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.