And the world cup goes to....

A post after a long time...

Rest the ideas of ODI being a competition of the past and that which is to be forgotten in the near future...
The world cup 2011 in the heart of cricket has given us more than one reason to feel so. The ODI world cup which started with a belief that this well could be the tournament which decides the fate of One-Day cricket in general..

The format which has undergone many changes after the advent of T20 and the cash rich IPL, survived one of the biggest scares that it faced.. People, fans, commentators and "big wigs" of the cricket control , each having their own reason, felt that three forms of cricket cannot stand together; whereas Test cricket being the pinnacle of cricket and no questions of replacing or fine tuning that while T20 presenting a formidable cash flow meant that the tour calendars and FTP accommodated more and more of T20 and less of test matches.. ICC stepped in with regulations on number of T20 matches to be played in a bi-lateral series ensuring the delay of the inevitable - the death of ODI.

Empty stands greets the players. Low TRP for television channels broadcasting cricket.. ODI went through a litmus test of sorts and hasn't it come out victorious at the end of it all..
To summarize what has been, an eventful start in Bangladesh leading to a series of close matches , minnows showing why they indeed deserve a place in the tournament and to top it all India going all the way through ensured that many still tuned into the channel unlike 2007.

The English angle: 
  As the pioneers of cricket and as a country who invented cricket, it was on their shoulders to ensure that ODI stayed. And thats exactly what they did.. Provided a series of close, nail biting finishes which infused life into the "dying" form of cricket.. Not a single match of England was decided before the final death overs.. Every match provided so much enthusiasm and encouraged people to watch the game more and more. Surely, a master stroke from the English to help their brainchild from dying.

Irish and Dutch:

    Questioning the presence of associates and a never ending debate on their presence in ICC tournaments could (or well atleast should) have been put to rest seeing the way Dutch and Irish performed. Dutch, an one man show riding on ten Doescharter , though less confident than what they should have been put up a brave fight in tough situations. A little bit more of experience in handling pressure situations and definitely much more help from the ICC, could have seen them upset one of the test playing nation's hope of qualifying for the Super8. Irish on the other hand, were a bunch of highly confident players who always believed that they could beat the best.. Probably, fans and critics are a bit more biased in rating them after the Kevin O'Brien blitzkrieg. What stands out in their performance more than their victories/losses in the 6 matches that they played is the confidence in the captain's eyes right from the toss and the way they carry themselves on the field. A team that should be given more and more opportunities to perform at the big stages. (Also poaching to be stopped/restricted/whatever!!!)

The top teams:
    Performances of the top teams/ the teams at the top of the ICC rankings were though convincing not authoritative. Unlike the previous editions of the world cup where we had teams whom we would pick as favorites on any given day and in the particular tournament atleast we would guess with utmost surety that they are going to win, this world cup was different. Though people would have called Aus vs Pak as an easy Aus win or a tough Pak win, nobody would have even thought of Aussies having to face their first loss in world cup history since the super8 of 1999 world cup (Phew!! That itself quite proves my point on lob-sided matches in the past). Who would have predicted India vs England to be a tie!! or England lose to Irish  and the same England win against the mighty SouthAfrica..

The hype:
    Quarter Finals was the most talked of across the nation (India).. India vs Australia.... The build up to that was humongous, monstrous.. The media hype around the match and the fan frenzy almost as though it was the world cup finals thats being played.. Calls for 2003 revenge went around... (I never understood revenges dating back to almost a decade, insane...!!!) The victory to India at the end of was hailed and talked across the length and the breadth of the nation that people started believing that nothing could get bigger than this... (On a personal note, it was a great run chase showing the character of the teams involved and worthy of being a finals!) ....
 

What next!!
   The mother of all battles !!! Border lines weakened. Visa frenzy... Name a celebrity and he would be in Mohali kind of frenzy... Govt involved.. People who would not even know cricket came to the stadium (at the cost of few thousands of tickets not being sold to the fans, a sorry tale that was re-told in the finals too).. Govts wanted to use this as an opportunity to hold peace talks... Phew!!

Lanka again..........
India and SriLanka are so used to watching these two countries play, something that calls for earth day akin to earth hour from the cricket fans, who would rather switch of the television sets than to watch these two battle it out for the nth time (n -> infinity)... Got bored of it....
And so to cut short, we shall go to the last ball... MSD whacks the ball in his trademark style and Sanga watches that from behind with his head hung down...

And so the world cup goes to................ India......

Image of the year

Jacques Kallis tries to evade a bouncer from Sreesanth

A batsman from a country other than the one whose players cannot handle bouncers hopping to tackle a bouncer bowled by a bowler from a country which doesn't have a history of producing genuine fast bowlers.
Whatever be the result of the series, this image shall reside in the memories of all cricket fans across the globe. Hats off to the photographer who took the shot at the right time. 

the year that was

2009 was an eventful year for many reasons.

ICC Champions trophy held after a long gap.
ICC T20 world cup second edition.
The "death" of ODI or the prediction of it.
Rise of India
Fall of Australia
Windies Fiasco
ASHES

The year started of with back to back SA-AUS series. SA won the edition in Australia and Australia won in SA.. 6 matches stood 3-3 at the end. Rather than saying Australia won in SA, it would not be incorrect if we say Mitchell Johnson won in SA.. He was the lone performer with ball and bat in the series and announced himself as the next all-rounder. Dale Steyn's performance with the bat will also be remembered for a long time..

There was a back to back ENG vs WI series too. Windies winning the home series and England in their home series. Windies showed no interest in the England tour that prompted the greats to withdraw them from the T20 world cup that was to follow their English summer.

Pakistan played back to back series against Lankans.. The home series in Pakistan saw the worst ever terrorist attack on the visiting Lankan team that injured many players. A torrid time to go through for those involved.. The return tour after the attacks, went Lanka's way..

New Zealand showcased an one-man show- Daniel Vettori.. He scored a test 100 in Sri Lankan soil and showed great determination. They came close to winning but never won a single match in the series.

A year of back to back series- Bangladesh and Zimbabwe competed fiercely in 5 ODI series.. The series saw Hamilton Mazakadza score heavily and create a record for highest aggregate in a 5 match series. Charles Coventry almost broke the record for the highest individual score in ODIs. 194* is rated higher than 194 out, so officially Coventry is the highest run scorer.

India won a series in Newzealand after ages.. 1-0 was the result and India completed the tour with some amazing play in the ODIs as well...

Windies lost to Bangladesh handing the latter their first ever test series win.. Windies lost a majority of their players to a ongoing contract crisis.. A 2nd string Windies side was captained by a hopeless player and they dint even look like posing a threat to Bangladesh who gleefully went away with a win..


ICC T20 was a bitter experience for India, who were bounced out.. Windies showed remarkable enthusiasm and courage and went all the way to semis.. They lost the semis- a total team effort... Lanka went to finals on the back of Dilshan's amazing knocks and good bowling.. Pakistan was immensely impressive, a dynamic leader in Younus Khan stepped up and Pak lifted the T20 world cup much deservedly..

ICC Champions trophy revived the concept of ODIs.. High TV ratings proved that if the quality of cricket is good then people do tune into ODI cricket.. Quite a lot of matches went to the wire.. The catch Younus Khan dropped made a big news and the dirty match fixing came into picture again.. Pakistan in the wrong side of things once again, unfortunately.. An exhibition of reverse swing from Rana Naved saw Aussie struggle to win and that made India exit from the Champions trophy too..

ASHES was the next big highlight this year, England won it.. Monty Panesar and James Anderson dug it out in Cardiff, the 1st match. ENG never looked back.. Johnson was not in good form and that hurt them a lot. Though, statistically Aussies were far better yet bizarre thing was they never capitulated on the big moments and Ponting had lost the Ashes twice on England soil..

40 odd tests and 250 ODIs and quite a few T20s made up this year..

Wait !! something is missing..

IPL and CL T20 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Modi never makes anything without creating sufficient noise. (sufficient??!!) General elections in India meant that IPL had to be rescheduled and revised but the govt did not seem to agree with Modi. And what does Modi do? Shift INDIAN premier league to SA.. "SA have embraced the concept of IPL and its a huge success", this was a signature statement that either prefixed or was a post fix to any answer that Modi gave to a question that did not even require him to say that. A dull IPL..

CL T20 opened avenues. Many fringe players get noticed but the response wasn't encouraging enough.. The people being unaware of the players and teams was a major reason. It meant that they couldn't associate themselves with a team apart from the IPL ones.. Trinidad and Tobago showed that cricket is still alive in Windies and it needs a professional management to improve standards..

boring draw

Draw.............. Dreaded word in test matches..

Dead Pitch, slow poison to test matches.. Why bother supporting the idea of a Test championship when you're doing your best to kill off the oldest form of the game?

DRAW is a special feature of the tests.. A team must lose all wickets to give an outright win to the opposition.. 99-9 chasing 400 for win is also a draw..

Some of the most remembered test matches have been great drawn games.. The most recent being the nail biting finish at Cardiff in Ashes.. Panesar and Anderson had batted out almost an hour to ensure a draw in the 1st test match against Aussies which was considered equal to a win with the crowd roaring when the umpires called off play at the end of the stipulated time..

As far as I can remember, in Australia India has drawn a game in Gabba 2003, Sydney 2004, Sydney 2008.. I think those are the only 3 drawn games, or SAF may have drawn a game sometime.. Such is the result oriented pitches they have been producing over the past 5-6 years..

In England and New Zealand, the draws are mostly decided by wet conditions and rains..

Astonishingly, England since Jan 01,2004 has played in 42 tests and in the same time the busiest country India has featured in 27 home tests only.. 11 of the 42 tests have been a draw in England..  7 of those have been due to time wasted by bad light or rain or wet out field.. 2 instances of close calls, when India had lost 9 wickets and MS Dhoni helped India save the Lord's test match, the famous Ashes match where Lee and McGrath saw off the final few overs..

Ironically, majority of the draws have been in the tour opener at Lord's, London - 6 ..

West Indies also have 12 draws in their home..

one due to Lara's mammoth 400*..

double centuries from chanderpaul and Hinds and rain stoppage ended a match in draw..

Gayle storm of 317, 3 more from WI; 4 centuries from SA and they still had time to play 30 overs in 2nd innings.. Ironically, for SA all 11 players bowled in the match..

last wicket was not dislodged on 2 occasions.. rain on 3 occasions.

Largely, West Indies has been a batting paradise.. Scores of 580s, 600s, 750s have been the culprits in draws.. 5 of the draws has been against England..

12 draws in INDIA too, adding the draw in Ahmedabad test against Lanka 2 days back..

7 of those have been on dead pitches.. Centuries galore.. No holding back..
2 no play possible on 2-3days due to rains in Chennai.. Dead wickets assisted by bad light in the remaining 3 cases..
These 12 draws have been among the worst games ever played, mindless batting exhibitions on surfaces where the bowlers were neutered the moment the new ball lost its shine.
The pitch looked good enough to last another week- was a common comment..  Ganguly in his article has written that another test match could be played on the Motera wicket ,Ahmedabad after Murali could do no damage on the 5th day too..

There's nothing wrong with a surface being batsman-friendly initially, as long as it deteriorates over the course of a game.. There's nothing wrong in a pitch being spinner friendly either, but the match referees take it the other way that the pitch is a minefield.. What if all wickets were taken by the faster bowlers, is the pitch to bouncy ?? Why not call off then!!

This is a series where the No. 1 ranking is at stake. You'd think that results mattered. India are content with being world leaders: at signing TV deals and producing sub-standard pitches..

sachin at 20

Today, Sachin finishes 20 years in the International circuit..


ST holds all records at stake from batting perspective.. Be it the highest run getter in tests, ODIs, maximum number of 100s in ODI and tests, highest individual score for India in ODIs etc.....................................

20-20.. Lets try listing 20 best memories of ST in these 20 years..

Sachin Tendulkar has been playing top-class cricket for 20 years and he's still producing blistering innings, still looking hungry, still demolishing attacks, still a prized wicket, still a proud competitor. He has not merely been around for two decades. From his first outing to his most recent effort, a stunning 175 in Hyderabad, he has been a great batsman. Longevity counts amongst his strengths. Twenty years! It's a heck of a long time, and it's gone in the blink of an eye.From an attacking batsman in the 90s to a class player in the 2000s, the transformation has been brilliant. The one batsman who knows his body, he changed his style of batting to suit the needs very quickly.. The 100s of late, barring the 175, has been classy.. At no point we would feel that he is scoring, yet so nonchalantly he notches up that elusive 3 figure mark..

1. FIRST SIGHT
            Sachin's 600+ stand with Vinod Kambli in the school level competition.. Playing for Sharadashram VidyaMandir, ST and Kambli each scored triple hundred.. It was apparently broken 15 years later..

2. FIRST TEST
           This day, that year.. Exactly 20yrs ago at Karachi ST making his debut had to face the likes of Akram, Waqar, Imran Khan in his first test match, getting hit on the head. Yet, that kid was ready to come onto the front foot.. He scored a 50 in his 2nd test match itself..

3.FIRST 100 IN OZ
           Everybody talks of this as his best 100.. Setting: Perth,'92 .. Craig McDermott, Merv Hughes, Mike Whitney and Paul Reiffel formed the attack on the bouncy Perth wicket.. Sachin scored 114..

4. LAST OVER- HERO CUP 1993
          I remember this, South Africa needed 6 runs of the last over and ST was handed the ball.. The game was in Calcutta, Eden Gardens.. ST tied them down to just 3 runs and India advanced to the finals.. Finals was against Windies where Kumble took 6-12 to ensure an Indian win..

5. FIRST TIME OPENING THE INNINGS
           Sachin in a recent interview spoke about this. Sidhu was injured and couldn't play.. ST was till then batting at 6. He asked the captain and coach to give him one chance to bat up the order and that he was confident of doing well. If he were to fail, he would never come back again.. He was confident of hitting over the in field in the initial field restriction overs.. Sachin scored 82 of 49 balls against New Zealand.. Opening slot was his ever since..

6. TITAN CUP BANGALORE and MUMBAI- 1996
           Sachin played amazingly for his 88 but got out at the wrong time, India needed 52 runs with 2 wickets in hand.. Srinath and Kumble, local lads set up the win.. The match went almost to midnight, ST won the man of the match award.. In Mumbai, Ind vs SA finals.. Sachin held aloft a round shield..

7. WORLD CUP -1996
           India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka hosted the 96 Wills cricket world cup.. India reached the semi finals purely on Sachin's brilliance.. With 523 runs at 87.16, is the highest scorer in the World Cup..

8. WARNE'S NIGHTMARE 
           Shane Warne had nightmares bowling to Sachin.. India vs Australia test series in 1998.. India won that series 2-1.. He employed slog sweeps and deposited Warne over mid wicket for six time and again..


9. SHARJAH 1997/98
           The one knock that no one will forget.. Two centuries back to back, 143 to ensure India is through to the finals of the Coca Cola cup.. 134 in the finals to ensure India wins it.. It was the first time a cricket tournament in Sharjah did not feature Pakistan. Both the 100s came against Australia and he single handedly won the matches for India.

10. HAILED AS/BY THE DON
            Don Bradman's 90th birthday, Sachin and Warne were invited.. Don said Sachin's batting reminded him of his own batting.. The visuals of Don and Sachin playing a straight drive were shown over and over again in all TV channels..

11. BACK STRAIN and a HEARTBREAK

            Indo-Pak series after a long time, India needed 271 to win in the Chennai test.. Sachin was battling a severe back ache but batted superbly to score 136.. The famous lap sweep came during this test match.. Chennai was witnessing yet another classic from ST.. But a heartbreak was waiting for him, India slumped to defeat.. He was awarded man of the match but did not come to receive it as he was crying in the dressing room..

12. 1999 WORLD CUP
            India were in England to play the 1999 world cup and as usual the hopes rested on Sachin's shoulders.. There was a sad news, his father passed away.. He flew back to India to do the last rites.. Surprisingly, Sachin came back to wear India colours and played for India.. That was amazing spirit.. He scored 140 against Kenya on his return..

13. 2001 SOUTH AFRICA SERIES
             It was the series where ST started playing a new shot.. Upper cut over the slips to negotiate the bouncers.. The series where the match referee was Mike Dennes.. ( Remember!) Sachin and others were called for ball tampering and faced one test ban.. The 3rd test match was an unofficial one, and the star played..

14.  STUMPED FOR THE FIRST TIME
             England and Ashley Giles adopted negative strategy bowling down the leg side to tie Sachin down.. It was their only way to get him out they thought, as they had no faith in themselves to get the master out by fair means..


15. 2003 WORLD CUP, 98 vs PAKISTAN
            2003 world cup began badly with a loss to Australia and scrapped to a win over Holland.. Indian fans were fuming, burnt effigies of the players, pelted stones at their homes in India, painted them black.. Sachin came out and addressed the media asking fans to maintain calm and giving a hope that India would do well.. Under Ganguly, India had a great time in the world cup.. Scores 673 runs at 61.18 in the World Cup, taking India to within a win of the world crown. His 98 against Pakistan in an exceptionally anticipated match is one of the best knocks by an Indian in a World Cup. Attacked the Pakistan bowlers from the 1st ball.. Hoisted Akhtar  for a six over 3rd man.. Australia are champions, but he is named Man of the Series.

16. ROBBED OF 200
            Dravid declared when Sachin was on 194. ST for the 1st time expressed his displeasure in the public.. India went on to win the series, 309 from Viru in Multan.. Ganguly axed. The series saw everything, also India's first series win in Pakistan soil..

17. CENTURIES TO REMEMBER
             A patient 241 in Sydney 2004, minimal off side shots, leading to a draw in the test match and the series..No. 35 against Sri Lanka in Delhi took him past Gavaskar.. His first century in more than two years and 19 Tests, against opposition other than Bangladesh, SCG 2008.. Coveted 100s in the finals..
CB series final, India reached finals thanks to brilliant captaincy from MSD. Ponting wrongly talked of not needing a 3rd final and Sachin obliged.. 114 in Sydney in a 240 run chase, a 91 in the 2nd final ensured India win without having to play the 3rd finals as per Ponting's desire.

18: TWIN RECORDS
            Drives Shane Warne down the ground to score a significant single signaling an entry in the 10000 club.. Celebrates it by scoring 139.. From there on every 1000 run mark, he is the first. Latest one being first one to score 17000 runs..
            Steers Peter Siddle down to third man to become the highest run getter in tests going past Lara.. Hails this as his best record as it took him 19 years to get there.. Scored 12000 in tests..

19. 100 IN CHASING
            Mumbai carnage 26/11.. England's tour was cut short and India couldn't complete a 7-0 whitewash.. It was great of England to come back to play the tests.. Chennai again.. Chennai crowd are blessed indeed.. Yet another class act from Sachin. This time it wasn't a smashing innings.. India's 387 run chase was set up by Viru's brilliance overnight and on the 5th day after quick wickets Sachin and Yuvraj's partnership saw India through.. A paddle sweep that took India to victory and Sachin to his 100..

20. 175 vs AUSTRALIA, HYDERABAD
             May be he has a record in this too.. Maximum heartbreaks after an amazing knock.. Chasing 350 runs to win isn't easy by any standards.. Sachin had not scored big for sometime and a 100 was beckoning.. He chose this stage.. Scored half of the target himself.. Scintillating performance, words will do no good to describe this knock.. Salute the master..

world cup 2011 fixtures

Group A -                Group B -

Australia,                    India,

Pakistan,                    South Africa,

New Zealand,            England,

Sri Lanka,                  West Indies,

Zimbabwe,                 Bangladesh,

Canada,                     Ireland,

Kenya.                       Netherlands.

FIXTURES - 

INDIA

Feb 19     1st match -   India v Bangladesh    Mirpur

Feb 27     11th match - India v England          Kolkata  

Mar 6      21st match - India v Ireland            Bangalore 

Mar 9      25th match - India v Netherlands   Delhi 

Mar 12    29th match - India v South Africa   Nagpur

Mar 20    42nd match -India v West Indies    Chennai

SRI LANKA

Feb 20      3rd match -   Sri Lanka v Canada (Hambantota)

Feb 26      10th match - Pakistan v Sri Lanka (Colombo)

Mar 1       14th match - Kenya v Sri Lanka (Colombo) 

Mar 5       20th match - Australia v Sri Lanka (Colombo)

Mar 10     26th match - Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe (Pallekele)

Mar 18     37th match - New Zealand v Sri Lanka Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

NEW ZEALAND

Feb 20   2nd match -   Kenya v New Zealand          ,Chennai 

Feb 25   8th match -    Australia v New Zealand      ,Nagpur

Mar 4    18th match -  New Zealand v Zimbabwe    ,Ahmedabad 

Mar 8    24th match -  New Zealand v Pakistan (Pallekele) 

Mar 13  30th match -  Canada v New Zealand ,Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Mar 18  37th match -  New Zealand v Sri Lanka ,Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

AUSTRALIA

Feb 21   4th match -   Australia v Zimbabwe           Ahmedabad   

Feb 25   8th match -   Australia v New Zealand      Nagpur

Mar 5   20th match -  Australia v Sri Lanka           Colombo
Mar 13  31st match - Australia v Kenya                 Bangalore 

Mar 16  35th match - Australia v Canada               Bangalore 

Mar 19 39th match -  Australia v Pakistan             Colombo

ENGLAND

Feb 22    5th match -   England v Netherlands    Nagpur 

Feb 27    11th match - India v England                Kolkata 

Mar 2     15th match - England v Ireland            Bangalore 

Mar 6     22nd match -England v South Africa   Chennai

Mar 11   28th match - Bangladesh v England    Chittagong  

Mar 17   36th match - England v West Indies   Chennai 

PAKISTAN

Feb 23    6th match -   Kenya v Pakistan                (Hambantota)
Feb 26   10th match -  Pakistan v Sri Lanka         (Colombo)
Mar 3    17th match -  Canada v Pakistan             (Colombo)
Mar 8    24th match -  New Zealand v Pakistan    (Pallekele)
Mar 14  32nd match - Pakistan v Zimbabwe       (Pallekele)
Mar 19  39th match -  Australia v Pakistan         (Colombo)

WEST INDIES

Feb 24   7th match -    South Africa v West Indies     Delhi  

Feb 28   12th match -  Netherlands v West Indies     Delhi

Mar 4    19th match -  Bangladesh v West Indies      Mirpur 

Mar 11  27th match -  Ireland v West Indies,            Chandigarh  

Mar 17  36th match -  England v West Indies            Chennai

Mar 20  42nd match - India v West Indies                 Chennai

SOUTH AFRICA 

Feb 24   7th match -    South Africa v West Indies ,     Delhi 

Mar 3    16th match -  Netherlands v South Africa      Chandigarh

Mar 6    22nd match - England v South Africa             Chennai

Mar 12  29th match -  India v South Africa  ,               Nagpur

Mar 15  34th match -  Ireland v South Africa,              Kolkata

Mar 19  40th match -  Bangladesh v South Africa,       Mirpur 

BANGLADESH

Feb 19   1st match -   Bangladesh v India                     Mirpur

Feb 25   9th match   - Bangladesh v Ireland                 Mirpur  

Mar 4    19th match - Bangladesh v West Indies         Mirpur  

Mar 11  28th match - Bangladesh v England               Chittagong  

Mar 14  33rd match - Bangladesh v Netherlands        Chittagong  

Mar 19  40th match - Bangladesh v South Africa,       Mirpur

Feb 28    13th match -  Canada v Zimbabwe,                 Nagpur  

Mar 7     23rd match - Canada v Kenya,                       Delhi

Mar 18   38th match -  Ireland v Netherlands,              Kolkata

Mar 20   41st match -  Kenya v Zimbabwe,                   Kolkata

Mar 23	Quarter Final - TBC v TBC,    Mirpur
Mar 24	Quarter Final - TBC v TBC    (Colombo)
Mar 25	Quarter Final - TBC v TBC,    Mirpur
Mar 26	Quarter Final - TBC v TBC,   Ahmedabad

Tue Mar 29	Semi Final - TBC v TBC      (Colombo)
Wed Mar 30	Semi Final - TBC v TBC      Chandigarh

Apr 2

Final - TBC v TBC Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Top cricketers

List of top cricketers in my point of view... Numbers do NOT indicate ranks.. I am not going back to the old era, staying with the 90s and 2000s

GREATEST CRICKETERS:( nos. do not indicate ranking but when you ask yourself the question, the order in which you remember the names are the below. That is how I made this list )

01) Sachin Tendulkar
02) Brian Lara
03) Shane Warne
04) Muttiah Muralitharan
05) Wasim Akram
06) Glenn McGrath
07) Ricky Ponting
08) Jacques Kallis
09) Curtly Ambrose
10) Waqar Younis
11) Adam Gilchrist
12) Courtney Walsh
13) Steve Waugh
14) Inzamam-ul-Haq
15) Rahul Dravid
16) Sourav Ganguly
17) Mohammad Yousuf
18) Allan Donald
19) Andy Flower
20) Shaun Pollock
21) Matthew Hayden
22) Aravinda de Silva
23) Anil Kumble
24) Sanath Jayasuriya
25) Michael Bevan
26)Arjuna Ranatunga
27)Hansie Cronje
28)Saqlain Mushtaq
29)Mark Taylor
30)Gary Kirsten
31)Kevin Pieterson

Few other impact players who miss out on making it to the greatest list

01) Chaminda Vaas
02) Chris Cairns
03) Alec Stewart
04) Mohammed Azharuddin
05) Saeed Anwar
06) Stephen Fleming
07) Nathan Astle
08) Jonty Rhodes
09) Imran Khan
10) Marvan Atapattu
11) Mark Waugh
12)Nick Knight
13)Navjot Sidhu
14)Nasser Hussain
15)Michael Vaughan


GREATEST CRICKETERS (individually):

• Greatest Batsman: Sachin Tendulkar
• Greatest ODI Batsman: Sachin Tendulkar
• Greatest Test Batsman: Brian Lara
• Greatest Bowler: Muttiah Muralitharan
• Greatest ODI Bowler: Wasim Akram
• Greatest Test Bowler: Ambrose and/or Kumble
• Greatest Fielder: Jonty Rhodes
• Greatest All-Rounder: Jacques Kallis
• Greatest ODI Captain: MSD and/or Ganguly
• Greatest Test Captain: Steve Waugh and/or Mark Taylor
• Greatest ODI Batting Pair: Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly
• Greatest Test Batting Pair:Dravid-Laxman, Steve Waugh with tail enders, one single innings of Ranatunga with tail enders
• Greatest ODI Bowling Pair: Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis
• Greatest Test Bowling Pair: Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh/Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne 

Individuals who have played well for their team:

• Australia: Shane Warne
• Bangladesh: Mohammed Rafique  
• England: KP, Nasser Hussain
• India: Sachin Tendulkar
• New Zealand: Chris Cairns
• Pakistan: Wasim Akram
• South Africa: Jacques Kallis
• Sri Lanka: Muttiah Muralidaran  
• West Indies: Brian Lara
• Zimbabwe: Andy Flower
  

This is my view, if you have any other name in mind please do leave a comment..

Champions league CLT20 stage round recap

What happened thus far, a look back..

• Great inauguration, amazing choreography by Shaolin Monks and others.
• Boring speech which was booed by the audience; started clapping before he could finish. (Mr.Modi)

• MATCH1 - JP's great innings of 99, deserved a century.. An innings punctuated by traditional drives and pulls, no slogging.. A 105m hit for SIX that landed above the big screen.. RCB went down to this brilliant knock..

• AUSSIE might - Victoria and NSW impress with big wins that could put them in the next stage.. Thumping win against Delhi and Eagles respectively.. Showed their class and the strong domestic set up at display..
  

• IPL teams go down - 3 losses in as many matches.. RCB lost to JP's knock, Delhi to pitch and Deccan to Alfonso Thomas. A last ball thriller, from being 99 for 7 to chase down 153 speaks of Deccan's bowling strength...
  

• Empty stands await matches involving non-IPL teams.. Provokes Gavaskar to question the future of CL T20 in the absence of IPL teams in the 2nd round.. 
  

• Cape Cobras and NSW through.. Cobras went past Otago to become the 1st team to enter league stage.. NSW showed their might over Sussex Sharks a day later to qualify to the next round.. 2 champions are through.. 
  

• Amidst all questions and speculations, Delhi put up 170 on board, on a pitch where 120 is a par score thanks to Viru and Karthik.. Qualify for the league stage by gaining an unassailable Net Run Rate..
  

• RCB follow suit.. 2 IPL teams get through.. 
  

• The lesser teams bow out, Otago from Newzealand and Wayamba from SriLanka bid good bye to CLT20 earning USD200,000 each..
  

• Trinidad and Tobago surprise the world with back to back wins.. Deccan had to listen to their team music/ theme music - 'GO chargers GO chargers'.. The IPL champions GO out of the tournament.. 
  

• A super 'SUPER' over, 9/1 from Eagles and 0/2 from Sussex.. Cj De Villiers picks up 2 in 2..  Reason given from sussex- we are new to super over and have never played in it before.. ( do we give them practice matches for this too? Ridiculous)..

But what has left an impact,

 JP Duminy's brilliant 99 will be talked for sometime to come.. Unforgettable innings.. No slogging.. This gives the message that players need not change their stroke play but only change their mindsets in T20..

Laxman's knock of 40 odd has left not only Harsha Bhogle dumbfounded but also many of the cricket fans.. Laxman stepping down the wicket or playing a cross bat shot/slog was definitely not a treat to watch but leads us to say please save them from T20 gimmicks.. We would rather watch him score 20 in a test match than to see him slog his way to 50s in T20..

Where's the hype ? Where are the sponsors ? We never heard a ***** Maximum, or ******* 4s... 6s were plain sixes and 4s were plain fours.. Refreshing.. (Yes, Modi is still the man behind the tournament, no changes there)

Empty stadiums for matches not involving IPL teams.. That is a  worrying sign for the future of CL.. We can just brush away the thought saying this is the first year and people would take time to understand and identify with the teams involved..

STAR.. An anthem 'yeh cup kahin nahi jayega' (this cup will not go anywhere) and India bounced out of T20 World cup.. 'All the best India' campaign and India crash out of Champions trophy.. 'Diwali hogi cup wali' campaign, Rangoli (colours) to depict trophy from RCB, sweets stacked one above other for Delhi and a rocket firecracker turning into a cup for Deccan.. The most unrealistic campaign that of DC has ended.. As RCB and DD don't carry points they need to win all their matches to get into semis.. So, will STAR make it 3 out of 3..

Focusing on League stage, A1, A2, B1, B2 form League A and C1,C2,D1,D2 form League B..

                        LEAGUE A                           LEAGUE B
                     Trinidad and Tobago                     RCB
                      Somerset CCC                            Cape Cobras
                      NSW blues                                  Delhi Daredevils
                      Diamond Eagles                           Victoria Bushrangers

South African teams in CL T20

The Standard Bank Pro20 was used to launch the franchise system at the end of the 2003/04 season and has been a domestic highlight ever since. Like its format of 20 overs per side, it has a short, sharp format of five league matches followed by a semi-final and final.

The No. 1 side after the round robin stages plays No. 4 in the one semi-final and No. 2 plays No. 3 in the second semi-final with the winners going through to the final. In all cases the team with the higher log position has home ground advantage. There is also a reserve day allowed for all knock-out matches in the case of inclement weather conditions.

NASHUA CAPE COBRAS is the brand name for the Western Cape franchise of Cricket South Africa. Its constituent components are the Western Province Cricket Association and the Boland Cricket Board. They  play their home matches at Boland Park, Paarl, and at Sahara Park Newlands.

Current nationally contracted players are Smith, Gibbs, JP Duminy and Monde Zondeki.. Ashwell Prince also hails from this place..



DIAMOND EAGLES is the brand name for the central franchise of Cricket South Africa and has been the most successful franchise in terms of winning trophies. The constituent members are the Free State and Griqualand West Cricket Boards. Their home grounds are the OUTsurance Oval in Bloemfontein and the De Beers Diamond Oval in Kimberley.

They are one of only two franchises - the Nashua Titans are the other - to have won all three domestic trophies in the course of the past four seasons and have altogether had five trophy successes.

IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Diamond Eagles don't have it easier, grouped with winners of AUS and ENG T20 winners namely, NSW and Sussex..  The South African Pro20 runners up the Diamond Eagles have had some fantastic seasons on the domestic circuit but with no current South African internationals some have suggested the side may struggle against their more fancied opponents. But having said that, no team is to be taken lightly.. 

Dippenaar is a seasoned campaigner, van Wyk's exploits in IPL2 have gone largely unnoticed as he was a part of KKR, Dillon du Preez had an excellent spell of fast bowling in one game and was never picked again for the RCB, Ryan McLaren would be an asset to the side,

 Boeta Dippenaar (capt),

Dillon du Preez,

Morne van Wyk,

Mthandeki Tshabalala,

Adrian McLaren,

Ryan McLaren,

Victor Mpitsang,

Ryan Bailey,

Jandre Coetzee,

Cornelis de Villiers,

Dean Elgar,

Reeza Hendricks,

Alan Kruger,

Rilee Rossouw,

Shadley van Schalkwyk.  

Cape Cobras along with RCB and Otago Volts make up Group C .. The Nashua Cape Cobras have a particularly tough programme, playing the tournament opening match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bangalore on October 8, with their remaining pool game against New Zealand’s Otago Volts in Hyderabad just two days later.

Cape Cobras will be led by Andrew Puttick, in the absence of Graeme Smith, who was initially left out of the 15 man squad.. Wow !! How quickly can Life change!!

Cape Cobras 

Andrew Puttick (capt) - capt / opener/ keeper

Herschelle Gibbs,

JP Duminy,

Justin Ontong,

Charl Langeveldt- leads the pace bowling

Claude Henderson,

Monde Zondeki,

Vernon Philander -all rounder

Henry Davids,

Ryan Canning- lower order batsman and keeper

Rory Kleinveldt all rounder

Richard Levi

Sybrand Engelbrecht,

Derek Brand,

Francois Plaatjies.

Champions League - CL T20

Champions League is yet another brain child of IPL boss Lalit Modi.. This T20 venture is true to its name, that it features the champions of  domestic T20 tournaments in 7 countries and 3 founder countries also have their runner-up in place for the tournament.. So, indeed, it is a league of the champions..

Champions trophy was conceived a year ago by BCCI, CA and CSA..  The BCCI is a founding partner of the tournament, along with Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Cricket Australia (CA), with all three countries enjoying joint decision-making control over the multi-nation, multi-club event.. The first edition which was to take place in December, 2008 in India was postponed following terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November as a mark of solidarity with the victims. It was later canceled. The revised dates that were announced was October 8 - 23, 2009.

The inaugural  edition of the CL T20 will be held across 3 venues in India- Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi.. The prize money for the event is a staggering 6million USD with the winners taking USD 2.5 million...

The teams that will compete in the inaugural contest are:

Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils (India);
New South Wales Blues and VB Victorian Bushrangers (Australia);
Cape Cobras and Diamond Eagles (South Africa);
Sussex and  Somerset County Cricket Club (England)
Otago Volts (New Zealand);
Wayamba (Sri Lanka);
Trinidad & Tobago (West Indies) ..

 Two hundred and thirty four players have been named by the dozen participating teams, out of which as many as 110 have played international cricket for their respective nations.Players who represent two teams in CL T20 competitions got to choose which team they will want to play for.. As many as nine cricketers came under this category and the ‘away’ team had to pay a whooping USD200,000 to a player’s home team to actually retain the player’s services.

The format......

The 12 teams have been divided into 4 groups of 3 each.. The top 2 teams from each group move into 2 groups.. the top 4 of these groups play the semi finals..

                

Group Stage

Group A: Deccan Chargers, Somerset, Trinidad & Tobago

Group B: New South Wales, Eagles , Sussex Sharks

Group C: Royal Challengers Bangalore, Cape Cobras and Otago

Group D: Delhi Daredevils, Victoria and Wayamba

Round Robin League Stage

League A: A1, A2, B1, B2

League B: C1, C2, D1, D2

TIME	MATCH	Venue
Thu Oct 8 (D/N) 20:00 IST	Group C - Royal Challengers Bangalore v Cape Cobras	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Fri Oct 9 16:00 IST	Group B - Eagles v New South Wales	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Fri Oct 9 (D/N) 20:00 IST	Group D - Delhi Daredevils v Victoria	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Sat Oct 10 16:00 IST	Group C - Cape Cobras v Otago	Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Sat Oct 10 (D/N) 20:00 IST	Group A - Deccan Chargers v Somerset Sabres	Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Sun Oct 11 16:00 IST	Group B - New South Wales v Sussex Sharks	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Sun Oct 11 (D/N) 20:00 IST	Group D - Delhi Daredevils v Wayamba	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Mon Oct 12 16:00 IST	Group A -  Somerset Sabres v Trinidad & Tobago	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Mon Oct 12 (D/N) 20:00 IST	Group C - Royal Challengers Bangalore v Otago	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Tue Oct 13 16:00 IST	Group D - Victoria v Wayamba	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Tue Oct 13 (D/N) 20:00 IST	Group B - Eagles v Sussex Sharks	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Wed Oct 14 (D/N) 20:00 IST	Group A - Deccan Chargers v Trinidad & Tobago	Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad

 The teams and their road to CL T20 in the subsequent posts..

Warm up to the Champions trophy

ODIs are dying, T20s are emerging to be best entertainers and the tv channels with broadcasting rights for the tournaments are partly responsible for that..

We all remember that the warm up games leading into the T20 world cup was telecast and an Indo-Pak match was organized just to pull the crowds to the stadium and it was well received..

Here we are, at the mini World cup a 50 over tournament of 8 test playing nations, 15matches and is regarded as a tool to gauge the relevance of the 50 over format and the warm up matches are not being aired.. Not even a live scorecard or news ticker on star cricket, who hold the rights to broadcast ICC events.. And wats making the headlines- 'save ODI'..

New Zealand vs Warriors-  NZ never got going, except for a partnership of 95 between Taylor and Guptill. From being at 210 for 3, they were bowled out for 237.. The Warriors chase also suffered from the lack of substantial partnerships but all their batsmen chipped in with useful contributions. Warriors eventually won in the penultimate over by 2 wickets..

South Africa vs West Indies - Long time since such a one sided affair was seen.. If in the previous game, many got into double figures, in this game, SA top order batsmen all got into 80s..Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and JP Duminy all reached the 80s.. Duminy was the stand-out batsman with 80 off 49 deliveries and Mark Boucher also gave a reminder of his big-hitting skills by smashing 55 off 27 balls; Posted a mammoth 388 that showed how weak Windies are who later were bowled out for 200..

Pakistan vs Srilanka- As if 2 back to back series weren't enough, these 2 teams locked horns once again.. Pakistan were outplayed in the Lankan islands earlier losing both tests and ODIs had a point to prove and they came with a bang, scored 306 after a jittery start, Akmal, Misbah and Umar Akmal scored 50s, and Naved-ul-Hassan picked up 5wickets to bundle the Lankans out for 198..

ALL ON SEPT 18.

Srilanka vs West Indies- Dale Richards and Devon Smith notched up 50s but the M&M of Lanka spun a web around Windies and all they could manage was a paltry 201.. Sri-lanka were steered to victory by a good knock from Jyawardene..

Pakistan vs Warriors- Pakistan, Sri lanka and West Indies had 2 practice matches a piece.. Pakistan came up with another convincing performance.. An unbeaten 130 from Shoaib Malik guided Pakistan to a six-wicket victory against Warriors.. Chasing 262 for victory, Pakis got there with 19 balls to spare.


India vs New Zealand- Neil Broom, Jesse Ryder and Martin Guptill scored 50s and NZ scored 301.. Pacers were torn apart and it was the spinners who put on the brakes. 3 wickets to Yusuf Pathan somewhat restricted NZ to just 301.. India had rested Sachin and Harbhajan, so it was upto the make shift opening pair of Karthik and Dravid to start the innings, Dravid was on fire scoring a quick fire 37 of 34 balls but soon the openers were back in the hut.. MSD was (un)characteristically slow, Yuvraj tried to smash the bowling apart but all in vain.. bhishek Nayar provided some fight, scoring a quick 41, which included six fours. New Zealand shared the wickets around with Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori and Shane Bond taking two apiece, as India were bowled out in the 41st over..

8 teams, 15 matches, 1 cup.. Let the games begin.. For schedule,see previous post ..