Showing posts with label Darren Lehmann. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darren Lehmann. Show all posts
Thursday, May 14, 2009

Australia vs South Africa at the IPL

Arthur Turner, a columnist at Sport24, which is a South African website, has some amusing views.

He talks about how the Australian dominance in the IPL is unhealthy.

He talks about how its not good for the competition in the IPL to have so many coaches from Australia - 5 out of 8.

Turner goes on to say that no one outside Australia knows Greg Shipperd, Darren Lehmann, and Darren Berry, the 3 Australian coaches without international coaching experience.

He argues that the fact that these 3 have highly valued IPL contracts goes to show that Australia, as a cricket nation, is over rated.

Turner must have some nerve to say that.

Shipperd is arguably the best 20-20 coach on the planet. He led Victoria to the 20-20 title 3 years in a row. He coached the best 20-20 team of Australia, who for the longest period were, and maybe still are, the best cricket team in the world.

We all know who Greg Shipperd is.

Darren Lehmann's credentials as a coach may not be as good as the one he had as a player, but again no one can argue against Lehmann's cricketing nous.

Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, and many others have spoken about how they used to turn to Lehmann on occasions on the field.

So yes, we all, outside Australia, also know who Lehmann is and how good he can be as a coach.

As for Darren Berry; he is probably the least known of the 3 but I do know that he is a former captain of Victoria and close to Shane Warne.

Warne made it clear that he wanted his coaching staff last year and we all saw what Berry and Warne did for the Royals.

So we may not have known Berry before last year, but we do now. Everyone does.

Turner doesn't stop there.

He goes on and talks about the large number of Australian players (26 of them) that are playing in the IPL. He denounces their presence by stating that they are only there because of the Australian coaches.

He presents his arguement by mentioning that South Africa beat Australia recently and are the number 1 ranked ODI team and yet they have a lesser number of players (15) playing in the IPL.

So its all about that is it Turner? Its all about why there aren't more South Africans than Australians playing the league?

Turner compares the domestic performances of Rob Quiney and Ryan Harris to two South African players - Henry Davids and Rory Kleinveldt.

Moreover, Turner argues about Ryan Harris and Rob Quiney while stating that some of the Australians in the IPL have never, and will never, play an international cricket match.

I wonder if Turner knows that Ryan Harris has played an ODI for Australia and that Quiney has been talked about as a potential ODI opener if I am not mistaken.

They are definitely better known than the Henry and the Rory that he mentions.

Turner concludes his piece by saying that IPL will have to address these problems if it wants to remain the premier Twenty20 competition.

What problems!?

Had Turner only talked about the huge presence of the Australians in the IPL and argued that a more equal distribution of players from international cricket playing countries was required, then maybe, just maybe, his arguement would have carried some weight.

But the fact that he puts forward names of South Africans that could have been better bets than the Australians in the IPL, diminishes any value that his arguement could have had.

With Turner being a Player Agent in South Africa, it all falls into place now, doesn't it!?

Make your pitch on this post...



Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,


Thursday, May 7, 2009

Is Darren Lehmann a Factor in the Chargers' Success?

They slipped to 4th place after being on top of the table for most of the IPL, but after today's victory over the Mumbai Indians, the Deccan Chargers are on top again. Just behind Delhi Daredevils on net run rate.

This season has been a good one for the Chargers, and very different from the one they had last year.

Some time back I wondered what was different about the Chargers' campaign, but that was a very non-serious look.

More seriously, what has clicked for them this year?

Some suggested Edwards made a difference, but he lost the last game for them and now he's gone and doing it for the Windies.

Gibbs form was also suggested but he's failed in the last few matches including today.

Gilchrist is no doubt leading from the front, but is it Darren Lehmann who has been calling the shots behind the scenes?

I've noticed him in all the games and he's always seen in the middle of the Chargers' huddle before the match and during the tactical time outs.

At other times, he's always scribbling something on his note pad.

Note to Buchanan: note pad, not laptop.

Lehmann was considered God in the Australian domestic circuit. A lot of the Australian internationals also rated him highly as a strategist.

For a long time Ricky Ponting used him as the man to make a decision on the field.

Even Shane Warne has spoken highly about Lehmann's cricketing sense and used him as a motivator last season besides giving him a few games for the Rajasthan Royals.

I believe Lehmann has been one of the major drivers behind the Chargers' turnaround.

I agree that the Chargers were unlucky last season ending up at the wrong end of many close matches, but it takes more than misfortune to lose 12 out of 14 games!

Lehmann has probably instilled the confidence in the team and probably has some defined roles as well for the players, just like Warne does for his Royals.

He's probably not a coach per se but more of a motivator and mentor and its surely done the Chargers a lot of good.

Make your pitch on this post...



Labels: , , , , , ,


Saturday, November 24, 2007

News, Rumours, and Pics of the Week - Volume 2

These were the pictures that were doing the rounds during Pakistan's tour of Australia in 2005.

Shoaib Akhtar drinking, clubbing, and partying added to his image of being the 'bad boy' of Pakistan cricket. On the current tour to India he has been heard making statements like "I want to shed my bad boy image", "I want to concentrate on my cricket and help Pakistan win this series", and so on.

The week before last we read reports and saw pictures of Shoaib visiting orphanages and schools around India. The media frenzy reported that as Shoaib's effort to "shed his bad boy image". This week, we have seen some pictures doing the rounds of the internet and emails.

These pics show Shoaib as a committed team man, enjoying the practices, and feeling at ease with himself. Is this change in Shoaib for real or just a PR strategy on behalf of the PCB and team management? Decide for yourself.

Australian coach Tim Nielsen has told Stuart McGill that he needs to get fitter for test cricket. The Aussie physio has also said that McGill is running out of time before the boxing day test against India. While cricinfo is reporting that McGill has said that he wants to put his best effort in to try and make it for the boxing day test, the UAE newspaper Khakeej Times is reporting that McGill is contemplating retirement from test cricket.

The man would have had over 500 test wickets today had he been born in any other test playing country besides Australia. He spent the best part of his life waiting for Warne to be injured or retire, and when he got his chance, he figured he might be too old. How sad is that?


Quote of the week:

"I haven't even talked to my wife about how her week's been yet." - Stuart MacGill being funny or stating the facts of life of an international cricketer when asked a question regarding his future?

Darren Lehmann announced his retirement from First Class cricket during last week. Several bloggers (read here and here) have done their tribute to him so I wouldn't go into that. Just wanted to mention him here as I regarded him as one of the smartest cricket brains on the circuit. Again sad he didn't get to play too much international cricket. Another case of a cricketer who would have challenged several batting records had he been born in any other country apart from Australia.

Just like the 20-20 world cup final and a few matches against Australia, Shahrukh Khan was part of the crowd during the 5th ODI between Pakistan and India. During the 5th ODI, Rameez Raja questioned SRK about his latest hit movie, Om Shanti Om, and naturally SRK talked about it a bit. What happened thereafter, can only happen in India - some BCCI officials complained that SRK was using the platform of international cricket to promote his movie. All Indian news channels covered the story the entire day. Surely the BCCI and the Indian media have bigger things to worry about. But then again, it doesn't get bigger than Shahrukh Khan, does it?

Make your pitch on this post...



Labels: , , , , , ,