Warne the magician puts the wand away

It was a sad day in the history of cricket. On the 21st of December, 2006, one of cricket’s all time best, Shane Warne announced his plans to retire from test cricket after the ongoing Ashes series which Australia lead by 3-0. His departure from test cricket will end a remarkable 15 year career, which will always be cherished both at home and abroad. Warne, like Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar has a huge fan base around the world.
Warne revolutionized the art of leg-spin bowling with his huge armory of deliveries which have left the best batsmen bamboozled at times. He made his international debut in Test cricket during the third test against India in 1992. Although he started off poorly, he was endowed with immense talent and it was only time before he began decimating batting orders around the world. He has scalped a staggering 700 wickets from 143 test matches, with 36 five-fors at an average of just over 25; a phenomenal achievement.

During the 70s and the 80s, the world of cricket spiraled around fast bowling, which was what brought about the majority of the excitement. Warne changed that notion forever with his prodigious talent for spinning the ball into oblivion. Before Australia lost the safe hands of Ian Healy to retirement, Warne and he made a deadly combination. They had an excellent coordination and many times Healy positioned himself to receive stray deliveries from Warne that were meant to discombobulate the batsman.

Like any popular star, Warne was always surrounded by controversies and rumors. In 1998, Warne admitted to have taken money to provide details to a man who was linked to bookmakers. In 2003, shortly before the commencement of the world up, Warne was sent back home after failing a drug test. He faced a two year ban if charged guilty of the offense to which he pleaded ignorance. However, he was found guilty by the Australian Cricket Board’s drug code and banned for a period of 12 months. In addition, Warne is known for passing scathing remarks towards other players, including, but not limited to Arjuna Ranatunga (former Sri Lankan captain) and Kim Hughes (former Australian captain).

Warne will always be remembered as the ‘spin doctor’ or ‘spin maestro’ and it will be difficult for Australia or world cricket to find a replacement for ‘the master’. Despite all the controversies, the ups and downs in his career, Warne has managed to gain the respect of the greatest batsmen from around the world. He will however, continue to play for Hampshire for another two years, so to all his fans; catch him there while you can, and observe the spin guru work his magic.

Whose fault is it anyway?

Unsurprisingly, the PCB and the Pakistani players are in the limelight once again, a pattern that has become all too familiar in recent times. Over the past year, the Pakistani cricket team and its officials have been riding a rollercoaster of controversy.

It started off when Afridi was caught on camera, tampering the pitch during the second Test against England at Faislabad . Next, umpire Daryl Hair implicitly accused the Pakistani team of tampering with the ball, which subsequently ended Hair’s international career.

Soon after, Akhtar was caught on camera, apparently scuffing up the ball, which – fortunately for him - was overlooked in the heat of the Oval test controversy. Yet another drama was to follow, when Shahryar Khan was relieved of his position, and Younis Khan, who was handed the captaincy, renounced it on the basis of being deemed a ‘puppet captain’, only to be reinstated a few days later.

Now, another scandal has surfaced; Shoaib Akhtar, no stranger to controversy, and a naïve looking Asif being formally charged and banned for willingly, or inadvertently consuming a banned substance called Nandrolone. Apparently, the drug test was administered and dealt with internally, by the PCB. A three member committee was formed, which after some research, advice from lawyers, physiotherapists, and trainers resulted in a two year ban for Akhtar and one year for Asif.

The apparent disparity in the verdict for the two players was justified by the fact (according to three-member panel) that Akhtar was already educated – to some extent – as far as consuming performance enhancing drugs and other contrabands is concerned. A few weeks later, another three-member panel consisting of three new officials was formed.

As one would have expected, the second committee nullified the ban of the first panel by reversing the ban and dropping all charges against the accused. Their reasoning was based one the discrepancy between the drug policies of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and the PCB. The previous panel had banned the two players under WADA regulations, which the second panel disagreed with (2 – 1) since the matter was officially considered a PCB issue. They argued that the two players should have been tried under PCB’s own drug laws since it was an internal affair, which is a fairly reasonable argument.

Unfortunately, PCB’s drug policies are a world apart from WADA regulations, which means that it is incumbent upon the world cricketing’s ruling body to enforce those laws upon the various members of the organization. This incident may well be a wake up call to the wealthy ICC officials sitting in Dubai about the importance of being vigilant on the topic of drugs in sports. Nearly all other international sports strictly abide by the code of conduct outlined by WADA and it is now ICC’s duty to follow suit. Before any cricketing body can formally charge a player for consuming ‘banned substances’, it must be clearly, and legally informed to all players exactly what is and what is not acceptable – as far as the players’ diet is concerned.

As with any other organizational topology, the WADA and its members must follow a top-to-bottom business structure. WADA must provide its members an unambiguous book of laws governing drugs – that is their primary function after all. Its members – let us consider the ICC for the sake of adhering to our discussion – must then relay these rules and regulations to its own members, i.e., the governing bodies of each nation. It is then up to these cricketing boards to ensure that their players are duly informed and educated on banned substances and the consequences of breaching the law.

Once the players have been educated, and then if an offense is committed, should an individual be held responsible for any drug related offenses. The banner of ‘ignorance is not an excuse’ that higher officials use to justify their judgment is completely erroneous in my view. There are hundreds of chemicals available openly in the market, and if a sportsman tries to better themselves through their use in the competitive world of sports, mind you, without knowing what harm it may do to them, then I believe they are innocent.

WADA has declared that they will pursue and question the decision to absolve Akhtar and Asif of the initial charges. Instead, what they should be doing is reprimanding ICC for not doing enough to ensure that such a mockery of the international drugs law in sports doesn’t take place in the first place. I believe that no one person or organization can be completely blamed in this case, and instead of pointing fingers, WADA, the ICC and all its members should be working cohesively to identify and tackle the root of all the trouble that this incident has caused – better education and inter-communication between all departments involved.

At the end of the day, Asif and Akhtar will have to live with the stigma of being branded as cheats; with or without knowledge, because apparently, ignorance is not an excuse.

India's Crowd Worries: A Recurring Problem

Anyone who follows the game of cricket with passion such as the Indian cricket fans, must be aware that India has always had its hands full when it comes to crowd troubles. Previously, crowd troubles in various Indian grounds have been restricted to hurling lethal objects (such as the bullet that was shot in Flintoff's direction in Dehli).

Today however, at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati, the crowd behavior was simply put, despicable. Mobs rioted, breached the fence that divides the stadium seating from the playing area, destroyed cameras and hurled numerous types of missles in to the ground. Moreover, the cameras that were situated around the boundary lines were vandalized and obliterated.

According to cricinfo, the cost of the destruction is estimated to be worth between Rs. 6.5 - 8 million. In the past, Calcutta has been the a hot spot for being a troublesome venue, but places such as Rajkot, Jamshedpur, Nagpur and Dehli have seen their share of misbehavior from the crowd too. None of these places have seen the kind of behavior that was witnessed at the Nehru Stadium.

The Calcutta crowd had shown their disappointment in the form of hurling bottles and cans in to the ground, when the Indian batting line-up slumped in the fact of a magnificent bowling performance by the Sri Lankans during the 1996 world cup. The people of Calcutta took to the streets carrying banners of apology, showing regret for their actions. However, a few years later, in 1999 to be precise, the Calcutta crowd repeated its misbehavior; this time in response to the run out of Sachin Tendulkar when he was adjudicated out after colliding with Shoaib Akhtar while scampering for a quick run. The crowd created an uproar, setting ablaze to wooden planks, hurled chairs and bottles in to the ground.

It is high time that the ICC takes note of such unruly behavior and toughens up their laws on ground safety for international cricket. Furthermore, the BCCI should be penalized for not doing enough to prevent such outright disrespect for the sport and the players.

All around the world, no other nation has witnessed as much crowd trouble as India has and it is time for them to straighten their act and take some action, or face disciplinary action from the ICC. The BCCI is aware of the fact that Indian fans have perpetually and consistently caused disruption during matches in the past, and they will continue to do so until they receive some sort of a punishment. Calcultta narrowly escaped punishment after their despicable show of discontent in the 1999 Test match mostly because the president of the ICC at the time Jagmoham Dalmiya.

The punishment could come either in the form of deprivation in terms of home cricket, or in terms of penalizing BCCI financially. If the rules on chucking can stir so much controversy, the safety of the players must be even higher up on the list of priorities, and hence should receive even more attention. The ICC would prefer to see the issue being swept away under the rug due to political pressure from the BCCI.

The BCCI has a strong say in ICC matters and this repulsive behavior by an Indian crowd may very well be overlooked by the cricket's governing body. This strength of BCCI's political card was quite evident from the battle that erupted between the ICC and the BCCI after the latter had threatened to pull out of the Sahara Champtions Trophy. In my personal opinion, the ICC needs to take charge and tell BCCI should to clean up its act, or pay the price.

Jayasuriya's Test Career in Pictures: The End of an Era

This is a little visual composition I made as a tribute to Jayasuriya's fantastic Test career. He will continue to play in the ODIs, but he has retired from Test cricket.



Jayasuriya smashes 131 off 141 against Australia at Kandy in March 2004



Sanath Jayasuriya defends during the second day of the second and final test match between Sri Lanka and West Indies, at Asgiriya cricket grounds in Kandy, 23 July 2005.



Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu celebrate after Jayasuriya dismisses James Marshall for 39, against New Zealand at McLean Park in Napier in 2005.



Jayasuriya on his way to 253 off 348 balls agains Pakistan at Faislabad in 2004



Jayasuriya celebrates yet another Test century



Jayasuriya plays a defensive stroke



Jayasuriya sweeps one with a wristy stroke



Jayasuriya smashes one to the boundary



Jayasuriya watches from the sidelines, injured, as he is unable to help his team post a fighting total against Pakistan at Kandy, April 2006.



Daryll Cullinan and Sanath Jayasuriya share a lighter moment during the third day of the first Test, South Africa in Sri Lanka, 2000/01, 1st Test, Sri Lanka v South Africa, Galle International Stadium, 20-24 July 2000 (Day 3).



South African wicket keeper Mark Boucher dives unsucessfully to collect a ball going pass the leg stump of Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya during the first day of the first cricket test between Sri Lanka and South Africa. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. Jayasuriya scored 148 runs. South Africa in Sri Lanka, 2000/01, 1st Test, Sri Lanka v South Africa, Galle International Stadium, 20-24 July 2000(Day 1).



Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya misses a ball during the second day of the third cricket Test against Pakistan. Jayasuriya scored 188 runs, as Sri Lanka scored 360 runs for one wicket at tea break. Pakistan in Sri Lanka, 1999/00, 3rd Test, Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy, 28Jun-02Jul 2000 (Day 2).



Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya (L) and Marvan Atapattu celebrate after Jayasuriya reached 100 runs during the second day of the third cricket test against Pakistan. Jayasuriya was unbeaten on 148, Attapatu was at 107 at the the lunch break as Sri Lanka scored 267 runs without loosing any wickets. Pakistan in Sri Lanka, 1999/00, 3rd Test, Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy, 28Jun-02Jul 2000 (Day 2).



Sanath Jayasuriya plays a lofted square cut. South Africa in Sri Lanka 2000/01, 3rd Test, Sri Lanka v South Africa, Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo,06-10 August 2000 (Day 5).



Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya plays a powerful offdrive. South Africa in Sri Lanka 2000/01, 3rd Test, Sri Lanka v South Africa, Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo,06-10 August 2000 (Day 5).



Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya plays a stroke in the third and final Test against South Africa. Jayasuriya made 85 runs in the first innings. South Africa in Sri Lanka, 2000/01, 3rd Test, Sri Lanka v South Africa, Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, 06-10 August 2000 (Day 2).



Jayasuriya sends another one to the boundary



Sanath Jayasuriya pulls the ball powerfully towards the mid-wicket boundary, during his quick fire knock of 89. Asian Test Championship 2001-02, 2nd Match, Sri Lanka v Bangladesh, Sinhalese Sports Club Ground.



Sanath Jayasuriya forces through offside in his opening cameo against Police SC at D.S Senanayake College grounds



Sanath bowles his slow left arm



Jayasuriya pictured on the 2000/01 Sri Lankan tour of South Africa



30 August 2001: Sanath Jayasuriya essays a characteristically brutal cut shot during the India in Sri Lanka 2001 tour, 3rd Test, Sri Lanka v India, Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, 29 Aug-02 Sep 2001, (Day 2)



28 August 2001: India in Sri Lanka, Practice Session at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo before the 3rd Test



15 August 2001: India in Sri Lanka 2001, 1st Test, Sri Lanka v India, Galle International Stadium, 14-18 August 2001, (Day 2)



Sanath Jayasuriya smash it for six



Sanath Jayasuriya cuts a ball to the boundary



1st Test: Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe at Sinhalees Sports Club in Colombo,Janashakthi National Test Series Dec 2001-Jan 2002.

Why Pakistan lost the Hutch Cup ODI Series

Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and so am I, so whatever is posted below is simply my personal view as to why I think Pakistan lost the series.

Pakistan has never had an exceptional batting line up, let alone a consistent one with the exception of Inzamam. There have been instances when there have been some remarkable contributions from Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Salman Butt, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi and Kamran Akmal. Of course, if you observe closely, apart from Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf, none of the other batsmen can be qualified as full-time, middle order batsmen. Generally, a team would expect it's opening batsmen to provide a solid foundation, which can be built upon by the incoming middle order. However, apart from the dependable partnership between Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail, Pakistan has always had it's fair share of worries as far as a concrete opening stand is concerned.

Due to this lack of uniformity in performances by the opening batsmen in the Pakistani squad, the middle order is immediately exposed to a fairly new ball to which they may be susceptible, depending on several factors such as the moisture, pitch conditions, etc. During the Hutch Cup series, nearly every pitch the two teams played on were featherbed tracks, i.e., ideal fpr batting conditions, and a deathbed for bowlers. These pitches did offer some assistance to spinner (finger spinners mostly), however, they were equally unfriendly to most spinners.

In all but the first match, India had batted second, when the moisture had dropped, and any help that the bowlers may be able to extract from the turf had immaterialized. Given India's past record of chasing, it was no surprise that they were able to do so in all of the last four matches, on perfect batting wickets. Not to take away any credit from India, but the manner in which Pakistan commenced it's run chase in the first ODI was simply marvelous, given their batting inconsistencies and bad record of chasing totals, especially such monumental ones.

With the absence of the spearhead of their bowling attack speedster, Shoaib Akhtar, there was little that Rana Naved and Mohammad Sami could do. Do keep in mind that Rana had hardly recovered from a shoulder injury and Sami had been rested for a considerable period of time. Furthermore, what added to Sami's woes was the fact that he had been sick the day he was summoned for the fourth ODI. As asking bowlers recovering from injuries and sicknesses to bowl on completely dead pitches is quite simply, asking for trouble.

With all these factors combined, a major blow was yet to come, which was the injury of Shahid Afridi. Afridi was courageous, yet irrational enough to play while suffering from a rib cage injury, which may explain his horrific performances - risking a single that was never there, and lofting the ball sky high for no apparent reason. Whatever the reason may have been, the Pakistani team definitely felt the absence of these key players. Quite possibly the biggest factor, apart from Dravid's strategic decision making, was the fact that Inzamam, who has for years served as the spine for Pakistan's batting order failed to consolidate in most of his innings. Dravid was my pick of the series, for putting in a fantastic performance this time not so much with the bat, but with his tactics that resulted in the eventual downfall of the Pakistani team in the last four matches.

There will be copious excuses for every lost series, but I believe the factors mentioned above played a major role in Pakistan's ODI defeat. As far as the Test series was concerned, both sides were equally brilliant in the first two tests, but Pakistan managed to hold their nerves, making an astonishing return going down 0 for the loss of three to 39 for the loss of 6 to an eventual victory by a staggering margin of 341 runs.

Finally, not to take credit away from the Indians, it was an electrifying series as it always is when these two sides meet, and at the end, the Indians performed fabulously to emphatically take away the ODI series. Similarly, Pakistan brilliantly romped to victory in the deciding Test match and ultimately won the Test series.

Pakistan - A Model of Hospitality

A Model of hospitality

Posted by Andrew Miller

A strange phenomenon took place on England’s recent tour of Pakistan. During the first Test at Multan, and replicated thereafter across the country, there were scores of home supporters dressing up in English replica kit and red-and-white face-paint, and cheering on the visiting team.Pakistani fans have received a bad press in recent years, largely as a consequence of the unruly scenes during the 2001 NatWest Series in England, when makeshift barriers had to be erected to prevent their over-exuberant fans from storming the pitch. But place these same folk on their home patch, and they form the very model of hospitality.Take Karachi, for instance.

A city in which Western cricket teams fear to tread, and where England were subjected to a fearful mauling in their one-off one-day match two months ago. The behaviour of the fans in the stands could hardly have been further removed from the perceived image of the city – and indeed of the country as a whole. And the same and more had been true eighteen months earlier, when India arrived to launch their historic tour in 2003-04, and left to a standing ovation after one of the most thrilling one-day matches in history. It is too easy to focus on the negative aspects of the culture clashes that occur when two nations and their fans encounter each other in a cricket match. Just as often, by playing out their differences on the field, countries and cultures can be drawn closer together through sport.

For some reason, possibly because the booze-and-birds seekers save their money for the more culturally accessible venues such as Australia and South Africa, England’s trips to the subcontinent are especially good at bringing out the best in both sides. It helps no end that the hosts are always genuinely pleased to receive their guests – something that cannot always be said of the reverse legs. And, of the few England fans who do venture out to such far-flung venues, the majority tend to embrace their surroundings for better or worse – living frugally, eating locally and generally mucking in.Whereas Pakistanis are paragons of virtue on their own turf, English and Australians are especially prone to let their standards slip when their turn comes to play the host. The problems, as with all such things, occur when the numbers escalate and the beer starts to flow, and that all-pervasive football culture begins to take hold.

Some of the taunts that Jason Gillespie was subjected to during the last Ashes series (“Where’s your caravan?”) were, in their own way, as offensive as some of the things being said Down Under this summer, but true potential for embarrassment comes when Asian teams are in town. The incident in 1992, when a pig’s head was thrown into the Pakistani enclosure at Headingley, remains one of the most vile episodes of English cricket’s recent past. Given the current international climate, we can only hope that any potential problems ahead of Pakistan’s visit this summer are nipped in the bud well in advance.

Source: http://blogs.cricinfo.com/wicket_to...f_hosp.php#more

An unexpected fall

Fresh from their victory over reigning Test cricket champions, the Aussies, the English were energized and were ready to take on any challenge that came may come their way. Already, some of the current players in the English side claiming themselves to be the best side in the world.
Technically, they should be recognized as the best Test side in the world after beating the undisputed champions. However, according to the ICC rules, they were still number 2. Nevertheless, the entire nation rejoiced as the players were invited to a red carpet communion to honor their victory in the Ashes championship for the first time in 18 years. Freddy Flintoff was acclaimed a national hero and all the English players were regarded as national celebrities overnight. Before England was due to arrive in Pakistan, one of the English players went as far as saying that he expected a whitewash series in favor of England.

The ego hormone was secreting at an exponential rate throughout the English cricketing body. That was until they landed in Pakistan. The series started off in their favor, as they cruised to a hard fought victory over a relatively minor opposition, the Patron's XI. After that, the English suffered a humiliating defeat against Pakistan A, when twice in two innings, the English batting order collapsed. The victory was earned by Pakistan A, from which point on, the English could never pick themselves up from the slump.

Throughout the Test series against the national side, the Pakistani side seemed like a roaring predator in search for it's prey, the English side, while the Englishmen sought to take cover and protect themselves, rather than fight back. The Pakistani side came back with a dramatic strike on the last day on the first test. Suddenly, the English could no longer make the claim of being the best Test side in the world. However, the series was far from over, and there remained two Tests, which would well prove to be in favor of a strong English side. The second test ended in a draw, however, it must be noted that apart from one comeback spell from Flintoff, the English hardly looked threatening, and again as in the first test, the English were left to dig in till the end. It was clear that the English were on the backfoot, and it would take something exceptional from the team to match the ferocious and victory-hungry Pakistani side. The last test was only the beginning of England's misery as Pakistan piled up 638 for 8, leaving England a mammoth total of a little under 300 runs in one day.

It was always going to be difficult from that point on, as all the English could hope for was a series loss by 1 - 0. Unfortunately for them, as had happened in the past two tests, Vaughan could not do much as he watched his players return to the dressing one after another. Unfortunately for the English once again, their bad days were not yet over. Their practice match against an inexperienced Pakistan A side ended up in yet another defeat as Bazid Khan powered his side to a victory with one wicket remaining, and over 5 overs to spare.

The ODIs between England and Pakistan commence on the 10th of December at Lahore, which should give the English a chance to save face with a ODI series victory over Pakistan. The Pakistani team has been recognized as more of a one day side rather than a Test side over the past year or two. With the Test series comfortable tucked in under their belts, Pakistan will have the psychological advantage over England, coupled with the return of Razzaq and Shoaib to the ODI side. The tour of Pakistan is still a long way to go, and the ODIs should be a hit amongst the local populace, especially at the Gaddafi stadium at Lahore.