Comments on Twenty 20
After Australia's first international Twenty20 match, people will be asking whether the format is good for cricket. Well, if Ricky Ponting hitting 4 sixes and a four in one over is wrong, I don't want to be right! Interesting that Ponting ended up 2 runs away from the first ever Twenty20 century. I can imagine it won't be an easy feat to achieve - I wonder how long it will be till someone reaches this landmark.
| Posted by JC on Thu 17 Feb |  9 comments |
The passion of Indian and Pakistani cricket fans
Sunil Gavaskar, in his weekly column for Mid Day, says nothing beats a contest between India and Pakistan. But what of cricket's other great rivalry, the Ashes? Not even close, says Gavaskar, because "nobody's house gets stoned...and the losers can still go down to the grocery store, but not so in an Indo-Pak series. None of the Ashes contests can match that feeling of fear and insecurity and certainly have none of the intensity that an Indo-Pakistan series has." Sunil is right about one thing - you gotta admire the passion and intensity of Indian and Pakistani cricket fans. I'm a deep passionate fan of cricket but I'd never have the energy to go out and burn an effigy of an Australian cricketer if he played badly. At best, I'd slouch into the computer room and post a vehement blog against him.
| Posted by JC on Mon 14 Feb | 34 comments |
Afridi - another must watch TV
I decided this summer that every time Gilchrist walked to the wicket, it was must-watch-TV until his dismissal. I've added Afridi to the list. He's the only batter having scored 1000+ runs in one day cricket to have a strike rate over 100 (Gilchrist is in the 90's). This is as close to "Bradmanesque" (a phrase bandied around in Australia whenever someone hits a few runs) as you can get in the one day format. What I like about his batting is he can walk in (at number 7) with over 100 runs to win at a measly 5 runs an over. But he doesn't know the meaning of building an innings or knocking singles around - it's huge sizes into the crowd no matter what the situation. Maybe that lacks foresight but it sure is fun to watch!
| Posted by JC on Mon 7 Feb | 9 comments |
Glenn McGrath: jock meets nerd
Glenn McGrath's ability to describe the exact circumstance of every test wicket he's taken - given just the number of the wicket - has been described as genius or freak. But I'll give you the exact term for him: nerd! I've seen that exact ability at many a sci-fi convention as Star Trek geeks quote lines from episodes or nitpick continuity details so obscure, the mind boggles. When I was a teenager, I could quote the entire Star Wars script as well as play a similar game to the McGrath wicket quiz: a friend would read a single paragraph from Lord of the Rings and I would quote the chapter name. It's just rare that you see such nerdish qualities in a jock, and a world champion jock, at that.
No wonder he's flourished under John Buchanan's coaching, the ultimate coach-geek.
| Posted by JC on Fri 4 Feb | 9 comments |
