Musings about sports in general, & Cricket in particular. With baseball season coming up, will look into that, too. And lots of good cricket in 2007, including the World Cup.
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This is where you stick random tidbits of information about yourself.
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20040829
Amazing things are going on in cricket: with all of the corruption & mendacity of other sports beginning to seep out, the auld & ancient sport is beginning to look just about as clean as the whites worn during tests. Just this week, a new Olympic record was set as 20 athletes were dismissed from the games for cheating of some kind or other (usually involving performance-enhancing drugs). Football players are looking almost as bad as football hooligans, & the pervasive influence of money is continuing to infiltrate that sport, in a negative way. American sports is increasingly being defined by the specimen cup & the creative ways her athletes avoid detection. Even cycling is becoming increasingly tainted with such charges. And American colleges keep enrolling athletes with lengthy "rap sheets" (& we're not talking about the music either, although that's not much of an improvement). Compared to this, cricket is as pure as a virgin at 1st communion.
However, the cricket world itself is decidedly looking topsy-turvy: England winning 7 tests in a row; Sri Lanka beating the Springboks (& without the services of a Murali, either!); the Windies routinely losing. Even the mighty Aussies look vulnerable, & there's even talk of an Ashes upset in the future (although, let's not lose our heads, now).
As to England, credit clearly lies at the feet of both Duncan Fletcher & Nasser Hussein, the current coach & former captain. Naz was present at the start of this streak (as a player, not captain) & while he must be gratified at the way his team has performed, he must be wondering why they couldn't have gelled maybe a little sooner...perhaps last year? His spirit & competitive fire is still stamped all over this team. Naz had a fire in his belly & a true will to win that he must have metaphysically transmuted to his men. Gone are the days when the English team lost like gentlemen (& sometimes like bores)--now they all play like Naz. There isn't any room for a Ramprakash (praise God!) who must have his handy list of excuses at the ready. It must be fun to be Michael Vaughn these days, as all the blokes look like they're enjoying themselves. It looks to be an interesting winter.
On the other hand, South Africa look adrift. I really think the problem started at last year's world cup when they miscalculated the runs & totally ruined their chances in that memorable & bizarre match. If you're no good at math, best to find someone who is. That one unthinkable mistake so shook them to their very core, that the reverberations still echo out & affect their current play, to their detriment. England & the Lankans may well be catching this team at the right moment, but unless the 'boks somehow manage to shake off the cobwebs & exorcise a few ghosts, it looks like a long, strange trip for them. At least with the advent of the Southern hemisphere Summer, one can concentrate on the domestic teams.
It's hard to see what would help the Windies, though. To understand what happened to them, one only need quote the great baseballer Mickey Mantle: "8 guys got old." For that's exactly what's happened, give or take a couple of guys. With their success over the decades, it became easy to believe the islands could supply an endless amount of Richards, Walshs, Roberts, et alia. Apparently not. As the great & protean Brian Lara ages, I truly shudder to think about what the future holds for this team. It looks like the proverbial well's about to run dry. While someone of the Windies youngsters have shown sputterings of talent, none have been consistent. Lara still carries this team, & now he doesn't have the superb bowling on which past Windie captains have relied. No bowling; outside of an ageing Lara, no batting. Prediction: stormy weather in the Caribbean for the foreseable future.
On the other hand, India seem ready to break out. They've recently gotten the upper hand over their old Muslim rivals &--as long as the main components remain healthy--they look poised to really take over. While it didn't always seem logical to leave Ganguly as captain, history has borne out the logic of this (as opposed to the frenetic whirl of the Pakistani captaincy). Top to bottom, they probably have the most solid batting lineup in the world. Dravid practically embodies the word consistency. Tendulker is a once in a lifetime force. Ganguly is an ever-steady presence, & with their other batsmen, they truly have an all-star cast bigger than any Bollywood movie. Their bowling, however, is a different matter. If H. Singh & Z. Khan can regain their form of the past few years, India could be unbeatable.
Pakistan: definitely rebuilding.
However...
never, never, never count out the Aussies. I was looking at how many medals they've taken at the latest Olympics: they're in 4th place! Now, Australia only has 19 millions, so when you see the US & China (350 millions & billions, respectively) as just above them, it does one good to pause. India's got a billion citizens, & yet the Aussies still rank above the rest. With daylight between them & #2. Australia is simply a sports-mad continent, & their sporting stars rule the roost. They have created an academy system that develops & nurtures their raw talent & this has enabled them to consistently replenish their talent pool. How many teams could survive the losses of Warnie (albeit temporarily), Mark & Steve Waugh & continue to stay on top. No wonder Ponting's always got that goofy grin on his face!
No predictions for the Fall (except: Kent stay in the 1st division). It would be very gratifying to see England continue to win. Maybe then, even Radio Five will talk about cricket.
4:53 AM
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