19th July to 25th July, 2007 : Of comebacks and counter attacks

Written by HW Edit

Wednesday, 25 July 2007

Last week was a fairly eventful week in world cricket. Partly for good, and partly for the worse, activities off the field occupied more column centimeters than action on the field. Well, all in a week's play.

Windies War

Whether this qualifies as ‘News’ or not is a moot point, but the Players vs. the WICB (West Indies Cricket Board) tussle took a few twists and turns this past week.

It started with the West Indian players demanding the resignation of their CEO Bruce Aanensen, in a letter sent to the Dinanath Ramnarine, the President of the WIPA (West Indies Players Association), criticizing the outspoken Chief who had publicly called them ‘incompetent’. Such a thing would never happen in, say, India – the Cricket Administration there doesn’t have a CEO. In fact, at the time of writing, there is also no clear Coach, with a bowling coach, a fielding coach and a manager patching together the team’s support staff. But that’s another story.

Considering this incident happened around the time the Tests against England were on, you wouldn’t want to blame Aanensen for wondering why he was being rebuked for stating, what seems quite clearly, the obvious. At any rate, he responded accusing Ramnarine of trying to start a hate campaign against him, and misusing the player’s letter to fuel his own interests.

What ought to come as good news – the WICB announced that they had extended their sponsorship deal with Digicel, assuring financial support till 2012 – also came in for flak from Ramnarine, who accused the WICB of ‘unilateral decision making’, and not consulting or involving the players.

In a somewhat surprising twist, in the middle of all the heated exchange of official statements, the West Indian cricketers, the WICB and sponsors Digicel got together to kick off the Digicel coaching clinics, with Sarwan, Gayle and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin and other former West Indian Test players turning up to offer advice and tips to young, promising talents.

The coaching clinics, the support and spark shown by young West Indian school kids is possibly the only positive news to come out of this labyrinthine mess of actions, reactions and counter-actions.

Give me a 10!

Forgotten West Indian cricketer Ottis Gibson hit headlines with a bigger story than any other that he might have been involved in during his International playing days. Playing for Durham against Hampshire this Sunday, the 22nd of July, Gibson picked up all 10 wickets in an innings, helping his team bowl Hampshire out for 115, chasing 253. Gibson's finished with figures of 10 for 47 off 17.3 overs.

What is more surprising than a 38 year old taking a 10 wicket haul is the fact that 78 bowlers before him have already achieved the feat in first class cricket.

Freddie's back…for now atleast

Flintoff's aim to make it back into the English ODI side in time for the games against India received a boost as the ECB allowed him to play against a club reserves game. The amount of exposure Flintoff is set to get from the game may not be too many notches higher than a game in the backyard with his mates, since he will be playing for the Lancashire second XI, and only as a batsmen.

But still, it is a beginning. One that the Indians won't be too happy to observe, given that an English attack without Hoggard, Harmison and Flintoff managed to have them on the mat at 201 and 282 for 9.

Wales vs. Lords?

In the wake of the popularity that fast-food cricket Twenty20 is getting, this new development will do nothing to help break the stiff upper lips at the M.C.C into a smile. Lord's might see it's traditional two test quota per season being cut down to one, and has to apply to stage future games like any other ground.

The reason behind this potential upheaval of tradition is the fact that there are now more grounds in England capable of hosting Tests. Something which will come into spotlight when Ponting and Co. find themselves trying to retain the Ashes in the unfamiliar surroundings of the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, Wales.

Can't keep away from an addiction for too long

After numerous rumours and rounds of speculation, it has been confirmed now that Lara has, in fact, signed up for the Indian Cricket League. Although it hasn't yet been confirmed which team Lara is playing for, it is likely that he will be captaining one of the sides.

The fact that he has come back to the game in such little time since he left seems to confirm that his quitting International cricket was more out frustration over the Windies' World Cup performance, rather than out of being tired of the game. At any rate, it will be good to see him back, playing competitive cricket.

Close on the heels comes word from both Warne and McGrath’s managers that their clients are clearly interested in playing for the ICL, and the only thing that needs to be resolved is the amount of money the ICL is willing to splash out to lure these stars out of retirement.

The Scorecard

Sri Lanka overhauled Bangladesh to complete a perfect whitewash, with Bangladesh showing very little of their World Cup form. Despite being 4 for 61 in the last match, Lanka, managed to set a defendable target of 197 in rain curtailed 40 over match. However, the Bangladeshi chase never managed to even start with the Lankan bowlers reducing them to 5 for 69 in 18 overs. There was very little to be said after that, with Jayasuriya picking up 4 wickets and the Man of the Series award.

Earlier, in the second ODI, Lanka curtailed and chased a mediocre Bangladesh target of 137. There seemed to be a hint of some competition in the first ODI with Lanka being restricted to a very chaseable 234. However, Fernando ensured that there would be no national holiday in Bangladesh, ripping their batting lineup apart with a commendable 4-24.

The amount of tears shed by the English team could well out-flood the amount of rain that poured down at Lords, denying them an easily attainable lead in the first Test of the three match series against India. However, it is safe to say that England did fail to grab more than one chance that came their way. With 4 for 268 at the end of the first day, England ought to settled the issue right there, but went on to collapse for under 300.

India returned the favour and themselves scored only 201, with Anderson and Sidebottom sharing 9 wickets amongst them. With Pietersen’s 134, England set India 380 to chase before Dhoni (76 runs) and the Raingods (costing England 43 overs) saw India through when the stumps were drawn with the scorecard at a tantalizing 282 for 9.

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