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.