Why are people obsessed with stupid things…

…like comparing one of the better players now from one of the better players 30 years ago? Here’s Harsha Bhogle pontificating about how Jacques Kallis is really as great as Gary Sobers. I haven’t seen him play, but I’m sure Gary Sobers was a great player. I’ve seen Kallis play, and he doesn’t strike to me as particularly awesome, but he has consistently performed, which is enough to make him a great player.

The funniest part of the whole article are these paragraph:

For someone who finished in 1973 and for another who only began in 1995, their records are amazingly similar. From 93 Tests (and these are numbers serious cricket lovers know by heart) Sobers had 8032 runs at 57.78, 26 centuries, 235 wickets at 34.03 and 109 catches. Kallis has played one and a half times the number of Tests (145) and, hold your breath, has virtually an identical proportion of runs (11,947 at 57.43), centuries (40), and even catches (166)! He has fewer wickets by comparison but at a marginally better average (270 at 32.01).

This similarity in numbers cannot be mere coincidence. Yes, there were variables. Sobers played first-class cricket all around the world in addition to his Test workload, but Kallis has played 307 one-day internationals too. Sobers batted largely from No. 6, which some might say is an easier number but affords fewer opportunities, while Kallis, amazingly for an allrounder, batted from No. 3 or 4, which meant he had more time but also often had to change bowling shoes for the half-spikes rather quickly.

The entire justification for the existence of this article is: “Coincidence? I THINK NOT!” On the contrary, I think it’s all very coincidental. Bhogle admits to there being “variables” but notice he picks up on some minor differences and handwaves the importance of these difference.

Look, cricket in Sobers’ are was a way different game than it is today. Back in the day if you were from the West Indies, you pretty much played test matches against Australia and England. Yeah, there were some series against India, and a couple against Pakistan and New Zealand, but that’s it. Compare that to the fact that Kallis had to face a formidable Pakistan, a formidable Sri Lanka, a decent New Zealand, a decent India, etc. regularly. The playing field was much higher in the 90s and 00s. Even when you compare the bowling, Kallis probably has Sobers beat; the batting lineups of todays teams are probably far superior (just look at the number of people who’ve crossed the 8000 test cricket run mark.) We’re just in a different era, in which the players are much better, the rules are pretty different, etc. Stop trying to compare the awesomeness of players who’ve played 20-30 years apart! It’s a futile exercise.

In the same note, if I hear more “Sachin is as great as Bradman” I’m going to slap that person. That’s a promise, not a threat.

I guess this is what commentators are paid to do, though. Write some crazy meaningless stuff, rile up some people who’ll discuss the finer points of the article while missing the big picture that people from different generations of cricket are incomparable.

–Gautam

The Hub :: View topic – WISDENs rating – TOP 10 TEST INNINGS & ONE DAY INNINGS

Always, cricket has been a BATSMANs game which is sad
There have been so many WORTHY PERFORMERS in bowling WHO WON MATCHES SINGLEHANDEDLY
Our Kumble is one who is a picture of CONSISTENCY .
Every 5 wickets in an inning should be considered as EQUAL TO A CENTURY .
Here Anil Kumble stands the best ever & THE REAL GOD

OMG. SO NOT TRUE.

GK

Cricinfo – Sreesanth taunts Symonds again

Cricinfo – Sreesanth taunts Symonds again

I don’t knwo what the fuck this kid is doing, but that does not undermine the fact that he’s being goddamn retarded. Coolly acknowledge being stupid? When did people start doing that?

Why don’t people kick him out already?

–Gautam

Cricinfo – Sreesanth must be banned for beamer: Atherton

Cricinfo – Sreesanth must be banned for beamer: Atherton
Cricinfo – Pietersen shaken by beamer

“We do know that, since the ball landed at the wicketkeeper’s feet, he missed his length by a good 30 yards, an extraordinary failing for an international bowler. If it did slip, it slipped with remarkable accuracy, honing in on Pietersen’s skull. Shortly afterwards he overstepped the front mark by two feet to bowl a rapid bouncer at Collingwood. Sreesanth was hardly in control of his emotions during that particular spell.”

“Since the match referee remained silent on the issue, it is Dravid who should take the appropriate disciplinary action ahead of The Oval Test match. Even if he doesn’t want to take disciplinary action, he should ask himself: does he really want a bowler who so obviously cannot control his emotions to play in such a crunch encounter?”

“I was shaken up on a cricket pitch for the first time in my life at Trent Bridge and I’m not too proud to admit it,” Pietersen said in his News of the World column. “I thought the beamer that Sreesanth bowled at me was going to take my head off.

“People say that sport is not a matter of life and death, but for a few seconds there I thought my number was up. Luckily, I just managed to get out of the way but I ended up in a heap on the pitch thinking ‘that could have killed me’.

“I was not physically shaking or throwing up, but it definitely unsettled me mentally and that has never happened before. I’m a lucky boy to have quick reflexes otherwise I could have been a goner.”

Michael Atherton can go kiss his own ass. And Kevin Pietersen, too. Really. Shit happens, ok?

Stunning

Wow, man, did you see that spin?

What just happened?

Bangladesh won against South Africa. I can understand B-desh winning against India, but beating South Africa? What the HELL is going on out here? Did somebody give the Afrikaaners a bunch of diamonds and fix this match?

Wow, remove the corruption guys. I refuse to admit this match was fairly played because such a result would be IMPOSSIBLE.

South Africa won the toss and decided to field

Bangladesh Innings 251 for 8 (50.0 overs)

South Africa Innings 184 all out (48.3 overs)

Here come the Super 8s

….. Minus India and Pakistan. Who would have thought that two of the best teams would be pwned out of the initial stages?

Well, I don’t care how the ratings change as a consequence of this stupid performance but I do hope these people LEARN something.
1. Complacency = bad. Don’t ever let Bangladesh beat you again, for Jadeja’s sake.
2. 7 Good batsmen = doesn’t guarantee a good batting performance, especially when some have consistently failed in their last umpteen performances.
3. Don’t reserve spots for old people. i mean, make these youngsters play a lot more, especially against the A teams. Why the hell do we have the same batting line up as we did three years ago? Don’t we have new, good batsmen?
4. Better train bowlers. I mean, come on, our bowling line up sucks ass right now. What happened to the brilliant performance 4 years ago?
5. Play 5 specialist bowlers. How many times do I reiterate that?
6. Follow 1-5.
7. Get rid of Jagmohan Dalmiya and stupid selectors. Indian folk, can’t you please see something is done to this effect?

Thanks,

Gautam

What is Zealand without Bond?

FB users: follow the link on top ^^ if you want to read the stats properly.

Bond. Shane Bond. Yes, that police officer guy from New Zealand who bowls really well. I think he’s the only reason why NZ is so good in bowling. Yeah he does get owned badly sometimes, (Notably: Australia tour 2007) but you can’t beat an average of 19.48 having taken 115 wickets.

Take a look at some of these statistics:
This one is a little weird, but observe that only bond does OK.

Australia innings (50 overs maximum)			R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	ML Hayden	c Vettori b Gillespie	24	58	36	5	0	66.66
	PA Jaques	c Fleming b Bond	3	27	16	0	0	18.75
	BJ Haddin	c & b Vettori	49	76	61	5	2	80.32
	MEK Hussey	c Taylor b McMillan	105	123	84	8	6	125.00
	BJ Hodge	not out	97	100	86	10	2	112.79
	CL White	not out	42	32	19	3	3	221.05
	Extras	(b 1, lb 5, w 8, nb 2)	16
	Total	(4 wickets; 50 overs; 215 mins)	336

Did not bat SR Watson, GB Hogg, NW Bracken, GD McGrath, SW Tait

Fall of wickets1-26 (Jaques, 5.5 ov), 2-52 (Hayden, 12.2 ov), 3-122 (Haddin, 25.4 ov),4-252 (Hussey, 42.3 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ	Extras
DR Tuffey	10	0	80	0	8.00	(5w)
SE Bond	9	4	39	1	4.33	(1nb, 1w)
MR Gillespie	10	2	57	1	5.70
DL Vettori	10	0	54	1	5.40
SB Styris	4	0	34	0	8.50
CD McMillan	5	0	44	1	8.80	(1nb)
L Vincent	2	0	22	0	11.00

Now look at this one where he pwns ass.

Australia innings (50 overs maximum)			R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	ML Hayden	c Fleming b Gillespie	14	77	39	2	0	35.89
	PA Jaques	c Vettori b Bond	1	7	8	0	0	12.50
	BJ Haddin	b Bond	6	8	5	1	0	120.00
	MEK Hussey	c Taylor b McMillan	42	135	96	4	0	43.75
	BJ Hodge	c Fleming b Vettori	22	62	49	2	0	44.89
	CL White	c & b Bond	13	29	18	0	0	72.22
	SR Watson	c Bond b Vettori	8	32	32	0	0	25.00
	GB Hogg	b Bond	20	46	23	2	0	86.95
	MG Johnson	c Oram b Gillespie	8	16	18	1	0	44.44
	NW Bracken	b Bond	0	3	4	0	0	0.00
	GD McGrath	not out	5	10	6	0	0	83.33
	Extras	(b 1, lb 2, w 5, nb 1)	9
	Total	(all out; 49.3 overs; 217 mins)	148

Fall of wickets1-3 (Jaques, 1.4 ov), 2-16 (Haddin, 3.1 ov), 3-45 (Hayden, 17.2 ov), 4-86 (Hodge, 31.3 ov), 5-98 (Hussey, 34.3 ov), 6-108 (White, 39.1 ov), 7-120 (Watson, 42.6 ov), 8-133 (Johnson, 46.6 ov), 9-133 (Bracken, 47.4 ov), 10-148 (Hogg, 49.3 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ	Extras
DR Tuffey	8	0	29	0	3.62	(1w)
SE Bond	9.3	2	23	5	2.42	(1nb, 2w)
JDP Oram	10	0	22	0	2.20
MR Gillespie	9	0	27	2	3.00	(1w)
DL Vettori	9	1	26	2	2.88
SB Styris	2	0	15	0	7.50	(1w)
CD McMillan	2	0	3	1	1.50

Now, take a look at this:

Canada Innings

Batsman	FOW		Runs	Balls	4s	6s
J M Davison	c and b	M J Mason	52	31	9	1
G E F Barnett	c B B McCullum	b D L Vettori	40	72	5	0
A Bagai		b D L Vettori	37	64	3	0
I S Billcliff		b S B Styris	50	56	4	0
A M Samad	run out		9	17	1	0
A A Mulla	lbw	b D L Vettori	0	2	0	0
S Dhaniram	retd hurt		17	19	1	1
U Bhatti		b J S Patel	10	28	1	0
A C Cummins	not out		9	8	1	0
K T Sandher		b J S Patel	2	6	0	0
H Osinde		b J S Patel	0	1	0	0
Extras		9nb 5w 4b 5lb	23
Total		for 9	249	(49.2 ovs)

Bowler O M R W D R Tuffey 6.0 0 40 0 M J Mason 8.0 0 60 1 J D P Oram 7.0 1 16 0 J S Patel 9.2 0 25 3 D L Vettori 10.0 0 57 3 S B Styris 6.0 0 21 1 C D McMillan 3.0 0 21 0

It’s against CANADA for god’s sake. I mean, what an easy opportunity to get the all out for 7 RPO and only take one wicket between themselves! Pathetic. On the other hand, I have no idea what the men in Blue will be able accomplish. I am already predicting a dismal failure against Sri Lanka and processions back at home that reflect the loss. Unless they can pull off the excellent performance like they did in the last world cup, then we have a really good chance. But, that’s probably not happening because 1. we lack a good bowler (figures) and 2. our batsmen aren’t in great form either. Eh, whatever.

Gautam

Good Response

India Innings

Runs

Balls

4s

6s

source: BBC

A much better performance compared to the one on Sat. 413 is a record for WC matches and I am glad that the spotlight was stolen by three people: one very much in form and the other two struggling from the lack thereof. The 257 run margin by which the team won is also a record! I want to say that the bowlers could have restricted Bermuda to extremely good with capitalizing in the middle overs where the offices of the aformentioned trio are essential.

That said, I wish the team good luck for the next encounter.

Gautam

Running Commentary: India vs. Bangladesh

1. Ultimate WTF. why are the top-order batsmen failing so badly? I mean, 40/3? COME ON. IT’S BANGLADESH FOR GOD’S SAKE.
2. Rahul Dravid + Ganguly = 3. Dravid out. Yuvraj and Gangu are playing the singles. Let’s hope they do well.
4. OMG. India 191 allout and Bangladesh is whooping ass. Pakistan 132 allout TO IRELAND. And Ireland is 44/2. I am sure Ireland and Bangladesh will win. I will be surprised if Pakistan doesn’t qualify to the super 8s this way.