Langer and Hayden . A case of style over substane

Langer and Hayden are undoubtedly the greatest test opening pair in this millennium. However when comparing most people think Hayden is a great opener and Langer the second fiddle. This is not the case


(stats as opener against top 8 teams)

Average : Langer 50.32, Hayden 48.24

Home average : Langer 55.01, Hayden 53.09

Away average : Langer 45.90, Hayden 41.94

Average out of asia : Langer 54.01, Hayden 47.41

Average in asia : Langer 33.72, Hayden 51.86

Average in Eng : Langer 55.11, Hayden 34.50


It seems for all stats as opener except in Asia Langer was slightly successful than Hayden. In fact in England where openers are heavily tested against the swinging duke ball Langer was highly successful (55.11) where Hayden was below par (34.50).


This is another example of people remembering style over substance....

Arise Sir Alistair Cook

Arise Sir Alistair Cook

I wrote this a while ago when he retired. The article is still valid

Congratulations Sir on new years honours

One of England's finest servants

Is Alistair Cook the greatest batsman of England ? No

Is he their greatest opener ? Nope

Will he be a part of England's all time XI ? Nope

At best he would be part of England's all time 3rd XI

No other country has a collection of gifted openers through their history as England. has. Alistair Cook is the latest addition to this XI. For the past 12 years Cook opened the batting for England and averaged around 46 facing the brand new duke ball in swinging English conditions for most of those games. While Cook became the 5th highest run scorer of all time, his average is notably weaker than the rest of the legends around him. In Cook's defense only Sunil Gavaskar is the other opener in the 10000 club and he too didn't open in swinging conditions for most of his life.

Cook is not a gifted player. People seldom turn out to a ground to watch Cook bat. He is a guy who squeezed out every bit of performance from his limited talent. Yet Cook also possessed a rare talent. A remarkable ability to maintain concentration to long periods of time. That is why when he sets himself up to the task he can go on batting for a long period of time. He is the only person to feature twice in 10 longest innings in cricket.

Cook's finest hour in cricket is 2010-11 ashes series. In top form Cook scored 766 runs, highest by a visiting English batsman in a series in the last 80 years, guiding England to a series win down under for the first time since 1986-87. Needless to say Cook became the player of the series.

In 2012 Cook lead England to a series win in India, the only team to beat India in India since Aussies triumphed in 2004. In addition to captaining Cook lead became the top scorer and the player of the series.

My personal favorite Cooks innings is the 263 he made in Abu Dabi against Pakistan. In the grueling heat Cook batted for a total of 836 minutes, 3rd longest in the history of cricket.

Apart from cricket Cook is known for his likeness to farming. He uses a farm tractor as his wedding car.

I feel that Cook could go on for a little while longer. But being a master-chef he knows the best when to stop. #ThankYouChef #CookRetires

Ball tampering Saga

While it certainly is a dark day for cricket Australia followers the way Cricket Australia is handling the ball-tampering saga is exemplary. As soon as the news started making rounds past Australian players including Glichrist, Warne and Clarke, the Australian sports council, the prime minister have asked Steve Smith to step down. In the middle of the game Smith and Warner was stripped down of the captaincy and handed over to Tim Paine (I don't recall this ever happening in any previous game). Even though ICC has already handed Smith 1-test ban cricket Australia says they would hold an independent inquiry and decide on the sanctions, which by all means will be more harsh than the ICC. Based on my experience Smith and Warner will be stripped off leadership duties forever and if Lehman is involved it would be goodbye to his tenure.

One of the reasons cricket Australia is perusing this matter so hard is that while they have been accused of the past like other teams they were never found guilty to this extent. For cricket Australia protecting the integrity of the sport is lot beneficial in long run than looking for temporary gains by protecting their players.

This situation is slightly similar to Shane Warne's 2003 world cup doping ban. The test was carried by Cricket Australia and as soon as the results emerged they pulled Shane Warne, their trump card from South Africa. Any other board would have delayed the findings / go on a lengthy hearing process while letting the player play the world cup / simply ignore doing self tests and let ICC handle it, even for a lesser player, let alone the biggest weapon. Not for Australia.

In comparison Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Vernon Philander, Faf Du Plesis (twice), Mike Atherton, Marcus Trescothik, Shahid Afridi, Dasun Shanaka have all been caught of this offence and all home boards brushed the issue under the carpet. In Du Plesis case they said they need to be smarter with tampering the ball !!!

I think all other boards need to take a leaf out of the Cricket Australia book.

PS : There is something Sri Lanka can be proud of by the way BCCSL headed by Gamini Dissanayake handled the rebel South Africa tour in early 80s. While all other boards banned players for 2 or 3 years BCCSL banned them for 25 years in all forms of cricket and made a no-tolerance stand. Sri Lanka which just got the test status lost half of its key players. Even though the team was devastated there emerged a bunch of players which went to win the world cup in little over a decade.

ICC World Cup qualifier

With the ICC’s decision to reduce the number of teams in the cricket world cup to 10 the ICC World Cup qualifier will be a much more competitive tournament than ever before. The tournament which is scheduled to begin on 4th of March will decide which two teams will join the other 8 teams in England.

Format

The 10 teams are divided to 2 groups and will play against each other in round robin fashion. The top 3 teams from each group will play in the super six round with teams carrying points forward. The two teams with highest points after the super six round will be qualified to the ICC cricket world cup 2019.

Teams

• West Indies - No other team have higher stakes in this tournament than West Indies. As they fail to get into the top 8 teams in ICC ODI rankings prior to the cut off date they will have to play the qualification tournament for the first time. Needless to say an elimination from the world cup would be devastating to West Indies as they are two time champions and have played in all previous editions. To make matters worse Sunil Narine and Dwayne Bravo has pulled out of the tournament to play other leagues. Chris Gayle is included in the quad and if fit will be one of their biggest hopes. In a summary this tournament might accurately reflect how bad the cricket in Windies is.
• Zimbabwe - Their biggest assets in this tournament will be being the hosts.and the return of Brendon Taylor. They managed to win an ODI series in Sri Lanka for the first time in 2017 but that looks more like an outlier than an improvement of quality. If they can maintain that momentum they will have a chance to qualify for the world cup which they have been a part of since 1982.
• Ireland - For a long time Ireland was the leading associate nation with a clear difference from the rest. However things are not so anymore. Afghanistan dethroned them as the leading associate team before both of them got a chance to join the big boys in tests. England’s policy of snapping their best players have further diminished their power as a cricketing nation. With the new format the Irish have an uphill battle.
• Afganistan - The wonder kid in the arena. 10 years ago they were fighting in division 5. With their most recent ODI series win against Zimbabwe there seems no stopping of the rise of Afghanistan.  Their biggest weapon will be the T20 sensation Rashid Khan. With the talent they have in the squad it will not be hard to imagine 5 South Asian teams in the cricket world cup.
• Netherlands - The world cricket league champions. They now have ODI status till 2022. But it would be hard to think Netherlands winning the prize when we look at their opponents. Ryan Tendoeschate, the guy with the highest ODI average of 67.00 has to play out of his skin to be otherwise
• Scotland - They have played in 3 world cups but a trip across the border looks very unlikely.
• Hong Kong - They have never appeared in a world cup.
• Papua New Guinea - the team currently coached by Jason Gillespie, won ODI status in 2015. While their rise is exemplary their best chance to win a game will be the one against UAE.
• UAE - They got into the mix by winning the ICC division 2 championship, They have to punch way above their weight to at least get a shoe in the world cup. For UAE it will be more about making a mark among associates.
• Nepal - The newest kid in the block. Nepal is following Afganistan’s path. Even though they might miss the world cup this time the large popularity in cricket within the country will make them a force to consider in future. A 6th South Asian country among the cricketing elite clearly points where the center of cricket lies now.

Previous participants who missed out

• Kenya - 15 years ago they were the kings among associates. They had a dream run in 2003 which they ended as semi-finalists. After that Kenyan cricket went in a complete downward spiral. They lost all games in the division 2 tournament this year. They are now relegated to division 3 to play alongside Singapore, Oman and USA.
• Canada - Failed to qualify based on the net run rate in the qualification tournament.
• Namibia - Shared the same fate with Canada.
• Bermuda - For a long time it seems they would be restricted to 1 world cup appearance. Bermuda plays in division 4 now with Uganda, Vanavatu, Malaysia, Denmark and Jersey. No, they are not champions in division 4 even. They narrowly escaped a relegation to division 5.

Selecting a leg spinner ....

For the past few years Sri Lanka were grooming set of spinners.
Sachithra, Rangana, Ajantha, Chathuranga..
Suddenly for the Indian tour Seekkuge Prasanna was picked. He played all games despite limited success.
India did the same. They tried to give Karan Sharma a try while having Ojha, Jadeja in the ranks...
Yasir Shah re appeared for Pakistan...
All these selections have one thing in common.
Australia...Australia normally have the hardest surfaces in world cricket. Statistically leg spinners who spin it big are the only successful spinners in Australia.
Australia's 4 highest wicker taking spinners Warne, McGill, Grimmet, O'Reilly are all leg spinners.In fact this is the reason why Afridi was a more successful spinner in Australia than Murali. Sri Lanka's own Malinga Bandara has better figures than Murali in Aus...
However none of those still have a permanent place in their line ups and time is running fast...Or else we will have to answer the old question. Are we paying according to conditions or to the strengths....

Thankfully Jeevan Mendis is back....

Gilly's word on walking incident

At that moment it was very spontenous, A reaction to what did happened.
I stood up and clearly remembered looking up at Rudy saying not out. Everything in my body just said go, walk, youve got to go, that's out.
So I went
I was received very quitely at the dressing room. It's not what they said but what they didn't say. The Silence was defaning until finally Ricky asked me did i see the umpire give me not-out, and I said "yeah.. yeah" And that was the wrong answer to him.
As players we are very good complainers of umpiring standards, and things not going right. We are very quick to blame things. That's where it got to me just trying my humble sort of one player to contribute...

Rudi just said NO to Aravinda...............

Dilshan the captain

“I have done it all for my country. When they wanted me to keep wickets in a Test Match, I did that. When they wanted me to open in a Test Match, I did that. Then when they wanted me to go back to number six, I did that. When everyone resigned and when they asked me whether I could captain, I did that. I don't care about losing the captaincy. I have done it all for my country"

With little more help he could have achieved a lot

T.M. Dilshan, Sri Lanka's 12th test captain ended his time at the top last week. His 9 month tenure was one of the most eventful time a captain could ask for, both within the team an in international circuit. Some say his captaincy was a failure but is it really the fault of the captain..
Usually a way to measure this is measure using win loss ratio. 4 test series, goes to 4 losses (5 out of 11 loss and 1 win), 4 ODI series goes to 4 losses (13 out of 20 loss and 7 win) 3 T20's (2 loss and 1 win). Well according to these stats his tenure was not a good one. Add to that he took a team which was ranked 3rd in test rankings and ranked 2nd in ODI. He left a team which was ranked 5th in test and 4th in ODI. But actually there are another things which should be considered more than this.
Let's go back to the days after crucial day of April 2nd. Kumar Sangakkara, then capatain retired from captaincy saying it needs new hands, Trevor Bayliss, the coach left the team, Mahela Jayawardena, then vice captain stepped down. The cricket board was bankrupt. at this time there were only two options to handle the captaincy. Either Dilshan or Mathews. Mathews debuted after 2007 and he was injured in this time period Therefore Dilshan had to take the captaincy because there was no one else to give it.
Dishan was never the favourite of the selectors. Though being Jayasuriya's opening partner in Bloomfield cricket club he was always given the number 6 spot. He finally got a chance to open when Sri Lanka was unable to find an opener. When Sangakkara was in rich form he was removed from keeping duties to improve  his batting, but for Dilshan when he was in top form he was nominated as wicketkeeper for few matches. Even when he was appointed captain, he was appointed only for the England tour. so the board clearly gave the indication that we have no faith in you....
Dilshan's first assignement was rebuilding the team. All previous captains had the luxury option of Murali and Vaas. The bowling attack was centered around these two and the others chipped in from here and there. For Dilshan he had to build a whole new bowling attack.
The troubles began to Dilshan when the IPL overlapped with the practice matches of the England tour. No matter how the board said about the need of the practice matches, they collapse to the pressure and changed their stance. The players were allowed to play in IPL and skip practice matches. Dilshan took the decession of money over country when the other big names Malinga, Mahela and Sanga decided to stay in IPL. He left RCB and played with the young SL team for the practice matches. Sri Lanka took a bright start as they won both practice matches.
Overall the test leg went 1-0 for England, but even the 1 was mainly due to the poor session in the first test where SL were bowled out to 82 in the last innings. Considering the 4-0 trashing India received the 1-0 scoreline was more respectable than it looks. Even at that time England was never beaten on a home test series for almost 3 years

The ODI series was bit poor, considering England's current form. But 3-2 in England is not bad at all. Even for those is there any point which can be said Dilshan did this mistake which cost us the series. His own form with the bat was worrying but that is T.M. Dilshan. It's hit or miss style, not lead by example style. Even for that he had to account with selection blunders. (In Sri Lanka usually the captain gets no saying in selection)

He was re appointed as captain of the home test against Australia. The test series went down 1-0 again, due to the spinning track in Galle and the dead tracks and poor attacks in Pallekale and Colombo. In the T20 series Sri Lanka won a T20 for the first time in home soil. The second T20 was a match where Dilshan showed his captaincy potential. He kept on attacking to assist Mendis. Usually Asian captains tend to put defensive fields as soon as situation gets difficult. Instead of that Dilshan kept on attacking. With Mendis getting a 6 wicket haul Sri Lanka pulled off a remarkable victory. The ODI leg was a failure as the batting unit failed to click together. Still 3-2 is not a bad scoreline considering Australia's performance in bilateral series

Dilshan got his 3rd re-appointment for the tours of UAE and SA. This time he the bowling unit was at it's depth with many names injured. Selectors dropped the cornerstone of Sri Lanka's batting, Thilan Samaraweera, who had an away average of over 90.00 against Pakistan. Sri Lanka performed poorly in that series with 1-0 test loss and 4-1 ODI loss and 1-0 T20 loss.

Dilshan's final assignment was the SA tour. In the second test Sri Lanka recorded their best test victory ever, their first in SA. Though the test leg ended 2-1 it showed a lot of promising signs of uphill movement of Sri Lankan cricket. Even the ODI series ended up 3-0 after the first three matches Sri Lanka bounced back to end it respectfully at 3-2.

It should also be remembered that for most of Dilshan's tenure the cricketer's were unpaid. How can we expect them to perform at this level voluntarily. Dilshan had to carry on with an under-performing Jayawardena and under-performing himself.

But at the end of his tenure he had built a winning team from youngsters, at least for now the batting looks solid.Still there was tremendous pressure from some places to go for his throat. It was clearly visible when Dilshan was given out LBW in the last ODI. He asked the non-striker before going for the review, even when the ball had hit his glove first. If he didn't do that the next morning media will be bashing him for not asking non-striker before reviewing or whatever....

There were weak points in his captaincy too, so does any captain. Dilshan is always a hot-tempered guy, but when at the top for most of the time he looked little bit self-controlled. When things don't go Lankan way Dilshan's expressions were worse. When a player looks back at their captain it should encourage him. If you look at Dilshan in such time it gives an indication of giving up the game.

Another weak point in Dilshan is over-bowling himself. It was like a desperate attempt from a player to win the match for them, but clearly as a captain Dilshan should go for better options than that. Even in batting he was not doing the way he should have done it. But putting Jayawardena there is no means of a solution.

Overall Dilshan can be considered as a lone captain in a ship who fought through rough waters and at least stopped the ship from going down. He will be remembered as same as Ponting the captain from 2007-2010.    They still did the job bravely........