There you have it… Australia jumped, kicked, stamped, mauled and raped India to a huge win. I woke up at 4 a.m looking forward to a possible contest or a fight. 1 hour was all that made me decide to let me catch some sleep. I wonder if this has to be the worst defeat to them in the recent past.

There were no excuses to be made and was at least glad to know that there were no excuses made by Anil Kumble. Read more… »

I couldn’t catch much of the match today and therefore keeping it short. Australia played as well as they possibly could on this pitch to post a steep total of 499 for the Indians to chase. Phil Jacques once again did well at the top and Clarke also chipped in with a fine fifty. Jacques is turning to be very interesting player to watch as he has been consistently delivering. Read more… »

The annoying fact of India’s growing inability in not wiping out the tail quickly ran on even today as Australia posted a very competitive first innings total of 343. The Robin Williams look-alike and possibly gay Stuart Clarke, entertained to lift Australia up to a strong position. Read more… »

What an interesting day of play! The first test match of the India-Australia series has shown signs of a competitive test series. Now this match really looks alive and kicking isn’t it? Not yet though!

To start with, I was pleased to see Kumble go in with two spinners because somehow it made sense to play to your strengths and utilize all the experience in hand. I really thought that India should use a two spin attack for the series and exit from their earlier modes in Australia. The pitch was interesting, seems to assist a bit of everything and maybe was a touch sluggish and slow for the batters. The bounce was beautiful. Read more… »

Finally, the series which I have been looking forward is around the corner and the games have already began. Harbhajan on landing in Australia has already taken his first dig at … Hogg! On questions posted on the Australian debate on using an all-pace attack or spin, he said “From our point of view, we would be happy to see how Hogg would go against the best players of spin in the world.” Hogg is “not close to the class of Warne and MacGill”. “It would be a big test for him, and we all know how he bowls.” “If they play Hoggy, I will wish him all the best because I have nothing against him, but I would be happy to see him bowl at our batsmen.” Read more… »

In a significant move to groom Michael Clarke for the future, he has been named as the captain of Australia’s Twenty-20 team against New Zealand. Adam Voges makes his return and newcomer Ashley Noffke is all set to be part of the squad. Read more… »

Sanath Jayasuriya has announced his retirement from test cricket and the current test match with England will be his last. Stuck with poor form off late in the test version, he displayed in his last innings some vintage Jayasuriya shots with a fine 78, studded with 10 boundaries and 1 six. Just when everyone thought that he has regained his touch, Sanath has decided to call it a day to end a glorious career on a high note.

Sanath Jayasuriya had played 109 matches, scoring 6885 with an average of 40.02. With 14 hundreds and 30 fifties in his career, many would never forget that mammoth 340 he had scored.

Here is an interesting video I found, where Richie Benaud is the host for a competition to identify who was the fastest bowler in the world. Looking at it I can’t help wonder over the fact that the current breed of fast bowlers like Lee and Akhtar, who can hit 150 from the first ball could have wreaked havoc if they were playing those days on uncovered pitches.

Any thoughts?

Apparently, this video doesn’t seem to be working in IE, works fine on firefox. For IE users, can visit this link, until I find a fix :(.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPDW7hj1yfs

And there it was… the much awaited world record, as Murali bowled a beauty of a delivery that went the wrong way to fool Collingwood and take his stumps. And there he was smiling with the satisfaction that he is now the world’ best bowler. Interestingly, Murali had told that he actually bowled a regular off-spinner that went the other way due to the surface of the pitch… so now even the pitches are siding with him :). Target: 1000 wickets is his next goal and why not. Read more… »

There is nothing like it to watch the underdog come out with all guns blazing… gives you a pleasantly happy euphoria and Zimbabwe certainly will now get the cricketing fraternity to stand-up and take note, after they defeated West Indies by 30 runs. With a country looming over their political turmoil and indifferent attitude of the ICC to play a considerable part in resolving several controversial cricketing disputes, life has gone on with the Zimbabwe team. Read more… »