Dileep Premachandran has written an excellent article on cricinfo about the farcical sledging controversy that has arisen out of the current India-Australia ODI series. Whilst everything he has written is quite accurate and relevant, i think he has missed the main point.
when the west indies were the undisputed world champions in the 70's and 80's, they were respected, not just for their cricketing talent, but truly respected as gentlemen, the sort of respect that the current australian team craves and probably feels entitled to. yet their offensive on-field behaviour and sledging antics have ensured few people appreciate them beyond their admittedly awesome cricketing abilities.
when the west indies were champions, young cricketers around the world looked up to them as role models. viv richards, gordon greenidge, michael holding, joel garner and co. inspired a whole generation of young cricket players in the 80's- and what role models they were. a generation later, in the mid-late 90's, australia replaced the west indies at the top of the heirarchy. but they have not exactly been the most complete role models- sure they're great cricketers, perhaps even better than clive lloyd's team, but their unsporting behaviour and hypocrisy have caused as many headlines as their cricketing successses.
so moving forward into the 21st century, when the australian team walks out to play against india, and particularly guys like sreesanth and harbhajan, they see a reflection of themselves and are decidedly uncomfortable with it. these behaviours have been inspired by the champions australian team- this, of all things, is their legacy to world cricket. and that i think is the root cause of the whole unpalatable affair being played out in india at the moment. this sort of thing would not have been seen in 80's and 90's, when the great west indians were the leaders of the cricketing world.
Thursday, 4 October 2007
Wednesday, 3 October 2007
Milford Sound 21/09-22/09
The day began in Te Anau, a small town on the southeastern banks of Lake Te Anau, at 5am. Milford is about 120 km north of Te Anau through some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. We were forewarned to start early because the temptation to stop and admire and take photos and drive slowly would be irresistible......
And how right this warning turned out to be. It took us about 3.5 hours to get to Milford Sound. But before I get ahead of myself here's some of the incredible sights on the way...
The perfect reflections of the mirror lakes....
The approach to the Homer tunnel....basically there's a steep granite mountain that blocks the way to Milford Sound, so the New Zealanders blasted their way through- it only took 30 years!! Initially the Homer tunnel was a project designed to provide employment during the depression but it turned out to be much more work than anyone imagined...
The first half of the road to Milford is fairly standard NZ scenery- lush farmland, rainforest, pine plantations, the Lake of course, and lots of sheep. But it begins to change once the road winds onto the Eglington river valley. Suddenly, as you enter the Fiordland National Park, there are steep snow-capped mountains rising up on either side and the thick forest arches over the road creating a claustrophobic atmosphere. There is no farmland anymore, only forest, and grassland on the valley floor.
On the other side of the tunnel, however, it's a whole new world. There are numerous avalanches, icefalls and treefalls. The rivers and creeks are narrow and fast-flowing. The bends in the road are sharper and there are ominous "NO STOPPING- AVALANCHE ZONE" warnings everywhere. Steep granite walls rise up all around whilst fog covers the valley floor. The roar of the rivers is surpassed in volume only by the procession of tourist buses. As the road winds down towards Milford, the vegetation only seems to get thicker, just like the heavy morning mist.
At Milford Sound, we decided to join a kayaking group and see the Sound up close, as it was a dry, warm day (by Fiordland standards of course). It turned out to be a brilliant decision because no sooner had we pushed our kayaks into the water that we were greeted by a family of bottlenose dolphins. In between large servings of whitebait, the dolphins frollicked around our kayaks, coming much closer to us than we would dare go to them. As we paddled further out into Milford Sound, we passed by some of the area's permanent waterfalls, as well as sites of old treefalls, a fairly common occurence on the steep, densely wooded sloped.
After a quick lunch on the water, we were headed across to the northern bank when we came across a group of penguins, also after whitebait. Unfortunately, penguins are not as trusting of humans as dolphins. We had to keep our distance because the penguins were very shy and would swim away quickly if we came too close....
On the rocks of the northern bank of Milford Sound, we found a whole bunch of NZ fur seals. Apparently they like to bask in the sun during the day and hunt fish at night!! That sounds a bit bizarre to me, but thats what the locals said. These seals are lazy!! They just sit there and stretch and yawn and sleep. But at least they're completely unfazed by humans. We were able to get really close to these seals, only one seal even flinched, and even he went back to his nap almost immediately.
As we headed back to the harbour, passing thru Bowen falls, we were all incredibly sore. Kayaks are a great way to see Milford Sound, but they're not gentle on your back and legs. It was great day out on the water, with more to come on the next day....
We woke up to a stormy sky- everything was shades of grey. The heavens had opened up and it was pouring down....not what you want on your holiday. Unless you're going on a Milford Sound cruise!!! The clouds and the rain brought the whole place to life. There were waterfalls everywhere you looked. The permanent waterfalls had all doubled and tripled in size. The wind whipped the fog into a frenzy creating marvellous visual effects with the mountains in the background.
As the cruiseboat headed out to sea, we began to feel the full brunt of the weather conditions. The cold, stinging rain drove everyone inside and the boat rocked ominously. But this is definitely the best way to see Milford Sound, from outside in. You can really appreciate the steepness of the mountains that seemingly arise directly from the Tasman Sea. It is easy to see why numerous sailors including James Cook missed Milford Sound on their journeys down New Zealand's west coast- the inlet curves sharply to the north, the first of many curves.
On the way back, we stopped by a few more waterfalls with some people opting to get drenched. Then it was smooth sailing all the way back into the harbour....
[The only downside of Milford Sound was the sandfly bites- they're really painful, and itchy for days afterwards. We'd been talking about getting repellant for days beforehand but never got around to it. If your going to Milford Sound, the two things you should not forget are your camera and insect repellant!!]
And how right this warning turned out to be. It took us about 3.5 hours to get to Milford Sound. But before I get ahead of myself here's some of the incredible sights on the way...
The perfect reflections of the mirror lakes....
The approach to the Homer tunnel....basically there's a steep granite mountain that blocks the way to Milford Sound, so the New Zealanders blasted their way through- it only took 30 years!! Initially the Homer tunnel was a project designed to provide employment during the depression but it turned out to be much more work than anyone imagined...The first half of the road to Milford is fairly standard NZ scenery- lush farmland, rainforest, pine plantations, the Lake of course, and lots of sheep. But it begins to change once the road winds onto the Eglington river valley. Suddenly, as you enter the Fiordland National Park, there are steep snow-capped mountains rising up on either side and the thick forest arches over the road creating a claustrophobic atmosphere. There is no farmland anymore, only forest, and grassland on the valley floor.
On the other side of the tunnel, however, it's a whole new world. There are numerous avalanches, icefalls and treefalls. The rivers and creeks are narrow and fast-flowing. The bends in the road are sharper and there are ominous "NO STOPPING- AVALANCHE ZONE" warnings everywhere. Steep granite walls rise up all around whilst fog covers the valley floor. The roar of the rivers is surpassed in volume only by the procession of tourist buses. As the road winds down towards Milford, the vegetation only seems to get thicker, just like the heavy morning mist.
At Milford Sound, we decided to join a kayaking group and see the Sound up close, as it was a dry, warm day (by Fiordland standards of course). It turned out to be a brilliant decision because no sooner had we pushed our kayaks into the water that we were greeted by a family of bottlenose dolphins. In between large servings of whitebait, the dolphins frollicked around our kayaks, coming much closer to us than we would dare go to them. As we paddled further out into Milford Sound, we passed by some of the area's permanent waterfalls, as well as sites of old treefalls, a fairly common occurence on the steep, densely wooded sloped.
After a quick lunch on the water, we were headed across to the northern bank when we came across a group of penguins, also after whitebait. Unfortunately, penguins are not as trusting of humans as dolphins. We had to keep our distance because the penguins were very shy and would swim away quickly if we came too close....
On the rocks of the northern bank of Milford Sound, we found a whole bunch of NZ fur seals. Apparently they like to bask in the sun during the day and hunt fish at night!! That sounds a bit bizarre to me, but thats what the locals said. These seals are lazy!! They just sit there and stretch and yawn and sleep. But at least they're completely unfazed by humans. We were able to get really close to these seals, only one seal even flinched, and even he went back to his nap almost immediately.
As we headed back to the harbour, passing thru Bowen falls, we were all incredibly sore. Kayaks are a great way to see Milford Sound, but they're not gentle on your back and legs. It was great day out on the water, with more to come on the next day....
We woke up to a stormy sky- everything was shades of grey. The heavens had opened up and it was pouring down....not what you want on your holiday. Unless you're going on a Milford Sound cruise!!! The clouds and the rain brought the whole place to life. There were waterfalls everywhere you looked. The permanent waterfalls had all doubled and tripled in size. The wind whipped the fog into a frenzy creating marvellous visual effects with the mountains in the background.
As the cruiseboat headed out to sea, we began to feel the full brunt of the weather conditions. The cold, stinging rain drove everyone inside and the boat rocked ominously. But this is definitely the best way to see Milford Sound, from outside in. You can really appreciate the steepness of the mountains that seemingly arise directly from the Tasman Sea. It is easy to see why numerous sailors including James Cook missed Milford Sound on their journeys down New Zealand's west coast- the inlet curves sharply to the north, the first of many curves.
On the way back, we stopped by a few more waterfalls with some people opting to get drenched. Then it was smooth sailing all the way back into the harbour....
[The only downside of Milford Sound was the sandfly bites- they're really painful, and itchy for days afterwards. We'd been talking about getting repellant for days beforehand but never got around to it. If your going to Milford Sound, the two things you should not forget are your camera and insect repellant!!]
Thursday, 27 September 2007
twenty20 is here to stay...
but more importantly, india actually won!!!! how incredible is that??? i missed most of the games as i was in new zealand, but i did make sure that we had pay tv in our motel room for the final.
it is difficult to believe that this team that is bowling and fielding so well is in fact india. and the batting was so mature in difficult circumstances. i wonder how much of this success will be carried forward to odi's and tests in the coming months. certainly this newfound depth in bowling will be tested in longer games. the batting still concerns me, as far as test cricket is concerned. i really hope sehwag finds himself back in the test team, because all of india's test success from 2001-2004 was based on sehwag's destructive innings opening the batting. despite popular opinion that he is a specialist limited overs batsman, i actually think india would be best served by keeping sehwag for tests exclusively- he has previously thrived in an environment where there are no limitations placed on him. he has proven repeatedly that he is not a good chaser- even in 2nd innings of test matches he has not performed well. what he really excels at is setting big totals. anyway, we'll see what happens over the next few months.
but back to the world cup- it turned out to be an incredible success. i initially voiced my doubts about the format and stated that i didnt really like the type of cricket played. but i have to admit, i've changed my mind. first of all, like i said before, the potential of twenty20 to become a spectator sport easily surpasses anything cricket has ever offered before. never before have such large and energetic crowds been seen at south african stadiums. and this is only the beginning- it seems that twenty20 has all the ingredients to become a real global force. but all this was predicted before the tournament. what was completely unexpected was the quality of cricket...
the tournament opener, thankfully, proved to be a one-off. most of the serious matches were extremely close affairs and there were enough upsets to keep people guessing. most importantly, it was not a tournament dominated by big-hitting batsmen as most expected. bowlers played a key role and fittingly the finalists were teams that picked five specialist bowlers throughout the tournament. the impact of bowlers was clearly evident in the matchwinning statistics of daniel vettori, rp singh, umar gul and shahid afridi. it was sreesanth's destructive spell against australia that decided that semi-final, and the same goes for irfan pathan in the final, vettori against india, afridi against sri lanka and so on. there was a comment made by david lloyd towards the end of the tied india-pak match which i think holds the key to the future of twenty20: he said something along the lines of "if we play these matches on pitches that provide real assistance to bowlers, then it is possible to produce close, tightly contested matches that provide a real spectacle as opposed to mindless slogging". i think playing the tournament in south africa was extremely fortuitous because it clearly demonstrated that twenty20 will be a success due to bowling not batting. three decades of odi's have ensured that everyone can slog to some degree- six after six is not that exciting (sorry yuvraj) if thats all that happens for three hours like that south africa- west indies match. what is much more exciting is the intelligent, tactful batting of players like gambhir and misbah who sum up the situation and play accordingly.
anyway, i am now a convert. under the right conditions, twenty20 can produce really good cricket and contrary to initial expectations, there is more incentive to picking five bowlers (with one or two bowling "all-rounders" like pathan, afridi) than there is in tests or odi's. the challenge for other countries will be to produce wickets that are bowler friendly and produce more tight contests.....
but more importantly, india actually won!!!! how incredible is that??? i missed most of the games as i was in new zealand, but i did make sure that we had pay tv in our motel room for the final.
it is difficult to believe that this team that is bowling and fielding so well is in fact india. and the batting was so mature in difficult circumstances. i wonder how much of this success will be carried forward to odi's and tests in the coming months. certainly this newfound depth in bowling will be tested in longer games. the batting still concerns me, as far as test cricket is concerned. i really hope sehwag finds himself back in the test team, because all of india's test success from 2001-2004 was based on sehwag's destructive innings opening the batting. despite popular opinion that he is a specialist limited overs batsman, i actually think india would be best served by keeping sehwag for tests exclusively- he has previously thrived in an environment where there are no limitations placed on him. he has proven repeatedly that he is not a good chaser- even in 2nd innings of test matches he has not performed well. what he really excels at is setting big totals. anyway, we'll see what happens over the next few months.
but back to the world cup- it turned out to be an incredible success. i initially voiced my doubts about the format and stated that i didnt really like the type of cricket played. but i have to admit, i've changed my mind. first of all, like i said before, the potential of twenty20 to become a spectator sport easily surpasses anything cricket has ever offered before. never before have such large and energetic crowds been seen at south african stadiums. and this is only the beginning- it seems that twenty20 has all the ingredients to become a real global force. but all this was predicted before the tournament. what was completely unexpected was the quality of cricket...
the tournament opener, thankfully, proved to be a one-off. most of the serious matches were extremely close affairs and there were enough upsets to keep people guessing. most importantly, it was not a tournament dominated by big-hitting batsmen as most expected. bowlers played a key role and fittingly the finalists were teams that picked five specialist bowlers throughout the tournament. the impact of bowlers was clearly evident in the matchwinning statistics of daniel vettori, rp singh, umar gul and shahid afridi. it was sreesanth's destructive spell against australia that decided that semi-final, and the same goes for irfan pathan in the final, vettori against india, afridi against sri lanka and so on. there was a comment made by david lloyd towards the end of the tied india-pak match which i think holds the key to the future of twenty20: he said something along the lines of "if we play these matches on pitches that provide real assistance to bowlers, then it is possible to produce close, tightly contested matches that provide a real spectacle as opposed to mindless slogging". i think playing the tournament in south africa was extremely fortuitous because it clearly demonstrated that twenty20 will be a success due to bowling not batting. three decades of odi's have ensured that everyone can slog to some degree- six after six is not that exciting (sorry yuvraj) if thats all that happens for three hours like that south africa- west indies match. what is much more exciting is the intelligent, tactful batting of players like gambhir and misbah who sum up the situation and play accordingly.
anyway, i am now a convert. under the right conditions, twenty20 can produce really good cricket and contrary to initial expectations, there is more incentive to picking five bowlers (with one or two bowling "all-rounders" like pathan, afridi) than there is in tests or odi's. the challenge for other countries will be to produce wickets that are bowler friendly and produce more tight contests.....
new zealand
i just got back from a short holiday in new zealand, and i must say, it is so much better than what all the tourism ads claim. those things do no justice to the supreme beauty and grandeur of new zealand.
we spent ten days driving around the southern parts of the south island including 2 days of skiiing, which if you havent done is a must-do activity. the major places we went to were mt.cook, milford sound and the glaciers, but travelling in new zealand is much more about the bits in between; the little tracks and unsealed roads that lead to stunning gorges, dazzling waterfalls and dizzy peaks, the sound of birdsong and bleating lambs, the lush farmland and dense forests and the thousands of rivers that criss-cross the land.
there's lots of photos to come- i havent uploaded them as i havent looked thru them yet. but soon....i still have over a week of leave. the worst thing about holidays is the intense feeling of withdrawal one gets after returning home...
we spent ten days driving around the southern parts of the south island including 2 days of skiiing, which if you havent done is a must-do activity. the major places we went to were mt.cook, milford sound and the glaciers, but travelling in new zealand is much more about the bits in between; the little tracks and unsealed roads that lead to stunning gorges, dazzling waterfalls and dizzy peaks, the sound of birdsong and bleating lambs, the lush farmland and dense forests and the thousands of rivers that criss-cross the land.
there's lots of photos to come- i havent uploaded them as i havent looked thru them yet. but soon....i still have over a week of leave. the worst thing about holidays is the intense feeling of withdrawal one gets after returning home...
Monday, 10 September 2007
Twenty20 has arrived
32 years ago, one-day cricket claimed its place in the cricket world with the inaugural world cup. now, twenty20 is staking its claim with the launch 0f the twenty20 world cup. gideon haigh, one of the best cricket journalists going around has written a fantastic article on the evolution of cricket (highly recommended for all cricket enthusiasts) and various variations on the main theme that have flopped disastrously.
anyway, ever since twenty20 took off in english county cricket in the 2003 northern summer, i've been trying to work out exactly how i feel about it. and i must say, its not as simple as i initially thought.
from the handful of matches i've seen, i dont really like the gameplay. there's very little tactics involved- most of the innovations are defensive i.e. how to concede less runs. as far as the batting goes, its quite similar to the final 10-15 overs in odi's (improvisation, slogging etc). the thing i really dont like about it is that inferior batsman can shine (because the game doesnt last long enough for their defeciencies to show) and quality bowlers are not adequately rewarded. so, it doesnt really add anything new to the game the way odi's brought a new dimension to cricket and cricketers three decades ago, and it dilutes the finer technical aspects of the game.
BUT, thats only one side of the argument. twenty20 was the product of about ten years of experimentation by the ecb to come up with a product (yes, product....thats what it is nowadays) that would be competitive with soccer in england. by necessity, the game would have to be short, thrilling, have lots of fast changes of momentum and be palatable and understandable to a broad range of people. and i have to admit, somewhat grudgingly, that twenty20 delivers all those things. it has attracted plenty of people who would never consider going to watch a full day's worth of cricket. and its very television friendly...
i think the conclusion is that twenty20 is here to stay, even though more serious fans are never going to fully embrace it. on the whole, it probably is a good thing for cricket in terms of exposure and developing the game outside of its traditional bastions...
anyway, ever since twenty20 took off in english county cricket in the 2003 northern summer, i've been trying to work out exactly how i feel about it. and i must say, its not as simple as i initially thought.
from the handful of matches i've seen, i dont really like the gameplay. there's very little tactics involved- most of the innovations are defensive i.e. how to concede less runs. as far as the batting goes, its quite similar to the final 10-15 overs in odi's (improvisation, slogging etc). the thing i really dont like about it is that inferior batsman can shine (because the game doesnt last long enough for their defeciencies to show) and quality bowlers are not adequately rewarded. so, it doesnt really add anything new to the game the way odi's brought a new dimension to cricket and cricketers three decades ago, and it dilutes the finer technical aspects of the game.
BUT, thats only one side of the argument. twenty20 was the product of about ten years of experimentation by the ecb to come up with a product (yes, product....thats what it is nowadays) that would be competitive with soccer in england. by necessity, the game would have to be short, thrilling, have lots of fast changes of momentum and be palatable and understandable to a broad range of people. and i have to admit, somewhat grudgingly, that twenty20 delivers all those things. it has attracted plenty of people who would never consider going to watch a full day's worth of cricket. and its very television friendly...
i think the conclusion is that twenty20 is here to stay, even though more serious fans are never going to fully embrace it. on the whole, it probably is a good thing for cricket in terms of exposure and developing the game outside of its traditional bastions...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)