Random Dip

It was quite a happening weekend in Dubai where I was attending a conference, meeting up and socializing with some old friends, and doing everything unrelated to cricket.

But for some reason, cricket refuses to leave me.

Inzamam Ul Haq happened to be staying at the same hotel where my conference was. He was there with family in tow. Probably enjoying the summer heat of Dubai.

Its definitely the worst time of the year to come to this part of the world so I'm not sure what Inzi was doing here.

I heard Younis Khan is in Saudi Arabia for an Umrah (the religious pilgrimage) - maybe Inzi stopped by on his way there.

In striking contrasting styles, another cricketer, namely Yuvraj Singh, chatted up Well Pitched blogger O2's wife at the Mall of the Emirates when a polite request for an autograph was met with demands for taking him partying around Dubai's night spots.

All this while his team mates Sachin, Karthik, and Gambhir piled 50s against a Sri Lankan Board XI.

Speaking of Karthik, I wonder why fellow blogger Ottayan keeps calling him "Kaarthick" - someting to do with numerology Ott?

Later at night I sent an SMS to O2 asking if he was partying with Yuvraj and I got an instant reply that read:

"Hahaha. No Scene. Sleazy B£$&%^*!"

Well thats Yuvi for you I guess.

Kapil Dev today had his thoughts on him too when he said "He must exhibit his talent at a proper place rather than elsewhere".

India's test series against Sri Lanka seems to be building up well with the hype around Mendis along with the return of Sachin and him aproaching Brian Lara's record for most rest runs.

I just hope the matches aren't high scoring boring draws.

My blogging frequency dipped during last week as I got busy planning my month long sabbatical in August, which was quite a tough task.

Its almost done now. I will be away for all of August but I'm sure Obaid, Sledge, Nazhar, and O2 will be able to keep you entertained.

I'll be back in time for the Champions Trophy, the location of which we still don't know.

What I also don't know is how I will keep track of the cricket blogosphere while I'm away.

I disappear for a weekend and I find that J Rod has posted more than what other blogs do in a weeks time. This is a month I'm talking about.

Oh well, I'll find out soon enough.

There won't be much cricket to miss though or will there?

Sachin getting to 12,000 test runs, Mendis breaking the record for most wickets in a 3-test series, South Africa winning their first series in England since their readmission, Asif winning his doping case, another doping scandal for Pakistan cricket as yesterday's test results come out may be just some of the stories that would be written on while I'm away.

I'm here for another week though but still doing quite a bit of planning.

The Bloggers Influence!

We all know that it was Uncle J Rod's "David Hussey Petition" that led to Hussey's selection for the ODI leg of Australia's tour of the West Indies.

The fact that J Rod managed to convince Cricket Australia and Andrew Hilditch was an achievement and a half.

What we have witnessed today though is an achievement and 2 halves!

Ottayan, another one of the active members of the blogging faculty, has been able to convince no less than the president of a test playing country.

A few days ago, the ECB announced the dates of Sri Lanka's tour to England to fill-in for the Zimbabweans who were supposed to tour but are not welcome there anymore.

The dates of the tour clashed with the dates of Lalit Modi's 2nd season of the Indian Premier League, which were announced about 2 months ago.

This resulted in a number of reactions.

Some reported that the Sri Lankan players contracted to the IPL will boycott the tour to England.

Some suggested a 2nd string Sri Lankan side will tour England.

But there was one reaction that stood above all.

And that was Ottayan's, who suggested that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) had back stabbed the BCCI by accepting to tour England on the dates that clashed with the IPL

Considering that it was the BCCI that bailed out the almost bankrupt SLC recently, Ottayan was probably right in saying that it was a stab in the back by SLC for sending its top cricketers to England instead of India next year.

Ottayan's reaction didn't go unnoticed.

In less than 24 hours, Mahinda Rajapakse, the President of Sri Lanka, has ordered Gamini Lokuge, the country's sports minister, to make sure that SLC either alters the dates of the tour to England or scrap the tour altogether.

Well done Ott. You sure have some influence.

Missing in Action

The blogging world is like a suspense thriller really, you blink an eye and you miss something important.

As always I disappeared for a bit for a day and half during the weekend, and the only reason I am back today is because of the ongoing Pakistan vs India Final of the Kitply Cup.

I usually catch up on the blogosphere on Sundays after Thursday evening, but today was an exception and I realised I had missed quite a bit.

Uncle J Rod got picked as the Blog of the Month in this June's edition of The Wisden Cricketer. congrats Uncle J, you truly deserve it.

Meanwhile the tipping bloggers made their picks for the 20-20 match and the ODIs between England and New Zealand over at Sportsfreak's tipping competition for bloggers.

Miss Field, while congratulating Uncle J for the mention in the Wisden requests for support for the Silly Point, and also ponders who the Wisden will pick next month - us or the Suave one?

Ottayan asks readers on what their superstition used to be during Pakistan and India's matches in the past, while Som wonders why Geoff Lawson even opened his mouth.

Homer decided to go statistical this weekend as he tested Uncle J's theory on Micheal Clarke, and his analysis was as always well backed up blogosphere's statistical grand daddy (or Ninja as Uncle J likes to call him), David Barry.

And, the former Wisden Blog of the Month, King Cricket, told everyone how much they love Paul Collingwood.

While catching up on the cricket news I could not believe that England won the 20-20 match against New Zealand. Its besides the fact that I lost out on a point on the tipping competition, but how can the Kiwis lose to England in the shorter version of the game?

I wonder if $1 million had something to do with that.

In another part of the world, Mohammad Asif, whose case will now not be heard till 22nd June 2008, gave a very interesting interview over the phone booth to a Pakistani newspaper.

Whats funny is that he's thinking about a football career now! 2 weeks in a Dubai jail can do that to you I guess.

And in the West, The Aussies seem to be on top after the Windies had a sniff on day 1. This was Windies' best chance and they blew it up yet again. And that too when the Aussies unleashed their most unexciting spinner ever.

Its always good catching up on cricket - miss a day and a half and you've lost the plot. It was never like this before.

Eyes Wright Shut!

Recently Ottayan and Som took a few digs at Luke Wright, Sajid Mahmood, and Ravi Bopara, the 3 English cricketers who within 24 hours talked about declining offers made to them from the IPL.

There were some commenters who jumped to the defence of these cricketers, and initially it may have seemed that the Indian bloggers were unfairly targeting the English.

But, Patrick Kidd of the Times has also come out with a little dig on the 3. It doesn't seem that bad when it comes from one of England's own now, does it?

In defence of the cricketers, I'd like to say job well done boys!

Andrew Flintoff is injured again and there's a slight worry about Collingwood - thus, a possible place in the squad for the 1st test against the Kiwis is up for grabs.

Sajid Mahmood doesn't have a realistic chance but Bopara or Wright could get the call. They could even make the cut ahead of someone like Owais Shah or Robert Key owing to their ability to bowl a few overs. More than a few actually.

Luke Wright's statement of declining the IPL offer and a century in a tour game against the Kiwis has been timed to perfection.

I like Luke Wright. One of the few English cricketers I like. In fact I like all unorthodox English cricketers who are not afraid to play with a bat that doesn't come down straight all the time.

I've liked Luke Wright since his debut ODI innings against the Indians. What a mauling that was.

And I like him even more now after his bold statement following the 120 against the Kiwis:

"Luckily it was in my arc, so I closed my eyes and had a little swing at it and it went over the rope. It was my day."

A guy who can hit a 6 and reach his 100 with his eyes closed must be special.

Blogs that Pitch it Well

Here at Well Pitched, we have been guilty of ignoring our blog roll for a long time.

Our traffic has increased significantly over the last few months and I can't thank Uncle J, Soulberry, and Ottayan enough for directing a number of their readers here through links in their posts. Thanks guys.

Majority of our readers that leave comments are bloggers themselves and I just took some time out to visit their blogs to see what they have been saying. Again thanks to Uncle J and Soulberry my job was made easier as both did recent posts listing new blogs and some of the best on the web respectively.

Moving on from there, I finally updated the blog roll on Well Pitched. Besides the previous usual suspects, the blogs that have been added include:

Will's Corridor
Suave's Repblique Cricket
Ashrey's Long Hop
Arjwiz' Looking Through the Glass
Just Another Silly Point
King Cricket
Naked Cricket
Kartikeya's A Cricketin View
Samir Chopra's Eye on Cricket
Cricket Guru's Cricket & All That
Golandaaz' Smart Cricket Talk
Nestaquin's 99.94
Past Point
AP Webster's Spun Out
The Googly
Dinnie's Six & Out

Thank you all for making your presence felt at Well Pitched. Thank you for all your comments. I hope you continue supporting us the way you have so far.

All Asian Semi Final? EYE!

Cricket's blogosphere space has been dominated by the IPL player auction over the last 2-3 days. On Well Pitched I covered the entire auction and then gave my 2 cents on what I thought about it. The other blogs that I frequent - Soulberry's TCWJ, Uncle J's Cricket with Balls, and Ottayan's midoff, have all shared their views on what went down at the Hilton Towers in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Apart from the blogosphere, the TV channels, newspapers, and other cricket websites on the net have also been driven into a frenzy over the IPL auction that other cricket going on around the world has been slightly ignored. Thus I thought it was a good time to shift the focus from what went down in Mumbai to whats been happening in Malaysia.

The U-19 World Cup enters the Quarter Finals stage tomorrow and this is what the line-up looks like:

QF1: Bangladesh vs South Africa

QF2: India vs England

QF3: Sri Lanka vs New Zealand

QF4: Pakistan vs Australia

Apart from the Windies, all major teams have made it to the knockout stage. Bangladesh's presence in the last 8 may seem like a surprise but their U-19 players managed to get there with an unbeaten record. They managed convincing wins over Bermuda and Ireland and then stunned England with a 13 run win to finish top of their pool.

The other 3 Asian teams also entered the Quarter Finals with an unbeaten record topping their respective pools. Defending champions Pakistan easily beat hosts Malaysia and Zimbabwe and won a close game against the Kiwis. Not surprisingly, all 3 victories were set up by the Paki bowlers.

The Indian young guns won their 3 matches convincingly and topped the toughest pool of round 1 beating Papua New Guinea, South Africa, and the Windies. The Indian U-19 batsmen have looked in devastating form. Any surprise that the Indian and Pakistani U-19 teams are similar to their seniors - one reliant on their batting and the other on their bowling.

The Lankans have looked very impressive easily brushing aside Nepal, Namibia, and a strong Australian side. The Lankan seniors could learn a trick or two from their junior counterparts on how to beat Australia.

The Quarterfinals get underway tomorrow and I'm rooting for an all Asian clash in the semis. Its a pity though that the repeat of the 2006 U-19 WC Final is out of the question because if Pakistan and India win their Quarters, they will come face to face in the Semis as per the tournament format.

All those rooting for an All Asian Semi Final Clash, say EYE!

Tales from the World of Cricket Blogging

Some very interesting reads that I have come across from around the blogging world of cricket:

Uncle J Rod's piece on Cricket's most prominent back sides. A hilarious take on the largest assets to take the field.

Soulberry's take on the pink balls MCC is looking to introduce. Interesting facts on a Windies team once being asked to wear pink attire, and how men could object to bowling with a pink one.

Ottayan's view on the boards charging agencies for taking pictures. I love the way Ottayan relates pics to a blog. Also check his take on the pink balls.

Mikesiva's assessment of the greatest captain, which inspired me to start the series on the greatets captain of the last 40 years.