Indian spectator's mentality....

The sight of Pakistani flags fluttering in friendship over Indian cricket stands is more than enough to stir the blood of an inveterate peacenik like myself. When the flags are accompanied by a scintillating Test match featuring no fewer than three contrasting but equally classy centuries, plus a nail-biting finale yielding a drawn series, surely readers can understand why for this committed neutral, Bangalore was a taste of cricketing nirvana.

The satisfaction was deepened because the contrast with my previous visit to Chinnaswamy was so stark. That was during the World Cup in 1996, when an Indian quarter-final victory over Pakistan was poisoned by a mass display of belligerent jingoism of which no Indian cricket fan could be proud. Throughout the match, thousands bellowed "Pakistan - Hai! Hai!" and the gusto they put into the chant was venomous. Afterwards, youth on motorcycles charged up and down MG Road screaming "Bharat mata ki jai!" This was no innocent celebration of an Indian victory on the field of play. It was an indulgence in hate-filled chauvinism, shrouded in communal overtones.

As I left Chinnaswamy that night, the memories of an exciting and skilful cricket match were washed away by my anxiety about the future of India. I knew Bangalore as a civilised venue where spectators appreciated cricket's finer points. But what I had witnessed during and after the game was a crowd consumed by a vindictive rage against a designated enemy who existed in their minds only as a grotesque caricature - an abstract, largely unknown other, not a team of flesh and blood cricketers from a country much like their own.

In the intervening nine years India and Pakistan - as cricketing entities and as societies - have both travelled a circuitous, often tortuous path, but the good news is that they arrived at Chinnaswamy in 2005 determined to contest a cricket match, not a proxy war. Hand-lettered signs in the stands welcomed the visitors, invoked Indo-Pak friendship and brotherhood, and proudly declared cricket the path to peace.

What a pity the Indian cricket board, displaying its customary dilatory incompetence, confirmed the Test schedule so very late in the day. Given advance notice, there would have been far more Pakistanis in the crowd, not to mention a healthy representation of the south Asian diaspora from the US and the UK. That seasoning would have made the occasion all the more delectable.

For me the key moment was Inzamam-ul-Haq's declaration late on the afternoon of the fourth day. Those familiar with the history of India-Pakistan Test matches will know that for several decades anything like a sporting declaration was considered out of the question. Captains from both sides of the border would rather forfeit all chance of victory than invite the slightest risk of defeat.

Not that Inzamam's declaration was generous or particularly risky. It was the logical declaration to make, given the balance in the series and the state of the match. It was designed to maximise his team's opportunities to bowl out the opposition. In other words, it was dictated solely by cricketing considerations - and in the history of India-Pakistan cricket, that in itself was a thing of beauty.

The spectators surrounding me in the stands on that afternoon were of two minds about the declaration - though all applauded it enthusiastically. Older heads feared for India; they remembered too many crumbling fifth-day wickets, too many fourth-innings batting collapses. But the younger fans were full of optimism; they really believed India could win. It was no use pointing out to them that a successful chase of a 350-plus target to win a Test match was one of the great rarities in cricket's history, and hitherto unknown on Indian soil. Naïve they may have been, but given the cricket they've witnessed in recent years, they should be forgiven. This is a generation bred on Formula One run-rates and Himalayan innings totals. In the course of three days they had watched Virender Sehwag's consistently aggressive double-century and Shahid Afridi's flashy fifty; they had seen one-day sides knock up 350 in a mere 50 overs; why shouldn't this target be reachable?

The Indian cricket fan of yesteryear was an altogether more sober specimen. God knows what today's spectators would make of Sunil Gavaskar's circumspect style of opening batsmanship, not to mention Geoffrey Boycott's.



Hand-lettered signs in the stands welcomed the visitors and invoked Indo-Pak friendship and brotherhood © Getty Images

I enjoyed the spectators' relish for the implausible run-chase. But at the same time it confirmed for me the downside of the changing temperament of the Indian cricket crowd. The fans at Bangalore did express appreciation, albeit muted, for Inzamam's strokeplay, and they even applauded the occasional display of athletic fielding by the Pakistanis (in the near absence of similar displays by the home side). And despite the few young men who railed "Alu! Alu!" at Inzamam, the only cricketer really subject to crowd hostility was the Indian captain - without doubt the most unpopular man on the field throughout the five days. But overall, this was a crowd that came to watch Indian batsmen hit fours and sixes (lots of them), Indian bowlers take wickets (quickly), and the Indian side win the match (decisively).

In this, the Bangalore crowd is now a typically Indian cricket crowd. The days when tens of thousands would turn up on a fifth day to savour a meandering draw on a dead pitch are long gone, and with them, I can't help but feel, some of what made subcontinental cricket special.

I'm aware that in writing this I am joining a long line of crotchety cricket commentators lamenting the failure of the masses to appreciate the game's finer points. The aficionado's cri de coeur runs through the history of the game. As early as the mid nineteenth century, reporters were bemoaning the decline of crowd behaviour. So it may be that I am just getting older and snottier.

However, it may also be that something has happened in Indian society that has transformed the manner in which many Indians watch cricket, and indeed watch sports in general. The enthusiasm for Narain Karthikeyan is striking in a country where most people do not own cars and most people cannot drive - and where drag strips of the kind common in suburban USA are extremely few and far between. Yet all Karthikeyan has to do is finish a race (not even win it) to find himself the subject of hosannas in the India media, and the beneficiary of innumerable commercial sponsorships.

The economic deregulation of the last 15 years has fostered a cult of success, a non-stop media-promoted celebration of winners. And what many Indians now seem to want from cricket is principally a steady supply of winners, and above all a winning national team. Of course, all fans want their team to win, but dedicated sports fans retain their interest in the game, and their affection for the players, even in defeat. Go to any British football ground and you'll see what I mean. The partisanship is deafeningly passionate, but no one loses interest just because their side takes a beating.

Test cricket, more than football, is a game of subtle and ever-shifting rhythms and sometimes ambiguous results. Sadly, many in the Indian crowd today know and appreciate only one rhythm of play and only one type of result.

Entangled and often indistinguishable from the cult of winning is the culture of celebrity, which has engulfed the Indian consuming classes in recent years. This is where Indian Idol meets Harsha ki Khoj. Increasingly, television is the arbiter of reality; if you've seen it on TV, it's got to be important, vital, exciting. At cricket grounds people seem most excited by the chance to glimpse a famous face - even if it's the twelfth man carrying a water bottle or a TV commentator stretching his legs.

Conversely, to be seen on TV becomes the burning ambition of millions. Many of those who attend cricket matches in India now do so in hopes of appearing on screen. I've sat in the stands next to people who spent more of the day scouting the camera location than watching the action on the field.

Yet the cult of winning and the culture of celebrity are by no means confined to India and are infinitely preferable to the Pakistan-baiting of the 1990s. I'd rather hear a hundred impatient chants of "WE WANT SIXER!" than a single ugly snarl of "Pakistan hai! Hai!"

Source - Cricinfo - http://content.cricinfo.com/wac/content/story/209769.html

ICC Cricket Committee's recommendations

Source : Cricinfo

The ICC Cricket Committee (CC) has produced a series of recommendations in relation to the playing of cricket that will now be considered by the ICC Chief Executives' Committee at its next meeting on June 24-25 at Lord's.

The committee, which is chaired by former India captain Sunil Gavaskar and comprises 12 other members with international playing experience, made recommendations on the following issues in its meeting that concluded in Dubai:

Cricket bats
The CC recommended the establishment of an expert panel to work with the game's law makers, the MCC, and bat manufacturers to review the laws and regulations governing the manufacture of cricket bats.

Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive, said that the members of the CC were unanimous in seeking to preserve the traditions of the game. "The committee upheld the view that cricket should remain a battle between a wooden bat and leather ball with the members strongly of the opinion that innovations that enhance the striking power of a bat should not be permitted.

"The CC recommended that an expert panel should be established to review the matter in conjunction with the MCC, bat manufacturers and selected universities with the necessary research facilities."

CC Chairman, Sunil Gavaskar, and former international players Angus Fraser, Tim May, Arjuna Ranatunga and David Richardson have been recommended for appointment to this panel. To assist the panel in its deliberations, the CC made a number of ecommendations in relation to the composition of bats to be used for international cricket. These are:

1. That the dimensions of the bat should remain the same
2. That the bat should have a conventional shape
3. That the splice and handle be clearly defined
4. That the blade of bat should be made of a single piece of solid wood
5. That the practice of injecting substances such as cork is to be illegal
6. That any cover should be used to protect, strengthen and repair the bat and not improve the striking power of the bat
7. That the bat should remain the colour of natural wood.

As part of its deliberations the committee also considered the specific case of the Kookaburra bat used by several international players and agreed that the status quo should remain wherein these bats can be used by all players pending a final decision from the MCC on their legality in relation to current regulations.

One-day international cricket
The CC recommended a change to the way that fielding restrictions apply in ODI cricket. It recommended that restrictions should apply for the first 10 overs of every innings with two additional blocks of five overs to be applied through the course of an innings at the discretion of the fielding captain. The CC was of the view that these blocks of five overs could be used consecutively or randomly at the discretion of the fielding captain.

The CC also recommended the introduction of soccer-style substitutes for international cricket wherein a player could be replaced at any stage of a match but would then be ruled out for the remainder of the match. Both the substitute and the substituted player would receive a cap and the replacement could happen at any stage of the match, including during a batting innings.

Gavaskar said that these innovations would introduce a new tactical dimension to ODI cricket. "I think change to the way the fielding restrictions work will enliven the game and introduce a new element of unpredictability throughout the course of an innings. It will also be interesting to see how sides adapt to the tactics of introducing a substitute and to see what impact this has on selection issues and it is recommended that this be introduced in time for the Super Series in Australia this October."

Technology
The CC also recommended that a technology trial should be undertaken at the Super Series to allow on-field umpires to consult with the TV umpire on any aspect of any decision. The final decision after these discussions would remain with the on-field umpire. The only exceptions to this would be line decisions, which would be dealt with by the TV umpire in the same manner as at present, and catches, where the existing process would also be retained. The current practice for catches is that they are only referred where both umpires are unsighted as this is one area where TV replays have proved inconclusive.

David Richardson, the ICC General Manager - Cricket, explained that this trial would build on a similar trial at the ICC Champions Trophy 2002 in Sri Lanka. "The Super Series will be our first opportunity to trial this process in Test match cricket," he said. "We are of the view that the on-field umpires should retain their position of authority in the decision-making process and the members of the Elite Panel are already averaging over 94% of correct decisions. This trial will help us understand what impact a referral system may have on this correct decision percentage as well as the flow of the match."

It was also recommended that earpieces should be used in all ICC events to help on-field umpires in judging faint edges. The CC was of the view that the judgement of no-balls should remain an on-field matter.

Umpires
The CC rejected a proposal that there should be two neutral umpires in all international cricket, meaning that in ODI cricket one neutral umpire will continue to be appointed by the ICC with one umpire drawn from home board's international representitives.

The CC comprises six members nominated by the players and six representatives nominated by member boards. Of the 12-member committee, 10 representatives (five player-nominated and five board-nominated) come from Test-playing countries.

This is the third year that this meeting has comprised representatives nominated directly by current international players. The ICC is committed to involving players in the decision-making process and this meeting is supplemented by annual meetings with the captains of the Test-playing nations.

Shane Warne's columns

May 16, 2005

PK still building on favourable initial impression
By Shane Warne

KEVIN PIETERSEN may have been left out of the England squad yesterday, but I’ve been really impressed with him so far at Hampshire. Until last Friday he hadn’t scored the runs he would have liked, and probably everybody expected, but his sheer talent was there for all to see against Kent and I would have him in the England team to face Australia.

It’s a harsh call on Graham Thorpe. He has done pretty well since he came back into the side and will do a decent job. The difference is that PK (we’ve given him that nickname by reversing his initials) hasn’t played against Australia before. He will come in fresh and unscarred. With Pietersen and Ian Bell, it means that five out of the top seven would be facing us for the first time.

The problem PK faces now is that Bangladesh are quite weak, so all of the England batsmen will finish the series with runs to their name and will then be difficult to drop. Cricket, though, is hard to predict. PK’s chance is sure to come because he’s such a good player and it will probably come when he doesn’t expect it.

I just think the cricket gods have been testing him this season. Don’t ask me to explain that. I just think that things happen for a reason. He had a great time over the winter and this is a mini-challenge to him to make sure he doesn’t lose his self-belief. Technically, there’s nothing wrong with his batting. All batsmen get out early from time to time and he’s had bad luck with things like inside edges.

This has been my first chance to look at him properly. I’d say he is the most dangerous batsman in the country, Freddie Flintoff included. But what has really struck me is his attitude. When he comes back into the dressing-room you wouldn’t know whether he has scored nought or a hundred. He doesn’t get fazed, just goes off to do his fitness training or joins the rest of us on the balcony and gets stuck in with the banter.

He reminds me of Michael Clarke in the way he goes about his game. They’re roughly the same age, similar bouncy personalities and very confident in their own ability. And they’ll both be around for a long time. They want everything now and are both hungry. It’s no secret that I’ve taken Clarke under my wing a bit and I’ve quickly struck up a good friendship with PK as well.

The first month has been very enjoyable from a Hampshire point of view.

We’ve played some excellent four-day cricket and poorly in a couple of one-day matches. I’m thoroughly enjoying the way we’re playing, continuing on from last year. The first division is a bit harder because teams seem to battle for longer — as Kent showed on Saturday.

Of the players I’ve come across this season, I’d say that Ed Joyce, of Middlesex, has most impressed me so far. He looked very calm at the crease and seemed to be in control of his game. Our own Chris Tremlett deserves his place in the England development squad. He is improving all the time and when he gets a little bit of what I think of as “Australian” in him, he’ll be even better. I hope I can help him there. His bowling against Kent was international class.

There have been a few issues in county cricket. It was disappointing that Chris Adams decided to make sledging an issue after we beat Sussex, but that matter is closed. He has had time to reflect and no doubt I’ll be giving him a ring in due course.

I couldn’t believe that Surrey were penalised five runs for tampering with the ball. If that’s all that happens I think I should start carrying sandpaper in my back pocket to give the ball a good scrape and get it hooping around. I don’t mind giving up five runs if we can get a couple of wickets.

Seriously, you won’t see any of that from Hampshire. I want us to play hard and tough and be in the faces of the opposition. But that will not stop us playing fairly and in the spirit of the game. Whenever a guy gets a fifty or a hundred against us, we give him a clap. He’ll have deserved it. And talking of hundreds . . .

At last, after 15 years in the game, I finally know how if feels to raise your bat on three figures. Since the innings last Wednesday I’ve had lots of messages from my buddies in Australia. Ricky Ponting suggested I’d want to bat higher than No 8 in the Ashes series. As the guy at No 7 is Adam Gilchrist, I reckon he was probably joking.

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It's over and out: this may be my last Ashes tour
By Shane Warne
IF ANYBODY tells you that India or Sri Lanka are the best tours in cricket, they’re telling fibs. I love both of those places and the memories they hold. But any true Aussie will say that England in England is a special experience and for the 16 of us named in the squad last week, the Ashes trip cannot begin too soon.

The history and tradition of England tours help to bond a squad together. You get to see the place because you travel by bus — far more relaxing than having to go everywhere by plane. You can sit back and really get to know each other. Of course, it goes without saying that I love England. That’s why I’m coming to live here.

I guess the squad was pretty straightforward. There is usually one “bolter” who gets a place unexpectedly, but not this time. Anybody who puts Shaun Tait in that category on the basis of two games for Durham last year is seriously out. Durham treated him disgracefully and if we play them up there I’ve no doubt he will want the new ball.

There was a whisper that a young off spinner called Dan Cullen might have made the cut. He is definitely one for the future and to be around the Australia squad in England would have been great experience. But Stuart MacGill deserves his chance. Every time he has come in as a second spinner he has done well.

People will know Brad Hodge from Leicestershire. He has scored hundred after hundred on both sides of the world for the best part of five years and would have walked into any other batting line-up in the world by now.

The interesting one could be Brad Haddin, because he has probably not received a lot of attention in England. Although he is the reserve wicketkeeper he is also a fine batsman in his own right. Nobody can replace Adam Gilchrist, but when I say that Brad is almost as dangerous as Gilly in the way he bats, I’m not exaggerating. He has the potential to be near that level and his wicketkeeping has improved out of sight over the past two years.

I’ve concentrated on these guys because the core of the squad is so familiar. By definition, that means a few of us have a bit of experience. But I think people might overplay the fact that the majority of us will finish the tour aged 30 or over. I think it could work to our advantage.

Never say never, but for the likes of McGrath, Hayden, Gilchrist and myself this will probably be our last Ashes tour. In fact, I’d take a punt that less than half the side to finish the 2005 series will be back in 2009. Well, a last Ashes tour is going to be a great motivation and the fifth Test at the Oval could be quite emotional.

Fitness levels are so high these days that a 30-year-old cricketer has the body of a younger guy. Graham Gooch showed that with hard work you can enjoy great success well beyond that age. In fact, Glenn McGrath told me the other day that he thinks he’s bowling better now than ever, and I am not going to disagree.

My immediate priority, of course, is with Hampshire. The way the Test matches have been scheduled means that I think I will miss only five championship games. It seems weird that in an Ashes summer I will play almost as much as I did in 2004. All being well I can go into the Tests with a good rhythm and with Hampshire well clear in the table.

Meeting Kevin Pietersen again will be fun. I’ve decided that I’m going to bowl nothing but very obvious wrong ’uns in our nets at the Rose Bowl so he thinks he will be able to read me when he plays for England. I’m going to call him “No 600” — my 600th wicket in Test cricket. Then again, I probably don’t want to rattle him too soon.

I WAS at Singapore airport when I heard that I’d been named as the Leading Cricketer in the World by Wisden. It is a huge honour and took me completely by surprise. Everybody in cricket back home knows about Wisden in England and it was big news when Ricky Ponting won it last year.

Without turning this into an Oscar speech, I have to say thanks to all of my team-mates for making everything possible when I rejoined the side. Individual awards are always nice to receive but cricket is a team game and I could not have done anything without guys bowling at the other end and holding great catches.

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The Ashes? Don't get your hopes up too high
By Shane Warne
BRING on the Ashes — I could hear the cries even before they began. The reaction was inevitable once England beat South Africa on Tuesday and it seems as though we’re in for a really long build-up towards next summer. I just hope people aren’t raising their hopes too high. There are going to be some seriously disappointed folk if England don’t perform.

Yes, they are going well at the moment. World cricket needs a decent England team and their improvement is good for the game. But before everyone gets carried away I ought to point out — because I don’t know whether it is attracting much publicity in England — that Australia are also doing pretty well. This week in Perth we beat Pakistan by almost 500 runs in three days and a session.

Glenn McGrath took eight wickets in the second innings and is bowling as well as ever. After a couple of serious ankle operations it was always going to take time to find his old strength and rhythm. But the thing about champions is that they always come back. McGrath is one of the all-time great champions. He has that extra something you can’t quite finger.

Over the past few months we have won a series in India for the first time since I was out of nappies and bowled out New Zealand for 76 and Pakistan for 72. I am not a great one for facts and figures so, off the top of my head, I don’t know how England have gone on against those three recently. I do know that, with such high expectations, there will be a lot of pressure on them to deliver when we come over.

I have absolute respect for a team that can win eight successive Test matches. We could not receive the game from Port Elizabeth on television in the hotel while we were in Perth, so I only watched the final day, when Andrew Strauss and Graham Thorpe knocked off the runs. It has to be an excellent result. South Africa are very difficult to beat at home, even though their bowling is not what it was.

We have not been talking about the Ashes in our dressing-room. Our job at the moment is to beat Pakistan. We then have a one-day series against them, followed by Test and one-day matches versus New Zealand. There is a lot of cricket to be played before we go to England, but thoughts are bound to drift in that direction before long. We all know the Ashes are special.

So much can happen before the first Test at Lord’s in July in the way of injuries or loss of form. England must do everything in their power to make sure that Andrew Flintoff and Stephen Harmison are fit for the series. They have some other decent players — Strauss looks quite impressive — but those two are the A-graders, the trump cards. If they are not right, I think Australia will win as convincingly as in previous series.

Flintoff can be destructive with the bat and Harmison can knock over a side with the ball. With Matthew Hoggard to do some of the donkey-work and Ashley Giles to keep things tight, there is the basis of a pretty good attack. I reckon that Chris Tremlett, who is even taller than Harmison and gets that awkward bounce at 80-odd miles an hour, ought to come into contention for the final place.

Before anybody thinks I’m just pushing one of my own mates from Hampshire, I should add that it doesn’t do much for my reputation to say that somebody is good enough to play for England when that isn’t the case. I am trying to be objective. There is no doubt in my mind that Tremlett will play Test cricket, just as Dimitri Mascarenhas should be in the one-day side.

I just wonder what sort of pitches England intend to prepare. People may not have thought of this yet, but it is absolutely crucial. If they go for green seamers to help their bowlers, they could be in for big trouble. Those pitches might help Harmison and Flintoff, but we have a potent and disciplined attack ourselves as well as experience and depth to our batting order.

There will be a lot of pressure on the England batsmen to match us in those conditions. I think we would end up winning a series of short matches. To my mind their best chance is on flat surfaces. It would be a statement of intent, that they believe they can beat us fair and square. Harmison is good enough to cause problems whatever the conditions and they would just have to back themselves against our spinner.

I am not saying that England would win — far from it. But the games might be closer and would certainly provide a more even contest between bat and ball. Above all else, that is what people want to see — a contest.

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Best of friends: Lara and Warne, two of the greatest cricketers in the game's history, have a mutual respect that shows whenever they are together
Photo: Graham Morris

Brilliant Lara leaves little margin for error
By Shane Warne

YOU NEED THREE THINGS to be able to bowl to Brian Lara: plan A, plan B, and a lot of character. Don’t underestimate that last one. I’m a pretty positive guy, but there was one occasion when he was smashing the Australia bowling to all parts and I thought that the only way to get rid of him would be to run him out. And that’s what happened — Damien Martyn ran him out.

The game was in Sydney in 1992 and Lara had made 277. I can’t imagine anybody batting better. But for that bit of magic from Marto, he’d probably still be there now. If you look at Lara’s record, he has the gift of moving from 100 to 200 and beyond. He can do that because he scores at such a pace once he’s set and he never tires of dominating the bowlers.

During my 14 years of playing international cricket, the two batsmen reckoned to be the best in the world have been Sachin Tendulkar and Lara. A few others have had a good season now and again, or hit a hot streak, but those two have done it year after year, hitting runs in style under tremendous pressure of expectation.

Perhaps Lara has not quite had the same consistency as Tendulkar, but when he gets on a roll he can be unstoppable. For the punters, I imagine he must be the most exciting batsman to watch because he has so many strokes and that extra gear. You do not know what is coming next, but you don’t want to miss it.

From my own perspective, West Indies batsmen are reckoned to be relatively vulnerable against leg spin. They tend to hit or block. Lara, though, deals amazingly well when the ball is turning. Like all the great players, he picks the length early and moves decisively either forward or back. In a weird way, it is a pleasure to bowl to him.

The key is to try not to worry about what he is doing. Work out a method and concentrate on sticking to it — but have an alternative up your sleeve just in case he gets on top. Batsmen as good as that sometimes get bored if you can cramp their scoring. In that situation, there is a chance that they could whack it to a fielder out of frustration.

Of the Aussies, I’d guess that Glenn McGrath, with his great discipline in bowling line and length, has had the most success against him. But even he has taken some punishment because there is less margin for error against Lara when he is on song. His timing is incredible and I would say that particular contest is just about even.

Tendulkar and Lara have become good friends of mine. They are different characters, idolised in their own countries. A billion people know Sachin in India. He cannot go to the movies without putting on a false beard and a hat. Brian is the king of Trinidad, but he does get a bit more space.

Lara once said that cricket ruined his life. I’m sure he was exaggerating to make a point, but I think I know what he meant. Brian enjoys going to restaurants and bars and having a dance in a nightclub, but he also likes the quieter life. Because of who he is and what he has achieved, there is sometimes a conflict. As with all of us, I am sure that Lara, with hindsight, would have handled a few things differently.

He has taken more than his fair share of criticism down the years, but he is a loyal friend who will go out of his way to help people who need help. He does that away from the media, so he never gets the credit he deserves.

When an unfavourable, one-sided story appears in a newspaper, you become angry and naturally want to fight against it. The more you do that, the more upsetting it can become. It is unfortunate and probably unfair, but the quicker you accept it and move on, the better. Maybe Brian has struggled at times to handle publicity.

All he really wants is to be a successful cricketer in a successful team. Along with Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, I think his fantastic performances helped to camouflage the decline of the West Indies team in the mid-1990s. Lara cares deeply for West Indies cricket and desperately wants to lead them back towards the top of the tree now, but sometimes people see ulterior motives that just aren’t there.

It would be a significant triumph for him if West Indies could beat England, and there is a lot of personal responsibility on him to try to make that happen. England are a well-drilled side who beat them convincingly only a few months ago and they will be familiar with Lara’s strengths and weaknesses. They know he will be the key wicket. Stephen Harmison did pretty well against him over the winter, but Lara will have thought about that and come up with a plan of his own. And nobody should forget the way that he ended that series — by scoring 400 not out.

In English conditions, I think that Andrew Flintoff could be the one to cause him the most problems. Flintoff is a little bit different and will be able to shape it away from the left-hander rather than swing it in.

I generally think that the best batsman in a side should bat at No 3, but this one is a difficult call. Given Lara’s importance to the West Indies side, he may drop down a place or two so that batting is a bit easier when he comes to the crease. That will give him the best chance of scoring big runs. We all know he is more than capable of putting up a big score.

Head to head

Lara has faced Warne in 16 Test matches — 28 innings — and been dismissed by the Australian four times

1994-95 Jamaica c I A Healy b Warne 65
1996-97 Adelaide c G S Blewett b Warne 9
1996-97 Adelaide c I A Healy b Warne 78
1996-97 Perth c I A Healy b Warne 132

Lara has faced Warne in 21 one-day internationals — 20 innings — and been dismissed by the Australian three times

1996-97 Perth c S G Law b Warne 90
1998-99 Trinidad b Warne 6
2000-01 Melbourne c D R Martyn b Warne 0

PHIL MYERS

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Confident Flintoff is 'the man' but sterner challenges loom
By Shane Warne
COMING to the end of the season there seems to be one name on people’s lips: Andrew Flintoff. He has had an amazing summer and I don’t think anybody was surprised when he was named one-day player of the year at the ICC awards on Tuesday. Ricky Ponting had a good year as well, but you won’t hear any players complaining about the choice.

Flintoff has the personality to be “the man” and I think he gets off on that. He isn’t pretending to be a character. And he gets the odd break because of his confidence and self-belief. It is no coincidence. Players who change games are the ones who back themselves and have an aura that sends signals to the opposition.

So far, so good. But there are some tougher tests of his ability in the 12 months to come. The fact is that he has played Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, West Indies home and away, and a New Zealand side without their best bowlers, over the past year.

If you bowl badly to him, he destroys you. That is what we have discovered. It will be interesting to see how he copes when the pressure builds up against sustained bowling, when he does not get a half-volley or a short, wide ball too often. South Africa will be a tougher challenge because Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis are a good pair, supported by Makhaya Ntini. Pollock in particular can keep it tight. I think Flintoff and most batsmen are fortunate to be playing in an era that is dominated by batsmen because of the lack of consistent quality bowling in international cricket.

You can go through attacks. Most countries have one or two good bowlers. A few years ago they had two or three, in some cases four, and runs were harder to come by. I am not in this to talk up Australia, but I think we are still the best overall in this area.

There are a couple of small questions. Flintoff has suffered runs of poor form in the past, but the next one will be different because the expectations on him are now much greater. It is a fact of cricketing life that you suffer the odd blip now and again. We do not yet know how he will respond.

Flintoff is exactly the type of player I like to watch and play against — he’s a genuine match-winner. And he would walk into the Australia team. That is generally a guide people use to assess the strength of any player because we are the benchmark.

Being a young all-rounder in England cannot be easy. The rubbish about “the next Ian Botham” has been around for so long it is not funny.

Given all that, Flintoff has handled the press pretty well and everything he has achieved over the past year has been on his terms and executed his way. It is refreshing to see that.

Whether he is a better all-rounder than Kallis is a difficult question. I would rank Kallis a little higher as a batsman but put Flintoff slightly ahead with the ball. Kallis has played at a very high standard for longer. It is academic, really. You have two world-class players with their own, different styles.

England have to make sure now that they don’t destroy Flintoff. Because he is hard to score off with his height and angle there might be a temptation to use him as a stock bowler. That would be wrong and could have terrible consequences. Like Steve Harmison, he should be employed to make a short, sharp impact.

I know from experience how easy it can be for a captain to give a bowler that one more over when he is going well and causing problems. Then it becomes another, then another. Flintoff should be aiming at three five-over spells in a day — perhaps one of six, maximum, with the new ball.

There is an important piece of psychology here. A batsman will know that Flintoff is joining the attack to be aggressive, not to give the previous bowler a rest. It is a statement of intent that the next 45 minutes or so are going to be very awkward and unpleasant. Batsmen don’t feel like that against a stock bowler.

I am looking at him as an outsider. I’ve bowled to him a couple of times that I can remember, in a one-day international at Melbourne when I came back after dislocating my shoulder, and a county championship game at Liverpool in 2000. So I don’t have much first-hand experience.

All being well, we will both be around for the Ashes series next summer. He will want to get after me and I will certainly want to test myself against him. And I dare say we’ll have a beer and a smile about it afterwards. He seems that type.

How the Indian team members remember about John Wright..

How the Indian team remembers John Wright

Indian cricket will move on after John Wright, but he'll always be special. Not only was he India's first professional coach, his considerable success has made sure that he will not be the last. In most parts of the world, that's not such a big thing; for India, it's a huge leap. Enough has been written about what Wright brought to Indian cricket. Here's an inside view on what he meant to the Indian team.

Rahul Dravid

This happened at The Oval during the NatWest Trophy. John had been talking to us about how Viru was batting really well, playing great shots, but also playing silly shots and getting out. That was getting to John. He said to me, "If that guy gets out to one more bad shot, I'm going to really have a go at him." In the next match Viru went out and played a silly shot and got out. And when he walked back into the dressing room, John actually grabbed him by the collar and shook him. It created a bit of a stir in the dressing room. The thing was the incident was quickly forgotten and neither Viru nor anyone else took offense. We knew how badly he wanted Viru and the team to do well. We knew it frustrated him when people did not play up to their potential. It was an incident that showed us just how badly he wanted us to win. There were absolutely no hard feelings after the incident, and perhaps he and Viru got on much better after that, if anything.

Virender Sehwag

Our culture teaches us to respect our elders and with someone like a coach you need to be particular about your behaviour. But with John it was different: he was more of a friend. We could laugh at him, plays pranks. But he was also a thorough professional, very demanding and very passionate about what he did.

More than anything, he was very good at understanding the character of a player. When people doubted my abilities, John was aware of my mental strengths and never talked about altering my batting technique. In fact, on playing days our interaction was minimal. He has a back problem and he knows that my mom has a bad back too. On match days he would ask me, "How are you? How's your mom's back? How are we going to play today?"

I will never forget one thing he told us: the difference between a good player and a great player is performance. Great ones perform consistently and good ones do it off and on. And I will miss looking at John's face when somebody plays a bad shot during a tight match. It was something.

Lakshmipathy Balaji

I can remember many instances about John that showed just how hardworking and committed he was. None of us had seen a professional like this - he worked harder than the players sometimes, never wasting a minute, always thinking about what had to be done. But the incident that I will always remember is a funny one. It happened in Pakistan, after the one-day international in which I had gone out to bat low down the order and somehow thrashed a six off Shoaib Akhtar. In that game my bat broke. When I came back to the dressing room, I saw that John had written on the bat with a permanent marker, "The next black Bradman!" Then everyone in the team wrote something on the bat as well. People always say John was very serious, but many don't know that he had a great sense of humour.

Harbhajan Singh

We met at a time when both of us were struggling in different ways. He was trying to prove himself as a coach and I was trying to make a comeback and prove people wrong about the image I was carrying. Sourav Ganguly introduced me to John in November 2000. Just before the 2001 Australian home series, when selectors didn't have enough faith in me - people were still pointing fingers at me, saying I was arrogant, after I was dropped from the National Cricket Academy - John used to tell me every day, "You are too good a bowler." And once I was picked for the Australia tour, during the preparation camp in Chennai, he drew a rectangular box in the nets and made me bowl in it hour after hour, day after day, to perfect my line and length. I used to jokingly enquire, "What if Michael Slater puts his feet in this box?" The hard work paid off and I ended up taking 32 wickets in that series. I scored the winning runs of that series and it was very emotional the way John hugged me. He had tears in his eyes and we both knew that we had proved our points.

He knew where and when to rub it in to get the best out of a player. He knew I am the sort of player who needs to be pinched at times to do well. Not many people know about his excellent sense of humour and his ability to laugh at himself. I will miss watching him work. He had the look of a person who had to go somewhere urgently and had lost his car keys.

Subramanian Ramakrishan Team analyst

In Australia last year, which was my first tour overseas with the team, I was working late nights, putting together statistics and things like that. We reached the final of the VB Series, and I was looking at past stats to see what could make India win. Then, on the morning before the game, John told me, "Don't show any statistics, just show visuals." I didn't have any visuals that could motivate or create an impact. He told me to start with some of our great moments, and end with the VB Series. I had no audio to go with the clippings I had, and I told John it wouldn't make much of an impact like that. He would not take no for an answer, and gave me two hours to come up with something. I had doubts about being able to get it done. John asked me, "Do you want your team to win?" I said I did, and he said, "Then you produce a winning effort." I had no choice but to call ESPN and get some visuals from them. I went to their cabin, sat there, edited and put together a movie of our winning moments. At the end, when the movie was done, John made me find a suitable room to screen it, with good speakers and that sort of thing. The team watched the video, and really appreciated it. What was important was that John pushes you to give that extra 10 per cent - whether you are one of his players or one of the support staff. He made us be tough on ourselves.

Mohammad Kaif

John had grasped very early that there was a gap between the junior and senior players in the squad. And he cleverly managed to erase that in his own quiet way. He realised that fielding was the area in which India needed to improve most. He used to keep a chart where he would give points to various players based on their showing in the field. Obviously there would be things that would have to be pointed out, no matter who the culprit in the field was; but it wasn't easy for a newcomer to point out that a senior could have saved runs. But John used to speak to the youngster and ask him where he thought we could have saved runs. That opinion would then be used during team meetings. That way there would be no ego clashes and the youngster, too, would get the confidence that his team had faith in him. I will miss his never-say-die attitude. If we lost a game, he would be angry and not speak to us that evening, but the next morning he would start afresh.

Commentators in Sky Sports

Cricinfo - All miked up and nowhere to go

Cool article..

Vote for the dream team...

My team is - Geoff Boycott, Mark Nicholas, Richie Benaud, Michael Holding, David Lloyd and Tony Cozier as Wild Card....

Richi Richardson Interview by Colin Croft

Former West Indies captain Richie Richardson has formidable figures when it comes to international cricket. He made his Test debut against India at Mumbai (Bombay), India, in November 1983 and played his last Test against England at the Kennington Oval , London in August 1995. That Test heralded the end of Richardson's captaincy and the end of probably the most contentious cricket tour ever undertaken by a West Indies cricket team, saying something; considering some of the tours that have come since 1995. Overall, Richardson played in 86 Test matches, scoring 5,949 runs at a good average of 44.39. Additionally, he also played in 224 One Day Internationals, making 6,248 runs at an average of 33.41.

Mike Selvey, the former England fast bowler, profiled Richie Richardson thus: "Out of the shadow of (Sir) Viv Richards emerged Richie Richardson. As West Indies captain, Richards followed by Richardson was somehow genealogically appropriate. There was a contrast, though. Richards was volatile and explosive in word and deed. His successor as West Indies captain was genteel and gentle, unfailingly courteous and modest. Richardson stood for sportsmanship in an age when such values were beginning to disappear and deserved better than the shabby under-hand power-brokering devised by the West Indies Cricket Board and some of its senior players that saw him dismissed as captain.

"Like Richards, Richardson declined to wear a batting helmet and his wide-brimmed maroon sunhat soon became a trademark. He was a destructively brilliant batsman, particularly powerful on hard pitches where he could throw the bat through the line with abandon, almost always carving the ball away square of the wicket. He hooked willingly too, usually 'up', normally for sixes!

"Criticism was normally directed at his lack of concentration, but he was certainly capable of that too; his 69 crafted and grafted out over four hours on a vile pitch at Edgbaston in 1995 showing his worth, a wonderful display of bad-wicket batsmanship. Richardson reserved his finest batting for the Australians, with only Jack Hobbs bettering his nine centuries against them. The finest was at Bourda, Georgetown, Guyana in 1991, when he blasted a masterful 182, including 106 in the 120 minutes of the final session of the first day of that Test match."

Selvey may have thought that Richie was genteel. I beg to differ. Richie Richardson has great passion, aggression even, for many things, not least West Indies cricket, even though these days he also plays, with some aplomb, the rhythm guitar for his band; "Dread & The Baldhead", along with playing fete matches for Lashings of the United Kingdom.

Last week, at another of those infernal "launchings" that seem to be the requirement of every cricket game these days, I managed to catch up with one of my favourite West Indian cricketers of all-time.

Colin Croft (CC): Richie, you have not been really critical but certainly very concerned about West Indies cricket over the recent years. What are your views as to how things are going now, in 2005?

Richie Richardson (RR): Crofty, to be honest, I have been concerned a long, long time ago, even when I was captain, and even before that, when I was simply a player. We simply have failed to see where we were going. We failed to really analyse our problems and rectify them before things got too far out of hand. So, I am not really surprised at all at what is going on in West Indies cricket at this moment in time.

What I would like to see happen is for us to seriously analyse and come together to sort out our problems so that we do not sink any further. We have heard over and over again that cricket is the single most important thing to Caribbean people and we simply cannot afford to see our cricket go further down the drain. Simply, something has to be done. Everybody has got to come together and devise a plan to rescue West Indies cricket.

CC: Let us talk a little about the past before we get to the future, as you yourself have suggested in our past conversations that knowledge of the past helps planning for the future. You were probably the last really successful captain that the West Indies has had, coming after Clive Lloyd and of course, (Sir) Viv. In the ten years before and up to when you were captain, things went wonderfully. Similarly, but disappointingly, the ten years after your captaincy ended has been a horror show, with things disintegrating badly. What the hell happened here and why did it happen so quickly?

RR: It actually was happening for some time. You know that when things are getting bad, they normally do so very quickly indeed. That is so in this situation too. However, I do not think that all is lost. Something positive has to be done and we are simply going to have to find a way of having that happen. We as Caribbean people would have to put many of our personal feelings and our egotistical personalities aside.

I have been criticised heavily by many, including West Indies Cricket Board members, for saying that we need to have people who know what they are doing run our cricket. I still maintain that. Cricket will always be the property of the West Indies and the Caribbean people, but because of all that has been going on, it seems that only a few people own it.

I would like to see someone or a few people really take control of our cricket and run the game properly here. That is not being done now. That is my biggest concern. I know that we have people who are capable of doing that job and some of the Board's directors etc. might be okay, but so much is going wrong that something must change. If it takes one person or one corporation to approach the most important aspect of Caribbean life and change it, I would be happy. Someone must run the cricket like a business, not like some senile "Old Boys" Network.' If that can be done, then I would support that 100 per cent.

CC: The passion of West Indies people all around the world, though, is that they need to see the senior West Indies cricket team doing well. I think the vision of the West Indies cricket fraternity is to see 11 guys out there winning regularly. How do we get from the point we are at now, in 2005, to where we want to be, winning regularly, maybe to 2007 and beyond?

RR: I think that the players that we now have are the best that we can produce at the moment. We cannot really knock the players too much. Yes, they, collectively, have to take some responsibility for the mess that West Indies cricket, especially internationally, is in, since the focus seems to have changed from trying to win, to just playing as much as possible. However, these cricketers that we have are what have been produced by the system that we now have. If the system is bad, as ours is now, then the produce, our cricketers, could only be bad. Nothing good comes out of a bad system!

I do not support the suggestion that the players are the only ones responsible for the state of West Indies cricket. The system had to be right and the plan has to be made and implemented before the product can be right.

CC: There are many who would suggest that now, in 2005, there are many more levels of cricket in the West Indies than ever before. In the '70s, '80s and even '90s, there were only three levels; Under-19 youth cricket, then playing for your individual country, then playing Test cricket.

In the late '90s, we also introduced Under-13 and Under-15 cricket. To go along with that, we also have "A" and "B" teams, a few more levels, hence a few more cricketers and an opportunity for the players to develop well along the way.

RR: You cannot compare yesterday with today. I do not believe in that. What I believe is that we have missed the boat. When we really should have made the investment; in people, in thought, in deed, in finance and reserves; we simply did not.

Also, the game has changed immensely over the last few years. We in the Caribbean are still behind the world in many things and until these things change, we will not see too much improvement.

CC: Just supposedly, if you were given the task of running West Indies cricket, the entire things, with immediate effect, what would be first thing that you would do?

RR: That is funny, since I do not know that I would be qualified enough to be doing that. However, as I have said before, first of all, you have to do some very serious analysing, trying to find out what the problem is. We would have to put some intelligent heads together, heads from a fairly wide cross-section of our community together find the problem and then find ways of alleviating that problem and others. It probably would take some time. I do not think that this would happen in quick time, or overnight.

CC: Can you define what the problem, or problems, could be at this moment?

RR: I have said this many times, but again, when we had been doing well, in the '70s, '80s and '90s, we took a lot of things for granted. We just assumed that we would continue to produce talent, assuming that talent alone would take us through whatever came up. We just never re-established our grassroots to try to get the kids involved properly, re-sensitise the younger players to allow them to want to play cricket from the lowest to the highest levels. We did not even try to get the public involved generally. In order for West Indies cricket to be strong, the cricket culture must be strong and effervescent and buzzing.

The youngsters have to have something to be looking forward to. It is true that playing cricket at the top is very attractive these days, with so much money in the game, but so many of the players are just distracted.

Recently, Michael Holding mentioned that it was very difficult to go anywhere and to pick up a book, find any history at all of West Indies cricket. We heard about Mr. Sydney Wallen, who is 97, after whom a stand had been named at the Antigua Recreation Ground. I found the information very exciting and exhilarating and I would love to get a copy of his history. The things that he spoke about recently I never knew, either as a West Indian and especially as an Antiguan.

We are rich in history and if many of our youngsters were to learn and know of these things, it certainly would have an impact on their cricketing development. We need to have institutions in place where our youth can go and get information, learn about our cricketing history and our great players like Sir Gary Sobers. I never saw Sir Gary in any videos etc. I will find it hard to get information on any of our great cricketers of the past. These things will help our youngsters about our heritage and with their development along with helping their own sense of pride and personal achievement.

The players have got to be educated enough to appreciate the situation. It is not just about going out to the middle, bowling, batting and fielding. The players should know and be aware that their performances affect an entire nation. I think that some of the present and recent past players know this, but all should be fully aware of the situation. It should not be just about money. It must be like going to university. We must create that environment of learning and appreciation from the top to the bottom, or maybe from the bottom to the top.

At present, we have a Coach who coaches only the West Indies Test cricket team. I believe that whosoever coaches the top team should devise a programme that includes all levels of the cricket. He should know what is going on at all levels, especially the grassroot level. I am not sure that that is happening at the moment. If that is done, then the Coach would know who would have been doing well at the "A" team level and who could be promoted. As things are now, he only deals with the top. I do not think that the West Indies cricket problem can be solved from the top. It has to be an entire thing.

CC: You stopped playing just about the time when technology was just about to take over the game. How do you see the technological aspects of the game developing the game and how can it be beneficial to West Indies cricket?

RR: Whether we like it or not, technology is part of the future and we have to simply accept it in the sport. We simply should know how to use it as much as possible, to our advantage. Unfortunately, we have always been reluctant to use technology in our cricket.

When I was playing, especially as captain, I asked several times for video tapes, CDs, cameras, computers etc., but was always negated. We always thought that we do not need those sorts of things. The players too did not help, being set in their old ways. The game was changing and we were not changing with the game, understanding the importance of making the necessary changes. That is another reason why we are suffering as well. It has simply taken us too long to realise the importance of technology.

CC: It then means that this is not a short term thing. This has to be a long term plan. This is not going to change next week or next month?

RR: Exactly. It may not happen fully even in my lifetime, but we have got to make some sort of start somewhere. It is going to take quite a while.

CC: What about this "foreign" coach syndrome that we seem to be in at this time? I have no problem with it, once the guy, or girl, for that matter, knows what is to be done to get the best from the players.

RR: To be honest, I am like you, Crofty. It really does not matter who the coach is, local or foreign, once the person can do the job required. If that person can make the difference that we want, then I have no problem with that.

What I think is important is that we are bringing some experts from abroad but I am not sure how we are going to benefit from that. The players at the top might benefit directly, but who else? What about our own local coaches? What about the youngsters in the lower regions of our cricket? Are they going to be helped too? I am not sure about that.

I think that something should have been put in place where some of our WICB coaches should have been included and apprenticed to these foreign coaches, so that there would be continuity and also for them to be given an opportunity to get some information and expertise. Our coaches should be assistants to these guys so that continuation can be effected. All of our cricketers too, from Under-13 to the adults should have the same efforts and care, exposed to some sort of development programme. That is how I see it. If these foreign coaches are to make the right impact on West Indies cricket, then it has to be wholesale. It cannot be just at the top.

CC: What about the West Indies captaincy and the Brian Lara factor?

RR: The stats are quite puzzling. When Brian Lara is playing, it does seem that he does well, but, for some reason, the guys do not always seem to be able to do well, struggling a bit. Strangely, when he is not playing, they seem to try hard to fill the void and work harder. I really do not know why that is. It is a bit of a mystery to me.

Brian Lara needs to continue to do well and the rest of the batsmen too need to try to do as well around him. He is the No.1 batsman in the world and it is just not right that he is performing so well and the others not taking up the challenge to support him.

I do not know how that can be resolved. Everybody knows Brian Lara. He knows what he wants and he goes out to get it. It is that simple. I do not really blame him. That is what he is and at times it may rub people the wrong way, but he knows what he wants and he does whatever it takes to get it. I cannot knock him for that, but if it affects other people negatively, then they need to do whatever it takes to get themselves right to deal with it.

At the moment, Brian Lara is our best batsman, so you cannot say that he cannot play. He is the best batsman in the world. I just hope that he could continue to score runs and the younger players could also go out there and score runs like him. Then the bowlers could come together and win some games for us. The West Indies people need something to be happy about.

I do not know about the captaincy. I do not even think too much about that. The decision was made and I do not hear too much noise being made about that. Lara seems to be happy so there is no further need to worry about it.

CC: Is there any hope for us to believe that you will be involved in the cricket hierarchy soon, maybe even graduating to future President?

RR: What? Who? Are you kidding? No man, I doubt that very much.

CC: Thank you.

Richie Richardson is a very classy guy, but one of the past representative cricketers that the Caribbean cricket fraternity has treated worst than most. His ideas, though, his passion, and his courage should be harnessed and used. Energy is never wasted. It is just better when converted. Enjoy!

World Series XI.. Squad of 30 announced

Test Squad of 30:
Sehwag, Smith, Vaughan, Strauss, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Inzamam, Younis, Gibbs, Kallis, Lara, Sarwan,
Sangakkara, Boucher, McCullum, Flintoff, Pollock, Vaas, Akhtar, Pathan, Naved, Ntini, Nel, Harmison, Murali,
Harbhajan, Kumble, Kaneria, Vettori

Let's play selectors here. Tell me what would be your squad of 20 from this list?

My conversation with Tanzeem - Selfish traits in cricket..

TANZEEM :

See Jacobs' outburst against Lara. So we have both the best batsmen in the world accused as being selfish.

Me:

stupidity.. maann... even he was selfish.. his runs are added to the team.... and he scores brisk.. that way, being selfish is gooodd... by the way, Jacobs was Lara's deputy......and he is complaining of the entire cricketing administration of west indies..saying they didnot take care of him well.....

TANZEEM :

I have differing views. A captain loses his worth if he doesn't enjoy the confidence of his team mates.

Jacobs says that he doesn't motivate the

Also, he was involved in Lara's innings of 400. Maybe he was referring to that too. Me too think that he prolonged his innings
too much
(well after lunch on the 3rd day)

and finally that cost WI the consolatory win. And unlike what he said, a consolatory win rather than an individual milestone would've inspired the

Me:

Well, firstly, register in chappellway.com, it is very good and you can participate in discussions... I am a member there and I really enjoy the pure cricketing talk there...

And... "motivating a team" is very subjective.. There is a grand old saying - A captain is as good as his team...I agree he is not a great leader... as was the case with Tendulkar... But if we put Ricky Ponting in place of Lara to lead the present Windies team, maybe he could have improved it only marginally better....with that kinda team...

And for losing the confidence of his team-mates, we cant say from outside who is at mistake.... that only means he is not a good leader, which we all agree....and as I told you, Jacobs is blaming the entire cricketing admin.... so he seems no better.... In West Indies today, everybody is blaming everybody else and it is a sad reflection of the cricketing scene there.... so I wouldnt give too much importance to what he says....(But to Jacobs credit, Tony Cozier (I personally respect him the most and regard his statements above most others) has said quite a few times that Jacobs is a highly team-oriented man.)

As for the 400, I agree that win comes first no matter what is better for the team, a consolation win or an individual record... I am sure that when u play cricket, go for a win, whatever test you play in, irrespective of the previous results... within that win, if you can create a record, so be it... but not sacrifice a win for the record... It might be a touch selfish, but , 400 doesnot come everyday. So.... and iIt would be interesting to see what Lara as a captain would have done if any other player under him was approaching the record...

But what is better, whether a consolation win or a record (atleast in this case), is debatable.. A man with a 400 doesnt come everyday and he is sure to inspire a whole lot of people, just the score... is so monumental, but at the same time, a win might have opened up new opportunities for Windies cricket... Never know... So it is debatable...

The 400 might be selfish, but there are innumerable times when he has stood in a crisis... The 196 on a tricky, Trinidadian wicket (rated one of the best Lara's innings by Mike Haysman ) and 176 he scored in the just gone by tests, the 153 against Aus, there are so many others when others have failed to deliver and he has stood.... these are in no way selfish....

Therefore before making generalized statements that he is "selfish" regarding a person of Lara's stature, who has contributed so much to Windies cricket and the one shimmering light of the region's cricketing culture, he should state facts and inform what he himself has done it to try to repair it when he was the deputy....
-----

To add to my previous mail... and to add to his credentials that he may not be really selfish, there was this innings of 36 from 23 balls he played against England... It was a rain shortened match with 20 overs each side, they had scored around 3 runs per over for the first 14 overs... because the pitch was damp and was very difficult to score.. Chris Gayle opened and he was at around 3 runs per over.. Lara came in and I thought he played like a school boy... moving all around .. trying to hit each ball out of the park.... A man of his stature and calibre, really looked a young, 21 year old in one of his earlier matches.... trying to slog and slog.... he got some runs but I think it was very unselfish to slog like Afridi and look an idiot eveyballl.... to score runs.....mind you, he is one of the most stylish of batsmen....

TANZEEM :

It's a slightly free weekend..so me don't bother carrying this interesting discussion forward. By the way,
I'm a member in Chappelway..you may find my name once in a while, when I'm too tempted to write something.

Coming back to our issue, I think that

Cricket is to an extent a slightly selfish game because of the very nature of the game. It's by and large a one-on-one game unlike most other team games and the individual is more likely to stand out in every analysis. And I don't think there's any other sport in which individual records are discussed and analysed so much. Also there is an old school of thought (often attributed to Yorkshire and Boycott) which says that 'do well yourself, then the team will do well'. I have no problems with that. All individual performances add up to the team's performance. The problem starts when the two interests (team v individual) conflicts. And when that happens, there shouldn't be any second thought in anybody's mind on which should come first. At least I don't have. A team victory, whether it is a Test championship final or a dead rubber fighting to save a whitewash, it comes way ahead of any individual achievement, be 400 or 500 or 20000 runs of 50 centuries. Nobody is bigger than the team. And records come along the way in pursuit of a team goal; that becoming the goal itself is wrong; and if that costs a team's victory, it is criminal.


Given this premise, it's hard to find a player who is not gullible to being selfish at varying levels. Sachin has been a big offender of late, Lara has been at times and so does a lot of others.

To the second issue - leadership and motivation. I don't buy the theory that a captain is as good as his team. I think that in game like cricket, even a 5% improvement in
discipline and perseverance
can lead to 15-20% improvement in the team's performance and a captain/coach has a huge role to play in that.


I think that was one of the reasons for John Wright's success with the Indian team given that he was part of a New Zealand team which was short on talent and ability but showed remarkable discipline to do the simple things right. He along with Ganguly (not sure at what levels) instilled discipline and perseverance to a talented team. He made a very interesting observation when India won the Kolkatta Test against Pak last series. He was asked to pin point the turning point of the match. He didn't mention Kumble's 7 wicket haul or Dravid' 100s in each innings first. He mentioned substitute Kaif's effort to save a boundary running from short leg in the last over on the fourth evening which made Afridi take strike to the last 2 balls in which he got out. Such small effort can make a huge impact on the eventual result of the game. I think the same can be done to this WI team which, mark my words, is not short on talent. That India has strayed of late is another story. It just showed what can be achieved when talent and ability gets blended with discipline and perseverance.

Will continue this...

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