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.

Bowlers Take Sindh to Pentangular Cup Title

Shahid Afridi held aloft the Pentangular Trophy after Sindh beat Punjab by an innings to become the Pentangular Cup 2007-08 Champions.

When I reported at the end of play on day 2 of the match, I predicted an innings win. I've done it before on Soulberry's blog and I've done it here now. I think I should quit blogging and open a up a cricket betting business or something like that. Any takers?

(Uncle J - I took this tip from your part 2 of a 'guide to writing a cricket blog'. Bold prediction, but I didn't edit)

Resuming their innings 119 runs ahead at 303/6, Sarfraz Ahmed (82*) and Anwar Ali (33*) - the captain and star of the 2006 U19 world cup win respectively, led Sindh to a match winning total of 417 with an unbroken 8th wicket partnership of 88 runs before Afridi declared the innings 233 runs ahead.

Punjab's star-studded batting line up, for the 2nd time in the match, folded in front of the pace of Sohail Khan and Anwar Ali and the spin of skipper Afridi. Punjab were bowled out for 202 as Afridi picked up 3 top order wickets and Anwar Ali wiped out the tail with the last 4 wickets in quick succession.

Brief Scores:
Sindh beat Punjab by an innings & 31 runs.
Punjab 1st innings 184 (Sohail Khan 4-58, Shahid Afridi 2-25)
Sindh 1st innings 417-7 declared (Sarfraz Ahmed 82*, Faisal Iqbal 65, Wahab Riaz 4-99)
Punjab 2nd innings 202 (Misbah 51, Anwar Ali 4-45, Shahid Afridi 3-60, Sohail Khan 2-41)

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!

The verdict has arrived...

But where does it leave us?

The best part about blogging is what your fellow bloggers are saying. If you are ever looking for an alternate view or for something you hadnt thought about, you are sure to find an answer in the blogging world. And that is just what happened to me about 5 minutes back.

Who better than our esteemed friend, Mr Soulberry to come up with a very believable explanation of the whole Harbhajan - Symmonds saga. I just read his blog entry where, being from Punjab he explains that one of the choicest combinations of Punjabi vernacular can easily sound like the word monkey. If this is actually what happened then it makes the whole episode a lot funnier than it is and quite honestly a bit absurd. As I mentioned in the comments for the same blog entry above, what Harbhajan may have said is how a Bostonian would say monkey. Just as park = paaahk in Boston, monkey = maaahki; also in Boston... well sort off. But then one mans monkey could be another ones mother. I wouldnt use either of these words with Zidane and Symmonds in the same room. Harbhajan was being provocative if he was using his best Boston-speak, but definitely not racist.

This whole episode leaves more questions unanswered at the end. Couldnt the captains just have sorted this out themselves at the end of the days play in Sydney? Did Ponting and the Aussies consciously go around Kumble? Was there any malicious intent involved? Kumble is on record saying that he tried to talk to Ponting but the matter had already been reported. I think its common sense to at least talk to the opposing team's captain before making an allegation as serious as racism

The other worrying and questionable aspects are the ICCs role and India's pre-emptive muscle flexing. Firstly, what more could the ICC have done wrong here? Did it take them a whole 2 weeks to figure out that the whole thing was just a mis-understanding at best? Even if you look at the worst case scenario, what exactly is the case of the match referee? Is he the judge, jury and advocate? I dont think ex-players are well equipped to be judges, as Proctor has so ably demonstrated. I will give him the benefit of the doubt in that he was simply ill equipped to deal with an incident like this and that he had no malicious intent. But the ICC needs to do some serious soul searching here - it is ok to admit defeat and ask for input.

Finally, what was up with the Indian team "showing solidarity" with Harbhajan and being on standby with a chartered jet in Adelaide instead of being in Melbourne, preparing for the next game? This is very disturbing... sure the powerful dictate and set the rules, but this is a bit too much. This is like gali cricket where you could just leave if you didnt like the ball that got you out.

I think the next evolution will be a helicopter and/or jet on standby at the ground itself - one wrong decision and you can just fly back home. Wouldn't that be awesome! Most cricket grounds are pretty big so a plane can land on the ground itself. Instead of signaling for a powerplay, the captain can just call for the plane - traveling light redefined indeed! Pakistan definitely doesn't have the economic muscle India does, so waiting for the next PIA flight can be a bit embarrassing... beware, this powerplay isnt for everyone!

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.