Read the word ‘Schadenfreude’ meaning the experience of pleasure, joy, or
self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles,
failures, or humiliation of another.
My career
started with an Industrial house manufacturing bonded and coated
abrasives. An abrasive is a material, often a mineral,
that is used to shape or finish a workpiece through rubbing which leads to part
of the workpiece being worn away by friction. In case, the word is not so
common to you – sand paper / Emery paper
are types of abrasives used to abrade
(remove material from) surfaces or mechanically finish a surface. We are
reading so much of them now !!
Kim Hughes was a
compulsive hooker, an attractive player who led a team to India in 1979. He played at Chepauk when Dilip Doshi
debuted. Hughes started with a century
on debut for Western Australia, a poised hundred in his fourth Test, and
captained Australia to victory in his 11th – but was later
considered a luckless Captain. His tearful resignation at Brisbane in December
1984 after only four victories in 28 matches was one of that office's sorriest
spectacles. He ended his international career leading the sanction-busting
Australian "rebel" teams to South Africa, a disenchanted, alienated
figure ~ yet he can still feel proud
thinking of the current situation.
Afghanistan
eased to a seven-wicket win over West Indies in the final of the ICC Cricket
World Cup Qualifier competition in Zimbabwe, bringing to completion a comeback
that must rank among the greatest in cricket's long history. Virtually written
off after their disastrous showing in the group stage, Afghanistan rode on
their self-belief - and a little bit of luck - to claim the trophy. Sordid tale
for West Indies, though they too have qualified for the World Cup in 2019. Less than a month after his 17th birthday,
Rashid Khan made his ODI debut on Afghanistan's tour of Zimbabwe in 2015. A
year and a half later, while back on tour in Zimbabwe in 2017, the precocious legspinner fetched the
highest ever bid for an Associate player in the IPL Auction. He was snapped up
by Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 4 crores – he has risen to top becoming the
fastest to 100 wickets in ODI. Rashid’s
100 came in 44 matches; MA Starc did it in 52; Saqlain Mushtaq 53; Shane Bond
in 54; Brett Lee in 55 & Trent Boult in 56 – great feat yet the World is
grossed in the happenings in South Africa.
After
the ball-tampering events of Saturday, nobody outside of the Australian team -
and possibly not even they - could have wished for any result other than a huge
South African victory. Yet this was too meek a surrender, a 322-run win that
even for the South Africans must have felt strange. Australia were the losers
in every way: they lost not only the Test, but their captain to suspension, and
their credibility. A stunning collapse
of 10-50 in the final session on Sunday at Newlands resigned Australia to a
322-run defeat on another dramatic day. Retiring quick Morne Morkel picked up
5-23 in the evening session to record career-best match figures of 9-110 as
Australia were skittled for 107 inside 40 overs.
Australian
batting collapse, all out for 107 in a chase of 430; but this Test will only ever be remembered for the
ball-tampering scandal. It is a shame, because Morne Morkel deserves
recognition for collecting 5 for 23 to make match figures of 9 for 110, a
career-best in what he has already announced is his last series. But in years
to come, the defining image of this game will be Cameron Bancroft stuffing tape
down his pants, not Morkel walking off with his head held high.
Bancroft's concentration is the stuff of legend in Australian domestic cricket,
but even he must have had trouble focusing after the ball-tampering drama. He
and Warner gamely put on 57 for the opening wicket, but the stand was broken
when Warner called Bancroft through for a suicidal single and the younger man
was run out. It was a fitting metaphor for the events of the previous day. Paine
remained not out on 9, the last man standing in an Australian line-up that had
embarrassed itself again. Another fitting metaphor for the man who could soon
become the country's 46th Test captain.
Australia captain
Steven Smith will not play the fourth Test against South Africa in
Johannesburg, after the ICC gave him the maximum penalty for tampering with the
ball on the third day of the Newlands Test. Fielder Cameron Bancroft, the
player to actually tamper with the ball, was given three demerit points and
fined 75% of his match fee after accepting the Level 2 charge. An ICC
suspension from the final Test against South Africa may be just the start of
sanctions for Australia's captain Steven Smith, who alongside his deputy David
Warner faces anything up to a life ban for cheating under Cricket Australia's
code of behaviour. The aussie batsmen were roundly booed upon their arrivals at
the batting crease, then given still louder rebukes upon their departures, with
fans rushing to vantage points either side of the players' race to deliver
invective at close range.
As CA's head of
integrity Iain Roy and team performance manager Pat Howard travelled to Cape
Town to commence an investigation, the CA Board bowed to pressure from the
Australian Sports Commission to strip Smith and Warner of their leadership
roles for the remainder of the Newlands Test, following their roles in
orchestrating the ball tampering attempt that also involved Bancroft. The focus
has sharpened on Smith and Warner, after it was clarified that the lunchtime
discussion did not involve the full "leadership group," which has
also featured Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, but was instead
undertaken by "senior players".
The CA chief
executive James Sutherland also issued a public apology to Australian followers
of the game, with the Board at a delicate point in the multimillion dollar
television rights negotiations for the next five years with the Nine, Ten and
Seven networks and the pay television network Fox Sports. Hours after Cricket Australia said it would
investigate the actions of the Australian team's leadership in relation to the
ball-tampering confession in the Cape Town Test, the Australian government asked the board to remove Steven Smith as captain.
The country's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called the incident a
"shocking disappointment". "We all woke up this morning shocked
and bitterly disappointed by the news from South Africa," Turnbull said.
"It seemed completely beyond belief that the Australian cricket team had
been involved in cheating.
At the other
corner, Stuart Broad, who was called and booed with allegations fo ball
tampering, poured scorn on Steven Smith's assertion that Cameron Bancroft's use
of a foreign object on the match ball during the ongoing Newlands Test was the
first time that an Australian team had used such a tactic. Broad, who played in
all five Tests of England's recent 4-0 defeat in Australia, openly questioned
Smith's defence of his team's actions, after TV footage on the third afternoon
of the Test appeared to show Bancroft first rubbing the match ball with the
object, then attempting to hide it in his trousers after he realised he had
been spotted. "I saw Steve Smith in his press conference say it's the
first time they've tried it - which to me, it's surprising why they'd change a
method that's been working," Broad said. "Look at the Ashes series
we've just played, all those Test matches, and they've reverse-swung the ball
sometimes in conditions you wouldn't expect it to. I don't understand why
they've changed their method for this one game.
Sad hour for the
game ~ yet the Aussies look defiant and may escape with not so stringent
penalty.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
25th Mar
2018.
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