All posts by csb10.top

His wife, his brother, his coach. An old forgotten supersinger, an old Bollywood superstar, almost every popular athlete in the country, almost every coach he has worked with, cricketers from his country, cricketers from other countries, writers from his country, writers from other countries, astrologers, designers, doctors, hair stylists, almost everyone who has had something to do with him has been interviewed for the occasion. Amid this hullabaloo it is almost forgotten that we are just a day away from what the man who has played international cricket for 20 years yearns for the most. A Test series. Finally there is one for Sachin Tendulkar and for India. And the Sri Lankans, rated No. 2 in Tests by the ICC, do we even know they have been in the country for a week now?And it’s a mean series, this. Sri Lanka may never have beaten India in India, but they caused the home side’s famed batting line-up enough embarrassment last year to provide a nice delicious previous to this series. There are a few men in the Indian middle order, thinking payback after the loss in 2008. The cast hasn’t changed much either: Muttiah Muralitharan is there, so is Ajantha Mendis; Rahul Dravid, Tendulkar and VVS Laxman are all there. Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble are missing, but they are replaced by two younger men just as eager to prove their credentials. One rating point separates the sides in ICC rankings.Last year in Sri Lanka, Mendis and Murali took 47 wickets between them, in three Tests and for 945 runs, to bring India down to their knees. All other bowlers from both the sides combined to take 48. Things have changed since then. Mendis has played six more Tests, and added just 16 wickets to that tally of 26. Against Pakistan at the P Sara Oval he bowled more bad balls in one session than he did all series against India. But it was India that started the demystification of Mendis in the ODI leg of that tour. This will be Mendis’ chance – his bowling much more comprehensible now – to prove he can still be an effective bowler.This will be Murali’s last chance to get rid of a millstone. Despite that dream series in 2008, Australia are the only side against whom his career figures are worse: he averages 30 against India, against 22 overall. Australia is the only country where he averages worse: in India each of his 31 wickets has cost him 40 runs. And it has little to do with conditions: Murali has done better in places like England and South Africa, which assist spinners far less. Almost every visiting spinner has had a hard time in India, and Murali will want to strike out one of the few question marks left in his achievements.The anomaly persists with the Sri Lankan team as a whole too. They are No. 2 in the world, but are yet to win a Test in Australia, South Africa and India. They are one of the better Sri Lankan sides to have toured India, but they know they won’t be able to move to No. 1 without winning a series here, and not just a Test. For that their batting, inexperienced in Indian conditions, will have to deliver the kind of consistency it shows in Sri Lanka. Only four of them have played Tests previously in India – three each on the 2005 tour – and none of them have scored a century here. Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Thilan Samaraweera can’t afford to have a similar series. Dilshan and Samaraweera, though, have since then transformed into completely different batsmen: surer of their place and their skill, and hugely more successful.They know that in head to head with the corresponding batting line-up, they are up against it. But have we realised that this is one of the last times we are seeing Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman play Tests in India? South Africa are supposed to tour India in February 2010, but we are not sure if they will play just ODIs or if it will be a full tour. The last time they came, they played only Tests. And the year after that will be the year of the World Cup. Who knows who will make what career decision then? Before they go, they would want to, even if for just one day, see India at the top of the Test table, but they are not being helped by the scheduling: they last played a Test in New Zealand, in the first quarter of this year.The most intriguing reason to watch this series, though, should be the spin face-off. Both sides have three spinners each in their squads, and going by the make-up of their squads at least two each should play in each of the Tests. Harbhajan Singh will be keenly watched. He has been slightly enigmatic over the last year and a half. Superb in Tests in Sri Lanka, and remarkable in unfriendly conditions in New Zealand, he has somehow tended to be just a restrictive bowler in a majority of his limited-overs matches. Being India’s No. 1 Test spinner, he will have to lift his game again, quickly. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to a slip, a leg gully, a silly point and a forward short leg.What sights they will be. All we need is nice, bouncy tracks, and there will be two spinners on either side testing the batsmen. Here’s to fielders in close-in positions most of the time, lots of rough, slips taking diving catches, umpires being tested on many bat-pad calls and being distracted by huge crowds appealing along with Indian bowlers, Murali signing off with one last memorable duel with Indian batsmen. And, there’s Zaheer Khan coming back, there’s Nuwan Kulasekara and Thilan Thushara looking to build on strong performances in home Tests. And Sehwag and Dilshan will be opening the respective innings. If all goes right, there might not be much time to draw breath during this series, like there wasn’t in 2008.

Former umpire Dickie Bird has criticised the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS), saying it undermines the authority of on-field umpires. The system is currently being used in the Test series between Australia and West Indies, and New Zealand and Pakistan.”I would never have brought them in,” Bird told the . “They are taking the authority away from the on-field umpires, and the whole thing is causing more problems than it’s worth.”Bird’s comments come in the aftermath of umpire Mark Benson’s sudden withdrawal from the Adelaide Test between Australia and West Indies, and reports stating he was heading towards retirement out of frustration with the UDRS. The reported yesterday that Benson was upset over several incidents involving the UDRS on day one of the Test, one of which led to his original decision being overturned.”In the old days, controversial decisions became talking points in the bars and clubs but everybody respected the umpire’s authority,” Bird said. “I am in agreement with Roger Federer, who wanted Hawk-Eye thrown out of Wimbledon, and [FIFA president] Sepp Blatter, who says that refereeing decisions are part of football.”Players should accept these things and move on, but all the money that has come into sport has turned their heads.”Jeremy Lloyds, the English umpire, who stepped down from umpiring at the highest level in 2006, spoke of the strains involved, given the nature of the job, and the effects of decisions coming under scrutiny on television. “I was working 230 days a year, of which 150 were spent in airports or hotels,” he said. “The time you actually spend on the field, you feel that you’re in a goldfish bowl, and you can’t be yourself with the players in case it doesn’t look right on TV.”

ScorecardA career-best bowling performance by the offspinner Anisa Mohammed helped West Indies women take the Twenty20 series in amazing fashion in Cape Town. South Africa did well to set themselves a target of 115 but stumped spectacularly with the bat after their openers got them off to a solid, if slow, start. From 73 for 0 in the 12th over, South Africa folded for 101 in 19.2 overs, with Mohammed leading the rout with 5 for 10.Shandre Fritz and Trisha Chetty applied themselves slowly at the start of the South Africa innings. They added 31 in the Powerplay, hitting just one four, but opened up in the eighth over. A six by Fritz raised the team 50 in 51 balls, but her exit for a 35-ball 42 in the 12th over, slicing a catch to over, opened the sluice gates. Mohammed came on for the next over and immediately got Chetty (31 from 39) chipping to mid-off. In her second over, the 15th of the innings, she dismissed Mignon du Preez and Kirstie Thomson off successive deliveries to leave South Africa on 84 for 4.After 15 overs, South Africa needed 30 more to win. Shemaine Campbelle, the right-arm seamer, added a second, getting Alicia Smith to flay her first delivery down to third man, and in the 18th over the hosts lost two more wickets. A terrible mix-up after the captain Sunette Loubser worked the ball to long leg and misjudged a single with Marizanne Kapp was followed by Charlize van der Westhuizen spooning one to extra cover.Mohammed came back to bowl her final over, the 19th, and nipped out two more to complete a superb outing. The final wicket came in the last over when Ashlyn Kilowan was run out.South Africa wouldn’t have anticipated such a dramatic collapse after excelling in the field. Smith and Kilowan led the bowling honours with two apiece while van der Westhuizen took 1 for 12 off her allotted overs. Cordel Jack’s 41 from 43 deliveries – she was particularly impressive driving straight and cutting square on the off side – was the best score of the West Indies innings and how crucial it proved to be.Loubser was disappointed at the loss but was happy with her bowlers’ performance.”There were a lot of positives to take out from this game even though the result didn’t go our way. The bowlers stuck to the lines and lengths that we discussed and we had an improved performance in the field as well,” Loubser said. “Going into the final T20, we need to still play our game and end the series on a high.”

Two players from New Zealand’s current side, Daniel Vettori and Shane Bond, have been voted into the country’s all-time XI by a jury of noted cricket writers and ex-players. Three other notable modern-day contenders, Stephen Fleming, Chris Cairns and Brendon McCullum, miss out.New Zealand is the third country to be covered in Cricinfo’s all-time XI series – the two previous ones are Australia and England.Three players were unanimously picked by the 10 members of the jury – Glenn Turner, Martin Crowe and Richard Hadlee.The XI also includes two pre-war cricketers, neither of whom played more than 10 Tests apiece – fast bowler Jack Cowie and opening batsman Stewie Dempster. Cowie, who teams up with Bond, Hadlee and Vettori in the bowling line-up, took 45 wickets in the nine Tests he played.”Had he been an Australian, he might have been termed a wonder of the age,” said of him. Dempster had an average of 65 in the 10 Tests he played, and is still regarded as among the very best batsmen New Zealand has produced.Apart from Crowe, the middle order of the side features Martin Donnelly, another highly acclaimed player who figured in only a handful of games at the highest level, and Bert Sutcliffe.The allrounder’s slot was hotly contested – though neither Vettori or Hadlee was in the shortlist in the segment – and finally won by John R Reid, a big hitter who led New Zealand in their first three Test victories, a fine medium-pacer and a fine fielder.The wicketkeeper’s spot goes to Ian Smith. (“More dynamic than Parore, more precise on his feet than McCullum, and possibly more to say than either of them,” Richard Boock, one of the jurors said.)The jury included Don Neely, the president of New Zealand Cricket; Ross Dykes, the former New Zealand chairman of selectors; David Leggat of the ; and former players John Morrison and Jonathan Millmow.Cricinfo also asked readers to select their all-time XI, and while the bowling line-up remained the same in that XI, Donnelly and Dempster missed out, Cairns took the allrounder’s spot and McCullum the wicketkeeper’s, John Wright came in as opener, and Stephen Fleming in the middle order.More details hereThe nomineesOpeners
Stewie Dempster, Glenn Turner, Graham Dowling, John Wright, Bruce Edgar, Mark Richardson, Bert SutcliffeMiddle order
John R Reid, Bert Sutcliffe, John F Reid, Martin Donnelly, Bev Congdon, Martin Crowe, Andrew Jones, Stephen Fleming, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillanAllrounders
John R Reid, Bruce Taylor, Chris Cairns, Jacob OramWicketkeepers
Ken Wadsworth, Ian Smith, Ken James, Adam Parore, Brendon McCullumFast bowlers
Jack Cowie, Dick Motz, Richard Collinge, Richard Hadlee, Ewen Chatfield, Danny Morrison, Chris Martin, Shane BondSpinners
Hedley Howarth, John Bracewell, Stephen Boock, Tom Burtt, Daniel Vettori

Scorecard
A nurdled single off the pads through mid-wicket is a bread-and-butter shot to Kent’s Martin van Jaarsveld, but it was precisely the stroke that secured his side’s second batting bonus point against Leicestershire and with it the County Championship Division Two title.As is the way at sleepy St Lawrence the celebrations at 11.20am remained low key. The Kent players on the balcony hardly broke into a smile, while only a handful of supporters stood up to applaud the single that heralded Kent’s immediate return to the top flight at the first time of asking. Most believed perhaps that Kent should never have been relegated in the first place.No doubt the weary and ailing Kent squad will unwind when Hugh Morris, the ECB’s managing director, awards the trophy and the £90,000 winner’s cheque to Rob Key when the game finishes on Friday, but the only emotion van Jaarsveld and his sixth-wicket partner Justin Kemp betrayed yesterday was a mere touch of gloves at a job well done.The single took van Jaarsveld on to 89, but true to form for the division’s leading run-scorer, he converted that into his seventh century of the season, this latest hundred coming from 122 balls and with 16 fours and a brace of sixes. He lost Kemp (8) leg-before to a Wayne White shooter but forged ahead to add 81 in tandem with Alex Blake. van Jaarsveld took his own score on to 146 before chasing a wide one fromJames Benning just before lunch to edge to keeper Tom New stood up tothe stumps.Kent’s tail wagged in the middle session with cameo contributions from Ryan McLaren (44), James Tredwell (29) and Simon Cook (23 not out) that extended their total to 453 and an overall first-innings lead of 305 before Andrew Harris polished off the innings with four for 84.Kent’s out-going director of cricket Graham Ford, who hands over the reins to Paul Farbrace at the end of the month, said: “I’m just really chuffed the boys have got their reward for their work because it really has been a hard slog. It’s something they set their minds on doing right from the first moment we were relegated last season.”Fortunately we have a group of guys here who are prepared to look in the mirror and do a lot of self assessment and they’ve put a lot of things right. But it’s been a massively long haul and everyone’s delighted that that promotion and the title have been achieved.”Questioned as to whether the overriding feeling was of relief rather than elation, he added: “There’s a bit of both, it’s something you become more and more desperate to achieve. You see yourself in the race, feel it can be done, that you’re almost there, but no matter how strong you’re feeling, you then have one of those little nightmares about how things might possibly go wrong.”We’ve not finished well in the past couple of seasons so everyone was a little bit cautious about wrapping this up. Now there is a sense of relief, but also a real feeling of satisfaction at having done a job pretty well.”With eight wins so far our success has been pretty emphatic and I hope those supporters who have been around the ground here quite often will have appreciated our very positive style of play.”The guys can be really proud of the fact that they’ve achieved this with a small squad and with only minimal contribution from an overseas pro. The injuries to Robbie Joseph and Ryan McLaren were setbacks, but the lads have shown great character, put their hands up and worked even harder.”There was a real sense of anticlimax for the rest of the day as Leicestershire’s openers Paul Nixon (37*) and Matt Boyce, with an unbeaten 53 from 131 balls, compiled 97 without loss in the 38 remaining overs.