CricDigs Blogs

TEST CRICKET OF 2008
Best Rookie Player - Ajanta Mendis (Sri Lanka)
Best Bowler - Dale Steyn (South Africa)
Best Batsman - Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies)
Best Captain - M.S. Dhoni (India)
Team Of The Year - South Africa

ODI OF 2008
Best Rookie Player - Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka)
Best Bowler - Nathan Bracken (Australia)
Best Batsman - M.S. Dhoni (India)
Best Captain - Graeme Smith (South Africa)
Team Of The Year - India

T20 OF 2008 (Including IPL)
Best Rookie Player - Shaun Marsh (Rajastan Royals & Australia)
Best Bowler - Sohail Tanvir (Rajastan Royals & Pakistan)
Best Captain - Shane Warne (Rajastan Royals)
Team Of The Year - Rajastan Royals & West Indies

Best Of 2008
Best Rookie Player - Ajanta Mendis (Sri Lanka)
Best Bowler - Dale Steyn (South Africa)
Best Batsman - M.S. Dhoni (India)
Best Captain - M.S. Dhoni (India)
Best Coach - Gary Kirsten (India)
Best Umpire - Simon Tuffel
Best Commentator - Tony Greig & Harsha Bhogle
Best Team - South Africa

It looks as if the Australian media has got its priorities all wrong. At a time when their national cricket team is finding it very difficult to hold on to the claim of being world champions, the Oz media appears more concerned about raising many inconsequential questions. Siddle had just taken three wickets on day two of the ongoing test match — no match-winning performance by any stretch of imagination — and the media Down Under was abuzz with how his entry in the national team had been unfortunately delayed. Rather than concentrating upon the current scenario where they have no genuine spinner to depend upon, there is an ongoing debate comparing Krejza to Hauritz.

The point here is that neither of the two come across as real match-winning bowler anyways and really can’t spin the ball that much. This has been further fuelled by Jenner’s comments that the Aussies are facing a ‘Spinning Draught’ — are they realising this now?

Wasn’t it clear when Warne exited that they didn’t have a replacement even half as good? Instead of making it look like a problem that has suddenly cropped up, they should be advised to be a bit more honest — besides McGill, Cricket Australia never took it upon itself to groom Warne’s replacement so why the furore over something that was never done?

Add to this the ongoing post-term sort of analysis of what has gone wrong with Hayden? Now there is a theory that getting out to his pet peeve, Harbhajan Singh, during the tour of India is what started eating into the big man’s confidence and hence, his batting failures. It has been months since that happened. Get over it and accept the fact that like every other batsman Hayden is going through a bad patch — that’s it!! Somehow the journals/blogs there make the current situation sound as it is something that has just blown up in their face or is it that they are trying to escape the fact that the No. One tag is slowly but surely slipping away?

No one was really prepared for what happened on the third day of the second test match between Australia and SA. The Australians were on top on Day Two after having claimed seven of the top-order SA batsmen and the Proteas would have been thinking that they would end up giving away a lead of at least 150+ runs but the a little-known player called JP Duminy had some other plans. He started the day with some scratching around for singles while the other lower-order SA batsmen in the form of Morkel and Paul Harris played some shots and added useful runs to the score. However, as the day progressed, it was Duminy who took centrestage and started playing some glorious shots down the ground.

It was eventually his partnership with the paceman Steyn (not really known for his batting skills) that made sure that not only did SA equal the Australian score, they want past it. This is something that the no one must have anticipated. Some of my friends who tuned in to the match after a lazy Sunday morning siesta too were surprised by what had transpired. On some occasions, Duminy was a bit lucky, French-cutting the ball past his stumps on a couple of occasions, but on the whole, this little man’s innings spoke volumes about his talent and strength of character. His efforts were complimented by that of Steyn’s who showed some skill to keep finding the boundaries even when he was looking so unsettled at the crease.

Steyn contributed a very valuable 76 and the Proteas ended up with a lead of 50+ runs. When Duminy stroked another ball straight past the bowler to notch up his 150, one thing must have dawned upon the SA dressing room — they would have to bowl and bat extremely poorly on the remaining two days of the test match to lose it from here. It looks like a South African win or a draw.

This may sound very strange but it is not only Pakistan that is facing a cricketing financial crisis. It is there in Sri Lanka and England too. The Lankan players are fighting over the right to pay hikes that they demand should be handed over because of their pretty good record for the past few years but the Board has been relenting saying its resources are very limited. Now, the Lankan international and domestic players are fighting hard to make sure that their Board either provides them a financial coverage against injuries and expensive treatment or allows them to apply for selection in the IPL/ICL leagues even at the cost of domestic matches.

England is facing a bit of crisis of its own with increasing payments to its county players both domestic and international ones. They are still involved in the financial mess that they have entered with the Stanford failure. Their coach recently remarked about Alastair Cook’s releasing his autobiography!! Are their players so insecure about their financial future that they have got to start authoring books about themselves after playing for a couple of seasons? Now, England is trying hard to make things work out by trying to team up with the BCCI and the next IPL season.

The ICC had recently stated that they are finding it hard to establish the proposed leagues in nations like Canada and Ireland because of the lack of funds. It is said that the financial crisis eroded a part of its investments and there has been a decreasing support from corporates when it comes to spreading the game in far-off continents like Africa and central Europe.
Even Bangladesh cricketing authorities are thinking that the non-payment of promised dues and timely match fees had in fact forced their players to seek solace in the comfort of the ICL’s more secure format. It is a bit far-fetched to call it the Game’s recession but things are getting a bit stretched.

Nasser Hussain raised a bit of controversy by saying that for the sake of the England side, Michael Vaughan shouldn’t return to the team. Now, it looks like Vaughan may somehow just manage to seek through in the playing test XI as England prepare for the upcoming tour of the West Indies. Vaughan had been the second big casualty after Trescothick, as he claimed that trying to bat like his former self and leading the side had taken a toll on his mental well-being. The English side is trying to build momentum for the upcoming Ashes and it isn’t such a bad idea to have an experienced man like him batting at number three or four.

Again, England can afford to experiment with their batting a bit on the tour to Caribbean as the Windies have rarely performed well for almost a decade now. If he does find form, his experience can come in very handy when England takes on Australia. They already have Flintoff back in form and with Vaughan adding more solidity at the top England might just nose ahead of the Aussies. However, the selection might raise some controversy with Owais Shah pressing really hard for a selection and he is even favoured by Pietersen.

The man who could face the door is Ian Bell’s who has failed to impress in either formats of the game. Shah could be very useful with his aggressive strokeplay and the ability to manoeuvre the spinners very easily. Vaughan would be under some real pressure with even when his former supporter, Robert Croft is supporting Shah over him. But one factor that could really work in favour of the former English skipper is that Shah isn’t that technically sound when playing against the new ball and England need someone to replace Bell at the number three spot.

The administration upheaval in Sri Lankan cricket doesn’t appear to have had any negative impact on their plans to tour Pakistan in place of India. Arjuna Ranatunga had been kicked out for signalling the tour which I may add could well decide the future of international cricketing fixtures in Pakistan. However, there is still a foreign ministry clearance to be broken through and Pakistan are desperate enough to hope that everything goes on smoothly as it tries to salvage whatever cricketing image it has left. A nation really can’t keep its international political and sports image as starkly contrasting to each other as Pakistan is trying to do.

Are they serious when they claim that there is no threat to international teams as images of bombs being blasted and guns being sold in the open are being aired on TV (CNN, BBC)? The Pakistan Cricket Board is hell bent on doing everything to ensure the tentatively scheduled Sri Lanka series takes place as it also faces a serious financial crisis and the ICL looms large on its head, threatening to swallow more of its national players. Their very presence in international cricket is threatened as the void created due to the absence of international fixtures on their homeland. Pakistan is yet to play a proper test series in 2008!!

India’s withdrawal has further meant that even its neighbours don’t want to cooperate with it and if the Lankans do the same Pakistan could face severe isolation from world cricket. Concerned as it is, the International Cricket Council has taken upon itself to conduct a very stringent security review of the situation in Pakistan’s troubled cities before allowing the Lankan series to go on. Sri Lanka has agreed to replace India but imagine if anything even remotely unwanted happens, the cricket crazy fans back home in Sri Lanka are going to rip the skin of their cricketing officials.

The Australian selectors have been backing the Oz team even as they fight hard to remain at the top of the cricket hierarchy. However, the confidence shown by the Chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch and his unwaivering confidence in the Baggy Greens by making it clear that they don’t plan to ditch the supposed ‘veterans’ like Hayden was supposed to make some impact during day one of the much-anticipated Boxing Day test match at the WACA.

As it turned out, Hayden was once again disappointing but the Australian captain Ricky Ponting played very positively and scored a century but the team still squandered away the chance to take advantage on the first day by giving away some quick wickets. Matthew Hayden seems anxious to hit some big shots to get out of his patch and his shot off Ntini would have dented the selector’s confidence in him by some notches.

Ponting smashed his century in a typical Aussie fashion but his team mates at the other end just couldn’t hold on to give him support and build a big score. Once again, it is the young Michael Clarke who has been handed over the usual task of steering Australia to a more than just decent total with six wickets down for less than 300. Given the conditions of the pitch, the Aussies should at least score 400 plus runs to remain in real contention.

Some of the Oz batsmen had been guilty of playing rash shots and getting out when the pitch really didn’t seem to be doing anything and yet again some of their middle-order players carried on in the same fashion. But Clarke batted very visible caution as he literally crawled to a hard-compiled 36. Michael Hussey too has been noticeable for not doing his usual rescue acts for his team and once again he yielded his wicket to Steyn when he looked pretty comfortable at the crease. Aussies have to bat well to reach 400 and it doesn’t look very comfortable for them.

Just like India is benefiting immensely from the presence of a young, aggressive and wise captain in the form of MS Dhoni, South Africa too are reaping the benefits of a leader who can actually make a difference and is doing so at this very moment. His selection as the Protea’s skipper was a bit controversial and came at a difficult time with Pollock just having ended a rather dull run as a captain. At that time, most people and experts had commented that the team just had no good captaincy material to groom or count upon and Smith was just an experiment that most thought would fail miserably. Well, it seems that the man in question has proven nearly everyone wrong. Not only has he cemented his place in the side as a very dependable opening batsman, he is now amongst the best captains in contemporary cricket.

The man is seldom perturbed on the field when marshalling his resources and his imposing physical presence comes in combination with a very relaxed and thoughtful approach. His team has enjoyed a very successful tenure in both the test matches and one-dayers. He has dealt with every issue that looked like fragmenting the team. The question of racist selection and the quota system for selecting coloured players has plagued the team for some time now but Smith never got himself messy with the controversy. He again faced a difficult time when the team’s middle order lost the big-hitting, and Smith’s personal favourite, Justin Kemp to the ICL. Even then, he maintained his calm and never bad-mouthed Kemp’s decision.

At that time, Pollock’s role as an all-rounder too was being questioned but Smith believed in the experience and maturity that Pollock brought to the dressing room. He backed the likes of DeVilliers — more of a batting wicket-keeper back then to stake a claim for the middle order and his confidence eventually paid off. Just look at DeVilliers now. He has been among the team’s best batsmen this season and played a significant role in securing a win during SA’s historic chase at the Perth test match against the Aussies but DeVilliers would confess himself that the win was set up by Smith’s courageous century.

Cricket in South Africa is till trying to deal with disruptive issues like that of racism and the lack of experience in the team. However, when it comes to delivering on the day that matters they can be assured that they have one man who knows how to get the best out of his men — Graeme Smith.
(someone who was ridiculed as a ‘white’ and unjust selection at one point)

There has been an increased sense of mutual understanding between the BCCI and the ECB. Now that England have come through of their promise of touring India even after the terror attacks in Mumbai the relations between the two cricketing Boards are getting better by the day. In fact, there is a proposition that IPL matches could be staged in England. This is a real startling piece of information because just a few weeks back the ECB seemed ruthlessly set against the idea of its players even participating in the IPL. It looks as if the BCCI is trying real hard to impress upon the ECB and their effort is being reciprocated in a very positive manner.

At one point there was a virtual deadlock between the two boards and England players were asked not to even think about IPL participation. However, if the IPL matches are staged in the UK, it would be more comfortable for the England players to participate. ECB might have calculated the fact that hosting the IPL in their backyard would given the England team another advantage — these matches could serve as the best preparatory option for the tentatively-scheduled World Twenty20.

I guess from a financial perspective too, this sort of scheduling would be very beneficial for the ECB. The presence of huge Indian diaspora in the UK guarantees substantial viewership. Furthermore, the small county grounds would enable a lot of free hitting from the batsmen, something essential for T20 matches. It is difficult to make out the real reason for the BCCI proposing this. Are they afraid of the terror-struck reputation of the sub-continent disrupting the IPL schedule again and want to ascertain a safe back-up option for the future or is this a goodwill gesture for England coming to India during a difficult time and helping to safeguard India’s reputation as a cricketing host.

As it is Ponting isn’t happy with the pitch that was laid for the now historic test match at Perth and now there are reports that the pitch at MCG too will present Australia with a selection dilemma as the Aussies try and regain their lost pride at the Boxing Day Test Match. Australia aren’t sure about their bowling combinations and a new pitch further complicates their problem. They don’t have too many spinning options. Krejza wasn’t impressive at Perth and his replacement Nathan Hauritz hasn’t been in the greatest of forms in the domestic circuit.

There is another problem if Ponting chooses the seam-bowling option as Shane Watson has picked up some sort of an injury. This leaves the team with yet another untested talent — Hilfenhaus. With either of these bowling options being chosen, it is definitely advantage for South Africa as they have a well-settled bowling attack and their batsmen have just secured a record-making run chase.

Even the much-admired Peter Siddle couldn’t work any wonders on a pretty decent track at Perth. Another factor that could play with the minds of the 30+ year-old squad members of the Australian team is the statement by CA’s James Sutherland. He made an indirect remark saying that the next three years would be a very challenging phase for the Australian cricket team.

On the other hand, the Proteas are high on confidence and seem intent on targeting a somewhat perplexed spearhead of the Australian bowling attack — Brett Lee. They believe that Lee is effective only during his initial burst as his workload has taken a toll on him rendering him ineffective for the consecutive spells. This Aussie predicament along with the absence of the very reliable Stuart Clark means that the Aussies are struggling to build sustained pressure on the batsmen at either ends.

The Aussies must have been hoping that the reports of the South African captain being injured and absent from the Boxing Day test match would come true but as things stand now, Graeme Smith is a certainty in the playing XI as he presses on by taking painkilling injections in his elbow. In fact, things could become a bit more difficult for Ponting if Prince returns in time for the test match. He would be a solid addition to the South African middle order.