Friday, July 31, 2009

The Shock in London

So far London has been good to me.

Everything from the chest x-ray at the airport to the customs, the cab ride, and the DLR train ride, have been smooth sailing.

The weather was a bit fickle but not something that made me think "why am I here?".

However, the fact that there was no coverage of the 1st ODI between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, made me think that!

Can you believe that?

I mean this is England, the "home of cricket", and a cricket series is not being covered on TV.

Sure the Ashes are going on and all of England is busy following that, but that does not mean that they ignore all the other cricket being played.

The Ashes are being shown in the UAE and Pakistan and India, then why isn't the Pakistan vs Sri Lanka series being shown here?

With that shock, I was given another when I opened the scorecard of the 1st ODI on Cricinfo.

I was shocked to see that Pakistan had won the toss and chosen to field first.

I was shocked to see that after having Sri Lanka down at 131-6, Pakistan let them get to 232.

I was shocked to see that Muralitharan smashed 32 off only 15 deliveries.

I was shocked to see that Shoaib Malik opened the batting.

So let me understand this; Malik does not open in the tests and a debutant in Fawad Alam is thrown at the deep end. Then when Fawad does well, he is pushed back down the order, while Malik is sent to open.

Does anybody see the logic in this?

And if this was the plan then why have Nasir Jamshed and Imran Nazir in the squad.

The failure of Malik, Yousuf, Younis, and Misbah did not shock me.

What did though was that Umar Gul and Mohammad Aamer put on 62 runs for the 9th wicket in only 43 deliveries!

Come to think of it, it was a match for the tails.

Both Sri Lanka's and Pakistan's last 4 wickets added 101 runs to the total.

When are the batsmen from both sides going to put their hands up to be counted?

It is high time!

For the batsmen to fire and for England to somehow get this series on TV!

Make your pitch on this post...



Labels: , , , , , , ,


19 Pitched:

  1. SM said...
     

    Q ,

    Good to see you settled,getting an english shock and bloging late ..
    I was up for about first 20 overs yesterday and saw the brilliant Aamer start brilliantly and missed the rare feat of a wicket in the first over in ODIs .. but then what was encouraging was that he was posing immense problems to both the openers . He ws running in hard being his back and looking in to the eyes of Sanath . Loved that ....

    Was heartfallen to see Razzaq drop sitters..

    However I went off to sleep knowing that SL were up for a crushing defeat in the first over . In the morning when I woke up and checked the Cricinfo scorecard .. I was forced to write this Post

  2. miriam said...
     

    welcome to London Q! Looking forward to meeting up with you at some point.

    I'm always disappointed when Sri Lanka games aren't shown on Sky. It's because the broadcasters don't think there's a market. India, yes, will usually be shown, but Pakistan and Sri Lanka won't usually get a look-in. Sometimes one of the Zee channels will show them though - they've done special cricket packages in the past where they let you subscribe just for the duration of a series and I've done that before.

  3. Gaurav Sethi said...
     

    Q, sorry to rub it in but I caught Akmal n Razzaq's drops + all the tailenders' rub it in.

    Fawad not opening was a stinker. But Afridi one down - isn't an ODI 30 overs too many for him?

  4. straight point said...
     

    the logic is simple Q...

    in test openers are tested more than anybody while in ODIs everyone wants to open for more free runs than grinding in middle overs...

  5. Rayden said...
     

    Hey Q - Mr. Cricket sold his house in England long back and shifted to the Sub-Continent. So England is no longer "The Home of Cricket". They play the ashes in memory of him as he once stayed there :-)

    One day before the 1999 ODI World Cup, the top newspapers had a 14 page tribute to Manchester United and NO article on the cricket world cup - that should give you an idea of how many cricket matches you will get to watch on TV. Of course the good thing is Pakistan will play its home games in England so that alone would be worth it for you.

  6. Q said...
     

    SM,

    I saw ur post.

    I'm sure u know that Aamer took a wicket in his first over in tests and T20.. it would have been some achievement had he done so in ODIs too..

    I didn't watch the match so did not see the drops but sounds really bad..

  7. Q said...
     

    Miriam,

    Thank u! Will get in touch with you and Jrod soon..

    Sounds like some work to see Pak play on TV.. will get round to it once I move to Manchester.. but next summer Pakistan is going to be here, can't wait already!

  8. Q said...
     

    NC,

    Damn man, had no idea abt the drops.. did not c the game.. sounds shit!

  9. Q said...
     

    SP,

    I wonder if the players have a free hand in deciding where to bat.. definitely it has to be the captain / coach deciding the batting order..

  10. Q said...
     

    Rayden,

    That's why i put the home of cricket in quotations ;-) ..

    And yes I cannot wait for next summer here!

  11. SM said...
     

    Q ,
    In teh 5th ball of the match , jayasurya was almost given lbw .. had that happened .. Aamer wd have made some record of sorts ..

    i watched the match till the 20th over and since i had to report to work the next mroning and also since lankans were playing so bad i went off to sleep but not before seeing the butter fingers of razzak when akmal would have taken the catch easily of a shot of Jaya .. well nto much harm was done so.. SJ was out the second ball of U Gul after first ball hit for 4 .

  12. smk said...
     

    Q i dont know if you allow external links, but there are more a few sites where you watch the game online...some for free too, you just have to look

  13. SM said...
     

    I too watched on ustream / freedocast or at times Cric7

  14. Q said...
     

    SM,

    That would have been some feat had that lbw been upheld..

  15. Q said...
     

    SMK,

    I have no issued with external links.. feel free to post.. articles, blogs, videos, whatever I don't have an issue ..

    If there are any free live streaming links that you have or anyone else then pls let me know before tomorrow's match..

  16. Q said...
     

    SM,

    Can u give me the links for those sites u have mentioned..

  17. SM said...
     

    sure .. why not . wheneverthe matches are on there are people who would beam their own matches .. so we need to search for the best working links ..

    1. www.freedocast.com

    2. ustream.tv

    3. cric7.com

    These are sites where you dont have to download a thrid party uitlity and open the window in windows media player .. often you need to switch between the windows for the best quality streaming ..

    If you want to watch the current WI / BAN odi . go here..

    http://www.cmatt.com/abstv.htm

    in the window below click the play button couple of times .. and then the moment is shows buffering means you are connected .. also double click on the window for full screen ...

    also will send some more links in the mail tonight for the 2nd ODI .. if you dont mind ..

  18. Q said...
     

    Thanx a lot SM..

    For the 2nd ODI tomorrow, either post the links here or mail them to me on umair dot qazi at gmail dot com.

    Thanx!

  19. SM said...
     

    No Problem .. will do ... for sure

Post a Comment