Well if anybody thinks otherwise about the declining Australian side without hard hitting Gilchrist and Symonds or the Glenn McGrath who was known for his line and length, one has to think again after looking at yesterday's match between Australia and New Zealand where Australia literally thrashed their Tasmanian rivals first by bowling them all out for 206 from 45 overs and then bundling up the innings in just 34 overs with over six runs an over. Looking at Mitchell Johnson being awarded the man of the match, the pitch can be though as a batsman's paradise restricting whom is indeed praiseworthy.
Australia might not be the team what they were four years ago but, there is still some fuel left in the Aussie tank with the likes of Brad Haddin and Shane Watson who is equally destructible as some Symonds and Mitchell Johnson who can be lest compared with some Damien Fleming or Brett Lee who are decent bowlers though no belonging to the club of Glenn McGrath. This was the third time in succession that Australia beat New Zealand in world cups starting from 2003 when they defended 212 and won by 96 runs from at one stage being at 84/7.
Thanks to some splendid fast bowling from Shane Bond who rattled Australia's top and middle order and Brett Lee & Michael Beaven who did the same to New Zealand and put up a solid 100+ run partnership respectively to see Australia go undefeated yet again. And then in 2007, when the world was fresh from Australia thrashing 0-3 loss in the then recently concluded Chappel-Hadlee series when may be the Aussies were experimenting just couple of weeks before the world cup 2007. However, things were totally different in the world cup when the margin of victory for the Aussies was a whooping 215 runs.
Yesterday as well, it was as though New Zealand was of no match for Australia and seemed like Australia were facing some Bangladesh or West Indies. Scorecard suggests that the only half century in the New Zealand innings came from the number 8 batsman bowler Nathan McCullum who played 76 balls which was the only reason why New Zealand raced past 200. Or else, may be the match would have got over in just 25 overs. No Aussie bowler bowled his full quota of 10 overs and Johnson was about to bowl and unfortunately the Kiwi batsmen were not interested in playing anymore.
Showing posts with label Mitchell Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mitchell Johnson. Show all posts
Saturday, 26 February 2011
Monday, 8 March 2010
Ponting backs a 60% fine payer
It is not something unusual for an Australian to say some nonsense to the opposition player be it at home or outside. And, this time as well the situation is no exception when the Australian current spearhead Mitchell Johnson was found to have an unhealthy chat with the man of the match Scott Styris in the first one day international at Auckland. However, this has seen no condemnation from the Australian captain Ricky Ponting. For this great deed of Johnson, he was fined 60% of the match fees. But, still, Ponting looks convinced and doesn't even speak a word regarding the issue.
This may have hardly been expected from anyone for, this is not the first time that an Australian player has been involved in a spat with a player from the opposition. Likewise, this has been the trademark of Aussie cricket now a days whatsoever. The deeds of the Australian players have reached such heights that no one cares to have a word about the issue. This is not restricted to only the Australian players on the field but also by the crowd. Perhaps! had this happened in Australia, may be New Zealand would have had to rethink about whether to continue with the tour or not.
One has to pity Scott Styris who had to cope up with a fine of 15% of his match fee for hardly any fault of his. Videos suggest that Scott Styris was just being at the receiving end of Johnson's frustration. From an Australian's point of view, Styris should not have hit the two boundaries off Johnson's last two deliveries prior to the incident and neither should have seen New Zealand through that match. It was because of Scott Styris that Australia's consecutive winning streak in one dayers stood broken. It was solely because of Styris that people's tongue's started doubting about Australia's run in cricket outside.
Whatever, this was not the way Ricky Ponting was found to react when India's Harbhajan Singh was accused of showering unwanted words on Andrew Symonds in the Sydney test a couple of years back. The moment Hayden saw Harbhajan Singh moving his lips, he made no further delay in coming and blowing up the issue. Forget about condemning the incident, instead Ricky Ponting comes out saying it was he was having fun with the crowd when Johnson had to be escorted by the two security guards to the dressing room off the field. C'mon..why should one seek special security for having fun with someone?
This may have hardly been expected from anyone for, this is not the first time that an Australian player has been involved in a spat with a player from the opposition. Likewise, this has been the trademark of Aussie cricket now a days whatsoever. The deeds of the Australian players have reached such heights that no one cares to have a word about the issue. This is not restricted to only the Australian players on the field but also by the crowd. Perhaps! had this happened in Australia, may be New Zealand would have had to rethink about whether to continue with the tour or not.
One has to pity Scott Styris who had to cope up with a fine of 15% of his match fee for hardly any fault of his. Videos suggest that Scott Styris was just being at the receiving end of Johnson's frustration. From an Australian's point of view, Styris should not have hit the two boundaries off Johnson's last two deliveries prior to the incident and neither should have seen New Zealand through that match. It was because of Scott Styris that Australia's consecutive winning streak in one dayers stood broken. It was solely because of Styris that people's tongue's started doubting about Australia's run in cricket outside.
Whatever, this was not the way Ricky Ponting was found to react when India's Harbhajan Singh was accused of showering unwanted words on Andrew Symonds in the Sydney test a couple of years back. The moment Hayden saw Harbhajan Singh moving his lips, he made no further delay in coming and blowing up the issue. Forget about condemning the incident, instead Ricky Ponting comes out saying it was he was having fun with the crowd when Johnson had to be escorted by the two security guards to the dressing room off the field. C'mon..why should one seek special security for having fun with someone?
Monday, 15 February 2010
The fate of batting records these days...
In today's world of cricket, it would not be wrong to say that records are created rather than achieved by anyone. The latest one would be the 47th test hundred by none other than SachinTendulkar. Until a decade back, there was only Sunil Gavaskar who had scored more than 30 centuries in test cricket. But, today, there are five others excluding Gavaskar namely SachinTendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, Jacques Kallis, Steve Waugh and Mathew Hayden who have scored 30+ hundreds in international test cricket. It was somewhere in late 80s when Gavaskar achieved this feat.
But, the remaining six have done it in the past decade. It took 36 years for someone like Brian Lara to break Gary Sobers' record for the highest test score of 365* and just 6 months to break Mathew Hayden's score of 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003. There was a time when the bowler used to bowl the ball at the batsman the way he liked, with no restrictions upon the number of bouncers that a bowler can bowl in an over unlike it is today. There was no rule of a bowlers being prohibited to bowl further incase he bowls a dangerous delivery that is referred to as beamers in today's cricket.
Gone are the days when a test match used to yield results despite a team putting up a 700+ total. Yes, it is possible in today's cricket provided the team should be facing either the West Indies or Bangladesh for that to happen. One has to indeed thank the ICC for banning Zimbabwe from paying test cricket. In today's cricket, a total of 700+ on the board needs no further reason for it to be termed a draw in most of the cases. In today's cricket, a bowlers' main idea is to just bowl maiden overs than to get the opposition out.
No blaming the bowlers when the life for a batsman is made so easy that even tail enders like Harbhajan Singh & Mitchell Johnson can boast of 50+ scores and a debutant like Ravindra Jadeja can take the opposition bowlers for a ride. Batsmen need not bowl if they don't feel like. But, as the team loses wickets, bowlers will have to get in and take to the crese irrespective of whether it is his cup of tea or not. Finally, the bats that are available today can be considered to be those made of springs than willow that was the case a decade ago. The bats have so much power in them that a solid defence can find the ball go past the boundary.
Added to these would be the extended powerplays, batsmen friendly pitches, a free hit off a no ball and the advent of the T20 cricket. This can give rise to a lot of Sachins and Sehwags and less McGraths and Kumbles. Thanks for the entertainment ICC!
But, the remaining six have done it in the past decade. It took 36 years for someone like Brian Lara to break Gary Sobers' record for the highest test score of 365* and just 6 months to break Mathew Hayden's score of 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003. There was a time when the bowler used to bowl the ball at the batsman the way he liked, with no restrictions upon the number of bouncers that a bowler can bowl in an over unlike it is today. There was no rule of a bowlers being prohibited to bowl further incase he bowls a dangerous delivery that is referred to as beamers in today's cricket.
Gone are the days when a test match used to yield results despite a team putting up a 700+ total. Yes, it is possible in today's cricket provided the team should be facing either the West Indies or Bangladesh for that to happen. One has to indeed thank the ICC for banning Zimbabwe from paying test cricket. In today's cricket, a total of 700+ on the board needs no further reason for it to be termed a draw in most of the cases. In today's cricket, a bowlers' main idea is to just bowl maiden overs than to get the opposition out.
No blaming the bowlers when the life for a batsman is made so easy that even tail enders like Harbhajan Singh & Mitchell Johnson can boast of 50+ scores and a debutant like Ravindra Jadeja can take the opposition bowlers for a ride. Batsmen need not bowl if they don't feel like. But, as the team loses wickets, bowlers will have to get in and take to the crese irrespective of whether it is his cup of tea or not. Finally, the bats that are available today can be considered to be those made of springs than willow that was the case a decade ago. The bats have so much power in them that a solid defence can find the ball go past the boundary.
Added to these would be the extended powerplays, batsmen friendly pitches, a free hit off a no ball and the advent of the T20 cricket. This can give rise to a lot of Sachins and Sehwags and less McGraths and Kumbles. Thanks for the entertainment ICC!
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