Monthly Archives: June 2009

What Adam Gilchrist Really Said in the 2009 Cowdrey Lecture

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In case you don’t have the time to read the 5000 word masterpiece by Adam Gilchrist, here is the people’s version:

Thank you and here’s to my parents. I never saw Colin Cowdrey bat, but I heard that he was pretty good. He had the guts to face fast bowlers on fast pitches without a helmet and so every Australian respects him. And that is one reason why the Ashes are so great.

By the way, we don’t take the England team lightly. Exhibit A: The 2005 Ashes. The Aussies took every Ashes match seriously (ed: even those dead rubber ones?). I didn’t like the 2005 Ashes, mainly because of Flintoff. Yes, he was very popular in those days, but he got into my head. And my wife started looking like Freddie. Anyway, the Ashes starts in two weeks, but that is not what I wanted to talk about, which is Twenty20 cricket.

50-over cricket is dying. The last ODI World Cup was a flop, even though I liked how I batted in the final. ODI cricket has been dying for a long time. It is too predictable and takes too long to watch. You ask, “So what?” Well, ODI cricket brought in the big bucks for 30 years. It subsidizes Test cricket and other development programs. Test cricket does not pay.

So, what about Twenty20? It can replace ODI cricket as the revenue generator for cricket. All you have to do is replace all ODIs with Twenty20 matches. If Twenty20 were not there, it would have to be invented today to find a solution to the revenue problems of cricket.

Twenty20 may have contributed to ODI’s decline, but I think the egg came first: ODI decline brought about Twenty20. I like-y Twenty20 cricket. I think Test cricket is the greatest, but Twenty20 is different and needs other kinds of skills.

Is Twenty20 all about money? Nooooo! I thought it was stupid at first, but then the first World Twenty20 and then the IPL changed it all for me. First, it is short and so easily manageable. Second, we can now have round-robin leagues like other sports. It allows Associate nations to compete and boosts women’s cricket. Twenty20 can allow cricket to spread globally.

So here’s an idea: Why doesn’t the ICC seek cricket to be included as an Olympic sport? It is a very inexpensive way to popularize cricket. Convincing the IOC (International Olympic Committee) is usually tough, but it may be easy for cricket. One reason is that the Indian sub-continent has 20% of the world population and has not won many Olympic medals. And the IOC wants to improve the Olympic movement there.

Olympic cricket will help develop cricket in many countries. Exhibit B: Hockey in China. Participating in the Olympics will not lose money, will only take 10 days off the cricket calendar, will make cricketers proud and it is a realistic goal as the ICC has already made steps in that direction.

Back to Test cricket. Test cricket is great and unique. So let’s play fewer Tests (one-third what we are playing now). Let’s not tamper with Test cricket. Leave all the drastic innovation to limited overs cricket. More money is good because it will protect Test, first-class and junior cricket.

The proposed Southern Premier League would be a poor man’s IPL. Instead expand the existing Twenty20 competition with teams from New Zealand.

Accept that cricketers will play for money and some may not want to play for their country. Don’t overanalyze Test vs ODI vs Twenty20 cricket. Accept and exploit them.

Finally, I am NOT obsessed with Twenty20 cricket. It can never be Test cricket. But think of Twenty20 as an opportunity. People can afford to spend 3 hours, not days, to watch cricket. Be like Colin Cowdrey, who was ready to play the first ODI even after playing 100 Test matches.

I think Colin Cowdrey would agree with everything I said in this lecture.

That is still almost 650 words. Geez!

Pakistan in Sri Lanka Schedule

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While the Ashes are going on, we will have a fight between two subcontinent teams. Pakistan will be taking on Sri Lanka in their den, a difficult proposition always. Kumar Sangakkara will be leading the team at home for the first time. Mohammad Yousuf is back, though will he mark a return to his world-record-breaking form? This will also be the first series after the Sri Lankan government defeat of the LTTE. Hopefully, some LTTE remnants do not cause any violence during this period.

Test Schedule

1st Test: July 4 to July 8
2nd Test: July 12 to July 16
3rd Test: July 20 to July 24

One-Day Series

1st ODI: July 30
2nd ODI: August 1
3rd ODI: August 3
4th ODI: August 7
5th ODI: August 9

One-Off Twenty20 Match

August 12

Promises to be an engrossing affair.

Australian Performance Against Sussex

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When Ponting was out for 8 against Sussex, there was some gloating in the “Internets” today. But at the end of the day, we saw what could become a nightmare for the English team in the Ashes. And that is the long wagging of the Australian tail, which was partly responsible for the away victory against South Africa this year. And remember, they reached 349/7 without Mitchell Johnson playing.

The top order of the Australians has not inspired a lot of confidence lately. Ponting and Hussey are obviously not in the form that they were a couple of years ago. Symonds is missing. Clarke and Katich are maybes depending on the position of the stars. And while Hughes had a great start to his career, he is going to be playing only his 4th Test in a few days.

So it looks likely the Australians may lose 5 wickets or so before they reach 200. But if their lower order can stick around longer, they could post a 400+ score which could post a few difficulties to the English team. At this moment, England should be preparing a clear plan to get out every tailender, especially the dangerous Johnson.

I will end with one fact. Johnson hit his two highest first class scores against South Africa, with the century coming off at more than a run a ball. Allow Australian tailenders to repeat that will be an unforgivable sin for England, who just don’t have the strength to match Australia if they let them get away.

Dil Dil Pakistan, by Vital Signs

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When some of our readers left the comment “Dil Dil Pakistan”, I assumed it was a kind of slogan like “Pakistan Zindabad”. I later found that it was the refrain of a popular Pakistani song by the group “Vital Signs” (hope I got that right). And here it is:

Catchy music, if a bit dated. Someone should try making a less light version!

Indian Squad to West Indies Light on Batting

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I was just taking a look at the batting records for the Indian squad to India and it is a little shocking to see how poor it is on paper. Consider the following:

  1. Only 3 players (Dhoni, Yuvraj and Gambhir) out of the entire 16-person squad have a 30+ average.
  2. Only 7 players have played an ODI match against West Indies and once again only three of them have a 30+ average against them.
  3. Only 4 players have played ODI’s in West Indies, only Yuvraj crossing the 30+ mark.
  4. The median number of ODIs played by the team members is just 32 matches. There are 2 possible ODI debutants (who may not get a match if West Indies win any of the first three matches)
  5. If you remove Dhoni, Yuvraj and Gambhir, the rest of the batsmen have played very few ODIs.

Here is a quick snapshot of the India team members with a 25+ average (I have removed Ojha since his average is just a function of being not out in 3 matches):

india-batting

One saving grace is that the big guns (Dhoni, Yuvraj, Gambhir and Rohit) have had a good start to 2009. If they can carry on that form, it would do India good. And of course, some of them had a good IPL, though Twenty20 is a different animal.

It is, of course, dangerous for West Indies to assume that their greater experience will automatically win matches for them. We saw how the experienced South Africans succumbed to the new-look Australian team at home in the return Test series. But there is definitely a weakness that the West Indians can exploit. Let’s see if the young Indian faces can rise up to the challenge.

England Rankings for the World Twenty20

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Third Umpire, The Old Batsman and England Cricket have ranked the performance of the English team in the World Twenty20. Here is a snapshot:

Player                 TU   TOB    EC
Kevin Pietersen       8.0  11.0   8.0
Ravi Bopara           7.5   8.0   7.0
Stuart Broad          7.0   8.0   8.0
Grame Swann           7.0   7.0   7.0
James Foster          6.5   1.0   7.0
Dimitri Mascarenhas   6.5   6.0   6.0
Adil Rashid           6.0   6.0   7.0
Ryan Sidebottom       6.0   6.0   6.0
Owais Shah            5.0   4.0   6.0
Luke Wright           5.5   5.0   6.0
James Anderson        5.5   6.0   6.0
Paul Collingwood      5.0   2.0   6.0
Rob Key                     3.0
Eoin Morgan                 3.0
Graham Napier         Did not play

The Old Batsman gives Kevin Pietersen a 11/10 which seems fair considering that England loses whenever Pietersen doesn’t turn in a great performance. James Foster’s 1/10 is surprising (typo?) considering his stumping of Yuvraj probably turned the game. Nobody likes Collingwood. Rob Key, Eoin Morgan and Graham Napier should get more chances before we can rate them.

Humor of the Day

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Jrod picks his World Twenty20 team based on exemplary performances in the tournament:

Jacques Kallis; someone has to keep the run rate in check.
Ricky Ponting; captaincy and morale.
Jacob Oram; remember when he could bat.
Stuart Broad; fielding specialist.
Brett Lee; came back to help Australia.
Ishant Sharma; 2 wickets, heaps of runs, shit hair.

Jacques Kallis; someone has to keep the run rate in check.
Ricky Ponting; captaincy and morale.
Jacob Oram; remember when he could bat.
Stuart Broad; fielding specialist.
Brett Lee; came back to help Australia.
Ishant Sharma; 2 wickets, heaps of runs, shit hair.
… etc.

Read the full thing here.

President Barack Obama and Cricket

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In an interview with Anwar Iqbal:

‘You cannot escape cricket while living with Pakistanis. Did they leave a cricket bat with you?’
‘You know, I have to say that I have tried to get up to bat a couple of times, but I’ve been terrible. So I’m an admirer of great cricket players, but make no claims in terms of my own skills,’ said Mr Obama, breaking into a broad smile.

‘You cannot escape cricket while living with Pakistanis. Did they leave a cricket bat with you?’

‘You know, I have to say that I have tried to get up to bat a couple of times, but I’ve been terrible. So I’m an admirer of great cricket players, but make no claims in terms of my own skills,’ said Mr Obama, breaking into a broad smile.

Obama is probably talking about the time he shared some batting tips with Brian Lara. From a political standpoint, Obama would be well-served to associate himself with soccer (sorry, football!) and cricket when he gets the opportunity. And on that score, it seems that he has accepted an invitation to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

BTW, what’s up with South Africa hosting all the big tournaments nowadays, including the Indian Premier League? Will the Olympics be next?

Stop Calling Michael Hussey “Mr. Cricket”

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People went ga-ga sometime back over Mike Hussey’s phenomenal average, which was getting too close to Don Bradman for comfort. And they named him “Mr. Cricket”. But even as his average has nosedived in the last couple of years, some people insist on calling him that.

Hussey did play a few good innings, but the only thing out of the ordinary was the way he managed to preserve his wicket to boost his average. Lets take a look at his batting averages every year and how he would have fared without any not outs:

Year   Runs     Avg  W/NO Avg
2005    595   85.00     59.50
2006    965   80.41     64.33
2007    374   74.80     62.33
2008    900   37.50     36.00
2009    207   29.57     25.88

Without his not-out innings, the first few years are still pretty good, but not extraordinarily so. You will also notice that he has not crossed 1000 runs for any year so far. Hussey also has a touring weakness: his away average is only 44.69. His first-class average (53.19) is also not lofty enough to merit talks of greatness.

I don’t deny that Hussey is a talented batsman. But people ignore that he just had a good run in his first few years which coupled with his ability to remain unbeaten lead to a big average. Hussey was fortunate to have had his good form at the start of his career and been able to have a more sustained run than most. For example, Sunil Gavaskar had 918 runs in his first year, but only 224 runs (in 5 Tests) in the next two years.

But with the benefit of hindsight, it was unlikely that he could maintain such an average. Injuries, different batting conditions, sustaining mental conditions, etc. are one set of factors. The other is that when a batsman makes tons of runs, the opposition targets him and is determined to find a way to break him down. Think of how Pakistan targeted Dilshan in the final. Unless Mike Hussey was a superman, which he isn’t, there was no way he was going to continue his form against tough Test nations like India and South Africa.

So let’s drop the term “Mr. Cricket” and wait until someone has the statistics to back it up before calling him that. Maybe after makes 5000+ runs and has played at least 2 series against each team home and away, so that a few good series do not skew the overall picture.