Mark Chilton – LiveCricket.in
Chill discusses cricket
Archive for October, 2008
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21st
India have won the 2nd Test Match by a massive 300 run margin. The Australians were never in it after they failed in their first innings. I have mentioned on a couple of occasions how first innings runs are crucial to teams competing on the sub continent and Ricky Ponting admitted being two hundred runs short. Playing catch up out on Indian wickets, especially with the strength of their spin departement, proved a task too difficult.
The other interesting feature from the match was the difference in the potency of the bowling attacks. Despite a docile surface the Indian bowlers continually tested the Australian batsman with a combination of spin and reverse swing. The Australian bowlers, however, failed to get any assistance at all. They only managed some reverse swing late in the day with a very old ball.
This is the huge advantage the Indians have playing on their own turf, they understand the conditions perfectly and are able to exploit them to the full. It takes a huge amount of skill to manouvre the ball like Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma did. It was a high class display of quick bowling on the sub-continent.
I fear a bit more than a bit of ‘fine tuning’ will be required by the Aussies to bounce back from this crushing defeat.
20th
I thought it would be worth commenting on the Indian Cricket Leagues (ICL) bid to become an authorised competition. This seems quite a complicated situation and one that will be difficult to get to the bottom of so bear with me.
The recent meeting that took place in Mumbai ( in a coffee shop!) between the BCCI (Indian Cricket Board) and ICL proved unsuccessful for the ICL and apparently only lasted a matter of minutes. Clearly, the BCCI will acknowledge this tournament as an absolute last resort and up until then will do everything they can to undermine the ICL. With the BCCI owning the Indian Premier League it seems that they want to try and monopolise the market and rid themselves of any competition.
The ICL are considering legal action against the International Cricket Council (ICC), who need the blessing of the BCCI to authorise the tournament, and believe they have a strong case. The ICL has some powerful backing and they have said they will “not be going away” I don’t think it will be long before we have some answers to this contentious issue.
16th
It seems there is no stopping India and Australia in spicing up their fixtures with a little friendly better between tests! It is safe to say that their relationship has been a little fraught with tension for some time now, and the build up to the test match in Mohali is no different.
Words have been exchanged between the two Captains, Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble, both having their own little digs. There are question marks over Kumbles position both as player and captain and Ponting has commented on his ineffectiveness with the ball. The Indian Captain has spat back with a dig at the Australians lack of potency on a fifth day wicket……all tame stuff really.
After a fairly flat end to the 1st Test Match i think all will hoping that there is a bit more life in the pitch and the battle can continue on the pitch. There were some fine performances in Bangalore, namely Ponting and Hussey, who proved they are the two best batsmen in the world at the minute. Hussey in particular has been outstanding since making the step up to Test level, and no one deserves this opportunity more than him. A remarkably consistent performer over many years now and great to see him in the limelight.
13th
It hasn’t taken too long for the Indian Premier League to prove how powerful it has become. There is real worry that next years touring Sri Lankan cricket team will not be a full strength team with the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakara honouring their committments to the IPL.
This is the exact scenario that officials have been worried about. They talked of doing everything they could to protect the quality and integrity of Test Cricket but the financial rewards for playing in the IPL are just too attractive for players to turn down. Since the IPL began i felt it could pose a serious threat to the current Test Cricket calender and despite what some authorities have said i see no reason to change my mind.
I think the only option is to restructure the Test Cricket fixtures. The days of five match test series will soon be over and instead it will be replaced by a Test championship where teams play one or two match series when the opportunity allows them to do it.
There is no doubt that Test Cricket needs to have the best players playing in it or the whole competition will become devalued and less attractive to the spectators and sponsors. I am afraid the time is coming where the authorities are going to have to work round the IPL to find a structure that can keep the longer form of the game an appealing spectacle.
Let me know any thoughts?
7th
It is the eve of the first test match between India and Australia in Bangalore and there is much anticipation here in freezing cold Melbourne! Thats right, i have made it to the land of down under and have been surrounded by aussies bigging their side up since i arrived last Friday.
There have been the usual taunts before such an important series, largely based around the pressure surrounding the experienced ‘big four’, in the Indian batting line up. There certainly seems to be alot of talk on the future of Tendulkar, Laxman, Dravid and Ganguly with the latter already announcing his retirement post series.
My own thoughts are that they will still make runs and the pressure will be on the Australian batters to make big runs in the first innings. I am also looking forward to the battle between Ricky Ponting and Harbahjan Singh, the spinner has had the upper hand up until now, but i think Ponting will back up his prematch talk and overcome his nemesis. Let battle commence!