As far as cricket is concerned, 2008 has ended with a BANG!

The last 30 days of cricket saw 387 being chased, 414 being chased, and the last day of the year might just see 521 being chased as well.

A 2-0 series victory over Australia IN Australia is stuff of dreams but Graeme Smith and his men turned it into reality.

Elsewhere Bangladesh are dreaming of chasing down 521 in a side that includes Muralitharan.

Muralitharan might become "Murali who?" in a couple of years as Ajantha Mendis puts on the boots of the world's leading spinner. Can he even be called a spinner? Who knows. His was most definitely the most exciting debut of the year - 26 wickets in his first 3 tests, an average of around 10 in tests and ODIs, 6-fors, 10-fors, leggies, googlies, offies, doosras, flippers, straighters, shooters, they were all there!

A general leading an army of a french man, a nazi, and a white man named after a prophet, all coming together with a Muslim sporting a long beard who comes in for the final touches can make for a telling Hollywood movie. Or even a Bollywood one.

But this combination came together in the form of South Africa as Graeme Smith led his charges to victory over the Australians. The cast included Jean-Paul Duminy, Dale Steyn, Abraham De Villiers, and Hashim Amla hitting the winning runs!

If this is all tha cricket brought to you, it would have been QUITE THE YEAR.

But wait there was the IPL.

The Indian Premier League.

It seems ages ago when that took place. So much has happened since, but looking back the IPL was probably the biggest cricket event of the year.

Or was it South Africa's victory over Australia?

Or maybe India's over Australia?

Or was it Ganguly's retirement.

Lets just say the IPL was the most hyped and most exciting and looked forward to cricket event of the year.

Cricket teams with names like Knight Riders and Chargers, Gilchrist and Warne leading Indian domestic sides owned by Indian businessmen and corporates, West Indian allrounders flying back home in corporate jets, golden helmets, Ponting and Ganguly playing for the same team and Ganguly captaining it, Shoaib Akhtar in the arms of Shahrukh Khan, Priety Zinta cheering on Yuvraj Singh, Cheerleaders without much clothes, Dravid being the best 20-20 player on his team, last ball wins, 8 franchises cricket teams, and lots more.

Surely the IPL was BIG.

Damn 2008 was big for cricket.

If one thought Maradona had drug problems once just needs to take a look at Mohammad Asif.

Who you may wonder.

Yes for once besides Shoaib Akhtar, Pakistan cricket has a more disgraceful member. Not once, not twice, but thrice caught in a drugs controversy. Wonder what he's been smoking!

Pakistan didn't play much test cricket this year. Actually they didn't play any. Bangladesh on the other hand played quite a bit and even produced one hell of a test cricketer.

Shakib Al Hasan can bowl, he can bat, he can field, he can do everything. Right now, he's trying to do the impossible. He's a player.

My player of the year!

Harbhajan had quite a year too. He called one cricketer a monkey, slapped another one, got into a verbal war with another, captained a team, got banned for one incident, escaped punishment for another, played some useful innings, took some useful wickets. On top he remains the only one with a secure career ahead with the one called a monkey, the one slapped, and the one verbally abused staring down the barrel.

Australia must have though that the Sachin that hit them in Sharjah in 1998 must have been a once in a lifetime occurrence. But it hit them again. It hit them a decade later as India won the CB series down under.

Bad year for Australia!

2 losses at Perth, a loss at home after 16 years, 2 series losses in between a cakewalk over he Kiwis. Things not looking good.

Ponting, Dravid, Kallis, the 3 big ones of test cricket had miserable years with the bat. But they all ended 2008 on a bright note. A near 2 centuries in the same test, a 100 after almost 20 innings, and 2 fifities in a victory over Australia and all 3 leave 2008 with us wondering whether there's plenty to follow from their blades or is this the final flicker before the candles blow out.

I still can't decide which series results were more shocking than the others. I'm talking about ODIs here, not tests. West Indies beating Sri Lanka 2-0 at home was shocking but then England thumping South Africa 4-0 was even more so.

But I think Pakistan trouncing Zimbabwe and Bangladesh 5-0 takes the pie here. Sure Pakistan were expected to win the series' but not losing even 1 game? Thats an achievement.

Speaking of pies, KP and the Pie Chucker seem to have a nice rivalry going. Wonder what all that is about? Strangely its about their bowling, which for both is only a part time past time.

The year saw 17 runs scored in the last over for a win on more than one occasion - Akmal and Warne come to mind and both play for the Rajasthan Royals. I'm sure there was atleast one more.

Chanderpaul's 10 was memorable. I expected anyone, really anyone to do it, but Chanderpaul? He's not a 6 hitter. And he's averaging over a 100 this year in test cricket. Lara's retirement has taken him to a whole new level.

What a year its been this 2008. For cricket that is.

387 was chased easily. 414 was chased easily. Will 521 be chased easily as well?

Stanford came, Stanford embarassed, Stanford made millionaires, Stanford left. Easy come easy go. Gayle is pleased though.

Everyone called India the new force to reckon with but everyone forgot that Sri Lanka beat them 2-1 in tests and also beat them in the final of the Asia Cup.

No, actually Mendis beat them.

Mendis the is new force to reckon with! Not India!

India is not far behind though.

Sehwag and Gambhir lit up the IPL. They lit up ODI cricket as well. And when Gambhir made it to the test XI, they lit up test cricket as well.

Move over Gordon & Desmond, move over Matthew & Justin, its Virender & Gautam time!

Oh wait there's Graeme & Niel waiting in the wings too.

Shakib just got out. Damn! He didn't get his 100. 521 looks unlikely now. That begs the question - did it ever look likely?

Ganguly retired. Kumble retired. Pollock retired. Dravid didn't. Hayden didn't.

Micheal Hussey got a duck!

Yes that happened this year.

That was the biggest cricket event of the year.

He had never gotten a duck in his first 3 years of test cricket. He got 1 this year and then got 3 more! He's human after all.

Dale Steyn joined legends after his 10-for against the Aussies. Big year it was for him and probably the first of many more.

Inzamam Ul Haq actually led a team to a title. Finally. After 18 years of international cricket and over 2 decades of domestic cricket, Inzamam had never led a team to a victory in an event involving more than 3 teams. It happened in 2008!

2008 was BIG.

KP became captain this year. Finally after going through the Strausses, Flintoffs, and Collingwoods, its time the English got a stable one after Vaughan. Actually Vaughan was never a stable one either.

The lost 5-0 to India in ODIs. And beat South Africa 4-0.

Thats cricket for you.

South Africa didn't lose a test series this year. Hell niether did Pakistan!

Its a different thing that they didn't play any.

Despite the mess the world seems to be in both economically, politically, and security-wise, cricket marched on during 2008.

There was definitely a lot more that happened during the year, which I might have missed out on but these were just the top of my head thoughts.

Thank you readers for being with us all year.

May you, we, everyone have an even better 2009.

Happy New Year!

The Twenty20 Big Bash, Australia's domestic 20-20 competition got underway a few days back.

Now normally I would not be covering an Australian domestic competition and would be relying on Jrod to hear about how Victoria is fairing, what David Hussey is doing, how Bryce McGain is shaping up, and the other happenings down under.

But this season has been quite different in Australia.

Different for us atleast.

As many as 3 Pakistani internationals have turned out for Australian states in their domestic competitions this season.

First Younis Khan played a few One-dayers and first class games for South Australia.

And now Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir are playing for Western Australia and South Australia respectively in the Twenty20 Big Bash.

Both the Pakistanis went up against each other 2 days ago as WA took on SA.

Umar Gul even snared up Tanvir's wicket. First ball!

Gul made an impressive debut for his Australian state team picking up 4-15 in 3.2 overs.

His effort though could not help WA to victory who lost by the D/L method.

Tanvir picked up only 1 wicket nd had a forgetful debut with the bat.

I'll be following these 2 down under.

Elsewhere David Hussey continued business as usual smashing a 47 ball unbeaten 100. He even picked up 2 wickets.

Well he's not the future PM for nothing.

When Dale Steyn picked up 5-23 against India bowling them out for a mere 76 earlier this year, he truly caught my eye.

Sure he had done a lot more before that spell including the demolition of the Windies in a 20-20 game but realising that he had raced to 117 test wickets in only 22 matches, made me take notice.

Back then I wondered how good he was.

Soon after, he jumped to the number 1 rank in ICC's test bowler rankings.

Along with Ntini and Morkel he formed the best pace attack in international cricket in my opinion.

By his standards, Steyn had a quiet first test against the Aussies.

Today, he changed all that.

A 10 wicket haul against the Aussies is big.

In fact its huge if you're a fast bowler.

Not many bowlers have accomplished that.

And when you trim that down to fast bowlers, the list seems to be non existent for the last 2 decades or so.

In recent years its only been the spinners, Muralitharan (once), Kumble (twice), Harbhajan (thrice), and Vettori (once) who have managed 10 wicket match hauls against the Aussies.

In fact this milennium, its only been these spinners who have managed this feat.

Digging a bit more and I had to go as far back as 1990 to find a fast bowler who managed a 10 wicket haul against the Aussies - Wasim Akram at Melbourne.

If I am missing anyone, please enlighten me.

In light of this, Steyn's 10-for today is HUGE.

Its his 3rd match haul of 10 wickets in only his 29th test.

The Englishmen, George Lohmann and Sydney Barnes, had more in fewer matches, but despite that Steyn has made his mark in the record books.

When Steyn picked up Siddle today he had his 150th test victim.

150th test wicket in his 29th test match.

He's gotten there faster than Dennis Lillee! Faster than Warne! Faster than Allan Donald!

Ian Botham and Hugh Tayfield got to the mark in the same number of matches.

And only Sydney Barnes, Waqar Younis, and Clarrie Grimmet got there faster.

Steyn is already in the company of legends and dare I say, ahead of some.

Whats more, Steyn's 10 wickets in today's match puts him 2nd on the list of best strike rates of all time, jumping slightly ahead of JJ Ferris. Only Lohmann stands ahead of him.

Waqar Younis is the only bowler in the 'top 10 best strike rates list' to have played more than 30 tests.

Steyn, I reckon, will end as the second. Probably ahead of Waqar as well.

Following the downfall of the big 3 and the resurgence of 2 of them, I wondered if Ponting's return to form will have any bearing on Australia's fortune.

Apparently not.

Despite scoring almost 2 centuries in the match, Ponting finds his team staring at a 2-0 scoreline, which will make it a first series loss to the South Africans since eons I believe.

Not only that, it will also be the first series loss at home for the Aussies since I don't know when.

If the retirements during the Ashes series last year was not an end of an era, if the loss to India was not an end of an era, this loss will definitely be the end of an era.

Unless ofcourse tomorrow the Aussies can somehow pick up 10 wickets and concede less than 153 runs.

With 3 and a half frontline bowlers, that is highly unlikely when you're up against the team that chased 414 against you in the previous match.

South Africa will win tomorrow and Australia would have lost a series at home after a long long time.

For every member of the Australian team and squad tomorrow will be the first time they ever experience anything like that.

Wow.

Wonder how they'd feel.

There's always a first they say.

Sadly for this Australian team, tomorrow might be the first of many such days to come.

Although there has been no official word on this, but I hear that Abdul Qadir, the Chief Selector, and other PCB officials are pleased with Shoaib Akhtar's performance and the attitude that he displayed during the RBS Pentangular One Day Cup that concluded last night.





Shoaib managed a team comprising of a couple of U19 players, Umar Amin and Afaq Raheem, coupled with some promising players from Islamabad, Babar Naeem, Usman Saeed, an Raheel Majeed, and few international names in Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar, Yasir Arafat, and Saeed Ajmal.

The Punjab Stallions remained unbeaten throughout the competition and won the inaugral Pentangular One Day Cup, beating the Federal Areas Leopards easily in the final.



Federal Areas Leopards 218 all out (Umar Amin 77, Babar Naeem 39, Wahab Riaz 5-44, Shoaib Malik 1-28) lost to Punjab Stallions 219-2 in 41.5 overs (Azhar Ali 87*, Nasir Jamshed 63, Salman Butt 51) by 8 wickets.

After his effort of 136 Dravid said he was relieved.

But he said something else as well when one reporter asked him about his subdued raising of the bat on reaching his century.

"I was just happy. I'm older and wiser now. I don't jump around and get excited"

I think Dravid forgot Sachin's celebrations in the previous match before he said what he said.

I don't think it was his intention to imply that Sachin is not as wise as he is.

Or was it?

Maybe it was.

Maybe it was Dravid taking a dig at Sachin.

Who knows.

One thing is for sure though.

I would rather see a cricketer celebrate the way Sachin did than the way Dravid did.

Even if that makes him childish and less wise.

It doesn't, I don't think.

Dravid probably didn't want to show any emotion and played it cool.

I'm sure he must have been doing the bhangra without a shirt in his hotel room.

About a month back I wrote about the downfall of the big 3 and the reaction to that was unanimous.

Everyone thought that Ponting would bounce back soon and that it was pretty much over for Dravid and Kallis.

A month since that post and Dravid has ended his 20-innings-without-a-century drought, while Kallis has scored a 63 and a 57 in a historic test win for South Arica.

And Ponting?

A first ball duck, a scratchy 30 odd, and captaining a side that conceded the 2nd largest run chase in the history of cricket.

Not looking good for him.

He's not alone in that sinking ship though.

Jrod tells me that Hussey is averaging 33 in his last 12 tests. 33! Thats like half his career average.

Hayden has a sorry tale to tell as well.

As does Lee.

So where do these Aussies go from here?

The way Ponting goes?

As long as Ponting was successful and the leading batsman in the world, Australia were dominating all teams.

With Ponting's recent failures, Australia's status has also been on the decline.

Everyone talks about the lack of a McGrath and a Warne, but is there more to it?

Is the team as good as the captain or the captain as good as the team?

If Ponting is able to come back to his form of old, will the Aussies dominate again?

Take your punt.

Besides South Africa's unthinkable act this morning, there was something else that happened in the cricket world that took me by surprise.

Kevin Pietersen scored a 100.

That's not what surprised me.

What did though was the fact that it was KP's 15th test century.

15th!?

That's what I shouted in my head.

15th!?

Really? How?

He played his 1st test only 3 years ago, and he's already scored 15 tons?

That shook me up for a bit.

So KP's been on the scene for 3 and a half years now.

In 45 tests, this is his 15th century - thats 1 every 3 matches!

Thats quite a conversion rate.

Sehwag also has 15, but in 66 matches - 21 more matches than KP's. Or to put it more aptly, in 30 more innings.

Alec Stewart took 152 innings more than KP's 83 to score the same number of centuries.

Remember Stewart, the England wicket keeper batsman?

Atherton and Ganguly have each scored 1 more century than KP in 129 and 102 more innings respectively.

Hell King Sanga has scored only 2 more in 42 more innings and compared to KP he's been around forever.

Yes yes I logged on to Cricinfo, but thats what 15 centuries in 45 tests demanded of me!

Has anyone done better?

Well ofcourse. Sir Don Bradman has. 29 centuries in only 52 matches and 81 innings - 3 less than KP's.

The Great West Indian Clyde Walcott also had 15 test centuries and he got them in only 74 innings in 44 tests.

Apart from them though, KP has bettered them all.

He has scored test centuries faster than Ricky Ponting. Faster than Mohammad Yousuf. Faster than Matthew Hayden. Above all, faster than Gary Sobers!

You know what I mean by faster.

Thats an achievement and a half.

Whats more, KP's centuries have come against the best.

He hasn't played a test against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, so no one can say he got easy runs.

He has knocked tons against all 7 major test playing countries and he has scored them all over the world.

In Australia, in India, in Pakistan, in New Zealand, everywhere he has played (besides Sri Lanka). And he is yet to play a test in South Africa, but he has 2 100s against them, scored in England.

KP has 3 centuries against India and 2 against each of the other 6 major test playing countries.

Achievement and a three quarters I reckon!

Forget the part where South Africa chased down 414 runs on the final day of a test.

Forget the part that it was against Australia.

Forget the part that is was the 2nd highest chase ever to win a test match.

This match had way more shock waves in store than any shock treatment being dished out at an asylum!

How shocked I am from the happenings at Perth can be guaged from the fact that my fantasy team is dangling at 15th in Jrod's Cricinfo league!

Before I go on I would like to take a pause and be the first to admit to Damith - buddy I was wrong.

Way wrong.

Now on to the shockers.

Ponting's first ball duck.

If you say you expected it, I'll put my last dollar that no one expected a quack from Hussey.

Australia 15-3. Well maybe not as shocking but still, 15-3!

Krejza holding the fort and rallying the tail around him to lead the Aussies to 375. I had no idea he could bat. And he did it again in the 2nd innings.

Kallis got his 63 faster than De Villiers. Who would have thought.

Johnson picked up 8 wickets. Not in the match, in the bloody innings.

South Africa's 281 was probably the only thing I expected in this match.

Hussey failing for the 2nd time in the match.

Haddin, confident after a century against the Kiwis, smashed 46 in the 1st innings. I didn't think he could continue the good form but then came the beatious 94. Gilchrist sir, you have been replaced.

Shocking!

Harris picked up 2 wickets more than Steyn, not shocking till you read that it was at Perth!

Brett Lee's match haul of 1-132. Yes sir, at Perth!

Smith's 100.

De Villier's unbeaten 100.

Kallis' 2 fifties!

Duminy's 50. A debutant!

Craziness!

This was Australia they were up agianst damn it.

414?

This wasn't happening.

Chokers did someone say?

Why didn't they choke?

For once the South African batsmen lived up to their hype and Kallis found the perfect match to get back into some batting form.

I still can't believe it.

In what should have been the match of the tournament the Punjab Stallions easily brushed aside the Sindh Dolphins to seal their place in the final of the RBS Pentangular One-Day Cup.

Afridi went first ball and the Dolphins collapsed to 127 in only 34 overs.

That total was never going to be enough for an in form Stallions side.

U-19 pacer Mohammad Talha was wrecker in chief picking up 4 wickets.

Shoaib Malik continued his good run with the ball picking up 2 wickets in 2 overs to end the Dolphins' innings.

The Pakistan skipper was in the midst of the action again with the bat scoring an unbeaten 26 to lead his team to a 7 wicket win, easily done in 27 overs.

The Stallions go into Wednesday's final without losing a game and will face the winner of tomorrow's Panthers vs Leopards match.

Brief Scores:

Sindh Dolphins 127 all out in 34.1 overs (Anwar Ali 35, Mod. Talha 4-37, Malik 2-7) lost to Punjab Stallions 128-3 in 26.5 overs (Azhar Ali 51*) by 7 wickets.

The build up to the series was a quiet one unlike the previous one when Smith had come out all firing.

This time round, it was a much quieter Smith, one that Cricinfo likes to call Graeme Smith 2.0.

An upgraded version!

Since Smith wasn't doing any talking, we decided we would do it for him instead.

Hence started the preview.

Damith billed it as the biggest test series of the year.

And I argued saying it hardly was.

After the 1st day's play and Australia's fightback after being down at 15-3, Damith responded saying that the first day had definitely lived up to the billing.

It sure had. We got everything.

A Hayden and Ponting failure that has become all too familiar with this Australian line up, a Clarke and Symonds fightback (I wonder how that went), the upgraded Haddin 3.0, and a fighting Australian tail including a spinner at number 9 who remained unbeaten on 30!

I thought so too.

I thought the test lived up to the billing of being a big test series.

But then the unthinkable happened.

Johnson took 7 wickets! I was shocked!

The South Africans collapsed, which to me wasn't shocking at all and I asked Damith again if now it were living up to the hype.

He thought it was. I didn't, because a South African collapse meant it was over.

Then for 2 days I ran away to Pakistan.

I got back last night and found out that Johnson had finished with an 8-for, Haddin had upgraded from 3.0 to 10.0, Australia had South Africa a target of 414, Smith had responded with a 100, and South Africa were left with 190 odd to get on the last day with 7 wickets in hand.

Shocking.

This morning I woke up and what do I see?

92 to win. 6 wickets in hand!

Finally.

Finally an Australia vs South Africa match was living up to its billing.

I can see that smile Damith!

This is just us neutrals getting excited about the series - go have a look at the Aussies here, here, and here.

It didn't surprise me that South Africa lost 5 wickets for 7 runs in 7 overs.

They're playing the Aussies, it was bound to happen.

Living up to the billing now Damith?

It didn't surprise me that Smith & Co. collapsed from 234-3 to 241-8.

They're South Africans, that's what they do.

It didn't surprise me that a debutant and the tail didn't survive for long against the Aussies.

But it sure as hell surprised me that those 5 wickets went to Mitchell Johnson!

Johnson!?

A 7-for?

I thought only Krejza was capable of stuff like that.

How can a boy who hops and skips like a limping kangaroo towards the crease and turns his arm over as if he's about to throw a javelin pick up 7 wickets in an innings including 5 in 4 overs!?

How?

Only if the opposition is South African I guess.

Whats more annoying is that I didn't have him in my fantasy team!

And boy can he bowl.

That delivery to Amla was a ripper.

Which makes me wonder whether his 12 wickets on debut were a fluke.

But surprised me more than the wicket of Amla was his unbeaten knock of 30.

He was largely responsible for Australia's total of 375 - the last 2 wickets added 72 runs as Krejza shared a 38 run partnership with Johnson and a 34 run one with Siddle.

This guy is great and he's only 25!

Yes I checked out his profile to see if that was his highest first class score but guess what?

He's got 4 first class half centuries and a top score of 65 to boot.

Hell he's got a List A 50 too.

Ausralia may have found a gem!

If you thought 86 & 2-51 against the Leopards and 42 & 2-38 against the Panthers was a good effort from the Pakistan captain, then he topped everyone's expectations last night against the Bears with an unbeaten century and 2 wickets to lead the Punjab Stallions to their 3rd successive victory in the Pentangular One-Day Cup.

Batting first, the Bears set a target of of 284 with Saeed Bin Nasir, a prolific domestic player, top scoring with an unbeaten 97.

All the key batsmen - Misbah, Mohammad Hafeez, and Shoaib Khan - played handy knocks to help the Bears to a significant total.

Which was not enough for the Stallions though.

Malik and Salman Butt, batting at number 3 this time round, got together for a 130 run partnership for the 4th wicket to set up the Stallions' run chase.

Malik and Butt both scored at better than run a ball for their first 100s of the tournament.

Following their partnership, Kamran Akmal sealed victory after knocking 48 runs of 24 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes as the Stallions reached their target with 9 balls to spare.

Brief Scores:

Baluchsitan Bears 284-4 (Saeed Bin Nasir 97*, Mibsha 4, Hafeez 46, Malik 2-37) lost to Punjab Stallions 287-4 in 48.3 overs (Salman Butt 109, Shoaib Malik 108*, Akmal 48*) by 6 wickets.

If true, this is not good, especially for Windies cricket:

The newspaper claims that Stanford decided on Tuesday to axe his so-called board of legends, whom he had recruited as brand ambassadors. It reported that he lost more than US$40 million on the inaugural Stanford 20/20 for 20 and failed to break into the lucrative US television market, which was one of his core objectives. [LINK]

Personally, I'm not sure why Stanford is looking to break the US market. Even soccer has appalling ratings, and it's been around for so long. Not to mention that the US is a half-decent team (qualified for five straight World Cups) and that it is the number one sport played in school. No harm in trying I guess, but betting loads of cash on it is a foolish and pointless idea, IMO.

A Stanford bailout would also confirm the fact that all roads to cricket riches go through the BCCI and Indian corporate sponsors. And that's not necessarily a bad thing at all (my only reservation being the banning of ICL players, but that's a separate issue for another time).

Misbah Ul Haq played his first match in the ongoing Pentangular One Day Cup and scored a run a ball 63 to guide the Bears to a good total of 275, but Umar Amin and Afaq Rahim led chase with brilliant unbeaten centuries leading the Leopards to an easy 7 wicket victory with over 4 overs to spare.

Kamran Hussain, who had led the Bears to a thrilling 1 wicket win over the Dolphins with an unbeaten 45, smashed 56 off only 34 balls to push the Bears total to 275.

Shoaib Akhtar, captaining the Leopards, and Sohail Tanvir were both in great form with the ball picking up 7 wickets between them.

The Leopards chase was made easy through an unbeaten 251 run partnership for the 4th wicket between U19 opener Umar Amin and Islamabad opener Afaq Raheem, both batting in the middle order for this match.

Brief Scores:

Baluchistan Bears 275 all out in 49.3 overs (Fahad Iqbal 68, Misbah 63, Shoaib Akhtar 4-57, Sohauil Tanvir 3-5) lost to Federal Areas Leopards 276-3 in 45.2 overs (Umar Amin 125*, Afaq Rahim 129*).

Damith over at flyslip has taken an interesting look at who will lose their balls during the Australia vs South Africa test series that starts tomorrow.

That was a very entertaining piece but one suggestion in there left me puzzled.

Damith began his post with "The biggest test series of the year has ... "

Excuse me but the biggest?

I wonder if that was a random honest mistake considering Australia and South Africa look like the strongest sides in the world to the naked eye or was that an opinion based on I'm not sure what.

The biggest test series of the year took place in India recently and India won that 2-0.

Even an Ashes series is bigger than an Australia vs South Africa one.

Hell even an India vs Pakistan series is bigger than Australia vs South Africa.

Or atleast the results and the competitiveness of these serier suggest so.

Australia have had South Africa's goat since their readmission to the world of cricket some 18 years ago.

Australia have beaten them 15 times in 24 tries, losing only 4 times since the 1993/94 series.

This decade the record looks even more lopsided at 10-1 for the Aussies in 12 matches.

So then what makes this series the biggest of all?

The fact that they are the number 1 and number 2 ranked teams?

Well that was the case in 2001 and 2002 as well when the Aussies beat the Proteas 3-0 and 2-0 in the 2 series played that season.

So then what makes this series the biggest?

Nothing at all in my opinion.

I honestly believe that South Africa don't stand a chance unless Steyn, Ntini, and Morkel are operating at 150% and in full flow without either of them breaking down, in which case Australia don't stand a chance.

It will be one very one-sided series.

Nothing like the India-Australia or India-Pakistan test series in recent times.

Shoaib Malik led the Stallions to their 2nd win in as many matches as they beat the NWFP Panthers by 17 runs in a low scoring affair on the 3rd day of the RBS One-Day Pentangular Cup.


Two in two for the Pakistan captain - wins and allround performances.

As the 4th day of the test in Chennai began yesterday, England started to pile up their lead.

The overnight batsmen, Strauss and Collingwood reached their centuries and India's target kept increasing as the day went by.

Somewhere later in the day England's innings lost momentum and the lead instead of piling up started crawling slowly.

England's innings went no where after Strauss departed and that was the first time I sensed that England might be losing the plot.

Instead of attacking for fast runs after what Strauss and Collingwood had done, England went back on to the defensive.

Why?

I don't really know.

That is where they lost it I believe.

I hopped on to some cricket blogs at that point and was surprised to see that the Indian fans didn't really think that India had a chance.

Leela suggested that coach Kirsten was on dope for suggesting that "India can do anything".

Over there I commented that this was India of the new and any history of not being able to chase runs held little signficance.

Initially I suggested India being able to fight for a draw.

When the target was set I reckoned that India could win it.

Over at Scorpicity's, I read about England having the full grip of the test, where again I suggested that a draw was possible.

Only Ottayan seemed to agree with me that a win was possible.

As Sehwag smashed his way to a rollicking start last night I wrote an energy filled post over at the BCC!

I talked of India of the new.

India who CAN do anything.

If you walk over to the comments there were suggestions that India of the new was such due to Sehwag and Gambhir.

Again I differed and suggested that Sachin might be the one to take India over the line.

And he sure was!

This is not about a Sehwag or a Gambhir.

Nor is it about a Dhoni.

It is about the New World Order.

The order being set by India.

Team India!

Chasing 387 in the 4th innings on a 5th day pitch of a ground in India is not only difficult but mission impossible.

A ground that has never seen more than 155 runs scored in the 4th innings to win a test and a country that has never hosted a test where more than 276 runs have been scored in the 4th innings to win a test goes to show where this Indian win stands.

Over and above them all.

Sure Sehwag provided them the start but every single member of the Indian team contributed to this win and it was not about any one man.

Sachin, Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Mishra, Zaheer, Ishant, Gambhir, Dhoni, Laxman - each one of them played their part.

Sure Dravid hardly contributed, but India managing a comeback win like this without the Wall doing anything of note goes to show the will and power of this Indian team.

If you're still not convinced, try and digest this - it took Sachin Tendulkar 155 tests and 254 innings to dish out a first ever 4th innings match winning 100!

Thats not an achievement for Sachin, that is an achievement for India.

This is India dammit, they can do anything!

Anything!

For they are at the forefront of the New World Order.

If someone ever asked me who the most intelligent people in cricket are, I would put Daniel Vettori up there on the list. Not only does he look professorial, his skill, acumen, and achievements warrant such accolades.

However, he has seriously damaged his credentials today in my eyes. Here's what he had to say after the end of the 1st Test against the Windies:

[Vettori] also proposed only one referral per team per innings instead of the three being used in the New Zealand-West Indies series. "What's happening a little bit is the 50-50 ones are coming into play and I don't think that's what it was invented for," Vettori told NZPA.

...

"If you look at it [the Flynn replay], you can see it's out but is that the reason it was brought in ... to decide on such a fine-line decision?" asked Vettori. "The premise of cricket is the batsman always gets the benefit of the doubt and I think you want to still keep that part of the game in." [LINK]

So the referral system is helping umpires make correct decisions, but you're not happy with that? You want the benefit of doubt to remain a part of the game, when there exists a pretty straightforward process to reduce it drastically?

Strange comments really. Not sure why players are so reluctant to embrace this system. And I like how these players use the diminished role of the on-field umpires as their cop-out. Uhhh...hello??? The third umpire is not a backup umpire - he's an integral part of the game. If he gets a bit more responsibility, what's wrong in that?

My biggest concern is the time factor. But so far I have seen little or no complaints about the time factor by the players, umpires, or analysts.

Bad decisions have been extremely costly to teams in the past, and that's why the referral system is a good idea. I'm disappointed that someone like Vettori is acting quite ignorant about the whole thing.

Despite the absence of their captain, Misbah Ul Haq, the Baluchistan Bears managed to chase a mammoth total of 312 off the final ball of their innings with only their last wicket standing.

A 101 run partnership between Khurram Manzoor (83) and Naumanullah (55) laid the foundation for the Sindh Dolhpin's 312.

But it wasn't enough.

Shahid Afridi's belligerent knock off 114 came of only 54 deliveries and comprised of 7 sixes and 10 fours and took the Dolphins to a huge 312.

But it wasnt enough.

Sohail Khan trapped Shoaib Khan plumb in front of the first ball of the Baluchistan Bear's run chase and ended with figures of 2-55.

But it wasn't enough.

Somehow the Bears' batsmen gathered together and rallied around Saeed Anwar's (Jnr) 97 keeping up with the rate throughout their innings.

Last over. Last wicket. 12 needed.

Last ball. Last wicket. 2 needed.

And the Baluchistan Bears scraped to victory.

For once, Afridi did not deserve to be on the losing side.

Any batsman smashing a 46 ball century doesn't deserve to be.

It just wasn't enough.

I'm still thinking, which one was more unlikely.

By this time last year, Pakistan had played the South Africans at home and toured India, but the start of the 2008-09 cricket season has been very different with no home series held and only a 20-20 tournament and an ODI series played at offshore venues.

The lack of international cricket at home has allowed the board to slightly modify their domestic cricket season.

It could have been done in a better way but whats panned out this season has been very different from the previous seasons in Pakistan and is definitely a step in the right direction.

The season kicked off with the RBS 20-20 Competition, which was battled by 13 regional teams, and won by the Sialkot Stallions for the 3rd time in a row.

That was followed by the RBS Pentangular Cup, the 4-day competition that involved the 5 regions of Pakistan, and was won by NWFP - their first domestic title ever.

These tournaments are now followed by the RBS Pentangular One-Day Cup.

The same 5 regions that were involved in the first class Pentangular Cup are competing in the One-Day version of the tournament that is being held for the first time in Pakistan.

Previously the one-day competitions have involved the 13 regional teams, but having one comprising of the 5 regions makes it more competitive.

The teams taking part are:

Punjab Stallions captained by Shoaib Malik.
Sindh Dolphins captained by Shahid Afridi.
Baluchistan Bears captained by Misbah Ul Haq.
Federal Areas Leopards captained by Shoaib Akhtar.
NWFP Panthers captained by Umar Gul.

The tournament kicked off last night with the Stallions marching to a 98 run victory over the Leopards.

Batting first, the Stallions put up a score of 305-8 in their 50 overs. Shoaib Malik top scored with 86 off 60 deliveries after the openers Salman Butt (39) and Azhar Ali (75) had put on 91 in quick time.

Nasir Jamshed, returning to cricket after a lay-off due to malaria looked in fine form scoring a quick fire 40.

Sohail Tanvir was the pick of the bowlers for the Leopards picking up 4 wickets, while skipper Shoaib Akhtar picked up 2 wickets.

In response to that Stallions' tall order, the Leopards' batsmen folded for 207 in 43 overs.

U-19 pacer Mohammad Talha started the slide picking up 2 wickets in his opening spell, while the spinners Malik, Abdur Rehman, and Mansoor Amjad shared 7 wickets between them routing the Leopards by 98 runs.

Shoaib Malik was declared man of the match for his allround effort of 86 and 2-51.

While the England cricketers returned to India, the 20-20 Champions League organizers could not help but pospone the tournament to October of next year.

India's tour of Pakistan may or may not happen, but then any tour to Pakistan is tentative these days, hence the 20-20 Champions League stands to be the most affected tournament due to the recent Mumbai happenings.

Who though has been affected the most?

The teams definitely.

Victoria Bushrangers and Western Australia Warriors from Australia, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Superkings from India, Sialkot Stallions from Pakistan, Middlesex Crusaders from England, and Titans and Dolphins from South Africa - all of them face losses.

Each participating country will hold a domestic 20-20 tournament before October 2009, which means that the participants of te inaugral 20-20 Champions League will be very different from what the line up was for this December's tournament.

Fair?

Probably not.

The Stallions and the Bushrangers have won their respective domestic 20-20 tournaments thrice in as many years, and now they are left to do it again if they are to make it to the Champions League.

Surely the organizers need to come up with a solution to avoid this situation.

How about having last season's winners as well as this season's winners participate in the Champions League?

Noone can deny that the Rajasthan Royals deserve to take part in the Champions League after the IPL campaign they had last season.

What if Shane Warne's team don't reach the finals in the next edition of the IPL?

The way things stand as of now, it would mean they will not be playing in the Champions League.

Forget about the financial losses, lets think about fairness for once.

If the winners of the 2 seasons' tournaments are the same then the runners up can come into contention, if not then the 2 champions need to be allowed to play in my view.

That would also mean that the number of teams be increased to 10 from 8 to allow 2 teams each from England and Pakistan.

If there was enough time I would have proposed 4-way 20-20 competitions between the 4 domestic teams (winners and runners up of 2007-08 and 2008-09) to decide the 2 participants of the Champions League, but the lack of time in light of the international schedule will not allow that.

Hence the winners from both the tournaments.

The British Foreign Secretary (David Miliband) said the following regarding the England tour of India:

"Because it reaches out to India which has been wronged; because it shows confidence and commitment; and because it says terrorism will not win."

Excellent statement. Bravo Mr. Miliband! That's the way to go.

However, it makes things a lot more confusing when teams continue not to tour Pakistan.

I'm the first to admit that touring Pakistan is not ideal. And I'm all for England to go to India, and I'm excited about the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010, etc.

But it's becoming a fairly obvious and unapologetic double standard with regard to touring Pakistan. Osman Samiuddin has written an interesting article on Cricinfo today around this topic. Worth a read.

The ICC is digging a deep hole for itself. It has not set any standards, nor has it addressed any precedent. Remember, security was not officially an issue for the Champions Trophy - it was the teams/players that were not comfortable touring on their own hunch, and the ICC decided to "postpone" (read cancel) it.

The infusion of statements from government (like that of Miliband) further compounds the situation. So is the UK govt admitting that terrorists won when the Champions Trophy in Pakistan was postponed?

It's not just bullets and bombs that will thwart terrorists. Bats and balls could have an even greater impact and provide a lot of hope. Whether it's the UK, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, or anywhere else on earth.

(PS: If you want to leave hostile/political/jingoistic comments, please leave them on some other blog - there are plenty out there. This blog is for reasonable discussion only.)

...to bowl just one legitimate delivery?

In a match of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Twenty20 memorial tournament earlier this week, Port Qasim pacer Zaid Mir had to be taken out of the attack after he failed to bowl a single legal delivery with his bowling figures reading 0-0-31-0 (10 NB).

"Fast bowler Zaid Mir was asked to bowl and he sent down 10 successive no-balls, resulting in 10 free hits to the batsmen, who scored 31 runs off them," a scorer in the match said. [LINK]

Given that 10 free hits were given, this means that each no-ball was of the overstepping variety.

Seriously? 10 consecutive oversteps? With the result that you didn't bowl a single legal delivery? I am tempted to smell a rat, but even someone trying to fix the game wouldn't do something so blatantly obvious. This just reeks of sheer incompetence.

Of course, they had to end the misery somehow:

"Given the strange situation, umpire Saleem Badr allowed Zaid to be taken out of the firing line after he officially said he had suffered a leg strain and couldn't bowl," the scorer added.

Yeah right!

For the record, Zaid's team won by 9 wickets!

Sad events in Mumbai have taken away cricket from my life and I am clueless as to how I am going to spend the upcoming holidays.

Starting tomorrow we in this part of the world are off for 12 days for the UAE National Day, Haj, and Eid.

I was expecting to spend these days watching India destroy England, ICL Pakistanis add another title to their shelf, and the best 20-20 teams from the world take on each other.

Nothing of that sort will be happening now due to some mindless and senseless actions.

The time I planned to spend on my couch, will now be spent in another country. Where exactly, I am not sure but not here.

I will be back on 14th December.

Sledgehammer will be around though.

Eid Mubarak everyone & for those in the UAE - Happy Holidays.