Cricket is a funny game...
Ok, I agree... the subject is probably one of the worst hackneyed cliches to grace the language, but what the heck; every now and then it come true.
Seriously, think about it. We had a three and something day game, and India won! And not that it was an entirely lopsided contest - both teams actually batted twice. Kudos of course goes to Team India for playing the way they did, but to be fair, it needed a little miracle for England to have batted out the rest of today. How often do you predict two sides playing 4 innings in the span of three odd days actually force a result?
Speaking of miracles, whatever happened at the Wanderers? The Aussies actually scored 434! I mean, that's impossible isn't it? Honestly, how many of you would actually put money on Australia getting that much, especially against a South African attack? Ponting and Martyn had plundered India to get a total of 359. I thought that was ridiculous... this was pure disbelief!
But what an assault my perception of reality was going to take! They lost!!! Forgive the CAPS, but THEY MADE 434 AND LOST!!!!! A cartoon in a South African tabloid claimed "I think this is a serious call for the establishment of the SPCB - The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Bowlers". I don't think they're all that off base. However, if such an organization were ever established, the guys would probably spend most of their year on Ponting's lawn, with occasional trips to Hayden's place. Ok, they can go to Viru and Dhoni's every once in a while.
On a more sober note, I do kinda agree that something needs to be done. A few years back, if you scored 280 odd, then it was a defendable score. Nowadays, a score of 300 is like a par score. Having 20 overs of field restrictions instead of 15 definitely isn't helping either. It's not like bowlers are getting worse over the years. If anything, old records are tumbling!
I don't know what should be done, but one thing that immediately comes to mind, is to load the ball... make one side heavier than the other. The ball would dip throughout the innings, and spinners could better extract it for loop. It would even the battle between bat and ball. MAking one surface capable of wearing away faster than the other is another way - the ball would reverse sooner. No help for the tweakers though.
Anyhow, a test result in little over three days and a 434 run target being chased down: the pace at which cricket is being played doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon.
Seriously, think about it. We had a three and something day game, and India won! And not that it was an entirely lopsided contest - both teams actually batted twice. Kudos of course goes to Team India for playing the way they did, but to be fair, it needed a little miracle for England to have batted out the rest of today. How often do you predict two sides playing 4 innings in the span of three odd days actually force a result?
Speaking of miracles, whatever happened at the Wanderers? The Aussies actually scored 434! I mean, that's impossible isn't it? Honestly, how many of you would actually put money on Australia getting that much, especially against a South African attack? Ponting and Martyn had plundered India to get a total of 359. I thought that was ridiculous... this was pure disbelief!
But what an assault my perception of reality was going to take! They lost!!! Forgive the CAPS, but THEY MADE 434 AND LOST!!!!! A cartoon in a South African tabloid claimed "I think this is a serious call for the establishment of the SPCB - The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Bowlers". I don't think they're all that off base. However, if such an organization were ever established, the guys would probably spend most of their year on Ponting's lawn, with occasional trips to Hayden's place. Ok, they can go to Viru and Dhoni's every once in a while.
On a more sober note, I do kinda agree that something needs to be done. A few years back, if you scored 280 odd, then it was a defendable score. Nowadays, a score of 300 is like a par score. Having 20 overs of field restrictions instead of 15 definitely isn't helping either. It's not like bowlers are getting worse over the years. If anything, old records are tumbling!
I don't know what should be done, but one thing that immediately comes to mind, is to load the ball... make one side heavier than the other. The ball would dip throughout the innings, and spinners could better extract it for loop. It would even the battle between bat and ball. MAking one surface capable of wearing away faster than the other is another way - the ball would reverse sooner. No help for the tweakers though.
Anyhow, a test result in little over three days and a 434 run target being chased down: the pace at which cricket is being played doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon.
posted by Rahul Iyer at 5:27 AM
1 Comments:
Funny as hell. And there should have been at least one double ton to season it well.
Hey. First time here; didn't know you had a blog.
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