slower, it held up and a leading edge back to me with a whole lot pace on it.  I grabbed it with delight; it was a big one for me and the team. 

 

My third spell for the day was not good.  I came out after team and really wanted to consolidate the work I had done up until here and get through three or four good overs.  I didn’t.  My legs decided that they didn’t really want to carry me and I had to fight to get to the wicket let alone try to get into my jump.  I really had nothing in the tank for this spell and bowled poorly.  I went off just after drinks to get my hand looked at (the one I tried to catch that Dilshan shot with earlier) but before I left the park Dan wanted a quick group chat.  He gave it to us, it’s not often Dan gets angry, but he let us have it.  The hour after Tea had been poor, not even close to the standards we need to achieve to win a Test match.  It was deserved and it’s fair to say from there to the end of the day we were better.

 

I got three overs with the new ball before the day was over.  The energy came back, my jump was strong and I bowled a lot better.  It was good to come off the park finishing with a good spell.  I was knackered though, it was going to be a meal and a very early night.

 

I opened up this morning and continued on where I left off last night.  Things felt pretty good.  I had got through four overs and I could feel that Dan was toying with replacing me, I tried to get into the Umpire and give him my hat and glasses before he had a chance to, I got a 5^th over.  Mahela had hardly played a bad shot in his innings, and the cover drive he played in this over was as good as any.  I was then rather happy when he nicked one through to Baz for a catch and his wicket when he was on 92.  Happy days, a breakthrough and it would then open up an end.

 

Kapugedera and the keeper Jayawardene hung about with the very in form Samaraweera for a couple of very good partnerships.  After they both were dismissed it was then a fight for the ball.  I couldn’t get it and it was left to Jeetan and Dan to clean up the tail.  Jeets finished with a well deserved four wicket haul and we picked up the last seven wickets for around 150 and the last five for just 27.  Brilliant.

 

More tomorrow......

 

 

 

I'll get a blog done tonight, I've needed the time off between the last game and now to recover from the mystery bug that struck us down and then last night I just couldn't sit at the computer without my eyes closing!

 

 

So give me a couple of hours.......

  

Well, there’s no excuse for me not to blog tonight.  It was a day with the feet up, one to rest and recover after a couple of hot, hard days in the field.  It wasn’t quite as I’d have preferred it though.  I’d have rather not had to put the pads on let alone get out there and bat.  I love batting, don’t get me wrong, I was just hoping that we’d bat strongly throughout the day and we could have another ‘batting’ warm up tomorrow.  Not to be though, we’ve got ourselves in a little bit of trouble, and are going to have to work hard to get ourselves out of it.  It might also be fair to say we haven’t quite had the ‘rub of the green’ in a couple of the decisions; you take the bad ones with the good and that’s just the way cricket is.

 

The rain this morning was amazing.  If you had of said we would have got through 70 odd overs today at 10am this morning I would have laughed at you!  There was no way that was going to happen; but it did.  The ground staff have done a great job with the ground; covering and uncovering.  They’ve worked as hard as we have in the middle and it’spaid off in us being able to play.

Mowing the outfield.... classic!: He was doing about 30kmph aorund the outfiled!

 

The crowds at the ground have been really good, a small smattering of Kiwis here supporting, NZ flags pop up in different places, black t-shirts and jandals .  The occasional “C’mon Kiwi” shouted out, it’s been good to see and hear the ex-pats in the crowd.  It’s just a pitty we haven’t given them more to cheer about more often.

 

I got to bat tonight; I had had a good hit in the last warm up match and have been feeling pretty good with bat in hand.  We were six down at tea and I had some ‘knock ups’ outside on the ground.  I found the middle of the bat in defence, hit a couple of drives and headed back up to the changing room happy. 

 

It became my turn to bat around 5pm.  The light had just started to deteriorate and SL had quite a new ball; brilliant, just brilliant!?  I had been watching the pace of the quick’s, both on TV and live, and was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be their pace that was going to be my undoing.  In fact I wasn’t really too worried about the quick’s; it was these two spinners that were causing me some head problems.  Before bad light stopped play on the third day I had faced nine balls and scored three; a good start.  I faced two balls from Murali; I picked them as an offie first and then the doorsa.  When I got back upstairs to the changing room I re watched the footage to see if I had got it right.  In fact I got them both wrong.  It was the other way around.  I’ll work had on trying to pick him tomorrow, but more importantly work had with Dan and try to bat for as long as possible.  I’ve got a target I’d love to get to, not a run target but a balls faced target.  If I get close then I know Dan and I will have put on a partnership of note.

  

 

 

293-3 we walked off after day one, as I said, not the best day in the field; that’s obvious.  Day two was better though.  We picked up the remaining seven wickets for 159 with Dan and Tommy both thoroughly earning their four wickets each.  Dan bowled tightly throughout the innings and it was just a matter of time before he’d pick up wickets.  Dan and I normally, in the past, have bowled well together, we’ve both been able to control the runs and then put scoreboard pressure on the batters to score.  The ends we like to bowl from normally works that it suits us both too.  I couldn’t hold up my end in the way I’ve been able to do enough in this first innings.  So it took a change of ends for Dan so that he and Tommy could bowl together.  And it worked, perfectly; the last four wickets for just eight runs, all of them off Muralitharan's bat.  We love the way he bats, we all wish we could be that free). 

 

Bowling to Samaraweera 

 

It’s raining right now, it’s almost 9am and we’d normally be at the ground by now.  An amazing storm came through around 5am this morning, thunder banging about and lightning as bright as I’ve ever seen; with it, torrential rain.  The rain has eased but is still steady and doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon.  We’ve watched the covers go on and come off, an amazing mission by the lads at the ground.  The whole ground gets covered by covers; I don’t know if there is that many covers in New Zealand, I’ve never seen anything like it.  As we’ve watched them been taken off we know that it’s about a 90 minute even so there is no point going to the ground until the rain stops completely.  There’s nothing we can do about it so it was a longer breakfast than normal and most of the boys will be in their room resting up some more.

Yesterday afternoon we got through to stumps two down and 87 on the board.  McIntosh played a traditional Test match openers role.  He blunted the bowlers and scored where he could; quite the opposite of how Dilshan played.  Dilshan attacked us and put us bowlers on the back foot.  His style comes with risk but when it comes off, and he’s good enough, it is a tough style to work plans too.  The thing about the way Dilshan played, especially in a first innings is that it gives the fielding team a chance of an early wicket and some early momentum.  Obviously if he comes off it’s the opposite, but as we saw yesterday we know that if we can get early breakthroughs in the top order then the tail isn’t going to add as many as some line ups in the world. 

As I type this a big black cloud has worked its way over the hotel and heading its way to the ground, the rain has just got heavier and it looks like we’ll be at the hotel for a while yet.

 

Covering Up

 

 

This will be a quick one as I’m pretty tired after a tough day on the park. 

 

We arrived at the ground with rain in the air and the covers still on.  And I mean covers still on; the whole outfield was covered.  They were battening down the hatches yesterday afternoon while our training session was wrapping up and there must have been almost a hundred ground helpers out there putting the sheeting down on the wicket, the block, the surrounds and the whole outfield.

 

 

Everybody in, it's spitting....

 

 

 

Battern down the hatches

 

Start was delayed till 11.30 and we got first opportunity to bowl first on it after Dan won another toss.  It had been mentioned that he wanted to lose the toss as we really weren’t what to do first.  The pitch felt a little tacky after being under the covers, but how long would that last; we weren’t sure but Dan decided to have first use of it.  And it paid off straight away.  Tommy (Martin) with his third ball picked up NT Paranavitana and then in his second KC Sangakkara flicked one to Flynn at square leg for two wickets inside three overs.  That, alas, was where the wickets ended for that session.  TM Dilshan was outstanding.  I felt like I was bowling very close our plan for him although, unfortunately for us, it was to be his session.  I bowled four overs in my first spell and it really was like a highlights package.  I went for 40 in those four overs; not good enough but also there was some very good batting.

 

The next session I was a bit better, my five over spell, in comparison, only going for 25; hardly economical, but it was better than my first spell.  I picked up Dilshan in my third over of this spell, he cut a rather short, and shall we say, rank ball onto his stumps on 92 from 72 balls.  A collective sigh of relief from us!  It was like seeing the back of Sehwag!

 

This spell I found really tough.  I was ok in my third over but the 4^th and 5^th I really started to overheat and was finding it really tough out there.  I got through that spell and normally I’d cool down after a couple of overs in the field.  I wasn’t.  In fact I was starting to feel really average.  I don’t like leaving the field but I had to today.  My radiator wasn’t quite working right.  I was off for around 20 minutes and in that time I had an ice jacket on, an ice pack on my head, neck, shoulders and feet.  I was drinking everything in sight and sucking on ice cubes, doing all I could to cool down.  After about 10 minutes I started feeling normal(ish) again and headed over to my seat to change my clothes.  Fresh socks, trousers and a shirt, this time without the under layer vest top I had been wearing.  I got back out there as soon as I could and felt a lot better by the time I got back out there.

 

Tea and Dan asked me how I was, and if I wanted to go again soon after the break.  Of course I wanted another crack, “I got some figures to fix!”  My third spell was probably my better one of the day although it was still more expensive than I’d want.  The ball now was reversing a little and I was looking forward to see what I could get out of it.  It went for me a bit and I was feeling pretty good; this was going to be my spell.  I bowled as hard as I could and got some good bounce from good lengths, beat the edge a few times, got the edge a couple too; but not to hand.  I went as hard as I could to change my day. 

 

A great partnership between DPMD Jyawardene and TT Samaraweera got Sri Lanka through to early stumps as bad light set in.  We are going to have to work harder and smarter again tomorrow to pull this innings back in our favour.

 

It was an ice bath at the ground straight after we finished and then back to the hotel for a massage; eat, type this and now bed time.

 

 

The second warm up match, played at NCC finished in a tame draw.  Three days is really not enough time to secure an outright win unless one team has at least one very poor innings with the bat.  That said, the SL XI took a first innings lead into the second half of the match. 

 

We’ve now travelled to Galle, further south and smack bang on a currently rampant coastline.  We were supposed to train this morning but that has been put off due to the ground flooding rain that hit here at about 6am.  So it’s going to be a long day stuck in our hotel without the weather we were expecting.  A day like today isn’t the worst thing for us though.  It gives us a good chance to get another gym session in and most importantly a very good opportunity to watch more footage and study our plans for this upcoming Test series.

 

Stormy view from room

 

 

I finished the match back at NCC with feeling pretty good about my form.  I got through 16 overs (2-60) and scored 18 (off 52).  Not the worst game, not the greatest game but pretty good in the conditions.  I could have, maybe, had another couple of wickets had things gone my way, but overall I am happy with where I am at.

 

Well protected for bouncer training at NCC

 

I said in an interview that one of the most important things about playing over here is not fading throughout the day, getting into that 3^rd session and still bringing what you offered in the first.  I came back for three overs right at the end of the 3^rd session, one with the old ball and two with the new.  I felt pretty good, the legs were feeling a little heavy but I got to the crease well and felt like I had similar if not just slightly better ‘snap’ than I did first up in the morning.  It was this spell where I picked up my two wickets; LD Chandimal with my second delivery with the new ball and then the #10 with the 5^th ball.  Chandimal played a beautiful innings, a great hundred, and he’s only 17.  His patience and the ability to stick to his game plan was amazing for someone of his age.  A very special future player for Sri Lanka; he took the gloves in the second innings too.

 

 I’ve just been to the gym, core session and then a sweaty 20 min cardio run.  I think I’m sweating more here in Galle than we did in Colombo.

 

Last night we were invited to visit a NZ family here in Galle.  Everywhere we go we get the full police and military escort which people stop and stare to watch as we go past.  It makes the trips a lot quicker but the attentions it attracts sometimes also makes it feel a little over the top.  It’s great that we’ve got the security though, don’t get me wrong, it just seems such a mission to organise a 2hr outing from the hotel.

 

Freedom; the walk from the bus to Simon and Eric's house

 

It was a good, albeit short, evening out of the hotel meeting Kiwi’s here working and living the Sri Lankan life.  Also there were a combination of other westerners that have joined together to make a tight little friend group.  It was great hearing the stories how people came to live here and how they are making it work for them.  Thanks Simon and Eric for putting yourselves out for us.  Appreciate it a lot! 

 

The highlight of today will be a 2pm trip to a supermarket.  It doesn’t sound like much but a chance to peruse the shelves and pick up some needed supplies is something to look forward to.  Again, I’m sure it will give the security guys a bit of a headache!

Twittering:  iainobrien

 

And here is the first update from Sri Lanka....   Oh, and for the record, it’s hot. Honest!  Sweating is probably the easiest thing to do here.

 

We all arrived here a week ago yesterday.  So eight days here to acclimatise, train and play some warm up games.  We had three days before the first warm up match to try, as much as possible, to get used to the heat and humidity.  We all struggled to a certain extent with overheating, some more than others.  Guppy, at the first training, was the first one to feel the effects, his fair skin and ginger hair not helping, I’m sure.  It wasn’t anything serious but he did have to stop training and get the ice bags on to cool down.  It was my turn yesterday to have a few issues during training. 

 

The combination of the heat and humidity is so hard to combat.  Getting enough water on board is hard.  It often feels like you are sweating as quick, if not quicker, than you can drink the water.  It is so important to keep a water bottle nearby. 

 

An empty and rather tidy changing room at CCC

 

Our first warm up match, at the Colombo Colts ground, pretty much went to plan.  I wasn’t to play; I had this game off, mainly because my bowling loads have been good while at Leicestershire.  We lost the toss and were asked to bowl first; not the worst thing as the pitch felt a little tacky.  We bowled well and knocked them over for 159.  Tuffy, in his first match back in the NZ shirt, picked up three and it was good to see him bowling quick picking up wickets.  Our boys in reply racked up 493 with some real good looking innings in hard conditions, Dan’s century being the highlight.  Dan came in when the score was 6-258, the innings in the balance, and put together a couple of strong partnerships with Baz and then Jeets.

 

View from the changing room with clothes drying

 

In the overs left in this three day match we couldn’t quite knock them over for the full win.  A good outing first up especially as we don’t have a great record in warm up matches.

 

A full day off followed that match and most of us enjoyed some time by the pool enjoying the sun and the water.  A couple of us fairer skinned boys got a little more sun than maybe we should have and that was even using sunscreen.  The pills we take to make sure we don’t get any nasty diseases from the bugs make us more susceptible to the sun.  Silly us, lesson learnt.  I should know better anyway, I just go pink, peel and then go white again anyway... don’t know why I try to get a tan!!??

 

Yesterday was training and it was a tough one; and I suffered a little.  Hit the nets first us for five overs, one to warm up and then four flat out at match intensity.  Pads straight on after that for a bat, probably had them on for 45 minutes and in that time I didn’t drink enough.  A quick lunch break and then into the gym for a circuit.  It was here where I started to feel a little ‘funny’.  I got through the circuit and then had some time to do my ‘pre-hab’ stuff.  I was getting a little shaky, nothing too much, but I knew I wasn’t the best.  I stopped and grabbed a couple of bottles of water and sat down.  I weighed myself and since the start of training till here I had lost over 1kg and then you add to that how much sweat was soaked into my clothes and I knew I had lost a whole lot more.  My t-shirt felt like it had been thrown into a pool, it was that wet.  After some time to recover I felt fine again and headed out to fielding training.  This was a good time to get a very good reminder about how much water you lose in these conditions.  I’ll have to work very hard to keep hydrated during the sessions on the park.

 

Which brings me to today, the second warm up match.  Dan won the toss and we batted first; always the option in games like this, it should mean we get two at bats.  We didn’t quite have it all our way today though.  The day finished with us 283-8 and I’m not out.  I’m pretty happy with it too.  Jeets and I have put on 50 so far, I’ve scored just nine of them, but it’s the partnership that counts.  I’ve been working hard in the nets with Saqlain Mushtaq, who’s come on board with us as a spin bowling consultant, on playing spin and also facing a lot of bowling machine and the quality net bowlers we’ve been privileged to have help us out.  Yesterdays batting was good, I felt good.  I got a load of tennis balls fired out of the bowling machine; short and at me.  It was what I needed; I felt pretty good playing, ducking and weaving.  Of course I got pinned a couple of time but it just reinforces the positions I must not get into.  Out in the middle today I got the opportunity to use all the things I’ve been working on.  Nine runs off 41 balls which included the new ball being taken and I get to open the batting in the morning. 

 

And in other cricket news, my predictions for the Ashes are, so far, spot on.  One draw, one weather affected draw and one win each.  If England wins this last Test, I’ve picked it right.  Sri Lanka and Pakistan are currently going head to head in the T20i over my left shoulder, interesting battle; Afridi just out, good for SL, he’s an amazing player!!!

 

Keep more up to date on twitter:     iainobrien

 

More from Sreelata. Again the views from Sreelata may not necessarily be those expressed by Iain.

 

Four lettered words seem to be the theme of the cricket world at the moment. See for yourself.

 

DRAW/RAIN

I am not going to be one for saying that Test cricket draws are a bore. On the contrary, unless it has meant rain has ruined a contest or pitch preparations have marred a keen battle, a draw usually represents grit of one of either or both cricket teams to fight it out over five days and yet yield to none.

But draw seems a pre-decided word at Edgbaston and that explains why the fans were more in the frolicking mood, except when they booed Ricky Ponting on and off the field, as the third Test of the Ashes reached its eventual conclusion.

It would have been interesting nonetheless to wonder what would have happened had rain not washed out the third day’s play. Now we shall never know and once again cricket has had to give in the vagaries of the weather.

What a delivery from Graeme Swann to get rid of Ponting. Though Swann is not quite in the same league as, say, Shane Warne, it certainly reminded me of Warne’s delivery to Mike Gatting to bowl him around the legs. Stunning! Some ‘bowlers’ do have ‘em. But yes, the batsmen will have to live with the ignominy for the rest of their lives. No wonder, the poor dressing room door took the brunt of Ponting’s ire.

 

WADA

This has become a taboo word with the Indian cricketers and in turn, the BCCI. And what a conflict it has raised! The Indian cricketers are not only getting flak from the FICA or the ICC or other sports but also, from other sporting disciplines within India where Indian athletes have subjected themselves to WADA’s whereabouts code without question.

But the question is: are Indian cricketers behaving like Prima Donnas? It is hard to be judgemental either way. It is commendable that other cricketers around the world have complied with the norms without a hassle. However, while the Indian cricketer’s complaint of it being a violation of privacy may appear flimsy but it is a point raised by tennis players such as Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams amongst others. But as Roger Federer puts it in his own owrds, it is a small price to pay for playing the sport.

The Indian cricketers, the BCCI and the ICC will have to seriously have a rethink because the Asian Games, the Olympics games and every other major sporting event that cricket aspires to be a part of will need players complying with rules that ensure the sport remains drug free with a zero tolerance policy.

 

WAGE

The West Indies Players Association (WIPA) may be sticking to its guns about having a professional contract in place but it also means that until the mediation through the Guyana President brings fruit, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will be keeping the players out, which explains why the big names are missing from the probables list for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy.

The danger: The ICC is desperately trying to salvage the Champions Trophy which in the past, has suffered from tediously long tournaments with mismatched line ups. Now with the ICC aiming to make it a prestige event with only the crème de la crème (although it is hard to have such a term in a sport that has a smaller Test playing nation population) competing. The danger is that now there will be a weak link : a second string West Indies line up.

 

RIFT

There is a reason why the term ‘mercurial’ is almost always applied to Pakistan cricket. There are rumours that Pakistan wanted to boycott all major events, including the ICC World Twenty20, the ICC Champions Trophy and the 2011 World Cup over a wide number of issues ranging from being overlooked in the FTP (Future Tours Programme) by other cricket boards, of being relinquished of hosting rights of both, the Champions Trophy as well as the 2011 World Cup, amongst others.

But Pakistan were on a high after winning the ICC World Twenty20 in England. Suddenly the fact that Pakistan had played next to no cricket in the past year had been banished and everything appeared to have clicked into place. Fast forward a month later and the picture is far from rosy. Pakistan’s batting collapses marked a disastrous Test series on the tour to Sri Lanka and their bowlers are unable to save the ODIs even if their life depended on it.

It has led to the typical speculation floating of rifts within the team, dissensions against the captain and groupism by the senior members of the squad. While Younis Khan has squashed all rumours but hinted at a disorganized administrative cricket structure, the former chief selector, Abdul Qadir, has come up with another embarrassing scenario: the possible of match fixers within the Pakistan team!

When Pakistan go down, they take the structure down with them.

 

TW*T

What was that? There must be a dangerous disease afloat in England and it’s not even the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu. The word last came into prominence just days before when Britain’s Conservative Party leader, David Cameron, let it rip in a radio interview when expressing what he thought of Twitter.

Now Shane Warne is apparently afflicted as he tried to describe the technicality by which Andrew Strauss would not have been allowed to whack (so much the better word, and rather appropriate in impact, wouldn’t you say?) the ball that slipped out from Ben Hilfenhaus’ hand because it had not crossed the bowling crease.

Perhaps Warne's cue card should read: please stick to the non offensive, printable, and air worthy four-letter words!

More from Sreelata and once again these views may not necessarily be those expressed by Iain.

 

Why is No One Looking at Test Cricket for Answers?

It is hard to imagine that any present crisis within the game of cricket can be monumentally bigger than the one that threatens to disfigure Test cricket. This numbers game has everyone jittery (and plausibly twittering as well) and one can bring most other critical issues about the game to the one subject – the sustenance of Test cricket. As a cricket aficionado, it bothers me that Test cricket may need to become a circus clown if only to survive and that Twenty20 is now the puppeteer that is running the show.

 

Bottom Line – The Only One that counts?

The popular ABBA song ‘Money, Money, Money’ begins like this,

             “I work all night, I work all day,

              To pay the bills I have to pay.

              Ain’t it sad?

              And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me.

              That’s too bad.”

 

If Test cricket was about charitable cause, a fund raiser such as the one-off Twenty20 match between the Rajasthan Royals and the Middlesex Panthers at Lord’s for the British Asia Cup last month would have done the trick. It was rather surprising personally, despite the immense popularity of Twenty20, that crowds turned up as they did and the amount of interest generated by that single match alone, stealing the thunder right before the Ashes!

But coming back to the point, if facts were to be faced, sustaining Test cricket by the gate revenue now appears a utopian dream. That is also perhaps the single most telling reason why the ICC has even concerned itself with tinkering with the most traditional form of the game. Were it not for the money, perhaps more voices would have a valid case for casting aspersions of blasphemy upon those that would even consider Test cricket as susceptible to the vagaries of time. Sadly in the face of money, the voice of the Test fan is drowned in the hoarse cheers of not Twenty20 fans necessarily, but of those that are actually minting money from the game (and they are not even the cricketers).

              

Test cricket in a year could be…

The proposals in front of the ICC are enough to send a shiver down the purist’s back. The ICC President, David Morgan, has suggested reducing the Test format from a five day fixture to a four day affair. His argument, and a fair one, is that this change would require the least amount of adaptation on the part of the cricketers as far as their game is concerned.

ICC’s General Manager, Dave Richardson, had another take – that of developing a two tier format wherein the non performing teams would be relegated to the lower division, much like how football clubs are run around the world. It is not hard to see why this format would work. It would mean more evenly matched teams would compete with each other, raising the level of the game, and reducing viewer fatigue watching five mindless days of watching the lion devour the lamb.

Close on the heels in terms of idea is the proposal to have a World Test Championship that would not only determine the true champion but also, sift the contenders from the pretenders, and raise the interest levels of the cricket loving crowds as the contest reaches a climax. But if indications being sounded are to be believed, some boards are more reluctant than others to subjecting themselves to this global cricket contest simply because they feel they have a greater pull in terms of the gate revenue and therefore, should be entitled to a bigger piece of the pie. The pie, as it stands, is proposed to be equally divided amongst all Test playing nations.

This is perhaps a take from the ordinary but the MCC, the Marylebone Cricket Club, is awaiting the ICC’s approval to, hold your breath, hold a Test match under lights with cricketers in coloured clothing!

For sheer novelty value, even the IPL fades before it. But for viability, this Kerry Packer-like agenda needs a lot of reworking. It is not as simple as getting a sponsor to brand the company’s name on the back of a colour stained shirt or of moving in floodlights as they have already at Lord’s.                 

The most worrisome aspect, I think, is, if the general perception is that the cricket loving public is an impatient lot that would kill for Twenty20 but would rather be dead when faced with the prospect of sitting through a Test match, it has to be a myopic view because overcooking a meal never tasted good or right. What makes one think that the same crowd would sit through a Test match just because the cricketers were now wearing something other than their traditional flannels? While the aim is obvious – to target the after office hours, how many people would enjoy the game where the day and night factor played tricks on batsmen, where dew would have the say in whose factor the match would tilt and how light conditions would affect visibility to sustain play through the entire day, oops, or night and how many experiments with the coloured ball would determine the most appropriate one? Think back to the Twilight Zone.

 

Can't IPL money be equated with Test cricket pay outs?

Gary Kirsten is sounding like a man waging a lone battle telling the Indian cricketers to think twice between wearing the Indian cap with pride and falling for the lure of Twenty20. Some would say pride in playing is a redundant value, others would call it plain silly to be letting easy money go when the proverb urges to make hay while the sun shines. Would it be valid to say that Andrew Flintoff was making hay by retiring prematurely when he is dozing off at night to the sound of machine alternating and compressing his knee in order to play through a Test?

To me, it is inconceivable to think that every aspiring cricketer or current Test cricketer is in the game to become another Sachin Tendulkar in terms of his bank balance. Yet it would be disconnecting from reality to think that cricketers are only idols and that they do not have a family they are also responsible for and for whom they owe it to provide a life of reasonable comfort.

Can Lalit Modi be expected to understand the pedestal value of Test cricket? Not likely. But can a cricketer be lured back to the game that he would love to play but cannot sustain either because of the grueling demands or the rather disproportionate wage he is currently being paid? Most certainly. Can’t cricketer play for pride and also, make a respectable earning out of it?Is that not a win-win situation for all concerned?

 

Why not check Test cricket itself?

Can the ICC guarantee that a day and night Test would address all the problems that ail Test cricket in respect of its ability to raise gargantuan revenues? And what happens to a two tier division or a world contest if problems between the boards and cricketers ensue in the stalemate that is West Indian cricket with both, WIPA and WICB, holding their ground and not in favour of a compromise? I was not quite sure watching the Test series between Bangladesh and West Indies whether to applaud Bangladesh for playing beyond expectations or moan for the sad funereal feeling about the game in the West Indies.  

The question not many people seem to be asking is: why not raise accountability for Test cricket? It may sound revolutionary but it really is not. When Australia lost the second Test of the current Ashes to England at Lord’s, Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, stated what was the bare truth – Australia did not do the basics right. Perhaps the ICC and the respective cricket boards that constitute the Test playing nations should wonder if they are indeed doing the basics right.

In order to get the radar right, key factors must come into consideration. Pitch conditions that are sporting even if slightly biased in terms of the home advantage (who wants monotony? But no one wants the Kanpur pitch laid out for South Africa or the sham that was the Viv Richards Stadium in Antigua), timing of series that is more in alignment with the prevailing weather than the monetary and financial implications of sealing the deal (weather is unpredictable anyway, why add by having a washed out series in the monsoons?), ensuring better over rates, contests between teams that would draw the crowds, better decision making with or without the Umpire Decision Review System. The list seems endless. And not one is an issue that is being seriously debated, not from the angle of how it will actually impact Test cricket.

The Ashes are showing that people who love Twenty20 will come to the Test cricket if it promises a feisty contest. People who lapped up Pakistan’s performances in the ICC World Twenty20 were less reluctant to follow their escapades in Sri Lanka because of the fallible aura that accompanies Pakistan cricket in recent times when facing up to larger tasks. And despite the obvious shortcomings, the series had its moments and as Andrew Strauss spoke about Australia’s aura in the Ashes of 2006-’07, Sri Lanka always had the air about them that they could come back into the team no matter what Pakistan threw at them.       

This is not to imply that change is bad or that closeted thinking would help Test cricket. But change for change’s sake is now a redundant idea. Test cricket is in a need for a lift of spirits. But is that change being proposed in the spirit of the game?

 One can only leave this discussion with the chorus of the same ABBA song:

 

        “Money, money, money,

          Must be funny,

          In a rich man’s world…”

 

  Go figure.

Sreelata S. Yellamrazu does what she loves best to do – write about the game she is so passionate about. The born spectator in her has helped her shape an impressive career out of her passion and in a free wheeling manner, pens about the sport that she is so enthusiastic about.

As interested in another’s view point as she is in expressing her own, she can be reached at sreelata9@gmail.com 

Again Sreelata's views may not necessarily be the same as Iain's. Let us know what you think of Sreelata's post.

 

Is Cricket Feeling a Little Tizzy?

 

Murali Calls the Shots, Indians say – Shots Being Called

Muttiah Muralitharan has a thing for accuracy –whether it has to do with his bowling or thinking. The only time Muralitharan is hilarious when being erratic is when he is holding the bat in hand. It is not surprising that he has laid down his retirement plans and it will not be surprising if he executes it.

Muralitharan announced that November 2010 would be the right time for retiring from Test cricket. It sounded as ominous as the dime-a-dozen astrologers across another a-dime-a-dozen news channels in India predicting doomsday scenarios even as the world reveled in the spectacle of the solar eclipse. Murali’s torn tendon did not hold up for the series against Pakistan but he is confident of seeing out the home series against West Indies in his final Test endeavour.

Typical of Murali’s spirit, he intends to take his cricket career in the one day internationals to the 2011 World Cup, perhaps like a swansong at home. The man who openly admitted to wanting 1000 Test wickets in his kitbag is, however, keen to extend his run in the Twenty20 format. Age has nothing to do with appetite, apparently. 

Speaking of the World Cup, Pakistan certainly know how to drive a hard bargain, never mind that their own country is in the throws of a major civil upheaval, not to mention political. They are yet to affirmatively stick to their stand as to whether the terrorist (gunman as Ajmal Kasab is referred to in American media) is indeed of Pakistani soil, but they are determined to enforce upon the ICC the need to insist on other nations to tour Pakistan as one of the demands to keep the issue of the World Cup hosting rights out of court, monetary compensation notwithstanding.

Unfortunately, it would take more than the threat of a court case to convince nations to tour the troubled region. New Zealand escaped what could have possibly been a disastrous scenario as a bomb went off outside their hotel on their last tour, and the fears only became too real as the Sri Lankan cricketers and cricket officials came face-to-face with the worst case scenario and were congruent in their stories of having being lucky to have cheated death.

But coming back to the subject of unforced retirements, the uneasy crown though appears on the Indian selector’s head at the moment. While Sourav Ganguly has indicated that he would have prolonged his career if not for the pressure from the selectors, Yousuf Pathan expressed bafflement about why younger brother, Irfan Pathan, was left out of the ICC Champions Trophy. Both later denied having made the statements. Perhaps that is one way to beat the gag.

But the cake still belongs to Vinod Kambli. He not only allowed the television media play out to the reality television promotion of another copycat of American television but also, used the medium effectively to highlight how the bad boy image was really the picture of boy gone wrong and further wronged. Perhaps that was why Sachin Tendulkar  had no qualms when Kambli told ‘The Moment of Truth’ audience that his friend could have helped him more. Maybe friendship is thicker than blood and definitely thicker than reality television hoopla.           

 

Australia –Ingenious or Muddled?

The Ashes series could well turn on its head and Australia may win at Edgbaston to even the contest, but it does not exonerate them from the baffling policy they appear to be carrying around. One would not expect Australia to slip up but they apparently have.

It is hard to understand how contrasting the two series against South Africa and England are. Australia had a plethora of fast bowlers kicking at the heels of Brett Lee against South Africa. In England, Australia appear almost forced to carry on with what’s on the platter. It is unclear why Australia have not toyed with the idea of using Stuart Clark but perhaps there is something about his injury that is not clear to the rest of the world. Mitchell Johnson appeared distraught in the second Test at Lord’s and that did not change in the tour match against Northamptonshire with Allan Border even asking him to volunteer to stand down for his own sake. For Mitchell’s sake, one hopes he can make a decent case for himself and validate his inclusion in a Test that now assumes crucial importance.

Australia have virtually shot themselves in the foot. Ian Chappell’s tirade against the selectors’ thought process to go on a five Test tour with just two specialist openers fell on deaf ears. Almost ominously Phillip Hughes has been found wanting. Call it perfect timing then that Shane Watson returned to full fitness in time for the third Test. Was Hughes warming the bench then? ( Are you wondering : how did Australia time this? Maybe they did seek time with one of those astrologers after all. No pun intended.)

Watson appears to have vindicated his selection as opener on the first rain-afflicted day of the third Test in Birmingham. But was he always the fall back guy or did Australia not see the possibility of the necessity of a third opener coming? Australia certainly did not falter on personnel and their respective specialty when they were truly on top of their game. Tiny trips and stumbles but can Australia stand on their two bruised knees?

Talk about timing! When the sun came out, Brad Haddin was forced indoors with a possible broken finger. Ouch! Anyone get the feeling of the solemn Flanders Field visit? An injured field on both sides (though personally I think there can no comparison between an actual battlefield and a cricket field) with Andrew Flintoff on a NASA deployed machine for his busted knee and Kevin Pietersen dodging questions on crutches. The doctor’s dispensary is handing out medicines, dare I say, a-dime-a-dozen?

 

Twittering – For Better or For Worse

This has to be the lighter moment of the day. Talk about leaks – deliberate or not. Phillip Hughes twittered away, or rather his manager did, and unwittingly let out what was rather well speculated news. Hughes’ omission from the third Test was announced even before the rain clouds even contemplated relenting.

I am not sure England were particularly banking on Hughes making it or not, no offense intended. Cricket Australia certainly thought it was an undesirable leak but let Hughes off the hook on grounds that he was still inexperienced in the ways of dressing room manners. But as the cliché goes, it’s not rocket science.

Twitter away, er, I mean, take it away, Watson!