Apocryphal Stories !!!

It’s said that first impression is a lasting impression. Shaun Marsh, would disagree with the saying. He made a good impression on both his ODI debut and Test debut, but finds himself out of reckoning in both the formats. Making his ODI debut after a successful IPL season, he acquitted himself well. He scored a polished 81 in that match. That the debut came 5 years after Steve Waugh picked him to be a special player is a surprise. After that match, he went through a normal run in the Sheffield Shield and didn’t come into the collective notice of the selectors till the breakthrough IPL performance Looking at his career, one thing is prominent. He finds it difficult to maintain good form over a period of time. In fact, every good innings of his is a microcosm of his career. His knock of 85 (against Melbourne Renegades), spread over 52 balls showed us the reluctant starter, the team man, the excellent reader of the match situation and also, at times, a man who can’t will ...

Who averages 1022 in Test cricket this year, every time he crosses 100? Who is the player having a conversion rate of close to 80% in scoring centuries? Who is it that has broken the record of Bradman and Ponting today by scoring an unprecedented 4 th double ton in the calendar year? The answer to all of the above is Michael Clarke, the captain of the Australian Test team. From the time he has been made the captain, he has been contributing with the bat. The century in the final test in Sri Lanka, where Australia conceded a 163 run lead remains fresh in the mind. His batting in that innings was of such top quality that not a single run came off the edge (outside/inside) of the bat. Then came the century at Cape Town. People remember it as much for the stroke play as for the examination of his technique against shorter ball by Steyn. Today too, in the initial phase of his innings, he was subjected to the same treatment by the same bowler. Steyn came back with the same q...

Till lunch the match seemed evenly poised. The introduction of the captain, AJ Ball, into the attack eased the pressure on the Australian batsmen. The pull shot by Head off Ball had resounding effect. Twice, Australia tried to mount a counter-attack and both the times the batsman trying to do it was dismissed. Jamie Overton, exchanged a few words with Patterson after being swatted for a boundary and delivered the perfect riposte- an away swinger pitching just outside the off stump. That was the last wicket that England got. Australia got away on account of a tactical blunder by England. England did not bowl Jamie Overton immediately after lunch, thus allowing Bosisto to secure up one end. In the morning session, both Paris and Steketee got their first wickets with deceptive inswingers. While Paris foxed Drummond with a fuller delivery, Steketee disturbed the woodwork as Foakes left it alone thinking it would swing away. Sandhu offered no respite with his height. He bowled shor...

Bereft of choices, through injuries and resting players, New Zealand is actually making West Indies look like a force to reckon with. With the win in the first ODI, West Indies have now won three matches on trot. This win would be more satisfactory than the wins they registered in the two T20 games in Florida. Everything came together for them in Kingston. The bowling by the new-ball bowlers, Narine containing the batsmen, and finally the firepower in the batting coming good. Everything that the West Indies wanted to happen in the match, happened. If one has to be picky, then the fielding needs improvement. Though they held all their catches, it was the ground fielding that left a lot to be desired. Man of the match, Andre Russell, combined swing with intelligence to take three wickets in his first spell. He removed Guptill with a ball that moved away late. Guptill edged it to Sammy at second slip. It was his bowling to Flynn that made the spectators sit up. He beat him ...

Robin Bist and Vineet Saxena. Do these names ring a bell? Yes, they were the pillars for Rajasthan in  the Ranji Trophy win, this year. Which teams do they represent in IPL? Vineet, doesn’t have a contract and Bist is listed to play for the Delhi Daredevils If this is the plight of players in a winning team, imagine that of the players from the plate league. One of the biggest advantages, while playing in IPL, is hobnobbing with the best players in the world. Citing the examples above, the players have been failed by the system, unless Robin Bist is learning the technique of switch hit and paddle scoop from Kevin Pietersen and Dilshan respectively. The established players can certainly teach the local players the technique, but the vision and the execution has to flow from that particular player’s brain. It is actually shocking to see a few esteemed heads taking the side of IPL ( not T20 internationals). From the other side, the grass doesn’t seem too green on the IPL side ...

Are little things known to inspire people? If so, what makes them turn ‘on’ that imaginary switch in the brain? Do players knowingly get into a squabble to inspire themselves? All of this was in evidence in last night’s match between West Indies Pattinson started by spraying the ball, like he did in the previous T20. There was something that both the openers, Dwayne Smith and Charles, did that was effective and seemed like a well-planned move. That, one of them decided to move away from the line and the other tried to move into the line played havoc with the bowler’s lines For a few deliveries, it seemed that McKay stumbled on the good length. The good length to bowl to these batsmen was the ‘invisible fourth stump line’. Watson found the radar early and forced Charles to hole out to long-off. Pollard couldn’t repeat his heroics from the previous game. On his way back, Warner provided some lip service to him. At that moment it seemed inconsequential, but it came back to haunt the hom...

Have you ever imagined this setting? You can actually stuff an entire country’s population in a match at Eden Gardens, Kolkatta. To top it all the country has a cricket team. Well, come out of the imagination and you can see the reality. Guernsey is one such country Their cricketers are the best ambassadors for small country cricket. Watching them from close quarters in WCL 5, I felt that they were the best personifications for the much abused ‘It’s just a sport’. While they give it their all on the field, they are gregarious and fun-loving characters off it In a match that was affected by rain, all of them volunteered to be the groundsmen for the day. This gesture was not lost on the opposition, Argentina, as they too ventured in getting the match started. It was the second match of Guernsey that I watched. What actually caught the eye and knowing that little more about the team was a little gesture at the break of the innings. All of their players stood up to applause in welcomi...

At 67/2 in 10.2 overs, with the required run-rate climbing to nearly 10 an over, Melbourne Renegades finished the match off in the next 44 balls. At that exact moment, the captain McDonald was on 11 runs of 19 balls. Of the next 18 balls he faced, he creamed an astounding 49 runs. The partnership with Hodge was the game breaker In the years to come, this innings might be shown as a model for ‘Pacing the innings’. McDonald did what five batsmen before him, couldn’t. He converted the start he got into a big innings. Henriques was close to doing it. He was stopped in his tracks by the accurate bowling. McDonald, on the other hand took time in settling in and once in, he didn’t allow the momentum to shift He might not be able to repeat the feat on a regular basis but the innings today showed what a finisher means to the team. On April 2 nd this year, India lifted the World cup and Yuvraj Singh was awarded the Most Valuable Player award. Nobody grudged the honour on him. It is the finish...

On a fateful day in March 1992, few hearts were broken and a lifelong relationship for a young kid started, with a team that scraped through with the skin of their teeth. It was the second one-run win for the team against their opponents in a World Cup setting I was too young to realise the vagaries of the rules in the rain-hit matches. They favoured Australia more than India in that game. What I realised, though, was the importance of the game. It was one of those days where my father put a stop to the ad-guess game, as we called it. As my father sunk into despair after the match, I found a new hope- Australian cricket team. It didn’t matter to me that they were out of the tournament before the semi-finals Cricket is a team game but there are individuals whom you find yourself drawn to, more than the others. From that day on, I had at least one person in the team that I looked up to. Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh, Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Clarke,...