All About Cricket

Gautam Gambir (FiveFirsts)

2009-04-04T14:32:00.001-05:00

Gautam Gambhir

Short balls and broken bats

The joys (or not) of facing Flintoff, McGrath and Pollock

First time I broke a bat
The first time I broke a bat was in neighbourhood galli [street] cricket. It was a brand new bat. I hit the first ball and immediately the handle just came off.

First time I was worked over by a fast bowler
It's happened only once so far. It was by Andrew Flintoff in Mohali last year, on the second day of the Test. It was the quickest and nastiest spell of short-ball bowling I ever faced.

First time I played the bowler, not the ball
Against Glenn McGrath in my debut Test. Perhaps I was in awe of him. I was picked up easily in the slips. It occurred once again, against Shaun Pollock a couple of years later during an ODI, but now I focus on the ball.

First left-hand batsman I was impressed with
Sourav Ganguly. I just liked everything about him, especially his off-side play. I wanted to be just like him.

First autographed bat
My first and only autographed bat was of Sachin Tendulkar. I took one of his MRF bats in Chennai in 2005, before the Test against Sri Lanka. I wanted it as a souvenir. He was generous enough to give me a note as well: "Score lots of runs".

AB and Thommo fall short(Magic Moments of Cricket)

2009-03-30T19:35:00.002-05:00

They took it down to the wire; then the final, fatal stumble

Melbourne, 30 December 1982

It has long been said that Melbourne is one of the truly great sporting capitals of the world. On the penultimate day of 1982, 18,000 burghers streamed through the city and across Yarra Park to reach the grand Melbourne Cricket Ground to witness the conclusion to one of the greatest Ashes matches.

The gates had been flung open. Australia required just 37 runs to regain the game's oldest and most glittering prize. What's more, the last two batsmen were at the crease. It was possible the mob would see but one delivery.

Requiring 292 for victory, Australia were 218 for 9 when Jeff Thomson, once the world's fastest bowler, joined emerging champion Allan Border on the nerve-racking fourth day. By stumps they had advanced the score to 255. Hope springs eternal in the eager breast, and to a man the crowd was strong in its belief that Border and Thomson would somehow conjure the 37 needed for victory. And but for a desperate last throw of the dice by England's captain, Bob Willis, the bravura of Ian Botham, and the reflexes of offspinner Geoff Miller, the most improbable Australian victory would have been achieved.

Not even the new ball at 259 caused problems. But Thomson poked at the first delivery of Botham's 26th over and provided a straightforward catch to Chris Tavaré at second slip. Tavaré could only parry the chance, and Miller, fielding deeper at first slip, took a couple of quick strides and managed to complete a remarkable catch, the ball just 18 inches off the turf. England won by three runs and Willis dubbed Botham "golden bollocks".

Ind vs Nz 2st Test Napier Day2..Live Streaming Links

2009-03-25T15:54:00.003-05:00

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Ten-year ache

2009-03-25T15:28:00.001-05:00

Shane Bond wasn't the first exciting New Zealand fast bowler who struggled with injuries through a truncated career

"I don't know, I loved trying to run in and nick Sachin Tendulkar out, you know. I didn't want to come in and bowl medium pace and all that. Just wasn't so appealing…"

"… But maybe now that the IPL is around…" And then Dion Nash laughs. The laughter is throaty, it comes from somewhere inside. Just like his bowling, which came from deep within. Talking about "the strongest and the hardest" thing he ever did - to retire from cricket - he brings in humour with philosophical ease.

It is tough to be philosophical about such a retirement. Nash gave up in May 2002, at the age of 30, with 93 Test wickets and no centuries. A special talent had gone unfulfilled. A special talent of running in hard and springy, bowling fast, getting the ball to move away. A special white-line fever, which transformed him into a "bit of a mongrel dog", as Gavin Larsen says in his book. If you watched Nash bowl from square-on, you could see him fly before he delivered. For a moment or two after letting the ball go, he would be almost parallel to the ground. Nothing was held back. It was a breathtaking sight.

But the Nash back couldn't bear the burden of the prodigy, breaking down every time he looked like putting together a considerable string of games and taking his game to the next level. Finally it became too much. "As hard as it was, it was pretty obvious," he says. Nash knew he would have to become "something less and drag" if he wanted to play more.

He announced himself to the world with 11 wickets and a fifty at Lord's in 1994. Incidentally he was in the squad because of an injury to Chris Cairns, and in the XI because of one to Danny Morrison. "Sometimes it works for you and you get an opportunity at someone else's expense," he says. "Sometimes it works against you… more often than not it has worked against me."

Nash can laugh about the biggest mistake he made in his career, smoking pot during the infamous tour of South Africa in 1993-94. He now sells bottled water called "420", which is also a colloquial term to do with marijuana culture. But the seriousness of the issue is not lost. "New Zealand cricket was set back from that tour," Nash says. "The team splintered in many ways after that and it took a lot of time for us to recover.

"Personally I was disappointed with myself for what I had done. And this was the first time I had suffered an injury and had to leave the tour. It was a halt to my progress as a cricketer. When you are hot and everything is going your way, you want to keep playing."

In that time of crisis, one of his best traits showed. Nash was among the only three New Zealanders to have admitted to the act. "There's been a lot said and done about it, but it's not my job to tell on others. Everybody had their own choice."

Nash lost his contract and had to work at bars and cafés to earn a living as he tried to make a comeback. "It was a little humbling."

The fallout of the tour was a coach, Glenn Turner, who could be overbearing at times. The problems Turner and Nash had with each other were documented extensively then. It made for a delicious disagreement: a coach who was a great player and wanted to do things his way, and a young, charismatic bowler who cared not for reputations and was just coming to terms with injuries that would become part of his life. "I did have injury troubles through that period, and I think Glenn felt that at times there were other things going on with me.

"When you first have a back injury - at least my experience is this - I really didn't know quite what was wrong. I could run, I could jump, I could dive. The moment I tried to bowl there were problems. It's hard enough to explain to yourself. To get a coach or manager to understand it is even harder."

To get the rest of the world to understand is harder still. When he broke down during the county season in England in 1996, the scans didn't show anything. The English media called it a problem of the head and not the back. "Initial bone scans didn't show much, and that was frustrating," Nash says. "I had to go home and it wasn't until I had an MRI scan that we came to know of a collapsed disc and the true nature of the injury. All of a sudden it became apparent that it was a pretty major injury."

In his first match back after a two-year layoff, Nash almost pulled off an improbable win with the bat. Chasing 301 in Brisbane against South Africa, New Zealand were 124 for 6 in the 31st over. Nash's good friends Chris Cairns and Adam Parore brought them close with quick half-centuries before Nash started the final charge. With seven required off two balls, he slashed Shaun Pollock towards the third-man fence. The ball hit the boundary rope on the full and was called four. Off the last ball, Lance Klusener took a brilliant catch on the boundary. The previous hit had landed where the rope overlapped itself, presenting a wider target. It would have been six had the ball carried even a centimetre further. The story of his life.

Nash can laugh about that too. "Isn't it funny, though? We were only chasing 300 that night, and we batted at nine an over for 20 overs, and now this is what you do. Back then it was amazing. Now it's just what you do."

That match could have been the comeback of the summer, but the title had to go to Nash alone. With Cairns and Nash in the side, New Zealand went from strength to strength, all the way to the World Cup Semi Final. After New Zealand lost to Pakistan in a "shocking" display, he stayed distraught for a long time, sitting immobile and alone in the change room. "I am a bit of a bad sport at that," Nash says.

He could either be competitive and give it his all or bother about niceties. He was once accused of intentionally tripping up Steve Waugh, forcing him to retire hurt. He also once received a 13-day ban for "unacceptable behaviour" during a domestic game.

The upward swing, though, continued for both Nash and New Zealand, as they followed the World Cup with their first series win in England. "Good things came out of it [the World Cup loss], and it kickstarted 18 months of special cricket," Nash says.

The stress fracture revisited after that. Six months later he made another comeback, only to be sent back home from Zimbabwe. The back was playing up again.

He played as a batsman alone for Auckland before starting to bowl in January 2001. By June he was ready to bowl in internationals again, in a tri-series in Sri Lanka. He remembers the first time back.

"You are like, 'Please god, let me get through this over.' It's a huge relief when you go off the park in one piece. But that goes on for quite a while, until you get confidence back in the body. People who haven't been through that don't quite appreciate it. For a lot of the time you are playing with fear and worry. It's quite tiring, all that worry. And that's before you even know who you are bowling to." His figures in the comeback match were 6-0-13-3, and his victims were Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and Hemang Badani.

The bad luck didn't stay away too long. Nash was on his way to Pakistan for the one-day leg of New Zealand's tour there when a bomb blast outside the team hotel resulted in the cancellation of the series. Then came the next step in his comeback, a return to Tests, in Australia, where he had never played Tests. And boom, he strained his abdomen - despite which he helped New Zealand avoid follow-on, with an unbeaten 25. There was a remarkable comeback in the second innings, and New Zealand drew the match, with four wickets in hand and only 10 runs required for the win.

Just why did he kept getting injured? Does he have a theory? "We have a short summer, and a short season because of that," Nash says. "It's really only four months, maybe less, in terms of genuine summer. Grounds are very soft. We just don't play the weight of cricket that other countries play: England, Australia, India, South Africa play vastly more cricket.

"In my first year of county cricket I bowled something like 800 overs. Before that I don't think I had bowled 800 overs in my career. Then I got to India - my body didn't even remember how to bowl."

He chucked on that India tour. "My body couldn't coordinate to bowl. It was a strange thing. I started getting there, but my timing was gone. Yeah, I started chucking, but not fast. I couldn't coordinate, and halfway through I had to try and rush, and it came out really slow. If you want to chuck, at least you want to throw it really fast."

A mixed action didn't help either. "By the time you are 12 your action is cast," Nash says. "Certainly by the time you are 22, it's too late to change it. Rather than messing with a guy's natural action, maybe get the guy more balanced. There will probably be biomechanists out there up in arms against that comment. But you are better off bowling with what's naturally working for you and trying to fine-tune that. You're bowling at 140 and swinging it away, bowling with your natural action. You can't change that and still expect that wonderful art."

Nash's art was granted us for too brief a while. His injury passed the torch to a fellow New Zealander, Shane Bond, who caught the imagination of the world. As for Nash, yet another comeback followed, when he made it back to the team for the VB Series. In the first final, which New Zealand lost, he fell while batting and injured his hip, and then worsened the injury by trying to bowl. That was February 2002. Nash tried to recover for the next three months but finally gave up, not wanting to be a lesser player.

A career that had become synonymous with near-misses had ended. "Maybe I am philosophical," Nash says. "We had some wonderful victories, but I think the ones that you don't do so well in, I enjoy those memories just as much.

"When I look back, even though I didn't have a long, illustrious career, I am really proud that I can say I won my share of matches. I also got in positions where I could have won and I didn't. You learn a lot from them too. Those are wonderful lessons in life that other people may never get the chance to learn."

And then the tricky question comes up. Did he underachieve, given his talent, or did he overachieve despite the injuries? Mr Philosopher has an answer: "If I hadn't had injuries, I should have done a lot more. But I think my injuries stopped me from doing that." And then he laughs.

Chanderpaul Drive

2009-03-23T13:58:00.001-05:00

Following on from being named Guyana's sport personality of 2008, Shivnarine Chanderpaul has again been shown the love of his countrymen by having a street named after him in Georgetown.

Last night, New Garden Street - just outside Bourda Cricket Ground - was renamed Shivnarine Chanderpaul Drive in honour of their favourite son. "He is an outstanding son of the soil and he has done us proud," said Hamilton Green, the mayor of Georgetown. "He is recognised all over the world as an outstanding cricketer and we in Guyana are truly proud of him."

It's a good job the mayor didn't decide to make mention of some of Chanderpaul's eccentricities at the crease, choosing instead to name it a "drive." Though there is still time for a fish restaurant - The Chanderpaul Crab - to be opened in honour of his awkward, yet remarkably effective stance.

Sachin unhappy with IPL move

2009-03-23T11:36:00.002-05:00

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar reacted to the Indian Premier League (video)

(IPL) being shifted out of India. Tendulkar, who is also the skipper of the Mumbai Indians, said that the cash-rich tournament could have been played in India.

"Obviously Indian public would have liked to have IPL matches played in India but due to certain circumstances its difficult I know. I am sure the authorities must have tried but it’s not workable. You have no other choice," said Tendulkar.

Sachin Tendulkar went on to add that the IPL organisers will not be able to duplicate the similar atmosphere that the frenzy created last year, anywhere in the world apart from India. "Yeah its obviously going to be different because in India we used to have home and away matches," added Tendulkar.

The batting maestro went on to say that, now that there are talks of hosting the tournament in South Africa or England, all matches will be away from home. He said, "Right now looking at the itinerary whether it’s going to be in South Africa or England everything will be an away game for us. You don't know which is a home or an away game," said Tendulkar.

However, pointing out a positive in shifting the IPL matches, Sachin said that Indian cricket fans outside the country will be in huge numbers.

"Its always fantastic to have Indian fans away from country, we always appreciate it. Nowadays virtually wherever we go we have a lot of Indian supporters cheering us, it is a big strength and support for us," added the batting maestro.

Imran bowls Vishy(Magic Moments Of Cricket)

2009-03-22T23:17:00.002-05:00

Karachi, 25 December 1982
Pakistan's captain sends a chill down Indian spines in Karachi

Around the time that the government of Pakistan persuaded the United States to give it the F-16, Pakistan's adoring cricket fans began to refer to their captain Imran Khan by the name of the fighter-jet. This was after he had led the way to a 3-0 series victory against India, taking as many as 40 wickets.

Imran was at his fast-bowling peak then, and at that express pace got the ball to swing late and seam disconcertingly. There were even whispers from the Indian camp that the ball had been doctored, a suggestion Imran angrily denied, asking the visiting team to get their own umpires.

In the 1st Karachi test India were 283 behind on the first innings and battling to avoid defeat. Sunl Gavaskar (42) and Dilip Vengsarkar (79) had been involved in a second-wicket association of 74 when Imran struck, bowling the Indian captain, the best opening batsman in the game, with one that did him for sheer pace.

Enter Gundappa Viswanath, with the score at 102. Six runs later he was gone, bowled by Imran for nought. A chill pierced every Indian heart at the National Stadium.

Vishy had let the delivery go, never believing it would come back so much. But it, quite incredibly, did. It was a season when Imran could do no wrong. Here he was magnificent. Vishy rates this delivery, along with the legcutter from Vanburn Holder that bowled him in Bombay in 1975, as the two best that got him out.

For the record, Imran finished with 8 for 60 from 20.1 overs in that second innings.

Dhoni wants to win series for Tendulkar, Dravid

2009-03-21T16:39:00.002-05:00

Winning the first Test is just the beginning and India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni now wants to clinch the three-match series against New Zealand as a gift for senior members Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.

Under Dhoni, India ended a 33-year drought on Saturday by winning their first Test here since the eight-wicket victory by the Sunil Gavaskar-led side in 1976.

Another history beckons Dhoni's team which remains on course to record India's first Test series win here since 1968 when Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and his men achieved the feat.

Dhoni said he wants to do it for Tendulkar and Dravid. "One of the first milestones we have achieved in this series is to win a game and take the lead. But now it is important to play the same kind of cricket in the second and third Tests," Dhoni said.

"If we can win the series that will be the best gift the team gives to Sachin and Rahul," said the Indian skipper.

Dwelling on Saturday's 10-wicket victory - his fifth Test win as captain in six matches - Dhoni attributed it to a great team and a set of great players who have contributed consistently with the bat and ball.

"I have got a great team, more than anything else. Each and every individual is doing his job. We enjoy each others' success. We help each other a lot when it comes to cricket, on and off the field.

"We create an environment where every individual feels comfortable. We give the best facilities so that the cricketer can perform and that is what is the asset to the side," Dhoni said at the post-match briefing.

Dhoni said the team had the perfect blend of youth and experience and if they manage to maintain the same standards, they would continue scaling new heights.

"We have played consistent cricket over a period of time and that is what is helping the side. We have a good mixture of guys who have plenty of experience, guys who are youngsters, who want to perform and who are very talented. That is what is helping the side. We take pride in whatever we do. If we continue to that, there will be plenty of good things which will happen to us," Dhoni said.

According to him, India played session by session and their 241-run first innings lead made all the difference in the match.

"It is all about winning session after session and not about winning a day's play or a few sessions. When it came to bowling or batting, we were right there on top of our game. The batsmen who got in made it a point to score runs. Sachin played a big, long innings and the rest of the batsmen played around him which helped us to get a big score and get a big lead.

"We had the opportunity to put pressure on the New Zealand batsmen. It is always difficult in Test matches if the opposition gets a 200 or 250-run lead with three days of play on. It is tough to tackle the mental aspect more than anything else," Dhoni said.

Dhoni said winning was the mantra of the team, irrespective of who was in the squad or not in it.

"You want to win, whether Sachin is a part of it or Sachin is not a part of it. Of course, it is great to play with Sachin. And if he can contribute to wins, that will be more important for us," he said.

Lavishing praise on Tendulkar, Dhoni said, "It's a pleasure to see him bat. Whenever he scores those big hundreds, you can't see anything better. The way he paced his innings, there was a phase when the New Zealand bowlers were bowling well. He didn't take too many risks at that point of time and later on he capitalised on that. Once he was over that 80-run mark, he was getting boundaries at will. I don't think there was any bad delivery that wasn't hit for a four."

But more than Tendulkar's sublime ton, Dhoni was happy with the fact that everybody contributed to the win.

"Three batsmen got fifties and lower down the order Zaheer Khan also chipped in. Harbhajan (Singh) proved a point why he is among the best and got us those important wickets at the right time," he said.

The Indian bowlers came up with a vastly superior show than their New Zealand counterparts and the Dhoni said he was not surprised.

"It was just a great effort combined with grit and determination. They bowled in the right areas and created the right opportunities. I feel if they can do it game after game, it will be very good for us," he said.

Commending Harbhajan Singh, who claimed six for 63 in the second innings, Dhoni said, "Once he starts getting wickets, he gets into the right frame. And if there is anything in the wicket, he makes it a point to grab wickets. It cannot get better than that for the team."

No First Test Blues for aggressive India

2009-03-21T16:06:00.004-05:00

Briefly, in the last two away series, in Sri Lanka and Australia, India
seemed to revert to type as poor travellers, losing the opening Tests in
Colombo and Melbourne respectively. By winning in Hamilton they have
arrested that brief trend, and got back on track with their record in the
five years before that where they won first Tests in Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Zimbabwe and South Africa and drew the opener in Pakistan, West Indies,
Bangladesh and England.

For decades, India suffered from the First Test Blues where, after losing
the first Test they found it impossible to get back into the series. In
this decade, they have reversed that record to a large extent, and shaken
off their reputation as poor starters. Hamilton, therefore, is important
both for itself, and for what it says about the recent Indian teams.
Perhaps in the past, apart from the problems of acclimatisation, there was
also the mindset which was happy to settle for a draw at best. Captains
were reluctant to take risks, and in cricket, as in life, fortune tends to
favour the brave.

MS Dhoni is an attacking captain, New Zealand have one of the
weakest bowling attacks in international cricket while India have one of
the strongest batting line-ups. If Hamilton is any indication, anything
less than a 3-0 win for India would count as unsatisfactory. New Zealand's
best bet is to prepare seaming tracks that suit their bowlers, and hope
their batsmen fare better against India's medium-pacers.

In 1967, India lost 4-0 to Australia, and skipper Tiger Pataudi said at the
end of that series that "just as we were beginning to find our feet, the
series was over." A 2-2 finish might have been a fairer result, but by the
time the team arrived in New Zealand, India had found their bearings. They
won 3-1, the last time they won a series in New Zealand. Statistically, it
is still India's best performance abroad; it was also the first time
India had won the first Test of an away series.

One bad afternoon's cricket has spelt the end of India's dreams in the
first Test of many series. Even in the 1990s, a decade by when
professionalism in attitude and physical fitness is supposed to have
finally arrived in India, they continued to lose the first Test with
alarming regularity. Only twice in the decade, in Bangladesh and
Zimbabwe did they win the first Test. In 22 series abroad, they lost the
first Test 12 times. Before that, first-Test wins in Auckland in 1976 and
Lord's in 1986, merely served to show up the overall poor record.

Sourav Ganguly first began to reverse the trend, and now Dhoni has carried
it forward. If one decade's positive cricket has served to erase more than
half a century's uncertainty before that, then that might be the real
significance of the Hamilton win.

Ind vs NZ Test 1 Day 4 Streaming Links

2009-03-20T16:47:00.002-05:00

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Ind Vs Nz Test 1 Day 3 Streaming Links

2009-03-19T16:16:00.002-05:00

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A win by spin in Dunedin

2009-03-19T11:38:00.002-05:00

Ind vs NZ 1st Test Day2 Streaming Links

2009-03-18T16:44:00.002-05:00

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VVS Laxman-A wristy meeting(FIVE FIRSTS)

2009-03-18T14:35:00.002-05:00

Laxman on his first souvenir, first idol, first TV advertisement, first bat, and more

First souvenir I treasured
On my first international tour, to South Africa in 1996, the team had the opportunity to meet Nelson Mandela, and that photograph finds lead space on the mantelpiece.

First cricket hero I met
As a young Hyderabadi I used to read about [Mohammad] Azharuddin. Once, during a Hyderabad under-15 practice session, he too came to the ground to practise. It was really exciting to see him practise with such intensity. It left a big impression.

First advertisement
Back in 2001 for Pepsi. That was the first time I did a shoot. It involved working with Cyrus Broacha, who is really funny.

First bat
An SG bat, which was given to me by my uncle when I was ten. My first international bat was a Vampire, with whom I had a contract at that time. I scored my maiden fifty with that bat.

First time I was scared on a cricket pitch
When Vinod Kambli got injured in the Cuttack ODI in 1997-98. It was a bad injury - he twisted his ankle. It was damn scary.

Richards despatches Hendrick(Magic Moments Of Cricket)

2009-03-18T14:27:00.003-05:00

Six over midwicket and done. The perfect ending to a World Cup final innings

London, 23 June 1979

You don't need to see Vivian Richards' last-ball six off Mike Hendrick in the 1979 World Cup final through your plain-tinted glasses; you need to see it through the prism of the time.

The world was an innocent place in the late seventies. There was no live TV being beamed into drawing rooms in the subcontinent; our visual understanding of Richards was courtesy Patrick Eagar in Sportsworld, or through Reuters in Sportsweek, or fuzzy API pictures in newspapers.

It was a good four years before we actually saw how Richards did hit Hendrick. You slimed up to someone who gloated in the possession of cricket videotapes, you bought a VCR for Rs 20,000, you pleaded for the tape for a day, you invited the select to a private showing, you basked in the reflected glory of being "close" to Richards' six, you analysed it to death thereafter, and you emerged as an authority in a community that had been condemned to only read about it.

Replay Richards' coup de grace in your mind's eye, and you can see the magic even now. Richards stepped away to the off even before Hendrick had delivered; Richards dictated to Hendrick which line to bowl; Richards leaned to the off; Richards lifted the full-toss off the middle stump; Richards hit it over midwicket for six.

It is nearly three decades later and the world has since been corrupted by reverse sweeps, paddle sweeps, 180-degree bludgeons, glances picked from outside the off stump, and hoicks over midwicket. But Richards is still, well, Richards. For leaning to the off. For hitting over leg. And for flicking a six in the process.

When he had finished, he swung in one motion, made a complete rotation, smiled and ran out of sight.

Some decades down the road someone may well write a case study about how some people could actually enjoy themselves in the 60th over of a World Cup final.

Ind vs Nz 1st Test Hamilton ..Live Streaming Links

2009-03-17T16:09:00.003-05:00

After demolishing the New Zealand bowling attack with consummate ease in the One-Day International series, explosive opener Virender Sehwag will once again be crucial for India to dominate New Zealand in the Test series starting in Hamilton on Wednesday, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said.

Dhoni said he wants Sehwag to play his natural game and not change his tactics in the three-match Test series.

"We want him to play the way he wants to play, because that is his natural style. We all know if he gets going he can dominate the bowlers and all of a sudden you see the bowling attack rattled," the India captain said on Tuesday.

Match starts at 11.00 local (22.00 GMT) 3:30AM IST

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Beefy hits it into the confectionery stall(MAGIC MOMENTS OF CRICKET)

2009-03-16T15:51:00.002-05:00

Leeds, July 20, 1981
It is one of the most iconic images of the decade, from one of the most iconic series of the decade. The sight of Ian Botham hitting Terry Alderman back over his head for six in the third Ashes Test of 1981 is the epitome of his resurgence in that series.
There he is, the great allrounder, freed from the shackles of captaincy, bearded, rejuvenated, inspired once more by his muse Mike Brearley. Botham's 149 not out in England's second innings, which turned round the match and the series, was a seat-of-the-pants job. "Let's give it some humpty," he said to Graham Dilley, one of his tail-end partners.
It was an unrefined innings, but this straight hit had power, beauty and technique. It was a clean, straight strike that showed Botham at his best, as a proper batsman with real skill, not a slogger with a three-pound bat - as a dwindling number of stuffed-shirt snobs tried to maintain.
As its accompaniment, it enjoys an equally iconic snatch of commentary from Richie Benaud: "Don't even bother looking for that. It's gone into the confectionery stall and out again." Confectionery? Who says that, even in 1981? It's pure Richie and enjoys pride of place in the large canon of Richie-isms that TV watchers of cricket in the UK have lapped up since God knows when.

Sehwag in top 10 rankings of ICC ODI Rankings

2009-03-16T12:27:00.000-05:00

India master blaster Virender Sehwag and champion batsman Sachin Tendulkar are the biggest movers in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Player Rankings after splendid performances in the recent series against New Zealand.
Sehwag, who scored 299 runs against the Black Caps, has jumped nine places to sixth position in the latest ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, which is still headed by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
It is the first time in nearly six years that the New Delhi-born batsman has occupied a place in the top 10. During this period Sehwag, whose series aggregate included a whirlwind 125 not out from just 74 balls in the fourth ODI at Hamilton, dropped as low as 30th place, a mark he stood at in June 2008.
Tendulkar has also made a movement in the right direction as his series scores of 20, 61 and 163 not out have helped him vault eight places to 13th spot. Tendulkar held the top spot in the listing as recently as March 2008.
However, Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir have both headed in the wrong direction in the rankings, dropping one and four places respectively. Singh now sits in fourth place while Gambhir shares 16th spot with South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs.
In the ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has fallen off top spot and now sits in fifth place. Vettori managed just two wickets in the series which was dominated by India batsmen.
Vettori's drop has benefitted Sri Lanka fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekara who, for the first time in his career, has surged to the top of bowlers' rankings. Australia fast bowler Nathan Bracken is in second place while Kyle Mills of New Zealand is third.
In the ICC Player Rankings for all-rounders, India's Yuvraj Singh has entered the top five for the first time in his career. He has leapfrogged West Indies captain Chris Gayle and Jacob Oram of New Zealand to share third place with Pakistan's Shoaib Malik. Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan leads the field with Andrew Flintoff in second place.
In the ICC ODI Championship, India has gained two ratings points for its 3-1 series win. It has lifted it to 122 rating points and puts it just two ratings points behind second-placed Australia and three behind leader South Africa.
In contrast, New Zealand has conceded two ratings points for the series loss and is now only one rating point ahead of Pakistan which goes head-to-head with Australia in Dubai and Abu Dhabi next month.

IND vs NZ 5th ODI from AUCKLAND Streaming

2009-03-13T18:08:00.007-05:00

The euphoria for New Zealand after the two Twenty20 victories has been swiftly put to rest by the sparkling performances of India's batsmen in the four ODIs so far. The pre-tour talk centred around how the Indians will be challenged in conditions alien to them, but the only time they have been stretched so far was in the Twenty20 games. New Zealand's bowlers have struggled to find the right lengths to contain India's intimidating top order, let alone pick wickets. The quality of the pitches and sizes of the grounds have also played into India's hands and that has deprived the series of any kind of competition.

For New Zealand, their sole focus will be to snatch a win and get some momentum before the Test series begins. Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum have stepped up at the top of the order, but the middle order is yet to live up to its potential. The blame doesn't rest on the bowlers alone. New Zealand need to summon their pride collectively and set up the Test series with a consolation win

Match starts 1400 Local Time and 6:30am IST

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Sachin Becomes God

2009-03-12T12:05:00.002-05:00

Many have thought it has been the case for years, but Sachin Tendulkar has been turned into a Hindu god by fans.
The Daily Express in London reports that supporters in Delhi commissioned artists to create icons of Tendulkar as the monkey god Hanuman. The works show him holding a bat instead of the more traditional mace.“He is truly a god to millions of people who worship this sport,” explained artist Gautam Bhatia.

Solkar takes a blinder(Magic Moments of Cricket)

2009-03-11T13:36:00.002-05:00

London, 23 August 1971

There are two contenders in my mind for the inflection point in the modern history of Indian cricket. One is Salim Durani clean-bowling Garry Sobers for zero at Queen's Park Oval in 1971. The other is Eknath Solkar catching Alan Knott off S Venkataraghavan at the Oval in 1971.

The first was so unexpected that most photographers were probably caught looking the other way. The second instance was well documented. Alan Knott turning the ball round the corner, Solkar doing a Gordon Banks, Farokh Engineer a bit surprised, and Sunil Gavaskar airborne in glee. Henri Cartier-Bresson's "decisive moment".

Solkar described this catch years later. Venkat and he had "set Knott up". England's wicketkeeper liked to turn the offspinner round the bend. Most bowlers would have plugged the gap. On the contrary, Venkat and Solkar kept the area vacant, invited Knott to indulge. Solkar moved sideways in anticipation, and as soon as he reckoned that Knott was going to turn, he coiled for the dive, leapt, and took the plunge. Literally.

It would be easy to look at the picture, say "Wow", and move on to the next page. But wait, rewind the frame a couple of seconds, think the sequence over in your mind's eye and then regard the picture as the final frame. Solkar didn't just catch Knott inches above the Oval. He gave Indian cricket a new twist.

India VS KIWIS 4th ODI at Hamilton Live Streaming Links

2009-03-10T17:33:00.003-05:00

Two-nil down with two to play, New Zealand are in a position where nothing less than a win will do. The fourth game offers them a good opportunity to mount a comeback - the Seddon Park in Hamilton is their favourite home venue, Daniel Vettori is back to lead the team and they'll be up against an Indian line-up without Sachin Tendulkar.
To register their first win, though, they will need to do more than just bank on past record. The bowling attack - apart from Vettori - has been a shambles so far, and the short boundaries in Hamilton won't ease their task. What will encourage the home team is the courage they showed when up against a daunting target in Christchurch, where they scored 334 and clearly rattled the Indians despite a middle-order collapse.

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Tendulkar to miss Hamilton ODI

2009-03-10T00:48:00.003-05:00

Sachin Tendulkar will miss the fourth one-day international against New Zealand in Hamilton on Wednesday because of an abdomen injury. The Indian team management will monitor Tendulkar's fitness and he has not been ruled out of the final ODI on March 14 as yet.
Tendulkar sustained the injury when he was hit on the stomach by Iain O'Brien during the second match in Wellington. He played the third game but aggravated the injury during his innings of 163 off 133 balls; he had to retire hurt at the end of the 45th over. Scans have revealed that Tendulkar has suffered swelling and bruising.
The news is a blow to India since Tendulkar has been solid at the top of the order with scores of 20, 61 and 163 in the series. With him missing, Gautam Gambhir will open with Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma is likely to make a comeback.

source : cricinfo.com

Chappell throws it away(Magic Moments of Cricket)

2009-03-09T19:56:00.004-05:00

Melbourne, 10 February 1981

It was a rank long hop, but it helped change a whole series. In walked Greg Chappell with the target a measly 143, and an expected Test and Series victory for Australia never came about. The confusion in Chappell's mind was about which part of the inviting on side to hit the ball, from Karsan Ghavri, to. Sometimes it takes a bad delivery to lull a great batsman into a false sense of security. Keeping low as it passed the bat, the ball almost pitched a second time before thudding into the bottom of the stumps.

Australia were 24 for 3 at the close, and Dennis Lillee's conspiratorial whisper that evening was, "If I were a betting man, I would put my money on India." Prophetic words they proved to be.

An injured Kapil Dev was coaxed into coming out to bowl on the final morning and he bowled Australia out for 83 on a dual-paced pitch that was helping bowlers of pace and spin both.

A visibly annoyed Chappell, saddled with two spinners in his XI for that Test by dominating selectors controlling a united Australian team (the Packer intervention had just got over), may have blundered in putting India in on winning the toss, though only hindsight would have suggested that. The captain who had let India off the hook in the previous Test, in Adelaide, where Australia were expected to go 2-0 up, may have had a lot of explaining to do when the series was drawn 1-1 - the first such verdict for India Down Under.

Boycott B Holding( Magic Moments of cricket)

2009-03-09T11:04:00.002-05:00