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........

SCRABBLE on cricket names

The international players with last names having the highest points on a SCRABBLE board.


1. Pradeep Jeyaprakashdaran = 36 (J = 8, A = 1, Y = 4, A = 1, P = 3, R = 1, A = 1, K = 5, A = 1, S = 1, H = 4, D = 2, A = 1, R = 1, A = 1, N = 1)
One ODI wonder Pradeep Jeyaprakashdaran possibly doesn't know that he owns this record. Pradeep only had once chance to get into the SL line up in 2005. The fast medium bowler failed to take any wickets and didn't got a chance to bat either .He did nothing wrong to get himself dropped from the team. Sadly didn't enter the radar of the selectors again.


2) Kosala Kuruppuarachchi= 33 (K = 5, U = 1, R = 1, U = 1, P = 3, P = 3, U = 1, A = 1, R = 1, A = 1, C = 3, H = 4, C = 3, H = 4, I = 1)
Unsurprisingly the second place is also for Sri Lanka. And also he is the first among test cricketers. As his cricinfo profile states "Kuruppuarachchi proved a difficult proposition for both commentators and batsman alike on his debut" Kuruppuarachchi was vital in Sri Lanka’s first victory over Pakistan taking a five for on debut. Unfortunately he also fell out of radar in no time.



3 Eric Szwarczynski = 32 S = 1, Z = 10, W = 4, A = 1, R = 1, C = 3, Z = 0, Y = 4, N = 1, S = 1, K = 5, I = 1)
Born in South Africa, playing for Netherlands, Szwarcznski is the clear leader of the current lot. The second z wont do much good for him as he has to fill it with a blank tile of 0 points. 



4= ) Michael Kasprowicz = 30 (K = 5, A = 1, S = 1, P = 3, R = 1, O = 1, W = 4, I = 1, C = 3, Z = 10)
A more common name and a more common guess to the leader of the list. Until I found the two earlier names, I thought he was the leader of this list.  Casper is a person I feel sorry for too. He also had a lot of talent and was a promising bowler. Sadly didn’t got enough opportunities

On What Aussie list do you have Kasper on top and Lee at bottom 

4 = ) Kapila Wijegunawardene = 30 (W = 4, I = 1, J = 8, E = 1, G = 2, U = 1, N = 1, A = 1, W = 4, A = 1, R = 1, D = 2, E = 1, N = 1, E = 1)
Another loooong Sri Lankan name and also a medium pacer. Averages 21.00 in 2 matches. Don’t ask me why did he get dropped, you can’t forget such a big name even if you tried.



4 = ) Indika Batuwitarachchi = 30 (B = 3, A = 1, T = 1, U = 1, W = 4, I = 1, T = 1, A = 1, R = 1, A = 1, C = 3, H = 4, C = 3, H = 4, I = 1)
A Sri Lankan batsman not representing Sri Lanka. Batuwitarachchi played 2 ODI's for UAE in 2008. Before that he played for Bloomfield club in Sri Lanka.

7=) Srinivas Venkataraghavan = 29 (V = 4, E = 1, N = 1, K = 5, A = 1, T = 1, A = 1, R = 1, A = 1, G = 2, H = 4, A = 1, V = 4, A = 1, N = 1)

If I extended this to umpires as well, my gut feeling says Venkat will be the winner. 

7 =) Gamini Wickremasinghe = 29 (W = 4, I = 1, C = 3, K = 5, R = 1, E = 1, M = 3, A = 1, S = 1, I = 1, N = 1, G = 2, H = 4, E = 1)

Sri Lankan

7=) Pramodya Wickramasinghe = 29 (W = 4, I = 1, C = 3, K = 5, R = 1, E = 1, M = 3, A = 1, S = 1, I = 1, N = 1, G = 2, H = 4, E = 1)

World cup winner and opening bowler with Vass in 1996 WC.


7=) Shafiqullah = 29 (

S = 1, H = 4, A = 1, F = 4, I = 1, Q = 10, U = 1, L = 1, L = 1, A = 1, H = 4)

22 year old Afganistan wicketkeeper, Shafiqullah played 2 ODI's batted in both of them and failed to score a run. 


11) We have of England, Pochiah Krishnamurthy of India, LaxmanSivaramakrishnan of India, Zulqarnain of Pakistan (his full name is given as Zulqarnain in cricinfo), Everton Matambanadzo of Zimbabwe all have 28 points each.

Country	Players with Most Points	Players with Least Points
Australia	Kasprowicz = 30 Krejza = 26 Chipperfield = 25 McKenzie = 25 Hazlewood = 25 Khawaja = 24	Lee = 3 Tait = 4
England	Duleepsinhji = 25 Christopherson = 24 Shahzad = 23 Borthwick = 23	Ali = 3  Lee = 3
South Africa	McKenzie = 25 Schwarz = 24 Blanckenberg = 23	Nel = 3
West Indies	Jaggernauth = 23 Kallicharran = 21	Rae = 3 Ali = 3 Lara = 4 Rose = 4
New Zealand	Colquhoun = 23 Kuggeleijn = 23	Su'a = 3 Tait = 4 Lees = 4
Inida	Venkataraghavan = 29 Krishnamurthy = 28 Sivaramakrishnan = 28 Meherhomji = 27 Vizianagram = 26 Chandrasekhar = 26	Sen = 3 Arun = 4 Das = 4 Raul = 4
Pakistan	Zulqarnain = 28 Ehteshamuddin = 23 Razzaq = 23 Shehzad = 23	Ali = 3 Gul = 4 Rana = 4
Sri Lanka	Jayaprakashdaran = 36 Kuruppuarachchi = 33 Wijegunawardene = 30 Wickremasinghe = 29 Jurangpathy = 27 Lokuarachchi = 26	Dias = 5
Zimbabwe	Matambanadzo = 28 Kamungozi = 25 Masakadza = 25 Chakabva = 22	Sims = 6 Duers = 6 Arnott = 6 Rennie = 6
Bangladesh	Moniruzzaman = 24 Nazimuddin = 23 Mahmudullah = 22	Das = 4 Rasel = 5 Gani = 5
Afghanistan	Shafiqullah = 29 Ahmadzai = 23 Ahmadzai = 23	Gul = 4 Dad = 5 Noori = 5
Bermuda	Crockwell = 20 Mukuddem = 18	Trott = 5
Canada	Qazi = 22 Kandappah = 21 Shamshudeen = 20	Ali = 3
USA	Alexander = 17  Johnson = 17  Johnson = 17	Ali = 3 Reid = 5
East Africa	Quaraishy = 24 Walusimbi = 16	Ali = 3
Netherlands	Szwarczynski = 32 Kervezee = 24 Westdijk = 23 Kloppenburg = 22	Mol = 5 Loots = 5
Hong Kong	Cheruparambil = 24 French = 14	Dar = 4 Ali = 3
Ireland	Johnston = 18 Porterfield = 17 Joyce = 17	West = 7 Hall = 7
Kenya	Chudasama = 17  Iqbal = 16  Sheikh = 16  Odhiambo = 16	Ali = 3 Aga = 4
Namibia	Kotze = 18  Kotze = 18  Murgatroyd = 17	Louw = 7
Scotland	Hoffmann = 19 Coetzer = 18	Butt = 6 Nel = 3
UAE	Batuwitarachchi = 30 Mylvaganam = 21 Zarawani = 20	Ali = 3 Rai = 3

Thanks. And welcome ur suggestions always :)


END NOTES :

• Qazi has 22 points which is 5.5 points per letter. that is the highest average.
• All hyphened names (Fleetwood-Smith, Twentyman-Jones) are omitted
• The first name of Jeyaprakashdaran has 16 letters which makes it impossible to make on a scrabble board. (Thanks to MJ for pointing the error)

Andrew Hilditch's comment on each Australian spinner (republished)

This article reflects about how Aussie management (Hilditch and co.) responded at each change of the spin cycle In Blue it shows the comment when he was choosen. In red it shows the comment when he was dropped

Is it over???????

Beau Casson

"We have taken the opportunity to take a young spinner and by far the best performed of these during the Australian summer has been Beau Casson,"

"I don't think there was an X factor,""Finger spinners have had some success over there and that's what they've decided to do."

Brad Hogg

"Brad deserves the opportunity to once again represent Australia in Test cricket,""Test cricket is generally better with a make-up of a quality spinner, particularly going into a third, fourth or fifth day,"  Brad Hogg will do an excellent job if he is chosen."
    

Cameron White

"We feel that Cameron's right-arm legspin and experience in Indian conditions, where he has just returned after captaining the Australia A one-day team to a tournament victory, is the correct option and will provide a good balance to our slow bowling attack"Cameron's bowling has continued to improve over the past year at inter-state level and his powerful batting adds extra depth and versatility to the squad."Cameron has performed well in Australian colours since his return to the one-day international squad earlier this year and he has now been rewarded with inclusion in the Test squad.

Jason Krezja

"He has been excellent. He is a good part of the group and has worked hard to learn about the Indian conditions. He will be obviously the front runner for the Test series. It's a brilliant position for him to be.

Unfortunately Jason did not bowl as well as we, or I am sure he, would have liked during this tour and therefore he has not been rewarded with selection."

Bryce McGain

"[Bryce] is the premier legspin bowler in Australia, there's absolutely no question about that.  He's 36 years of age and the reality is he's still fairly young in cricketing terms and we think he'll do a really good job."  

Nathan Hauritz

"We'll keep our fingers crossed and hope he comes up, but at the moment we think that it's likely that Hauritz will play ahead of him

"Nathan Hauritz is one of these players omitted and he can consider himself unlucky as his Australian record has been very good over the past 12 months,"

Xavier Doherty

"However the panel believes the left-arm orthodox variety Xavier Doherty provides against a predominantly right-handed English middle order is the better option in this game."

Steven Smith

"The big thing with him is his willingness to continually throw the ball up there and get them to drive. If he gets smacked back over his head for six, he's not frightened to try and land it in the rough again. That's a skill or a confidence that doesn't come along easily whether you're 30 or 20.

"We really think the best thing for him, and Australian cricket, is that he [first] cements his position in the short forms of the game and plays some more Shield cricket, and gets better at both those skills. I think it's important that people realise that we're hardly moving away from him."

Michael Beer

"Michael is a left-arm orthodox spinner who has been very impressive at domestic level this year. He took wickets against England in the tour match earlier this summer and we expect he will bowl very well against the English on his home ground."

Nathan Lyon

"But from our perspective we're very confident that he's ready. He's a very talented spin-bowler, he's had a meteoric rise. It was one of the great parts of my job to call him this morning and tell him he's got the opportunity to play for Australia.

"I've done most of my time voluntarily and I enjoyed that process. It's wonderful to be able to do those sort of things. If it continues that's great, because I'm very fortunate - Andrew Hilditch