Whatever Happened To Good Old Fashioned Retiring?

It used to be that when a player felt he could no longer compete at the highest level, either due to the physical limitations age imposes or because he simply no longer had the same motivation, he would retire. It was that simple, really. The player asked himself, "Am I good enough to continue playing for my country?" and then decided for whatever reason that he couldn't anymore, and so retired.

Not anymore. Nowadays, retirements are all about making some statement or the other. If you do want to announce your retirement, you either do it in one format or two, to prolong your career in the other. Its like a caveat you need to add for feeling bad that you're walking away from the game. And of course some people simply can't walk away, even when they clearly are well past their best. In fact, they feel so bad about it that they dismiss all talk about the "r" word. Really.

And then there is the most common use of retirements today, employed mostly by ex-Pakistani skippers and the odd Bangladeshi. These "I'm retiring... for now... but I could be back... in fact, I'd like to be back... in fact only an idiot wouldn't *want* me back... but since you're all acting like idiots... I'm retiring and making you all look like bigger idiots, ha!" Younis Khan, Mohammed Yousuf, Shahid Afridi... often they end up captaining a series not much later and then they're sacked, rinse, cycle, repeat. We could probably classify these as neo-retirements (unfortunately not the TV channel).

Then we have the never-ending retirements. Players who just can't get enough of a farewell. I can't even remember the number of times Flintoff has announced his retirement at some different stage or the other. Or Ganguly. Or Muralitharan. Or Warne. At a test/ODI. Then in T20s. Then in first class cricket. Then in a T20 league. And all the same tributes get written all over again. I blame Steve Waugh for starting the glorious never-ending retirements.

The evolution of retirements from being an honest admission of not having it in you to continue to staging a protest or demanding a fitting farewell perhaps only competes with the change in quality of cricket bats.

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England Threesome

30th May, 2011. England v Sri Lanka: The final Sri Lankan wicket falls to complete a dramatic victory at Cardiff: Lakmal caught Cook bowled Broad under the captaincy of Strauss - The Terrific Threesome (of Captaincy)

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Sachin's Cricket Break

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What is Murali Vijay?

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Gautam Gambhir's Blockbuster!

First posted Oct 11, 2009. Deja vu all over again.

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Raina Reveals All

SP+NC

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Raina (with some blessings) vs. Kohli

This wasn't a mere IPL game, there was a context to it, and I was awake to it - it struck me when the CSK chase appeared asleep. Suresh Raina seemed much older, even restrained, far more determined than his already exaggerated high standards in the IPL – it was then that it hit me, this wasn’t just two teams playing, this match had a subplot, Raina vs. Kohli.

Going by the lot on offer, one of these two (add Gambhir for good measure) must have very serious captaincy aspirations.

Is that what drove Kohli today, or for that matter, what drove him over the last year and a half? Is that what MSD was able to communicate to Raina during the World Cup knockouts? Something that lingered on, and surfaced again, today, at the sight of Kohli’s innings.

This IPL match was special, not because of the last over finish, but because of this new rivalry in Indian cricket.

Wonder what the Windies one-dayers will hold for the two – there will be no Dhoni, and the contest will be between Kohli, Raina, Rohit Sharma, and Yusuf Pathan. And as always, the new senior statesman of one day cricket, Yuvraj Singh.

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Delhi Daredevils in IPL 2014

"This year I'm not listening to anyone -

Delhi Daredevils will RETAIN 4 Players #$@%"

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Balaji vs. Balaji

"Appearances can be deceptive...I was not yellow with fear"

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Delhi Daredevils' GMR explains

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Shane Warne Tribute

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Shahrukh to Ganguly -

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Shane Warne Strikes Back

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Protective Gears – Then and Now

Let us transport ourselves to the days of Jardine`s bodyline series made famous by the sheer speed and accuracy of Harold Larwood and Bill Voce. It is reported that the fastest ball by Larwood was recorded at 96 mph (remember miles not kilometers) with only the not so precise electrical instruments of the thirties, but players of his time vouched him to be even faster.

The essence of the bodyline theory was to attack the batsman with short rising deliveries rather than aim at the wickets. The purpose was to intimidate the indomitable Don and prevent him from scoring as many at such furious rate. It succeeded to a large extent, because Bradman failed in the series, but only by his lofty standards. His average in the series stood at 53 point something as against his grand average of 100 minus fraction. But his average of 54 for the bloodiest series is as good as, if not better than the average of all the modern gladiators- Lara and Sachin included.

But…

Bradman played in only four of the five match series and scored a century, a fifty plus (73, I Believe) and two near fifties in the eight innings he played in the series. Not a bad job for a man facing missiles hurled at him in excess of 150 kmph constantly by the deadliest combination of Larwood and Voce.

Of course he did take quite a few body blows, so did the old Bill Ford and the versatile Macabe. But they scored runs, not enough to win the ashes (they lost the series 1-4), But enough to show some fight and determination.

Let us consider the protective armor that Don and his contemporaries had.

The pads that protected the longest single bone of the body that carries the frame on it.

The pair of gloves that protected the maximum number of bone joints in our body.

Then the abdomen guard that protected the human race.

Some preferred to have a cap to protect against the sun-glare.

A pair of buck-skin boots to protect the toes and they had spikes to give a good grip.

Contrast this with the gladiatorial gears of the modern day professional. A helmet to protect the skull. A chest pad to protect the chest. The arm guard to protect the fore arm. The conventional box to protect the vitals. Then a thigh pad that covered the part of the leg above the knee. The conventional pad to protect the legs.

With a donkey’s load of protective gear the best average of all the greats of the fully armored men of modern times just about matches the scantily protected Bradman and the co exposed to the ‘bodyline attack’ of the bowlers hurling down constantly in excess of 150 kmph.

Perhaps the pre-gladiatorial men are driven by fear. How else can we explain the craze for more and more of protective gears? Added to the satiety of the protective gears is the senseless law (added quite recently) restricting the fast bowler to bowl no more than one short rising delivery aimed at the batsman.

The fast bowler has become near irrelevant. A few McGrath’s still command respect, but these are the men of Gubby Allen pace, not the express pace of Larwood.

If KP’s switch hit and the now more often used reverse-sweep are legitimate , why should the bowler be obliged to inform the umpire and the batsman if the is going to bowl over around the wicket. Let the bowler run up and deliver the ball from whatever angle he wants.

Why should law prevent a bowler from wearing some rough plaster around the fingers of his bowling arm to get better grip of the ball. Why should law prevent a bowler (or a quiet captain like Atherton) from applying some foreign matter to one surface of the ball or lift the seam (a la Tendulkar) with the nail.

If law could be silent about new arrivals in a batsman’s protective gear, it has to go silent about what adds to the advantage of a bowler. Or it is not cricket. (Both in the literal and in the figurative sense)


by M Rajagopalan

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Reaction to India's team for the West Indies

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@iplgirl and @theashes on twitter

 @theashes I didn’t know the first thing about cricket

@iplgirl I didn’t know the first thing about cricketers

 

@theashes LOL I told them I'm not a freaking cricket match!

 

@iplgirl they didn't let me tell them anything

 @theashes they flew me to Australia for a game named after me : )

@iplgirl they flew me back to South Africa away from a game named after me : (

 

 @theashes you’re kidding…after calling the game IPL girl they sent you back?!??

 

@Neetish @IPLgirl please remove the curse from Mumbai Indians campaign, i apologize on behalf of their administration

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The Willow TV Saga and the Sad Story of Live Cricket in the US

Yesterday while emailing Naked, the absurdity of my situation with Willow TV almost made me laugh out loud. I've basically been emailing these guys that I want to give them my money and they can't be bothered. There is something so magnificently ludicrous about their (lack of ) reaction to my emails as well. Their feelings are hurt by the fact that I emailed them more than once, thus showing my impatience with their lack of response.

But once I was done with the initial desire to have a giggle, I sobered up, fast. Because one thing this situation reminds me of is that twenty four years after moving to the US, getting live cricket here, without a hassle, is still a distant dream. And in the most perverse of twists, a Desi company has the monopoly for live streaming of cricket in the US, has centered its support staff back in Bangalore, has not provided a phone number, and has ensured, that again, I'm denied cricket. There is something classically Sarkari, classically Desi-in-a-bad-way, about this whole episode in its rank incompetence and supreme indifference to the consumer.

In 1987, I watched the World Cup final live thanks to a satellite hookup, months after I arrived in the US. Between that World Cup and the next one, I had no access to live cricket. In 1992, I watched a bit of the Cup at a bar in New Jersey, thanks to a tip from a friend. We had to convince the bartender to tune the television to the correct dish channel, beg and plead for some volume (and even then, it didn't do much good because the bar was too loud). Then, again, no live cricket till the 1996 World Cup. Things were better for this one. The cable company carried the matches on pay-per-view. I subscribed for the entire package, taped the games, and then watched them on tape-delay after I got home, making sure I talked to no one during the day who could tell me the scores. I also managed to watch the Toronto one-day internationals, both on pay-per-view and at a theater in Queens. In 2000, I moved to Australia, which was two years of bliss. But on returning to the US in 2000, it was a classic case of 'same as it ever was'.

Since 2005/6, I've been Willow's customer, subscribing for a series here and a series there, and then in the last two years, I've subscribed for annual subscriptions (the so-called Blockbuster package). In 2009, I was irritated when they terminated the subscription abruptly on Dec 31st rather than letting it run through till the end of the Pakistan-Australia tests, but I could at least understand their quasi-pedantic reasoning then. Earlier this year, I thought we had hit the promised land; Willow had fixed its media player, offered streaming through TV. I bought the World Cup package and had a great time.

But alas, that was yet another tease. Just like the clerk at ITO tells you that your papers are ready, and then simply refuses to show up for work the next day, Willow just dropped the ball.

And so in 2011, it feels like 1987 all over again. No live cricket for this Desi exile in the US.

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On economy rates and net run rates

I don't like statistics like "Economy Rate" and the obsession with "Net Run Rates".

I don't get it; especially in T20 cricket. I mean, I do get it; in the sense of what they mean; but I don't understand why they are so central in assessing a bowlers or a team's standing in relation to their peers, respectively.

6 runs per over or thereabouts is considered a decent "economy rate" for bowlers these days in T20 cricket and ODI cricket if you are Ashish Nehra,

But how does it reflect "economy"? When I think economical bowling I think of Even Chatfield from New Zealand. His figures, I agree deserve to be highlighted with a calculation of his economy.

To say that a spell of 4-3-49-0; where the 3 is the number of dot balls, has an economy rate of 12.25, is to suggest that a prostitute has something called a virginity factor. And the 3 days of abstinence of sex in a month is supposed to tell us something more about her.

The other statistic that bothers me is the Net Run Rate. Why so much focus on run scoring or preventing ability? Why, if all other things being equal, should 2 sides be separated based on the difference between run scoring and run preventing ability?

Why not a "Net Strike Rate"? Where we separate sides based on their frequency of taking and holding on to their wickets.

Why have we reduced bowlers to the level of prostitutes whose sole function is to pleasure their clients (also known as batsmen) and anything the bowlers themselves score; does not count at all.

Golandaaz blogs @ Opinons on Cricket where he teams up with Vidooshak to opine on cricket. Their facebook page is open for "likes".

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ipl girl... a martyr...?

look around... ipl girl is the new martyr or shall i say, the new media darling...

i can very well understand the compulsion of making ipl girl a martyr for that is what sells…

poor girl sent home by the powerful bcci… how come media and others missed this story…?

this is the stuff of their wet dreams...

so we have been stuffed sob stories of the ipl girl that saw her being given marching orders by the bcci... what was her crime?

she just blogged about some ipl parties and cricketers, hardly surprising...

if you also happen to be a sympathizer of ipl girl... just think about it again...

try blogging about who your boss is sleeping with… tweet about who your VP is banging... ...with your boss and vp as your followers… tho this will hardly surprise your colleagues… but you know what will happen…

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Willow TV Fail - Could Customer Service Get Worse?

Yesterday over on Eye on Cricket, I posted a long recounting of my woes with Willow TV, the monopoly rights holders for live cricket streaming in the US. It’s a pretty bizarre situation; I have been their customer for a long time (about five years now), and while I have often found their service problematic (their website interface is quite clunky, they often don’t deliver on promises, they pull archival material off the site a little too quickly), I have stayed on as a customer, because a) I like access to high-quality live streams rather than messing around with bootleg feeds and b) I’d like to encourage vendors of streaming cricket in general so that the menu of offerings available to US customers can grow in size and variety.

Willow has done some things right recently. They have finally moved to Flash after years of disastrous experimentation with Windows Media Player and then Microsoft’s Silverlight. Now, as a result, they can deliver live feeds to all platforms and all OS’s (I was frustrated for a long time at being forced to use Windows and not my usual Ubuntu machine). They deliver high-quality HD streams at 1Mbps. And so on.

But their customer service remains poor, their website is still badly disorganized, and they act complacent. Amazingly enough, given their US-centric operation, there is no phone number to call if you have a problem. Just one email address. And the folks at that email address have decided they don’t want to talk to me anymore. And, apparently, they don’t want my money anymore. When I ask them if this is the case, they simply refuse to answer. I have, in short, been sent to Coventry. The silent treatment is what I deserve apparently.

Yesterday, on Eye on Cricket, I posted some half a dozen emails I have sent them since February, asking questions, requesting clarification, trying to sign up for the monthly subscription etc. No answers. In desperation, I contacted Vijay Srinivasan, an old acquaintance of mine from our days of chatting about cricket on IRC. Vijay was the founder of Willow and is still involved with the company. After a brief exchange (one email and one line long), he stopped replying. I even called Reliance BGE’s office in Mumbai in an effort to contact someone at Willow. No luck.

I sent two more emails yesterday; one again to Support, one more to Vijay. Here they are. Still no reply. The amazing thing about this whole episode from start to finish has been that it is about a long-standing customer, who wants to spend more money on them, who wants to find out how to fix a glitch so that he can do so. But he can’t.

I'd be very interested in hearing about people's experiences with Willow (I mean Desis and non-Desis in the US obviously). And if anyone has their ear, you might want to ask them whats up. I can't get them to listen to me.

Here is the email to support:

Subject: Unable to sign up for the monthly package

I am unable to sign up for the monthly subscription as your site says I'm signed up for the World Cup Package. Please advise.

Here is the email to Vijay Srinivasan:

Vijay,

Have I been declared persona non-grata over at Willow? I'd appreciate a reply from someone on how to subscribe for the monthly package. I'm now up to six messages sent without a reply.

If I am persona non-grata over at Willow, a notification to that effect would be useful. I can start thinking about alternative ways to find live cricket in the US, and stop being a customer for Willow (as I have been for several years). I've blogged on this bad customer service and didn't like doing it, but some appreciation for long standing customers seems to be in order. But of course, if this relationship is to be terminated, and you guys don't want me as a customer, please do let me know.

best,
Samir

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Rahul Gandhi's Cricket Dharna

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All Things Wise And Wonderful (and other animal stories)

(click on image for larger view)

So Bhajji now thinks Symonds is a great guy ( here)

Let's only hope there are no further Lost-In-Translation-And-Misconstrued controversies , especially of the animal-pertaining variety. Like, "guy" English versus "gai" Hindi ? 

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Sehwag shoots from injured shoulder

Above cartoon was posted on May 10th.  cricinfo's cartoon posted on May 18th

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Whistle Blower

My team has lost a crucial match recently and are about to play a virtual quarter final match against a team at their home ground.

In the previous match my batsmen struggled to cope with the surface and posted a below par score and were completely outplayed by the opposition (The average 1^st inning score over 6 matches in this tournament at the venue has been 130).

For the above said virtual quarter final match the home team has a very formidable record at their home venue and have even beaten the best team of the tournament as well quite easily ( Average 1^st inning  score over 5 matches in this tournament at the venue has been 131)

My team’s best chance to win the game is to play on a flat wicket as the opposition doesn’t have the fire power to match my team in such conditions.

I am heading the organisation that runs the tournament as well where I can influence many decisions and can get away with it as there is no transparency.

My team is the defending champion and not making the top 3 of the tournament will have a huge revenue loss for me and not making the top 4 would be seen as an under achievement for my team as well.

Next on My agenda: Shifting a couple of playoff games from the home ground of the best team in the tournament which will make life a lot easier for my team.  

Yours truly:

NS

For the Article - Hat-tip to the chief architects of Spinners
and D*F IPL

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That was cricket

When does one generally get started in a particular game or sport that gives a sense of joy and fulfillment?

Looking back to three scores and more of years in my life I wonder when I really got started in cricket. While yet at school, we played cricket with rubber balls and a two foot long wooden plank tapering at the top for bat. Three little sticks drawn from the nearest tree, at one end and one at the other made our stumps.

But the rules of the game were impeccable. The distance between the captain’s big toe and the small decided the space between our three stumps. The distance between the wickets was to be the 22 normal steps measured with religious seriousness by the captain that moment.

He also measured out a bat and half from the stumps on each end to mark the batting and bowling crease. The captain was privileged to perform all the pre-game rituals because he was big enough to be a big bully and rich enough to buy the ball and the plank of wood called bat.

The captain divided the available boys into 2 teams and the process of selection was strict .Each team should have at least 4 batsmen – boys who could hold the bat correctly and take a good looking stance and of course the ability to hit the ball with a straight bat, because a cross-batted shot would ‘break the bat ‘.

It is immaterial that few of us knew at that age what it is to play straight or across. A rule is a rule. When you don’t like someone you declare that he plays cross-batted shots and that was the ultimate cricketing insult.

The definition for a good bowler was very simple. One who could swing his arm around without a jerk and release the ball above the head level was a bowler. If it is done with some velocity then he was a great bowler. Usually there were at least a Lindwal and a Miller on one side and a Truman and a Statham on the other.

The no-ball rule was the same as the back foot-behind the bowling crease rule of those days. The ways to get a batsman out were the same as in standard cricket but an additional clause was needed to bring order in the field.

Generally we carried one ‘bat’ and the runner usually carried a 3 foot long stick in his hand in lieu of the ’ bat’. When a single was taken the two should exchange bats. For this they had to move out of the safety of the crease.

Then both should declare in an audible if not loud voice ‘B.C’ (the short-form for ‘Bat Change’. If either fails to follow this rule, they do so at the risk of losing their wicket ‘run-out’).

The game started (on all weekdays) only after all players (dear to the captain) are on the field. If it becomes known that one or more of the chosen ones should come late they shall notionally be included in a team. The less than mortals who dared to come late shall be consigned to the team fielding first with the stipulation that they should bat last, if the light didn’t fail, by then.

The game could start only by 5 pm everyday and there was hardly an hour of good light condition. As an insurance against some players not getting a chance to bat at all, a fair rule was in operation that a batsman in this crease for twelve balls or till he makes twenty runs whichever came earlier.

Some batsman could misuse the rule by playing out the full quota of twelve balls a sub-clause to the rule was made that if a batsman plays three consecutive defensive shots (balls left alone were also construed as balls played defensively) shall be declared out for time warning.

We made a thousand little laws that day outside the rule, but each new law added had some innocent logic behind it. Now looking back to the cricket we played some 60 or more years, we can only lovingly admire at the inventiveness of the child’s mind. Amid all the sick hurry of the game as it is played today, a mental transportation of the self to an age of innocent joy is blaming. I would say ‘That was Cricket’.

by M Rajagopalan
A self made wicketkeeper & opening bat, he was one of those early cricketers in South India who was paid for his bus fare and food to play in a far off town.

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Could Sehwag have been as good as Sachin?

Virendra Sehwag, after smashing a superb 119 against the Deccan Chargers was honoured with the orange cap, his first in the IPL. In spite of being part of one of the all time worst teams in the IPL, he has single handedly won them all their matches, scoring close to 70% of their runs in the match vs Deccan Chargers.

In the last few weeks Sehwag has been very critical of his performances and it appears the burden of captaincy has actually improved him. It makes you think, what if Sehwag had entered a Tendulkar-less team , would India’s expectation of him have changed? When Sachin comes to bat people expect him to carry the Indian innings, scoring a century, when Sehwag comes to bat all you expect him to do is entertain.

Sportsmen like other performers adapt their style according to the expectations of fans and teams, Dravid was a far more aggressive player when he started. Similarly, Sehwag entered into the fray with one of the world’s all time best batting combinations on paper. The likes of Ganguy, Dravid and Tendullkar have all scored more than 10000 runs in ODIs, hence it wasn’t really expected of Sehwag to stay and save the team’s grace, all he was expected to do was attack and in 10 years he has now become a totally different batsman. Sehwag’s technique is top notch, if he settles it won’t make a difference whether you are a Wasim Akram or a Douglas Hondo! He is often criticised for his lack of temperament but you don’t score two triple centuries just like that (something no other Indian Test batsman has achieved). Overtime plenty have criticized him as irresponsible but that is just wrong. You can be responsible only when you are given responsibility and Sehwag with his orange cap has shown that. He now makes an effort to at least stay for 10-15 overs and a settled Sehwag is utter menace to bowlers he is almost unstoppable.

But could Sehwag have been as good as Sachin?

by Shashank Tripathi
A management student and a bored cricket crazy Indian ;)

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Mallya gets high on India's heritage

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First posted on Naked Cricket

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Osama & Akmal

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New T20 captain Stuart Broad celebrates

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Danny Morrison on Osama bin Laden's death.

inspired by this tweet by @followthebounce

+ thanks @bagrat15

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If Osama bin Laden was a cricketer.

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Sourav Ganguly after Pune Warriors' call up

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The truth behind Osama's death

So Osama Bin Laden is dead.

We can all rejoice, once President Obama produces a long form of the death certificate, said Donald Trump.

Ever since the first edition, Osama Bin Laden had been hooked on to the IPL. Although he could not stand Danny Morrison and had on more than one occasion communicated his desire to "take out" Laxman Sivaramakrishna to his nearest Al Qaeda cell, he was eventually convinced by some wise men around him to not pick up a fight with Sharad Pawar.

Instead he watched the matches with the sound on mute.

Being a fan of Shahrukh Khan, investing his loyalties with Kolkata seemed very logical and that's what he did. Osama Bin Laden is reported to have danced through the night, when Brendon McCullum blew away a not so royal challenge from Bangalore in the very first IPL game.

But since, Kolkata's floundering campaigns, have been unbearable to watch, he had jotted down in his dairy. His doctors believe that seeing his favorite team lose so often was the main reason for Osama Bin Laden's increasing stress and worsening heart and kidney functions.

After last year's pathetic show by the Knight Riders, his counsel of wise advisers, finally convinced him to stop being loyal to Shah Rukh Khan. While the wise men rejoiced at their influence on the man, what we know from his diary is that it was Shahrukh Khan's "My Name is Khan" that was responsible. "What a dim witted movie...and to think I actually loved Shahrukh Khan" is what he wrote.

Then came the World Cup and the void left behind by Shahrukh Khan was quickly filled by Yuvraj Singh. "They wrote him off, called him names, mocked his injuries but like a true man when his country called on him, he gave them all he had and more", he wrote in his diary.

Choosing to root for Pune was thus only natural. Yesterday evening as he was browsing the Internet, he peeked at the 2011 IPL points table with roughly half the tournament through. He saw Pune was at the bottom. He glanced at the top and found KKR.

"Life is no longer worth living" - As far as we know those were his last words and yes, it was a suicide

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Duncan Fletcher Episode

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