Friday, 9 September 2016

ICC fines Sri Lanka's Senanayake

Sri Lanka off spinner Sachithra Senanayake has been fined for using disparaging language at Australia captain David Warner during the first Twenty20. The International Cricket Council says Senanayake was fined 30 percent of his fee for Tuesday's match by match referee Javal Srinath. In the fifth over of the match, Senanayake dismissed Warner and made remarks that could have provoked a reaction from the latter. Senanayaake admitted his offense and accepted the sanction, the ICC added. Australia went on to win the match by 85 runs. The second and last T20 is on Friday.

Source:-www.crictoday.com

Thursday, 18 September 2014

KKR beat CSK in opener

Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Chennai Super Kings by three-wicket in the opening match of the sixth edition of the Champions League Twenty20. Earlier, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (35 not out off 20 balls) and Dwayne Bravo (28 not out off 28balls ) took their team to 157 for 4 from the allotted 20 overs. Chasing 158, the Kolkata-based team couldn’t get going in front of Ashish Nehra, who reduce them to 21 for 4 at one stage. The reigning IPL champions were tottering at 51/5 when Ryan ten Doeschate (51 not out) and Andre Russell (58) played out a responsible partnership which took KKR to win. Nehra was the star bowler picking up 4/21 from his four overs for the Super Kings while Mohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja picked up a wicket each.
Brief scores
Chennai Super Kings 157/4 in 20 overs (Mahendra Singh Dhoni 35 not out, Dwayne Bravo 28 not out, Suresh Raina 28; Piyush Chawla 2/26, Sunil Narine 1/9, Yusuf Pathan 1/16) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 159/7 in 19 overs (Andre Russel 58, Ryan ten Doeschate 51 not out, Suryakumar Yadav 19; Ashish Nehra 4/21, Ravindra Jadeja 1/25, Mohit Sharma 1/31).
Other Cricket news:-
Captain is confident
Captain Misbah-ul-Haq has said Pakistan can “once again rule the world” by winning the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year. The return of the tournament Down Under was a good omen for Pakistan, as that was where it won its only World Cup in 1992, when Imran Khan’s side beat England in the final. “As the event is returning to Australia and New Zealand, the level of expectation from us will be quite high,” Misbah said as he posed with the trophy in front of Badshahi Mosque and independence monument in Lahore. “The team’s victory in 1992 is still the most special sporting achievement in the minds of our cricketers and all cricket fans in Pakistan.The whole team is focused to face the most difficult challenge in world cricket, and with the determination of the players and the backing of the millions of Pakistani fans, we hope to once again rule the world.” The 40-year-old Misbah acknowledged the tournament starting in February could also be his international swansong. Pakistan’s opening match on Feb. 15 in Adelaide will be against archrival India, which it has never beaten in five previous World Cup matches. With so much history between them, Misbah said, “People will be looking at it as more than a final.”
Johnson given more time
Cricket Australia has withdrawn Mitchell Johnson from the start of the Champions League Twenty20 to allow the aggressive fast bowler to recover from a rib injury. Johnson plays for India’s Kings XI Punjab, and might be released to play in the latter stages of the tournament which starts this week and culminates in a final at Bangalore on Oct. 4. In a statement, Australia physio Alex Kountouris said Johnson had some rib pain during the recent one-day international tri-series in Zimbabwe. Kountouris said Johnson “has had a break from bowling since returning to Australia and having regular treatment to resolve the problem. He has not fully recovered as yet and will be reviewed over the next week.”
Source-www.crictoday.com

Wednesday, 17 September 2014

Clarke to miss series

Australia captain Michael Clarke will miss the limited-overs cricket series against Pakistan next month due to a hamstring injury that forced him home early from a recent series in Zimbabwe. Cricket Australia physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said tests had confirmed “a significant hamstring injury” for the 33-year-old Clarke. “Importantly, the scans have demonstrated tendon damage which complicates the recovery from this injury,” Kountouris said. He remained hopeful that Clarke will be available for the two test matches against Pakistan starting Oct. 22. Left-hander Phil Hughes was drafted into the ODI squad on Wednesday to replace Clarke for the three limited-overs internationals in the United Arab Emirates starting Oct. 7. Hughes was initially left out of the squad for the one-dayers, despite scoring two half-centuries in four matches in the recent Zimbabwe tri-series, but was already scheduled to travel to the UAE earlier than the remainder of the test squad to work on his batting technique against spin bowling with coaching consultant Muthiah Muralitharan.
The 25-year-old Hughes has been in and out of the Australian set up since making his test debut in 2009, but has only played 24 ODIs since his debut in that format in 2013 and averages 37.31. He forced his way back into the ODI squad for the Zimbabwe after scoring two double-centuries in two weeks for Australia A against South Africa in July and August. Clarke, who has struggled in the past with a back problem, hurt his left hamstring last month and missed Australia’s first two games in the tri-series involving South Africa and Zimbabwe. He returned to play against Zimbabwe but retired hurt during his innings and, although he returned to bat and field, it was his only game of the tour. Clarke has been at the forefront of Australian team’s resurgence in the last 12 months and is likely to play an important role in the team’s preparations for the World Cup, which starts February in Australia and New Zealand. He averages 45 with the bat in 237 ODIs, including eight centuries and 56 half centuries, and was part of Australia’s World Cup winning team in 2007. He has had more success in the test arena, averaging 51.5 in 105 matches including 27 centuries and 27 half centuries.
other Cricket news:-
Afridi is T20 captain
Shahid Afridi will captain Pakistan in Twenty20s until 2016 while Misbah-ul-Haq will remain the skipper for the World Cup next year, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced. Afridi replaced Mohammad Hafeez, who stepped down after Pakistan’s unimpressive performance at the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh this year. Afridi has led Pakistan in 19 T20s from 2009-11, losing 11 and winning eight. He was captain when the team reached the semifinals of the World Twenty20 in the West Indies in 2010. He was removed as captain in 2010 after differences with the then-PCB chairman Ijaz Butt. “Afridi’s bowling is very good in Twenty20s and we should back him,” former captain Mohammad Yousuf told Geo Television. “He just needs to take the rest of his team-mates with him.” Afridi is the world’s third highest wicket-taker in T20s, with 77 wickets from 74 matches, eight behind top wicket-taker Saeed Ajmal, who was has been suspended for a suspect action, and six behind fast bowler Umar Gul. Misbah, 40, has captained Pakistan in 74 ODIs, with a win-lost record of 40-31. Pakistan is scheduled to play eight one-dayers and three T20s in the United Arab Emirates before the World Cup in February in Australia and New Zealand. It will take on Australia in a one-off T20 and three ODIs, next month, then two T20s and five ODIs against New Zealand in December.
Source- http://www.crictoday.com/news/196-slidenews/12670-clarke-to-miss-series.html
http://www.crictoday.com/news/194-slider/12669-afridi-is-t20-captain.html

Windies beat Bang in second test

Veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul completed his 30th Test century and left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn followed with 5-72 as the West Indies defeated Bangladesh by 296 runs late on day four of the second test. The West Indies, playing its landmark 500th test, swept the two-test series 2-0. Chanderpaul’s unbeaten 101 allowed the West Indies to declare its second innings at 269-4 early in the day. Bangladesh, set 489 for an unlikely victory, was bowled out for 192 in the final over of the day. Benn’s second five-wicket haul of the series was supported well by fast bowler Jerome Taylor, who claimed his 100th Test wicket on his way to figures of 3-39. For the visitors, Tamim Iqbal top-scored with 64 and left-hander Mominul Haque contributed 56, the pair adding 110 for the third wicket to give the visitors hope. But once Benn removed Tamim, the innings went into terminal decline, the last eight wickets tumbling for 34 runs in an hour and a half. Earlier, the West Indies added 61 runs in 10 overs after resuming in a position of strength at 208-4. Chanderpaul and Jermaine Blackwood extended their unbroken fifth wicket stand to 169. Blackwood, resuming on 43, soon brought up his second test half century and Chanderpaul, who celebrated his 40th birthday a month ago, wasted no time in moving from 63 to another triple figure score. In doing so, the veteran became the 11th batsman to reach 30 test tons. The left-hander also became only the second West Indian to score a century after the age of 40, joining Clive Lloyd, who was watching on from the stands in his role as chairman of selectors.
Bangladesh got off to a bright start through Tamim and Shamsur Rahman. Shamsur (39) took on a short bowling barrage from Taylor, smacking him for four and two sixes, off successive balls. But he eventually fell to the stroke, top-edging straight to deep backward square leg at 47-1. One run later, Benn claimed Anamul Haque (0) edging to wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin for a duck to further strengthen the hosts’ grip. But Tamim and Mominul forged a sterling partnership either side of tea to stall the West Indies. Mominul survived a chance to Darren Bravo at first slip when 29 but the pair were largely untroubled as they batted into the final session. The 33-year-old Benn made the crucial breakthrough an hour after tea when Tamim swung across the line and skied to Shannon Gabriel at midwicket and soon added the scalp of Mominul, who hit a full toss straight to the same fielder. In between, Gabriel claimed Mahmudullah lbw for a duck. The lower order offered little resistance as Benn took his series tally to 14 wickets and Taylor brought up his 100th in his career. Benn had Nasir Hossain lbw and pouched a return chance off Taijul Islam while Taylor bowled Mushfiqur Rahim and had Robiul Islam lbw. Kemar Roach, who had taken a five-wicket haul in the first innings, ended the match by rattling the stumps of Shafiul Islam.
Source-http://www.crictoday.com/news/12672-windies-beat-bang-in-second-test.html

Monday, 8 September 2014

India Need More than Stop Gap Measures

Desperate times call for desperate measures. In the absence of acceptable contingency measures, the BCCI risked getting caught with its hand in the cookie jar without looking like it was serious about preserving the last vestige of the sport – Test cricket. Unwilling to take a swipe at the skipper midway through the difficult overseas tour of England, the BCCI did the next best thing it could do under the circumstances – virtually fire the foreign support staff barring the head coach. With mission scapegoat on their mind, the changes coming from BCCI’s quarters did not themselves cause surprise as much as to what they implied. The reality, however, is that more changes should be in the offing if the score line is intended to improve somewhere down the line on future overseas tours.
In a sport where the captain has more bearing than the coach and by that extension, the support staff, the BCCI made the backroom payroll pay for the on field disappointments of team India, although it was not entirely unwarranted. The BCCI stopped short of putting their foot down and in doing so, left the door open for more criticism. Stopping short of firing the current Indian coach, Duncan Fletcher, the BCCI sent his support staff consisting of fielding coach, Trevor Penny, and bowling coach, Joe Dawes, on a brief hiatus while bringing in a slew of stop gap measures for the remainder of India’s tour of England. If this was BCCI’s way of wanting to oust the coach without getting its own hands dirty, it was certainly pointing the way.
Although some would say that this was a classic case of locking the door after the horse has bolted, the BCCI appointed former Indian cricket and commentator, Ravi Shastri, as India’s director of cricket for the forthcoming one day international series against England. With the BCCI spelling out clearly that Shastri would be overseeing the interests of Indian cricket, it is not hard to surmise who the boss is in this picture. While Fletcher would remain coach, Shastri, a well known BCCI loyalist, has been entrusted with the task of not only infusing fresh energy into the weary squad but also, reporting back to the BCCI on the merits of keeping Fletcher on as coach for the remainder of the latter’s contract which runs up to the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015.
Additionally the BCCI brought in an entirely Indian support staff to replace the duo with former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Bangar, and Bharat Arun as assistant coaches while employing R. Sridhar, associated with the National Cricket Academy, as the fielding coach. Bangar was the Kings XI Punjab coach in the IPL of 2014 after retiring from first class cricket in 2013 and had impressed both, the Indian and foreign cricketers, in the team with his level of involvement, commitment and clearly spelled out ambitions for the team. Arun has been involved with the coaching of India’s under-19 teams and the appointments are being seen as a way to reconnect with the young Indian squad and get a better understanding and perspective on the situation.
While the move to inject Indian support cast to bolster the team may have been seen as expeditious in an attempt to bridge the communication breakdown suspected to have taken place between the foreign coach and the Indian players in the course of the Test series, it would seem rather outrageous that on the face of it, the BCCI officials would go as far as to say that both, Joe Dawes and Trevor Penny, were free to either go back home or go on a holiday at a time when it would have seemed more prudent for them to hang around to exchange notes and assess the team and the players vis-à-vis their Indian counterparts. If that is not a clear signal that the BCCI is no longer interested in their services, one would not know what is.
While these are certainly interesting moves from the BCCI at a time when it is colluding with other powerful boards to enhance its commercial interests, tinkering with the support staff alone would not get the team over the line on the next overseas tour in a format that has become something of an endangered species. While the BCCI is believed to be reticent about rocking the boat by firing both, the coach and captain, in making these changes, it is not unlike pulling the rug from under the feet of the coach who brought in the support staff in the first place. The changes would suggest that pressure is directly on Duncan Fletcher, who as India’s foreign coach, has struggled to change perception in the public eye that he is little more but an aging figure in the Indian dressing room and whose experience and knowledge as a master tactician has not, by a process of osmosis, converted into results since taking over from Gary Kirsten midway through 2011.
Although Fletcher came highly rated by his predecessor, Kirsten, who enjoyed a great run with the Indian team culminating in the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011, and has been the strength behind the likes of Jacques Kallis and Nasser Hussain and even helping out Rahul Dravid who rates him rather high, Fletcher’s help behind the scenes has been largely invisible and with India’s track record abroad not looking like changing anytime soon, Fletcher would be counting down his days to the next edition of the World Cup, if he manages to survive the duration of his extended contract which seems highly unlikely at this point.
As things stand, this may be an unceremonious booting of a foreign coach who never quite understood the ethos of the Indian cricket culture and furthermore, would find, in hindsight, his inability to connect with the passionate Indian masses may have led them to not being able to weigh and asses his value in the dressing room and fully appreciate his appointment. Against a dominant board and a powerful captain backed up by influence in the board, Fletcher’s uphill battle began almost immediately after an inconsequential tour of Zimbabwe straight into the now infamous tour of England in 2011. It would then seem to come full circle for the former England coach with an unrepentant India facing the consequences for lessons unlearnt, sitting on their laurels after the second Test and underestimating their opponents with Fletcher once more facing the brunt of the brickbats for being the silent, ghost-like shadow in the Indian dressing room.
The sixty-five year old Zimbabwean may feel even more handicapped in the absence of his own staff. However, there were growing concerns in several regards. For one, bowler management seemed a serious issue. Bhuvneshwar Kumar looked ragged as the series drew to a close while Pankaj Singh remained underutilized. Dhoni had little faith in Stuart Binny who was anyway a shocking selection to begin with. Ravindra Jadeja was preferred over India’s lead spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin, and it is a choice selection that needs to be worked out between the selection panel, the captain and the bowling coach who may have had input which may or may not have been passed on or even appreciated, which would be a cause for concern in any case.
India’s slippery fingers in the slips was a persistently agonizing issue and one could attribute the turning point of the series to the dropped chances that allowed the England captain, Alastair Cook, to crawl back into contention and retain his captaincy on the morning of the first day of the third Test in Southampton. While Fletcher was seen taking on players for fielding practice individually, concerns remained whether the players were being subjected to mock drills to enhance their perception about slip fielding which includes understanding the degree of proximity to their fellow slip fielders in a crucial scenario such as a Test match where taking twenty wickets is as imperative on the bowlers as it is on the quality of slip fielding. One could only wonder if some of the football drills could not have been substituted for the players honing their skills harder and longer in the practice sessions.
Fletcher himself has been instrumental in the shaping and reviving of many an international batsman’s career. While some of the players have spoken about Fletcher being able to help them on an individual basis, that the results have not percolated onto the field can only point to either of the scenarios where the batsmen have failed to imbibe the lessons quickly enough, or whether the players were even seeking the advice of the coach, and whether there was a communication gap between the coach and the team between taking a hiding on the field and extracting the lessons from it. It is hard to assess the reactions and the contributions of a coach who is deliberately reticent with the media, his deadpan countenance giving nothing away either to his contentment with the team or displeasure at indiscipline.
While Fletcher’s past credentials are not in question, ultimately when a team is not able to utilize the services of a great tactician either due to their own stubbornness or of the coach’s inability to translate that information in a different cultural environment that represents the Indian dressing room, it would be a waste of both, time and resources, when perhaps India, given the number of young incumbents in the team, would be better served to have one of their own icons taking control of matters in the dressing room.
For the present generation of Indian cricketers that has grown up watching India’s iconic players and former captains such as Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, having them in the dressing room in the role of a coach, mentor or consultant could prove to be just the shot in the arm that the team needs to propel itself from converting potential and passion into commendable results. Not only would these players command attention and respect and be a source of inspiration but also, because they have been at the helm of affairs for the better part of a decade and a half at the least, that would make them ideally connected to the demands of the modern game and therefore, better able to understand, empathize and help resolve issues that come with the trade. Although Dravid did serve as a batting consultant for the initial part of the tour, one can only imagine how dramatically different the results could have been if the experiment had been persisted with.
But the coaching job is not the only one on shaky ground. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s tactical acumen seem to fail him when it comes to the longest version of the sport. The tour is not the first instance and depending how long he lasts in the role as India’s Test captain, it will not be the last time that Dhoni’s captaincy will be scrutinized with the same ruler. If leeway was accorded to Dhoni on India’s previous tour of England as India went down 4-0, Indian cricket fans, heavily invested emotionally in the sport, would be far less forgiving over two abysmal tours to England, this tour particularly so after India seemed to have their grip after the win at Lord’s and Alastair Cook seemed all but certain to lose his as England’s skipper. Even for the most ardent of Dhoni fans, it has been apparent for some time now that Dhoni does not seem to have quite the same fluency of thought when it comes to Test cricket. When faced with a brick wall, Dhoni’s defensive tactics only expose that further.
At times one got the impression that the length of Dhoni’s wisdom laced sound bytes at the post match presentation lasted longer than India’s batting at the crease. But the pertinent question was whether Dhoni was managing to convey the same message effectively in the dressing room. Dhoni showed great enterprise in curbing his natural instincts, batting with refrain and scoring knocks that saved India further ignominy. But at times, his comments following the match gave baffling insight about the skipper’s own mindset. Dhoni’s “Don’t be jealous of the IPL” sounded like someone with the air of entitlement while the skipper’s bizarre take at the post match presentation that the team looked forward to two additional days of rest after India surrendered tamely to England inside three days in the fourth Test at Old Trafford did not sound like a team looking for redemption, suggesting either that the skipper was not entirely serious about the format or of the gravity of the situation as he would have liked us to believe.
Dhoni, as a batsman, may have survived the litmus test for the moment but his wicket keeping was competing with his captaincy, with the latter dominating the headlines as the series progressed for all the wrong reasons. As India’s game unraveled, so did some of Dhoni’s on field decisions, hitting a sore point or two. And yet his stubbornness to stick to plans that lost significance a long time ago smacked of a skipper in denial or of someone who had run out of ideas. This is not the first time that Dhoni’s captaincy in the Test format has come under the scanner. And yet some would suggest Dhoni’s continuing to hold onto a post that could have been taken away from him after the 2011’s 8-0 drubbing came down to his favourable standing in the corridors of the BCCI. And the story may yet continue in the same vein.
Succession planning for the Test skipper’s role may have gone awry in light of the batsmen’s poor performances. Undoubtedly before the start of the tour of England, Virat Kohli was considered the frontrunner for the job of India’s Test captain. Kohli’s pathetic batting record in England exposed the vulnerability that even the young dynamic batsman has had to come face to face with. It may have emboldened Dhoni while flummoxing those with selection powers over the merits and repercussions of replacing Dhoni. However, given Dhoni’s record of thirteen Test losses and only one win in seventeen Tests, a younger captain’s mistakes could not be worse and even forgiven in light of them being attributed to a learning curve.
If South Africa could bring in Graeme Smith into the captaincy role after only eight Tests, Kohli or even Cheteshwar Pujara, as someone perhaps in the mould of Hashim Amla (although it is too early for comparisons) as a silent, strong entity, could be inducted into the role if only as a temporary trial run before the selectors are more confident in their choice. Ganguly himself was not popular choice, was never really considered captaincy material and yet brought about a new era of mental robustness into a young Indian team and chased away his detractors with some degree of success.
It may be harsh to blame a captain when the team’s misgivings ranging from abysmal fielding, poor batting application to a lack of consistency of line and length in bowling. However, when a captain has shown inadequacies in critical areas – be it making the final playing eleven selection, optimal use of players be it in field placement or rolling in imperative bowling changes when the opposition is ripe for the taking, one would think that the degree of discrepancy would suggest a fresh, tactical mind was almost as imperative as a rap on the knuckles for the players to pull up their socks.
A couple of player selections have been baffling to say the least. In that context, it becomes equally relevant that the Indian selection panel and the BCCI identify the stock of players ideally suited to the longest format of the game. Stop gap measures rarely do the job as India have found out on this tour. The need to identify and develop players for key roles becomes particularly imperative given that between the tours of 2011 and 2014, India have been flanked by the same problems ranging from finding openers who can drop anchor and lay the foundation to finding the right fifth bowling option to ensure a watertight bowling attack. It must concern a team when a talent like Rohit Sharma is unable to convert that potential and cement his place in the team because he has shown captaincy skills as well if only briefly.
If there is an issue of commitment to the Test format as has been implied by former Indian captain and commentator, Sunil Gavaskar, then there is a need for the BCCI to have a sit down with these players, make clear their intentions and then work accordingly towards restructuring the crux of the team. Competency and talent alone do not ensure success. Given that the BCCI is solely responsible for putting the Indian Premier League (IPL) on a pedestal, the onus would fall on them then to get the heart of the matter, weed out of the issues in the minds of the players and get the five day game back on track. Whether this would mean identifying players for the longer format, building up a healthy bench strength, compensating them for their specialist job, sending them on special A tours, exposing them to domestic cricket abroad and conducting master class that they could benefit from would go a long way towards reviving India’s Test cricket ambitions.
As things stand presently, India are in danger of being dubbed bullies only in the boardroom – the lambs abroad tag has been bandied around in good measure. Whether India could have benefitted from an Argus report like Australia did even back in 2011 is a matter of speculation. One of the reasons Australia bounced back quickly was because they were smarting from the defeats, a feeling that does not seem to emanate in quite the same measure from either the Indian team or management even on the last tour debacles which is a serious cause for worry. What is apparent, however, is that lessons unlearnt from that tour have come back to haunt India, perhaps more glaringly than at any other time in Dhoni’s career as India’s Test captain and the BCCI is still not willing to walk the extra mile. If India walk away from this England tour, hoping a home series against the rather obliging West Indies or worse still, the one day series against England, will obliterate their blundering ways in the Test series, they would do so at their own peril of greater humiliation, which one thought could not have gotten any worse than what India had to face on their last tour of England.
Source-http://www.crictoday.com

Saturday, 6 September 2014

Jacques Kallis: End of the Era of the Powerhouse Legend

Eighteen years in the relentless grind of international sport is a long journey by anyone’s standards. Yet few cricketers truly epitomize the powerhouse tag better than Jacques Kallis, arguably one of the world’s greatest all rounders of all time and certainly the greatest amongst his contemporaries spanning across the last couple of decades. It only naturally follows that an undeniable twinge of sadness hangs heavy in the air, not to mention the slightest hint of apprehension, with Kallis’ retirement truly marking the end of an era.
Those feelings find resonance amongst aficionados for whom contemplating cricket and life itself without their favourite iconic players is next to impossible. If fans have found familiarity in a player who has remained at the top of his game for the better part of two decades, it has to be attributed to the degree of his commitment and passion to the sport and to the level of fitness demanded at the highest level. Jacques Kallis is one of those rare giants of the game that will leave a huge void as South Africa rebuild their cricket without the familiar sturdy colossus casting his protective shadow over their interests.
Pomp and pageantry are not for him. That would explain why while many a player of his time hung around longer than able if only for a swansong, Kallis has, in his unassuming style, chosen to bow out without fanfare. There was a sense of shock and at the same time, inevitability when Jacques Kallis announced that he was hanging up his boots in all formats of the game – he had retired from international Test cricket over six months ago. The shock was palpable given that South Africa were slated to lose one giant per World Cup with the 2015 edition in Australia-New Zealand expected to mark Jacques Kallis’ farewell from international cricket. Yet Kallis’ decision to retire came six months too soon after a rather sedate single digit showing in the three one day internationals on South Africa’s otherwise successful tour of Sri Lanka.
Some would have attributed Kallis’ ambition for one final World Cup showdown to downright greed that is sometimes the bane of legends past their prime. However, to Kallis, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 represented one final lung burst of an opportunity to make amends for the national’s passionate sporting interests that have been hurt sorely by South Africa’s chequered history at the Cricket World Cup. After all, Kallis was the Man of the Match for his five-for with the ball in the only ICC tournament that South Africa have won – the Wills International Cup in 1998 that later went by the name of the ICC Champions Trophy. With South Africa having been stuck rather too conveniently and often harshly and unfairly with the ‘chokers’ tag, given Kallis’ ambitions for the team, it seemed only natural that he would have wanted to bring all the wealth of his experience and skill sets towards South Africa setting the record straight once and for all.
However, even legends have to sometimes come to grips with the inevitability of reality that the gap between desire and execution may be a chasm too wide to bridge. That is precisely what Kallis seemed to have come face to face with in the mirror upon returning from the tour of Sri Lanka where South Africa won the one day internationals series in the Emerald Isles for the first time since the post apartheid era in 1991. And the team did it without a characteristic worthy and weighty performance from the humble all rounder. In Kallis’ case, true to his selfless nature, he did not need the shove of the selectors to tell him it was perhaps his time to go. To be fair, left to themselves, the South African selectors may not have had the courage to make such a huge game changing decision on Kallis’ time knowing the World Cup was round the corner. However, Kallis wanted to win his place in the team for the World Cup on merit, and not solely on the reputation he painfully, and sometimes at the expense of his own personal turmoil, built over two decades.
Only a player true to his game and bold enough in his decision making could have made the tough call that Kallis did, so close to the World Cup. Some would have thought to ride the rough waves in the hope of a fitting farewell for diligent service rendered. But Kallis knew better than to bide time and hold South Africa back. Arguably the toughest decision that even the greatest of players must make before it is forced down their throat like bitter medicine, Kallis was magnanimous enough to realize that it was time to make room for fresher legs and more importantly, a fresher, hungrier mind. On calling it a day, Kallis expressed rather candidly, “I realized in Sri Lanka that my dream of playing in a World Cup was a bridge too far. Ï just knew on that tour that I was done. The squad that was in Sri Lanka is an amazing one and I believe they have a good chance of bringing the trophy home in March.”
Kallis’ thoughts are not entirely misplaced. He was at first hand to experience that South Africa does have the potential talent to go the distance – that really never was South Africa’s problem to be honest. While Kallis remained the only South African batsman to score a century in Sri Lanka in sixteen matches since 2004, on this tour alone, four centuries were scored between wicketkeeper-cum-opener, Quinton de Kock, South Africa’s ODI captain, AB de Villiers, and South Africa’s Test captain, Hashim Amla, who scored two centuries in a format that many had rather erroneously ascribed as being beyond the classically styled batsman. Besides, South Africa have a world class bowler in Dale Steyn and well backed up by the likes of Morne Morkel, Ryan McLaren and Vernon Philander although it has to be said in the same breath that South Africa have not quite unearthed an all rounder of the same caliber or mould as Kallis which is not unexpected given Kallis’ majestic yet rare stature in world cricket.
If numbers alone could separate the genius from the mediocre, Kallis would not find rush hour traffic-like competition. That he remains one of the most underrated cricketers of his time was evident in the fact that while Kallis was caught in a three horse race that involved India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Australia’s Ricky Ponting for the top billing as Test cricket’s highest run getter, he was often the forgotten third act. That Kallis finished third, falling short by only eighty-nine runs to Ponting’s 13,378 runs, boasting an average superior to both his contemporaries at 55.37 and having four centuries more than Ponting’s forty-one hundreds puts Kallis on a pedestal only a few can even aspire for.
When Kallis ended his Test career following the home series against India, it greatly impacted a fellow statesman and his captain, Graeme Smith. It was not long thereafter that the South African skipper called time on his own Test career at the end of the home Test series against Australia. And in one of those candid moments, Smith spoke about how Kallis’ retirement has had a telling impact on him towards factoring his own retirement decision. If fast bowlers hunt in pairs, perhaps there is something to be said of the fact that for Smith, Kallis may have seemed to have hung around since time immemorial, having begun his international career as a twenty-year old in 1995 while Smith’s own career got underway following the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2003 at twenty-three years of age.
That Kallis’ retirement from the one day internationals is a huge loss despite his lack of runs was evident in the effusive tribute that the current South African Test captain, Hashim Amla, paid to the genuine all rounder. Amla spoke about Kallis’ presence that had greatly influenced men of his generation and that he would leave a void in the dressing room, “Jacques was a one in 50 years cricketer who had a huge influence on so many Proteas players over a twenty year period. I was privileged to have been one of those. You appreciate the magnitude of the cricketer not only when you look at his record but also when you play alongside him.” Numbers only further emphasize Amla’s point. Kallis retires from the game after having played 328 matches with 11,579 one day international runs that include seventeen centuries and a phenomenal average of 44.36, only a shade shy of Tendulkar’s one day internationals average of 44.83. Kallis ends his career as the seventh highest run getter in the fifty overs format and only the third non-Asian cricketer in the top ten, sandwiched between Ponting in second spot and West Indies’ Brian Lara on the tenth rung.
But what differentiates Kallis from the likes of Tendulkar and Ponting is that while both men turned their arm over, one more than the other, Kallis was considered amongst the truly genuine all rounders the game has ever seen. Robust numbers back that perception including the fact that he is third on the list for winning the most number of Man of the Match awards at thirty-two. With 200 catches in Test matches and 131 catches in one day internationals, Kallis established himself as a permanent member of the safest slip cordon. His forty-five Test centuries make his the highest for South Africa, Smith coming in a distant second with twenty-seven with Amla catching up with twenty-two centuries to his name. His 292 Test wickets and 283 one day internationals wickets only further evidence the fact that Kallis was one of South Africa’s frontline blustery bowlers on whom the South African skipper relied consistently on to form the crux of the team’s bowling arsenal. He is one of four all rounders and the only non-Asian besides Sanath Jayasuriya, Abdul Razzaq and Shahid Afridi to have to his credit over 5000 runs and 200 wickets which says something not only about the dearth of great all rounders but also, of the rare gem of an asset that Kallis has been to South Africa’s cause.
But Kallis did more than just make up the numbers. One of the truly enigmatic personalities of the sport, Kallis carried a Zen-like aura about him that defied the colossus of a team mate that he was in the dressing room, an opponent who commanded respect and a true icon of the game in every sense of the word. His character as a grounded, safe, stable, gentle giant of the game was in sharp contrast to the competitive streak with which he approached his game. Although never one with a visible aggressive streak, an ability he learnt well to camouflage under an unfazed exterior rather early in his career more as a necessity in a team context when South Africa needed an anchor rather than a swashbuckling hero, Kallis was a stealth weapon who sneaked up on the opposition with a game changing, match-winning performance to evince awe and respect.
One of the truly reticent gentlemen on and off the game, Jacques Kallis came to represent a certain sense of solidity about a team that carried a touch of vulnerability and fragility about them despite having one of the most mentally formidable captains in Kepler Wessels leading them upon their return to international cricket over three decades ago. Kallis reminded many of Brian McMillan in the same likeness of both, being a broad shouldered gentleman with a safe pair of hands in the slip and an all rounder. And yet like much of South Africa from the initial days, Kallis was a vastly improved, improvised and impervious version of the all rounder who represented South Africa in the limited opportunities that was accorded to South African cricketers late in their careers at the time.
Kallis often gave off the impression that he couldn’t care less what the bowler had in mind, often seeming to appear millions of miles away while at the crease. His meditative nonchalant stance was perhaps amongst the most deceptive as Kallis soon developed a reputation for being one of the most difficult men to dislodge while at the crease. His batting may not have been as flamboyant or extravagant as some of his counterparts or even some of the other hailed all rounders of yore, but that by no means meant that Kallis’ style of batting was unattractive. If anything, Kallis’ classic cover drives spelt magnificence, his picture perfect follow through arrested in flawless perfection and yet his return to his nonchalant poise at the crease seemed not to allude to the majestic shot that preceded it.
It was hard to fault Kallis for much while he was at the crease, except perhaps for sometimes giving off the impression that he was more content occupying the crease than letting the scoreboard rattle. Yet numbers reveal nothing could be further from the truth. Kallis was one of those few players in international cricket who perfected the sublime art of pacing an innings, keeping his poise, playing into his role with deceptive sedateness before powering through to another applause winning knock that put South Africa on top and in command. Never one to show emotion, even when life handed him some toughs family wise, the only time Kallis’ emotions became more evident in the public eye when fellow South African cricketer and personal friend, Mark Boucher, suffered loss of vision in one eye while keeping eye on the foreign tour of England in 2012 when Kallis tussled between his on field duties and off field hospital visits. He even dedicated his century in the Test at the Oval to his friend of many years.
With the ball, Kallis was equally deceptive and blustery in pace. Injuries may have got the better of his bowling career towards the end of his career but not of his prowess. His ability can be verified in numbers, providing South Africa another frontline bowler who gave the skipper the option to add depth to the line up. And yet in a team that prided itself on more than one all rounder, there was never any doubt that Kallis epitomized the perfect example of the traditional cricket all rounder, one of the few genuine ones that cricket would look upon with both, pride and envy.
Kallis’ retirement renders the air with nostalgia because he played the finest brand of cricket, classic and yet blended beautifully to meet the demands of the modern game. In Kallis, South Africa fashioned a great many ambitions. While others may have walked away with accolades on the day for a job well done, Kallis was the silent strength behind the team, the wind beneath the wings, the sturdy foundation below the magnificent architecture. The pillars may not always be bold or ostentatious; they need not be. They reflect the rarest brilliance because they hold up the structure without drawing attention to themselves. Kallis was content being the grit behind the glory, the gumption of the story than the glamour of the show. Never the gambler, always the giver, Kallis showed that the sublime could deliver just as effectively as the flamboyant, perhaps more deceptively so. Kallis has been worth his weight in gold.
Source-https://www.crictoday.com/

Friday, 5 September 2014

The broken nose saga continues

duck and be hit on the helmet or perhaps he has misjudged the length and the speed of the ball and is struck. In the pre-helmet days batsmen had to be extra careful in negotiating the faster deliveries for obviously he could not afford to be hit on the head. These days it is not an uncommon sight to see a batsmen being hit on the helmet for he is aware that even if he makes a misjudgment he is protected. But as we have seen this is not guaranteed. The recent mishap to Stuart Broad in the Old Trafford Test against India is a case in point. The tall left handed England all rounder hooked Varun Aaron for successive sixes – a grand way to open his account. Heady with success he went for another maximum off the very next ball. But having just come in perhaps he had not got his eye fully in for this delivery – another short one – was a shade quicker timed at 141 kmph and rose probably more than Broad expected. He was late on the stroke and the ball struck him flush on the grille of the helmet where it lodged itself. Some of the newer helmets have an extra grille on the visor but it appeared that Broad’s helmet didn’t. The ball went in between the grille and the peak of the helmet and it was quickly obvious that it was a nasty blow with the bridge of the nose taking the maximum impact. He was bleeding and the physio rushed out to render first aid. Broad was led off holding a cloth to the bloody nose. Not unexpectedly he did not take any further part in the match even as England made light of his absence as a bowler and won in three days by an innings and 54 runs.
Taken to hospital Broad required stitches for a fractured nose but he made a fast recovery and included in the team for the final Test at the Oval he played with a nose splint to disguise the temporary damage. Broad’s case is not the first such incident. There have been a few players over the years who have suffered grievous injuries in a similar manner with the helmet unable to save them. The most famous – or infamous depending on one’s point of view – is the one involving Mike Gatting and Malcolm Marshall. It happened on the 1985-86 England tour of the West Indies. Gatting the vice captain had been one of the few batsmen to be among the runs during the early phase of the tour but in the first ODI at Kingston he suffered a blow which had long term consequences both in playing terms and psychologically. England batted first and Gatting came in when the score was ten for two with both Tim Robinson and skipper David Gower falling for ducks to Patrick Patterson. The fearsome West Indian speed quartet was at full strength for besides Patterson, there were Marshall, Courtney Walsh and Joel Garner. Gatting had scored ten when he missed an attempted hook off Marshall and was struck flush on the nose. To add insult to injury the ball cannoned off his face to the stumps. Gatting was predictably donning protective gear but some of the early helmets did not have the visors that came in later. Gatting flew home to get his nose fixed and after convalescing for some time rejoined the team four weeks later. As misfortune would have it he broke his thumb within 20 hours of his return in the game against Barbados. In the first innings he batted bravely showing no after effects of his facial injury but after making 36 in 85 minutes he had no counter to a fast medium delivery from Vibert Greene which as bad luck would again have it lifted steeply to his bottom hand whence it looped to second slip where Carlisle Best completed the catch. Gatting did not bat in the second innings and took no further part in the tour. How much impact Gatting’s initial injury had on the team as a whole could be debated but the fact remains that England suffered a 5-0 “blackwash’’ in the Test series besides losing the ODI series 3-1.
One recalls Manoj Prabhakar meeting with the same fate at the hands of Walsh on the 1994-95 West Indian tour of India. As an opening batsman Prabhakar was courageous personified and this quality saw him face up to the fastest of bowlers despite limitations in his technique. In the third and final Test at Mohali he had scored a brave 120 in the first innings – incidentally the only Test century in his 39-match career – batting for 405 minutes and handling the pace of Walsh, Kenny Benjamin, Cameron Cuffy and Andy Cummins admirably. In the second innings when India were set a victory target of 357 Prabhakar again opened but before he could open his account he had his nose broken by Walsh in the very first over. He tried to pull the ball but it went through his helmet grille causing considerable damage. Prabhakar was led off bleeding and not unexpectedly could not come back to bat even as India went down to defeat by 243 runs. While on the subject I also recall Kris Srikkanth being hit on the face by a ball from Wasim Akram despite wearing a helmet in an ODI between India and Pakistan at Hyderabad in 1987. He had scored just two and the injury kept him out of the three remaining matches in the series. Without their most explosive batsman
Source-http://www.crictoday.com/