CricDigs Blogs

England salvaged some of their lost pride after they were beaten comprehensively in the Test series against South Africa by winning the One-day series against them. Ironically, a South African was being looked upon by the ECB to help out the English team when they take on world champions in the forthcoming Ashes against Australia.

However, the fast-bowling legend — the ‘White Lightening’, Allan Donald who had been earlier taken on as a Bowling Consultant by England and now seems set to provide his services on a full time basis to his native country of South Africa. He has been offered a prestigious profile with the South African team with regards to helping out the young fast bowlers, as they plan to beat the Australia in the latter half of 2008.

Donald has been offered many playing and non-playing lucrative profiles by other international sides also but he seems determined to help his home side. His stint as the bowling coach of the county of Warwickshire is still being praised. The fast bowler has turned down a very rewarding offer from other county sides also. His stint with the national team of England would help him when he joins forces with the South African coach, Micky Arthur.

However, Donald has faced a lot of criticism for allegedly changing his loyalty to England after his international career was over. A good run with the SA national team against the much stronger Aussies would contribute to get rid of this tag of having turned down national offers for more money which was being offered overseas.

This piece of news comes in as a big boost for the second edition of the IPL. The English cricket players were conspicuous due to their absence from the inaugural season of the IPL. Only Mascarenhas played the IPL’s inaugural matches and that too after a lot of arguing with the ECB. However, the Indian Premier League’s main architect, Lalit Modi, is more than certain that the new season of the IPL would feature most of England’s top cricketing names. IPL officials are looking forward to this as the Caribbean Stanford Cup is also aiming to attract the English players.

The Rajasthan Royals have emerged as the top contenders for hiring some of the top county and international English cricketers. Already, there has been an initiative to bring in more of the English players into the domestic Indian cricketing scene with Vikram Solanki already having played for the Rajasthan Ranji team. The IPL can no longer be ignored by the ECB with the national players breathing down its neck to let them rake in the moolah like the rest of the international cricketing fraternity.

The major threat to this IPL initiative still stands in the form of the Stanford Championship matches which promises to make each of the English players richer by millions of dollars. The English team participating in the event is to be lead by their new captain, Kevin Pieterson and there is a school of thought which believes that this might pave the way for the Stanford organisers to steal away the English players from the IPL.

Gautam Gambhir has emerged as one of the most seriously improved Indian batsman over the last two years. Gone are the days when he would approach the crease only to make a quick-fire 20 or 30 and then get out to a ball that many believe he should have dispatched to the boundary. As the Indians prepare themselves to battle it out with the Aussies, one batsman who holds the key at the very top of the Indian innings is Gambhir himself.
He has the advantage of having played against the Aussies before, both in the T20 and the Test format and has scored freely against their top bowlers. Along with the diminutive Virender Sehewag, he forms one of the most explosive opening partnerships India has ever witnessed. However, he is still very humble as a person and has outrightly dismissed any suggestions that it is India who have the edge over Australia in the forthcoming Test series.
Most experts believe that the key to success for Gambhir lies in controlling his aggression. Although an important part of his armour, he is guilty of going on the offensive sometimes too soon for his and the team’s comfort. He would be looking forward to the opportunity of feasting upon the Australian attack which is devoid of the likes of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie.
In the just-concluded test series against the emerald islanders, Sri Lanka, Gambhir was one of the very few Indian batsman who came back with some credibility in their batting powerless. He was more successful than the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and even Rahul Dravid. The Delhi opener scored 310 runs at an average of nearly 51.66 in the Test series which India lost 2-1 to Sri Lanka or one could say to the deadly ‘Mendis’.
Gambhir’s success hasn’t come about as a surprise for those who have been following his career. He has plundered away runs in the domestic circuit. He had failed to capitalise on the opportunity that was presented to him a few years back. The new-look Gambhir is more self-assured and seems to know his game much better. His footwork on the frontfoot against the swing bowlers and on the backfoot, while pulling the ball has improved remarkably.

The two captains who can be called Super Captains of today’s cricket are those who have ushered in a new era of captainship in the game. Two such names that immediately come to mind are that of MS Dhoni and Kevin Pietersen. Both of them have contrasting styles but nearly identical philosophy to play the game. They are very aggressive in their approach and want success at any cost. MS Dhoni has been nicknamed as ‘Mr. Captain Cool’. This name is particularly indicative of his cool and almost casual on-field demeanour.
The 27-year man from a very humble background has had unprecedented success ever since he took over the charge of being the new Indian captain. His decisions have been on the mark and India’s victory at the Twenty20 World Championship is ample proof of that. The Indian victory at the last edition of the three-nation championship in Australia was something that few people could have expected. His captaincy has reminded many of the cool and smooth manners of the great former West Indian captain Clive Lloyds.
Kevin Pietersen seems to have turned around the England ODI team in the just-concluded series against the South Africans. He seems to have devastated the theory that a captain can only be as good as his team. The England squad that was handed over to him didn’t have any major changes, yet the results were astonishing. They were able to beat a surprised and hapless South Africa, 4-0. England had historically fared very badly against all South African sides. England has been looking like a totally different side ever since Pietersen took over as the new captain.
Both Pietersen and his most favoured team-mate, Andrew Flintoff has rubbed off aggression and self-belief on the team members. Pietersen was the only logical choice as the next captain, as the former captains, Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood suffered from indifferent form once they were appointed as captains. The new England captain seems full of self-confidence and conviction.
People believe that he has a very shrewd brain working against the opposition teams. He picked Steve Harmison even though the paceman was nowhere good form or full recovery. Andrew Flintoff was called back and given an instant elevation in the batting order and he gave stunning performances to win the Man of the Series Award.

The Australians have reached India and would first square off against a bunch of very talented and aggressive players of the Board’s President XI. The side’s biggest attraction is Yuvraj Singh. He has been given the opportunity to captain the Board President’s XI side in the four-day match against the Australians in Hyderabad and prove his mettle. This could come in handy in case of any injuries to the famed Indian batting middle order during the long test series that is about to commence. The warm-up game will be held on October 2.
Yuvraj Singh has been trying to prove his detractors wrong for a long time. However, he only has himself to blame. In the few opportunities that he got in the Indian test team, he has failed to impress upon the selectors as a dependable middle-order batsman. Yes, he is talented but what is the use of someone who has drawn comparison with the Great Sir Gary Sobers to have achieved so little Test success in his career. Since 2006, he has played in only 13 Tests where nine of the test matches were held in 2006. He has averaged only 29.42 in this duration with two centuries to his credit. His weakness against quality spin bowling is very evident.
The squad has quality fast bowlers like Sreesanth who has been missing from action due to a spate of injuries. Opener Wasim Jaffer, despite making an impression with his patient knocks over the last three years had lost his place in Test side to Gautam Gambhir. He now has an opportunity to impress the selectors again. Aakash Chopra wasn’t selected for India A which completed against Australia A and New Zealand A. Now, he has been named in the squad and has the chance to impress everyone with his unquestioned talent and playing technique.
The Board President’s squad also has Ashok Dinda who impressed everyone in the first edition of the IPL and Pragyan Ojha who has made a big impression with his traditional form of slow left-arm bowling. Apart from Ojha, one more left-arm spinner who would be looking forward to this battle is Rakesh Dhurv. He has taken 23 wickets at a miserly average of 21.56 from the last eight Ranji games.

Greg Chappell just doesn’t seem to go out of flavour with the Indian media. From being hailed as the Guru of the Indian team, he was reduced to a punching bag by every cricket expert in the country. Now, at a time when the India-Australia cricketing rivalry is gaining epic proportions, he seems to have changed loyalties and has sided with the Australian side. What happened to the fact that he is professionally involved with the RCA at Jaipur? He was personally chosen by Lalit Modi, the architect of the IPL. The Aussies are already well prepared, having come to the subcontinent much before their first match and they have done their homework on the Indian players. One major issue which was ticking in their minds was that of the form of their skipper, Ricky Ponting who has an exceptionally bad average when playing against India, in India. Ponting has been to India before but could do little justice to his ranking among the all-time Australian greats. His average in Tests is more than 58, yet he struggling to average anything near 40 against India in the subcontinent, something which is often used as a barometer for reasonably good form in a Test series.
Sensing his weakness against the spinners, the Indian skipper, Anil Kumble, must have been a happy man. But now Mr. Greg Chappell has volunteered and is actually helping out Ponting. Chappell has been seen in the nest with the Aussie skipper, giving him valuable batting tips and emphasizing on crouching down when facing the spinners. If reports are to be believed, Ponting had looked like a confused and shattered man when a couple of local bowlers who had lined up to bowl to him, castled his stumps on more than one occasion.
Chappell even went on to meet bio-mechanic Ian Fraser. Frazer has worked with the Indian team. The likes of Brett Lee and Mike Hussey have spoken about how great Chappell’s assistance has been. So, shouldn’t Greg be banned from walking into the touring side’s training camps? What exactly are Frazer and Chappell trying to prove? Are their national obligations so heavy that they have to forego of any kind of professionalism and that too while under contractual obligations with the BCCI?

India’s biggest cricket stars, including the likes of Sachin Tendulkar could soon be turning out for a proposed Australian domestic T20 Championship which would be designed on the IPL franchise. The BCCI has already given its approval to send its best players for Australia’s newest concept regarding Twenty20 cricket which is likely to come up soon as Cricket Australia is highly-impressed by the IPL success. The franchise model is being seriously considered by Cricket Australia. The brain and soul of the IPL tournament, Lalit Modi — the IPL chairman has already put forward India’s complete cooperation and participation if CA is indeed successful in executing their plans.
This is a reciprocal of Australia agreeing to send in its top players for the first edition of the IPL. The tournament is likely to begin in 2009-2010. Australia cricketing authorities would like to promote their domestic talent but they are very interested in having international stars competing in this proposed tournament. Australia already has a six-state team Twenty20 being played this season. The state teams would be definitely modelled on the structure of the IPL team format, where each team had huge corporate backing. The group developing this novel idea is headed by CEO, James Sutherland.
It is believed that certain members of CA had already mentioned about this when they visited India during the first half of the IPL. Furthermore, Australia has perhaps the strongest and the most competitive domestic cricketing structure in the world and the presence of international players and increased remuneration is only bound to increase the already fierce Aussie fighting spirit. Presently, crowds are being enthralled with spirited six state teams that are fighting it out to be the T20 domestic champions in Australia by winning the KFC Twenty20.
Now, with the news of international players being included, the level of competition among the state team members is bound to increase. Australian domestic circuit already has some big county cricket stars and former White members of the Zimbabwean cricket team. State teams like Victoria and Western Australia have made the biggest impact so far and they already know that winning the KFC T20 Championship would definitely enhance the reputation of the players and their negotiating rates in the future would definitely rise.

It is time for the new Chairman of selectors to take over the reins from Dilip Vengsarkar. The next Annual General Meeting of the BCCI is the venue for the announcement of person due to take over on the all-important profile. Already five names have been shortlisted and the new Chairman has to be one among these though one name has gained more prominence than the rest. This is the name of former Indian skipper Kris Srikkanth. The South Zone heavyweight has already had short coaching stunts with various junior teams.
This time the new selectors would be held professionally responsible for their conduct and are about to get paid at par with the international selectors rather than hold just honoury jobs as was the norm till now. In this new scenario, the responsibility and the demeanour of the new Chairman of Selectors is bound to increase even further and be under more media scrutiny.
There is however some concern over Srikkanth’s selection as he is believed to somewhat unpredictable in his conduct. There are other candidates who have interesting profiles as well. These include Yashpal Sharma from the North Zone, former ace leg-spinner Narender Hirwani from the Central Zone, Raja Venkat from the East and S. Bhave from the West Zone. Some people have gone on to say that it is going to be a close race between the media-savvy Kris Srikkanth and the suave Bhave.
There is another problem with the new professional system of having paid selectors. Kris Srikkanth has refused to vacate his post from the MCA – Mumbai Cricket Association. It was a possibility before to hold on to two posts as the appointment of selectors wasn’t done as a part of a professional contract. Now, the new selectors would be asked to resign from all their regional commitments. In such a predicament, Srikkanth may just lose steam in face of Bhave who is seen as being more diplomatic of the two.
The BCCI has made clear that the new panel of selectors would be asked to quit their jobs as TV commentators or as special judges on the various cricket shows. This may again eat into Kris’s royalty from a range of TV programmes he is a part of. However, Bhave might just be satisfied with the annual package of Rs. 25 lakh per annum that has been promised to the new Chairman of selectors, in case he tips over Srikkanth.

The world’s most talked about and richest cricket match was supposed to be the $20 million Stanford Super Series Clash. It was scheduled for 1st November 2008 but it may have to be abandoned. This pessimism has come about because of a legal battle over the commercial rights of the match which is scheduled to be played at the Stanford Cricket Ground.

Digicel, the official sponsors of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and Stanford are caught up in this legal row. Both corporate houses have been raising allegations against each other. Digicel has issued a statement saying that its five-year deal with the WICB includes this match too but Stanford has contested that the match between The Stanford Superstars and Kevin Pietersen’s English side is officially theirs. Digicel’s view seems right because this match too is being backed by the West Indies Cricket Board and as of now, Digicel is their appointed team and board sponsor.

This proposed Twenty20 Match was supposed to be historic and each member of the winning team was set to win nearly $1million. However, the match has already been under legal scrutiny at the London High Court. An arbitration hearing is set to take against the proposed match sometime in October. The commercial controversy has been further fuelled by claims that players from the squad, chosen by Allen Stanford, had failed initial drugs tests. The West Indies Cricket Board’s Chief Executive, Donald Peters has allegedly denied any positive test reports.

Stanford organisers have further claimed that the Superstars are not an official side and are outside the realm of all existing sponsorship deals. Stanford further claimed that the International Cricket Council and the England and Wales Cricket Board, ECB have confirmed their viewpoint. Stanford claims that they too do not consider Stanford Superstars to be a West Indian team. Stanford further argues that the Superstars Team was selected by the Stanford 20/20 organising team and thus, Stanford won’t hand over the telecasting rights to Digicel. Stanford intends to sell the package for Super Series at astronomical amounts.

Further claims have been made regarding the doping case and it is getting murkier by the day. Some people believe that a West Indian batsman was also involved among those who tested positive. The Stanford group explained that the WICB would not proceed with any sanctions against any of the players. But they did promise strict action if the regional governing body itself named anyone.

Australian captain, Ricky Ponting has been recorded as saying that he was hopeful of playing the four-Test cricket series with India in the ‘right’ spirit. This piece of information was revealed by the Aussie skipper soon after the Australian squad arrived in India. These comments are significant as the two nations had a horrid time communicating with each other and their on-field behaviour was a subject of worldwide debates as commentators and news readers from each country seem to protect their players.

Matters reached to such an extent that the Indian off-spinner, Harbhajan Singh had to be banned for as short while for supposedly racially abusing the Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds during the second Test in Sydney. Yes, the suspension was later taken back but this was more due to the BCCI’s pressure on Cricket Australia and an appeal hearing was conducted which was partially sympathetic to Bhajji’s side of the story. However, it is very evident that the two sides haven’t forgotten what happened and their bitterness is evident from their faces when they play together or pass comments about each other when facing the media.

Ponting himself was largely to blame for things to reach such a passé, because he didn’t give the best of examples although he was captaining the side. His on-field antics and ridiculous appealing only added more fuel to the fire. What was supposed to be healthy rivalry between two nations is gradually turning into personal battles among the players from both teams. Ponting has already raised his security concerns about the subcontinent tours and that isn’t something the BCCI is pleased about.

Ponting’s problems just don’t end with the absence of the key all-rounder Symonds and world champion spinner like Shane Warne. His own form in India has been dreadful. Furthermore, he has got the reputation of being crude and crass when answering questions from the media. Such issues would be highlighted by the Indian media and only put on more pressure on the Australian team members.

Ponting’s own credibility has fallen with even some ex-cricketers from Australia itself. The Australian Chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, sounded very sure of the extent of planning that had been done before the team left for Indian shores. Australia’s opening Test against India starts on October 9th and the Australian team is still uncertain about the team composition as they have rather untested spinners and there isn’t much clarity over Shane Watson’s injury.