Cricket

Sport and Colonialism

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

Today’s Guardian has an interesting article (which from the byline appears to have been written by Pakistanis) on the different attitudes towards cricket in Pakistan. Imran Kahn explains how success at cricket helped the country feel proud of itself in the past:

“The colonial hangover was removed by the cricket team,” he said. “When I started we were the generation that couldn’t possibly think of beating England. Then we began beating England. Much more important than beating other teams was to beat England because they were considered the master, the ex-colonialists. It was a country regaining its honour and pride through cricket, getting that self-esteem that colonialism destroys.”

And yet earlier this week the unthinkable happened. Pakistani terrorists attacked a a visiting cricket team, clearly intending to kill them all. Why? Because the terrorists regard cricket as a colonial import:

Among militant groups, though, cricket is considered an imperial throwback. The banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, suspected of involvement in the recent Mumbai and Lahore attacks, called upon Pakistanis to give up the sport. “The British gave Muslims the bat, snatched the sword and said to them: ‘You take this bat and play cricket. Give us your sword. With its help we will kill you and rape your women,'” the LeT said in its magazine.

The situation is similar in the rest of the Indian subcontinent and the Caribbean. Some of the greatest cricketers the world has ever known have come from India, the West Indies, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. What is more, the most high profile domestic cricket tournament in the world – the one with the most money involved, the one that players from all over the world want to be part of – is the Indian Premier League. Australia’s players might still be on top of the world, but when money and politics are taken into account it is India that runs the game. This infuriates stuck-up Englishmen.

Clearly I’m not a Pakistani, or indeed from anywhere in the former British Empire. I have no voice in their internal debate. Some of my ancestors, however, are from a part of Britain that was conquered by the English around a thousand years ago and was treated as a colonial possession for hundreds of years. Rugby is a game that was invented in an English public school, and is very much a creation of the upper classes (lower class English people are supposed to play soccer instead). And yet rugby is a game that the Welsh took to their hearts – particularly in the coal mining valleys of the south – and is now as much a part of our national psyche as cricket is of India’s. Nothing gives us greater pleasure than beating the English. And if a bunch of religious extremists were to tell us that we had to stop playing rugby because it is a colonial import I like to think we’d give them pretty short shrift.

Cricket Under Attack

~ Cheryl ~ 3 Comments

I woke up this morning to the terrible news that a bus taking the Sri Lankan cricket team to the ground for their game against Pakistan had been attacked by well-armed terrorists. Thankfully none of the team is seriously injured, though Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paravitarana have been taken to hospital with shrapnel wounds to the thigh and chest respectively (see CricInfo). However, five Pakistani policemen who were part of the security team for the cricketers died protecting their charges. The Sri Lankan team was only in Pakistan because both Australia and India had declined offers to tour, claiming the country was “too dangerous”.

For the benefit of those of you in non-cricket-playing countries who may not be familiar with the politics, this appears to have been nothing to do with the Sri Lankans per se. Indeed, as Sanath Jayasuriya has been quoted in The Guardian, in all the years of conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers, cricketers have never been attacked. Nor is this an Islam v Secular issue. The Pakistani team and government include many devout Muslims all of whom are cricket lovers as well. The Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK, speaking on Sky News this morning, talked about extremists who believe that cricket is un-Islamic: that is, he was talking about fundamentalists.

If you are looking for an analogy, the best one I can think of is to imagine what would happen if a bunch of well-armed Christian fundamentalists attacked a bus taking the Washington Redskins to a game against the Dallas Cowboys, complaining that playing football on a Sunday was sinful.

Of course there is more to it than that. There is a whole pile of politics involved, including the war in Afghanistan. Tariq Ali takes a look at the issues in The Guardian. But the core issue here is that this is a terrorist attack that will outrage ordinary Pakistanis in a way that attacks on Western tourists in India, or support for the Taleban, will not. As Alex Massie says in The Spectator, “the real intended victim is Pakistan itself.” And because of that I hope that we will discover that this time the terrorists have shot themselves in the foot.

No World Record for Younus

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

I’m sorry to report that Younus Khan failed in his attempt to set a new world single-innings batting record. He was out for 313 early in the morning session. That puts him 13th on the all-time list, and only 3rd amongst Pakistani batsmen.

Records Go Tumbling

~ Cheryl

Last week we had a wonderfully competitive Test Match in Antigua where West Indies’ final pair of batsmen just managed to hold on for a draw. This week a very different kind of draw is being fought out in Karachi, Pakistan. The match is between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and it is being played on a pitch that gives no help to bowlers whatsoever. The result long since ceased to be a question, but the match is fascinating nonetheless because of the records being broken.

Earlier in the game, Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera of Sri Lanka put on 437 together, setting a new world record for a 4th wicket partnership. Cricket lovers will doubtless know that Jayawardene, along with Kumar Sangakkara, also holds the record for the highest partnership ever – 624 for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in Colombo in 2006. But the Pakistan team did not fold under the pressure of Sri Lanka’s massive first innings total of 644-7 declared. They have fought back, and at the end of day four were 574-5. Younus Khan finished the day on 306 not out. With one day to play he has his sights on Brian Lara’s word record of 400 for a single innings. If the pitch keeps playing the way it has, he’s in with a chance.

You can find a BBC report and the full scorecard here.

Cricket Trivia

~ Cheryl

The great cricket statistician, Bill Frindall, was proud of the fact that he was born on the first day of the longest ever test match – a game between South Africa and England in 1939 which they planned to play to a finish no matter how long it took, but which actually had to be abandoned after 10 days because the English team had to catch their ship home. As I have reported, Frindall died earlier this year. His funeral took place last Friday, which by coincidence happened to be the first day of the shortest test match every played (the 10-ball farce in Antigua). As Test Match Special producer Adam Mountford notes, Bill would have loved that.

The IPL Auction

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

The cattle market is over for another year, and as expected KP (to Bangalore) and Freddie (to Chennai) both fetched good money. Both the same, in fact, on $1.55m, which should help keep things peaceful in the England dressing room. Their prices just eclipse the $1.5m paid for Dhoni last year, but there were far fewer players in the auction this time around, so it is not surprising that the two big stars both fetched premium prices.

Michael Clarke withdrew from the auction to “spend more time with his family”. As usual that well-worn political euphemism appears to have been a smokescreen. The word out of India is that Puppy had over-priced himself and had withdrawn to avoid the embarrassment of not having anyone bid on him.

The Royals spent quite a lot of money on Shaun Tait, which is understandable. We needed a good strike bowler to replace Tanvir, and Tait was one of the best on offer. I must admit that I’d never heard of Tyron Henderson, which just goes to show that I should pay more attention to the English Twenty20 tournament. Henderson was a key player in the Middlesex side that won that trophy last year, and distinguished himself in Twenty20 back home in South Africa as well. He’ll be an excellent addition to the Royals squad.

I have no idea what Bangalore think they are doing. I love Rahul Dravid as a batsman, but he’s not the greatest captain in the world, and saddling him with KP and Jesse Ryder is about the worst thing you could do. Two more headstrong players would be hard to find. I’d suggest making KP captain, but he can’t be there for the whole tournament.

Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai all appear to have strengthened their squads, and as they were all good last year they should be better now. Punjab haven’t made any great buys, but Yuvraj ran a great team last year and should do the same again. My initial instinct is that the Knight Riders and Chargers will disappoint again.

Full details of the auction are available from the BBC. I see from the video that the Royals did actually bid on KP, but eventually let Vijay Mallya have him.

Replays A Hit

~ Cheryl

The current test series between England and West Indies is the first in which the England team have had experience of the trial instant replay system. As in tennis, the teams have a number of appeals that they can use, and they keep the appeal if it is upheld, but lose it if it is not. How is the system working?

While I have been having dinner, three referrals were made. The first was a dreadful decision by the umpire. Freddie’s ball pitched in line, hit Devon Smith plumb in front, and according to Hawkeye would have taken out middle stump about half way up. The field umpire game Smith not out, a decision that was very quickly reversed on appeal. Freddie, gentleman that he is, immediately went to commiserate with the umpire.

The second appeal was again an LBW for Freddie, this time against Sarwan. It was close, but the replay showed that the ball was probably going to miss the stumps, confirming the decision of the field umpire.

Appeal three was much more interesting. Harmison hit Sarwan above the knee roll on his pads. The umpire gave the LBW, Sarwan appealed, and on replay it looked like the ball might just have gone over the top. It was really hard to say, and in such circumstances the batsman should be given the benefit of the doubt, which is what happened.

So from what I have seen, we’ve had three referrals and three correct decisions, which should be good for the game. The Sky commentators seem happy. Agnew, on the other hand, is continuing to predict doom and disaster, and is busily trawling through the TMS email to find people who support him. Thankfully Sir Geoffrey is giving him an ear full.

IPL Season Approaches

~ Cheryl

This year’s Indian Premier League is due to begin on April 10th and preparations for the new season is well under way. Most of the squads will remain intact for last year, though I understand that the Pakistan government is throwing a hissy fit and not allowing their players to participate. However, there are a bunch of new overseas players available, and they will go to auction on Friday. Reserve prices have just been set. Here are the top picks:

  • Kevin Pietersen: $1,350,000
  • Michael Clarke: $1,000,000
  • Andrew Flintoff: $950,000
  • J P Duminy: $300,000
  • Shaun Tait: $250,000
  • Stuart Clark: $250,000
  • Paul Collingwood: $250,000

Obviously they could go for a lot more than that if the bidding gets intense.

While I’m sure that Warnie would like to be reunited with his old Hampshire colleague, Pietersen, I’m hoping that the Royals stick to last year’s policy of not wasting money on big names. I’d be quite interested in Mohammad Ashraful who, at $75,000, might be something of a bargain.

Finally I see from the club web site that Shilpa Shetty has bought a stake in the team. Nice to see us adding a bit of glamor to the squad. Shilpa dear, should you happen to be reading this: if Preity Zinta starts bragging about the Silver Hugo she won at the Chicago Film Festival, just tell her that we’ve got someone with a real Hugo Award, and that’s much more valuable.

A Great Loss for Cricket

~ Cheryl

Via Will Plant and the BBC I learn that Bill Frindall has died.

Frindall has been a regular feature of BBC radio’s cricket coverage for as long as I have been listening to cricket. Other commentators may have come and gone, but the “Bearded Wonder” was always there, proving a mine of statistical information whenever he was called upon, and often pricking the pretensions of his more flamboyant colleagues. I can’t think of any other sports statistician who has become a media star the way Frindall did.

Frindall wrote in his autobiography that he got the job with the BBC because he was quick off the mark in applying for when the previous incumbent died. When I was a lot younger I was sure that Frindall had the best job in the world, and I wanted it, but he showed no sign of dying. I suspect that tomorrow the BBC will be snowed under with job applications, but I doubt that they will find anyone who can replace Bill Frindall.

IPL Bound

~ Cheryl

At last the ECB have come to their senses. County players will be allowed to play in the IPL this year. According to the BBC, some of the test squad had been refusing to sign their central contracts until some sort of compromise was sorted out.

The Christmas Post

~ Cheryl

Other people seem to be writing about presents, so I guess I should too. Not that there is a lot to write about. I’m not part of a big present-giving culture. My mother, who obviously knows me too well, always gives me money to spend on clothes in the sales.

Still, I did get some lovely, and very unique, jewelry from Kevin’s family. Gigi gave me some chocolate (which I am eating) and Rina gave me some shower stuff (which I shall be using). Kevin very cleverly bought me a subscription to Culture magazine. He also got me the Planet Earth DVD set, and I have been working my way through them, one a day, during the holiday. Thus far the verdict is that the script is pretty silly, but the photography is absolutely awesome.

Christmas dinner will be chicken curry. My excuse is that it is for health reasons, but actually it is because I have some chook left in the fridge and it needs cooking before it goes off. Once it is cooked I can start experimenting with recipes from the new Nigella book.

The other thing I should be doing is listening to the Boxing Day Test from Melbourne, but this year ABC have only got rights to stream the commentary inside Australia, so in the absence of a proxy server I’m limited to following the game on CricInfo. Punter seems to have everything under control, but I see Katich has just got himself out. Could be a close game.

New Balls Please

~ Cheryl

Cricket players have long known that some balls behave differently from others, hence the desperate attempts of bowling teams to get the ball changed before its allotted 80 overs when they are having trouble getting batsmen out. Now, at last, there is scientific proof of the fact. A study by a University of Adelaide sports engineer has shown that most commercial brands of cricket ball are inconsistent in quality. Of course the jingoistic mob at Test Match Special are never going to believe that the Kookaburra is of good quality, but maybe folks at the ICC will take notice.

What Are They Thinking?

~ Cheryl ~ 5 Comments

Reuters reports that the Australian government intends to remove knowledge of cricket from its citizenship test. Good grief! What sort of people are they planning to let into the country? Americans?

(Note to Aussie authorities: Mr. Obama won the election. You are not going to be swamped by disappointed Democrat supporters seeking political asylum. And the Republicans are not leaving, they are just holing up in bunkers in Montana.)

Congratulations, Sachin!

~ Cheryl

This morning (UK time) Sachin Tendulkar set a new record for the most runs scored in test match cricket, passing Brian Lara’s previous best total of 11,953. It is a proud record that very few people have achieved. Lara only held it for a couple of years, and Tendulkar will probably surrender it to Ricky Ponting in a few years time. The list of players who have held the record is suitably impressive: Alan Border, Sunil Gavaskar, Geoffrey Boycott, Wally Hammond, and so on. Sky had a very nice list of each one and how long they had held the record, but I don’t have access to that data right now. Gavaskar was at the ground in Mohali today to see his fellow Indian take the record, and was apparently yelling suggestions from the back of the commentary box as Mark Nicholas and Ravi Shastri tried to report on the moment. The ground authorities had laid on fireworks which stopped play for several minutes. It was something of a party atmosphere.

But there is one thing worth noting. Tendulkar is unlikely to ever beat Lara’s record of 400 in a single innings, and no one is ever likely to better Sir Donald Bradman’s career average of 99 runs per innings, but the Little Master now holds the record for the most runs and most centuries in both test match and one day cricket. That’s quite an achievement.

End of Season Drama

~ Cheryl

English County Cricket is often held up as an example of a deeply boring sport. Games take 4 days to complete, and most end in a draw. But in many ways a 4-day cricket match is the equivalent of a 4-game series in baseball, with ebbs and flows of fortune from one day to the next, and the possibility of the result being split. Both sports also have long seasons, and ideally you want things to go down to the wire. This year County Cricket has hit the jackpot.
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The Economist on Cricket

~ Cheryl ~ 3 Comments

An article posted to The Economist today makes it very clear why the commentators on Test Match Special (Sir Geoffrey excepted) are so horrified by the idea of Twenty20. There is a meme in the UK that holds that watching cricket is the preserve of upper middle class men (and a few of the more intelligent of the aristocracy). If money is allowed into the game, it will be because cricket starts to be watched by commoners (and perhaps even women), and being common (or female) they won’t know how to behave. Oh horror! (And yes, this is very like HP Lovecraft’s inability to cope with New York.) Needless to say, this sort of class-based attitude is not replicated in other countries where cricket is played.