In the IPL din, one could be
forgiven, Sri Lanka now and later India
in July are to tour England ~ India will play 5 tests and 5 One dayers
there. Did you read of the resignation
of Paul Farbrace .... the man who was the coach when Lankans won the T20 WC
..... the appointment of Paul Farbrace as England's assistant coach has been
confirmed by the ECB. Farbrace had been identified as the leading candidate to
become Peter Moores' No. 2 and his resignation as Sri Lanka coach cleared the way for him to join England's new
set-up. Sri Lanka's chief selector, Sanath Jayasuriya, joined the SLC in
expressing dismay at news of head coach Paul Farbrace's move to England, at a crucial time..
photo : cricinfo.com
At Dubai, the star
studded RCB crawled to 124...... Chris Gayle played his first game of IPL 2014
after missing the first four matches due to a sore back. Gayle replaced his
West Indies team-mate Ravi Rampaul.
Remember in Apr
2013 at Bangalore ~ Pune Warriors won the toss, put their
opponents in, had a rain break too……………. but suffered heavily at the hands of -
Christopher Henry Gayle..... … Ishwar Pandey, the highest wicket-taker in that
year's Ranji Trophy, was hit for 21 in his first IPL over, still could consider himself luckier than Mitchell Marsh, whose first went for 28; Aaron Finch gave 29
– Ali Murtaza 28 as Gayle first reached the century in just 30 balls and went
on to remain unbeaten 175 off mere 66 balls ~ it was the astest 100 in T20s –
30 balls; Highest individual score – 175*; Most Sixes in an innings 17; Longest
in IPL 119 M……………..
An year earlier, in
May 2012 - it was carnage at Ferozeshah Kotla as Chris Gayle kept hitting them
into stands - one went 110M and all
looked so simple. His 62 ball 128
destroyed any hopes Delhi Daredevils nurtured.
He hit 13 sixes and took the match away from DDR – all were hit with
ridiculous ease – and remained calm, which baffled, bemused and bewildered the
opponents.
Today, naturally much
was expected of him..... the 1st ball of Glenn Maxwell was edged past the first
slip (4); 2nd was defended back; 3rd was
sliced – looked miscued – went for 4; next came the shout for LBW (appeared to
be out); 5th was despatched over long off for 6; 6th over mid on – hit the rope
on full for 6 .......... 20 runs of the very first over...
In came Sandeep
Sharma who was part of India's Under-19
squad for the 2010 World Cup in New Zealand, but came into his own in the same
event two years later, in Australia.
He took four wickets in the final, against
the hosts, and finished as the joint-highest wicket-taker for India (12). Today off his 2nd ball, he cleaned up Chris
Gayle. Kohli strode in made a majestic
boundary ~ then was struck on the front pad and given out by Billy Bowden –
Kohli was shocked ....
In neighbouring
country, Lankans though shaken by Farbrace’s move – have started training at
home with Duke balls, in preparation for the two-Test series in June. Tests in
England pose a unique challenge for foreign sides, most of whom use Kookaburra
balls across all formats.
photo credit : iplt20.com
Chaminda Vaas did not have memorable Test tours of
England in his career, but as the fast-bowling coach, he has drawn up specific
plans to consolidate the pace attack's 2014 gains.
Thousands of miles
away, catalogue of sweeping changes have
been proposed by the new director of
cricket, Richard Pybus, and accepted by the WICB directors at their meeting in
Port-of-Spain last month, the 2014 first-class format is likely to be the last
in its present form. Pybus, an Englishman, was twice Pakistan coach and,
briefly, Bangladesh's. His reputation was made in South Africa where he managed
and coached at all levels and was twice named provincial coach of the year. He
knew very little about West Indies cricket when appointed last November - and
vice-versa. The proposals contained in his hefty document, under the heading
"West Indies Cricket System Review and Plan", are "shaped by
interviews and discussions with former West Indies captains and great players,
from Sobers, Griffith, Nurse and Hall to the generations of Lloyd, Roberts,
Richardson, Walsh and Ambrose". There were other former and current
players who shared their thoughts. The relevant points are the
"professionalisation" of the regional first-class game and the
expansion of the season.
Remember Cricket Australia made
sweeping changes based on Argus report.... back home, it is for the Apex Court to confirm whether
Justice Mukul Mudgal will once again head a probe to uncover more IPL
corruption. There is now a weary acceptance that the BCCI cannot be expected to
do so on its own. What began essentially as IPL code violations is today stuck
in gridlock due to an entanglement of colliding, conflicting interests and
personal and political agendas. An open-and-shut case of broken rules has turned
into a Rubik's Cube conundrum; except, this cube has eight colours on its six
sides.
So will things change ....
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
28th April 2014.
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