An Incomplete Tour Comes To An End

Well at last, the West Indies' tour of New Zealand comes to an end. A winner at the end of an incomplete tour turns out to be New Zealand who were very fortunate to have had that taste in such a boring encounter whatsoever. Else, who does bother as to who wins or who loses at the end of the day. All would be looking forward as to when would such a series come to an end. And not only that. All would be praying that such a series never takes off anywhere in the world. Let alone in New Zealand. I think this is the first time I have ever come across such a series, where only one match turns out not to be truncated.

This was the case since the test series began. Both the tests not only ended in a draw, but also were truncated and compromised with rain gods. Then, the first T20 game happens to be a tie, wherein the super over had to come into the scene in order to decide as to who the official winner was. However, the next T20 game was played full fledged, with New Zealand winning the same. Then, the one day matches come into picture, to disappoint the fans. Not even one single one day match went on as per scheduled. Since the first one day match, either the matches have been truncated or have been cancelled.

The scheduled five one day series was eventually played as a three match one day series. Thanks to the rain gods for making this series a memorable one for different reasons. While, the remaining three one day encounters were truncated, with the West Indies winning one and New Zealand two. This was something like a lucky dip, where New Zealand won the lot. Well, until the four one day matches, it was all disappointment. However, the fifth one day match was expected to take off as per schedule. Yes it did! How long? Until West Indies put up a massive total of 293 and New Zealand started playing hide n seek before once again rain gods did their duty.

Adding to this was the caliber of the teams battling it out there. Rather than considering West Indies to be one spot above New Zealand, better say the New Zealand are placed one position below the West Indies at number 8. This would be the ideal statement. There is no point in disputing the Duckworth-Lewis method, for none of us can come out with a better idea. Neither can one stop the showers, like making it to rain when there are no rains by rain seeding. Technology needs to be improved. Thank god that the West Indies-New Zealand series is over.

Another D-L Debacle

Well with the T20 game of cricket itself lasting so short duration,imagine what would the situation be if there is a case of a bad weather,or heavy downpours as it happened during the match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders which was eventually won by the as usual Chennai Super Kings.One fact that has to be noticed here is that whenever there is a necessity for the Duckworth-Lewis method to take over,the team that would be in favour would at most of the times be the team which has been the upper hand in the series.Like it happened in the South Africa-Sri Lanka match in the 2003 WC which was awarded to Sri Lanka though it was South Africa who was in need of one.And the next bast example that I can give is the semis of the same in which Australia (who held the upper hand through the tournament) ended winners.

Coming to this match,the Kolkata Knight Riders didn't do a debacle as it was done by the Delhi Daredevils in the previous encounter.But,the fate of the Kolkata Knight Riders had different plans.Though not an extraordinary innings,a decent one from the blades of Salman Butt,followed by an OK like game from Das.But,some hats off to Makhaya Ntini who got yet another hattrick in the tournament.An unknowing one.None of them even Ntini didn't realize that he had done something special with the ball.

The tournament is turning out to be a special one ..something that even the World Cup that comes once in every four years dosen't have.The tournament has so far witnessed five fastest centuries with each one of them breaking the previous record with the number of balls taken into consideration.And the tournament has so far seen three hattricks.The number of such feats in the world is at the most two in the 2003 edition (which had Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas & Australia's Brett Lee).

But,still I wish the Duckworth Lewis method should not be used to predict the match results which would give rise to yet another format of the game.Probably a T10 match.

Can There Ever Be A Solution?

Much was being spoken about the challenges that the upcomming Commonwealth Bank Series 2008 involving Australia,Sri Lanka and India.It was gossips,rumors,chats etc etc..everywhere.But what happenned so far isn't that good as expected..It is really a pity that most of the times the weather forecast turns out to be wrong.With the first two ODIs being washed out because of rain,the series isn't going to be that interesting.And adding to the issue is that both the matches that have been washed out owing to rain involves team India-who are at their best when it comes to the blame game.

When the match gets washed out,the blame is just put on the rain.But,it is really frustrating to see that no one ever bothers to take the rain factor into consideration.If anyone asks as to what could be done with regard to rain,just a moment..I've an answer for it..

There are lots you can work on the issue..the first and foremost thing would be to think several times before hosting a match at such a venue..one more option would be to stop issuing tickets when such a doubt takes over the mind..when it comes to test matches,sparing an extra day would not be a bad idea..

One thing that needs to be noticed is the fact that in case of rains,there is a total change in the weather as well as the conditions of the pitch.Its absolutely not scientific to retain that previous toss result.Hence a re-toss would be a positive move.It was just foolish considering that the match be continued the next day rather than being replayed(which was done in 1999 WC for the match involving India & England) which had total changes in all aspects.

We have the great Duckworth Lewis method of predicting match results in weather hit ODIs.Considering the match involving Sri Lanka and South Africa in the 2003 WC,it was said "had SA scored a run extra or hod lost a wicket less,they would have won".Look at the way the normal ODI goes on..the rule says that "the team batting second has to score more runs than the team batting first irrespective of the number of wickets lost by the team batting second".If this is true,than in what way does the Duckworth Lewis method make justice to the game?

One more funny declaration that comes to my mind is the Peshawar ODI involving India-Pakistan in 2006 when Pakistan was declared as the winner by 7 runs.How can a team batting second win by a certain amount of runs?Ha ha ha...

The other method is that involving run rates-which takes into account the run rates of the previous matches that the team has played in order to get into the next round,irrespective of the pitch conditions of those matches.How rediculous!

I feel that it is high time that the ICC casts its eyes on these aspects as well rather than going behind petty issues like racism,Rohith Sharma for showing dissent at the umpires decision.Is the ICC hearing???