Ashes: England or Australia?
Sorry guys I'm writing after almost 2 long months due to some problems with my internet connections, but now I'll try to be regular and make up for the lost time. I start my new session with some notes on the oldest and probably the greatest rivalry in cricket. Although I wouldn't be able to watch all the action, but still I can at least write about my predictions and previews. At present, the Australians aren't having a good time in the warm-up games- the Aussie bowlers being penalized, many struggling with form and others looking forward for a tough Ashes, this English summer. My predictions are as follows-
1. Since a lot of T20 & limited overs cricket has been played during the recent times, so expect all 5 matches to be hard fought and with no draws at all.
2. England are having edge over Australia mentally because of Australia's dismal shows in recent times and England's good run recently.
3. Australia will believe that they are not the underdogs because their key bowlers like Brett Lee and Stuart Clark are regaining form. Though Aussies don't have a well known test bowler, still their bowling attack seems dangerous. Playing Andrew Symonds would have benefited them a lot.
4.Finally my this year's Ashes predictions are that Australia reclaim their title 3-2.Such a prediction comes keeping in mind that Australia are still a champion side but would have to face intense competition from the English team.
IPL:OUT,BUT NOT GONE
Today I have two News, one is good and the other also can’t be called bad.
The good news is that the DLF IPL Season II will take place this summer and the other news is that it will not be held in
The BCCI officials, after the crucial meeting today, announced that the tournament fixtures and dates shall remain the same and all the matches shall begin at 4 pm or 8 pm IST no matter where they take place, all in the interest of the fans in India. Also, each team will be allotted a home ground and the Home and Away system shall be followed.
The board confirmed that all franchises had approved the program as having the IPL was most important.
Let’s hope that the 2009 Season of the IPL is remembered for the cricket and not the controversies that surrounded it!
KP and Moores quits from their England jobs
Sky News on Wednesday reported that Kevin Pietersen has resigned from his post of English cricket team captain over the rift . And the worse was yet to follow. After KP, the news came that Peter Moores has also decided to quit from his job(coach).
It seemed quite certain that this will take place, ever since Pietersen was appointed as the captain 5 months ago. The relationship between the two never looked good as there was so many clashes between their views.
Now what would be interesting to see is who ECB is really going to appoint as the skipper and coach. With only a couple of weeks left for England to leave to West Indies for a test and an ODI series, ECB now has even less time.
In my opinion, ECB will have the toughest time selecting the new captain. A few options that I can see are Strauss,Flintoff or if they can persuade Collingwood,who gave up this job five months ago.
And as for the coach, there are a couple of choices, like Graham Ford, Andy Flower. There might be many more, though I can't remember it right now.
2nd Test Match Between India and England ends in a draw
It was perhaps one of the most boring draw that I have ever seen. To make it worse, was the heavy fog and early bad light. Almost 90 overs were lost due to fog and bad light. That means almost a day ! Most of us(especially English fans) will criticize BCCI for why at this time of the year did they held this match in Mohali. A location which is a bit southern to Mohali, like Delhi could have been a better choice. But the problem with Delhi was obviously just because of 26/11 attacks. And perhaps more criticism would be coming for the slow start by the Indian batsmen on Day 1. Both - Gambhir and Dravid had a slow approach towards their game. Though both of them hit brilliant tons,but by Day 2 of the game it looked like it is surely going to be a draw.
The only possibility of a result was when England ended Day 3 on 282-6. Further on Day 4 there was a delay for about 2 hours again. India quickly bowled the English tail as soon as the play started. Then the Indian batsmen started the innings on a slow note after the fall of Virender Sehwag's wicket. The fourth day ended with India making 134 runs with the loss of 4 wickets. The lead was by 285 runs by then. The play started late again due to bad light on Day 5. At least 2 hours of play that was equal to at least 25 overs were wasted. I expected India to extend their lead by 30-40 runs more and declare with setting the target around 330 runs. But Dhoni and his team had something else in their mind. Dhoni's decision to declare came when about 1 hour of play before tea break was left. Gambhir and Yuvraj, both missed their tons. By the time India declared they had set England a target of 403 runs.But it was all too late. England came to bat and lost Alastair Cook quickly. They were 27-1 at Tea. By the time the day finished England could manage only 64 runs.
Gautam Gambhir was declared the Man of the Match, and Zaheer Khan was the Man of the Series.
India won the 2 test match series 1-0.
