Hats off to 'Unbowlable' Chanderpaul

By Rico

Shivnarine Chanderpaul is not counted among enterprising cricketers of his generation. He is not one of the most gifted either. He is known for having one of the crabbiest techniques in world cricket, infamous for his unorthodox front-on batting stance .

But, he is amazing stuff. If there is one cricketer who has an unwavering concentration and keeps on improvising all the time, that is Chanderpaul. He would use soft hands, canny deflections, a whiplash pull-shot and what not, if they produce runs.
He has for long been the Mr Dependable of West Indies side. If a Brian Lara or a Chris Gayle are stylish strokemakers, Chanderpaul is a grafter and accumulator. When every other more enterprising compatriots fail, he is supposed to play the sheet anchor's role.
He was simply ''the unbowlable'' in England this summer. He batted 17 hours and 40 minutes without being dismissed, scoring 446 runs from three Tests and averaging 148.66 with two unbeaten centuries.
Michael Vaughan considers Chanderpaul's 116 not out in the third Test, which almost won the game for West Indies, as the finest Test innings he had ever seen.
His explosive form in the Twenty20 and ODI exploits (202 runs from three matches with one hundred) led his coach David Moore calling him one of the most versatile cricketers in the world.
During the third Test against England, he crossed 7,000 run mark, the seventh West Indian and 30th batsmen in the world to have done so.
In his 104-Test career, he has scored 7182 runs. And with age in his side, the unassuming left-handed Guyanese, who turns 33 in August, has every possibilty to become the third West Indian to score more than 8,000 runs when he retires. He can even go past the great Sir Vivian Richards' 8,540 Test runs.
A healthy average of 46.63 in Test, better than Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Gayle and 6975 runs at an average of 38.96 from 221 ODIs.
So folks, please welcome Chanderpaul in the pantheon of all-time greats.

Image: search.tvnz.co.nz

Hogan-inspired Monty wanted to be a wrestler!

By Private

Thank god for the small mercies!!

Hard to believe but a WWE-crazy Monty Panesar would've gone on to break bones rather than bowling off-breaks had he not come to know that the wrestling bouts were a television gimmick and were actually fixed!

According to the tweaker's brother Isher Panesar, Monty changed his mind only after being told of the startling truth and rest as they say is history.

'Incredible' Hulk Hogan gave way to Shane Warne as young Monty's idol and he switched his attention to cricket.

''Monty always wanted to play cricket for England -- well, at least, after we found out the wrestling wasn't for real, that it was all fixed."

''We were always wrestling in the house, me and Monty, but when he heard that the WWE wrestling was all acted, he was too competitive to want to do that any more.

''People seem surprised how much he was appealing in the Third Test at Old Trafford but he has always had that competitive streak, that thirst for wickets."

Isher also defended Monty's much-talked about excessive appealing, saying that it came naturally to the left-armer.

''You can't stop Monty from being Monty, just like you shouldn't try to stop Kevin Pietersen being Kevin Pietersen. The game needs personalities."

(Picture Courtesy: Redmolotv.com)

Ignored, Afridi's anger boils over in the team bus!

By Kowalski

Pakistan cricket's resident hell-raiser Shoaib Akhtar is for a change not at the centre of the fresh turmoil that seems to be brewing in the team.

Instead, it is the usually funny Shahid Afridi, who is the cause of tension in this volatile side.

The story starts at the Abbotabad training camp where the team was training under the watchful eyes of the Pakistani army. As it turned out, even these gun-flaunting army men had a tough time dealing with their cricketers, who are always prone to making headlines for wrong reasons.

Apparently there was a "physical clash" between Afridi and team manager Talat Ali over a seat in the team bus!! The PCB seriously needs to examine this team bus thing because off late the Pakistani cricketers have made a habit of settling all their scores in the bus only!

Remember the Akhtar-Woolmer clashes that happened inside the bus most of the time?

Well coming back to Afridi, it's no secret that the fellow is not particularly happy with the appointment of Salman Butt as the deputy to skipper Shoaib Malik. And how can he be after projecting himself as captaincy candidate in the run-up to Malik's appointment?

And now that he has been overlooked for the vice-captaincy as well, the Pathan pride seems to have been hurt all the more. And I don't think anybody can blame him. Come on Butt as vice-captain of Pakistan is a bit, no very hard, to digest.

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Why Abdul Kalam should be made Team India coach…

By Joe

After Graham Ford thumbed his nose at BCCI, the search for a full-time Team India coach is far from over. That evokes the obvious question, why is it such a complicated job? Is it rocket science? At least BCCI seems to think so.

In such a scenario, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam surely fits the bill. Preposterous it may sound, but you can’t have a better person than the “Missile Man of India” to deal with the rocket science of coaching Team India.

And Kalam is no alien to cricket. After Sourav Ganguly’s men had returned runners-up from the 2003 World Cup, Dr Kalam threw a tea party in the cricketers’ honour. The teacher in Dr Kalam explained to the cricketers how important it is to play as a unit and shared his view on science and technology.

Logically too, there should not be any problem. The popular President with tinted tresses is at the fag end of his term and would have to vacate the Rashtrapati Bhavan for its probable next occupant Pratibha Patil.

Always game for new challenge, Dr Kalam probably won’t mind having a shot at cricket coaching.He already has a 2020 (or is it Twenty20?) vision of India as a super power and we can expect a similar upturn in Team India graph under the motivational speaker. After all, both the president and a cricket coach share striking similarity in the fact that both take the backseat.

Out there, Prime Minister runs the country and captain skippers the team.After all, you can’t coach Sachin Tendulkar or a Rahul Dravid at this level. All you need is a manager who can help in strategizing and keep the players motivated. As President, Dr Kalam is the supreme commander of the armed forces and formulating strategy is his forte.

Critics may point out that Dr Kalam has never been sighted anywhere near a cricket stadium. But then Bennette King too never played first class cricket and still coached the West Indies in the World Cup! He was in fact a rugby player!Besides, when it comes to motivation, you can’t have a better person than Dr Kalam.

In brief, he is techno-savvy, inspirational, innovative, approachable, visionary and a master strategist, all rolled into one. Now, did we ever have a coach who wore so many hats at the same time?

(Picture Courtesy: Reuters)

Astle, Cairns in hit list for possible ICL sign up

By Rico

More good news coming in for Zee Group-backed Indian Cricket League (ICL) with former New Zealand Test and one-day stars Nathan Astle and Chris Cairns having been targeted to sign with ICL.

New Zealand Cricket Players Association (NZCPA) has also given green signal to their cricketers willing to play in ICL, provided they do not cut across their contractual obligations with New Zealand Cricket Board (NZC).

Amid reports of Dean Jones luring over some big Kiwi stars for ICL, NZCPA manager Heather Mills said all the players who will be on New Zealand Cricket (NZC) contracts would be free to play in Subhas Chopra's ambitious cricket leauge, provided they seek a clearance from NZC, which he said could not be unreasonably
withheld.

He considers players as individual contractors, not employees, so as long as a cricketer is able to fulfil his obligations to NZC he can go and play for another entity.

He gave example of Stephen Fleming and Scott Styris, who will be playing county cricket in England when their new NZC contracts kick in.

He meant to say that New Zealand players who have national contracts with NZC can play for ICL when they are not doing national duties. This is surely good news for ICL though no currently NZC contracted player has been approached so far.

However, the NZC is unlikely to grant temporary releases to the contracted players this year because of their packed international calendar, which includes the innaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in September followed by a month-long South Africa tour from November 9 till December 2.

Images: cricketfundas.com; in.rediff.com

Kiwis set to take flight to Indian Cricket League?

(Subhas Chandra announcing ICL. Photo/ Zee News)

By Kowalski

An interesting bit of news is coming from the usually quiet Kiwi Land.

Rumour is rife that a couple of top New Zealand cricketers have been lured into playing in the rebel Indian Cricket League by Dean Jones, one of the Directors on the board of this shrouded in controversy league.

But to my utter disappointment, Shane Bond is not one of them. The pacer says no one has shown any interest in him so far and he couldn't care less.

Well, it's a pity for fans like yours truly if he is not one of those high-profile names that have been finalized by Jones because I don't think they'd be bigger than Bond.

But even as we wait for these mystery names to be out in open, greats like Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne have already shown their interest in playing in this so called rebel series.

Looks like Subhash Chandra is all set to give BCCI a run for their money!

Graeme Hick: Colossus in County, underachiever in international arena

By Rico

At last, Graeme Hick had something to cherish when on June 17 he became the 16th batsman to have scored 40,000 first-class runs in the County Championship Division One match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

Hick's career has been a unique story. He is a colossus in county cricket, where he continued to churn out the centuries in his sleep for life-long county Worcestershire but never shone in international arena.

He was chosen at 16 years of age for the 1983 Zimbabwe World Cup squad, but did not play in the mega event. He had to wait until hewas 25 and had already made 57 first-class hundreds to play international cricket for England. In 1987, he was named as one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year, mainly on the basis of his county record.

By the time he burst into international scene, public interest in his seeming destiny as a great batsman was intense. He was considered England's Great White Hope and even compared with Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara. But, Hick had a disappointing England career.

He was given a hero's reception by the crowd when he came out to bat in his Test debut at Headingley on June 6, 1991, against the fearful West Indian pace attack. A tortured 51 minutes later, he was back in the pavilion having made only six and his weakness against body-threatening ultra-quick deliveries badly exposed. He was dropped after scores of 0, 43, 0, 19 and 1.

He went on to play 65 tests over a decade, in and out of the England side, scoring 3383 runs at an average of 31.32 with six hundreds and 18 fifties.

Hick's failure in the international arena has been attributed to the perceived technical flaws in his game. He is suspect against the short ball. Atherton felt as early as 1991 that Hick was ''good, but not in the Lara or Tendulkar class.''

Some, like Shane Warne and Ian Botham, felt Hick was the victim of poor man-management -- a player who had been messed around and should have been handled differently.

Steve Waugh opined Hick's success at county, in turn, ruined him as his technical weakness went untested in a ''largely innocuous'' county bowling environment. Hick's international career has been the tragic story of a prodigy turning a cropper, but now he will have at least something to tell his children and grandchildren.

The 40,000 club members: Jack Hobbs (61,760), Frank Woolley (58,959), E H Hendren (57,611), CP Mead (55,061), W G Grace (54,211), Herbert Sutcliffe (50,670),Walter Hammond (50,551),Geoffrey Boycott (48,426), T W Graveney (47,793), Graham Gooch (44,846), T W Hayward (43,551), Dennis Amiss (43,423), Colin Cowdrey (42,719), Andrew Sandham (41,284), Len Hutton (40,140), Graeme Hick (40,000)

Image: nobok.co.uk

Punter bats for a noble cause

Ricky Ponting's touch may not exactly turn trash into gold but his signature does dramatically enhance the price value of otherwise mundane things.

New Delhi can testify to that for a bat signed by the Aussie skipper fetched Rs 1,65,000 in an impromptu auction here last week.

The entire sum would go to ING Vysya Foundation which has launched 'Run Ricky Run' campaign to educate underpreviledged children in India.

Under the scheme, for every ODI run that the prolific scorermakes, one kid would be sent to school. Ponting plays his next ODI on September 29 against India in Bangalore and the scheme would continue to one year thence.

''I think it's an honour to be associated with such a cause,'' Ponting said.

''It's upto me to score plenty of runs and help send thousands of children to school,'' he said and quipped, ''There would be added pressure on me everytime I come to bat next.''

Ponting, however sought to play down parallels drawn with his predecessor Steve Waugh, who's associated with 'Udayan' that helps rehabilitate children affected by leprosy.

''No, I am not trying to emulate Steve. I'd come to India so many times before and I really wanted to do something. Then ING Vysya proposed this and I gave my nod,'' he said.

Pietersen feels the heat

By Kowalski

The list of those getting sick and tired of playing cricket matches after cricket matches just keeps getting longer. And the latest to send out an SOS against an overdose of the game is English swashbuckler Kevin Pietersen.

The 26-year-old says the amount of international cricket is just unacceptable to him. He goes on to add that he hates spending months away from his family on overseas tours and wants more time at home after getting married to his model girlfriend Jessica Taylor this December.

"I don't like spending time away from my family, I don't like it at all, especially since I met Jessica. All these future tours that just get chucked in here and there, they don't make me happy. There are so many exciting things to look forward to in life other than cricket and I've changed a heck of a lot both as a person and a player," he said.

Now, this is one of those rare occasions I would agree with Pietersen. I hate to admit it but the fellow makes sense. I mean those money and power hungry ICC bosses, not to mention, the equally currency-obsessed home boards don't seem to give a damn to what these poor cricketers go through while playing one overseas tour after another.

Our very own Team India skipper Rahul Dravid has been quite vocal in expressing his displeasure over too much cricket.

"…schedules are crammed, over-crammed if you ask me. I don't know how we are going to fit everything in," the Indian captain had said after the drawn first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong.

But is anybody listening? Last heard the ECB was yet to react on Pietersen's grievances and Dravid's complaints had been, as usual, debunked by the BCCI.

Image: kevinpietersen.com

Woolmer family a picture of dignity amid the drama

By Rico

In the nearly three-month drama of Bob Woolmer mystery death, one shudders to think of a largely silent dramatis personae -- Gill Woolmer and her two sons, Russell and Dale -- who faced the nightmare of their lives with utmost patience and dignity.

Just imagine, to have been told that your husband's/father's death had been caused firstly by natural causes, then by strangulation, then by poisoning, and once more by natural causes. Not to mention the motives ranging from match-fixing to involvement of underworld to religion of Pakistan cricket and what not, will have caused an emotional trauma unimaginable to most of us.

Another dramatis personae, rather the lead actor, the handsome and articulate Jamaica DCP Mark Shields, perhaps tumbled from a possible international fame (in case he had cracked a murder mystery) to a cop whose reputation suddenly nose dived after doing lots of commendable work in the Caribbean – bringing down crime rate – not to speak of other high-profile jobs to his credit while at Scotland Yard.

His alomost everyday sound bytes, from Woolmer's death was 100 per cent murder to appearing for a BBC Panorama, to finally saying that he has no regrets when his boss -- police Commissioner Lucius Thomas – told a stunned world that his charges had acted ''in haste'' while treating Woolmer's death as murder, after three foreign pathologists declared that the Pakistan coach died of ''natural causes''.

''If anybody should ask me why I should resign, I would ask why. We did a thorough investigation. We could not guess and we had to keep an open mind,'' Shields had said though his own establishment and the whole world now seemed to have accepted that Woolmer died of heart attack.

Understandably, Dr Ere Seshaiah, the Indian-born government pathologist on the basis of whose post-mortem report Jamaican police treated the case as murder, stuck to his murder theory but Pakistan Cricket Board and Jamaican opposition members are baying for his head.

Understandably agian, the purportedly botched-up investigation had also invited the wrath of Pakistani past and present cricketers though PCB chief Dr Nashim Ashraf has made it clear that they are not going for any defamation suit.

Shields, interestingly, even tried to take the credit of solving the mystery saying it was he who used science and technology to solve it -- a la Indian official claiming victory even in defeat. The high-profile cop was perhaps let off easily.

The drama, it seems, is over except what Coroner Patrick Murphy had to say about the cause of "natural death."

In the meantime, hats off to Gill Woolmer and her children. Hopefully, they can now grieve in peace and get on with their lives.

(Picture coutesy: VIEWIMAGES)

Shield yourself if you can, Mark

By Kowalski

"When in doubt, mumble.
When in trouble, delegate.
When in charge, ponder."

Well someone should have read out this Murphy's Law to Mark Shields when he started investigating Bob Woolmer's death.

The man is now set to become an international laughing stock for investigating a murder that probably never was and he has only himself to blame for it. After all, nobody asked him to go about giving interviews and fuel speculations while the investigations were on.

His self-contradictory statements, ruling nothing out -- from snake venom to weedkillers, from al Qaeda to Dawood Ibrahim, from diabetes to poisoned champagne -- made a tragic incident look ridiculous. The man's flip-flops damaged the reputations of Pakistani players, who are now hopping mad asking for legal action against Jamaica police.

The entire turn of events might sound hilarious now but imagine the trauma that Woolmer's family and friends have gone through all this while. Not to mention the numerous conspiracy theories that we were subjected to by the media.

But wait a second, Shields is not the only one to be blamed for perhaps one of the biggest international policing blunders in recent history.

I would say a certain Ere Sheshaiah seems to have gotten away with a faux pas of humongous proportions in this case.

For those not aware, he is the Jamaican pathologist of Indian origin who concluded that Woolmer died of manual strangulation.

After all Shields went by an expert report, which clearly stated that the cricket coach had been strangled to death.

But as Murphy's law stated "When in charge, ponder." Instead of being available to the media 24X7 and fuelling speculations, Shields could have taken some time out to think and think hard before calling Woolmer's death a murder.

Who knows perhaps that would have saved him the international humiliation that he will now be subjected to. So, as I see it, the probe may have been messed up by Sheshaiah's report but being the face of the investigation, Shields will be the one to pay the price for this bungle.

Image: muzikmedia.com

Eat your words, Mr Holding

By Joe

Dwayne Bravo's recent remarks about Brian Lara offering advice to the beleaguered side provided me with the food for thought. "Anything going wrong with our batsmen, whether it be Chris Gayle or Devon Smith, if he can't get hold of them, he will pass it on to me. He told me to keep my head up and to pass on some information, as far as batting was concerned, into the dressing room," Bravo said.

This reminds me of Michael Holding, baying for Lara’s blood right in the middle of the side’s World Cup captain. And the reason?

LARA IS NOT A TEAM MAN.

Lara has often been accused of being selfish, aloof and, well, a genius. But then what did Holding expect? Lara never got the team he deserved. Day in and day out, he was expected to do the bail-out job and every time he failed, thirsty knives were out. Holding should consider himself immensely lucky. He was part of the four-pronged pace battery. In case he failed, Roberts, Garner and Marshall were there to knock the life out of the opposition.

And the likes of Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Rowe, Kalicharan and Lloyd ensured there always were enough runs on the board to defend. In contrast, Lara was the lone tree among the shrubs. Surrounded by a bunch of perpetual pretenders, it is rather intriguing how he could motivate himself. In the absence of a teammate who could motivate him, Lara probably drew it from inside and kept going.

Holding thrived partly because of the team he had. Lara, inspite of it. If he was not seen hobnobbing with his team mates in the team bus and practice, it was no wonder either. Genius needs to guard itself from the corruptive influence of mediocrity. Holding has seen the pomp and hence is ignorant of the plight.

Fast bowlers are often seen as heavy-booted, galumphing nitwits, clumsily charging down with a hulk of leather in the palm. For sure, Holding, in his heydays was not among them. In fact his swan-swift action earned him the ‘Rolls Royce” moniker. A pacer par excellence, he has proved a disaster of a commentator and Bravo’s comments only underlines that Holding has lost his marbles.

(Picture source: Getty Images)

Captain Courageous...or Leader Looney !

By Private

(Writing for a blog is way too difficult than starting one. At least that's what my experience has been as I have three defunct blogs to my credit and the last one was updated back in May 2006! But if I thought I could do away with writing on "Sting in the Tail", I was wrong. For my teammates -- Skipper, Rico, Kowalski – are hell bent not to let me breath easy.)

So, there I was searching for something to write upon when I stumbled on this piece of news that Somerset skipper Justin Langer declared for 50 for eight against Middlesex. Now that's bold if not insane. I can't imagine any Indian captain doing that (not that they are all sane). That prompted me to do a quick check and compile some of the most innovative/shrewd/bold decisions skippers around the world took in the past.

1. Arguably one of the most cunning captains the game has ever seen, Mike Brearley declared Middlesex first innings naught for naught in crucial and County Championship decider against Surrey. But for a brief 23 minutes of play on the second day, the first two days were washed out. The next day Surrey were bundled out for paltry 42 in 76 minutes flat on a damp green top.

The crowd expected Middlesex to build up a hefty lead so as to gain bonus points in the remaining time but Brearley thought otherwise. He called back his openers – John Emburey and Ian Gould – after they'd faced only one ball. The innings was declared 0/0. The bowlers wrecked havoc on Surrey again and bundled them out for 89. Middlesex were left to score 132 in 27 minutes and another 20 overs thereafter. Again Brearley led from the front and made a magnificent 66* to craft a win and Middlesex went to share the title with Kent.

2. An almost similar thing, although with not so much at stake was done by Steve Waugh. In January 2002, with the home series against South Africa wrapped up, the Australian captain decides that only positive cricket from his side will bring the fans to the New Year Test at the SCG.

Having won the toss, he elects to forfeit his first innings. South Africa reach 200 without loss but their lower order once again fails and they are all out for 201.

The hosts' 567, completed in 60 overs, was enough to ensure victory after a second disappointing knock from the tourists.

3. Rahul Dravid, although no where in league of above-mentioned gentlemen, is one of the boldest captains India has ever seen. No we are not talking about his much-maligned experiments with truth…err…I mean batting order but the way he used to, and still, give importance to the results than personal records.

Sachin Tendulkar was still the reigning deity when, during the Pakistan of tour of 2004, Dravid chose to declare the innings when the little master got stuck at 194. The stand-in captain drew flak from every corner but the decision was justified when India went on to win the Multan Test.

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Stop that no-ball chant

By Rico

Tom Moody was among a rare breed of Australians, who had condemned his own countrymen for constantly tormenting Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan with taunt of ‘chucker’. The incomparable Don was another and Dav Whatmore the third of the breed.

Moody, who resigned as coach of Sri Lanka after guiding the emerald island nation to World Cup final, recently lambasted the Australian crowd for disgraceful slant on a cricketer .

Murali was greeted by ‘’no-ball’’ chants by the Aussie crowd whenever he bowled when Sri Lanka toured Australia in January 2006 with Moody as coach. It was not a new thing though for, the ‘Kandy conjurer’ has been taunted in every tour since Darrell Hair first called him for ‘chucking’ on a fateful Boxing Day Test at historic Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1995.

"It's not ideal and it's a shame that it happens, particularly since he's gone through every test and scrutiny a player could possibly go through. We just need to enjoy the special talent he's got and let the game progress," Moody had also said then in 2006.

Since that Hair calling, Murali's action has been scrutinised umpteen times and cleared four times by the University of Western Australia, and by University of Hong Kong and in England but the taunting at grounds across Australia have continued.

Although most have now been persuaded that his action is freakish but clean, there remains a hardcore that refuse to believe what biomechanists’ have been saying for 10 years: Murali's deformed elbow creates the optical illusion of throwing but the actual arm-bend is miniscule, now well within the ICC's new 15 degree tolerance limit.

Even his now retired spin rival Shane Warne, whose great rivalry with Murali many believed was behind the Aussie taunting of the Lankan freakish genius, had famously declared during a Tsunami fund raising tour to Sri Lanka in early 2005 that Murali did not chuck.

The hardcore still exist, which include India’s own loud mouthed sardar Bishan Singh Bedi, whose "Javelin thrower Murali" made Whatmore so furious in 2002. Besides Bedi, Michael Holding, Michael Atherton and Richie Benaud have also felt that Murali's action resembles that of javelin thrower's. But the most infamous of them would be Australian Prime Minister John 'Loose Lips' Howard who stooped so low from his high political status to publicly condemn Murali as ''chucker''.

So incensed was Murali by Howard's statement that he decided not to tour Australia in June-July 2004 for a two-Test series. But a generous Australian response to the Indian Ocean tsunami (Dec 26, 2004) relief changed his mind and he played for a fund-raising charity match in Melbourne in January 2005. He was also part of the World XI Test and one-day teams for the ICC Super Series which played against Australia at Sydney and Melbourne in October 2005.

The 'big ego' Aussie Darrell Hair was the torch-bearer of the whole drama when he no-balled Murali seven times in MCG on December 27, 1995. Hair was at it again later calling Murali’s actions ''diabolical'' this time in his autobiography -- a cheap means to earn money by the sale of his book. His removal later from ICC Elite Panel of Referees for demanding money quid pro quo retirement from job in the aftermath of Oval Test fiasco in 2006 was another story.

Ross Emerson was another comical figure in the whole saga. He called Murali in the Brisbane ODI in Januray 1996 just a few days after Hair’s no-ball. Ian Botham was furious and Lankan Managaer Ranjit Fernando said ''Someone out there decided to play god today.'' Murali's action was passed by the ICC after biomechanical analysis at the University of Western Australia and at the University of Hong Kong in 1996 -- they concluded that his action created the ''optical illusion of throwing'' but that didn't stop Emerson once again calling him for the second consecutive tour of Australia in Adelaide when Sri Lanka toured in 1998-99. This led Arjuna Ranatunga to almost lead his boys out of ground in protest only to be persuaded by team management and bosses at home. Murali was subsequently cleared for a second time.

In early 2004 when Australia toured Sei Lanka, Englishman Chris Broad, the ICC match referee, reported Muralia for bowling the doosra and ICC banned the wrongun which goes the other way. Ironically, Broad’s action brought forth a great deal of research which ultimately led to a survey of the bowlers in the ICC Champions Trophy in late 2004 that 99 per cent of all bowlers chucked.

This implied under the then definition of a legitimate delivery (5% straightening of arm for spinners. 7.5% fopr medium pacers and 10% for fast bowlers), such pillars of the bowling establishment including Glenn McGrath and Shaun Pollock chuck. ICC biomechanical expert Dr Hurrion, who set the previous levels of tolerance for bowlers, was asked by the ICC to review it and to arrive at one figure, which was applicable to all bowlers. The other two experts were Bruce Elliott of UWA who had earlier cleared Murali on two occasions and Mark Portus and they arrived at fifteen degrees for all bowlers in mid 2005.

So, hats off to this genial-looking Tamil married to a Chennai girl recently for bearing all the trial and tribulations which is perhaps unprecedented in cricketing history. But here, there is another interesting story. The great Don had praised Murali’s composure under the chucking cloud.

In a book entitled ‘Chuckers’ 2004, a history of throwing in Australian cricket compiled and written by Bernard Whimpress, conversations with Tom Thompson between 1995 and 1998 reveal that Bradman believed Murali's action to be clean and his ordeal unfair Bradman was an admirer of Murali. ''Murali, for me, shows perhaps the highest discipline of any spin bowler since the War (WWII),'' Bradman had said. Bradman went on to object to Murali being no-balled during the Boxing Day Test of 1995: ''With the game's need to engage as a world sport, that I found umpire Darrell Hair's calling of Murali so distasteful. It was technically impossible of umpire Hair to call Murali from the bowler's end. Why was his eye not on the foot-fall and crease?

''I believe Hair's action - in one over - took the development of world cricket back by ten years. For me, this was the worst example of umpiring that I have witnessed, and against everything the game stands for. Clearly Murali does not throw the ball.''

(Picture Source: BBC)

Fred-alo and Woolmer’s ghost derailed campaign, Mr Vaughan!

By Kowalski

Sunil Gavaskar once described them as "Champion Whingers", a team which would give any excuse under the sun to cover-up for their shortcomings and Michael Vaughan's latest explanation for England's dismal World Cup campaign kind of justifies the tag!

Believe it or laugh, Vaughan thinks Andrew Flintoff 's drunken night-out on a pedalo after England's loss to New Zealand in their opening group match affected the team morale so badly that their whole planning for the tournament went off the track.

"You have to be honest. The Fred-alo incident did affect the team. It did affect morale. Those incidents are bound to affect team spirit. Suddenly you've got players who have no freedom left. I like to see players enjoy themselves but no one would dare go out after that incident - and you can't create any spirit then.

"That incident changed the whole atmosphere in the camp. We went into the New Zealand game with a really good attitude but we didn't play well and after Fred-alo we just started taking it all too seriously. That might sound silly but everyone was too tense and desperate. There was no escape - and even on the field you have to be pretty free, especially in one-day cricket."

OK, Freddie was a bit, alright terribly, out of form at the World Cup and the whole episode didn't help his cause in anyway but then somebody should remind Mr Vaughan that cricket is a team game.

Remember how the Aussies won the 2003 edition after being rocked by the Shane Warne Doping Scandal.

Vaughan doesn't stop at that, he thinks Bob Woolmer's death, yup it was not a murder after all also bogged down his lads.

"In the World Cup I was more tense than I've ever been as a captain. Duncan [Fletcher] was more tense than he'd ever been as a coach. And sometimes the captain and coach have to look at the way they're acting because the team follows. I didn't captain as well as I should've done because of the pressure I put myself under. I'd openly admit that. But I couldn't switch off because away from the field there was so much going on - with Bob Woolmer and Fred-alo."

Come on Mr Vaughan, Freddie has taken enough flaks for drowning his sorrows – and himself, almost -- and please Woolmer dying in Kingston couldn't have scared you so much at St Lucia that you forgot how to put bat to a ball !

Photo: BBC

Whatmore out; BCCI drives Ford in

By Private

Well well well...BCCI does have a penchant for pulling rabbits outta hat. After pursuing Dav Whatmore for months, they've now put him ''out of contention''. The guy was more than willing, mind you.

This is what BCCI Treasurer N Srinivasan had to say after the seven-member selection committee met in Bangalore:

We have decided to invite Ford and another coach of foreign origin for discussions on June 9 in Chennai. We have not been able to reach the second person so far but we hope to do it soon.

We had made contact with Whatmore before. By implication you can say that Whatmore is out (of contention).

For those who came in late, Graham Ford (who probably has nothing to do with Henry Ford), coached South Africa between 1999 and 2001 and is currently the Director of Coaching with Kent County Club.

Gilly don’t go!

By Kowalski

The Walker, as he is admiringly called, is considering walking away from one-day cricket to make sure that his Test career is prolonged.

Yes folks, Adam Gilchrist is pondering one-day retirement and bowlers might rejoice at the thought but fans, including yours truly, are just hoping that he hangs around for some more time.

The important question at the moment is what has prompted the Aussie opener to drop such hints. After all, the stumper has maintained all along that he would not give up one form of the game to prolong his career in the other.

Well, it seems Gilly has had enough of the punishing international schedule and, at 35, the legs aren't getting younger either. Add to this the birth of his third child and Gilly says he can't afford to ignore his life outside cricket.

"Up until the last 12 months, I had never been a guy to consider phasing out one form of the game and just focusing on one. But I am open to thinking about that now. I am entering another phase in my life with our third child. There is a lot of cricket coming up over the next three years, so there are things to consider."

And finally, though he has not listed this as one of the reasons for his retirement deliberations, but Gilly is also a bit concerned about developing arthritis, like his father Stan, due to his demanding job.

"I'm in an occupation that I squat up and down 600 times a day so the chances of me having an arthritic condition are probably pretty high," he said.

So, where does his retirement, whenever it happens, leaves Australian cricket. The man, credited for redefining the role of a wicketkeeper in modern cricket, cannot be replaced that easily.

His most obvious replacement, Brad Haddin, has played only 21 ODIs and it would take some time for the 29-year-old to be the new batting-cum-'keeping mainstay for the World Champions.

And the Aussie vice-captain is not just a run-machine or a safe pair of hands behind the stumps. He was Steve Waugh's and now Ricky Ponting's go-to man on those rare occasions when Aussies find themselves in trouble. Churchy makes sure that his skipper is never short of advice while planning out opposition's downfall.

And if I may add, he is also the Good Samaritan, who time and again makes the world realise that "the rude" Aussies, as some critics would describe them, are not as bad as they are made out to be.

Here's hoping that Gilly stays put and doesn't walk away any time soon!

(Photo: swindonweb.com)

Here We Come

Among four of us, we share 15 years of journalistic experience with exposures that range from a non-descript Goswami Ganesh Dutt Memorial Tournament at Khalsa College ground in Delhi to a rain-marred Unitech Cup tri-series in Colombo. Is blogosphere ready for us?

Meet Joe Black (sounds like a Brad Pitt movie), kiddin'. Joe, otherwise known as Skipper, is perhaps the only Bong after Sourav Ganguly to have led a team. Seven years in sports journalism (or shall we say cricket journalism as in India the two terms are more or less synonymous) don’t make him a Peter Roebuck. Agreed, but it can’t be a handicap either. So love him or hate him, just don’t ignore him.

Then comes Rico. Soft-spoken, ever enthusiastic Manipuri lad, who swears by soccer - when not against us. It took us long to convince him that cricket too is a game, so what if the ball looks a dot in comparison with its inflated soccer cousin. Besides, he agreed, at least cricketers don’t rugby-tackle and bring down each other with studded boots.

Kowalski, the lone girl in the gang, prefers the softer side of the game. Her all-time great squad has Brett Lee occupying all the spots from 1-11. Her frail frame belies her silent powerhouse stature. After years of her hegemony, Chloe Saltau just got a competition.

Private lends the x-factor. He’s wacky, quirky and a prodigal wordsmith. A distortionist with a contortionist’s passion, his reading between the lines are always bone-tickling and often thought-provoking.

So take your guard as we hit the blogosphere.