Ricky Ponting is fascinating viewing at the moment.

Watching him get dropped at the start of his inings playing the pull shot this morning will inevitably start another round of speculation urging him to shelve the shot.

He wants to play it and good luck to him.

The pull is not so much a stroke as a signal of intent. It sends aggressive vibes flowing through both dressing rooms.

If Ponting gave the shot away it would leave him in a difficult place because there are few graceful ways of handling balls on the body.

It is a shot based on instinct.

Our only hope for him is that he plays it with conviction. No shot is more vulnerable when played half-heartedly than the pull.

People saying he should make some concessions to advancing years are making solid points. Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Steve Waugh all modified their games.

But the pull shot is not simply part of Ponting’s game but the very essence of it. Read more…

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Kevin Pietersen may be many things, but he is not into false flattery. When he says he rates someone, he means it.

And although he likes to make big statements, without the conditionals and weasel words of others, he usually has sound reason for what he says. There is always basis for the bluster.

But some may feel he has taken leave of his senses with the comment in his interview with Richard Hobson this morning:

“I truly believe Jacques Kallis is the greatest cricketer ever.”

Eyebrows duly raised? Let’s leave out all the ancient cricketers who Pietersen may not even have considered - the Bradmans and Barneses and Trumpers and Hobbses. Let’s even leave out players of more recent vintage who have dominated but perhaps slipped the infant Pietersen’s attention when he was running about on the farm in Pietermaritzburg rather than watching TV - the Gavaskars, Richardses, Bothams and Soberses.

But is Kallis even the greatest of those to have played in the past decade? Is he better than Warne or Ponting or Tendulkar or Murali? Where does he sit in relation to Gilchrist or Lara or Kumble? Could Sehwag or Sangakkara or McGrath be rated higher?

Perhaps by posing these questions, it just reveals how blessed we have been to be watching cricket in the past decade. So many greats to choose from. And I’m not saying that Kallis doesn’t deserve his place. He averages 55 in Test cricket, 45+ in ODIs and has 500 international wickets. He is a very very fine player. If only he had an English parent we’d have been in there and poached him…

But for Pietersen to say so definitively that he is the greatest? Well, have your say. And Read more…

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I have a simple explanation for our ODI series loss. We lost because we did not win one game that we were supposed to win (Mohali) and because we could not hold our nerve in the key moments of the tighter contests (Vadodara and Hyderabad).
 
Come to think of it. MSD and company had everything in their favour. A fully fit batting unit, home conditions and an opposition racked by injuries. No Michael Clark, no Nathan Bracken, no Brad Haddin and mid-series exits of Brett Lee, James Hopes, Peter Siddle, Tim Paine and others -- for all purposes, this was Australia's B team.
 
Yet Ponting's men played like true champions. What a shame MSD's million-dollar boys couldn't even take the series to the wire. Faced with circumstances similar to Australia's, the Men in Blue would have probably lost the series 7-0 or 6-1.
 
Let's analyse the larger reasons for our defeat:
 
1. We lacked batting consistency at the top: Barring MSD, no other batsman played with any degree of consistency. Sehwag offered two blistering cameos but failed to score even a single half century in six knocks. He is a genius but he needs to be shaken out of his comfort zone. Similarly, barring his magical 175, Sachin was a disappointment. True, he got a rough decision at Mohali but what about the other knocks? Gambhir started brightly with 68 and 76 but ended up with 6, 8 and 0. Yuvraj played one fabulous match-winning knock in Delhi but had little else to offer. With the new Fab 4 failing regularly, India were bound to struggle.
 
Now compare their performance with the three key Australian players at the top: Watson, Ponting and Hussey. Watson scored 5, 19, 41, 49, 93 and 49, apart from claiming a bagful of wickets. Ponting notched up 74, 12, 59, 52, 45 and 25, while Hussey made 73, 53, 81, 40, 31 not out and 35 not out. These three seldom allowed Indian bowlers to have an early view of Read more...

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Until Jonathan Trott plays some more emphatic innings for England, Michael Vaughan’s caustic observations will continue to ring in his ears.

Having revealed that Trott celebrated with the South Africans when they won the Test series in England in 2008, and that “it hit home what English cricket has become like”, Vaughan was having a pop at England’s open-door policy towards overseas opportunists.

He was not the first to cast aspersions on Trott’s patriotism. During Trott’s Test debut at the Oval in August, Ricky Ponting strolled past him and said loudly enough to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin to ensure Trott overheard: “Does he speak like a Pom or a Yarpy?”

Undeterred, Trott contributed a confident 41 in his first Test innings, and that unflappable, Ashes-clinching hundred in his second. What he achieved on such an occasion is a testament to him and the men who chose him and should eclipse any doubts about an expatriate South African’s commitment to the England cause.

We have been here many times before. There was a vivid irony in the 1890s when KS Ranjitsinjhi, born and raised in India but making mountains of runs for Cambridge University and Sussex, was blocked from England selection by the president of the MCC, Lord Harris, because he said only “native-born” players could be chosen.

Harris, a former England captain, was born in Trinidad. Harris was overruled for the next Test, and Ranji exceeded even Trott’s debut, making 62 and 154 not out.

Ranji never got to play a Test against the country of his birth, and neither did Basil D’Oliveira, Tony Greig or Allan Lamb. But you would never have questioned their resolve against Read more…

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This is the silly season of cricket, so being to the point (literally) and maybe even inane, is quite in. So here’s my take on why the Champions League T20 isn’t justifying the pre-event hype… as yet.

1. T20s… just too blah
Whatever anyone says about the death of Tests or ODIs, perhaps people are finally waking up to the fact that one T20 game is pretty much like the other. Yawn…

2. Where are our He-Men?
We Indians like our desi big brands. Other than a few good men, Dravid and Kumble in Bangalore, or Gambhir and Sehwag (and to a lesser extent Nehra and Karthik) in the Daredevils, there’s not much for Indians to get starry-eyed about. (Except in that cool boat ad). No Sachin, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Bhajji, Ganguly, Zaheer or even poor Ishant.

3. Phoren teams? So what?
When we don’t care about our own domestic cricket (am sure Neo isn’t even asking for the ratings of this year’s Challenger Series) what chance of our caring about cricket or cricketers from clubs most of India has never even heard of?

4. Howzatt! You mean, ‘Who’s that’?
We Indians also like our designer foreign brands. And they’re not around. No Smith, Ponting, Hayden, Flintoff, Pietersen, Warne, Vettori, AB… and no melodramatic Pakistanis! Okay, so we have Gilchrist holding the Deccan flag aloft and Gibbs disappearing before he can say hello for the Cobras. Then there’s Brendon McCullum (traitor!) on for Otago, that quiet Kallis, and a subdued, shorn Kallis. Not enough, mate.

5. Big-ticket event doesn’t equal big crowds
Basically, despite the tournament being cricket’s richest prize, the BCCI-IPL is treating the event just like they treat domestic cricket in India — with disdain. Outside of the corporate Read more…

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In less than 45 days Sachin Tendulkar will mark 20 years in international cricket. When you consider how few people have managed to stay in the game that long, leave alone maintain high standards throughout, Tendulkar’s achievement is a massive one. Given how the game has changed taking into account modern-day scheduling, this is one record that is unlikely to be ever matched.

Tendulkar, who made his debut as a 16-year-old in Pakistan on November 15 1989, will fittingly celebrate two decades at the top on the cricket field, in the seven-match home series against Australia. And in that contest he will come up against the one man who has come close to threatening Tendulkar’s statistical monuments, Ricky Ponting.

“Sachin is an amazing, amazing player,” Ponting said, soon after taking his own tally of ODI runs past 12,000.

“You look at his stats and his records, and they are quite incredible. And to think that someone can stay in the game for 20 years is pretty remarkable as well.”

While Tendulkar is some way ahead with nearly 17,000 ODI runs, second on the list is Sanath Jayasuriya, who will also complete two decades in international cricket later this year, on Boxing Day.

“I have always thought of him as the guy that sets the benchmark as far as batting is concerned, and guys like me and the rest just chase and get as close as we can to him,” said Ponting, who stands third in the Test lists behind Tendulkar and Brian Lara.

Assessing Tendulkar’s 20-year journey, Ponting said: “There are a number of innings of his that I have been able to sit back and watch over the years. Congratulations to him for 20 years in the game. If I stay in the game for 20 years, I will probably be batting in a wheelchair by Read more…

Administrator Indian Cricket Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar

Since its beginning in 1998 the Champions Trophy has long been the poor cousin to the World Cup. Conceived as a cash cow for the ICC, it has suffered from continual changes of team numbers, format and more than its fair share of bad weather, dodgy pitches and poor organisation.

The perception of the tournament among cricket fans of being a side show may be changing though. With the World Cup increasingly being filled with ‘cannon fodder’ nations to give it a more global look, the premier ODI tournament has become an arduous marathon of often lopsided results. With so much cricket on offer with the rise of 20/20, fans are increasingly looking for quality not quantity.

This time around the Champions Trophy has been trimmed to the top 8 sides in the world. It is the lowest number of participants since the tournament began, and should present fans with a quality shootout that will give us a winner after only 16 days.

South African too has a tremendous history of successfully hosting major cricket tournaments. Their stable weather, excellent venues, quality pitches and colourful crowds will add up to a tremendous occasion, which should inspire TV audiences around the world and make this the most watched Champions Trophy yet.

GROUP A

India the front runners with a rebuilding Australia and ever dangerous Pakistan fighting over the second qualifying spot. A virtual second string West Indies team should have too many Read more…

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Ricky Ponting has drawn stumps on his Twenty20 international career. His last match will remain the six-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge in June that confirmed Australia’s early exit from the World Twenty20. It is one of the few trophies in cricket that he will never lift.

Although he would have had a swift chance to right that wrong, with the next World Twenty20 taking place in the Caribbean in seven months’ time, Ponting has understandably decided that he would rather have a rest and recharge his batteries for new challenges.

Australia have a tough schedule ahead, with the Champions Trophy following hard on the heels of this tour to England. Then seven ODIs in India follow, before West Indies and Pakistan come to Australia for Test and one-day series. After that there is a tour to New Zealand… Well, no wonder he needs a break come April.

Ponting has said he will play in the IPL next March, although he withdrew from it this year in order to rest and may well do the same again. With that schedule, I’d be surprised if he has the motivation even to get out of bed, let alone play some domestic cricket. It’s not as if Kolkata are paying him all that much anyway.

Outside of international matches, Ponting has played precious little T20 cricket. He made 98* for Australia in 2005, which remains the second highest score made in international T20, but he has played only five non-international T20 games, scoring 59 runs for Kolkata and Somerset. It is easy to see why golf or lounging around would hold more attraction. Read more…

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Let’s be honest: the England side that recently won the Ashes is a very modest one. Dispute this? Well ask yourself this question: who from the 2009 English side would make the 2005 English side? Matt Prior for Geraint Jones.

Graeme Swann for Ashley Giles, while Strauss the 2009 batsman would dead heat the 2005 version (remembering he faced higher quality bowling in 2005). And that’s about it.

Or have a look at where England are in the ICC’s test rankings: 5th, a long way behind the 4th-placed country (which shall not be named!).

So if Australia lost to this mob of Poms, then surely a radical shake-up of personnel is warranted, yes?

I’d like to argue that it’s not so simple.

I have been a trenchant critic of the current Australian selection panel, and in particular its chairman, Andrew Hilditch.

However, for once I am going to express sympathy for them, and admit that they are now confronted by a very unclear picture. While there are many changes they could Read more…

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The dilemma over whether Mark Ramprakash should be recalled to the England XI for the final Ashes Test next week comes down to whether you believe that people can change and grow and become better over time. Those who do not think he should come back watched him try and fail too often in the 1990s. They saw a temperament problem that overshadowed his undoubted talent. After 52 Tests and a feeble record, their argument goes that he has had his chances, lots of them, and it would be a waste of a batting place to try him again.

Yet the fact that his last Test was more than seven years ago stands in his favour. It allows his supporters to claim that he has reformed. No one can say for certain that this is the same Ramprakash who failed before. It has simply been too long since his last chance.

His county form - averaging 91 over the past four years - is not just good, it is awesome. Yes, he is scoring runs against weaker attacks than the Australia XI, but he is not just scoring runs, he is scoring heaps and heaps of runs. Every other century is 150+ and a fifth of his past 30 hundreds have been more than 200. To reject him is to say that county form means nothing. If a former England bowler - Matthew Hoggard, say - was taking 100 wickets every season for four years, there would be a huge clamour to get him back in the side. Read more…

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