A one word response to this - Thanks.
There is no point of someone coming for only two weeks time. This would disturb team's strategy and balance and I am sure Kolkata Knight Riders and IPL management would have said the same thing to him.
There was no point in him making claims of putting country ahead of IPL. The fact that he was negotiating with IPL and KKR for 2-3 months shows that he was trying his best to squeeze in some time this year but IPL and team management did not agree to it. There is also some possibility of him not being picked for matches when he is available and that is going to tarnish his reputation. Ponting has made right decision for himself and the team management but there this is not a case of putting country in front of money.
Showing posts with label Australian Cricket. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australian Cricket. Show all posts
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Who is under more pressure - Aus or SA?
Ponting claimed while coming to SA that SA would be under more pressure as they want to be #1. I am not sure if he really means that or it is just his attempt at mental disintegration of SA. SA team has shown maturity in not responding to Ponting's comments.
Ponting himself seems to be confused about what he is saying as he also mentioned that winning the series is the highest priority for Aus. This would mean that Aus would be under far more pressure than SA. SA will automatically become #1 in August when previous year's results will be taken out (when Aus was a dominant force) and current year's results get higher weightage (when SA is doing better) and even India may bypass Aus though a lot will depend on India's NZ series.
Meanwhile, Ponting must learn from Smith. Smith hardly made any comments before last year's series in Aus but showed greater application on field. Ponting should understand that a quieter SA is more dangerous and should plan better for upcoming series. A loss here would really put pressure on his captaincy.
Ponting himself seems to be confused about what he is saying as he also mentioned that winning the series is the highest priority for Aus. This would mean that Aus would be under far more pressure than SA. SA will automatically become #1 in August when previous year's results will be taken out (when Aus was a dominant force) and current year's results get higher weightage (when SA is doing better) and even India may bypass Aus though a lot will depend on India's NZ series.
Meanwhile, Ponting must learn from Smith. Smith hardly made any comments before last year's series in Aus but showed greater application on field. Ponting should understand that a quieter SA is more dangerous and should plan better for upcoming series. A loss here would really put pressure on his captaincy.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Brad Haddin: The next-in-line for Oz captaincy
Brad Haddin was named captain of Aus Cricket team for T20 match against NZ. Michael Clarke was not fit for the match and Ponting was being rested. Haddin seems to have proved his credientials by claiming Brooms out during Ist ODI against NZ when it was his glove and not the ball which actually hit the stumps. It looks to me as tradition of Aus to select captains who use unfair means to dismiss opponents when they are in tight spot.
This tradition is running at least since the time of Steve Waugh who claimed catch of Brian Lara during 1994-95 series in WI which Aus won and staked its claim for #1 rank by becoming the first team to beat WI for 15 years. That catch proved critical as Aus went on to win that match and ultimately series was won 2-1.
Ponting and Clarke have proven credentials in this area as we saw in last year's series against India. Clarke is relatively inexperienced player but still he moved pretty fast in leadership stakes and his flair towards claiming dropped catches seems to have played a critical role in this. It was no coincidence that he was the bowler when Haddin claimed Brooms as bowled out.
Adam Gilchrist seems to be the biggest loser in this race and Aus selectors never saw him fit to be captain of the side as he never dismissed opponents by making false claims. Lst year against India he tried to mend his ways by claiming Dravid in Sydney test when Dravid had not touched the ball but by the end of the match he realized Clarke is way ahead of him and decided to retire after the series.
Brad Haddin seems to have justified the selectors' decision as Aus went on to win the match in a thrilling finish and Aus selectors' would be hoping that they will keep finding cricketers like him who will justify their unfair means as hunger to win and mental toughness.
This tradition is running at least since the time of Steve Waugh who claimed catch of Brian Lara during 1994-95 series in WI which Aus won and staked its claim for #1 rank by becoming the first team to beat WI for 15 years. That catch proved critical as Aus went on to win that match and ultimately series was won 2-1.
Ponting and Clarke have proven credentials in this area as we saw in last year's series against India. Clarke is relatively inexperienced player but still he moved pretty fast in leadership stakes and his flair towards claiming dropped catches seems to have played a critical role in this. It was no coincidence that he was the bowler when Haddin claimed Brooms as bowled out.
Adam Gilchrist seems to be the biggest loser in this race and Aus selectors never saw him fit to be captain of the side as he never dismissed opponents by making false claims. Lst year against India he tried to mend his ways by claiming Dravid in Sydney test when Dravid had not touched the ball but by the end of the match he realized Clarke is way ahead of him and decided to retire after the series.
Brad Haddin seems to have justified the selectors' decision as Aus went on to win the match in a thrilling finish and Aus selectors' would be hoping that they will keep finding cricketers like him who will justify their unfair means as hunger to win and mental toughness.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Is Michael Clarke captaincy material?
Clarke is being groomed for captaincy role in Aus after Ponting. I see him as misfit in this role. Though based on his performance, he is certainity to be part of Aus team, but he seems to be pretty selfish person who likes to put himself before his team.
Clarke was responsible for Symonds being sent back when he went for fishing. This was his first full series as Captain and he was clearly trying to assert himself as the decision making authority. This was ostensibly done because Symonds had broken team discipline and his team members were feeling let down and some action should have been taken. Well done!!!
Aus team have a tradition of team anthem and after Sydney test, who was keen to leave the dressing room to attend to personal matters. Pup did not think about letting down his team mates but was looking at the clock to make sure his personal commitments do not suffer. What an example of mate-ship?
In the recent series against NZ, Clarke showed what he puts first - his record or team's result. He decided to open after being made the captain and batted to make sure he gets a big score to show he is ready for the big role. His slow batting ultimately helped NZ to restrict Aus to manageable total and they won from there. Had Aus won, the headlines would have screamed that the new leader has ensured Aus win and he should be appointed captain immediately. The final result, hopefully, would have sobered him a bit.
Clarke at least meets some of the criteria for qualification as Aus Captain - claiming one-drop catches that is. Be it Waugh or Ponting, they always claim one-drop catches and ask fielder's word to be taken for contentious catches. In thsi regard, at least, Michael Clarke satisfies criteria to be Aus Captain.
Clarke was responsible for Symonds being sent back when he went for fishing. This was his first full series as Captain and he was clearly trying to assert himself as the decision making authority. This was ostensibly done because Symonds had broken team discipline and his team members were feeling let down and some action should have been taken. Well done!!!
Aus team have a tradition of team anthem and after Sydney test, who was keen to leave the dressing room to attend to personal matters. Pup did not think about letting down his team mates but was looking at the clock to make sure his personal commitments do not suffer. What an example of mate-ship?
In the recent series against NZ, Clarke showed what he puts first - his record or team's result. He decided to open after being made the captain and batted to make sure he gets a big score to show he is ready for the big role. His slow batting ultimately helped NZ to restrict Aus to manageable total and they won from there. Had Aus won, the headlines would have screamed that the new leader has ensured Aus win and he should be appointed captain immediately. The final result, hopefully, would have sobered him a bit.
Clarke at least meets some of the criteria for qualification as Aus Captain - claiming one-drop catches that is. Be it Waugh or Ponting, they always claim one-drop catches and ask fielder's word to be taken for contentious catches. In thsi regard, at least, Michael Clarke satisfies criteria to be Aus Captain.
Monday, February 9, 2009
What happened to Australian Cricket System?
For past decade, there have been lot of comments about how good Aus cricket system is, that they have professional cricket system with strong academies for learning, competitive domestic cricket and administrators who were way ahead of others in terms of cricket management and coming up with innovative ways to stay ahead of others and making sure Aus is #1 cricket team in the world. It was supposedly this system which kept Aus ahead of others in field.
Looking at current results, it seems there were two reasons for Aus' success - Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. All Aus captains of recent time had the luxury of calling upon services of these great bowlers whenever in trouble and these two delivered almost every time. They also created enough opportunities for batsmen to play without pressure and freely and there is palpable difference in batting records of same personnel after these two left.
After these two have left, the system, administrators, captains and other players are looking human and Aus will struggle to be among the top 3 cricket nations. One could understand the impact that absence of such players can cause to any team but the way rest of the people have behaved clearly shows Aus System is just like any other cricket system like we see in other countries.
Aus selectors first make Ponting rest for some ODIs and when the team loses the next ODI, they immediately ask him to get back. In the past we did not use to hear people raising concerns on teams being selected, now this is commonplace. In fact, the noise looks like pretty similar to what we used to see after India used to have an overseas series (Losing usually) and then teams being selected to for next series.
Though Ponting is among the best captains statistically but the decisions that he made during India and SA series shows him in very poor light. In the earlier days, all he used to do was throw ball to McGrath and Warne and they would make people call it a masterstroke but now decisions are far more complex. There are too many disciplinary discussions happening, Symonds, Katich-Clarke arguments showing team is not happy and there is no unity among the team. Players are looking mediocre and this is reflecting in on-field results also.
Though some people feel that Aus will emerge again as a strong power in cricket or they still are. The only reason that they will stay at top is that the standard of cricket is falling in most countries and there are not enough teams to challenge them. Only SA and India look to be places where cricket is thriving and Aus will be next to them.
Looking at current results, it seems there were two reasons for Aus' success - Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. All Aus captains of recent time had the luxury of calling upon services of these great bowlers whenever in trouble and these two delivered almost every time. They also created enough opportunities for batsmen to play without pressure and freely and there is palpable difference in batting records of same personnel after these two left.
After these two have left, the system, administrators, captains and other players are looking human and Aus will struggle to be among the top 3 cricket nations. One could understand the impact that absence of such players can cause to any team but the way rest of the people have behaved clearly shows Aus System is just like any other cricket system like we see in other countries.
Aus selectors first make Ponting rest for some ODIs and when the team loses the next ODI, they immediately ask him to get back. In the past we did not use to hear people raising concerns on teams being selected, now this is commonplace. In fact, the noise looks like pretty similar to what we used to see after India used to have an overseas series (Losing usually) and then teams being selected to for next series.
Though Ponting is among the best captains statistically but the decisions that he made during India and SA series shows him in very poor light. In the earlier days, all he used to do was throw ball to McGrath and Warne and they would make people call it a masterstroke but now decisions are far more complex. There are too many disciplinary discussions happening, Symonds, Katich-Clarke arguments showing team is not happy and there is no unity among the team. Players are looking mediocre and this is reflecting in on-field results also.
Though some people feel that Aus will emerge again as a strong power in cricket or they still are. The only reason that they will stay at top is that the standard of cricket is falling in most countries and there are not enough teams to challenge them. Only SA and India look to be places where cricket is thriving and Aus will be next to them.
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