I have refrained from posting about the Perth Test, where both teams appear to be intent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but I cannot resist pasting this extract from an article penned by Andrew Hughes in Cricinfo.
Talking about India’s selection for this match, he observes –
… experience leads me to suggest that the kind of team they will pick will be one that looks good on paper, sets off with purpose, gets within sniffing distance of the outskirts of victory, then wanders off to sit in a field making daisy chains before falling asleep under a bush.
While I’m here, how amusing that Sachin Tendulkar, usually known as “The Little Master”, is now being referred to in some Australian newspapers as “The Little Brat”, following his visible disbelief and subsequent hissy fit at his dismissal for lbw.
Sri Lankan umpire Kumar Dharmasena gave him out, and the DRS system – which cannot be used officially because the Indians refuse to accept it – clearly demonstrated that the umpire was right.
The Saffers continue to defeat Sri Lanka, I see, but only with 8 balls to spare in the latest ODI. Officially they won by five wickets, but squeaking in by the skin of their teeth sounds more appropriate to me. 😀
Boadicea's Chariot 
Have just watched Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle finish the Perth Test by taking 4 Indian wickets in the space of 8 balls. What a buzz! 🙂
Howzit Bearsy
Great result, great team effort, who would have thought 3-0 3 months ago when selection, form, coaching etc. were all so heavily criticised.
As much as I’d like to see Sachin get his 100th ton (not necessary against Oz, perhaps against S Lanka at The Gabba ;)) it must be tough for him at the moment. His teammates aren’t performing, your bowlers are on top form and of course the wickets prepared for this series don’t make it easy. No excuse for his sulking though, that’s if the reports are not being exaggerated, no batsman is happy after a dismissal, particularly a 50/50 LBW one.
8 balls, 8 overs, 80 balls all the same to me. Duminy’s 75no included just one boundary (a six!) I imagine he decided to simply pace the chase and keep his wicket intact with an eye on future selection.
Amla’s withdrawn from the remaining 3 ODI’s against SL, his wife is having a baby, what is it with today’s husbands? I was present at the birth of all of my children, don’t recall ever getting a week off!
Amla’s decision probably cements Smith’s place at the top, pity, I’d have liked to see some new blood there 😦
The reports aren’t exaggerated – I watched him stalk off, and I saw his reaction as he was shown the DRS when he was back in the sheds. But I’m sure he’ll recover his equanimity before he’s next interviewed.
I know I hail from the country that invented all the sports the rest of the world now beats us at, but I haven’t a scooby what you blokes are on about. 🙂 “Amla’s withdrawn from the remaining 3 ODI’s against SL…” and “I saw his reaction as he was shown the DRS when he was back in the sheds…”
Wha….??
OZ
Secret men’s stuff, OZ. 🙂
Oh, that’s all right then. I’m just off to kill something for lunch. Secret wolf stuff don’tcha know. 🙂
OZ
Come on, OZ, even I can follow comments about One Day Internationals against Sri Lanka and know that DRS is the cricket equivalent of Hawkeye in tennis, and I’m a “mere female”, albeit with sons who play cricket. Enjoy your lunch.
Australia’s demolition of India just shows how England aren’t really that good after all – I don’t expect much success from the UAE starting tomorrow.
Churlish.
Precisely!
Hmmm: Churlish
1. Of, like, or befitting a churl; boorish or vulgar.
2. Having a bad disposition; surly: “as valiant as the lion, churlish as the bear” (Shakespeare).
3. Difficult to work with, such as soil; intractable.
Of which definition am I guilty?
I offer an opinion as to the strength of the English cricket team. they beat the former No1 Test team, India, last summer to great hurrah. I merely suggest that a team as weak as Aussie beats them easily, the English achievement doesn’t amount to much.
Take off those blinkers dear chaps!
Cuprum, you choose! It is widely acknowledged by pundits that England’s performance was far from ‘not amounting to much’, so your judgement must be coloured by other considerations.
Indeed, the pundits did make those comments, and I am not disagreeing.
But, in the context of cricket, India’s capitulation at an average (at best) Aussie team shows that in a fresh light, England weren’t perhaps all that good, just India bad. Plus, India were without their only world class bowler against England, Zaheer Khan.
I repeat, without any boorishness or anti-english sentiment, beware the team that thinks it is better than it actually is. Pakistan will relish the hot dry surfaces in UAE, the poms won’t. Monty Panesar is no Warne and the Pakistanis have a great chance of embarrassing the English. I hope I’m wrong, but I rarely am when it comes to English uselessness.
Cuprum, please satisfy my curiosity. You regularly refer to the English as ‘poms’. In my experience it is very unusual for an English person to do that, especially when in dialogue with other English people. Should I therefore deduce that you are not English yourself? It would go a long way to explain your ‘boorish, niggardly, ill-bred, of low-birth, mean-spirited’ attitude to all things English, or certainly all things to do with English sport. You might add to that list, sycophantic, which though does not fall under the definition of churlish, does reflect the way you seem to suck-up to the Australian proprietors of this site. Are you perhaps a rejected Australian/New Zealand wannabe?
The fact of the matter is that England, like it or not, is the number 1 ranked test side in the world, having comprehensively beaten, Australia in back-to-back Ashes series, as well as India, Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka, New Zealans and drawing with South Africa. Cricket is not an absolute sport like athletics. Were it to be, we would have seen Michael Clarke attempt to reach the highest ever individual score in cricket last week. (The fact that he did not deserves respect and congratulations for his generous gesture.) Cricket is about beating the opposition, not about setting records. England currently are the best at doing that. To detract from their well deserved success is churlish (‘boorish, niggardly, ill-bred, of low-birth, mean-spirited’).
Sipu – why do you not acknowledge that I merely make a small point that the England cricket team only beat an Indian team that has proven itself as not very good? I understand a considerable amount about the game and enjoy expressing an opinion, nothing more.
The English as a nation are somewhat predictable in the behaviour about their sporting achievements. They tend to believe that they have an inherent right to win everything and they see conspiracies everywhere else and believe that the rest of the world wants to beat them above all others. They also can’t accept that they are not a world power, nor do they dominate any sport with any consistency. They have occasional positive periods, no more.
I have no allegiance except to the sport itself, similarly as I do to the great sport of Rugby Union.
My country of birth and or residence is irrelevant, but if you had taken notice of what people other than you have written here, I was born in Surrey. Also, I am a Republican, but I serve the queen in my career (technically). Like you, I have lived in the Antipodes, but unfortunately, I currently live under the grey skies of England. I aspire to neither be or not to be English, British or any other native, but if I had a choice I’d love to live in New Zealand. All irrelevant to a discussion about cricket.
As for sucking up to the proprietors to this site, you clearly again neither listen nor read! However, unlike your good colonial pompous self, I tend to be rather subtle and reserved in my criticism!
Again, I repeat, I hope I’m wrong, but I formly believe the way the Indians allowed themselves to be thrashed by an average Aussie team shows the English result wasn’t much to crow about, with hindsight. That’s not really too anti-english, is it?
I hope this boorish (or boring) monologue matches your usual standard of lecturing everyone else!
Time for a quotation from the second instalment of Sidin Vadukut’s predictions –
You can find the full article on Cricinfo. 🙂
And for a balanced assessment of England’s current cricketing prowess, have a squiz at George Dobell’s article.
I speak as a total non-cricketer, but surely a team that is good one day can then have a bad patch. So the team which beat whoever last summer could now be in the doldrums for a bit.
Thanks for the links.
England test to start in just under an hour, should be fun.
3rd South Africa verses Sri Lanka one day international later today (Oz, hows that ;)) No Amla or Kallis, hope Colin Ingram plays, probably batting at 3, the team is taking on a pretty youthful appearance. Nice to see, gives other aspiring cricketers hope of international duty..
Absolutely, Sheona. The point that Janus and I were making is that it is churlish to describe as, not very good, the cricket team that leads the world rankings. Especially so when done in isolation from every other team, who, based on results, must be even worse. If Cuprum had said something along the lines that the standard of cricket had plummeted and that none of the test nations were convincing, that would have been understandable. But he was talking like a bad loser, and that is just unpleasant.
Sipu, yes.
England 5 down before lunch 😕
KP out to a DRS LBW review, good!
Not good that KP’s out, but good that even the Pakis have agreed to using DRS, it’s time the ICC made it compulsory and at the risk of repeating myself, sod India)
Soutie, DRS is suspect when it rules against England, dontchya know? 🙂
82 for 6. QED.
And how can I be a bad loser? I’m not Indian or Australian??
I didn’t say that they aren’t very good, I just said that the results in Australia don’t bode well for the English against Pakistan in the UAE. As I said, just expressing an opinion, which seems to be right at the moment.
(and if you recall Sipu – but I doubt it because you are like my ex-wife, you only hear/read what you want to hear/read, I said…..I HOPE I’M WRONG).
Grrrrrr. Why do I bite every time?