Well it was fascinating not only to see England win the first test at Nottingham yesterday but also the scorecard was one of its kind when the top three individual scores in the 2nd innings of Pakistan's batting happened to be 14, 15 and 16. Of course, the score of 14 in the innings was scored by extras and that is no player. These three add up to 45 runs which is more than half of the total score of 80 put up by Pakistan. Recently, a couple of weeks back, Pakistan made news for the right reasons when they bowled Australia for 88 which was their first score below 100 to lose all ten wickets.
Now, they themselves make news this time for the wrong reasons when they lost all their ten wickets for a score 8 runs less than what the Aussies scored. Coincidentally, the aforementioned scorers were the only three which crossed the double digit mark. Extras apart, there were just two Pakistani batsmen who scored above ten and with one making up his mind in leaving out the tail end batsman Danish Kaneria who scored 16, the number reduces to just one batsman out of 11 scoring double digit. It is nothing but a tragedy that the top scorer in the innings happened to be a number 10 batsman in Kaneria.
One more thing that would fascinate all Pakistan cricket fans would be the fact that the top scorer for Pakistan, with both their innings combined would be another tail end batsman in Umer Gul when he top scored with an unbeaten 65 in the 1st innings. That was the 3rd highest individual score in the match after the English batsmen Eoin Morgan and Matt Prior notched up centuries for their team in the 1st and the 2nd innings respectively. It was a good toss to win by the England captain Andrew Struass who wisely chose to bat. The scorecard tells us the pitch which was found favoring the bowlers and batting 2nd would have been inviting trouble.
Of course, hardly any captain wins the toss and elects to bowl first no matter n what pitch he is playing. The Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni can be excluded from the list who is often found making abnormal decisions with reasons which only he justifies after making a fool out of himself and his team. One can see 8 bowlers from the Pakistan side having the red cherry in their hands in the first innings when England scored 364 as against the only 4 bowlers from the English side. This showed the pressure that the Pakistan players were. This was unnecessary with three more sessions and four more days to go in the match. Pakistan needs to learn a lot. Better approach Bangladesh.
Showing posts with label Andrew Strauss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Andrew Strauss. Show all posts
Monday, 2 August 2010
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
England complicates its tour of Bangladesh
Even when the England team was supposed to face the Aussies for the Ashes last year, they wouldn't have broken their head over the issue as they are found doing for the series against Bangladesh. One thing that can be thought of to have caused tension among English players is the fact that they cannot feature in the initial phase of the Indian Premier League all because of the tour of Bangladesh which would hardly be on the top of anyone's agenda. But, much to anyone's surprise, this has been the biggest headache for the England team.
The first test between the two countries is due to start on 12th which is just a couple of days later. But, the worries regarding the same have started a week back when there were injuries to Graham Onions who had to sit out of the warm up match against the Bangladesh A. These test matches were needless to be played with no team in the past playing a warm up game against and in Bangladesh. It has been Bangladesh who might have played a warm up game on its tour to that country before the real challenge would have begun.
This was also the case in the recently concluded test series between Bangladesh and India where Bangladesh was a common factor and so were they hosting India. Even there, the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had problems in selecting the final squad combining eleven payers, with Rahul Dravid having to miss the 3rd and 4th days of play and Dhoni himself missing out in the first test owing to a back injury. For most of the countries, touring and playing Bangladesh is a nightmare for, the inclusion of senior players strips the team of some match practice to young legs.
And, in case young legs are included, there is hardly any guarantee of them putting up a better performance and in case they fail to do so, that would be the worst nightmare. Some of the players whose names have hardly been heard like Tim Bresnan (who has so far played just 2 tests), Michael Carberry (who is yet to play a test match) and Steven Finn - who also has a fate similar to Michael Carberry if not for the fact that he is aged just 20 and can be expected to have a good talent in him are in line for the test series against Bangladesh. I wish the England selection committee brings back Michael Vaughan, Ashley Giles etc who retired with still some fuel left in their tank, so that England don't get into the news for wrong reasons.
The first test between the two countries is due to start on 12th which is just a couple of days later. But, the worries regarding the same have started a week back when there were injuries to Graham Onions who had to sit out of the warm up match against the Bangladesh A. These test matches were needless to be played with no team in the past playing a warm up game against and in Bangladesh. It has been Bangladesh who might have played a warm up game on its tour to that country before the real challenge would have begun.
This was also the case in the recently concluded test series between Bangladesh and India where Bangladesh was a common factor and so were they hosting India. Even there, the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had problems in selecting the final squad combining eleven payers, with Rahul Dravid having to miss the 3rd and 4th days of play and Dhoni himself missing out in the first test owing to a back injury. For most of the countries, touring and playing Bangladesh is a nightmare for, the inclusion of senior players strips the team of some match practice to young legs.
And, in case young legs are included, there is hardly any guarantee of them putting up a better performance and in case they fail to do so, that would be the worst nightmare. Some of the players whose names have hardly been heard like Tim Bresnan (who has so far played just 2 tests), Michael Carberry (who is yet to play a test match) and Steven Finn - who also has a fate similar to Michael Carberry if not for the fact that he is aged just 20 and can be expected to have a good talent in him are in line for the test series against Bangladesh. I wish the England selection committee brings back Michael Vaughan, Ashley Giles etc who retired with still some fuel left in their tank, so that England don't get into the news for wrong reasons.
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Something strange and unusual
This is with reference to the argument by the England coach Andy Flower citing that Smith was given a life when the batsman was on 15 then, which had to be given out. If the England coach's words are to be believed, the South African captain Graeme Smith had a knick before the ball went on the find the keeper's gloves. But, this was not to be the case as far as the onfield umpires were concerned. Smith stayed on the crease, probably not knowing what had happened waiting for the umpires decision which finally went in his favor. And so was the decision of the third umpire.
Smith eventually went on to score 105, which was his 20th hundred in test cricket if statistics are to be believed. But, one thing hardly anyone can understand is that how could Andy Flower or Andrew Strauss hear the knick which neither was heard by the onfield umpires nor by the third umpire, who has the power to see the replays repeatedly? Of course, there has been situations where the third umpire has been partial to one side, when Andrew Symonds was given not out despite videos suggesting that his foot was above the ground in the famous Sydney test 2008.
But, the present case under consideration is a different one. That test played at Sydney was a controversial one where 8 decisions from the umpire had gone wrong, out of which one decision was given by the Australian captain Ricky Ponting (when he raised his finger to declare Ganguly out for a ball caught off a bounce) and the other by the third umpire as mentioned above. However, in the same test, Ricky Ponting was given out which replays suggest was not the case. But, this issue should not have been blown out of proportion by either Strauss or Flower.
If one has to go by Strauss' words, there should be such an issue popping up in every match almost when, there can be atleast one case of a no ball being declared a legal delivery and viceversa. And, this I bet would be witnessed by every test match wherein atleast one leg before decision turns out to be a wrong one. But, none of these decisions make news whatsoever. And, even if Strauss words are true to an extent, there was nothing to go in for a complaint to be lodged. No one in the crowds had heard a noise and so was the batsman. But still.....no complaints. And, how does Andy Flower say that the TV umpire had turned down the volume low before replaying the ball? Was Daryl Harper a dumbo by any means?
Smith eventually went on to score 105, which was his 20th hundred in test cricket if statistics are to be believed. But, one thing hardly anyone can understand is that how could Andy Flower or Andrew Strauss hear the knick which neither was heard by the onfield umpires nor by the third umpire, who has the power to see the replays repeatedly? Of course, there has been situations where the third umpire has been partial to one side, when Andrew Symonds was given not out despite videos suggesting that his foot was above the ground in the famous Sydney test 2008.
But, the present case under consideration is a different one. That test played at Sydney was a controversial one where 8 decisions from the umpire had gone wrong, out of which one decision was given by the Australian captain Ricky Ponting (when he raised his finger to declare Ganguly out for a ball caught off a bounce) and the other by the third umpire as mentioned above. However, in the same test, Ricky Ponting was given out which replays suggest was not the case. But, this issue should not have been blown out of proportion by either Strauss or Flower.
If one has to go by Strauss' words, there should be such an issue popping up in every match almost when, there can be atleast one case of a no ball being declared a legal delivery and viceversa. And, this I bet would be witnessed by every test match wherein atleast one leg before decision turns out to be a wrong one. But, none of these decisions make news whatsoever. And, even if Strauss words are true to an extent, there was nothing to go in for a complaint to be lodged. No one in the crowds had heard a noise and so was the batsman. But still.....no complaints. And, how does Andy Flower say that the TV umpire had turned down the volume low before replaying the ball? Was Daryl Harper a dumbo by any means?
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