English batting - a chore!

Having watched a see-saw Ashes series so far with 4 Tests all different from each other, the most shocking thing to witness was that England batsmen have just 1 century among them, while all the Australian top-order batsmen have had at least 1 century each (with the exception of maybe Hussey - I may have got my facts wrong here!)

Sitting through the English batting is really boring in any situation. The BBC middle order (Bopara, Bell, Collingwood) is the saddest middle order in cricketing history and the openers are, well, not much different. Strauss leaves alone maybe some 80-odd percent of the time, but he has good strokes which Collingwood may never manage in his entire life. The reason why Collingwood saved the first Test was obvious - he is basically a blocker and nudger, he just can't hit the ball, due to lack of skill or power or both. Cook is a very good batsman, but his dismal Ashes campaign just makes the English batting that much sadder.


The lower middle order has by far been the best. There are some truly good stroke makers there, with Prior being the best of them. In fact, Prior has been the unsung hero for England all along, I feel. Prior's batting in the second innings at Lord's and the first innings at Edgbaston saw some breathtaking strokes and an excellent strike-rate as well. In many ways, he ats like Sehwag - if the ball's there to be hit, hit it. Flintoff was the hero for England at Edgbaston, and if it were not for a fluke Hauritz ripper, he well may have got another Ashes century. Broad and Swann are no mugs with the bat, and their batting at Headingley in the second innings was something to behold. Nasser Hussain termed Broad as the next English all-rounder after Flintoff. Well, let's see!

During the fourth test, commentators joked about reversing the English batting order for the fifth Test, but it may just turn out to be effective for England. I say, get Bopara and Collingwood to bat at no. 7 and 8 and things will be just fine!

Peter Siddle's in the league of 'bowling' bowlers

A keen cricket observer may have noticed how often Peter Siddle gets stumps flying. Just yesterday, he bowled out two well-set batsmen Flintoff and Prior just as the day's play was about to close. In an Australia-South Africa Test Match at the SCG recently, Siddle bowled out the last 4 wickets in the span of 5 overs, which was a great turnaround in the match.

Peter Siddle is one of the few bowlers now who has a good percentage of wickets bowled out. His express pace is not uncommon, but he keeps the ball within the stumps and so he has a good chance of getting batsmen out bowled or lbw.

I got some research done on some of the greatest fast bowlers as well as some modern fast bowlers to throw up a list of fast bowlers sorted according to the combined percentage of lbw and bowled dismissals in Tests.

Bowlers with most percentage bowled and lbw dismissals

Bowler	LBW (%)	Bowled (%)	Total (%)
Roy Gilchrist (WI)	10	49	59
Shoaib Akhtar (Pak)	20	36	56
Waqar Younis (Pak)	29	27	56
Wasim Akram (Pak)	29	25	54
Joel Garner (WI)	22	27	49
Imran Khan (Pak)	22	27	49
Aaqib Javed (Pak)	28	20	48
Michael Holding (WI)	14	33	47
Lasith Malinga (SL)	22	25	47
Charlie Griffith (WI)	13	33	46
Kapil Dev (India)	25	21	46
S Sreesanth (India)	28	16	44
Irfan Pathan (India)	29	14	43
Jerome Taylor (WI)	24	19	43
Wes Hall (WI)	8	34	42

The minimum criterion used in the above table is 50 Test wickets, which is why Roy Gilchrist makes it to the top, with 51 Test wickets. Bowlers who played in 1920s and 30s have been left out for the sake of relevance.

This list is dominated by West Indians and Pakistanis. It is heartening to see 3 Indians making the list. This list may or may not be accurate, because I may or may not have left out some very good bowlers. This is, however, no comment on other bowling greats like Hadlee and Lillee, who could not make it to this list. The greatness of a bowler does not depend just on the number of wickets he takes or his mode of dismissals.

Sri Lanka wake up Pakistan!

Sri Lanka woke up Pakistan from their early morning slumber on the fourth day of the first Test at Galle and what a wake up call it was! From an invincible 71-2 to 117 all out in exactly one session, Pakistan players seemed to have slept extra the previous night, thinking the Test was in their kitty.

And lo, it was not the magic of Ajantha Mendis, or the snaking deliveries from Murali, but it was the modest left-arm spin of Rangana Herath, and the pace of an energized-from-god-knows-what Thilan Thushara that did Pakistan in.

Cricket greats have said that Pakistan are unbeatable ON THEIR DAY. Well, it certainly wasn't their day, and more so, not their session. That is why Test Cricket is so cruel - you play well for 4 days, but it takes just a magic spell from the opposition on the 5th day to turn everything around. Even then, Pakistan should not have lost the match so badly.

It is not the first time that Sri Lanka have delivered such early morning SHOCKS. In Delhi in 2005, India crumbled from a strong first day 245-3 to 290 all out on the second morning. The wrecker-in-chief there was Murali and it was the first innings of the Test Match, not the last. India went on to win the match, but the match is still in memory for Murali's haul of more than five wickets.

Always keep an eye out for a Test Match morning session when Sri Lanka is bowling.

Farewell, Michael Vaughan!

Michael Vaughan, the most successful captain for the England Cricket Team in Tests, announced his retirement, though not entirely unexpectedly. After being left out of the England Test squad for the upcoming Ashes and with fitness and consistency never being on his side over a prolonged period, Vaughan apparently was left with no choice.

Vaughan's most significant contribution to cricket were his technically correct, effortless and sublime cover drives, and of course, the Ashes victory in 2005. He was single-handedly responsible for reviving interest in Test Cricket, crafting a neat and planned series victory over the till-then invincible Aussies. (Which Indian cricket fan does not like to see the Aussies going down!)

When he was in form, he was tough to get out and had a supremely good year in 2002 when he amassed nearly 1500 Test runs. He is one of the best cricket captains in the modern game, having seen heavyweights like Flintoff and Pietersen blossom under his regime. Many players in the current England team owe their place to him.

Vaughan's case just another to show how brutally injuries can mar a cricketer's career. Leave out the knee injuries and the situation could have been different for Vaughan now. We have bid farewell to a fair number of cricket greats in the last18 months or so. Here's bidding an honorable farewell to yet another!

All the best to the Indian Cricket Team!

The India vs West Indies ODI series begins tomorrow and I just cannot wait to see the Indian team in action again. Although there is no Zaheer, Sachin, Sehwag and even Irfan, it certainly is THE strongest team in ODIs.

The thing I am most excited about is the performance of the new players. Abhishek Nayar is a very exciting prospect as seen in my favourite IPL team Mumbai Indians. His almost-match-winning innings in the humdinger against Rajasthan Royals with that extra-cover six off Johan Botha is still fresh in memory (his dismissal the very next ball also is!). Ravindra Jadeja has till now been seen only in T20 - it will be interesting to see how he plays the ODIs. He is more valuable as a bowler and fielder than a batsman and Dhoni will keep that in mind always after that disastrous innings against England in the World T20! Pragyan Ojha is one of the best spinners in form, and along with Harbhajan Singh, the duo can be a handful. In fact, Harbhajan Singh is one of the best middle-over bowlers in ODIs.

The players who have been in the team for quite some time need to pull up their socks. Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni need to get their act together in batting - Yuvraj seems to have sleepy body language while Dhoni needs to look more for the boundaries - simply trying to increase one's batting average to be counted among the best is a folly for the team. I am not saying that he is not a team player - it is just that he must bat better than what he is now and not many will disagree with me on that. Gautam Gambhir is surprisingly in bad form (after all, he is a human!). Right since the IPL, he does not seem to be timing the ball well. The ODI format will serve him right to get back in form. Rohit Sharma's lazy elegance has deserted him as of now but he is a class player and will bounce back.

You may say that the Indian team is not the best team right now, keeping in mind the World T20. But, writing off a team for just 2 losses on 2 bad days would be a folly. India WILL shine in WI and win the ODI series. In spite of the renewed confidence of the WI team, I feel that WI will not be up to the task (Gayle likes ONLY T20 anyway and so does the team and the nation). Their bowling will be taken apart and their batting, though promising, may just win them a match at most.

So, here's wishing WI all the best, and India all the matches!