So you and your yaars haven't got drunk in a while, haven't got the time to discuss (force your opinion on) cricket with the mohalla cricket team, and it's been ages since you last played a game of cricket.
The Solution to your quandary is a Night Cricket match on 31st December
The plan
1) Get the guy who did the Christmas decorations to put up a bunch of Halogens in your backyard
2) Fill up an ice box with beers to last the night for you and the mates,
3) order some chicken from a local restaurant (okay make it truckloads of chicken and a tonne of chips)
and VOILA!
The Drinkers' 9 or 6 or whatever - toast themselves
A kick in the balls to your friend's 'happening' disco plans
Here's how it went:
We made 2 teams of 9, each had 4 players already too drunk to tell which end of the bat to hold, 2 players seemingly in the middle of an earthquake, 2 free loaders and 1 sober member to try and maintain some sort of decorum
No, it ain't runnin' wild like Hulkamania, It's all smooth and easy and chilled out and a bit bad at running actually. But Laxmania is still bloody cool.
It's all wristy flicks from a foot and a half outside off stump to the leg side fence.
It's the languid pull shot which only seems to come out only when he's bothered to.
It's the li'l push off the backfoot that looks like it can get a single at the most, but ends up reaching the fence,easy.
It's the ridiculously easy slip catching
It's all that and then some.
Now to come to the point. It's been way too long that Laxman's got the credit that he DOES deserve for holding up the lower middle order. Like Mahek pointed out its always about Viru, RD, Sach and the talented Yuvraj Singh and Dada, when he was playing. Gotta admire the fella for just putting his head down and carrying on with the good work.
Most of us must be tired of listening to the words EDEN GARDENS, every time he steps out to bat.Him, may be, more than us.
Today's knock not only gives them morons something new to rave about, but also makes us realize what he's been doing all these years, almost unnoticed. May be because people always expected him to score THAT 281 all the time and didn't realise the worth of the li'l 50's he would get.
He has played a few innings where he looked all smooth and splendid till 40 odd and then guided one to slip or edged one back onto the timber.and also does expose the tailenders when he's batting with them But always remember him contributing while India's batting has needed that spark.
One inning i remember is that quick 30 something while chasing 200 odd against Waugh's Australia in Rahul's test(200 and 50*). But believe me if Lax hadn't scored that easily.. there was always a chance of things getting messy. That one inning can describe most of his career I guess, very important knocks, but someone else always takes the credit.
So high time we start paying due respect to the Stylish Hyderabadi. Let Laxmania take control!
Or may be let's just call ourselves Laxmaniacs and look less than bothered, That's what VVS would do.
The Indian selectors have decided to send Wriddhiman Saha as a backup to MS Dhoni for the Sri Lanka test series. One man who should be particularly pissed off is Dinesh Karthik.
The bugger's number seems to be on their Speed Dials whenever they need a replacement. How many times have we read Karthik being called in to either provide cover or to replace a batsman?
The guy has done a reasonably fair job in whatever chances he's got few and far between.
He was asked to open the Innings in test matches, he did it.
Asked to open in ODI's, done.
A test batting average of 27.
The number of tests he's played
2010 : 1 (so far)
2009 : 1
2008 : 2
2007 : 9
ODI batting average of 30. Still pretty handy for a keeper in these times.
Brad Haddin -32, Mark Boucher- 28, Kamran Akmal - 26, Matt Prior - 25, are a few samples you might want to look at.
He may not really be the explosive type that seems to be imperative for keepers these days. But, bat he can.
He isn't even a liability behind the stumps. Okay, i do still remember that backhand flick that he attempted at the stumps and missed while Dilshan was at the other end of the pitch
Saha might be someone for the future, but from whatever was seen in the SA tests at home, he clearly isn't ready for the big stage yet. Why not someone who's been in the set up for some time now?
What really is the motive behind sending Saha instead of Karthik?
what message does the Board wanna give to Karthik?
Do they just expect him to be the replacement guy all the time. Doesn't he deserve a longer run in the team.
He does goof up at times with the simplest of chances or either throws his wicket away when set for a good score. But the least the lad deserves is a decent run.
There really isn't much sense in making him the go to guy in case of an emergency and giving him the thumbs down when it comes to a proper stint.
I have been watching the MPL (Maharashtra Premier League, t20, of course) recently. It's a joint production of the MCA (Maharashtra Cricket Association) and of course some assorted sponsors to promote 'young talent'.
It can be called an exact replica of the IPL model with teams that are owned by franchises, smug owners wearing shades, theme songs, the works!
While any move to promote any talent is welcome. What bothers me is the effect the biff, bang, boom version is having on the kids that are involved.
I don't really mind T20, What i do mind is 20 year-olds trying Dilscoops, Reverse paddles, over the keeper ramps and what not at the drop of a hat
Granted, there's no hanging around in T20, but how about some proper cricketing shots to begin with?
The average first innings score has been 115, may be less. The teams that are chasing, seem to have no clue about how to go about it, resulting in failed chases of sub-110 targets. I just hope these lads get told off by the coaches for playing so irresponsibly.
After all the likes of Jeff Lawson, Lalchand Rajput et al are looking over these kids. These are the years that they, at least begin, to discover what sort of an approach is more suited to them. Who knows an inning or two of substance could catapult them into the selector's good books.
One more thing of concern is the lack of genuine pace. While 8 teams out of the whole of Maharashtra is barely a good enough sample, there's gotta be ONE nippy sorta guy in the tournament, no?
Or am I expecting too much from a bunch of 20 year olds?
Plus, there's so many spinners with jerky actions, i wonder why the umps aren't calling even one of them.
If it's being played for promoting talent and all that jazz, then its gotta be played right, no?
What has been heartening to see is that the catching and ground fielding has been genuinely good, barring a few customary young blood goof ups. At least one aspect of cricket for these lads is coming along well.
If this is the future of Maharashtra Cricket, a lot of work needs to be done on the temperament of these kids. The technique, i believe is an ongoing process which keeps on evolving with age.
Hoping to see at least a couple of these kids realising their potential by the end of the tournament. Also, more of such ventures in the longer versions of the game would be most welcome.
I think the lamea@$ tactic of giving away runs to Hussey for one entire session had nothing to do with the loss. May be Yousuf didn't realise that he had a rather inexperienced batting lineup at his disposal. Lemme see, The opening partnership is unsettled, Faisal hasn't exactly set the stage on fire Then there's Moyo leading from the middle Umar still is inexperienced in spite of the much obvious talent. and then there's Kamran Akmal. Poor lad, gravity around him is rather strong these days. oh and Man of a thousand Dismissals, Misbah All settled, eh?
Was there any need to risk chasing anything over 150?
Why would a person NOT try to knock over TWO batsmen when he has the resources? One of the two persons catching were Kamran 'Gravity' Akmal.
Asif did look like he was asking for a normal field setting.
Surely, one and a half session of standing,clapping, staring into the distance had nothing to do with the aussie lead crossing 160 odd?
It's alright to take the blame for a rash shot, but who's taking the blame for the s#$t capatincy Moyo?
Coz, we don't wait for no f**** dead rubber to say what we want.
Obviously i've had a beer or five, well, may be more, to drown away all the f***** visions of the f***** embarrassment. But every time I emptied a glass, visions of Twatson whacking Nehra and co kept flooding back. But this isn't about how drunk I am, but how crap India were. Of course we don't give no credit to the aussies, like every cricket loving Indian worth his salt. Even if they played with a weakened team and pulled a wedgie on us,
The Batting:
Jatman: Putting the phrase Six and out in effect throughout the tournament. But I'm against anything that even remotely connected to Brett Lee's band. Couple of Swashbuckling cameos. Then, when the opposition were looking lost, Jatman loses his wicket. Having an attacking natural game is one thing, but being reckless was what cost you your place in the ODI team a few seasons ago. The world already has one Afridi. If you wanna be the same, learn some useful legspin. the wonky off spin isn't even considered worthy of use by MS.
Sachin: Apart from the Hyderabad Hammering, not much of value. As any self respecting Indian worth his salt, we expected much more. Siddle pretty much had his number during the opening matches But again as any self respecting Indian worth his salt we refuse to see or acknowledge that. But still Thank you Sachin
Gautam Gambhir: Started of looking in orgasm inducing touch, making us question breaking up the Delhi Dostana. But one pull by Ponting into the neck triggered some sorta reaction that made him look completely out of touch. Heck no one even noticed if he was playing.
Yuvraj Singh: Again, one inning of note. Looks to be gorging out on the pies he chucks. Not that I mind, but might be hampering his running between the wickets.
MSD: We think he's first class as a batsman. Not one to please the purists but effective for sure. Won us at least two games. was unlucky on a couple of occasions. The decision to bat first on a fresh wicket in the crunch game might be criticized, but it was up to the batsmen to play out the first few overs. We spare him for now
Virat Kohli: Stop trying to look f*****cool in front of the cam, f******. This isn't a reality show. We're trying to win a f***** match. And for a lad your age, your fielding isn't something to be proud of.
Suresh Raina: Didn't Kirsten Dossier teach you anything. Why go for the customary missionary position like midwicket slog every f***** time. There's a world of unchartered space out there, give the bloody off side a chance. Just because God and Dada are there doesn't mean you'll offend them by hitting a ball there.
Ravindra Jadeja: Not too good under pressure are you kid. For f**** sake man, this is the last time we're telling you, ONLY YOU RUNNING TO THE OTHER END AND BACK WILL NOT EARN US A RUN. THERE'S GOTTA BE TWO PEOPLE TO BE ABLE TO DO IT.
Next time, we show some love to the allrounders, mainly Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar and the so called bowlers. and also outstanding fielder of the month, Ashish Nehra.
Why next time?
Coz we're too drunk to type any further that's why.
Notice how I keep referring to myself in plural. F***, i've gotta be over the driving limit. Who's driving my bike home?
Allan Donald the man who many fast bowlers, like myself grew up idolising, turns 43 today.
Still clearly remember how he tormented India on the SA tour of 96. Especially the 66 and 100 all out.
Although India were struggling with the pace and bounce, I loved every moment of watching Allan bowl.
I might have been the only person in the country cheering him on when he got stuck into Dravid during the ODI series.
That 98 tour of England, when he made Atherton shit in his pants was worth a watch for the duel itself.
Check this to know what i mean.
Although Wasim and Waqar were around back then, but that aggression was what made him stand out.
Fell in love with that action, although never aped it. It's amazing how many times he would just burst through a batsman's defense.
Also loved the extended follow through and stare when he wanted to let the batsman know that he was in space. That was something I incorporated into my own action.
Earlier, I would just run in, bowl then head back to the mark, irrespective of whether i had bowled a jaffa or a lame mid pitch long hop.
Though I didn't sledge much, did make it a point to follow through right upto the batsman after a bouncer or when I beat the bat.
That little ramp shot over the slips that Sachin is credited with was actually played by Allan first. True Story.
Can't find the video of him playing the shot though.
Here's to you Allan for being an inspiration to at least this fast bowler. It's only fair we share the same birthday
P.S: Today is Viru's Birthday too. But you know the relation between fast bowlers and opening batsmen right?
The fitness isn’t looking good, he’s off again, and threatens to be for a while. Isn’t that always the case with India’s fast bowlers – sure is with Right Arm Fast. Not Ishant or Praveen but Prafs, Bored Member Prafs. Take a deep breath, live a little, blog a lot. Happy, happy, joy, joy!
Prafs shares his day with Allan Donald, mad or what?
Everyone is talking about whether Freddie has opened Pandora's box, by refusing the ECB contract.
Whether others will follow suit and how cricketing apocalypse is around the corner.
But, one thing I wanna know is, who in the right frame of mind, would pay for a big bag of loose nuts, bolts and broken bones? The cost of these loose nuts could be 1.5 million or more,in dollars not rupees.
We know, you're not watching. Neither do you want to watch.
But calling someone by someone else's name for a whole over ain't done old man, wake up!!!
Madan batting, netravalkar(you thought sivaramakrishnan was the only tongue twister around) bowling.... LS goes on about how Kaif isn't timing the ball.
His co-commentator, if he is awake, doesn't bother correcting him. not that i care.
Next over Kaif hits one past a diving midwicket. Guess who LS credits the boundary to?
There have been quite a few moments on the field when most of us have made a hash of things. Yours truly has had a quite a few, like bowling a beamer in a fit of rage (flew over the keeper’s head for a boundary), tried a slower ball with 3 runs required off the last ball that ended up at square leg (the ball was wet. Really, it was), run the skipper out in a tense match, (a complete yes-yes, no- wait, oh shit, sorry skip type comedy) and a few others.
But the one that I distinctly remember is from the old colony days.
In those days, we’d just get whoever was available and divide them into 2 teams and play a few games.
Now, me being me, had a tendency to lose track of who’s playing for which team.
One such match was heading towards a tight finish. With me bowling the penultimate over.
The batsman dabbed the ball and set off for a cheeky single. I ran towards the ball, picked it up and saw Vaibhav, a friend of mine, at the non striker and hurled a flat return at him, only for him to let it go, while the batsmen ran an overthrow. I let go with a volley of expletives, “bh*****d, ball pakad, wicket hai yaar. “
Only for him to say, “g***u, Tinu (my nickname during those days) main umpire hai yaar!! And collapsed on the ground laughing
I looked sideways, and got the picture, albeit too late.
The guy who was supposed to back up had slipped and fallen, and I in my hurry to run the batsman, out had completely forgotten that Vaibhav was actually on the other team and was umpiring. The whole gang was laughing their arses off. Just felt like burying my head in the ground right then.
Don’t really remember, whether we won or lost. Was busy cursing myself at long on.
The leg pulling was endless for a few days.
Oh come on now, happens to the best of us
Don’t you have a story to tell?
C’mon let it out then
Prafs can also be found bowling wides down the leg side at Right Arm Fast
If this is to ensure that India keeps out the short stuff, i don't know how its gonna work.
Will including Dravid collectively improve the technique of Raina, Gambhir and Yusuf against the bouncer?
As i see it, there's one more pair of old legs in the field now alongside Sachin.
Instead of working on the so called chink in the armour, we have decided to go a step back by bringing out the old Wall after 22 months of absence from the ODI format.
Might work in the short run, but how long are we going to defend the young guns?
Time for some seaming, bouncy wickets at the academies?
Of Course we won't use them in home matches, every country has to offer different challenges. But we gotta learn to bat in other conditions too.
Also, SA skittling us for 66 at home or even NZ rolling us over for 78 is not very enjoyable.
Prafs can also be found bowling wides down the leg side at Right Arm Fast
It came up the other day, in the bored meeting, that who'd be taking up the middle order slots once Sachin, Rahul and VVS retire from tests. i kept trying to think of three names who could be the replacements but no one is an automatic replacement.
The Contenders:
Rohit Sharma : The Mumbai kid who seems to be favored a lot by the selectors. looks 27 at least, but says he is 22. Looks good when he gets going. Has a lot of time when playing his shots. Rameez says so. flashes a lot outside the off stump though. has the shots, but does he have the temperament to make it at the biggest level? has flattered to deceive on a lot of occasions. Might as well turn out to be a t20 specialist.
S Badrinath : Has been a consistent performer for TN over the past few years. Has a sound technique. Could well be the next RD. Surely, deserves to be given a few chances to prove what he's got. Admittedly hasn't been too flash for chennai in the IPL, but he looks like someone for the long run. But, he's 29 now, is it too late already?
Cheteshwar Pujara : BCC!'s beloved Che has been scoring runs in truckloads in the domestic circuit. His scores in crucial stages of last years ranji and deodhar trophy prove that he can cope with big match pressures. Also, has a good technique and can be difficult to get out. Being only 21, he has age on his side too. hope that knee injury he got, doesn't hamper him too much, like yuvi. Che for one, looks like he can walk in to replace one the big guns.
Manoj Tiwary : Watched him bat against Mumbai, in the ranji trophy. Looks like he belongs at the highest stage. Is an aggressive batsman who doesn't mind using his feet against the spinners. injured his shoulder before his debut against bangladesh, wasn't given enough chances in the Aus tour. Definitely deserves a go.
Suresh Raina : Has had a fairly successful run in the limited overs format. But a flaw in technique has been exposed against the short ball. But Ganguly played quite a few years without ever improving his play against the short ball, While Sehwag looks to have improved on the leg side play with the addition of the pull. No reason why Raina can't make a change. Again, has the shots, but is there enough temperament?
there might also be a few wild cards in Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane, Y Venugopal Rao.
It's alright if you want to score 15000 runs. But, at what cost?
I read at ducking beamers(or was it SOAL?),that going by your average you'd be done in 1 1/2 years.
But taking into the consideration that you're not exactly 22 years old now and one of your body parts keeps falling off in or at the end of every series, it could well be a lot more than that.
Effectively our beloved che and badri would have to shut shop, soon.
All of us know, what you've done for Indian cricket, the insight into the game that you have, your experience and all that.
But haven't you broken enough fingers in the slips, doesn't that back of yours give you certain hints, don't you ever feel like you're never going to reach the ball when you're chasing one in the outfield.
Even that occasional leg spin/off spin concoction has disappeared now.
It would be only fair, if you go when people would ask why, not why not.
Q has come out of the closet with his man love for Fawad Alam a few blogs ago( a blog is the only quantity in which bored members measure time), and asked Damith to come out too. Damith doesn't seem to love Splendid Mendis that much to come out in the open about it. or does he love King Kumar more?
However, what's stopping the rest of us from declaring our love out in the open.
Let me begin then, Fidel Edwards is my man, What's cooler than a West Indian quick? He gets a li'l cranky at times, doesn't mind giving the batsmen an earful and wants to behead jimmy anderson every time he bowls to him. that's all i could ever ask for.
Amidst all the verbal jousting between Sri Lanka and Pakistan the Bored Members might have forgotten that Indians face a serious threat in the form of West Indies
Apart from Gayle, the windies dont really have a batsman who can carry out a sustained attack on the opposition but if the Dude gets going....... good luck to the bowlers the fielding is rather pathetic, not that India has been any better this series. What i am afraid of is Fidel and Taylor opening the bowling. If the fast men get it right, life could get a bit difficult for the Indian Batsmen. However, they do have the tendency to err in their lines n lengths If things go well at the beginning, then india might be able to take the attack to the rest of the bowling.
As for India, Zaheer's spell in the last match was a relief, but that was only ireland Gayle and co will be a different proposition altogether the death bowling definitely needs improvement. The middle order must get a decent hit, the business end of the tournament is here. DROP IRFAN.
So lets wait and watch which team turns up to face India, Callypso Kings or Collapso Kings.
since everyone's putting together points on why aus lost, why poms are sh*t and why nobody really cares about south africa i thought i miht as well jump onto the 'point' bandwagon
here goes
1) Gambhir isn't being much help crawling at the top. The other opener is only a makeshift arrangement.
2) Dhoni, SHOULD NOT bat higher than either Yuvi or Raina. So stuff your ego dude, 5 is your number, not Raina's
3) How many times have Raina and Yusuf got the oppurtunity to get a decent hit?
4) The fielding, is still awful... throws from the boundary end up on the wrong damn pitch.
5) The death bowling is missing....... no one has kept their heads at the death, even aginst the Deshis and Ireland
6) Irfan Pathan.... need i say more...
BUT I WILL...it's ok if he's got curly hair and the girls love his smile... but that was not the criteria for making the 11, methinks
if Dhoni needs a bowler RP must play. Pathan is NOT an all rounder, he's a batsman who could bowl a bit... ONLY A BIT.
7) Jatman is out injured....... does that suck or what?
WI main middle order man - also the mean middle order man has been rather busy with something other than cricket
He hasn't noticed that they've started playing the one dayers against England. Funny guy Shiv, didn't even remember losing the first one dayer.
Anyway, the Caribbean Crawler smashed an absolutely brilliant 68, the only problem it came off 108 balls while... chasing 329
He might have thought 'yep, this one looks like one of dem dead pitches from back home.... let's draw this one now.' good goin Shiv....
Gayle needs to keep reminding him that the 50-50 games are on. Cant help it if the IPL hangover is making the ODIs appear a little too long to watch or play.
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