The men who never made it...

Amidst the Sachin Tendulkar euphoria that has gripped the cricketing world these days, Tamim Iqbal, the flamboyant Bangladesh opener, was chosen by Wisden magazine (rather, the Reporters committee of the Wisden magazine) as Test Cricketer of the year.

It is a great honour for a batsman belonging to one of the lowest ranked Test teams to be chosen for the award, more so because his opponents have invariably been teams that are better ranked than his. Andy Flower from Zimbabwe was one such player from a lowly team who could have walked into any other team of his time.

Since we are on Wisden, Cricinfo ran an interesting article on the men who never made it as Wisden's Cricketer of the Year, despite everything that they had and everything that they did on the field of cricket.

Inzamam Ul Haq, Abdul Qadir, Bishen Bedi, Jeff Thomson and Wes Hall are the superlative but unfortunate 5 who never made it.

Wes Hall, it is said, bowled unchanged for 200 minutes straight without dropping a yard off his speed, on the last day at a Lord's Test, with just 2 hard boiled eggs for breakfast....because that is all he could get after having overslept the night earlier.

Bishen Bedi was Cricket's own personification of "floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee", the quote first attributed to "The Greatest", Muhammad Ali.

Inzamam was, rightly, the century for your life man. Of all modern batsmen scoring over 25 centuries, only Ponting, Steve Waugh and Matthew Hayden have a better percentage of winning centuries than Inzamam.

(In this regard, there is no batsman better than Don Bradman and Steve Waugh. 78% of Waugh's and 79% of Bradman's centuries saw Australia win the Test...which basically meant that 8 times out of 10 when these two made a triple digit score, their team was guaranteed to win the game). 

Of Jeff Thomson, one of the most ferocious beings ever known to take the field, there is enough folklore of opponents getting terrorized at the mere mention of his name. Lance Gibbs, not a batsman by any standard, threatened to hold Ian Chappell responsible for any bodily harm that Jeff Thomson may inflict upon him, regardless of whether Ian was captain or not. Ian Chappell recalls this hilarious conversation between him and Gibbs :

"the West Indian off-spinner Lance Gibbs was no batsman, but before the 1975-76 series he said to me, "I can sort out Lillee, he has a wife and kids like me, but you're responsible for that mad man Thomson. You must convince him not to kill me."

"But Gibbsy," I said, "I'm not captain."

"I don't care," Gibbs responded with his distinctive cackle, "I'm holding you responsible."

Smashin Tendulkar

India's first sweep of Australia (albeit in a ridiculously small Test series).  Surely one to tuck away in the boxes of nostalgia, to feed upon when I'm 70 and have nothing much left to run upon except for grand old memories.

Bangalore belonged to Sachin Tendulkar. The series belonged to Sachin Tendulkar. What a man ! 

I think the overworked statisticians and overwhelmed juries should just give up on this man. Just proclaim him GOD and close the book on him. Let awards, recognition and felicitation be something for the mortal players of the game to play for from now on.

Sachin was the single most important player in nullifying Australia's daunting first innings scores of 400+ in both Tests. Australia is a team not used to losing a Test match after compiling 400+ in the first innings. But Tendulkar, with a few young guns to aid, helped reverse this trend, twice in a row.

Tendulkar was involved in seven 50+ partnerships in these Two tests, mentoring and inspiring youngsters like Raina, Murali Vijay, Pujara to produce worthwhile contributions to the team score. Sachin's ability to big-brother over a youngster is one of his less analyzed and subtle but important skill. Anyone with 14000 runs at the runners end is sure to overwhelm a rookie taking stance, but it is Sachin's special skill to put the Raina's and Pujara's and Vijay's at ease, protect them, cajole them, challenge them without being overbearing in any way and to effectively help them extract their own best from within.

12 matches, 15 innings, 1270 runs, 6 hundreds, 4 fifties (including a 98), average 97.69. That's how Sachin Tendulkar appears to his opponents this year so far. 

With 6 more Tests to go this year (3 against New Zealand at home and 3 at South Africa ), one can  only imagine what a monster year this man of 5'6" is going to have in 2010!

As an end note, I jinxed Sehwag too!! First Gambhir and now Sehwag....both had a wonder run of scoring a 50 in an innings in 11 consecutive Tests before falling to my expectant jinx.

11 down, one more to go...Jai Viru!

Virender Sehwag, with his first innings 59 at Mohali against Australia, equaled a world record.

Vivian Richards, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag now sit together upon a rather unassuming world record, that of scoring at least a fifty in 11 consecutive Tests matches.

Sehwag's run started about a year ago in November 2009 against Sri Lanka, and since then not a single Test has passed without him scoring a 50 or more in an innings. His run looks like this:
51 -- 131 -- 293 -- 52+45 -- 56+0 -- 109+16 -- 165 -- 109+31  -- 99 -- 109+0 -- 59+17.

That converts to  1342 runs at 83 per innings, at a strike rate of 94! May have gone in as one of the reasons for him being chosen Test cricketer of the year at the ICC 2010 awards today.


I touched on Gambhir's record in one of my past posts on this very record. (Past lookup-->  http://a-test-of-balls.blogspot.com/2010/01/run-gautam-run.html#links )

I hope I do not jinx Sehwag with this post, and he goes on to break this record in the Bangalore Test coming up. But then JINX himself steers clear of cavaliers like Sehwag who simply do not care :)

Rajnikanth, Hanuman and the ultimate God of Batting win. India returns rich

Brendon McCullum won the ICC's T20 performance of the year award, for his Rajnikanth style batting at Christchurch this past February against a completely nonplussed Australian side.

Scoresheet: http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/423788.html

Incidentally, I had referred to this innings in one of my previous blog postings because of its sheer unreal nature.... loopback here -->.  http://a-test-of-balls.blogspot.com/2010/03/rajinikanth-of-t-20.html#links

As more or less expected, Virender Sehwag, the modern day Hanuman of cricket, won the Test player of the year award at the 2010 ICC felicitations. More than the number of runs he accumulated, or the lightening quick rate at which he did, it was for his dominance over the bowlers that he deserved this award. 6 centuries in 16 Test innings; a batting average of 87 that piled up about 1300 blindingly fast runs scored at an unheard strike rate of 97 were enough to put Sehwag up for the award.


Sachin Tendulkar, the man beyond awards or adjectives, got the coveted Overall Cricketer of the Year, and deservedly so. This man was prodigious over both forms of cricket.  Over a thousand runs in 10 Tests at an average of 80 with 6 centuries, AND, about a 900 ODI runs with 3 centuries in just 17 games at  65 runs per innings, at 98 runs per 100 balls.....What else is necessary to define a complete batsman? 


More so, why in the name of God do they even consider Tendulkar for awards any more ? If at age 38 someone could not just get the best cricketer of the year award but also be nominated in all the other major categories too, I think there is no award worthy of such a player. The ICC should just give him one final, ultimate, supreme, zenith award called "The Untouchable" and let him be. I'm beginning to fear for another tennis elbow for the poor guy, from just collecting and holding trophies !

Once Upon a Time in Mohali

Every once a while comes a Test match that makes you feel good about the Indian cricket team.

As a viewer, there is a special pleasure in seeing the tough Australians get knocked over. And I say this with an acknowledging tone, not a slurred one. It is wholesomely fulfilling to see your team beat a team that is 'the' team to beat.

Never before had India beaten another team by 1 wicket in a Test match. A paisa vasool match (and perhaps not for the bookies this time because even they would not have dared bet on the outcome looking at the way it went in the last session).

Sachin paved the way to nullify the Australian total in the first innings. In the second Laxman pulled off one that even the King of stone cold, Steve Waugh, would have been proud of. Zaheer squeezed juice from the ball. However, the man who stands tallest among them and deserves the champagne is Ishant Sharma...who as batsman #10 who may have produced as thrilling a ride back from hell as Quentin Tarantino's hero would in reel life. The score-sheet tells it all.

http://www.cricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2010/engine/current/match/464526.html 

V.V.S. Laxman, in the past 18 months has become India's second innings backbone, back ache or not. His amazing string of scores in the past 18 months and past 5 series, playing in the 3rd or 4th innings of a Test match is  now 73*, 103*, 69*, 69, 51*, 61* and 124*. That is 550 runs with 2 centuries and 5 fifties in 7 innings. 

All said and done, Test is the Best, and shall always be.

To quote my favorite cricket writer Peter Roebuck in today's Syndney Morning Herald: "it was a triumph for Test cricket. The thrill-a-minute versions of the game were put in their place by this slow-burning contest. "

A passing tidbit. The Indian batting lineup has been extremely productive in the past 2 years. With Sachin Tendulkar at the helm, there are 6 batsmen who have aggregated well into 4 figures. 

In the past 700 days of cricket, the Indian super-six of Tendulkar-Sehwag-Gambhir-Laxman-Dravid-Dhoni, have together piled up 9855 runs in 185 innings at a collective average of 60 runs per batsman per innings. This includes 34 centuries and 49 fifties ! We may have quite likely experienced the most productive phase of batsmanship in the history of Indian cricket.

Sab ke baap...All time XI

Cricinfo, after picking all-time XI's for individual nations over the past few months is now heading for the crescendo....the All-Time-XI....kings of kings, players of players and champions of champions.

Getting down to work straight away, here is an all-time XI which I would pick if Earth were to play a match against a bunch of aliens.

Sunil Gavaskar and Len Hutton to open --> Can't think of a more solid, immaculate and accomplished pair to walk out to a blank scoreboard. Gods of technical purity. Fearless and dependable as a tank. If putting down the highest value for your wicket was an art, these two were the Da Vinci and the Van Gogh of it. Sunil Gavaskar was my very first God of cricket. Hutton's choice is through a blend of testimonials by respected cricketrs and my own statistical insight.

Vivian Richards, Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar in the middle order --> The untamed, the unassailable and the indisputable. The Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh of cricket, not necessarily in that order though. All three are already beyond adjectives as individual players...even more so as a trio. Shut up, watch them play, and see if you can understand the ultimate truth of life.

Brian Lara, Garry Sobers and Adam Gilchrist in the lower middle order --> 3 southpaws, 3 musketeers. Perhaps the most aggressive lower middle order that one could compose. 
You'd somehow manage to uproot the stubborn Gavaskar and Hutton, you'd go through a massively grueling ordeal of taking Richards, Bradman and Tendulkar out, and yet, you would not even be close to done with these three still left to do their business ! And business they did with a flaming sword for a bat. The two West Indians were known for scoring quick and huge against anyone and everyone. The frenetic Australian scored Test runs at a freewheeling rate that no other human has (bar Virender Sehwag). Charismatic presence, lightening quick bat speed, ever ready for a blitz, these are the big bombers in the artillery. Forget aliens, if even God decided to bowl he would be wary of these three killers lined up one after the other.

Malcolm Marshall, Richard Hadlee and Shane Warne as specialist bowlers --> None of them requires a justification. Marshall came out as Wisden's single best fast bowler of all time, all eras, all parameters and all equations considered. Hadlee a close second. Warne has no equal among spinners who pitch on the leg stump. If these three can't take 9 wickets between themselves, then nobody can. The 10th wicket of the innings will go to Garry Sobers whose nippy swing bowling can compliment Hadlee's accuracy as equally and easily as his tricky chinamen would to Warne's wrist magic.

That's that for an all-time XI if Earth were to play Mars. The captain would be Garry Sobers with Sunil Gavaskar as deputy. Of these 11, only Hutton, Bradman and Sobers are visual unknowns to me. I have had the fortune of having seen the careers of all the rest - either partially or wholly.

*********************************

Considering Cricket is a grand old man of 125 or more, and that this old man has produced an uncountable number of greats over its lifetime, I feel that picking up a one sided roster of 11 great players from all the rest is a bit unfair and illogical too.


To me, an all-time-XI should be compiled and complimented by a counter all-time XI, to make sense of it. A Dodge Viper makes no sense if there ain't a Corvette or Shelby Cobra to compare and run it against. For every Lamborghini there is a Maserati or a Ferrari that helps us put the Lamborghini in perspective. Similarly, in my world, if there is an all-time team, then there has to be a counter all-time team to make sense of the first. Otherwise it just doesn't make any worldly sense to have all the power of Bradman-Tendulkar-Lara-Gavaskar etc. under one hood and nobody to pit it against. 

Tendulkar is Tendulkar because of the way he handled McGrath and Warne in his career....if Tendulkar, Warne and McGrath were to share lockers on the same side of the dressing room, wouldn't it throw the very reason why Tendulkar is Tendulkar right out of the window ? Who'd want to watch Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal play as doubles partners....unless, say, you had Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras at the other end of the court ? (My sense of logic may be wobbling more than Mohammad Asif's outswinger on a cloudy English day :)).

So we got a Viper. Now to build a Corvette that can run against the Viper. A counter all-time XI that I'd love to watch take on the one above.

Here goes the Rebel all-time XI:

Virender Sehwag and Gordon Greenidge as openers of my rebel all-time XI. This won't be a cautiously controlled and reserved opening for sure...the team would race to 200 for no loss by lunch or just be 2 down for 20 in no time. But that's a chance to take if one were to take on the awesome original all-time XI above. Attack is the best defense, agreed. But if your attackers simply don't know how to defend at all, then this will be a one way war if they get going.

Walter Hammond, Jacques Kallis and Greg Chappell in the upper middle order which will be a perfect mix of sensibility, caution and aggression. Wisden calls Hammond one of the four best batsmen in the history of cricket, period. His obsession to become as successful as his arch rival Bradman was not without a base...if we wipe out Bradman for a moment, then Hammond was indeed the next best to Bradman during his career. Greg Chappell was the calm mercenary who went about dismantling the best bowling attacks with a rather cool stand-tall-and-deliver attitude without breaking a drop of a sweat. Kallis is one of the the game's most prolific batsmen, famed for his resistance, sensibility, technique and accumulation without being starry or hungry for credit. Additionally his statistical qualification as one of the three best all-rounders of all time is all the more reason to include him in the middle order alongside the cool dude Chappell or the effortless Hammond. This will be a strong top-middle order to overcome.


Note: There is absolutely nothing that separates Rahul Dravid from Kallis. But based on Kallis' all-round skills, he gets chosen ahead of Dravid. If designated 4th bowler - Imran Khan were to sprain his back (as he was always prone to), the team needs a workhorse bowler of good skill to fill in. It is an added bonus that Kallis the fill in bowler is also one of the 5 best batsmen of the new millennium. 

Graeme Pollock, Kumar Sangakkara and Imran Khan in the lower middle order. Graeme Pollock was certified by Sir Bradman - and we won't dare disagree - as the finest left handed batsmen that the Don had ever seen. Kumar Sangakkara and Imran can claim to have some of the finest cricketing brains there would be. In addition to brains, their adundant cricketing skills would help them take charge of the situation as required - play fast, they can, play slow, they can, take charge, they can, think, they can, assume leadership, they can. While Imran Khan would be a straight choice for captain, Sangakkara would be vice captain to this team without hesitation. 
Straight one on one with the original all-time XI, is Graeme Pollock v/s Brian Lara as batsmen, Imran Khan v/s Garry Sobers as allrounders and Kumar Sangakkara v/s Adam Gilchrist as wicketkeeping allrounders a feasible match up ? Yes it is.

Glenn McGrath, Wasim Akram and Murulidharan as specialist bowlers. Nothing pacy or glamorous about this collection, but a perfect blend of discipline, spitting vile, shrewdness and patience. I can visualize without stretching much a Murali set Sobers up for 5 patient overs with the usual huge turners before making him play the suicide shot on his surprise wrong one. The ball leaving Wasim Akram's hands had to be dealt with on 3 different criteria, unlike 2 from most others. An Akram special wobbled in and out of the line in the air before pitching, dipped shorter or pushed longer on length as it pitched, and whipped in or out after pitching like an enraged rattlesnake. Swing-dip-and-whip in one...pure magic. Ask the many dumbfounded batsmen who fell for it. I can just see Bradman and Tendulkar summon their last ounce of concentration in order to counter Akram. The master of discipline that Glenn McGrath was, he would have been the ideal candidate to get under the skin of batsmen who didn't care much about getting disciplined...Sir Viv Richards, anyone ? Additionally, the fantastic Imran Khan would provide the 4th gun in the bowling attack. Who wouldn't love to watch a re-run of the old foes Imran Khan v/s Sunil Gavaskar ?

That's that for the Corvette.

It has been a long time since I wrote a ponderous note on the blog. Today my fingers feel better.

Wisden re-asserts the rantings of the sleeping Ninja

Cricinfo posted a documentary on Don Bradman today.

A well compiled documentary on one of the greatest sportsman of all time, across all sports.

http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/site/451900.html

Some snippets:

"Comparing the overall batting numbers during his time with the corresponding number today: in the 20 years in which Bradman played his Test cricket, the overall batting average was 31.85; in the 21 years since Sachin Tendulkar's Test debut, the overall batting average in 845 Tests is 31.07. Restricting this only to top-order batsmen (batsmen in the top six of a line-up) also throws up similar numbers - 39.99 during Bradman's time (1928 to 1948), and 38.40 during Tendulkar's (November 1989 onwards)."

Speaking of the total percentage of aggregate in century scores:

"His percentage of 77.09 is also way higher than the other batting greats. Tendulkar's 48 hundreds have contributed 6964 out of 13,837 runs (50.33%), while the percentage for Ricky Ponting is 46.85, for Brian Lara 49.27, and 47.44 for Sunil Gavaskar."

Speaking of individual share in a team sport :

"In the 52 Tests he played, Bradman scored more than 25% of his team's runs (6996 out of 27,624 bat runs), more than 41% of the hundreds (29 out of 70) and averaged more than three times the combined average of the other batsmen. It can safely be said there won't be another like him again."

Post 2011 - Part A

The approaching 2011 World Cup of Cricket is probably going to be a milestone...and for morose reasons that too.

It is more or less common knowledge that in the short window of time to follow after the 2011 World Cup, Cricket is all set to lose the services of magnificent batsmen such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Jaques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Mahela Jayawardhane, VVS Laxman, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Mohammad Yousuf (if he manages to not get ousted till then by the fickle-minded PCB). The careers of all these fabulous stars hinge on the notional milestone of the 2011 world cup. (I realize that VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid  have long stopped starring in the One Day roster, but still the 2011 time-frame will likely be a wind-down trumpet call for their Test careers).

Mark Boucher, one of the best wicketkeepers of all time, will likely retire too in the same window, already having collected all possible wicketkeeping records under his belt. Daniel Vettori, New Zealand's lone Test superstar will have seriously begun considering taking the pension at  about the same time too.

I also realized that as of today, none of the top 15 Test wicket takers are in play. Harbhajan Singh with 357 Test wickets, stands 16th in the list of the all-time highest wicket takers, and all the 15 above him are no longer playing, which could be a unique occurrence in the bowling fraternity. The last 3 years of cricket have seen the demise of Murulidharan, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, Glenn McGrath, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and Chaminda Vaas. One of the more genuine allrounders - Freddy Flintoff also hung his boots in that period. Technically there's nothing much by way of stature to lose in the next few years after this, in the bowling world

That's that for what was lost and what will be gone shortly. Part B coming up with things to look forward to in the next decade of Cricket.

Twilight zone

2 weeks in New York can be a trying experience, but I've survived.

I watched the Mumbai-boys Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar play against Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif at an overcast Brit Oval in London, in a brief dream at dawn today. That I remember it probably means it wasn't a dream, but the contest sounds fantastic even in fantasy terms.

Mohammad Asif is perhaps the best swing bowler in the world at the moment. Michael Holding, who is commentating at the Oval in the current England-Pakistan test match, has been caught on the mic several times saying "class bowler" to Asif. That should be enough certification for a bowler, and that may explain his presence in my dozy dream.

169

Still no respite from work, so yet again, stealing already published work from here and there and posting it here. This time, courtesy of  Rediff.com.

Sachin Tendulkar will play his 169th Test match tomorrow, and grab the record for the most Test appearances by a cricketer. Nothing unexpected, as has become a reflex when we think of Sachin. There is nothing that Sachin is not expected to do, such is the uniqueness and greatness of this 37 year old man.

Here are some rather interesting quotes on Sachin, by his friends, foes and admirers. Note how generous and candid the Australians, Sachin's most intense rivals, are in their praise for him. That's one reason why I hate the Australians and love them at the same time. They are the most bitter enemies inside the stadium, but are equally magnanimous in accepting an enemy's greatness outside of it.

Some of the quotes below may be pertinent to a particular innings or match, and not of Sachin's entire career, but they are amusing nonetheless

Here goes:

Ricky Ponting: The number of innings of his I have been able to sit back and watch, I think he is an amazing player. He has set benchmarks for guys like me to chase him and get as close as we can.

If I had to last 20 years, I would probably be batting in a wheelchair.

Shane Warne: I will be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don't think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar. He is just an amazing player.

Viv Richards: He is 99.5 per cent perfect. I would pay to see him.

Mathew Hayden: I have seen god, he bats at number four for India in Tests. His life seems to be stillness in a frantic world... 

Anil Kumble: I am fortunate that I have to bowl at him only in the nets.

Ravi Shastri: He is someone sent from up there to play cricket and go back.

I can't think of anybody who has batted more authoritatively in One-Day cricket for India, or even in the world except for Vivian Richards.

Geoffrey Boycott: Technically, you can't fault Sachin. Seam or spin, fast or slow -- nothing is a problem.

Brett Lee: You might pitch a ball on the off stump and think you have bowled a good ball and he walks across and hits it for two behind mid-wicket.

His bat looks so heavy but he just waves it around like it's a toothpick.

Greg Chappell: I would like to see him go out and bat one day with a stump. I tell you he would do okay.

Ian Healy: Tendulkar is the most complete batsman I have stood behind.

Glenn McGrath: I still think Tendulkar is the best batsman in the world ahead of Steve Waugh and Lara.

Allan Donald: In my several years of international cricket, Tendulkar remains the best batsman I have ever bowled to.

Wasim Akram: Cricketers like Sachin come once in a lifetime and I am privileged he played in my time.

Brian Lara: If cricket is a religion, then Sachin is the only god.

Steve Waugh: There is no shame being beaten by such a great player; Sachin is perhaps only next to the Don.

Barry Richards: Sachin is cricket's god.

Dennis Lillee: If I have to bowl to Sachin, I'll bowl with my helmet on. He hits the ball so hard.

Late umpire David Shepherd: If he isn't the best player in the world, I want to see the best player in the world.

Mike Kasprowicz has a superior story. During a Bangalore Test, frustrated, he went to Dennis Lillee and asked, "Mate, do you see any weaknesses?" Lillee replied, "No Michael, as long as you walk off with your pride that's all you can do" 

Peter Roebuck "On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt in one of the stations. The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. This Genius can stop time in India!!"

Andy Flower "There are 2 kind of batsmen in the world. One Sachin Tendulkar. Two all the others."

Richie Benaud "He has defined cricket in his fabulous, impeccable manner. He is to batting what Shane Warne is to bowling".

BBC Sports, on Sachin Tendulkar: When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives.

Andrew Symonds :"To Sachin, the man we all want to be"
What Symonds wrote on an aussie t-shirt he autographed specially for Sachin.

Till the next one....Go Sachin!

Humshakl

Is it just me or is there really a resemblance between ex cricketer Maninder Singh and Mr. Laden, the American CIA's #1 most wanted man ?

In the mean time, a lot of things are happening for India(n batsmen) on this losing tour of Sri Lanka.

** Sehwag retains his #1 spot in the ICC table.

** Sachin Tendulkar carved his 48th Test century, and is  now only 6 short of becoming the only human to score 100 International centuries (ODI's and Tests combined. Pretty amazing stuff. 

Like I said to a friend, we are lucky to see two players in our lifetime who have shown us the human limits. 

Murulidharan as a bowler and Tendulkar as a batsman are testimony of the highest (or farthest) limits of human endurance and productivity on a Cricket field. I have my doubts we will ever see them usurped ... not in our lifetime anyway.

**  Rahul Dravid has silently, meticulously and unceremoniously (as he and his career have always been) compiled 9000 runs as a #3 batsman...second only to Ricky Ponting in the process, and the only second cricketer of all time to do so.

800 ?

I do not have time to write my own words , hence posting someone elses, because they depict exactly what I want to say about the incredible Muralidharan who is just 3 wickets away from retiring as the only human (possibly forever) with 800 Test wickets.

Andy Zaltzman on Cricinfo calls Murali the Jimi Hendrix of Off-spin and further writes about him as quoted below:

"Murali has taken 40% of all his country’s wickets in his Test career, and bowled a ludicrous 33% of all their overs, ratios unmatched in cricket history.

He has also been their leading (or joint-leading) wicket-taker in 42 of the 53 Tests they have won with him in the team, including 37 of 41 from September 1996 to December 2007.

They have won only seven of the 61 Tests they have played without Murali, compared with 53 of 131 with him. He has not merely held the key to Sri Lankan success, he has built the entire house.

One-man-New-Zealand-XI Sir Richard Hadlee is the only modern player who comes close to matching Murali on the Maradona Scale Of Absolutely Critical Importance To A Team. He took 35% of the Kiwis’ wickets, bowled a quarter of their overs, and was leading wicket-taker in 16 of the 22 wins New Zealand achieved in his 86 Tests. They won none of the 14 Tests he missed during his career, which suggests that Hadlee was as important to his country’s cricketing victories as Muhammad Ali was to Muhammad Ali’s triumphs in the boxing ring. New Zealand won only 14 of the 170 Tests they played without Hadlee up to 1997. He was, without question, a useful cricketer for his country.

So good luck, Murali, in your quest for those final seven wickets. Cricket will miss you, your whirling wizardry and your grinning competitiveness".

Tea Talk

Some tidbits of (Test) Cricket I compiled for those in need of a tea break from the daily innings at the desk :)

For someone renowned for his tenacity and for spending astronomical amounts of time on the wicket, Jacques Kallis has not scored a double century any form of international cricket as yet. The only double century of his life has come in a first class match.

The marvelous Waugh twins - the gifted and charismatic Mark, and grittiest of players Steve - jointly crossed three figures 45 times as Test players for Australia. But only once did we ever see a 200 for a Waugh in a Test score sheet.

When a player gets chosen as a specialist batsman, goes on to play more than 100 Tests for his country, and retires with an aggregate exceeding 6000 Test runs, he is expected to score more centuries than Stephen Fleming. Fleming is only player in the history of Test Cricket to play in 100 tests, score 6000+ runs, average over 40, and yet retire with a paltry 8 centuries under his belt.

Sachin Tendulkar has scored over 7300 Test runs without running. Sachin's Test aggregate from pure fours and sixers exceeds what greats such as Don Bradman, Greg Chappell, Sanath Jayasurya, Dennis Compton, Rohan Kanhai, Aravinda DeSilva, Adam Gilchrist, Martin Crowe, Doug Walters, Ken Barrington, Mohammed Azharuddin, Len Hutton and Zaheer Abbas ever managed in their entire lifetime at the crease.

Scoring 1000+ runs in a calendar year at a batting average of 100+ has been achieved only thrice in Cricket's history. Don Bradman in 1948, the last year of his career - 1025 at 114. Garry Sobers in 1958, 1299 runs at 144. Ricky Ponting in 2003 - 1503 at 100.20. Mohammad Yusuf scored more runs in one year than any other human. In 2006 his mammoth aggregate of 1788 runs came at 99.33 per innings.

Brian Lara broke Sir Garry Sober's record of the highest individual Test score of 365 runs twice...on the same ground….against the same opponent! The Antigua Stadium at St John's in West Indies witnessed Lara score 375* in 1994 against England...and then 400* in 2004 against England again. Lucky ground.

Mahela Jayawardhane, the much underrated overachiever of our time is involved in the all time highest partnerships for the 3rd, 4th and 6th wicket in Test Cricket history.

Best individual bowling figures per innings for:
Under 75 runs is -> Jim Laker 51.2-23-53-10 v/s Australia  at Manchester
Under 50 runs is -> Jim Laker 16.4-4-37-9 v/s Australia at Manchester. Same match as above.
Under 25 runs is -> Glenn McGrath 16-8-24-8 v/s Pakistan at Perth.

Rajesh Chauhan once bowled 468 deliveries at Sri Lanka in one innings to get one wicket. A bit better off than Rajesh was the so called off-spinner Shivlal Yadav who 10 years earlier had thrown 450 deliveries for his one wicket against Pakistan.

Muralidharan has bowled 7279 overs in Tests to date. That's more than half an over for each Test run that Tendulkar has scored in his life. Speak about sheer physical abuse and endurance. 

Sachin Tendulkar has 101 scores of 50+ in Test matches so far, which means he scores either a 50 or a century once in every 2.71 times that he holds the bat. And he has done this over the past 20 years. That is consistency.

Of the 16 bowlers to take more than 10 wickets in a grand debut, only 3 went on to take more than 100 Test wickets (Clarrie Grimmett, Alf Valentine, Alec Bedser). The careers of 10 of these 16 great starters didn't make it past even 5 Test matches, and the remaining three did not make it past 20 Tests. Conclusion: If you make a grand debut, beware, the end is near :)

Sonny Ramadhin once bowled 98 overs in a single innings, and 129 in the whole match (774 deliveries, roughly equivalent of a day and half's worth of bowling). In the last 25 years of test cricket, only twice has a single bowler bowled more than 600 balls in a match (Muralidharan and Abdul Qadir).

In the last 50 years of Test cricket it has happened only thrice that the two opening bowlers finished the whole plate between themselves. Curtly Ambrose-Courtney Walsh did it in '94, quickly followed by Wasim Akram-Waqar Younis in the same year. Then in '99 Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie emulated the same.

Muralidharan has returned 10-for bowling figures in 4 consecutive matches...twice! This man can make even numbers look ridiculous, forget batsmen.


Sachin Tendulkar does not appear in any of the 25 highest individual Test scores at any batting position.

Mike Atherton was dismissed 19 times by McGrath (the most dismissals of a batsman by a single bowler), 17 times each by Walsh and Ambrose, 11 times by Allan Donald and 10 times by Shane Warne. This means 35% of his entire 100+ Test batting career was obliterated by just these 5 bowlers.

Caught-Marsh-bowled-Lillee happened 95 times. Caught-Gilchrist-bowled-McGrath 90 times. 

Mark Boucher has caught 50 or more batsmen off of 4 separate bowlers.

Erapalli Prasanna, the softspoken and gentile offspinner reached 100 test wickets in less Tests than Dennis Lillee, Richard Hadlee, Allan Donald, Jeff Thomson, Curtly Ambrose, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Shaun Pollock, Glenn McGrath, Imran Khan, Bob Willis, Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram or just about any explosive/talented/proven fast bowler out there, with the exception of Ian Botham, Andy Roberts and Waqar Younis.

Wasim Akram was man-of-the-match in every 6th Test match he played. 

Malcolm Marshall was man-of-the-series in every third Test series that he played in...Imran Khan once in every 4.

Adam Gilchrist was never dropped, and never missed a single test match in his entire career. He participated in each and every Test match that Australia played between his first day of Test cricket to his last, in an unblemished spread. (As if we saw any blemishes in him any way).
 
Lee Germon of New Zealand debuted in 1995...as Captain of his Test side.

In the last 10 years, Pakistan, West Indies and England teams, each have played under 9 different captains. Australia has had only 3. 

After the win against Pakistan at Lord's today, Ricky Ponting has now won an incredulous 98 test matches as an individual, and 47 as a captain. Most players would be satisfied with even half of that. And no, the second most 'won' cricketer among currently active players is NOT Tendulkar. It is Mark Boucher with 69  :)

Roebuck on Murali

My favourite Cricket writer pays his tribute to the best bowler of all time. 

Click below to get to the write-up:

Murali hasn't been combative like Warne or full of rage like Kumble; more unconventional than them, and tenacious to the core, he has surpassed them both.

RHYTHM, OFF STUMP, DESIRE & LILLEE

Today Cricinfo published a documentary on Sir Richard Hadlee, in its eminently watchable online series called "Legends Of Cricket". This series is one of my favourite features on the Cricinfo web site.

Sir Richard Hadlee is a certified God of Cricket. The Pundits at Wisden nominate him as the second greatest Test bowler of all time, behind Malcolm Marshall, all things considered.

There haven’t been many who could command more control over the ball than him. A more disciplined, intelligent, resolute and lethal bowler is not known to the game. He is the only player to receive knighthood for his sterling service to Cricket while still actively playing Test cricket.

He retired from Test cricket with the record for the highest wickets. 20 years later, only 6 bowlers have surpassed him. It took Hadlee only 79 test matches to reach the 400 wicket milestone, a record bettered only by the awesome Muralidharan in the later years.

A superman in many respects, his achievements are monumental and his ranking as a bowler is doubtlessly among the highest. I could go on illustrating the greatness of this man against one parameter after the other and state what is already known to everyone - that he is one of the greatest of the greats. But that is not the point of this posting.

The reason for this posting is in clip-3 of the documentary mentioned above. The reason for this posting is the humility of this Herculean cricketer. A rarity in this sport that has shown to breed egotism as a certain side effect of success.

In clip 3 of the documentary above, Sir Hadlee mentions his mantra, his personal war song that he chanted every time he bowled -  "RHYTHM, OFF STUMP, DESIRE and LILLEE". Here is a how he explains this rather amusing little inspirational chant that he often used to egg himself further.

"Rhythm" meant the body had to be relaxed for maximum effort. "Off stump", of course was the target area to bowl to with consistency. "Desire" indicated the need to overcome the obvious problem. The batsman was an obstacle and had to be removed. Finally, "Dennis Lillee". Of Lillee he says "Dennis Lillee was the role model. The Inspiration. And particularly when things got tough what would Dennis do ? He wouldn’t give up. The 100% man". 

It is humbling to see a superman of Cricket admit devotion to and draw inspiration from a fierce rival, and be so non-egotistical and honestly open about it.