20 Greatest Sledges in Cricket

Someone has apparently carried out the hard work of collecting people's opinion on the famous sledges that keep making the rounds, and then publishing the 20 that people voted as the greatest.

Here it is: http://top20cricketsledges.blogspot.in/

Looks good, as it features almost all the memorable ones I have read. 

How about Gurunath getting a 3rd degree called "24 hours of compulsory attention to Shastri's commentary"

Ravi Shastri is selected in BCCI's three member committee for probing spot fixing. 

Hope he can fire on all cylinders and drive some tracer bullets into fixers, make them disappear like huge sixers before the contest goes down to the wire. it's his for the taking, that's what the doctor ordered. 

However Shaz's greatest achievement would be bringing down the (BCCI) president if he can...he has got good credentials as a 'president shooter' to start with: a three letter initial (same as LHO and JWB) !! 

That will set the cat among the pigeons...c'mon Shaz, throw caution to the wind and be like greased lightning. The situation is touch and go...it's a pressure cooker, and something's got to give.

Can almost hear him commentate on the findings: "what Indian cricket needs now is a wicket...what Srini needs now is a partnership. Srini is rapped on the pads and the finger goes up....the umpire knew exactly what he was doing there. This decision sets up rest of the enquiry nicely ...now Guru..edggeeed, and should be taken...aah, Delhi police have dropped it. Unbelievable - they will take it ten out of ten times. the atmosphere is electrifying..is there another twist in the tale? One gets a feeling Guru may have injured himself there..."

[acknowledgement: http://blog.rohandsa.com/2010/04/ravi-shastri-commentary-generator.html]

Match winner

The customary glance from dinner table at IPL scores on SetMax told me Delhi had set an incredible 230 to Kings XI Punjab..Without looking at the scoreboard, it appears Sehwag has fired. Punjab were decently placed in the chase at 100 odd for 2 in 10 overs but even so the ask looks improbable to achieve.




But then the camera pans to a Delhi Daredevils bowler who was released from 3 years of service to KKR. I could almost hear the entire lot of IPL followers in Punjab whisper in nervous anticipation:

"Hey, this match is far from over!"

Ajit Agarkar, though, was quite oblivious of the hopes he continues to produce in rival camps.


Update: Ajit dearest comes on to bowl 17th over with Punjab needing 72 off last 4 overs. Gives away 15 runs in that over. Agarkaresque if viewed from a distance, it really is decent fare going by the match proceedings.

[developed from a note on my Facebook page]

"You have been lucky if you have failed with time left to benefit from the lessons"

Actually that thought, posted as subject line, came to my mind as I was browsing through some old Facebook posts in my profile.


I came across one on 12th March, as South Africa were taking advantage of India's inactive fields / bowling plans during middle overs. Here's what I wrote as a comment at 8-51pm (at around 40th over of South Africa innings):

"Dhoni lets opponent get away in middle overs...I am seeing this coming loss as a blessing in disguise - may be now he will be forced to rethink his strategy in middle overs.. he will see that he is winning INSPITE OF it and not due to it...but then these opponent batsmen,they get out just as I see a silver lining - and perhaps give MSD a chance to carry his poor strategy to the KO's."

Well luckily for Indian team, South Africa did NOT panic for once and scraped through to win that match..in retrospect we can thank this loss for the obvious rethink of Indian middle over strategies that subsequently worked so well against ALL the former World Cup Champions (West Indies next match, Australia in QF, Pakistan in semis & Sri Lanka in finals).

Let all Indian Cricket fans therefore gather at India Gate, candles in hand, and shout thankfully in unison to commemorate the last over of that match:

"ASHISH NEHRA AMAR RAHE"

Post World Cup analysis...of my OWN world cup previews

What goes up must come down. Likewise whatever gets previewed should also get reviewed - including the preview. Not that it is important to anyone (even myself)..just feel I need to get it out of the system before the World Cup win gets out of everyone's system.



I will list a set a set of ticks and crosses. 'Tick's are for the things I was right about, and 'Crosses' for the ones when my foot came perilously close to my mouth.


These were not exactly 'predictions' - I quit predicting since 2007 when I predicted India to be semi-finalists 'without a shade of doubt'. Let's say I 'opined' on EACH of these points BEFORE things happened...


So even in my failures I am better than those who rightly thought Nehra shouldn't have bowled last over against SA BUT only after seeing the result when all are generally right on what did not work - something that was forgotten while people thought themselves capable enough to get into reviewing every little decision of captain (exclusion: I know of someone who actually gets credit for predicting that one rightly before it happened):




Tick: Sehwag vs Pathan dilemma in knockout matches: Sehwag does not score batting 2nd. He never did in the past 2 years barring one knock a year, and in WC he failed 100% in 2nd innings. Contrarily, 2nd innings are where Yusuf Pathan comes good. During WC, Pathan did not get many chances in 2nd innings till he was dropped - and he did well in one of his 2 chasing innings. As predicted, Sehwag was a passenger in 2 of the 3 knockout matches where India batted second.*



Tick: Even with 4 bowlers the Mumbai pitch was never expected to be so helpful to pacers that Ashwin could yield position to Sreesanth: India’s 3rd seamer became the weakest link in final match. **



Tick: Dhoni's public criticism at his batsmen playing to the gallery ( in South Africa match, after 2nd successive collapse in last 10 overs of 1st innings) would be taken positively by his team: There were concerns that it was inappropropriate.***



Tick: Trust Dhoni to have the best intents and most optimal plan for this set of players, instead of judging by him ONLY by results: Results can go wrong inspite of all that...try to see his point and shout ONLY IF that is not agreeable / he does not admit it. He admitted both mistakes he made in knockout phases - one directly (misreading Mohali pitch) and the other tersely (playing 3rd seamer in Mumbai).+



Tick: [This is a shady forecast - non-cricketing] Winning the final might be Sachin's destiny which became apparent after Pak semi final: He won the cup and the players all but dedicated it to him.


Tick: (This was before WC started when Yuvi was struggling) India cannot win this world cup without Yuvraj firing as he does not have a replacement at this stage, so we might as well keep him in the team and hope for the best [I see an in-form Yuvi as 1.5 batsmen]. Yuvraj bettered the best by becoming 2 full players in the tournament - one batsman and one bowler


Cross: (This was not a public prediction) Sachin would contribute to the final win and silence those who criticise of his finals performances. That criticism remains unfair anyway - Sachin has contributed to may final wins including Aus tri seeries in Dhoni era - but what better to do it in a WC final? NOT TO BE!!



Tick: When India were 31/2 and Gambhir-Kohli were trying to form a partnership, the camera zoomed into the gallery for a moment. I had predicted that as THE decisive moment and that India would win after that point. So it happened. The man was superstar Rajnikanth.



Cross: (This was not a public prediction) I had assumed India's bowlers to bat better as the tournament progressed especially Harbhajan...it never happened - they kept looking like fish out of water.



Cross: Raina would struggle after the lows he suffered in the leadup to the world cup and it was a big risk to replace Pathan with him in knockouts: Raina and Sehwag were instrumental in ensuring that India did not lose the semi final in the 1st half itself. Raina did the same in the Quarter final chase against Australia. He is well on his way to be our Michael Bevan (with a better strike rate)..and here's hoping that Raina's Test career does better than Bevan's. He deserves some luck.


And now to the one 'Cross' that made me happiest after I was wrong:



Cross: Yuvi's fielding returned! When the World Cup began, I kept expecting Yuvi the batsman to come back sometime (during world cup or maybe later - not for a moment I thought him to be a finished batsman). I considered Yuvrja the bowler to be 'buffet' stuff but I wouldn't have exactly bet against him improving there. The one thing I was prepared to bet against: I was sure that Yuvi's take-off-the-cliff dives to pouch magical catches and stop boundaries were a thing of the past. Gone for ever. Imagine how ecstatic I was to see him bring back those flying days in the final stages of World Cup.++

[The (*) & (+) signs are for explanatory notes which no one is interested in...I have removed text out of those parts...to be produced only if further discussion happens on a point]

[Posted as a note on my Facebook page]

"Wunnit for Sachin": why Sachin got 18 instead of 100th hundred in Cup final

Heaven. A cold morning of early January 2011.


God sips coffee early in the morning and checks his mailbox. He was out of office for the Durban Test between India and South Africa.

The box is overflowing. He finds a lot of applications from India requesting, or almost ordering him to award the 2011 World Cup to Indian cricket team. Reason: This will be Sachin Tendulkar's last World Cup.

His eyebrows get furrowed. Do these guys have nothing to do? Shaking His head, He opens the next email in his Prayers folder: from a 22 year old called Virat Kohli.

He knew a teenager by this name. That Virat had sent an email called 'silent prayer' to Him 4 years back on the eve of a youth cricket world cup final. At the time God had liked the boy's passion and granted his wish.


Turns out that this email is from the same Kohli Kohli's request is same as the others. But God is immune to such veiled 'give it to him' prayers which are truly intended for self. "Look's like the guy has grown up and as a natural consequence got greedier", He murmurs with a frown.


Then He sees some more requests from other Indian cricket players. God is struck by the common theme: not just the comon folk of India but even Indian cricket players are placing the prayers of World Cup win to Him on behalf of Sachin rather than themselves. "Oh my Rajnikant," God says, "what's happening here?"


God is impressed and decides to grant the common wish. But he wants to check genuineness before granting.


He loads the 'Future Preview' tool on his Cloudtop [not having MSW operating System, please be mindful, which is a banned substance in Heaven].


When God intends to verify genuineness of any personal promise / claim qualifying a prayer, he justs uses FP to simulate and check the person's reaction when the prayer gets granted. Instead of granting the exact prayer they asked for, God often fine tunes it from their FuturePreview reactions. People often do not express themselves so well in prayers.


[FP does not lie and is hence incompatible to MSW OS - another reason for not using the latter.]


He checks Kohli's reaction first, after a simulated World Cup win:
Kohli says "Wunnit for Sachin."


So far so good. God is a little repentent to have earlier misjudged Kohli as greedy. He moves on to the next sender. Zaheer Khan.
"Wunnit for Sachin", Zaheer says in the FuturePreview, pointing to Sachin.


Next is Yuvraj Singh - another second timer. God had recently granted approval for his request to succeed at 2011 World Cup with both bat & ball.
"Wunnit for Sachin", says Yuvraj too. He also goes on to say that the mysterious special person he wanted to win it for was none other than Sachin.


Gautam Gambhir. 2nd timer again. This guy wanted to do well in the Cup final, if his team progresses and if he gets selected. God had approved this guy's earlier prayer too.
"Wunnit for Sachin," Gambhir utters on Future preview.


Last one. This is the only World Cup win prayer for self from an Indian cricket player. You guessed the sender right: Sachin Tendulkar. FP had already started processing 'Sachin after grant of prayer'..but then the battery got discharged. God knew its contents though as he had already approved the prayer (this was a resend from Sachin). Sachin requested for a World Cup win as well as a 100th hundred for himself at the Cup final.


"Okay," God summarised, "I will give them all what they said they were happy for. Sachin wants the world cup, so I will give it to the Indian team for his sake. However all the others waxed eloquent in FP about their happiness at Sachin getting a particular score. So that removes the 100th hundred Sachin was destined to get in this match as per his own prayers. Instead I will grant the general players' preference of one-eight for Sachin."


That's how Sachin got 18 (one-eight) in the World Cup final instead of his 100th hundred.


“Wonder why these players prefer a particularly low score for Sachin in the finals…I have never seen so many people do that to a person they genuinely like!”


He finishes the coffee and moves to visit the World Cup stadiums. Most of them need His help to get completed on schedule.


---------------


cricinfo players' quotes after 2011 World Cup final: http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/content/current/story/509249.html

Spraying @ Wankhede [WC 2011 finals]

We were jointly watching the cup at my friend's place.
Sometime around the 30th over of Indian chase, the spinners were losing control on the batsmen. We were discussing if dew was a reason.
One of us pointed out that the newly started custom of spraying anti-dew sprays had worked like a dream in favour of India during the semi-final at Mohali. Any effect of dew would suggest non-application of spray.

"Was the anti-dew spray missed?"
We reckoned that was indeed the case. We then sought to delve deeper even as the Indian batting looked increasingly assured and Murali yielded 19 in his two-over 2nd spell.
"Is that (spray) a miss by Mumbai cricket authorities or was it deliberately omitted to maximise Indian advantage?"
We tried putting on our "conspiracy theorist caps".


At this point, one in the group went a couple of hours back in time and quipped:
"Now I get why the normally accurate Zaheer started spraying during his last twilight spell. The ever generous host** that Zaheer is, that's when he noticed that spraying had not been done. Good man."
Indeed.


**Zaheer Khan plays for Mumbai, venue of 2011 WC final

World Cup final watchers' sea-sawing opinions: Gambhir bimari

During the Sri Lankan innings, Gambhir chased a ball and made a half-decent attempt to save a boundary off the last ball of the over. He failed. Ad break. Up comes a medical insurance company ad making viewers aware of its coverage of 'gambhir bimari' [serious diseases].
The acceleration of Sri Lankans was getting on the nerves of some of us.Gambhir's concession of that boundary did not help one bit. A riled friend grunted after the ad:

"Gambhir bimari hai" [Player Gambhir is the disease]

By the end of the 10th over of Indian innings though, the same friend was predicting Gambhir to be the match winner(which was a creditable 'early call'). And by the 30th over Sangakarra and his Sri Lankan side had begun to think what my friend had said earlier:

'Gambhir bimari hai'

India Revisiting all WC champion teams in chronological order

Who won the WORLD CUP since its inception (barring 1983, which was won by India)?




1) West Indies (1975, 1979)..& defeated in India's last group league match


2) Australia (1987, 1999, 2003, 2007)..& defeated in quarter final


3) Pakistan (1992)..& defeated in semi final


4) Sri Lanka (1996)..waiting in final



India is a nation that respects history.


We undo things in the EXACT order those were done.
 
[Shared on my FB page today]

Raina's crystal ball

As expected before the finals, the Indian players are nervously energetic.


None of the Indian players has any idea of how the final will play out for him.

Sehwag returns back to his room from a special lecture by Ravi Shastri on "Hitting deliveries to the boundary like tracer bullets" and immediately feels this tension. Being a social animal, Sehwag has no intent of withstanding this uneasiness alone. He has set up an Facebook invite to a nail biting party for all his mates. Ex-captain Sourav Ganguly is the Guest invitee.


About 12 suo-moto responses came promptly from Sri Lankan players volunteering to join the party but Sehwag had to refuse the invites.
Papparazzi saw a controversy in that refusal but the story turned out to be less engaging than was initially thought.


The hotel staff have only agreed to clean up KILOS of bitten off nails resulting from the party. TONS of nails will be out of the agreement and the room owner will have to clean it himself. As we all know, Sehwag prefers to sweep Sri Lankan deliveries ONLY on the cricket field.
13 other Team India players have accepted Sehwag's invite for nail biting party ahead of finals. Tendulkar's acceptance reportedly came within 13 seconds of sending out invite...making Sehwag tweet on it.


All except one man.


Suresh Raina.
He is not chewing his nails for a change. He is unaffected by tension.
Why?
Because he knows EXACTLY what he will be doing in that match as the 7th batsman.
How does he know that?
He has a secret crystal ball that has given him his secret brief in all EXACTNESS.


This is his brief:

 - Irrespective of whether India bat 1st or second, the fifth wicket will fall EXACTLY at the score of 187.


- The fifth wicket falls in EXACTLY the 38th over too.

- After coming in, Raina will be required to take the Indian total to EXACTLY 260 by playing cautiously at the start and aggressively at the end.

- And in the process he will get to an unbeaten personal score of 34 (not EXACT for a change, but thereabouts) in those overs.

Raina reopens the cricinfo statsguru page. He wants to check the number of times he passed 34 in ODI's with a new filtering criteria he just thought of. He would next go to the ESPNcricinfo camp to ask for those videos.
[End of story]

Don't you believe me on Raina's brief? Check up for yourself on the QF with Australia and SF with pakistan - you already know that India scored 260 in both matches. Now see the over# and team score at which 5th wicket fell - and also Raina's score in each of the 2 games:

QF: http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/engine/match/433601.html

SF: http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/engine/current/match/433605.html


Are you an Indian? Then pray that Sri Lanka do not bat first and get > 260 ;-)

[Acknowledgement: This is an expansion of cricinfo's stats article today on no. 7 performances in India & SL teams]

I've beaten Lara's first Test triple [375]

This is the 376th post in this blog.
Hold your congratulations - I am concentrating on surpassing Lara's 400 right now..
Wish me luck!!

Ind Pak semi final proved existence of God

The high voltage Ind Pak semifinal match of 2011 World Cup proved that pressure matches can also be played in good spirits.



It also finally proved that God exists amidst us.


Don't get me wrong - he is not a player who is in his 22nd year of career as many hallucinate. There was proof yesterday that the guy is a mere mortal.


He is a slim, sharp looking umpire who has been sublime for many years, and divine yesterday.


He is Simon Taufel.

The brisk Walker

A former cricketer on 'walking' controversy in 2011 WC:

"It's nice to see people walking but that doesn't happen now I guess,There is a system in place now so that you can't get away with it. I mean people still take chances and why not? Jayawardene took a chance and it went the other way."

Guess who said it? 'Walker' Younis!!

 

2006, can you please recur in 2011....

Here's a thought for those excessively worried about Indian batting collapses  in the last two WC games against unfancied Ireland and Netherlands:
Yuvi scores 58, 50* & 51* in successive matches. Good news? YES, even though 2 of them are against Minnows. He got them three scores in three different situations, exactly as Yuvraj Singh mark-2011 should have got them. Not as Virender Sehwag, Paul Collingwood, Kamran Akmal, Mike Hussey or Kevin O'Brien should have.
In those matches Yuvi-MSD score partnerships of 69, 67 & 52*. Two of those have still come against minnows. Is it good news? NO...it is GREAT news! 'Coz again they got the runs exactly as Yuvi-Dhoni mark-2011 should have got them.
Note: Not that Yuvi-MSD of 2011 need to bat any differently than they did in the unforgettable 'masti-ki-pathshala' Pak'06 ODI's when the situation comes...it only means they have more ways than that these days. Just seeing them together for more than 50 runs in three consecutive matches has been such a pacifier.
 
And those additional options for Yuvi/MSD are all borne out of the WMD** that India NOW have in their batting lineup: YK Pathan.
 
**WMD=MSD++

Pak-NZ match 1st innings: gems from Cricinfo commentary & readers' comments

These 'How'lers were compiled from today's cricinfo commentary page during the last 10 overs of NZ innings during today's Pak-NZ match
---------------------
Episode 1: "How boring" - Readers' comments during the innings of Jamie How who scored 4 off 29 runs



..after How concedes a maiden to Umar Gul when the latter is introduced in 11th over:
Cam: "How do you put a person to sleep? How."


..and a Pakistan fan is anguished when How is dismissed in Gul's next over:
Ridhwaan: "Getting How out was a mistake by Pakistan!! He was eating up deliveries and doing Pak a favour!"


..also a hopeful NZ fan:
Wilko NZ: "Surely that will be How's last chance at this level. And what a final contribution - a paltry 4 runs from a 47 run partnership. "

----------------Episode 2: Kamran moments of the match


..after Kamran drops Taylor twice in 14th over (off Shoaib, brought back in 2nd spell for a breakthrough)
vinny: "Even tho I am 40+ and tubby, I could not be worse a keeper than Kamran, I think. I can drop catches just as good as him."
Sunil: "If Pakistan do win they World Cup, at least they now know who not to hand the trophy to, while celebrating :)"
Shridhar Jaju: "Kamran Akmal's favourite pickup line - Can I DROP you somewhere?"

-------------------
 Episode 3: Slow NZ.. On NZ conceding a lot of dot balls (led by Jamie How) in the 1st part of the match*:

..after a particular stretch of dry period when Ross Taylor was batting tentativelyAllan: "Wrighty will be fuming away in his seat at the number of dot balls. The batsmen haven't been listening!"



..after NZ pick up 4 runs in the first 4 balls ofa Gul over 'against the run of play'
Zohaib: "singles flowing like honey for NZ."
Paranoid Android gets in to details: "@Zohaib - Honey actually does not flow that well. Is that the simile that you wanted to highlight?"




..after James Franklin, sent as pinch hitter, departs in 2 balls:
Lance: "Can NZ Cricket check to see if Kevin O'Brien has Kiwi grandparents? Maybe the Black Caps could swap him for Jamie How or James Franklin? Surely he is a cousin of recent Black Cap Iain O'Brien."


..by the end of 40th over (just before NZ pressed accelerator pedal in 41st)
Matthew: "As a frustrated NZ supporter, should I be pleased or worried at the relative ease Taylor and Styris are accumulating runs without taking risks? I can't help but feel that Pakistan will do the same in reply!"


-----------------

 Episode 4: Fun of another kind - Ross Taylor turns it on its head..47th over yields 28, 48th over produces 15 and 49th over produces 30 runs..all off different bowlers...




48.2 Abdul Razzaq to Taylor, SIX, carnage! this has got to be stinging for Pakistan, more so after the millions of chances Ross has had, down on a knee and swings him over deep midwicket from outside off stump


48.3 Abdul Razzaq to Taylor, SIX, they just keep coming, full toss on off stump, Ross hits it into orbit, somewhere over deep midwicket, keep disappearing from the moment he bends the knee and swings them
[excerpts from commentary text]


..parting thought from a neutral reader on the birthday gifts from Kamran to Ross with love:
ragu: "How much of that applause was for Kamran I wonder?"

------------------as I complete the compilation, the 50th over has yielded a moderate 19 runs. NZ end innings at 302/7, up from 210/6 at end of 46th over...92 runs in 24 balls.
That deluge came at the end of an innings in which one batsman had scored 4 runs in 29 balls. Anybody still predicting a quarter-final elimination of New Zealanders in the knockout stages??




[source: cricinfo commentary for NZ-Pak match]


*Update:



Here's a nice quote from cricinfo match bulletin at halfway stage. It aptly summarises the early innings show put up by NZ batsmen:

"Guptill carried on batting solidly, reaching his half-century off 71 balls, while Taylor, whose early struggle was substantial by normal standards but incomparable to How's, slowly grew in confidence."

Tribute to the England - South Africa WC match on 6th March 2011

Shane Warne dozes off in front of TV on Saturday night and soon ventures into a dream....he is participating in a British WC Quiz conducted by Liz Hurley:



-------------------

Liz: Which are the two sides making news in 2011 WC for both great spin bowling as well as their skippers' imaginative use of it?
 Shane: One is England..LOL..



Liz: Complete the answer please..



Shane: The 2nd is South Africa..ROTFL
 Liz: You are NOT allowed to ridicule teams with 100+ years of cricket history on sensitive issues - you are suspended from the show..."
 -------------------


Shane wakes up on Sunday morning,laughing uncontrollably at that joke of a dream. Come afternoon and he realises that he had foreseen another England WC match result..twice in a 3 match span.


"I must have retired 200 years ago for things to have changed this dramatically about those 2 teams," Shane texts to Liz. Liz, ever the patriotic UK citizen, adds a tally mark to her count of 'dirty sms received from Shane'.


And then a familiar smile appears on Warnie's face - the TV channel is now flashing the individual performances of both teams' batsmen against spin in the Sunday match.

Overheard after 3rd day at Capetown

"This looks so familiar....
- India plays the best Test opposition available on earth.

- At close of 3rd day of 3rd Test little separates the 2 teams; all 3 results are possible @ 33.33% each in the Test, and in the series too.
- Laxman has won the 2nd Test, scoring more runs than one of the opponent's innings. Zaheer Khan joins the playing 11 in the same 2nd Test.
- Indian bowling, ragged in 1st Test, is back with vengeance since the 2nd. That guy in turban is not doing too badly.
....This must be Chennai Test, March 2001...what's wrong with all the clocks??"

"Are you demented? Zaheer Khan took 3 wickets in the very first innings he bowled in the current series. That was Zak's series tally against Australia in 2001, same as that of Tendulkar the bowler. Oh yes - the latter scored his 25th ton in that match, not the 51st. The opponent is South Africa, not Oz. And we are playing in the opponent's backyard, nor ours."
 
"Maybe...how am I supposed to know? I came out today after serving a near-decade sentence in a high-security prison and find so little has changed...Tell me, what is India's position in world Cricket now - must be the same as then, six or seven? And who is that new keeper behind the stumps for India - another delayed debutant like Samir Dighe? I tell you he can come in real handy in tense final moments of the match..."

Pollock, the emerging commentator

Instance 1: Robin Jackman was discussing a replay of Ishant's reprieve last nite (3rd day close of play of Ind-vs-SA 1st Test at Centurion). Ishant, after apparently being cleanly caught of Morkel's bowling, was called back by umpire Ian Gould after he chose to check foot position of Morkel at delivery with 3rd umpire under the new regulations and uncovered a no-ball.

Jacko then went back to the days of back foot no-ball rule. "Shaun, why do you think it got changed?" Apparently Shaun was off the mike for some reason, so Jacko himself went on explaining how some of the older quicks had metal toes in their shoes and would drag their feet ending up bowling from close to 18 yards. "That is where the front foot rule came into picture, to ensure everyone bowls from 22 yards." after a a while of silence Jacko adds :

"Shaun Pollock observes that since then the bats have got bigger and better, boundries have been pulled in, batsmen can jump to other side to bat left handed in themidst of a delivery but bowlers STILL have to declare the hand with which they are bowling and from which side of the wicket."

Instance 2: Sometime later Shaun Pollock is on the microphone. Ian Gould is flashed on screen at square leg, seen attending to some 'cramp' in the index finger. Off goes Polly in a flash:

"Ian Gould with an itchy finger - hasn't given anyone out since this morning."

[quotes are not exactly reproduced - but you get it I guess]

To another planet..and back

Breaking news: Sehwag made a trip to a new planet today. It is called 'scoring 2 runs in 21 balls'. Amazingly he survived his stay in the planet.
Further news: Sehwag's personal score now reads 25(35)..the next 14 balls yielded 23 runs.


Perhaps the 12th man came running out to the crease and drew Sehwag's attention to an indignant looking man standing at the boundary rope, fully clad in batting gear. "Get off my planet," signalled a red-eyed Dravid to Sehwag and fidgeted his way back into the dressing room.

How do you fit the naturally superslow in super slo-mo replays...

"Can't you just speed it up a little bit, because we struggle to fit it into the super slow-mo replays."

Rudi Koertzen gets some advice on his signature 'slow death' signal from a television producer

[source: cricinfo quotes]

Read an older post on Rudi's slow handedness here