England have NOT picked Panesar...what a shame and a terrible strategic decison

Andersom, Hoggard and Harmison cannot take 20 wickets if England have to win, and Flintoff cannot carry the entire load of 'good' bowling...

The pitch is dry, no real movement or any surprises, knowing that, Australis has bowled stump-to-stump, good line and lenght, tying down the batsmen, tucking in, not giving free oppurtunities...and hence expecting the batsmen to make mistakes--misjudging the length, line, getting casual..and this is rewarded them

Strauss got a stop delivery...and Cook did not move his feet at all...

In came Bell and Collingwood...and Warne took over...he has bolwed some amazing rippers so far...I mean amazing...the ball is flighted, dipping, pitching of middle and off, spinning and whizzing off the pitch..and of course Bell has no clue...

Whatever Bell has faced so far...he has not played anything confidently..he has misjudged the line, lenght and ofcourse has not been able to read spin...

Couple of balls he left..ohhh so close..and so wrong..Warne kept grinning, holding his chin..staring down, getting in Bell's head...not a good sign...

Further, England look like they are over-protective, over anxious (thinking too much about payback)..only two boundaries in 27 overs...and this could affect their game and their psyche...being too cautious..too defensive could hamper the 'natural' game...

Stuart Claske has bowled extremely well on a very good batting pitch...good line, length...and good pace...

Almost lunch...hope nothing 'stupid' happens...Warne's bowling the last over...

There it is, India gone under 40 overs, cannot cope with bounce and moving ball. I wonder what the experts have to say about the preparation, not just for this series but overall, back at home in india, the domestic tournament pitches, how the pithces are maintained, curated...

Here I am in office, watching India go down the drain again!!!

As I have said before and others have vouched their consent on this: we cannot play on fast bouncy pitches, espcially when the seamers are high on confidence and they know they can rattle the top order like a stack of bowling pins....

Sehwag promised a fightback...and got out to a terrible shot, Tendulkar was lured in the corrider by the expereinced Pollock..Dhoni came, Dhone roared for a while and Dhoni went....

No one seems to understand the point of the game--TO WIN, and that can happen when someone puts his head down and decides to stay there for a long time building partnerships, that means taking singles, running hard, putting the pressure on the bowlers and the fielders...and hitting the loose deliveries, and if you are a genious converting the good ones into boundaries...

This approach needs methodical training, understanding of the game and the situation, obviosuly India has lacked all that or seems to lost it in the last say...8 months...

The Indian team psyche reflects that the only way they can win is to blast the opposition with an array of extravgant shots, espcially when chasing...There goes Khan ct Boucher, b Kallis for 11, stayed on the crease for 17 minutes....thats the time I take to make an omellete...and a fine one too..

Mind you this is a batting paradise, the bowlers did OK today restricting SA to 243, Gibbs played well, stayed there until the end...

six balls in an over, six singles...thats what Chappel should somehow teach the Indian batsmen, espcially the middle order, which looks frail (Murali, Kaif, Dhoni, Pathan)...Yuvraj's absence is monumental here...

There should be rules:

1. Indian middle order should contribute 150 runs, period.
2. The tail should contribute 30/40.

Am I asking for too much???

In the first Ashes test, Warne showed that he is still class, he keeps on developing new delievries, new ways to deliver old delevries, always creative and that is a sign of a great cricketer, I think thats where Muthia, Tendulkar fit in...being creative to bowl or to hit the ball...mind is engaged all the time, always thinking, and batting/bowling is then just an extension of the thouhgt..

Ponting is on a roll...he is an amazing batsman..consistent, technically correct, except with some spinners due to his high back lift...Langer is on a personal crusade (dad's army, which i think they still are) and Hayden is swallowing his pride everytime I see him on the field...he is a cook, must confess i am a foodie too and would be interested in what he cooks and eats. I have read he already has a cookbook out...hmmm

McGrath is old, but amazingly consistent...there was a lot a debate if it is his technical abiliyty to bowl or the mental ability to push himself, it cannot be either, it has to be a combination of both..but on pitches with no help he WILL look helpless, especially after the new ball shine is gone and people will take him for runs at will (Collingwood and KP showed that)

Where the hell Clarke has been all these years, what a bowler, his demenour reminds me of a friend of mine, Tom, this is my job, I am going to do it, and I dont care....

Ind/SA---what a mess...Indians cannot play on bouncy wickets, except, Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman...

All that talk about coach and coaching is crap...he is not in the middle, the boys are....plain and simple

They have to salvage something, pride...whatever you want to call..what a dismall performance..

Get Agarkar out, he is a terrible bowler, time and again he has given runs at crucial times, screwed up at important moments, and is not cosistent, very expensive, batting is a liability..

Khan is a liability too, has lost all his potency and his focus, all that money money and lifestyle..same can be applied to Pathan..these kids see too much in less time (nothing bad if you perform cause then you deserve) and have no social or cultural framework to handle all this fame...and still be in the game focussed...athletes all around the world do it...they should be able to..

Of course, some screw up, but i bet those who do are already on the edge...

we are a nation of ONE BILLION people, can we not find ONE decent fast bowler, OK not find, DEVELOP one decent fast bowler. On the other hand Pakistan comes up with handful every year...

lets see what they do in the next game....actuall I dont care for any one-day games..untill the World Cup...I want to see Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman bat for a long time in the Test, and see Harbhajan, Munaf, Kumble to bowl and get some overseas Test victory (ies)

If these 5/6 players get in the game then we have some Test...on the other hand, i would love to see Kallis bat...he is amazing batsman...so contained, so campact and yet fluent...his drives are cool and pulls imperious...(should not say this...cause he is a run machine and would kill India's chances, if any)

Pollock is like a division A bowler now, i am not sure he can bowl long spells with the same accuracy as he used to some years back...Kemp is a good find..Gibbs is exciting if he gets going...de Villiers is steadybut in the Test macthes its Ntini, hes got fire, bowls amazing spells never gives up...and if he gets an early wicket he is a transformed bowler after that..under your skin, trying harder and harder, gettting smarter and smarter: a dangerous combination for a bowler...like Kumble, Warne...

The first Ashes test came and went, all that hoopla...but i must confess it was fun!!!

Harmison's first ball...hahahahah, i did laugh...it is lack of practice and not bowling enough, also you could tell that with all the media pressure and expectations he curled...

I was most surprised when Engliand did not play Panesar, what a terrible decision, batsmen make runs, bowlers WIN matches, espcially someone like him, attacking, patient and above all HUNGRY

He believes spin bowling is an art, his approach shows that, his patience is diligent and he never gives up...hopefully he will get his chance the next test.. I am not going to vent on that cause as Beefy and other commentators already did...and perhaps bored lots of cricket fans

Australia, no doubt are the stronger side on paper as well as on field..but they CAN be troubled with methodical approach, which obviously England lacked...other than Flintoff everyone should take a hard look at their bowling...

Nasser Hussein talked a lot about the pitch and said it was not fair to England batsmen as the picth had cracked and was going to be surprise--my asss...and BTW who allowed commentators to walk on the pitch and put finger, pens, and what not inside the cracks, are there NO rules...?

Going back to Nasser's point: When Australia batted in their second innings, the pitch was cracked and balls were flying, however, the England bowlers did not exploit that enough and Australia applied themselves and got 201 on a much talked batterd pitch...

One good thing, England scored 300+ in their second innings, that shows that they can bat...Collingood showed great aplication and discipline and KP did what he does best: ATTCAK..

First innings hero, Bell, played the wrong line and was done by a wrong one...Flintoff was done by bounce and Cook by inexperience, nonetheless they managed 300+ which gives me some hope that the series is not going completely down the drain...

In all that melee, it seems Botham celebrated his B'day..commentators cracked on his drinking, his reputation preceeds him now, though I have never met or seen him, either drink or play live, I must say that he looks like a person who will tests your stamina in the bar...Cheers...

In 1993 when England had come to India (Brownwash)...Kambli made 2 double hundreds, I was fourtunate to watch one at the Wankhade, and in the same Test, Hick cracked 175 odd...during one of the lunch breaks in that Test, i was a kid then, we walked around passing time for the game to start and came across David Gower, I still have his autography, I think he is one of the best left-handers to play the game... made it look easy, it never looked he was batting, i always thought he is painting or doing some artsy thing like that...and this is all watching him on TV and on tapes...

England lost the one-day, actually they got thrashed

The three day game was a draw, some hope for England, as batting problems were sorted out upto a certain extent

WI are going strong, however, pakistan have this unique and great ability to fight back, especially in their own backyard and the way Younis Khan is going, what an amazing run he has had this year...

I really think he is a wonderful batsman, I have watched some of his long innings, and the more watch I know that he keeps it simple and has a plan...his batting displays his resolve and his convictions..his most wonderful performances have always come when the 'chips' are down, his application his diligent...his drives fluent as a whistle, and footwork hardly wrong...

SA/Ind game got washed out, perhaps one of the many...

Everyone is waiting for Aus/Eng game, the fans have arrived, the media debate has circled around racist slurs, Panesar, Shane (actually), Jones, and ofcourse Trescothick

I wonder is this shows the lack of competetion in cricket in England..in India no one would think of backing out, every oppurtunity, however sick, however abused you are...this becomes a once-in-a-lifetime-oppurtunity...

Of course there is too much cricket, the concept of 'cricketer' has changed over the years, and this not only includes the way the game is played or perceived but also the social setting around it, the demands of family, team-mates, county or clubs, $$ from advt, image management company...and of course the immense media scrutiny, which more that over must lead cricketers to be more self-reflective, inquisitive, self-analytic and that could affect the game and many aspects of the game

Ashes will start soon, since growing up Ashes has been my favorite cricket tournament...cause it is Brilliant cricket...too much is at stake and I love when that transcribes into a fierce competetion..after Ashes I like the India/Australis Test series (Border/Gavaskar Trophy)

Back to Ashes...growing up in India, television was only introduced in the early 1980s, so you can imagine there was not much infrastructure available to produce and dessiminate programs...as usual (perhaps for the better part) the Indian govt. relied on foreign programs...

So we got:

Bodyline Series (BBC)
The Old Fox (German detective show)
Star Trek!!!!!
Flas
He-Man (awww)

I can go on, but you know what our media diet was like...

Watcing cricket shows romanticised the entire sport and the concept of watching, playing, understanding and debating cricket....( I have DVDs, taped cassettes, old videos of cricket)..

If someone is looking for literature, Cricinfo.com is great site, as it is tied to Cricket Almanac (Wisden)..

I love their database, I spend hours checking players, their past, their profiles, reading about how they got, what made them...blah..blah...blah...

My favorite pastime though is to look at various old Test scorecards..at Cricinfo.co you can choose various series by year (mostly all cricket happening in that year)..and I spend hours looking various intrnational Test series...

The scorecards tell more than you can imagine...about the game..and the archive articles too they have...some authors are really poetic when it comes to cricket...

India will be off to South Africa, six one days and three Tests follow, lets see what the fellas are up to...

The Proteas have been strugling a while too, Pollack has lost his pace, Kallis his form, and Smith his control over the proceedings..

Nonetheless, I love Tests and it should be fun to watch the longer version of the game...

A Confession: I read and watch cricket more (a lot more...) than I post on this virtual place...I guess I am just too busy to express cricket....but I will try..

The ICC trpophy is over..phew...what a mess that was....Pakistan lost two guys...Shoaib and Asif to drug charges..

I have always been skeptic about Shoaib, he is a great bowler, bowls his heart out...however, his personality is in clash with the entire Pakistani team, managment and the structure of their cricket..

He is a little 'wild, if I may say so..needs a bit more freedom, cannot seem to function and exists as a person and a cricketer under the existent struture of pakistan cricket..(now you may argue the good and bad of that structure...but not conducive to Shoaib)

Asif ia good bowler, thought he got sucked strugling being new--the cool kid (reminds me of great Imran Khan--) and at the same time staying within the limits of the Pakistani cricket structure...