Well leading cricket websites suggest that rain spoils West Indies' fortune when the 3rd one day international was called off due to rain at Sydney. Is it that rain played a spoilsport when West Indies were above to lose the third one day match also against Australia? West Indies, in the past two one dayers have not even managed to cross the 200 run mark and suffered humiliating defeats like never before. It is a pity that West Indies are playing Australia, when in case their caliber is taken into consideration have to play some non test playing nation or atleast Bangladesh.
Australia no doubt put up a modest of totals when they were restricted to just 225 on board by the West Indies' bowlers (which may be the case, no guarantee). The story could also be that the Australian batsmen might have taken the West Indian bowlers lightly and as a result paid a partly price by scoring the lowest total in the tournament against the West Indies. It was only Ravi Rampaul who could be the highlight of the day when he returned with figures of 4/61 from his quota of 10 overs. The other side of the coin also suggesting that Ravi went in for over 6.0 runs an over compared to the overall run rate of just above 4.0 an over.
On the other hand, it would be worth highlighting the bowling performance of Dwayne Smith who returned with figures of 3/45 from 10 overs at a run rate of 4.5 an over. May be that his experience also counted to his performance to some extent. As batsmen kept on collapsing on one side the incoming batsmen were more cautious and were found playing their innings more seriously compared to their batting counterparts. It was the tail end batsman in Ryan Harris who hit the lone six of the Australian innings and returned with a strike rate of 233 which was more than 2 runs a ball.
And when it comes to the West Indies batting, it was fascinating to see the entire 6 runs that was on the board towards the West Indies side was scored by extras alone. West Indies, moreover were set a target of 151 runs from 24 overs which was more than 6 runs an over as compared to the run rate of just above 4 an over had the match not been interrupted. West Indies had faced Australia some three years back in the then VB series which was a tri series involving Pakistan as the third team. West Indies had reduced Australia to 41/5 in the league match which was abandoned due to rain. But, this time rain ruined Australia's chances of whitewashing the West Indies.
Showing posts with label Ryan Harris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ryan Harris. Show all posts
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Friday, 29 January 2010
Ryan Harris is hardly surprising
Well this has been the routine for me whenever I go through the cricket news on various cricket sites that I'm not satisfied with the way comments are made taking into account a player's flash in the pan brilliance. Just after one good performance, the Australian spearhead- Ryan Harris is making news as a surprise for Australia. This, I guess cannot get stupid anymore. I just remember some commentator making an all rounder out of Krishnamachari Shrikanth when he became the first player for India to have had 2 five wicket hauls in ODI cricket. And so has been Ajith Agarkar.
The world needed just one good innings from Ajith Agarkar to rate him as another Kapil Dev for India when he smashed the Zimbabwean bowlers to score the fastest fifty for India when he did it off just 22 balls. I don't know whether it is because both Kapil Dev and Ajith Agarkar achieved that feat against Zimbabwe that such comparisons are made. And, the moment Irfan Pathan is found getting the ball to swing; he is rated to someone like Wasim Akram. This was one thing that even Chaminda Vass couldn't afford to do despite following Akram for decades.
However, both Ajith Agarkar and Irfan Pathan are not being seen anywhere in the international arena at present. And then I can recall the way Ajantha Mendis bowled Sri Lanka to victory in the Asia cup 2008 who not only became the highest wicket taker in that series but was also awarded the man of the series. Later on he bacame the fastest bowler in termas of matches to take 50 wickets in one day internationals. However, statistics suggest that most of Mendis' wickets came against lesser known teams like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and UAE. The only exception being his 6 wicket haul against India in the finals of the 2008 Asia cup.
But still, he could not take the game forward for Sri Lanka. Mendis never became the threat that he was. And the most funniest of them all being the comparison between Avishkar Salvi and Glenn McGrath with both of them sharing only the bowling action. And, I would be glad if anyone could tell me where Avishkar Salvi is now and what is he doing. But, nothing can be as bad as the one under consideration where Ryan Harris is in full praise for his 5 wicket haul in his maiden game and that too against Pakistan who have so far not been able to win even a single match at OZ. So has been Saqlain Mushtaq who at one stage was the leading wicket-taker for Pak only to be sacked for almost a decade.
The world needed just one good innings from Ajith Agarkar to rate him as another Kapil Dev for India when he smashed the Zimbabwean bowlers to score the fastest fifty for India when he did it off just 22 balls. I don't know whether it is because both Kapil Dev and Ajith Agarkar achieved that feat against Zimbabwe that such comparisons are made. And, the moment Irfan Pathan is found getting the ball to swing; he is rated to someone like Wasim Akram. This was one thing that even Chaminda Vass couldn't afford to do despite following Akram for decades.
However, both Ajith Agarkar and Irfan Pathan are not being seen anywhere in the international arena at present. And then I can recall the way Ajantha Mendis bowled Sri Lanka to victory in the Asia cup 2008 who not only became the highest wicket taker in that series but was also awarded the man of the series. Later on he bacame the fastest bowler in termas of matches to take 50 wickets in one day internationals. However, statistics suggest that most of Mendis' wickets came against lesser known teams like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and UAE. The only exception being his 6 wicket haul against India in the finals of the 2008 Asia cup.
But still, he could not take the game forward for Sri Lanka. Mendis never became the threat that he was. And the most funniest of them all being the comparison between Avishkar Salvi and Glenn McGrath with both of them sharing only the bowling action. And, I would be glad if anyone could tell me where Avishkar Salvi is now and what is he doing. But, nothing can be as bad as the one under consideration where Ryan Harris is in full praise for his 5 wicket haul in his maiden game and that too against Pakistan who have so far not been able to win even a single match at OZ. So has been Saqlain Mushtaq who at one stage was the leading wicket-taker for Pak only to be sacked for almost a decade.
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