Some random observations that flit through my head when I think about these Test series:
West Indies - Sri Lanka
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The once mighty West Indies Test team is now relegated to celebrating drawn Test series, even calling it a "massive achievement". Even worse, the series was drawn because rain interrupted normal proceedings on an almost daily basis. Sri Lankan cricket is not helping itself by producing pitches where batsmen make merry and the bowlers suffer. Sri Lanka has the most varied bowling attack of all Test teams today (including Pakistan) but the team does not get to showcase that strength of theirs. Which is very sad. Test cricket should not be a batathon. Gah!
The Ashes
Since the retirement of the big guns (apart from the big 3, folks like Hayden are being missed because of their ancillary skills, notably slip fielding) Australia has been a middling team, propelled towards numerous victories simply on the basis of their aura. Pre-series predictions called for an Aussie triumph but that was totally overlooking the fact that this team even lost to Pakistan, getting bowled out for 88 in the first inning.
Ricky Ponting is still a good batsman. 66, 71, 4, 77, 72, 10, 51*, 0, 9 are his scores in the last 9 innings he has batted. They are not earth-shattering but surely those are returns that more than 95% of Test cricketers will be glad to trade for. As a captain he has always shown the intent but never the fortitude to suffer through tough periods. What I mean is that when things are not going well, Ponting the Plotter comes to the fore, setting weird fields (3 gullies or 3 at midwicket, etc.) but never sustaining them. At the first hint that the batsman may not fall for that trick, he changes plans, messing with his bowlers' line and length. Stick with your guts a little longer, Ponting. Remember what MS Dhoni did to your team in Mohali a couple of years ago when he stayed with an 8-1 field for an entire session?
Sometimes, staying still is a better attacking option than constantly moving around.
Having said all that, my overall feeling is that Australia may be better served with someone else as captain, freeing up Ponting to focus solely on batting. (SRT realized the value of this, knowingly or unknowingly, many years ago and he has flourished because of this). I still rate Ponting among the top 10 batsmen in the game. Like him or hate him, you have to admit that he is the first wicket that any bowler would like to have in his notch when teams are playing Australia. Middling 50's are not doing you any good, Ricky. Carpe diem.
India - South Africa
You may have heard of this upcoming battle between #1 and #2 (at least in the rankings). The Indian team is a little weak on the bowling front, lacking an attacking spinner. South Africa does not pretend to search for an attacking spinner, instead cleverly using Paul Harris in the restrictive, ball-chuntering mode that he is best suited for.
These days, with the flat pitches that are being doled out around the world, the less we speak about the batting averages, the better it is. I hope the pitches in South Africa have some grass on them and provide batsmen with challenges that they are not used to facing 363 days of the year these days.
I can't wait for it to begin.
5 comments:
I keep looking for true sabermetrics to creep into cricket too.
Professional baseball and even basketball has been enriched by thinking professionals identifying best practices that lead to the correct or desirable outcome.
I like your highlighting the issue of the drop-off in the quality of slip fielding as one of the important causal factors for the decline of Australian cricket.
If one thinks of the number of close matches they have lost, it is obvious that they have lost something on the batting side (inconsistent opening, and then the issues with the Ponting-Clarke-Hussey middle order not living up to potential/promise/track-record) and a lot on the bowling side (esp McGrath/Gillespie/Warne).
However, it is my contention that the bowling got about 20% more wickets than they would have with the current fielding side because the infielding in the Steve Waugh/Ponting heyday was so much stronger. Warne at first slip, Mark Waugh at 2nd, Ponting in the gully, all meant that almost no opportunity in their area-code went abegging.
BD,
I couldn't agree more. Fielding and sabermetrics are two areas in which cricket can do a better job of focusing on. In fact, mingling the two - keeping fielding stats - would be the icing on the cake.
For comparison: Suresh Raina scores 50 runs per inning and saves another 20. Yuvraj Singh scores 60 runs per inning, but costs 10 runs in the field. Who is more valuable? In the absence of tangible evidence we are left to discuss questions like this on impressions and emotions alone. These days, Yuvraj usually wins these "battles" because of the "on his day he is the most destructive hitter" emotional angle.
How about saving 50 runs and scores when he gets the chance to bat....
I know only one person that fit that bill and I played with him for 5 years. AV, you will always be more valuable than any of these prima donnas. Stats be damned.
I was thinking about Md. Kaif...:)
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