More »
Showing posts with label Brendon McCullum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brendon McCullum. Show all posts
Brendon McCullum: Before & After Triple Century
 |
| click on cartoon |
h/t Aanchal on photoshop
Brendon McCullum's 302 lasted 775 minutes.
Bhajji inspires McCullum, Gayle and other needy cricketers
At Ahemedabad, Bhajji clocked 69, time for McCullum to make a 65. Now at Hyderabad, Bhajji got himself some pearls and a 111, in return, Mc smiled at him when he mistimed a swat sweep. The cosmic connection between the two was obvious. Didn’t you see Bhaj pat Mc when he made that hundred? Clearly Mc was indebted to Bhaj for showing him the way - how to bat when your primary skill has been nothing but a secondary skill all along.
While Bhajji still bowls, but not really, McCullum has given up the gloves. One day, Bhajji will play as a middle order batsman and a change bowler. While McCullum looks forward to the day when he can bat sans gloves – they remind him too much of that keeping business. “Can’t I just bat in tattoos??”
Gayle too followed suit, dropping some skill they call captaincy. “If bhaji man can gt a hundred, I gt me a double hundred lol” he tweeted between 6s. And later added, "some wicb dude fave song iz god iz a DJ so v gt dj sammy as god of the team lol”
Are You Upholding The Appeal?
So asked the umpires, and Paul Collingwood later admitted he probably made the wrong decision. The subsequent reactions from first New Zealand and later the press must have affected the English captain and a short while later he resigned from the position. New Zealand's reaction was viewed with cynicism by some, considering wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum infamously ran-out Muralitharan when the latter walked over to congratulate his skipper on reaching a fine century in December 2006, a move that then skipper Stephen Flemming justified by saying
You can't just wander off when the ball's in mid-air and if we'd had an overthrow I'm sure they would have taken that.Yet little over a year later, when McCullum pulled the stunt again (apparently he'd even managed to do it once more between these two occasions when he ran out Chris Mpofu as he walked out to congratulate his partner on scoring a fifty) to run-out none other than Paul Collingwood, skipper Daniel Vettori withdrew the appeal after Daryl Harper spoke to the Kiwi skipper.
The circumstances in which each of these incidents took place are interesting. In the first instance, the game was close and Elliot's run out swung the game heavily in England's favor. In the second, Sangakkara played an absolute blinder and with New Zealand batting last obviously would have wanted to chase as little as possible. In the final case New Zealand were in a reasonably strong position with England struggling at 27/3 in the 11th over but Collingwood's dismissal at that stage would no doubt have improved their chances of making the semifinals of the Champions Trophy. So its not like you could say that sides are ruthless when they need to be and willing to adhere to spirit of cricket only when the odds are already stacked heavily in their favor.
But the key issue here is that all three incidents could have had a decisive bearing on the match's result, and but for an umpire's intervention, all three captains were happy to stick within the laws at the cost of cricket's over-hyped conduct of sportsmanship because at the end of the day, as RajaB said in the last post, it comes down to the numbers. For this generation, maybe even the next, the circumstances will leave an indelible mark, but what about after that? History will remember the numbers, the stats and it takes considerable digging up to find the fascinating story behind the numbers, an effort that all too often will be too much bother unless the incident has been researched for that specific purpose.
Which is why sometimes in focusing too much on the numbers, in striving too hard to maintain the only records that history will judge you by, you do something that gains you notoriety. How you then react is what makes the difference between whether the issue will be deemed inconsequential and confined only to a paragraph in annual review, or whether it makes the centerpiece of the decade's review. Jardine's "I'm not here to win friends. I'm here to win the Ashes" gave writers the opportunity to paint him as cricket's primary villain for years. Steve Waugh's "They make the rules, we try to make sure we play within them" response* fitted perfectly with the ruthless, ice-man persona the press had created. Indeed you would find such retorts litter the landscape of events in cricket that went down as controversial, right from W.G.Grace to Fleming's stubborn support for McCullum.
By his early action on the field though, Vettori managed to successfully quash a controversy before it had the chance to become one, and but for the line about Harper's instigation, even if you did notice the event you would believe Vettori had conducted himself strictly by the Spirit of Cricket immediately. Collingwood made the wrong decision but did apologize after the match, which while not sparing him from criticism at the time, didn't leave him with the ridiculed legacy Brad Haddin will have to live with for flatly denying and refusing to believe even with available video evidence that he had made a mistake.
It would appear then that the only place where the spirit of cricket seems to find a place today is in making a qualitative assessment of a cricketer's morality in determining the degree to which an incident is reported and recorded, as inconsequential or outrageous. The only exception being in justifying whether an Australian captain is capable of counting and organizing, skills you would have thought were prerequisites for leading your national side, but that is another issue.
Which brings me to Randhiv. He might have been coaxed into bowling the no-ball, but whether by volition or by instruction, he did apologize and he hasn't complained about SLC's punishment. But the board's reaction is interesting, and not just because the common consensus is that it is over-the-top. In recognizing the place where the spirit has the most relevance, which is most certainly not on the field, they have acted in a manner that shall forever taint Randhiv whilst reflecting their actions in a quite different light. After all, can it honestly be asked a few decades from now whether theirs was an overreaction? Quite likely it will be remembered as the days when administrators felt they had an obligation uphold the spirit.
I'm not criticizing them. What I'm trying to say is, they felt they were asked "Are you upholding the appeal?" to which they answered decisively in the negative and so lives on this fascinating aspect of the game... where all manner of individuals use the spirit as required at the moment and then react based on how they believe history will judge them for it.
*In the match in question, Aus vs WI, the Windies had been bowled out for 110 and Australia crawled to 111 off 40.4 overs (in stark contrast to their lightning quick chase of 180 in under 20 overs against Bangladesh in the previous match) as they tried to prevent the West Indies' nrr from falling too far behind New Zealands'. The reason being the Kiwis had won against Australia and would carry those points forward to the Super Six stage which would mean Australia would carry none. With only a game against Scotland left, New Zealand would have to win by a large margin to overtake the West Indies nrr, which they did.
Denial Vettori no more.
He’s back to being Daniel again, could be just for one innings, but I’m sure it’s good getting your Christian name back. I’ve always felt Vettori will be better opening the innings than closing it. Sure it’s easier to score of a ruddy old ball than a hard new one, but if you have a scientist in the team, let him out first – allow him to set up his lab, suss the conditions, and get back to you.
That’s the thing with Vettori, he will always get back to you; if not with the bat, then, with the ball, or an email. Oddly enough he’s not a comeback kid, but then, that could be because he doesn’t go anywhere – just a passing thought, what if they drop him, what kind of comeback will he make? I’m sure he’ll come back strongly, somersaults, pommel horse, maybe even the Roman rings.
Bloody unlikely with the glasses you’ll say – I agree. But what if he put the specs aside, and tried contacts? What if?
Like I’ve always felt what if Vettori bats ahead of McCullum? He can take his position, and give him his glasses. It will happen tomorrow – don’t be amazed if you see Vet walk out at 6 looking like a batsman sans specs, clean shaven, a proper looking cricketer; an enhanced stance, and once he plays, no prods to third man – where will he score his runs then, you ask?
My dear, as a proper Kiwi batsman you don’t score runs. You are part of the ruins.
Saving McCullum's Privates
In a previous post here, on the brothers, Brendon and Nathan McCullum:
Brendon McCullum's IPL form continues:
9 of 9 balls.Where is your family when you need them - Bring in big brother Nathan.
Form is relative.
(This was during the first T20)
Now, during the 2nd T20 what do the Kiwis do - bring in big brother Nathan to watch over li'l boy Brendon.
While Nathan is no tattoo artist, he still knows what Brendon needs. Family on the field.
Brendon scored 49/34 balls. All this while Nathan was watching closely on the laptop.
And then Nathan bowled, 2/18. They may not be your everyday Indian joint family, but they're close enough.
McCullum's IPL form continues
9 of 9 balls.
Where is your family when you need them - Bring in big brother Nathan.
Form is relative.
A test of left arm spinners.
There was Herath who took 8 wickets and Vettori who at number 8 scored 140 in a lost cause.
To get the record straight, this was Vettori’s fourth hundred, his highest. Good for him, he’ll get many more while his team will continue to bat themselves to defeat.
Vettori comes in after McCullum and Oram, honestly how can anyone come after McCullum? After Vettori comes the tail, Patel, O’Brien and Martin. That makes Vettori, New Zealand’s most consistent batsman for a while now, at best, a lower order batsman, the gateway to the tail.
Vettori is not only captain, he’s also a selector now, making his crime doubly serious. To call him Denial Vettori is not far from the truth – here’s a senior player who refuses to do anything about his improved performances as a batsman.
It can be argued if Vettori bats any higher he may not have the same impact, or score the same runs. If so, it can’t be any worse than the blundering McCullum or openers. Just like every tail-ender deserves a promotion based on performance, Vettori needs to bite the bullet and shove himself into the wars.
Right now he’s batting for his own records, in complete denial of his own worth as a batsman. It’s possible he’s no-good higher up, but let’s face it, he’s no good lower down.
Meanwhile Herath returns, yet again, with a five-for, displacing Mendis both from the team and the mind. Here’s to more uncertainty in cricket.
Looks like that’s what Vettori needs, somebody to challenge him as the team’s leading player. But then that’s an argument that holds good for the likes of McCullum and those nameless openers. Case reopened.
cricinfo: Daniel Vettori has scored 2002 in Tests since January 2005, at an average of 44.48. He is the highest run-scorer for New Zealand during this period. Brendon McCullum is next, with 1712 runs at an average of 30.03.
Ten Sports is sick. But then so are the Kiwis.
The Kiwi-Lanka test match broadcasters, Ten Sports have been off-air all morning. Had Brendon McCullum been the broadcaster, a few slogs in the air, and who knows what could have been.
Does it matter that I missed the morning session - not really, chances are so did New Zealand.
In fact, they turned up for the morning session. When the players can’t do the job, a selector has to – Daniel Vettori's shot selection was good enough to earn him a not out at lunch.
In the coming series, selector Moles will need to play. His coaching has done nothing. Or maybe the players are plain thick. Last match 9 out of 11 players were sick, this time, what excuse will it be?
“We’re just sick of cricket”
PS Ten Sports returns, the outfield is wet, the Kiwis are damp squibs, Anshuman Gaekwad's on instead. Which is worse?
How the Knight Riders rode Brendon McCullum and other nightmares.
Brendon McCullum had a brain transplant in the IPL. They took his brain, and put a plant instead. Looks like a cactus. And from then B Mc’s wore a crown of thorns.
Horticulture aside, could anyone survive KKR. Even KKR didn’t survive KKR. They came last but that was easy on them. They should not have appeared on the points table.
So what could a tattooed trucker like B Mc do? He was only used to see ball, hit ball. He never factored the think. Then the think tank sat him down, and in it he drowned. The games he played were actually playing him.
So here we are in Colombo. B Mac comes to the crease like a cricket virgin. It’s scary to see what the Lankans do to him. Actually it’s scary to see what he does to himself.
The Gap between bat and leg while trying today’s invention was big enough to start a clothing company. He played on. It was so ugly even slomo could not redeem it.
The good part is you know he’s going to go fast. Faster than the openers, and in New Zealand cricket that’s saying a lot. Not even a Ferrari goes faster than their openers. But B Mac is speed king, IPL centurion, one trick wonder, he will go.
And when he did get out today, he had the audacity to replay his shot, as it should have been. No, that will not do. You just walk away. And don’t turn up again.
Happy Bored Day Papps!
Happy B'day Michael Papps. With Brendon McCullum firmly entrenched in the team as keeper, gunslinger, gum chewer, it doesn't look good for you - but keep the faith, give McCullum one more season with the Knight Riders, and he won't even make it to his backyard team.
Q Moment of T20 WC Warm Up - Ind vs NZ
McCullum tries to hit Ishant Sharma out of Lord's.
McCullum gets leading edge and is caught at mid on.
McCullum walks off wondering why Ishant didn't do this more often for him.
Q Moment 5 of IPL Match #53
Didn't take long for the Royals to deliver.
Ganguly - Gone!
McCullum - Gone!
Game - Very much ON!
Real IPL Player: A Canine Story
Centurion (Pretoria): Every underdog has its day. Today was Knight Riders’. Initially I shrunk at the prospect of watching through an entire KKR match, fearing it might leave indelible scars on my psyche. But for once, the Knight Riders fumbled and snapped the spectacular string of defeats they had painstakingly put together.
When Murli Kartik dropped Dhoni, a luxury others can ill-afford, and had to go through the embarrassment of watching the replay in the giant screen twice, I felt easy.
Because, Kartik only let down the ball, surely not me.
Just before IPL II, KKR had lowered the bar and amazingly stuck to that throughout. So when Chennai set a formidable target, sitting at the hospitality area, I thought I know the script.
To give them their due, KKR has virtually covered the entire gamut of defeats, conjuring up every possible way of going down. Hence my lone interest hinged on the nature of the defeat.
So far, they have been lucky losers on occasions when they managed to come near the target. They have been plucky loser too in a couple of matches. Sometimes they threw it with the air of a millionaire tossing coin while passing through a slum. Sometimes they blew it as if a win was a sin and defeat their destiny.
So when Dhoni tossed the ball to Suresh Raina to bowl the final over, there was no reason to believe that Raina can’t do a Joginder Sharma. But for once, Dhoni's midas touch went AWOL.
McCullum had batted like there was no tomorrow, for he knew there was actually no tomorrow. Hodge shone in the hotch-potch and then the unsuspecting Wriddhiman Saha made a statement with the bat that it’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog that counts.
Warnie, beware of the dog in the manger!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
