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Finger Flicking Good

Had Johnny Gleason who first bowled a “flicker” in international cricket seen Ajnatha Mendis yesterday he would be in awe. It’s been a long while since I wrote something new for the blog – just like it’s been a long while since Sri Lanka found a new spinner who could last a while in International Cricket. Ajantha Mendis who every Indian cricket fan hates since yesterday night is here to stay, he’s got a smooth action and there are no qualms about his action being legitimate. He is a good old fashioned finger spinner some might say, but he’s different. Ask any Indian batsman, they will tell you.

What makes him hard to read are his numerous variations. Mahela Jayawardena, the Sri Lankan captain claims that Mendis has six different deliveries. He bowls the conventional off spin, doosra, leg spin, googly, topspin and a “Gleason” flicker, now called the “Carrom Ball”. True, batsman over the world will study him during coming months and his real test will come when they are able to relate minute differences in his action to the different types of deliveries, but something tells me he’s special and will be good or even better than Murali in the long run. That is quite a statement and only time can tell if it’s true.

Sri Lanka continues to unearth unconventional bowlers and coincidently their surnames start with “M” – Murali, Malinga and now Mendis. If Malinga is fully fit for the coming Indian tour, The Sri Lankan attack would probably be: Vaas, Malinga, Fernando, Murali and Mendis. India has the batting firepower to counter this quality attack but it is going be one heck of a contest. India’s short coming would be their own spin department. Kumble’s days are numbered but no replacement is in sight. Chawla looks the part but like any leg spinner needs time to mature.

Back to Mendis, he has shown in the little international cricket that he has played to date that he is able to locate not just the arrow-straight line but the length consistently: too far forward, you look a fool, stay back and risk being trapped. Admittedly, some of his victims gave themselves up yesterday. The leg-break to remove RP Singh should've been reserved for a more capable opponent. Even a hat-trick could've been his, but you suspect more opportunities might come his way against clueless tail-enders. Just ask Murali, he will tell you.

Definite credit should go to Mendis’ coach – reason “Not doing anything”. That’s a lot of credit for doing nothing but modern day coaches all over the world try to teach youngsters what they have learnt i.e. Text book cricket. This is good as long as the natural abilities of a cricketer are not compromised. Imagine Malinga trying to bowl round arm or Mendis being told by his coach to stick to bowling either off spin or leg spin. They would not have made it to the International stage.

“Finger Flicking Good” – that’s what I call him. Sri Lankan selectors can breathe a sigh of relief. Finding a replacement for Murali has been their long standing problem and Mendis seems to have solved it. But put off that vacation selectors; go find a replacement for Jayasuriya now – That’ll scare any bowler.

The Right Combination

Shane Warne has publicly stated that John Buchanan, Australia’s former coach did very little for Australian cricket and that there was no requirement for a coach in modern day international cricket. However, the Australian record in both forms of the game under Buchanan is any coaches’ dream. Australia has won three consecutive World Cups and has had very little off days during the period he was in-charge. The consistency the Australian team has shown in winning Tests as well as ODI’s cannot be matched by any team in the history of the game and their closest rivals would be Clive Lloyd’s West Indian team of the 70’s & 80’s.

Many of the International teams are on the look out for a coach after the conclusion of the World Cup. All four subcontinent teams have still not found one although India seems to be closing in on Dav Whatmore.

Dav Whatmore, a man who has played only 7 test matches and 1 ODI for Australia has had an excellent record coaching in the subcontinent. Under Whatmore Sri Lanka went from “one-off match winners” to World Cup winners, while Bangladesh, although has not yet reached those heights have shown some progress too.

Tom Moody, too with relatively less international experience (8 tests and 76 ODI’s) has been an excellent coach for Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan players talk of him "pushing them out of their comfort zones" as he fought against complacency, forcing all players to analyse ways of improving their performance. "Tom challenged every individual," said Mahela Jayawardene. "You could not stay in the same place. Every training session, every team talk mattered. We all learned, not just the youngsters but the senior guys too”.

Greg Chappell on the other hand, captained Australia successfully and was a world class batsman. However, his record as the Indian coach was nothing out of the ordinary. Starting with the Ganguly fiasco, he was continuously criticized by the players for various aspects of his coaching. He attempted to control the senior players they said; probably forgetting that he was the coach and not the captain which in the end led to his resignation.

Duncan Fletcher, the former English coach - played International cricket for Zimbabwe. The famous Ashes victory in 2005 came during his tenure as England coach. He did change many things in English cricket but many fans would agree that he stayed on for too long and had got used to a routine which he did not want to deviate from. The best example of this would be him playing Ashley Giles ahead of Monty Panesar in the first three tests of the 2006 Ashes series.

History has shown us that you don’t need to be a world class cricketer to become a world class coach. But what is the role of a coach in an International team? And what goes into making a successful coach?

A coaching qualification either from Australia or England is a must for a coach. In addition to this the most important attributes for an international coach would be:

1. Man management skills
One characteristic that is most important is the coaches’ willingness to stand up to senior players when they step out of line. This requires a certain degree of diplomacy – Greg Chappell chose to take the senior players head on and we all know what happened. On the other hand Tom Moody gained the respect of the senior players by the introduction of a performance-based culture that encouraged self-improvement, even in the senior players. This enabled him to stand up to them when they went out of line.

2. A tactician / strategist
In International cricket today each team analyses and studies its opponents in detail. The coach and his support staff work behind the scenes in gathering and analyzing information. Teams know the strengths and weaknesses of each batsman and bowler in opposing teams. A coach is required to use this information in formulating a strategy for each game/tournament. Of course the captain and some of the senior players would be involved in this but a major part of the plan would come from the coach. The strategy would not be the same for each game, an element of surprise is required sometimes in order to ensure that the opponents do not know what to expect. It would be a huge benefit if the coach has played international cricket as sometimes applying a plan in practice is not always straight forward as saying it – somebody who has played Tests and ODI’s would understand the difficulty in applying a plan in practice.

3. A motivator
Every team has a blend of younger and senior players. It is the coaches’ duty to instill self-belief in the younger players and help them grow in order for them to take more responsibility as they go along.

With the amount of cricket that is played it’s normal for a player to go out of form. When this happens a player looses a certain amount of confidence. In certain instances it could make or break a career. A coach should be able guide even a senior player to make it through such a phase by motivating and reminding them the importance of them to the team.

Is this all that is required to be a successful coach in international cricket?

The greatest players in a team and the best coach in the world would not always be the right combination. But if the team is as good as the current Australian team do they require a coach? Shane Warne certainly does not think so. What do you think?

Diluting the Value of Cricket

Just two weeks after the world cup and this weekend we had so much of international cricket going on. The first test between England and West Indies looked interesting for a while and then faded off to an inevitable draw. Both sides lacked a match winning bowler barring Monty Panesar who showed the value of a quality spinner and even on a flat track managed to trouble the West Indians.

The Indians managed to avenge their World Cup defeat against Bangladesh by winning the ODI series 2-0. However, Bangladesh looked good in the first ODI and India won largely thanks to a match winning innings from Dhoni. The decision to bat Dhoni at number 3 in ODI’s is the right one. He’s an attacking batsman and like all attacking players he too plays best when there is less pressure on him. Looking back at the World Cup it’s hard to imagine why he batted so low down the order. Another one of those failed ploys during Greg Chappell’s tenure. The first test between India and Bangladesh, as I said in my previous post (The Land of Heroes and Comebacks) gave the opportunity for Tendulkar and Ganguly to get amongst the runs. Each of them scored a century on a flat track against a mediocre bowling attack. As the series goes on, these Indian batsmen would look to pile on the runs to ensure their places in the test team are secured and to push for a place in the ODI squad as well. Nothing’s changed in Indian cricket.

The series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka consisted of 3 ODI’s. A tired looking Sri Lankan team lost the series in the end. It’s hard to imagine the purpose of this series. The only reason it took place was because there was a willing sponsor and the Pakistan and Sri Lankan Cricket Board’s wanted to make some money. The mental as well as the physical fatigue on the Sri Lankans were quite evident. They had just played in the World Cup final and after going through a month and a half of cricket in the Caribbean, spend barely a week at home before boarding a plane to Abu Dhabi.

The only positive for the Sri Lankans would be that the series gave an opportunity to blood many of the youngsters. Pakistan of course wanted the series after their early exit from the World Cup. However, is this the right way to go about it? The value of International Cricket is being diluted by playing series’ such as these. The ICC should insist that there should be a reasonable gap between each series a country plays prior to granting “International” status to ODI’s. It’s time that the ICC concentrated on quality rather than quantity. The game needs to spread around the world but this cannot be done overnight. The critics of the World Cup who complained that it was too long had barely finished complaining when this series started.

In addition this week it was announced that India will take on Pakistan at Glasgow on July 3 and Pakistan will play Scotland at Edinburgh two days earlier. In the week before those matches, India play South Africa in three ODIs at Belfast and those games are preceded by Ireland playing back-to-back ODIs against India and South Africa.

In the second week of July, West Indies, Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland play in a quadrangular one-day tournament, again in Belfast.

In early June the Afro-Asia series takes place in Chennai and Bangalore, a time of year when heavy rain is expected.

However, there are increasing signs that the endless schedule of one-day tournaments is leaving broadcasters weary, and there remain doubts whether some of the matches detailed above will attract TV coverage.

Too much ODI Cricket is being played? What do you think ?

Squash it Mate !!

There has been so much talk about Adam Gilchrist using half a squash ball to improve his batting grip during the World Cup final. He played an innings of a life time – every kid that plays cricket dreams of it, a century in a World Cup final. He scored a magical 149 runs in 104 balls, that even as a Sri Lankan I could not stop myself applauding. He will remember that innings for the rest of his life, not because of the squash ball but because it came in a World Cup final. It is true that he was not in his best form prior to this innings but this isn’t the first time that he’s played an innings of such class. Another innings that comes to mind is a century he scored against the ICC World XI in 2005, which is the fastest ODI century on Australian soil to date. During that innings he scored 4 sixers and 8 fours, on his way to a 73 ball century. That bowling attack included the likes of Akthar, Pollock, Flintoff, Kallis, Muralitharan and Vettori. He did not have a squash ball with him during that innings.

Using extra padding is nothing new to batsmen and wicket keepers. A century ago, a South African, Baberton Halliwell used raw steaks inside his wicket keeping gloves, a method subsequently used by even Alan Knott and Rod Marsh. Batsmen have also been known to use extra padding - Nasser Hussain, who consistently had problems with being hit on his fingers is one of many to have used extra padding inside his gloves. Many batsman use more than one bat grip to increase the width of the bat handle. This is a practice that is very common. Does this give an unfair advantage to the batsman?

I am sure half a squash ball is not for extra padding or for protection but to argue that the innings he played was because of the squash ball is being naïve. It has already been said that this wasn’t the first time he tried this. In November 2006 when he experimented this tactic in a Pura Cup match, he scored 131 off 95 against Queensland. This I am sure is a fact that is currently being discussed by all glove manufacturers around the world and it would not be long before we see a new type of glove in the market.

Some argue that the laws of cricket do not permit the use of a squash ball inside a batsman’s glove, which is very correct. But also the laws do not say that a batsman cannot use extra padding.

All in all, Gilchrist deserves every bit of praise for that innings he played. After all, he holds the record for the highest number sixers in test cricket, a staggering 97 in his career. He has also scored 136 sixers in ODI’s. That should say something about the man’s ability. But this is my point of view – how about yours?

The Land of Heroes & Comebacks

India had a disastrous world cup. The criticism and analysis have come from all quarters. Some blamed the coach, some blamed the captain and some even blamed the sponsor’s. In the end, the coach Greg Chappell stepped down. After all, somebody had to take the blame. But is Chappell really to be blamed? If so, to what extent? All the debating and analysis won’t give us the answer. The best thing for an Indian fan would be to look to the future and hope that the results will get better.

The squad for the Bangladeshi tour has been picked. The selectors have said that they have rested Tendulkar and Ganguly for the ODI’s and have dropped Pathan, Harbhajan and Agarkar while Kumble retired. Thus 9 out of the 15 that went for the world cup have made the tour.

Of the players who have been recalled Dinesh Mongia is a surprise selection. If the emphasis is on youth why bring in a 30 year old? Ramesh Powar who was unlucky not to be in the Caribbean for the world cup gets another go. Again, if the emphasis is on youth why bring in a player even older than Harbhajan Singh? Gautam Gambhir and RP Singh are talent for the future and should be given plenty of opportunity. The new faces in the squad Manoj Tiwary and Piyush Chawla are full of talent. It would be exciting to see them make their debuts. I first saw Chawla play in the 2005 challenger series as a sixteen year old and remember him getting Dhoni, Yuvraj and Tendulkar in a match. Tendulkar’s wicket was a beauty. Chawla foxed the master with a wrong ‘un. Tiwary has been scoring heavily in the domestic tournaments and will be raring to go. My only issue with Chawla is that as a leg spinner, starting his international career as a one-day player is not the ideal. He could lose confidence if he gets hit out of the attack and also could lose the wicket taking ability by trying to restrict batsman in one day matches. All in all the ODI squad looks balanced, but if Sehwag and Mongia do not perform in Bangladesh, they should be shown the door immediately. They have been given enough opportunities.

The test squad is more interesting, not because there are new faces in it but because there aren’t any. The top order is the same as the top order that played in 2005. It probably might be the same in 2009 as you can be certain that Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman and Jaffer will score heavily against Bangladesh as they would be keen to keep their places and even push for a place in the ODI squad. If Gambhir, Uthappa and Tiwary do not take their opportunities in the ODI’s, it is certain that they would be replaced by Ganguly and Tendulkar. Afterall, the selectors did not drop Ganguly and Tendulkar, but have rested them from ODI’s. Would this be good for Indian cricket in the long run? The selectors have always had the tendency of pleasing the public. After all, India and its selectors love its heroes and they always get a chance to comeback. If Ganguly and Tendulkar do get into the ODI side again, don’t be surprised if most of the batsman that made it to the 2007 World Cup are in the team for the 2011 edition as well.

The ODI and Test squads for the Bangladesh tours are as follows:
ODI squad:
Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Tiwary, Dinesh Mongia, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh.
Test squad:
Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid (capt), VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Anil Kumble, Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, VRV Singh, Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar, Munaf Patel

Ease off the pressure

International cricket is played around the year these days. The world cup has just ended and the month of May will have a whole heap of series’ going on. Sri Lanka takes on Pakistan, India would be trying to avenge their defeat against Bangladesh and the West Indies would be playing England. The list of fixtures keeps going on. The challenge of having a fully fit squad has never been more and hence the additional fitness trainer / physiotherapist that every team has these days. Brian Lara and Glenn Mcgrath just retired from international cricket and were among a select few that managed to play international cricket past their 35th birthday. Although, Tendulkar and Jayasuriya have still not retired, their days are numbered. The pressure of performing continuously and keeping yourself fit takes a toll and it seems that only the best of the best can even last this long.

The cricket loving Asian sub continent public’s expectations have never been higher. Hyped by the media, they expect their favourite players to perform in every match and for their team to win every game. This is impossible, although some may argue that the Australian team has managed this. This is not so, their Ashes loss in 2005, and the 3-0 drubbing against the New Zealanders just prior to the world cup proved that even the best can falter.

Every time a batsman walks in to bat, no matter if he’s Ponting, Dravid or Sangakkara he is bound to be under some kind of pressure. Although ponting might be coming in when the score is 200 for1 while Sangakkara might come in when the score is 10 for 1. The new batsman needs to adjust to the situation, get a measure of the pitch, if it’s a one day international gauge how the wicket’s playing and make a decision on what would be a good score on that wicket. There could be cloud cover and the ball could start to move about. It makes the batsman’s life harder if he’s facing Murali and Malinga or maybe even Bond and Vettori. For a bowler the situation could be just as hard.

They are professionals. But the pressure on them physically and mentally is so gruelling. The next time you watch a match and a new batsman walks in, look for signs of nervousness – you’d see very little, that’s cause they are “Professionals” but all of them feel it. It only makes it worst when there is so much criticism and analysis every time they fail.

The pressure on the physic is even more. Major injuries or minor injuries that turn into serious ones by continuously playing even cause certain players to turn to steroids to keep fit.

It’s unfair for the public to expect these players to be on top of their game day in day out. They are only human and will have a bad day. Burning effigies one day and a hero’s welcome another day is not the way to go about it. Sympathise when they fail and celebrate when they succeed.

The cricketers would love to tell you this but they cannot – “Just enjoy the cricket we play and ease off the pressure on us”. They deserve that; they give it all every time they represent their country's. No player wants to be out first ball or be hit for a six.