IS AUSTRALIA BECOMING THE NEXT WI?

I personally don't know the greatness of the WI team in the 80's and in the early 90's but,I have heard of it all.The tall lanky fast bowlers, the agrressive batsmen and the great winning strip.

via cricinfo

Still WI houses a decent portion of world cricketing talent with individuals that can easily find themselves in squads of any othert top cricketing nation .Chris Gayle, Chandrapaul, Sarwan, Bravo and pollard are easily some of the talented individuals...who are playing contemporary cricket. Still the performance of WI is too poor.

For Australia I know how dominant they were in the late 90's and almost throughout the next decade of 2000. But that dominance i diminishing and they are currently ranked 5 the lowest they have ever reached.

By the signs of it,Australia take T20 loosely. FOR eg; not putting enough pressure on the current captain Michael Clarke about his batting form and coming up with an unsettled team even after years of the contest being run( other teams too have the problem but Aussies are Aussies!).They too have some wonderful talents, POnting is one of the greats, clarke is one of the better middle order batsmen playing the game, Hussey is also a phenomenon and they always come up with other aggressive new talents like White and Johnson.But still they are not finding the right tune to find a  winning strip.

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WI still had service of Lara, Walsh, Bishop, Hooper when they began plummiting .Once they retired WI never took up( probably the WICB never thought they were going so deep).So I feel the same psyche is within the ACB. They are trying to push with Ponting( searching the right time to choose Clarke as a test skipper is also a problem....but the officials are there to solve it ...or what?). I think the time has arrived,to bid good bye to Ponting (as a skipper) after the ashes( whatever the result be).Ganguly was shown the way at proper time by the Indians and that has shown effects in the foolowing half decade where India has become no.1 in test and retained it against the Aussies.

The aussies should also look at strengthening their bench strength.Their are too many uncemented seats in the Aussie line up.Moreover, ACB officials should look to promote new talent...especially they should have given chance to Paine ahead of Haddin( after doing fabolously well in the tough Indian tour) after all Haddin is no Gilchrist and should be checked while and again to bring the best out of him.

So, Australia should know they are not the current no.1 and that is due to some reason. They should find out this reason fast and solve it dynamically.Otherwise who knows we have two WI competing against each other after a decade.

SKIPPER THE KEY FOR SL TO WIN

In the upcoming series for Sri Lanka, the results depends heavily on their captain Kumar Sangakkara.

Especially playing in a bouncy pitch ,the 1st T20 is in Perth,Sangakkara's fully equipped technique(the best in the team) is an essence to overcome the fire power of the Australian pace bowling.Sangakkara is not only capable of consolidating but also takes the game to the opposition.Especially when you play against Australia it is important that you attack and not wait for things to happen.

c. Getty image

In many matches, played previously by Sl downunder they have felt difficulty in taking the attack to the opposition and end up acquiring 60 odd run short of the target they are chasing.At no.3 Sangakkara needs to set the agenda(also as a skipper) go their and play fearless cricket.Some fine knocks like (180 odd in the last test that SL played at Australia) suggests the lefties ...ability to tackle the Australian condition.

I think Mahela Jayerdene(a well euipped creamy batsmen in any sense) need to refresh a liitle bit...and start to strike frequent boundaries from the score 20-50.He spends his time, thats all right and goes to make a ton..but as a senior batsmen(and especially playing at the aussy condn), he needs to take the charge and provide a breather for younger ones like,Kapugedera and Mathews.

Well in the bowling field,Sl must pursue with Fernando next to Perera.His 4-for in the practice match prove his wicket taking ability.You need to choose and aggresive bowler and not a naggy bowler.( but back in the sub continent i feek perera has good chance of getting a spot in the team).Lasith Malinga has some good taste of visiting downunder.He needs to continue his good work.And Nuwan Kulasekara,should open with Malinga to provide uniformity at the top.Sl may experiment playing Randiv(who has covered Mendis amazing!) but keeping the old man as a containg option is not viable.Rather the inexperienced batting line up(less than the previous sets of batsmen)may be rattled through by the wizard.

So, Sangakkara has shown good signs hitting an aggressive ton(5 sixes) to post Sl win a game in the tour game.Lets hope he does good and SL play well!

THE INDIAN STUNTMAN OF TEST CRICKET

You may think the stuntman i am referring to are those...who hit...sixes one after another.(you may think it is Yuvraj Sing 6 sixes of 6 ball or may be Sehwag who brings triple centuries with a 6) but if you watch Test cricket with more precision you come to know that the real stuntman is VVS Laxman.

copy right AP

I have my own set of evidences to prove it.Lets look at these three features of Laxman's play.

1.Playing against the spin:

Especially coming from the subcontinent the batsmen have that instinctive fick on the legside.They often cut the wide deliveries and drive while getting to the pitch of the ball.But Laxman has other ideas.He drives the ball against the turn more successfully,fearlessly and naturally than any other bastsmen.Actually an against the turn drive is only associated with VVS and it may labelled as"PERFORMED BY EXPERTS. DON'T IMMITATE"

2.Playing away from the body:

Normally when you come at 6 you tend to play the next new ball and with the ball swinging somewhat you are advised to play along your body.Laxman is a true stuntman as he drives cuts and pulls the ball that are relatively away from the body.Other succesful test bastmen like Sangakkara or Dravid leave those ball with ease.Not to Laxman, and especially under pressure he tends to drive these ball away from the close in fielders to secure much valuable 4 runs.

3.Trusting the tail:
Last Australia India test series saw another stunt from VVS laxman.Apart from playing aggressively laxman gave strike to Ishant Sharma...from the very 1st ball he faced to every single he got after that.This way he trusted the tail and India won.I wonder if even the gutsy Ind captain MS Dhoni would have done the same.

NEPALESE GIRLS PROVE A POINT!

 It is well known that Nepalese cricket is on the rise one way or the other. This time its not the men who brought the glory home.

Nepalese U-19 women cricket team led by Neri Thapa, have come home undefeated along with the ACC U-19 women championship.This not only proves the potentiality of cricket within Nepal but also shows the popularity of the sport in the Nation.

Cricket in Nepal is played by the natives themselves rather than country like UAE,USA ...etc.This means a developed infrastructure, proper domestic league and security to the players shall surely increase the professionalism and competency of Nepalese cricket.

Developing Nepal as a neutral venue for  series including multiple ODI nations shall give opportunity for Nepales team to gather experience by playing practice match against these countries.Similarly CAN would get enough revenue..from the broadcasters and the tickets(if the grounds are developed into proper stadiums) so as to carry out much needed reform in the cricketing sector.

Similary CAN should also look for the opportunity to invite competitive cricket clubs to play friendly match with Nepal.Maybe they are the Ranji teams of India or the county clubs of England.

In the time when Test audiences are declining Nepalese cricket fan keenly observe even the 3 day matches both on TV(the qualitty of broadcast is pity compared to International standards) and in the ground itself.And now the rise of women cricket team of Nepal proves the point that Nepal is certainly is going in the right direction.It is upto the ACC and ICC to understand this potentiality and provide Nepal adequate support to reach the highest level

HOW TO GET SEHWAG OUT???

copy right AP hifenhaus dismissing sehwag in the 2nd test

In this latest Test match ..(2nd test of 2010 aus ind series)sehwag was out on a relatively low score..to the bowling of Hilfenhaus and Johnson taking the catch at deep square leg.

You can get any of the greats out in a seaming,,,or a turning pitch but to get them out in a flat pitch...and when they are in supreme form..and moreover we have one and only virender.in the crease..to get them out before they causing the damage is a MIllion dollar question.Well i support what Ponting & co. did today and I think thats the way.

On a flat slow pitch we dont expect ace batsmen to get edged to the slips .Especially player of nature of Sehwag hit it hard and the edge tends to travel over the slips,resulting to a rather painful boundary.And the margin of error is less for the bowlers and the batsmen most often gets to a rolling start. And later when the field is spread the batsmen is so set that he begins to pierce the gap like a needle through a piece of cake.

So what do we do?? The fielding captain must ask his bowler to bowl on one side of the wicket get some protection there.In case of Sehwag out side off stump..(have point third man and an extracover)...where do these fielder come in expense of the two of the three slips...and ocassionaly remind the batsmen of his particular weakness..maybe some yorker,bouncer,or a slow ball(in case of sewhag.short balls) and put the field accordingly(short leg and sqaure leg).

Obivously you need to bowl tight and disallow singles.Than...sehwag plays an extravagent cover drive..(he generally gets 4 for that) but this time a single or a couple...then the next cut shot is also a single..and so the score may be a mere 25 instead of 75/0,,,than u have a chance...be patient and wait for the batsmen to make a mistake.He certainly is a super batsmen...but he isnt God...but still if he keeps on hitting than close your eyes and pray to the almighty..(.haha what more can u do).

But there are people who..are agaisnt these sort of plan.They always think there needs to 3 slip and a gully especially when u have a huge lead.But cricket has changed...more T20 and ODIS are getting batsmen confident and the flat pitches are not helping either.So why dont we go ahead,,and stop giving batsmen like Sehwag easy boundary upfront and spread the field once he get to 70s(i mean he is in the same form...whether he is in 0 or 300).

WAS FINN THE REAL EMERGING ONE!!

I was really amazed as the emerging player award was given to Steven Finn, the tall English seamer.

Ya...the english seamer..is talented enough but has he proved enough.He has still to play against the best of the teams and to perform against them(lets say at INDIA or against the AUssies).But it is an emerging award so may be that is an excuse{for the player have just a season,,and the schedulde..may not include tough oppositins}.But looking at the other contenders Finn seems to be the least likely one.

His teammate Graeme Swann seemed to be the most deserving one.Maybe the jury thought he was not young enough(it is not the youngest cricketer award or is it!!!!).Then why was he drawn into the nominees.He has cemented his spot in all three forms of the game.Finn, really needs to prove more of himself to be a regular in the English side(since he has played only against Bangladesh and a weakend Pakistani Batting line up....).But look at Swann he has won them test matches...literally the T20 championship and several ODIS.Finn, on the other hand has played just test mathches,but still he emerged ahead of Swann.

Similarly Umar Akmal seemed to be an exciting prospect as well.He along with SL allrounder Angelo Mathews have cemented their spot in all three forms of the game.But still the award went to FInn.Maybe the jury wanted to revive the charisma of test cricket...can it be done this way???