Showing posts with label cricket world cup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cricket world cup. Show all posts
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Englands Last 80 MInutes On The Field As Champs?
England seem to realize that they will have only 80 minutes on the field before their reign as rugby world champions end. England face off today against arch rivals, the Wallabies, in what is a rematch of the 2003 finals where a dramatic field goal gave the english a stunning win to lift the trophy. England have struggled a bit through this tournament to make it to the quarters which included a 36-0 drubbing to the Springboks. Australia start as firm favourites but a 25% chance of rain might favour England. England have made five changes, bringing in Simon Shaw, Jason Robinson, Mike Catt, Phil Vickery and Mark Regan. Australian fly half, Steve Larkham is injured and will be replaced by Berrick Barnes. The good news for Australia is that captain Stirling Mortlock is back after missing two games due to injury. Andy Farrell, the former Great Britain captain injured himself during training and will have to be replaced by Catt. John Connolly took over as coach from Eddie Jones in 2006 and has made a formidable team.England vs Australia matches are always spicy and a treat to watch. their famous rivalry always adds to the occassion and this time will be no different. The two teams are tied 2-2 against each other and this world cup quarter final will be a must watch affair. Later on in the day favourites All Blacks take on host France in the other quarter final.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Managers To Blame?
Im again taking Soccer as a reference but please feel free to cite examples from other sports. Do managers claim to be the dominant force in the team? Do they Think they are the Boss and can do what they want? Ive seen managers think so highly of their ways of work that they fool around with the roster and end up leaving the team in tatters. The 2006 Fifa World Cup, Argentina vs Germany. Argentina were in the lead and then thanks to the manager they found themselves on the losing side. The manger had substituted play maker Riquelme and not even brought on Messi who was supposed to be the next big star. The Real Madrid coach is also to be part of this debate. End of last season he, wasn't even playing Beckham, but even though fans may think he's done, no one can deny that he played and instrumental part in taking them to the title. England Manager Steve did the same thing leaving him out from the national side but then realized that he had to bring him back. The Indian cricket team is also another example where they keep playing the wrong stars and leaving the performers out. One of the main reasons why I saw Beckham leave United was the rift between him and Sir Alex. Alex thought Beckham was getting bigger than the club itself and wanted Alex wanted none of that. Who knows Beckham might still have been playing at United if it hadn't been for the manager.However nothing against Sir Alex for all that he has achieved.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
The fall of Indian Cricket
I'm sure all the cricket fans especially Indians around the world have been embarrassed and stunned by the Indian cricket team's performance over the past few years including the horrifying world cup performance. Everyone after the world cup could play only one game, the blame game. There were rampant calls for sacking players and resignations. However amidst all this mayhem no one seemed to put the blame on the board. Not one felt that some board members needed to be replaced.
The first point is whether politicians should be allowed to handle the running of the board at all. Why not leave it to people who know more about the game and have more time to devote to it. I strongly feel that politics should have nothing to do with the functioning of the board. However the Govt. can have their say in an away series about the safety issues the same way the England and Australian Board intervened when the world cup was co-hosted by Zimbabwe a few editions ago.
The other surprising point was the team composition after the world cup.The people wanted a change and the board obliged but with a more controversial team. Everyone knew about the patch that Sehwag was going through in the one day format of the game against Bangladesh. According to the stats Sehwag had one of the best records in Tests prior to this series. so why was he axed for the test and retained for the one day series. Surely a hundred against a team like Bermuda had nothing to do with it, even though he had a comparatively better world cup than most others. The inclusion of Dinesh Mongia in the one day squad was a another mind blower. Hasn't he been given enough chances to prove himself and against Bangladesh he failed again. What about giving the youngsters a chance. The youngsters are doing so well and taking the chances given to them. Dinesh Karthick is a prime example. He somehow always performs when needed though his averages indicate a different story. Inspite of doing well he wasn't given a single game during the world cup.
Sourav Ganguly's admission back into the squad has been debated a great deal. Sure he has got the runs to back his inclusion and seems to be in finer form than before but if one would look closely at the one day matches since his return one would see his dismal strike rate.It seems he is trying to make a point to his critics by trying to amass runs but I feel it is at the cost of the team on the whole. So what if the youngsters fail a few times in their first few games, it would help them gain experience and make them stronger. It is no point in retaining non performing stalwarts as they will not be available for the next world cup.
The fitness of the team is the other talking point that no one seems to be interested in. Take a look at the other cricketers from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand for example. They are all genuine sportsmen who have played other sports for either their state or even their country. That is why they are so fit and agile. The Indian mindset is just cricket, batting and bowling. A few rounds of the field, a couple of exercises here and there and thats about it. They don't have the mindset of an athlete. Their reflexes and agility is not the same compared to others. So many times we see the Indians lose a game even before it has started. Australia seem to have a mental edge over India. This needs to change.
Im sure no one could have got away with the debate about the players and sponsors after the world cup. One thing I cant understand is why were the players objecting to the performance clause and the cut in sponsorships. Are they in the team to create advertisements. I'm not saying that ads affects the game. It's just that it should not be priority.Why should they worry about it at all. They get paid enough from cricket alone.It is said that the BCCI is the richest board in the world, so where is all that money going then? Cricket should be their number one priority. Are they so scared of the performance based clause that they can't accept it?
Indian cricket needs a dramatic change and needs a fresh new start. The Board, the players and even the general public are all responsible. the players are what they are today only because of the public. It doesn't matter if we have a few results going against us. Everything takes time to build and hopefully we should have a much better world cup next time around.
The first point is whether politicians should be allowed to handle the running of the board at all. Why not leave it to people who know more about the game and have more time to devote to it. I strongly feel that politics should have nothing to do with the functioning of the board. However the Govt. can have their say in an away series about the safety issues the same way the England and Australian Board intervened when the world cup was co-hosted by Zimbabwe a few editions ago.
The other surprising point was the team composition after the world cup.The people wanted a change and the board obliged but with a more controversial team. Everyone knew about the patch that Sehwag was going through in the one day format of the game against Bangladesh. According to the stats Sehwag had one of the best records in Tests prior to this series. so why was he axed for the test and retained for the one day series. Surely a hundred against a team like Bermuda had nothing to do with it, even though he had a comparatively better world cup than most others. The inclusion of Dinesh Mongia in the one day squad was a another mind blower. Hasn't he been given enough chances to prove himself and against Bangladesh he failed again. What about giving the youngsters a chance. The youngsters are doing so well and taking the chances given to them. Dinesh Karthick is a prime example. He somehow always performs when needed though his averages indicate a different story. Inspite of doing well he wasn't given a single game during the world cup.
Sourav Ganguly's admission back into the squad has been debated a great deal. Sure he has got the runs to back his inclusion and seems to be in finer form than before but if one would look closely at the one day matches since his return one would see his dismal strike rate.It seems he is trying to make a point to his critics by trying to amass runs but I feel it is at the cost of the team on the whole. So what if the youngsters fail a few times in their first few games, it would help them gain experience and make them stronger. It is no point in retaining non performing stalwarts as they will not be available for the next world cup.
The fitness of the team is the other talking point that no one seems to be interested in. Take a look at the other cricketers from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand for example. They are all genuine sportsmen who have played other sports for either their state or even their country. That is why they are so fit and agile. The Indian mindset is just cricket, batting and bowling. A few rounds of the field, a couple of exercises here and there and thats about it. They don't have the mindset of an athlete. Their reflexes and agility is not the same compared to others. So many times we see the Indians lose a game even before it has started. Australia seem to have a mental edge over India. This needs to change.
Im sure no one could have got away with the debate about the players and sponsors after the world cup. One thing I cant understand is why were the players objecting to the performance clause and the cut in sponsorships. Are they in the team to create advertisements. I'm not saying that ads affects the game. It's just that it should not be priority.Why should they worry about it at all. They get paid enough from cricket alone.It is said that the BCCI is the richest board in the world, so where is all that money going then? Cricket should be their number one priority. Are they so scared of the performance based clause that they can't accept it?
Indian cricket needs a dramatic change and needs a fresh new start. The Board, the players and even the general public are all responsible. the players are what they are today only because of the public. It doesn't matter if we have a few results going against us. Everything takes time to build and hopefully we should have a much better world cup next time around.
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