Bowlers Have A Big Day Out

"What do you mean
'player of the series/"

It was a big day for bowlers on the international Test cricket stage.

After Australia wrapped up the home series against India, taking 4 wickets in an hour on the 5th day at Adelaide, two other venues added an avalanche of wickets on the same day. In the United Arab Emerites at Abu Dhabi, 16 wickets fell as first Pakistan and then England were dismissed in the second innings, with the English managing only 72. New Zealand and Zimbabwe take the prize for the most dismissals with their extraordinary day at Napier. After the Kiwis lost 2 wickets before declaring at 7 for 495, Zimbabwe were rolled twice in the remainder of the day for 51 and 143, meaning 22 wickets had fallen for the day.

That's 42 Test wickets in one day.

Bowlers were further shined on when Peter Siddle was named man of the match for the Adelaide Test after taking 5-49 and 1-47. Apparently Ponting's 221 and 60 not out wasn't good enough. In New Zealand, Chris Martin got the nod for his second innings 6-26, leaving Ross Taylor 122 retired hurt and BJ Watling 102 not out wondering what more was needed. Only in Abu Dhabi did it seem fitting that Abdur Rehman should get the gong for routing England.

In the player of the series award for the Australia v India series, it would seem fitting that Michael Clarke was the award winner. His captaincy was brilliant and how many times does a man, whose name isn't Bradman, score a triple and double century in the same series but spare a thought for Ricky Ponting. His series breakdown was 62, 60, 134, 7, 221, 60x. Clarke's, by comparison was 31, 1, 329x, 18. 210, 37. It might have been splitting hairs but I think I might have leaned the old man's way.

Pakistan Tie England In Knots

Ajmal celebrates the wicket of Ian Bell

Pakistan have won a stunning victory over the world No 1 England at Abu Dhabi and in the process have secured  the series. It was England's first series loss in ten series and continues Pakistan's unbeaten run which goes back to June 2010 and the infamous series in England which gave rise to change in Pakistan's cricket culture.

The architects of that change on the field deserve to take a bow. Mosin Khan as coach and Misbah-ul-haq as captain, have created a culture of careful, studious cricket which does not indulge the irrational and encourages those with sober intent and execution. From being a team based on fast bowling, they have transformed the resources into one which has the world's two best spinners and a very good third prong.

Beginning the day 55 in front, everyone did their bit, especially after Azhar Ali left 170, with a brittle tail adding another 44. Monty Panesar was the best of the English bowlers, taking his tenth five wicket or better haul in his 40th Test. England, it appeared, had done what was needed to square the series, with only 145 required.

Until the doubts set in. It was only a matter of time before his surname and the sub-continent went into effluent confluence and it was announced that Trott had the trotts and would bat lower in the order if required. Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook opened as usual but the first ball was bowled by off spinner Mohammad Hafeez, who had dismissed both of them early doors at times during the series. More doubts. So it was that what was to be Hafeez last over, Cook took a leading edge and sent it back up the pitch for a return catch.

Morgan bowled second ball

Saeed Ajmal had already bowled 4 overs for 5 runs when Abdur Rehman replaced Hafeez. No one else was needed for Pakistan. Ian Bell batted at three but left after three deliveries after playing the ball from Ajmal  down at his feet of the full face of the bat and watching it spin back past his legs and onto middle stump. Pietersen left shaking his head lbw to Rehman, whose appeal convinced to umpires, the technology and the rest of humanity but still left the batsman in disbelief. Morgan knew nothing about the first ball he received which flicked his pads and went for four leg byes and even less about the next one which he went back to and lost his leg stump. At the other end, Strauss was on borrowed time, already out once caught at short leg but given the benfit of an invented doubt by the third umpire. Prior came in and at least tried to play shots.

England were in a vice. The ball was spinning but only by the varying amounts of turn Ajmal and Rehman wanted to extract to set the Englishmen up. The only threat to Pakistan was their over exuberant wicket keeper Adnan Akmal, who seemed convinced every ball was taking a wicket but as usual, Misbah applied his touch and the youngster soon calmed down.

Strauss was eventually lbw to Rehman, playing back and being undone by the pace of the ball spinning back into him. He shook his head all the way to the boundary too but he was plumb. After the loss of the skipper, the rest fell like a card house in a brisk summer breeze as the last five wickets were down in just ten deliveries.

Rehman a career best 6-25

Trott, batting with a series of squirts and dabs, played back deep in his crease and was plumb to Rehman; Stuart Broad was bowled two balls later when he aimed a drive at a ball which spun at least 60cm from outside off and hit the off peg; Graeme Swann went back to an off break from Ajmal and was caught in front; Prior chipped a catch to cover trying to have a go against Ajmal; and Anderson swept at the first ball he received, top edged it and was caught easily by Umar Gul.

Pakistan's spinners had taken 19 of the required 20 wickets to fall and England surrendered the match being all out for 72. It is Pakistan's seventh series victory in 22 series against England and their first since November 2005. Whilst Pakistan have been playing good cricket, England is their biggest scalp since drawing a series with South Africa in the UAE in November 2010.

Like the first Test, this win was based on steady batting and the accumulation of runs, athletic fielding and tight bowling which eventually strangles the batting side and draws them into error. Both Rehman and Ajmal are masters of this art.

The final Test begins in Dubai on February 3rd.

Kiwis Take Twenty In A Day

Bradley-John Watling made 102x

As far as punishing defeats go, this was as big a snub of a minnow as has been delivered in Test Cricket. It is in fact New Zealand's biggest Test victory and only seven other victories in the 2033 Tests played have been  larger.

Resuming after almost a day lost to rain, New Zealand lost only two wickets in adding 103 of 18 overs and then declared after keeper BJ Watling raised his maiden Test hundred. With nearly 500 on the board and plenty of time left, it was all a matter of how well Zimbabwe would resist against the Kiwi attack of four seamers and Dan Vettori.

At the end of the first fifteen overs when lunch was taken, Zimbabwe were 5-20 and any questions about how long were being measured in hours, not days. The first innings ended four balls after drinks in the middle session, with Malcolm Waller's 23 being the only set of double figures. The wickets were shared about the Kiws: if you got a bowl, you got a wicket, although why all five bowlers were used only stand in skipper Brendon McCullum could answer. The weather was cool and dry and a gentle breeze came across the ground. Einstein wasn't required to decide whether the follow on should be enforced against a batting line up that was compelled to play outside the off stump giving Dean Brownlie four catches at third slip.

By tea, Zimbabwe were 3-12 on the second time around. Chris Martin had all three in five overs.

After the break, Martin was removed from the attack after two overs, the second of which cost 9. McCullum, fearing a rear guard action ran for the cover of other bowlers apparently, despite Doug Bracewell taking two wickets at the other end with the first over after tea: Zimbabwe's best batsman Tatenda Taibu and the first innings top scorer, Waller. Bracewell got Mutizwa edging faintly to Watling a few overs later and at 6-37, it was a matter of whether of not Zimbabwe could better their paltry first innings total.

To the great credit of Regis Chakabva and Graeme Cremer they fought for their wickets with a 63 run 7th wicket partnership that got the total to three figures. Chakabva played nicely off his legs and took toll of some over pitched deliveries on his pads. Through this period, a dropped catch by Brownlie and some odd captaincy by McCullum aided their cause. McCullum seemed unable to decide how he should go about removing the rest of Zimbabweans and dithered with his bowling selections. Vettori was given a ten over spell which was accurate but completely non-threatening on a day when the conditions and wicket suited seamers. One of the issues with NZ cricket is the amount of credence Vittori has without reason. He is a useful left arm orthodox who has hardly ever spun an opposition out although, one ball actually spun. I have watched the former NZ captain many time live and on television and its the first time I've seen that happen. Kane Williamson and Martin Guptil were both given a turn and even though Williamson broke the partnership with a "hit me into the pavilion" full toss which Cremer miss hit only as far as Bracewell at mid on, there was no need for part timers to be bowling. A four pronged pace attack was more than enough for the job.

MOTM: Martin 2-5 & 6-26

Chris Martin, the senior man in this attack, was left in various outfield positions whilst Zimbabwe battled on and every man and their dog rolled their arm over. When he was finally bought back to bowl in an extended last half hour, he finished it in 9 deliveries, including Chakabva who cut hard at a short ball and was unlucky not to clear third slip where Brownlie held a spectacular catch high into the air above himslef. Martin finished a twelfth batsman for a hatrick and with 8-31 for the match and took the man of the match award. It was a worthy choice, although Ross Taylor probably had better claims.

Troubling times ahead when South Africa arrive on Kiwi shores if McCullum is still tossing the coin.

Pakistan Pressed by Panesar

England going the full Monty

England have moved into a strong position to bring their three Test series against Pakistan back on level terms after a robust showing on the the third day at Abu Dhabi.

It was hard work, as this Pakistan side is more resilient than those collapsible outfits of the previous ten years. England's tail added valuable runs and again it was Stuart Broad who batted aggressively in the final four and made a half century as England secured a lead of 70. After Saeed Ajmal removed Prior by pinning him back in his crease and turning an off break past his inside edge, Broad had useful partnerships of 41 with Bell, 23 with Graeme Swann - in his usual hurry - and then a damaging 36 with Jimmy Anderson. Mohammad Hafeez and Abdur Rehman gradually removed the tail.

England started with Anderson and Broad but quickly handed over to Monty Panesar, so often ignored by the selectors in the last three years. He bowled an impeccable off stump line to the right handers and tied them down for long periods. In his twenty five overs he removed the three Pakistani danger men: Hafeez, Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-haq. Hafeez was lbw playing forward in a way that would have protected a batsman ten years ago and Misbah suffered the same fate, bat and pad together with the question mark over which it hit first. Technology had its say. Younis seemed to miss a straight one: done by the loop and drop of the delivery perhaps.

Swann removed Taufeeq in a carbon copy of the first innings, sending a ball on with the arm to hit off stump. At least this time Taufeeq played at the ball. Swann continues his mysterious habit of collecting wickets in the first over of a spell.

4-54 has crept out to 125 in a stand between Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq which has taken 33 overs but has put Pakistan back into the lead. Both men in their mid twenties, Pakistan has shown a lot of faith in retaining them despite only one century each in their combined total of 30 Test matches. There is little doubt in their ability but Pakistan will need hundreds from both tomorrow if England are to be troubled batting last. Adnan Akmal can be relied on for a few but the Pakistan tail is long and brittle leaving, in reality, only two wickets to play with in search of an extension of the current lead of 55 by at least another hundred.

The 5th wicket partnership was almost broken when Asad pushed to cover and took off, only to be sent back. Kevin Pietersen's underarm shy would have run him out had it hit.

If nothing else emerges this series, Pakistan have proved how competitive they can be.

Little Progress Thanks To Rain

Ross Taylor ruled out of the game

Rain at Maclean Park Napier, limited the progress of the Test between New Zealand and Zimbabwe to only 15 overs on the second day. Wicketkeeper Ben Watling did most of the scoring, adding 37 to his overnight score to post his second fifty in Tests. The most important moment of the day came when skipper Ross Taylor tore a calf muscle and because of the new ICC rule disallowing runners for injured batsmen, had to retire hurt on 122. Subsequent medical reports indicate he'll take no further part in this Test or the one day series which follows. No doubt, of more concern to Taylor and New Zealand cricket will be his fitness for the home series against South Africa in March.

It is an interesting rule change by the ICC, intended to remove charlatans from the game who play unfit and milk the runner rule - a certain rotund former Sri Lankan captain comes to mind - but the new ruling seems to be a baby and the bath water job. Not only does it rob the paying public from their full entitlement but it disadvantages teams who are unlucky enough to have batsmen injured during the course of a game and will encourage batsmen to bat on injured and unaided, in all likelihood, causing them further injury. Gone will be the heroic champion batting on one leg, replaced with the "bugger off you weakling" clause.

Surely a simpler outcome would have been to have had an ICC appointed doctor at each Test match to adjudicate on injuries and if it was found to have happened in the game and would not result in any permanent disability, then the batsman should be entitled to return with a runner. At first class levels, ruling authorities would appoint same and at club level, where no medical judge can be present, let common sense, the opposition captain or if necessary, the ICC rule decide.

Removing runners altogether is short sighted overkill to such a small issue. Then, overkill seems to be the favoured method these days. Its a pity the ICC hadn't been as zealous in chasing down cheats, unscrupulous promoters and performance enhancing drug users in international cricket. When the real stories emerge of power broking on the sub continent and the back handers involved then perhaps we'll return some beauty to the game and keep the biff and bash boys in perspective.

It would be nice if the game's ruling authority wasn't constantly attending exclusively to its cash cows and spent some more time making sure the calves were safe.

Clean Sweep Close

Australia added 117 in 42 overs, declaring just after lunch so that India would need 500 batting last and other miracles to win their only Test match. Its been a disastrous tour which has all but put the careers of three of its greatest contributors - Sehwag, Dravid and Laxman - into their urns and well may bring the contributions of his captain, MS Dhoni, to an end in the longest form of the game.

Its been a tour of expectation, where it was anticipated the previous good form of the senior players in Australia would hold them in good stead. It was a hope that ignored the treatment they had received from England and despite a numerical advantage, the closeness of away and home series against the improving West Indies. It was also the last look for Australians at the game's greatest batsman, now and then, Sachin Tendulkar and the hope that the elusive 100th hundred would come on our grounds where Tendulkar had been so dominant. World cricket hoped that India would learn the error of their ways in regard to refusal of the DRS.

Three out of three unrealised.

Kohli one of the bright lights

The only brightness came from emerging younger players. Virat Kohli realised his potential, whilst Ravi Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha took some limited opportunities against an opponent which strangled them and looked to be players India could build a future on. The failure of tour selectors to bring Rohit Sharma into the top six or  Pragyan Ohja into the bowling line up anywhere in the series, played a large part in India's failure to make a mark on this tour or begin a stronger approach to building the future.

Most of Australia's runs in the morning came from the old firm of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke. The Australian captain dominated early, moving to 37 of just 43 balls before he was mysteriously caught behind of Yadav. Replays showed clearly he didn't hit it but didn't determine where the noise came from that condemned him. Ponting took over from there and remained not out when the declaration came. Ponting finished with two centuries and three fifties in his six innings and an average of 108. Only Clarke superseded him in aggregate and average.

India began an impossible task twenty minutes after lunch. Gautum Gambhir was gone in the fifth over, forced into playing at a ball slanted across him and edging to Brad Haddin. At the other end, Virendar Sehwag finally ignited his rocket and blasted a half century in 36 balls and removed Siddle from the attack quickly. Sehwag and Dravid got to 80 at four an over, when Sehwag danced down the track to Lyon, took the ball on the full but closed the face as he tried to take it over the mid wicket fence and instead skied it to Ponting at extra cover. His 12 fours punished the boundary from third man to wide mid off - an unusually one-sided boundary chart but typical of Sehwag.

Rahul Dravid

Dravid finally put his tour out of its misery, chasing one wide of off stump from Ryan Harris and sending it straight to Hussey in the gully. It was an ugly end to an elegant man.

Tendulkar couldn't relief his burden, out soon after when batting from inside his shell ... usually a recipe for his personal disasters. The ball from Nathan Lyon when to glove, pad and then into the waiting hands of Ed Cowan at short leg. He was given the obligatory but heart felt standing ovation and disappointed somewhat by leaving with his head down and doing nothing in recognition of the generous accolades here and everywhere around the country on this and previous tours. It was churlish at least.

VVS Laxman and Kohli batted sensibly for more than twenty overs and looked to be taking the side safely to stumps with no further loses and the hopes that a new day bring but in the course of the last three overs, both were gone. Laxman got an ordinary delivery on off stump from Lyon and whipped it straight to Marsh at mid wicket. If it was an ordinary ball it was an even more ordinary shot. Then, on the last ball of the penultimate over, Kohli took of for a single to keep the night watchman off the strike for the last over. Ben Hilfenhaus moved quickly (unusual), picked up cleanly (strange) and through the stumps down at the bowlers end (unbelievable). Kohli shouted anger with himself as he left wouldn't have been helped by the verbal exchange with the same player in the first innings.

With four wickets to fall and India's tail, drinks won't be required in the first session when Australia clean sweeps the series and moves up to 3rd place on the ICC Test table.

New Zealand In Charge at Napier

Ross Taylor made 111x

Zimbabwe won the toss and bowled in their one off Test at Napier in New Zealand. The reasons for such a decision lie only with themselves, as the pitch looked good for batting and the match would never be controlled bating last.

The quality of the wicket was proven all day, as New Zealand batted as they pleased against an attack that was  largely toothless. Kane Williamson and Dean Brownlie were like the only kids in the candy store who couldn't take any candy because they thought the lids might stop them only to watch others throw unscrewed the lids off and gorge. Brendan McCullum and Martin Guptil found the Zimbabwe bowlers easier that Australia's Pattinson and co and 134 for the first wicket and set the tone for the day. McCullum hit 8 fours and 2 sixes and yet, it was an unusually restrained innings.

Ross Taylor played the innings of the day. He was particularly vicious on anything short outside off stump, his first nine boundaries coming from cuts shorts off the faster bowlers. He took 17 from one over from leg spinner Graeme Cremer, including two huge blasts over the mid wicket fence. He was well supported, adding 64 with McCullum, 82 with Dan Vettori (batting at six now) and 53 unbeaten with BJ Watling.

Tatenda Taibu was clean and efficient behind the stumps, taking two catches and being lightning quick to stump Vettori when he dragged his back foot after being fooled by a wrong-un from Cremer. Hamilton Masakadza was the pick of the bowlers, although Kyle Jarvis bowled with a lot of heart and had Brownlie dropped by Brendan Taylor at second slip a few balls after removing McCallum.

As always with minnows, its not talent they lack, its consistency.

Nothing In It At Abu Dhabi

The second day of this crucial three match series was another enthralling one, as Pakistan continue to rise above the taints which have for so long kept their cricket in the gutter. The two sides are really scrapping on a pitch that is offering turn. The bowers have been on top so far but quality batting has kept the contest even.

Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad needed only 16 deliveries to clean up the last three wickets in the Pakistan first innings. Misbah went first when Broad cut one back enough to trap his pad in front of off stump and despite review, his wonderful captain's knock was ended. Saeed Ajmal and Junaid Khan both collected ducks against Anderson; Ajmal going across the line and being rapped on the pads and Junaid producing the only catch of the innings when he meekly edged to Swann at second slip.

Cook made 94

Umar Gul and Khan bowled a brief five overs together before spin took over and in Mohammad Hafeez's fifth over of off spin, he again removed Andrew Strauss. Looking uncomfortable against the flighted ball again, he stayed in his crease and was caught in the modern way, inside edging to his pad for Asad Shafiq to take a simple catch at short leg. From here, Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott stood firm against an almost all spin attack, from Hafeez, Ajmal and Abdur Rehman, with only the briefest appearances of Gul or Khan. At lunch, England had 48 in twenty four overs. By tea, Cook and Trott were still intact, adding 84 in thirty two overs for the session. Misbah was trying everything but remaining patient and not allowing the Englishmen to get away from him. His spinners kept pressure firmly on even the best of the batting, giving away only twelve fours in 69 overs.

Trott was finally out a few overs before drinks in the last session, his 74 being the best innings he has played since returning from injury. At 1-166, his dismissal to a regulation left armers ball spinning from middle and hitting off was a surprise chink in what had seemed a solid defence.

Ajmal claims Morgan

The last hour proved again why Pakistan are so dangerous and it was their first test destroyer Ajmal who did all the damage. First he had Cook lbw only six runs short of what might have been his 20th Test hundred, out for the fourth time in the nineties. It was again the doosra, turning back to middle from off to the left hander and he didn't bother to challenge a decision he knew would not be reversed. Bell came in and chipped his third ball from Ajmal over cover for four but couldn't score again, having several close calls against the same bowler before stumps. As in Dubai, he had no idea how to pick the doosra. Kevin Pietersen looked good, even comfortable against the spin and was out in the most bizarre way. Looking to clip the ball from off stump with the spin to leg, he inside edged the ball onto his pads, off the keeper's gloves and Hafeez took a well judged catch falling to his left at first slip. Morgan fell in the last over, snicking a lofted off break from Ajmal to Haffeez at slip.

England had lost 4-41 in a little over an hour and Pakistan are now back in the contest.

Siddle & Kohli The Stars

Siddle gets Tendulkar again

It was a day when the relentless and unchanging pressure of the Australians only stopped when someone pushed back against them and reminded Australians that they new side is far from invincible, resting as it is on the back of its three senior batsmen and on the quality of its deep pace attack.

India had a dreadful first session, losing Tendulkar and Gambhir to Peter Siddle's energy and accuracy and VVS Laxman to VVS Laxman with a dismissal where credit goes to the batsman rather than the bowler. Laxman just wafted a straight ball into Brad Haddin's gloves. Tendulkar was caught brilliantly by Ricky Ponting at second slip, one of many excellent snares this summer: Siddle claiming him for the third time in the series. Gambhir was out dodging a bouncer and edging in front of Michael Hussey who dived forward in the gully to hold a superb catch.

Kohli made 116

After lunch, Virat Kohli and Wriddhiman Saha continued in a determined stand which lasted almost to tea and added 114. Two young players with no hang ups and careers to play for, they played defensively for a long period of time before opening up on the Australian bowlers. Kohli scored a lot of his runs on the leg side, only three of his eleven 4's being through cover. Drives, flicks and pulls all raced to the leg side boundary. Saha was far more subdued, with a slog sweep of Lyon sent for six being his only successful aggressive shot. He eventually misjudged a ball from Ryan Harris and raised his bat allowing free passage to his off stump in the last over before tea.

After tea, Siddle completed his first five wicket haul for the summer with the quick wickets of Ravi Ashwin and Zaheer Khan. Inshant Sharma hang around for long enough to embroil himself in an upset when his partner was on 99. Almost run out as he pushed for a single and was rightly sent back, Kohli reacted hotly to yet another careless comment from Ben Hilfenhaus. Neither Kohli or Sharma are men to take backward steps in such situations and disenchantment with their summer rose quickly. Resolution came from a hitherto unlikely quarter as Ponting stepped up, took Kohli gently by the arm to lead him away and apply helpful, verbal balm. He counselled Kohli to walk away and be careful what he said for fear he might get in official trouble. It was as big a shock as anything seen on the field this season and one to be applauded. It seems Pups can teach Old Dogs new tricks. A gentler Ponting might just get his wish and go to England next year.

Kohli raised his first Test century soon after - one which had threatened since Sydney - but Hilfenhaus finished it quickly, bowling Sharma and trapping Kohli in front of a spot four or five inches outside leg stump. Replays showed what the naked eye knew ... the ball would have missed leg stump by the width of several cricket balls.

Michael Clarke declined the follow on, in appreciation for the continued heat in Adelaide and Dave Warner and Ed Cowan came out for another go at the Indian bowlers. Khan took the new ball but the off spinner Ashwin got the cherry at the other end and caused some problems. He held one back at Warner and took the return catch, after beating the outside edge several times. Khan removed Shaun Marsh with a ball that the naked eye again got right, hitting outside the line of off stump. Two decisions that were hardly raised in question, despite both being howlers at Test level. Like most things in sport, consistency would be a fine thing.

Peter Siddle - winners are grinners

Ashwin removed Cowan in the next over, absolutely plum despite Cowan searching for replays before finally leaving the ground.

The old firm are together again. Another hundred or so by lunch will do. India won't chase 500 on this wicket.

The post match interviews were informative: Kohli upset and offended by Hilfenhaus; Siddle gently pulling the media's leg about the manner in which they eased Kohli to his century. Both are outstanding competitors. Both are intense. Both expressed reasonable opinions and expressed them with appropriate options. They are separated only by the performance of their respective teams. Winner are always grinners.

What a difference twelve months have made.

Ponting Honoured

Ricky Ponting OAM

thecricketragics has been a strident critic in past times of the former Australian captain Ricky Ponting on the basis of the attitudes he bought to the Australian team as Captain and his lack of insight into bowling tactics and game situations. As a captain, he was a puppet to off field management and on field personalities. His behaviour on and off the field at times, too often fell well short of expectations but he had the misfortune to play in the modern age of closer media scrutiny - which doesn't make any difference to the original concern but merely points out others have escaped in the past. When his form warranted it, thecricketragics made further calls on him to resign as a player rather than risk a further degradation of his playing record. In fact, given the inconsistency in removing the talented pair of Brad Hodge and Simon Katich from Australian teams in various forms of the game at 35, when still in peak form, thecricketragics would still claim that Ponting should have been removed by the selectors.

That said, there has never been any question mark about what he has contributed as a player to Australian cricket. He would bat at number six in thecricketragics best Australian XI of all time and has been in the top three or four fielders the game has produced in this country. His aggressive approach at the crease, his driving and pulling and running between wickets are all quintessentially Australian. He is the stereotype of an Australian cricketer. His resurgence, against probability and greatly assisted by an astute captain, is one of the miracles of modern Australian sport: the noble figure of the aging warrior, fighting on like the Python's Black Knight with all his metaphoric limbs removed but steadfast in his refusal to submit.

He is again our most consistent batsman, allowing his youthful captain to bat with vigour and enterprise and again, by his own blade destroying oppositions.

The news today, that Ricky Ponting has been made a member of the Order of Australia, not just for his services to cricket but also for the work of the Ponting Foundation in assisting families in dealing with childhood cancer, is fitting and deserved. Much is often said about sportsman receiving such honours but the weaknesses in his character aside, why shouldn't we recognise such men and women for what they contribute to Australian life and community. After all, Fred Hollows was no saint. A great cricketer is no less important to the expression of the Australian personality than a great artist or composer and many of them don't make the step to direct and lend their fame toward good causes.

thecricketragics acknowledges and applauds Ricky Ponting for this recognition of his contribution towards the Australian way of life.

Ebbs and Flows in the Desert

Misbah-ul-haq made 83 not out

England and Pakistan have fought over the first day of the 2nd Test at Abu Dahbi and finished where they started.

England were forced into the unconventional change of bringing Monty Panesar back into the side because of the back injury to Chris Tremlet but may have made it anyway, given the nature of the wicket and the suggestion it will spin.

In any event, Panesar was bowling the tenth over after a tight start from Jim Anderson and Stuart Broad. It was a provocative move from Andrew Strauss but as his side is behind in the series, chances have to be taken. Graeme Swann came on soon after, with England's all spin attack being the first time in three years opposition batsmen have faced two England slow men. Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar gave their side a bright start and added 53 for the first wicket before Swan made the first breakthough.

It was a day for straight bowling with all seven wickets being bowled or lbw. At 4-103, after two Stuart Broad strikes, Pakistan were in significant trouble until Misbah and Asad Shafiq combined to add a neat 100. By tea, Pakistan's typical steady approach had them back on track, slowly making their way to 177 with no further wickets falling. Misbah, with his usual conservative approach to batting, was giving nothing away, despite starting his innings with two huge sixes off Panesar. Only 27 were added in the hour after tea, during which the aggressive Shafiq was given out on review, slogging across the line to Swann just before the second new ball. Broad removed Adnan Akmal with the second new ball and then Rehman scored a duck in in a stand of 27 with Misbah before Swann slipped one past his bat onto off stump in the second last over. Misbah's response wasn't one that would be expected from him. Just as he had done at the start of his innings, he lifted Panesar over the boundary twice in the last over the day.

Pakistan, with three spinners and the pace of Umar Gul and Junaid Khan have the attack to cause England problems so another fifty from Pakistan could be too many for Strauss' shell-shocked batting line-up.

Australia Still Dominating India

The second day of the Adelaide Test was another dominating display from Australia.

Clarke and Ponting added 386

Starting the morning with Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting already on centuries and the wicket flat, India offered little in the way of resistance in the first session, seemingly content to set straight fields and hope their bowlers might restrict the damage and both batsmen sacrifice their wickets in frustration. Unfortunately, the bowling wasn't up to the task and the Australia took a full and heavy toll. There were drive, cuts, pulls ... a full repertoire unleashed like a couple of senior boys batting against the year sevens at lunch time. The Indians weren't up to it but that shouldn't detract from just how good the batting was. India created their only chance as the courageous Ishant Sharma was roaring in during the third quarter of the session, bowled a good length ball angled at leg stump and caused Ponting to return the ball at him in the air. It was sharpish chance for fast bowler in his follow through but he blew it.

There's an Australian saying which covers Sharma's summer ... don't by a lottery ticket.

By lunch, 134 more had been added, Clarke only just shading Ponting in the session. The pace of Clarke's innings was outstanding. Ponting's double century - raised after lunch - took 357 balls. Clarke's - raised before - was a hundred balls less.

Virender Sehwag had nothing left to offer as captain and by the time lunch arrived, India were vigorously waving the white flag. Again with the wrong attack - as in Perth - and with the same tactics which seemed to lack both effective plans and the consistency from the bowlers to carry them out, they continued to take a hiding.

The second session was marginally India's, taking four wickets despite Australia adding another 100. Clarke left three balls after the break, still burping up his lunch and missing a straight ball from Yadav intended for his leg stump and having his pads brush it back onto those sticks behind him. The partnership of 386 was just two short of the all time Australia record for the fourth wicket set by Bill Ponsford and Don Bradman at Headingly in 1934 and was not only the highest 4th wicket partnership of all time at the Adelaide Oval but the best of any pairing for any wicket there in the 70 Test, 117 year history of the place. Heady stuff.

Ponting and Michael Hussey added  50 in thirteen overs before a freakish piece of fielding from Gautum Gambhir at silly point started a clatter of wickets. Hussey pushed to cover, Gambhir stuck out a hand, grabbed it and threw down the batsman's wickets with Hussey already moving forward with the stroke. For once something went India's way. Within six overs, Ponting was out pulling Zaheer Khan to deep midwicket where Sachin Tendulkar held a good catch and Peter Siddle pushed forward at Ravi Ashwin and gave Saha his first keeper's catch in Tests. Ponting's dismissal was adjoined with another thunderous standing ovation, led conspicuously by the Australian captain in the open player's viewing area.

That's where it ended for India as Brad Haddin and Ryan Harris lashed out on either side of tea for cheap runs until a declaration after 600 was reached.

On a placid wicket, baked stale under two days of Adelaide sun and against wayward Australian bowling, the task should have been so much easier for India than at any of the three previous venues.

It wasn't.

Siddle removes Sehwag

Gambhir's improving form, saw him take full toll of loose and badly directed opening overs from both Ryan Harris and Ben Hilfenhaus. Clarke, never a man to wait when things aren't working, had Hilfenhaus off after two poor overs and turned to his go-to man, Siddle. It only took one delivery - a rank full toss somewhere between shin and knee height on leg stump - for Siddle to send Sehwag back to the dressing room. Shewag should have put it out of the ground or at least peppered the members, instead, so confused with bat in hand this summer that he no longer knows who he is, he sent it back to Siddle, high and to his right. With better fortunes than Sharma, Siddle "stuck out a mit" and caught it.

Hilfenhaus came back immediately to bowl at Rahul Dravid and a good length ball which would have passed over the stumps, passed Dravid bat handle, where his low held hands had sent the blade in search of the ball. Clearing everything wood, it brushed his right elbow instead and went down onto the wickets. On a dead easy track, such strokes of fortunes always seem to follow winners.

Dravid bowled 6 out of 7 innings

Tendulkar and Gambhir batted until stumps and should resume tomorrow with a mind to enjoy the conditions and the track. Most batsman expect practice wickets to be this good and when they are, net bowlers expect to be jogging back up the oval to fetch their balls back. India need to bat with the conviction of the champions they are or will become. In reality, Tendulkar will score that hundred, Gambhir has now adjusted to the bounce of Australian wickets, Virat Kohli will lift again and keeper Saha is a fine young batsman. Only Laxman, down in confidence after dropping another two catches and knowing the end is close looks vulnerable. There were signs that all was not right with Harris at the end, pulling up abruptly in is follow through.

All that said, India may well confirm Paterson's sentiments in his famous Australian poem. This time, instead of a stripling on a Timor pony, it may have been The Man With Snowy Haircut and Ricky of the Overflow who have combined to "halt them, cowered and beaten and turn their heads for home." India have had enough and even though a hostile reception waits for them, home is where they want to be.

As if we haven't had enough, today could again be Australia's Day.

Australia Too Hot For Stone Cold India

Ricky Ponting pulls Ashwin

You could script it but no one would have believe that a down and out champion could rise so far as to assume the mantel of his former glory, but after encouraging displays in Sri Lanka and South Africa, Ricky Ponting has returned home to provide a glut of runs against India. Failing only in Perth, Ponting added to his record with another unbeaten century, this time adding 251 for the 4th wicket against India in Adelaide. His day started auspiciously, with ominous signs in the 20th over as he played a glorious straight drive and and a back foot cover drive for four from Umesh Yadav, before pulling him powerfully to forward square leg. As the day wore on, he batted with respect for the Indians but no compassion. Only Ishant Sharma kept him controlled.

Ponting's century, as classy as it was, was not the main story of the day. The headlines belonged to captain Michael Clarke who adopted an aggressive response to the Indians from the time he near ran onto the Adelaide Oval at the fall of Cowan's wicket. Whilst his aggression needed some luck - you make your own they say - his attitude was as rewarded as the Adelaide crowd who were dazzled by his batting. At 38 he slapped at a wide ball from Sharma and edged through the vacant first slip. Sehwag had allocated one man for the slips and had him standing at second and then near the end, Sharma found his edge with the second new ball and Laxman dropped a diving effort to his right at second slip.

Ishant Sharma had no luck

Ishant Sharma has had that sort of a tour ... consistently bowling well, finding edges and watching his hard work get dropped in the dirt.

Clarke and Ponting were superb. Taking advantage of a badly constructed Indian attack which needed Ohja rather than Sehwag doing the second spinner's role, they were further aided by Yadav having a terribly off day. He had four spells, none of them very good, with length being the major problem. You can't bowl full tosses and long hops to high quality batsmen and hope to get away with it. There is little doubt of his potential but until he can avoid displays such as these where he goes at more than seven an over, he can't play Test cricket. Sehwag tried things for the first two sessions but had plainly had enough after tea. When Yadav went for 12 with his first over and a new ball in hand, he was immediately replaced by Ravi Ashwin. Dave Warner played two maidens from the off spinner and then looking to take Zaheer Khan off his stumps, he instead walked across and was lbw. The replay indicated it would have skimmed a bail which can only raise further doubt re the tracking technology. The naked eye would have it hitting two thirds of the way up leg. When Ashwin bowled Shaun Marsh three overs later, a ripple of surprise ran through the crowd. Marsh is so bamboozled at the moment that he let a straight ball through his defence and lost his off stump. It was a cunning delivery and not the off break Marsh expected but it should have been easily defended.

Michael Clarke hit 82 in bomdaries

Cowan looked very good in adding 53 with Ponting but he was again fooled by Ashwin, who sent down a top spinning dipper which duped Cowan into a drive but it didn't make it all the way to the proposed point of contact, causing Cowan to slightly lift his drive and have Laxman take a very good diving catch at short cover.

There after, Clarke and Ponting took the Indians apart. Clarke trailed Ponting by 37 when he came in, outscored his senior partner at all stages of the partnership and eventually went past him by the close. Clarke has scored 140 of the 251 partnership.

Its a belter of a pitch and if the Indians weren't 0-3, with the captain suspended, Laxman, Sehwag and Dravid in terrible form and Tendulkar and Kohli with the handicap of expectation on their shoulders, it would be easy to still imagine this as a high scoring draw. There is more to taking wickets than the state of the pitch. Five years ago, England made 500 large in the first innings, led by a few and then rolled over like drunk ducks in lake of lager at the merest nasty looks from Shane Warne. The Australian pace attack has the same look in their eyes.

4-0 is still looking awfully good.

Will Adelaide It On Them?

It will be a very different Test this trip to Adelaide: hotter, more humid and on a deck more likely to spin than seam. Then again, it will also be much of the same: India are demoralised, their champions lost in woeful footwork and abandoned form, their captain muted in the dressing room and the Australians more confident than in three seasons.

What to make of it?

Nathan Lyon looking to celebrate

Australia has dropped Mitchell Starc in favour of Nathan Lyon, a necessary move in the conditions. Perth is, after all, the only place where the four quicks policy can ever find legs. The pitch will hold turn for Lyon and for the skipper's left arm tweekers because two spinners will be handy from day three on. Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle have moved the ball through the air all summer and the humid conditions likely on the first three days will aid that greatly and any pitch that will entertain turn will pay similar compliments to cut or seam. If Siddle's off cutter could be devastating anywhere else there is no reason to doubt it in Adelaide. Ryan Harris comes home to his original home ground with the constant question mark over his ability to play consecutive Tests within a week.

Interesting fellow Harris. For some reason most think of him as being a seasoned veteran, but here he sneaks his Test record out of single figures. In fact, Adelaide will become the only ground after Perth where he has played a second match.

The batting looks confident apart from Shaun Marsh, who has undergone a severe transformation since those first two Tests in Sri Lanka and he's had more meals than runs since then but the selectors have wisely stuck with him. Whether that will be the case by the time the team takes the field in Bridgetown in early April is another case entirely. If Warner fires again, it could be another Indian blood letting exercise as Adelaide's skinny sides will be well short of holding him. A couple of runners might need to be posted outside the ground at the Victor Richardson Gates to retrieve lost lobs.

Haddin is the other weak link but when sides are winning, even the rusty links are covered in gloss.

She'll be right - Virendar Sehwag

India are a mess. Beaten convincingly in all three Tests, they have failed to respond to Australian conditions despite having a batting list which has both experience and success here. Sehwag, having been forced into the captaincy is talking of batting in the middle order. It didn't work for Dilshan and it won't work for Sehwag. Added responsibility won't help, especially when he didn't want it. Dravid's footwork has been exposed by the cleverness of the Australian plan to move the ball back at his off stump and deny him width. Against lesser attacks last year, he took easy runs out side off stump and then picked them off on slower, lower pitches in the the West Indies, England and at home. Uncomfortable with the ball bouncing above his waist, his bat is coming down from gully/point in order to work the ball to the leg side. As players age, they tend to try and play everything to their strength and his angled backlift and slower reflexes have been unable to cope with the inbound missiles that keep hitting his stumps.

Laxman looks finished and India loose nothing in debuting Rohit Sharma here.

The bright spots have been Sachin Tendular and Virat Kohli but both have to move beyond good starts and well made fifties and make hundreds in Adelaide. Perhaps both can then relax once symonds have been brushed from their backs and get about the business of playing a better standard of cricket.

Pragyan Ohja must play

India must do what they failed to do in Perth and invent their own approach to this Test. Following the Australia philosophy of four pace men into the last Test was a disaster and Adelaide affords them the chance to play their strength and pick two spinners. Therefore Kumar and Ishant Sharma should be removed and Ashwin and Ohja inserted. Using Sehwag as the second spinner distracts him from his real purpose in the team and bothers no one in a confident Australian batting list. Zaheer bothers the Australians the most - one way or the other - and his new ball partner should be the still raw but exciting Umesh Yadav, who bought India back into the game in Perth after Warner had blasted them on the first afternoon.

Wriddhiman Saha comes in for Dhoni. He's a better batsman than wicketkeeper, bought on the tour to fill batting holes and couldn't have thought he would have the gloves when his skipper filled that role. If India don't pick two spinners, he may the reason.

Its hard to see a reversal, despite the heat working against the big Australian pacemen but beyond all else, Australia have a master tactician at the helm and its even harder to imagine him taking the pressure off. No consideration of a dead rubber as another win here lifts Australia up to third on the ICC world Test rankings. Twelve months ago we were fifth.

This Test will last longer than others but it will surprise if it gets to five days.

England's Top Order Woeful

Misbah-ul-haq made a patient 52

It won't have escaped Micky Arthur's attention that England were dispatched in just a few overs short of three days in Dubai. Pakistan, continuing to rise up the rankings - as are Australia - have taken a significant advantage in this three match series in the UAE and not just a 1-0 lead in the series. Of particular note should be the manner in which England's crack batting line up folded their desert tents in both innings and headed into the wilderness.

All of it because of sustained pressure and bowling in partnerships and English batsmen too arrogant to treat their opposition as seriously as they did Australia last summer. Strauss, Cook, Trott and Pietersen were out to poor shots in both innings, Morgan only in the first. Trott was caught down the leg side in both innings. Ian Bell was at least done by great deliveries in both innings, doosra's from Saeed Ajmal that would have done for the best in the world and Bell can easily claim that title in the middle order. On the first day, the wicket hardly turned and didn't provide deadly bounce. Ajmal varied his pace and length and impetuosity took care of the rest.

Having lasted 73 overs in the first innings, England's 58 over capitulation on the 3rd day was a disgrace, this time Umar Gul taking the first three wickets with catches behind and Pietersen's lazy hook shot which top edged itself to Rehmann at deep square leg. You need your number four to have more control at 2-25 and still more than a hundred behind. Its a lesson Ricky Ponting was able to learn late in his career and one of the reasons he'll end as great as he started and guys like Pietersen will spill their talent needlessly and always come up short.

Apart from Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad adding 48 for the eight wicket and two and a half hours of resistance from Jonathan Trott , the innings had no spine. After Gul, the left armer spin of Abdur Rehmann and the sublime off spin of Saeed Ajmal didn't so much mop up as surgically remove the rest of the batting list. Ajmal took 10-97 and was MOTM.

Earlier, Pakistan used almost as many overs in their one innings as England used in two. If you watch them play Test cricket expecting to scintillating strokeplay you'll have a high level of disappointment. Apart from Mohammad Hafeez who usually likes to move the score along. The rest drop anchor and wait for loose deliveries. Misbah-ul-huq has insisted his men value their wicket and grind away. Remove the loose shots  and occupy the crease. Hafeez top scored with an unusually slow 88 and his his opening stand of 114 with Taufeeq Umar burst the bubble that has been the feared England pace attack. Younis Khan, Adnal Akmal and in particular the skipper Misbah, played long innings which denied England and caused long spells from her bowlers. The main wicket takers all bowled about thirty overs each. Swann took more chances and was rewarded with wickets but without the variety or conjuring tricks of Ajmal, he never looked the threat that his opposite posed.

Lots of leadership needed
from Andrew Strauss

Hafeez took four overs to score all the runs needed for the ten wicket victory.

In the next two weeks England have to win twice to take a series they appear to have approached lightly. Strauss is talking up their chances, quoting the turn around after a Perth loss last year but his men had been on raw meat before Australia and their diet looks more like croissants and cream puffs now. If they deserve NO 1 more than Javed Miandad has suggested, they will have to prove it in those two weeks. Whilst the bowlers did most of the wet work getting them to world supremacy, the signs are it is the batsmen who have to ride into town and shake the place apart with a Lions roar.

It will be good trick if they pull it off. The second Test starts in Abu Dhabi next Wednesday.

Aunty Still Fuller Tragics

ABC Morning Show host
Kelly Fuller

The ABC Morning Show Cricket Tragics returned to this week. Host Kelly Fuller has been anchoring the cricket panel since late 2010 to discuss issues about the game at the first class and beyond level of the game and still has her three original Tragic panelists, Tony Meppem, Doug Selems and Peter Langston. This season, John Hyde has been added to the panel.

Listeners across the New England and North West of NSW can listen to in to their prognostications on Friday mornings after the news headlines at 10:30am.

Click on the link below to listen to this week's discussion about the improvements in Australian cricket and the reasons for it. Past discussions can be found under the "Tragics Radio" link.

ABC NENW Cricket Tragics 20th February, 2012

The SCG, Poetry & Other Stuff

Lango at the SCG

There have been many highlights in this haphazard collation of years which have conspired to bring me to this point. Some I couldn't even pinpoint to a specific place and time and most I wouldn't care to draw into lists for fear of comparing them.

Twelve years ago, just being brave enough to stay alive was and still remains my greatest achievement but moment by moment, watching my sweetheart walk towards me knowing that even though sixty people stood in this bush setting for our marriage, we were the only ones there will always outrank the best. She is, after all, my alpha and omega and as she walked, she smiled.

Holding my kids moments after their mother had given them to the world was a biggy repeated three times with as much intensity first, second or third time. Watching the eldest die in staged tragedy on the mean streets of Liverpool and beneath the sands of Egypt; reading my daughters words about me and hearing them call for change and reverberate across the rural landscape; seeing my youngest applying his skills with his students ... these are journeys I have been a willing passenger to.

I need not remind you of my disinclination for comparison but its  fair to say, what has happened in the past few months is in that second subset of life's pleasurable surprises - the ones that belong to how we apply the skills we have. Without doubt, with all achievement their is an element of luck but if we call that a given, there are times when we should feel proud of things we have done. My first half century, for instance, 40 years ago at Lilli Pilli Oval .... or my first hundred ... graduation day at Teachers College ... the eulogy at my Mum's funeral ... kids I taught ...  being named one of the three best teachers in NSW ... well, we all have such lists. Some of us call them resumes, some of us call them a few beers at the pub and some of us call them old age.

After having to find something to do after leaving teaching, I have pursued writing in one form or another for the past decade. My success is for your measure or those who have been generous, brave or gullible enough to read and buy my poetry. Putting the thoughts which are bouncing about your head out to folks and saying "well this is what I was thinking about ... what do you reckon?" seems easy enough but you soon learn that feedback is your payment. The good or the bad are much the same but its the vacant which is generally the most taxing.

Last November, I wrote a poem specifically about a Brett Whiteley self portrait and it was selected for inclusion in an exhibition at the New England Regional Art Museum. At the time, I happily allowed myself to be quoted as saying that however things were supposed to get, they couldn't get any better than this. Then, on the second day of the Sydney Test, the curator of the SCG Museum, Leah Dromanski, emailed to advise me that my poem "When Dougie Did The Double" had been chosen for the 100th Test exhibition.

This week, I travelled to Sydney and have now seen my writing in a perspex case in front of Doug Walters Baggy Green Test cap. Beside it is Frank Worrell's cap from the Brisbane Tied Test and a West Indies bat autographed by the 1960-61 team.

To be truthful, it was almost surreal. I suspected the clock on the wall would drip and droop at any moment but it didn't. It didn't seem right to be attracting accolades in the company of such ghosts ... for goodness sake, Steve Waugh's red, towelling hanky was only metres away!

Steve and I

Of course, the reality is that I am thrilled. They are not my words of course, merely the way I choose to use them but to have reached such a stage of recognition that the past few months has stood me on is to provide the perfect opportunity to take stock and enjoy the journey. This is not my destination, you'll understand and I may never find another stop along the way which affords others such an obvious view of my obsession - writing or cricket, the choice best be yours - but such spots are recompense for days when the pen wouldn't work and despair seemed easier to embrace than joy was to find.

I am grateful for your messages of support since this news first snuck from my pocket behind John Mayer's cheery ringtone, "Message in a Bottle", as Clarkey was fine tuning the serious end of the second third of his triple century. Some of you have been embracing me with well meant false praise since the days of dreadful dirges and hopefully you can now justify your lies. I, for one, will never condemn you for them because they helped get me here.

I wish my mother might see the exhibit - either actually - but this week, my father and Sue joined me to view the final product which lies within earshot of a well struck cover drive. Dad had his hand on my shoulder and his heart on his sleeve.

Sue was smiling again.

England Stumbling

Saeed Ajmal took seven
against England - his best
bowling in Tests

It might have worked for Len Lovich but for England, their lucky number is definitely not 1. In the first of three Tests in the UAE against the rising stars of world cricket, Pakistan, seven of thecricketragics' World XI are on show. So far, its not Gillagns Island because the minnow certainly isn't lost.

Andrew Strauss won the toss and England fielded their "A" team and from there it was all down hill. Misbah-ul-Haq confirmed his status as the world's best skipper, removing opening bowler Aizaz Cheema after only two overs and swining off spinner Mohammad Hafeez into the attack to take advantage of the two English left handers. It had immediate effect, Alastair Cook cutting at the third ball and being caught behind. Hafeez only bowled six overs in a 72 over innings. Jonathan Trott went seven overs later, the only man to fall to pace, when he lazily got a wafer on a short ball from Cheema down the leg side and was caught behind.

From their, Saeed Ajmal - last year's top wicket taker - and the left Abdur Rehmann were simply too good for the Englishman, reducing them to 7-94 in 42 overs on what looked to be good batting track. There was turn but nothing insurmountable but the variation and the flight was. Ajmal's first ball deception of Ian Bell with a doosra was spell binding. Ajmal picked up five lbw's among his 7-55, some won through DRS, some confirmed. Had it not been for a typically belligerent half century from Matt Prior and some Swan drives, things for England would have been more desperate.

Hafeez and Taufeeq were dismissive of the much vaunted English attack in the fifteen overs until stumps.

Actually, things are still pretty desperate.

Dhoni Stop Him From Playing

Mahendra Singh Dhoni
banned for slow over rates

The ICC loves to remind the cricket world that it still thinks it is running the game and the decision to suspend MS Dhoni, taken after India were again thrashed in Perth  in what has become a moving orgy of ritualistic killing by Australia’s fast bowlers, is another in the long list of no brainers.

On the surface, making captains responsible for over rates seems a reasonable ploy to make sure the paying public gets value for their tickets. Of course, if this was an important consideration, you wouldn’t see in two days at the Gabba what you can only see in one at the SCG. When the Kiwis were pasted in just three and a half days in Brisbane last November, it cost $135 to see the first three days and public transport  to and from the ground was free. In Sydney two months later, similar seats and facilities over the first three days cost $345, buses and trains cost the earth and parking at the ground was $20 day ... cheaper that public transport but unlike Brisbane, nowhere near as eco-friendly. Heaven knows how much the mums and dads and two or three kiddywinkles cost.

So much for caring about the paying public! Most care is directed toward making sure they keep paying.

Over rates are a modern concern for the game. From the late 1950’s for ten years, cricket was considered dull, with high scoring draws dominating results. The bright spot came during the 1960-61 tour by the West Indies, when the Australia Board of Control was so worried about dull cricket sending patrons running to the beaches, they told Richie Benaud and the touring captain, Frank Worrell that bright cricket would be rewarded. It was at a time when the baby boomers had young impressionable boys running about in their sub teens and the next crop of potential Test players were yet to be steered in the direction of the Baggy Green. The Board consisted of Don Bradman and a collection of venerables who unsurprisingly agreed with with his every word and they saw the danger of surfing champions rising from the bosoms of doting mothers. Of course, bums on wooden seats in antiquated stands never entered their stockbroker, banker, lawyers heads.

Apart from South Africa and the West Indies who played to win, Test teams played to not lose.

Despite this negativity, over rates were splendid. Any number of examples can be found but take the tied Test in Brisbane as one example. Approximately 520 over were bowled (six ball equivalent overs) over the space of five days of six hours each day. That's more than a hundred overs a day and Wes Hall bowled more than sixty of them from a run that pushed off the sightboard.

Then in 1975-76, Clive Lloyd’s West Indians came to Australia and were thrashed by much the same mob of Australians who thrashed the Poms the season before. In his team were the baby-faced Viv Richards, who started the tour as Lillee and Thommo's bunny and finished it with a swagger; and the fast bowling Rolls Royce, Michael Holding, who cried in Sydney when Ian Chappell was caught behind but given not out but bought batsmen to tears ever after. Lloyd took the lesson of three fast bowlers and ramped it up to four and twenty years and three generations of West Indies domination began.

The Big Bird

It was then that over rates plummeted. Twelve overs an hour was the maximum and his bowlers would average 18 overs in the day. You couldn’t wear them out and you could get after them. Two balls an over were bouncers, three were short of a length and maybe one was up in the batsman’s half. If you could score of the fuller and some of the shorter ones, you might get 15 to 20 balls an hour to score off. Bruce Laird once complained to one of the West Indian quicks that they never offered the batsman a chance to drive. "If you want to drive maan, buy a car," came the rum seasoned reply.Coupled with aggressive batting, it was an effective way to stifle the opposition but it also strangled the game. Scoring rates dwindled, beating them became next to impossible and fans lost interest.

In the 1990’s, the ICC moved against slow over rates – essentially against the Windies – insisting on 90 over days or 15 overs an hour and limited the number of short balls initially to one per over but relenting to two. Lights on grounds meant that play could continue well past the scheduled close. My son and I watched Warnie take his 300^th Test wicket in 1998 at the SCG, Jacques Kallis being bowled at about 7:10pm. A line producer at Channel 9 got his backside rearranged by Mr Packer when he aired a Current Affair instead. In the early Naughties some Tests in England played on into the gloom nearing 9:00pm, just to fit in the overs and in one famous example, the Australians fielded in a final session for nearly four hours.

TV executives and players weren’t happy, Mark Taylor chief among them.

So, with modifications here and there, we moved to the current system, where fielding  captains are held responsible for ensuring appropriate over rate targets are met. Sounds fair?

Well, there are issues with this.

Watch how often captains use non regular bowlers to rip through overs towards the end of a session in order get the tally up by the break. Hasn’t it surprised you that Clarke has so often turned to Hussey for three or four overs just before lunch, tea or stumps. In Sri Lanka, Ponting bowled a few overs of offies at one stage. Why do you think Sehwag bowls so often for India? Look at each international team and instead of finding over rated bowlers you’ll see “over rate” bowlers.

Why are so many teams at Test level loathe to play four fast bowlers? Clarke did in Perth but he was confident of running through the Indians. South Africa keep selecting Imran Tahir but its not because he is a classy leg spinner – short run up, six balls in two minutes. The Windies and England have lucked in that Bishoo and Swann also take wickets.

Clarke going through
the change

The worst factor which abuses this rule, are the constant interruptions from “runners”. Unless you attend Tests, you are not aware how often the game stops. When Australia is batting, gloves are changed every 30 to 45 minutes, at which time, the batsman have a drink. This happens all day, regardless of the heat or the circumstances and irrespective of official drinks breaks. There are at least three of these interruptions per session and in Sydney, I counted three sessions that had four and they each rob the game of a minute. Doesn’t sound like much? That’s at least 9 minutes in every days play and with additional half hours being the norm, perhaps its 12 minutes. Bowling teams also have a liability, but watching at the ground, the batsmen seem the worst and in this series, the Australians, in the six days of Test cricket I have attended this summer, are the worst offenders, far more the guilty party than India. The excuse: they need to change their gloves ... gloves that are specifically designed to reduce heat and absorb and hold sweat without affecting grip. Bear in mind, that in the cool of Hobart and with batsman coming and going quickly, the same exchanges still happened.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni – please Mark Nicholas, don’t call him “MS” again ... he doesn't have debilitating disease – the Indian captain, ended Perth two overs short. Wickets falling, injuries and sight screen issues, constant movements in the crowd were all mitigated in his favour but he still finished short of the quota. He was fined 40% of his match fee and the Indian players 20%. He has been suspended because its his second "offence" in a twelve month period, the first in Barbados against the West Indies. Now, in a series which the reputation of some of the most wonderful players of the last fifteen years has been shredded by a bright new captain and his mix of youth and experience, the ICC removes the opposition captain. How is this in the interest of cricket and particularly of the fans, either at home or at the ground? India must turn to Sehwag for captaincy - and he doesn't want it - when only VVS Laxman among the batsmen has a worse record this summer. Batsman Wriddhiman Saha will likely keep.

Give them heavy fines but don't deny them from playing.

Two overs ... let see ... an all pace attack in Perth so perhaps those two overs equate to 9 or 10 minutes. Where else might the umpires have found those minutes do you think and when are umpires going to start saying no to unplanned stoppages which are taking advantage of rules to allow re-hydration of particularly the older players? Its all very well for senior Australian players to call on fieldsmen and batsmen to sort out close catches "in the spirit of cricket" but if the spirit is to run free, it applies to these unscheduled drinks breaks. The old times - anyone pre 1990 is ancient these days - survived on one drink an hour and in fact less, if the fielding captain chose to ignore drinks.

Hmmmm. 

India are beaten and the Indian Board looking for scalps; Dhoni talking about retiring from Tests, so perhaps it doesn’t matter.

Imagine the outcry if the series had been 1-1.

Peter & Me - Reprised

This is an unusual post for this website. In more than four hundred and fifty posts in the two years, none have attracted as much comment as "Peter & Me". It was written, intentionally, as a very personal reaction to Peter Roebuck's death and a reflection of how much his writing had meant to me. It is fairly raw, emotive stuff, without the usual detachment I bring to descriptions of play or prognostications on the great game. For me, Peter's death was very personal because of the resonance in my life which the piece explains.

It is republished, despite the numerous links which existed to it already on the site, by means of additional homage certainly but mainly because so many have asked me too. Hopefully your forbearance will excuse repetition.

Peter & Me 13th November, 2011

Peter Roebuck is dead.

There it was, typed almost as an after thought in a comment on the final piece I'd written about the first Test at Newlands. I was eating lunch in a park in Coonabarabran, on the homeward journey from a music festival at the Warrumbungles National Park. I'll always remember the place, the time, the circumstance.

It only took a few scans of online news pages to garner enough of the puzzle pieces and ignite memories I have learned to tolerate, even manage - memories of undeserved survival that haunt me with a currency that is more remarkable for the ease with which the trouble of others can press so heavily on my own heart. I sat with my wife, cried briefly and shared anecdotes about the man. It helped in that way that talking presses the hard part of grief back, forestalls it until later when you have no more reasons and alone, tears may come with no impedance.

Why?

Most of you would know my great admiration for Roebuck's writing - some have even said I have turned same into writer's impersonation. There is truth in both statements/accusations but there is back story which explains the depth of my reaction to both his death and the nature of it and I wish to express that before any more details become apparent in what I fear will be a sordid frenzy. As Gideon Haigh said today"before we are overwhelmed by the tragedy of the death, I hope we recall the quality of the life and the quality of the work he was responsible for." To do so, I will have to be personal in a way I have never intended for this site and I'll have to leave my back open to any stray knives which might, by happen-stance or design, find their way to an unprotected soft spot between my shoulder blades. This is my risk. Yours is for you to determine.

Ten years ago, my life was in such complete turmoil that I four times attempted suicide. I had failed myself, my family, my employer and my parents by collapsing my world into such a small and unsustainable place that I had no choice but to remove the burden I had created in this failure from all of the people I cared most about. I was no longer the subject for personal consideration. Twelve months earlier, I was so invincible that the world could not contain me but now, by macabre contrast, my world had shrunken to the crawl space behind a lounge chair in the corner of a house I hardly knew. There in the foetal clench of my own arms, I imagined I swam in blood and shattered fragments of all the damage I had caused. In such a dark place, how could the colours be so bright or seek such vengeance?

These were not the thoughts of a rational man but their insanity was then and still is today of no solace. The only argument of merit is to accept that's how I was. If you are desperate enough, if your pain is so great, you will readily make the leap into suicide. You have no thoughts of nobility beyond the chance to just, for once, get something right.

I survived by luck or God's grace - your own belief structure can make the call - and in the process of surviving survival, I had to find reasons to continue living. My family's love should have been enough but it wasn't and sadly, rarely is. For me, I had to see a future for myself and in sifting through myriads of suggestions from almost as many loving friends and family, the idea of writing came to the surface. I wrote a memoir which was long and boring (cause and effect right there). I started writing poetry, some of which became my first collection but it was a chance conversation which married two of my great passions, cricket and writing - a partnership which proved the most cathartic. In Armidale in the 1980's, I had become a cricket correspondent almost by chance but afterwards by design and for five years wrote weekly articles on the game for local newspapers.

As a teacher, I would instruct my students that practise didn't make perfect but perfect practise did and in order to be the best, you should study the best. The link to Peter Roebuck become, therefore, obvious. His writing had all of the qualities I wanted in my own: fearless expression of opinions no matter how unpopular; ideas articulated devoid of banalities or cliché; every piece was an original; thoughtful intelligence which didn't boast of itself; deep, deep knowledge; encouragement seen as being as important as admonishment; reasoned arguments; destruction of pomposity and class systems; and the desire to impart the singular importance of savouring the game like fine art or good music or dishes soaked in love. I could go on describing the elements of any Roebuck piece but where lies the need? If you have read only one, you are aware of the strengths, passions and integrity of the man. He is, after all, the captain who would sack Ian Botham and let Viv Richards and Joel Garner go from their Somerset contracts on matters of principle.

Slowly, with no style of my own at first but eventually finding my voice and always taking responsibility for my own successes and failures, I have built my writing on the game to the point where I write most days. Some pieces are better than others but any writer who claims to drip gems from every squeeze of the writing lemon, needs no reminder other than declining interest. Two years ago I set up this website and for three months, the page view numbers equated with how often I reminded my Dad or my wife that I had recently posted.

Now things are a little more solvent as the Manhattan chart on the site speaks in its ever taller sky scrapers. I even have a weekly gig on the local ABC radio talking about the game. I found an unknown future at a time when I had destroyed my past and the link between the two was Peter Roebuck. I was inspired that cricket could be spoken of in such beautifully constructed words and learned that emulation wasn't copying. His writing taught me to write from a heart that was already swollen with the real meanings of the game at both the macro and the micro level. Recently I wrote the recollections of a mate, initiated by his funeral and the warmth of successive speakers whose portraits of him glowed with his humour, humility and humanity Lessons Learned From A Good Man In the same piece, I contrasted the spiritual rape of the game by those who would corrupt its youth and deny the game its basic truth of a contest fairly fought. Its an example of who I want to be as a writer but I know that would have been beyond me without Roebuck's example. Haigh correctly claims that Roebuck's writing has influenced all those who have filed stories or written tomes after him, although although the exemption of player tour diaries, cook books and post career tell alls was an oversight by Haigh.

Apart from the importance of his inspiration, I have adored reading his pieces. As other's have said, not because I have always agreed with his point of view but because of the courage and the construction. Comic Will Anderson said today "I didn't always agree with Roebuck articles, but fuck I loved to read them."Secondary english students should study his works for style, phrasing and the building of a piece. His was writing of such exquisite style that his body of work stands beside Cardus and Fingleton and to a lesser extent, EW Swanton. In today's media, only his instant biographer, Gideon Haigh - quoted here purposefully - could be considered his superior but it would need a DRS to separate them.

His death, therefore, is like losing a lifeline and a treasure and the daily in-joke I felt with each read of the Herald.

To realise this afternoon, well before it was officially announced by police in Cape Town, that he had ended his own life, was far too close to home and left me feeling selfish that I had survived. I fear further news may erode, perhaps completely, the credibility we all need to survive in a community - an erosion Roebuck was apparently overcome by in a sudden rush to resolution. If so, I will be further conflicted as I dodge other dark shadows from a time when a boy's simple faith was complicated by the designs and sick desires of one I had a right to expect I could trust. I'll face that if and when but for the time being, hope that wild speculation is dulled by the truth.

His age was the final straw. Six months after his March birthday, I also turned 55.

It seems appropriate to sign off sans non de plume: another Peter, very much alive but aching with sadness and gratitude for a man I only met through words. One final task is simpler but too damned late: thank you Peter.

Peter Langston