Goodbye Minnows

Just 11 games into this World Cup and and some dominant patterns are emerging.

The first spells doom and gloom for the so called minnows of the games. The ICC has already announced that the days of expanded finals events are over and in order to condense the program, those teams who are considered the lesser lights will be left out of the program with only the A Teams being scheduled for fixtures. No doubt a decision made with money firmly in mind - does the ICC ever make any other kind - as the inclusion of the Kenya's and Netherlands etc takes up time for them to play matches in the tournament. All of the positives that come from these junior countries playing are sacrificed on the alter of the holy dollar. Who cares about growth, after all that's a long term benefit, the ICC would rather sing that ABBA tune, "Money, Money, Money". Besides, who wants any of the top eight embarrassed!

Spinners continue to be the tool of choice by all teams except Australia and so far, its worked out well for the Aussies but a day of reckoning is coming.

Over the weekend, the better teams have flexed their muscles, starting with the Australian mauling of New Zealand. The Kiwi batting line up was decimated by Tait and Johnson, principally in terms of pace on a wicket at Nagpur that responded well to the quick men. Tait didn't bowl that well, to be honest, but that's more a statement on what Tragics correspondent Ian Charlton correctly described as a shaky Kiwi batting line up. Having collapsed, Nathan McCullum and Dan Vettori did well to give them some sort of target but the Australia batting was far too strong, winning with 16 overs to spare.

Pakistan played stunning cricket to beat Sri Lanka, with a couple of Test players Misbah-ul-haq and the kiss and make up man, Younis Khan, batting like real batsmen and the durable all rounder Shahid Afridi taking another bag of wickets. Sri Lanka did well to get close as they just keep losing wickets each time they looked to be building momentum. Who said wickets aren't important in one day cricket?

The most stunning of all games was at Bangalore where India lost their last 7 wickets in 29 balls after Tendulkar had played an innings described by Geoff Boycott as "the perfect innings by the perfect craftsman". His innings included a withering attack on Graham Swann, taking 31 from 23 of his deliveries, including three sixes. How often have we see Tendulkar target the opposition's best and thrash him in the process? Ask Shane Warne. Chasing 338, England's batting was again dominated by Skipper Andrew Strauss, whose 158 came at way better than a run a ball and in the company of a delightful Ian Bell, they added 170 in 26 overs for the third wicket. Bell and Strauss fell together at 281 and five overs saw only 26 added and England looked done at 7-307 but Bresnan, Swann and Shazad somehow smashed 31 of the last 15 deliveries, including 14 off the last over to tie the game. Shazad faced his first ball in that over and hit a big, clean smote up into the stands behind the bowler Patel and Swann engineered the rest.

For those wanting to declare the ODI innings closed, another look at the quality of the cricket on offer at this World Cup should be more than enough evidence that it doesn't just have a thready pulse, it has a heart beat which goes boom bitty boom bitty boom bitty boom bitty boom bitty boom bitty boom boom boom! The problem isn't the format, the problem are the administrators that want to treat it like a harlot and don't realise it looses its attraction if its only purpose is making money. There is a hierarchy here which needs to be recognised: Test cricket is your mother; ODI is your wife; and Twenty20 is that girlfriend you had in high school. They are all attractive, they are all interesting and special and they all mean something different to you.

This World Cup is shaping as a beauty!

New Zealand Might Put Us On Shaky Ground

Australia could well experience their first World Cup defeat this afternoon and evening and at the hands of a nation who are trying hard to come to terms with the tragedy they can only watch on TV screens. Committed to the task at hand and mindful of a nation's tearful wish that their cricket side give them something to rally about, the New Zealanders have in the past risen to glory when needed. After all, beating Australia is all they can do for their country.

On the flip side, the Australians couldn't help but be moved and if only one or two allow compassion to stand in the way of reason, then Black Caps might mow them down.

The Nagpur wicket favours the Aussies. It is one of the few on the sub continent where quicks can extract some life and as they are fielding the only team in the tournament which relies on "shock and awe", response from the deck would be gladly appreciated. The Australian pace attack has been called "naked violence" by one writer but speed through the air soon dissipates on most wickets in this region of the world. Speed is a handy weapon but only when its adjunct is bounce and only when it is inextricably linked with direction. Jason Gillespie describes the Australia attack as one which could dismiss the opposition for 50 or 500 - the former relying on Brett Lee and the later the responsibility of Tait and Johnson. In every game, they'll be a gamble.

It should also be noted, Australia is the only side so far in the tournament to play only one spinner.

New Zealand are likely to open with the off spinner Nathan McCullum bowling his tight line to the stumps, a move which will not go well with Haddin or Ponting early on. Haddin has looked glued to his crease and Ponting's reputation against spin was earned and lost long ago. Beyond that, the Kiwis will rely on a slow deck, Vettori bowling ten for 25 and the "dibbly dobblers" doing their thing. Its not a potent attack, just an annoying one and its easy to imagine 250 being conjured up.

In reply, the 50/500 attack will hope for wickets against a batting line up which is willing to belt you and more than capable of it. Brendan McCullum and Scott Sirius are likely to be the key men but again, its not hard to imagine the Kiwis going 250 plus.

Lots of dangers for Australia in this one and there were before Christchurch got turned inside out. This is one of the games I saw in the draw that could put the Aussies out in the first round and that was before events this week, with Ponting again allowing his kettle to boil over in premature protectulation and the New Zealand squad being reminded of why home is where the heart is.

Kiwis to win in a high scoring thriller.

I Don't Always Like What's On TV Either ...

... but I don't break the bloody set! Let's see, does this fit into the list of things that categorise old and cranky or perhaps that other long list of things called "Signs That You Are Ricky Ponting."

Overblown by the Indian officials, underdone by the Australia spin doctors and in between another petulant act. Mind you, there are many red-blooded Australian males that would be just a bit concerned that their protector might damage their pixels!

A Good Win

I've been lax in not plying my trade after a solid Australian win against Zimbabwe opened the "real" campaign to retain the ICC World Cup Trophy for the third time (after winning it initially in 1999). If Australia can go against the stated odds and bring the replica home (the real one gets engraved but stays in London at ICC headquarters) their's would remain the only name so inscribed. Since this trophy was made during 1998 by the Queens only jeweller, Garrard & Co, Australia has won it and held on to all eleven kilograms of it. Starting the tournament rated as the No 1 team is only good enough for Ponting's men to be rated 4th favourite and many judge them unlikely to survive these first round playoffs, so a win over the most troubled team in international cricket whilst expected, was never-the-less a relief. More of their durability in this tournament later.

Zimbabwe are rebuilding a team in ODI cricket against a backdrop of political unrest which has seen quality players run for the safety of England, literally in threat of their life and left the national side under pressure from political leaders such as former Prime Minister John Howard. In fact, it was primarily his opposition to Zimbabwe, his treatment of refugees as PM and his threats to sort out sub-continent cricket which saw him fail to gain enough support to be elected to the Vice Presidency of the ICC, a position which always lead by transition to the top job. Thankfully, enough common sense and self-interest prevailed to stop Little Johnnie from doing to cricket what he did to Peter Costello.

Their problem has always been their player base, which is so small it makes New Zealand seem huge. Its a statistical reality that the more players you have playing at all levels, the better Test team you will produce. Zimbabwe has five first class teams, so maybe 70 or eighty players and there is very little other organised cricket. Compared that to the player base of Australian cricket down to the local level or even more impressively, India, and you begin to grasp the problem.

Ponting won the toss, clearly hoping to give his middle order a chance to get some time in the middle after their mediocre batting in the trial games but what transpired was a slow start from Watson and Haddin against an attack which couldn't have had more variety. Mpofu was the only conventional early innings bowler with his medium pacers but the other three of the first four were a left arm orthodox, an off spinner and a leggie and frankly, Haddin never looked comfortable and when he went, the opening partnership of 61 was crawling at three an over. By the time Watson went at 140 things were back on track heading towards four and half and the ultimate total was always more than Zimbabwe would muster. Mpofu was expensive and three other bowlers who did the composite work of a fifth were also costly. The three spinners, Price, Utseya & Cremer had a synchronicity in their figures and its should be noted that they bothered the Australians. This is a worry because Ponting's boys will face even better spinners as the games get serious. Ponting, meanwhile spruikes about his pace attack. For this, read, "I wish I had some spinners". Hussey and Smith hit some big blows at the death but White was against thrashing about like a drowning man in deep water.

Johnson took wickets up the order and in the tail with his usual happy snarl and barely understated machismo and Lee and Tait were quick through the air and reasonably straight - a comment always destined to be made of Shaun Tait. In fact Johnson was good bowling those left arm slingers which just go straight but batsmen can't leave alone in much the same way as his demeanour leaves them unable to fail to answer back. Such things of the school yard should have no place at this level but their favourable reporting ensures their continuance. It was Jason Krejza who caught the eye with a steady performance. Here's hoping some batsman's wife keeps giving him biscuits.

This was a good win, especially after the unsteady lead up last week, but it wasn't a great win, a crushing win. Again, Watson stood out head and shoulders above the rest, physically and in performance, although in truth, Clarke looked very close to his best and Ponting's momentum is building. He again looks like he owns the game when he is batting, something which has been missing for 18 months, let alone during the ill-fated Ashes. Lee still looks the go-to man with the ball but Krejza is starting to look like he might be the mud in the eye which might distract and dismiss the dangerous ones like Sangakkara and Sehwag and dare I say it in hushed tones Tendulkar.

Compare, however, this solid win with the run scoring of India and Sri Lanka in their first games and the absolute crushing our next opponent dealt the Kenyans. Known in world sport as runners who can go the distance, they were routed for 69 in less than 24 overs by Tim Southee, Jacob Oram and Hamish Bennett and then New Zealand passed them in 8 overs!

The trans-Tasman clash on Friday assumes even greater significance following the devastation in Christchurch and the New Zealanders, sure to be emotionally alight will rightly see they have an even more significant role to play for their country and who better to play that out against than a big brother. New Zealand have been improving in ODI cricket and again they rely on explosive batting, Dan Vettori's tight left armer's line which has bothered Australia's best before and that collection of what Jim Maxwell refers to as "dibbly dobblers". Their best bet is a slow Jagpur wicket and an opponent with mixed feelings towards inflicting another blow to a New Zealand which takes its sport as seriously as a rabid Victorian. Its the sort of reticence gap that New Zealand have steamed through before. Besides all of which, they are always a tough opponent against the Mostly Yellow and there is just the sense of vulnerability in this current line up which Kiwis love to exploit.

I'll stick my neck out and select New Zealand in a game which is sure to be a dog fight in the best of traditions between these Tasman rivals.

A final comment as to England's oh so narrow squeak against the Dutch. Peter Roebuck's once captained an England side which lost to the Dutch and after they had hammered all but Swann, they were unlucky to go down in the second last over. Andrew Strauss played a magnificent hand, Trott was Trott and Collingwood rushed back to some form as he and Bopara added the last 55 in under six overs. However, the real embarassment was the ineptitude of the English fielding with dropped catches, overthrows and wickets on no balls for basics such as too many men outside the circle. It's hard to imagine a side that has ever looked so out of sorts.

Richie Benaud Analysis Using Hawkeye

I Was Thinking, One Summer Afternoon

Cricket fans, especially those with Tragic intention, were born on long summer days when the play wandered towards stumps and the afternoon sun gave rise to discussions of greatness. As the bat kept ball at bay and occasionally gently stroked a wayward miscreant to the cover boundary, it seemed natural to make comparisons.

Then, in 1970, owing to a long rain delay which washed out a Test in Melbourne (rain in Melbourne, fancy that!), the game birthed a new 80% less version of itself to entertain fans in Bay 13 who had tired of naming their best team ever whilst sheltering under umbrellas. "It would never do," they said in long rooms with long faces. Test cricket must reign supreme and so it did for nearly 40 years, riding high on the financial success of those fifty over frolics.

Nearly 40 years later, another baby emerged kicking and screaming and 40% a lesser being. Here was cricket to feed the pulp fiction which is youth, with demands on its time which make them so demanding. Backyard cricket on acid. Baseball with leg pads. A bastard child with a fifty over mother and Amerian pop culture father and the people love it, complete as it is with all the elements to give it allure - colour, speed, young blonde men and the absolute lack of need for concentration, strategy or thoughtful understanding. Best of all, its over before the punters have time to think of what else they might be doing. Got your money, thank you very much.

Would Don Bradman be writhing in his grave? Are you kidding? The little stockbroker who followed a money trail to New South Wales to South Australia would be applauding every dollar spent by punters and just loving the way Cricket Australia now controls its puppets once more.

Unlike many of those sun loving Tragics, I've had more time to ponder the changes to cricket. Born in the mid fifties, by the time I could read I was filled with the wondrous tales of Australian crickets glory days. The Invincibles had been The Don's support act through an unbeaten tour of England less than ten years before and I grew with a father and uncle who loved the game and showed me how. I was also born in mid Spring, so apart from arriving on the planet the day St George won the first of eleven straight, I also took my first breaths as the grass was mown and my earliest formative sounds were willow on leather.

Like all good Tragics, I'm quick to reassure you good readers that comparison between eras is impossible and meaningless and odious ... and then I'll go ahead and do it anyway.

How do we compare Don Bradman and Ricky Ponting? How do we measure relative merits of Ray Lindwall and Glen McGrath? It can be done but on the understanding that certain elements of the puzzle have to be left unresolved.

Things like wickets and equipment are a no brainer. In the forties, pitches were largely uncovered and by the fifth day of Test they often extremely difficult to bat on. Bats were narrower, lighter and had only a narrow area of sweet spot about a third of the way above the bottom of the bat. Today, one day wickets are always flat and true and if the ball jags about the curator is attacked. Bats are heavier, wider and sixty to seventy percent of the surface area provides "sweetness".

Mind you, they had to stop timeless Tests because some pitches didn't deteriorate.

Players of the past played little cricket in comparison to the modern player and were no where near as fit. What they lacked in fitness, they made up for in social and personal development. They drank more, smoked more, had worse diets and were responsible for their own fitness and well being. This model is so far removed from the modern player who is pampered, managed and controlled down to the minutes of his day. Nothing is left to chance and in doing so, inspiration and natural flair are coached out.

Their games are different but that's not likely to have been a problem for the older player in terms of skill. Its hard not to think that Harvey or Benaud would have been highly successful in Twenty20 or Bradman himself with his amazing reflexes and ability to adapt and invent shots. Many mistake Bradman's batting deeds as meaning he was the grand stylist. Far from it. He was bloodthirsty, murderous compiler of scores - the most unconventional attacking batsman of all time. Where these and other might fall short is backing up three days later and three days later etc as their fitness regimes and nutrition and habits would have slowed them down.

In the end, it boils down to skills and the maintenance of them over a long career, so that whilst we can be certain Bradman would never have lasted the pace of modern cricket, he would easily have provided it with the skill levels. Bradman was in his 40's when he toured England in 1948. He had played a lot less cricket than Ponting but he was still scoring hundreds. Ponting is some way off life beginning again and he stuggled to average 20 this summer.

Of course, if you remove Ponting and substitute Tendulkar, then we have a whole other argument which I don't intend to pursue on this occasion. However, as the sun mellows you in this post tea comfort as you watch proceeding down there on the playing surface, consider this. When comparisons are made between the best - and Bradman and Tendulkar are the two poles of the extreme between past and present - one serious mistake is made. Consideration is only ever made of how well Bradman might handle a day in the life of modern Test cricketer. Instead, let them swap and ponder which would be the more successful in each other's era and then, after a year, tell me who you think is the greatest!

Even The Don thought Tendulkar as good as him.

Two Losses - No Problem

Ricky Ponting tossed the coin but Michael Clarke took the questions. Ever notice how often Ponting is absent post match when Australia lose. Instead, a Golden Boy fronts up. Not his decision, I'm sure of that. A faceless media consultant standing back in the deep shadows makes those calls. Its unlikely Australia has ever been so heavly stage mismanaged. Question ... if Australia are happy with their warm up, would they rather be themselves or India at the moment? Further question ... The World Cup starts on the weekend so when do those in the Australian camp plan to affect change on the areas that need improvement that Clarke and other nominated spokesmen have been fronting the media with since the Sri Lankan debacle last November?

It's All Going According To Plan ... Which Plan?

The false confidence that a CBA Series victory against an injured and disinterested England gave Australia have done no favours to the returning Captain. From those fairly meaningless seven lopsided games, Ponting would have gained a few positives:
1. The electric form of a resurgent Brett Lee
2. A slow but noticeable journey by Michael Clark to something approaching form
3. The Midnight Oil Man, Shane Watson and his power and passion
Of the rest, the best that can be said was they showed glimpses. Now, arriving in India without his go-to man, Michael Hussey and with no Marsh or Hauritz to reliably do what they, Ponting would have been looking for some to rise up and roar their terrible roars and gnash their terrible teeth. The injury to Hauritz is one of life's wonderful ironies after he was fit, ready and taking the Sheffield Shield before him all summer, only to be ignored by inept selection which must have involved Ponting's input.

Now, after two warm up games they have twice been hit by Bangalore torpedoes, scuppering there preparation and raising question marks over progression beyond the group stage. Ponting is left with his positives list intact, although the shine waned a little on Watson during his four ball duck to Dale Steyn, a man who learns from information supplied and trapped The Big Blond in front of his castle again (that's 15% in ODI's, 34% in Tests and even 26% in Twenty20). Of course, the big bonus has been Ponting's own form and the easy return to international cricket away from his home press. Clark's journey has him still heading in the right direction and Lee still looks to be the bowling ace in the hole.

So far, there's not much else to talk about. Haddin failed & Paine didn't - hmmm. Johnson has been as ordinary as his summer form suggested he would be. He'll probably get a bag against lesser lights impressed by his snarl and tough words and lick of pace but the South Africans dismissed him last night at seven an over and he didn't trouble the Indians. David Hussey has looked confused by spin and White can't find the right mix of aggression and defence and has been lacking a big score for a long time in one-dayers. Krejza has at least looked like he was trying to take wickets.

The performance against India had the undeniable plus that Australia bowled India out inside 45 overs but after Watson, Paine and Ponting got Australia to a dominant position at 1-118, their game folded like one of those card tables your parents used to show the slides from in the 1960's. It was a completely inept batting performance against some very testing spin bowling, but seriously, what did the Australian batting line up expect in the home of mystic art?

The performance against South Africa was far worse. Ponting and Clarke had added 122 after a 2-6 start but from 2-128, that card table was soon stacked away again and had it not been for some chirpy batting in the tail, Australia would not have made 200. What followed was a disaster, as the bowlers failed to take a wicket, the du Plessis run out and the retirements of Smith and Amla making up the three wickets which fell. On the same pitch where Dale Steyn's eight overs returned 3-21, the Australian quicks - Tait, Lee & Johnson - went at five and a half an over as the South African openers added 131. Krejza at least earned respect.

There is much to do before Australia's first fixture in the World Cup proper and not all the troops Ponting needs to do it with. The apparent ease of that first game against Zimbabwe on Monday is not an aid to his winning endeavour. The Australian's group is a tough won and not one in which any game can be lost. There are many testing points for Australia and so far, they haven't looked overly studious.

Big In Lithuania

I'm not sure how many websites which devote their entire content to the game invented by gentlemen but mastered by thugs can assess their web stats and brag that they are big in Lithuania. Like them, The Cricketragics has some ground to make up having only attracted two page hits in the past twelve months from the Baltic state to Poland's north but its pleasing to note they dropped in last August to a post named "Latest Poll Results" ... gee, I wonder why?

The blog stats are not so much flattering as they are full of mind-numbing mystery. For instance, in terms of all time hits, it comes as no surprise that Australia (957) tops the league table, nor that England (215) and India (123) drop in at third and fourth respectively. Fans in those three countries will read anything about the game with little consideration for style, quality or content. Why then is the good old USofA (534) holding second spot? Possibly the same explanation or just sheer weight of numbers creating an odd result but I'm even surprise that 537 views came from a population of 312 million!

Here after it gets really odd. France, Germany, Russia, The Netherlands, Slovenia and Israel round out the top ten. Imagine I gave you that list and asked you to tell me what topic it represents a top ten in. Your first answer would be a cricket website devoted to the sad and lonely cricket fans who fervently believe that cricket is a metaphor for western civilization and the mystic customs of the east. That's what you'd guess, right? Just this week, India leads the hits, perhaps understandable because of the impending World Cup but don't ask me to explain why Slovenia and Georgia are right behind them. One of the referring sites has jenniferaniston in the web address and it looks like a site selling maths tutoring programs for students. Go figure, that teaching stuff just follows me doesn't it?

The most popular page was the description of play on day one from the Boxing Day test. Nearly a hundred of you have hit on that post.

All of this is boundary material. Out in the middle, The Cricketragics will soon pass 3000 hits and looks forward to more support. Perhaps readers might pass on the addy to others of like mind in need of an occasional laugh and the desire to stand behind Ricky on the apex of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, flags flapping and they with an explosive sneeze imminent.

Regardless of these number, my thanks for the loyalty of some readers, especially those like Ian Charlton who take the time to respond to posts with their comments. I will try ever so hard to take the World Cup seriously and provide some input on most days.

Cheers to all you Latvians!

Lango & The Tragics on ABC New England 4/2/11

Click to here the broadcast from 4/2/11

The Alternate Awards

Here's two articles from today SMH worth a read and some thought.

First Will Broadie's article on the alternate awards for Australian cricket and then Peter Roebuck's lambast of Cricket Australia for a wrong set of priorities.