After a summer of growth it is often a good idea to prune a tree. Remove the dead wood and make precise decisions about the direction you want the tree to grow in the future. Of course the tree will largely do what it wants but you can but try. So it is with cricket teams. England have just had their most important home series ... until the next Ashes battle, so it’s a good time to wield the axe make some space.
Bell and Collingwood must go. These have been on my personal hobby horse for quite some time, mainly because they are just, well, not very good. Okay, they are rubbish; there you dragged it out of me. People will always say things like ‘ah yes but Collingwood’s effort at Cardiff was instrumental in England saving the game and hence winning the series’, which is true. However, that is largely irrelevant because if you give anyone enough chances they will come up with significant innings. It is not the exceptional performances that matter it’s the everyday ones. Collingwood scored 250 runs at 27.77 and Bell made 140 runs (3 matches only) at 28. That is not only crap, it is what I expected! Put it this way, England have just beaten Australia. If there was a combined XI of the two sides, what are the chances of Bell or Collingwood appearing in it? Exactly.
Cook is one who England has to do something about. On paper he is just as poor as Bell or Collingwood (222 runs at 24.66). He had good series against the West Indies but that was very much the exception. England should consider removing Cook’s central contract and make him work for his place. As it stands he has to do nothing and giving him another year will change nothing.
Harmison, Panesar and Sidebottom should lose their central contract status. All are struggling to make the test side (if at all). Make them justify their place in the side with results as Harmison did recently.
Bopara looks to be a man with talent. He was excellent against the West Indies and awful against Australia. He doesn’t look a natural number three against quality bowling, so maybe he should come in at five (i.e. replace Collingwood). The guy had three consecutive Test centuries earlier in the year so he deserves a chance.
Tuesday 25 August 2009
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Shane Warne – The best bowler Australia has ever produced has opened up his mind to the media. He exposed his discontent regarding umpires. According to the ace spinner barring a few exceptions like Simon Tauter and ASAP Rauf other umpires went awry in terms of performance .Expressing disappointment that the standard of umpiring has deteriorated to the worst extent in the past twenty years of time he opined that though umpiring was a hard job, the performances of the umpires in the Ashes series had been consistently so ordinary. As far as Warne is concerned umpire Billy Bowden whom he expected to deliver correct judgments was also not consistent in performing his duty.
The spinner repents that there are too many instances of such bad judgments, which is increasingly becoming a cause of concern. He directly made a mention of names of umpires Daryl Harper and Billy Bowden, accusing them to be adamant in not confessing their wrong judgments. He also tried to strengthen his claim by mentioning that several players were not having a good opinion about those umpires in their minds. Warne insisted that the umpires should maintain a friendly attitude towards the players by shedding their high-handed attitude Warne also expressed his view repetitively that fifty over match should be withdrawn once for all as if such a change is brought about it would enable the players to spend more time with their families and relieve them from
England should search for better no.3 batsman
They have one: Kevin Pietersen. He just needs convincing he is good enough to do it.
Younis khan, the incumbent skipper of Pakistan cricket team , has proclaimed that outwitting India will be his top priority in the Champions Trophy, when the two sides confront on September 26 in Centurion. Earlier team mate spinner Umar Gul also expressed the same. Sunday, and underline Pakistan’s poor record against India in ICC events.
The fact that Pakistan lost two times to India, in 2007 when the twenty-twenty tournaments were introduced had offended the feelings of his teammates, said Younis. Regarding team India as a highly talented one-day side, he said his teammates were looking forward to a vengeance. A long gap has been left since the last victory of Pakistan over India in the 2004 Champions Trophy. Relations between the two countries have been strained after the terror attacks in Mumbai last November, and this tension reflected in cricket too as both the teams have not played withy each other for an year.
Soured bats for Dravid On seeing the above title do not think that Soured Gangly has given up his decision to quit from all the versions of the game of cricket and is back in the scene. E mean to say that Soured, nicknamed as ‘Dada’ by the fans has hailed the decision of the selection committee to bring back Rahall David and thereby proving that only form was the problem associated with senior players and age had nothing to do with performance. Sourav expressed hope that the right hander would fare well in the upcoming tri-series. For the past one year Rahu l Dravid – ‘ The wall’ had been away from the one day format of the game. Sourav tried to strengthen his contention by citing the inclusion of Nehra as another example. Sourav’s statement assumes significance in this scenario as we find the three batsmen Laxman, Dravid and Sachin who are at mid thirties of age, delivering a consistent good performance.
Five players who were part of the squad that defeated West Indies in the latter’s soil failed to earn a place in the newly announced squad. Dines kart hick was lucky to be included as the last man replacing the recovering Sehwag. The same squad will be retained for both the traceries (in which Srilanka and Newzealand are other participants) and the following Champions trophy to take place in South Africa. Suresh Raina- A player who had established his capability many a time missed out previous tournaments due to a broken thumb has recovered completely. He is back in the squad. Selectors have shown mercy on the other player Yusuf pathan.
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