India
What has the ICC Come To?
Steve Bucknor has been removed as an umpire from a Test match because one of the teams complained about him. Bucknor made many mistakes and has been on the decline for some time, most notably with the fiasco at the World Cup final. But stop and think about it. India complains about an umpire in a Test match it is scheduled to play and the ICC bows to their request a day after saying that there would be no change in the umpires. What kind of precedent is that? So India can only have umpires that they favour in Test matches? Umpires have always made mistakes. The Windies had a tour to Australia a couple of years ago after which the ICC had to admit that the standard of umpiring slipped. The Windies didn't get a change of umpires for their matches. This is all about money and the ICC being afraid of the millions that the game would lose if India went ahead and abandoned the remainder of the tour. Utterly pathetic and not surprising given the blind greed that has characterised the ICC in recent times.Read more
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Bucknor Out
Steve Bucknor may have umpired his last Test match. And if indeed Bucknor's umpiring career is over, then it was a horrible way for one of the more respected umpires over the last 15 years to go out. Bucknor's reputation as an elite umpire has been steadily eroding as age caught up to him, but some of his decisions in last week's India-Australia Test shown in the video above were absolutely shocking. Malcolm Speed, head of the ICC has said that Bucknor would not be removed from future consideration from Test matches, but it is entirely possible that Bucknor would have umpired his last Test. That Bucknor has been removed is further evidence of the weakness of the ICC as it bowed to the wealthy Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as the Indians had threatened to withdraw from the remainder of the tour.
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The Last Time these Two Teams Met...
It's all set now. India will meet Pakistan in the first ever Twenty20 World Cup final. Today, Pakistan dumped New Zealand while India crashed Australia's party, sending them to their third loss of the tournament and back home. There are subplots to these two results namely New Zealand's failure again, following their semi final loss in the ODI World Cup, to make the big game, as well as Australia's stunning failures in a championship. The real story however is the big matchup between these two subcontinent foes, who earlier in the tournament played to a stunning tie that was decided in a bowl off which India won.
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Good timing Mark, as usual. Pity about the content though
A couple of days after the Indian team exited the World Cup, Mark Waugh referred to Sunil Gavaskar's remarks on Aussie behaviour and David Hookes in his weekly column for the Sun-Herald.
Most of what he said was pretty identical to Ricky Ponting's outburst against Gavaskar. The problem was that while dismissing the tendency to keep referring to Australian cricketers' behaviour as stereotyping, he went on to do the same for sub-continental cricketers. First he said
One of the hardest things in cricket is shedding a title. A batsman described as "gritty" finds it a hell of a task to be acknowledged for other traits. The Aussies face the same struggle because sledging is what the media and critics home in on.
Then he went on to over-generalize on sub-continental teams using runners, substitutes, tampering with balls, playing for individual records (shades of Matthew Hayden circa 2004 here), etc.Read more
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Bangladeshi Joy - India Out!
In a match reduced to 21 overs a side by numerous rain stoppages, Bangladesh defeated Bermuda by 7 wickets. The result means that India are officially out of World Cup 2007, which is not a bad thing according to the BBC's Mukul Kesavan
In Trinidad, Bermuda, sent in in overcast conditions were disrupted 4 times due to rain. The final interruption resulted in the match being reduced to 21 overs, with Bermuda on 45/4. Some hefty hitting by Lionel Cann, in particular, helped Bermuda reach 94/9. Bangladesh lost three early wickets to Saleem Mukkudem, but had little trouble in getting the necessary runs.Read more
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Windies Win, India Heading Home
Shiv Chanderpaul made his first World Cup century today.
In Jamaica, a maiden World Cup century by opener Shivnarine Chanderpaul guided the West Indies to a commanding 8 wicket win over Ireland today. While in Trinidad, another stunningly poor batting performance by the Indians have left them all but out of this World Cup.Read more
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Last hope for this World Cup?
In preparing this post, I realized that these two games on Friday - West Indies versus Ireland in Jamaica and India versus Sri Lanka in Trinidad, could be the key to the success of this World Cup. With the latest news of Bob Woolmer's death being a murder, it now seems that regardless of what happens on the cricket field, this World Cup will be forever remembered for his death. If there is any hope left of salvaging this World Cup, it now hangs on the outcome of these two matches.Read more
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Double Shocker!
In probably the most stunning day of cricket in World Cup history, Pakistan crashed out of the 2007 tournament at the hands of associate nation Ireland and favourites India were cut down by unfancied Bangladesh. India are now in serious danger of bowing out in the group stage.Read more
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Last World Cup For the West Indies?
Indian blogger Jagadish, from Cricket24X7, believes that this will be the last World Cup ever held in the West Indies.
"I know that the Caribbean will not get to host any more World Cups. There is a one word reason - television. When the West Indies won the World Cup hosting rights in 1998, cricket was not the huge 'made-for-TV' spectacle that it is now. Fights for TV rights were unheard of and Kerry Packer happened two decades earlier."
He goes on to state that the vast television market in India inconvenienced by the match times will lead the ICC to never grant the West Indies another World Cup.
"This World Cup's games start at 8 pm IST and go on until around 4 am IST. This is as inconvenient a time as you can get, for Indian audiences. It is for this reason that I'm fairly sure that this will be the last World Cup that the West Indies gets to host."
Jagadish will be a guest blogger on Rain, No Play during the World Cup and will give reports on the Indian team, one of the favourites to win it all.
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India Blows away Windies
In the fourth and final ODI on Wednesday in Vadodara, India fired on all cylinders and dominated the West Indies in winning by 160 runs. It was the kind of match where everything went right for India, while conversely, everything went horribly wrong for the West Indies.Read more
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