John Wright has to worry

Well very few players get a chance to coach the very same team for which they were playing years ago and John Wright is one of those lucky ones to have managed that when he now stands as the coach of the New Zealand team which is totally a different team compared to the team which he was coaching some 5 years ago. John Wright coached India until 2005 and during his tenure as the Indian coach, he was successful in seeing India make it to the finals of two world tournaments namely the ICC Champions trophy 2002 and ICC world cup in 2003.

Not only did he do this but in addition, John Wright saw Indian team win against all opposition except Australia in the 2003 world cup. Now, with John Wright being the coach of his home team, he has pointed the 11 losses of his team in succession and much to anyone's amazement, all those losses that the Kiwis have suffered have been against sub continent teams which includes Bangladesh as well in addition to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. New Zealand is one of those rare teams to have had 4 losses against Bangladesh in a span of 13 days between 5^th October 2010 and 17^th October 2010.

Added to those 4 losses, New Zealand's one off match against Bangladesh was abandoned which made them return penniless from that tour of Bangladesh. One can recall the West Indies team being whitewashed by Bangladesh in mid 2009 with most of the performers from West Indies going on strike leaving their U-19 players to take to the field. This was not the case with New Zealand whatsoever. To make things even more worse, New Zealand's losses to Bangladesh was even more than what they faced against Sri Lanka. New Zeland lost 2 games against Sri Lanka compared to 4 against Bangladesh.

With most of the teams around the world boycotting their tour of Pakistan and New Zealand being one among them, they lost the chance of losing to Pakistan on their home soil but, that didn't stop them from favoring Pakistan when recently they lost the test series against Pakistan on their home soil 0-1. As a coincidence, new Zealand are set top play the world cup in the same venues where they have lost the aforementioned games in Dhaka, Sri Lanka and India. All these with players like Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Tim Southee to name a few big hitting names. This makes Wright's job even more tough and god knows what he vows when he says this.

Where Have The other Teams Gone?

Hmm..at times,its too much cricket and during other periods,it absolutely no cricket at all.Reason?Well..right now,there are only two test series' in progress,namely,the Australian tour of India and the other being the New Zealand's tour of Bangladesh. The latter tour is almost over,with the second test's play in doubt after the first three days of play were taken care of by rain.Even the Border Gavaskar trophy is nearing its climax, with the third test match in progress and the fourth to be concluded somewhere next week or so.And upon searching through some cricket websites,no clue upon the current or the forth coming cricket series are available.

So,the scenario right here is that only two teams out of nine are holding their cricket kits and the rest of them have hung them up for a certain period of time.October is over,and in November,we have Sri Lankan tour of Zimbabwe,which is packed with only 5 ODIs and England's tour of India in late November and to be concluded in early December.The other series off late is New Zealand's tour to Australia-where they will face each other in two tests and five ODIs.The next time when one can see a match involving South Africa,Sri lanka and the West Indies is somewhere in January nest year.And regarding Pakistan,its a gone case.

The busiest team at the moment would be Australia,who will be hosting New Zealand next month,followed South Africa,and the hosting the same in February next year. And Sri Lanka would be playing a full fledged cricket tournment would be in April next year,when they tour England.Even that tour stands in a balance,with the SLC permitting its players to feature in the IPL second edition,by signing a contract worth $40 million with the BCCI,with money gaining precedence over country contracts. Pakistan's next international series would be involving India in February 2009,with more than a year gone without playing a test match.I wish atleast this series takes off without any problems whatsoever.Sri Lanka would be playing a test series after a long gap of 8 months,South Africa after 4 months and the great West Indies will be paying New Zealand in December,5 months after concluding a test tour against Australia.

With keeping in mind the ICC tables and the ongoing cancellations of cricket tours,be it either for security concerns or the greed for money owing to which some cricket boards prefer to cancel their internatioal tours,the future tours are always in a toss.

Bangladesh Is No Australia!

Hmm..Australia banned Andrew Symonds from the tour of India and Bangladesh earlier,for opting to fish rather than attend the meeting with the board officials. Though the Australian team misses this lad,they have not got anything to repent with the decision taken by the committee members,for there are remaining eleven players in the squad ready to put in an extra effort in order to fill the void created by Andrew Symonds. The decision of leaving Symonds out of the Australian squad is equivalent to drawing a bucket of water from a sea.And Australia need not pay a heavy price for ommitting Symonds from the squad.With star batsmen like Matthew Hayden, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin and Ricky ponting,the Australian batting line up is quite safe I suppose.

On the other hand,Bangladesh Cricket Board bans players who join the rebel Indian Cricket League for 10 yrs.Joking!When the Bangladesh Cricket Board is not sure about the present scenario in the team,I wonder as to how it managed to take a decision for ten years altogether?The team which I wrote about previously is the strongest team in the world,but,the team which is now under consideration is placed at the bottom of the ICC points table.Isn't the Bangladesh Cricket Board unaware of this?Can Bangladesh afford to do such a blunder?Well..if the Bangladesh thinks it won the first game against New Zealand at Dhaka,it is mistaken!It was New Zealand who lost rather than Bangladesh winning.

When cricket is just rising in Bangladesh,giving the players some liberty would have been much more sensible rather than taking drastic steps and imposing harsh rules upon its national players. Is Bangladesh ready for a mass boycott of its players from the national squad,given the money that the ICL offers?If this happens,what about the status of cricket in Bangladesh and test cricket in particular?The number of question marks in this post is equal to those being faced by the cricket board of Bangladesh.I feel it is the players delight that they have been recognized by the ICL and offered big bucks.

Finally the Bangladesh Cricket authorities know their limits and then take such steps, steps,for,it is not Indioa who can boast of big money in its cricketing board,nor Australia who have a sea of talent in cricket.

New Zealand Is The Newest Victim

Well..so far it was only Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Australia and South Africa who had fallen prey to false belief by under estimating minnows like Bangladesh and end up making news for the wrong reasons.And even West Indies despite their loss to Kenya in the 1996 world cup,lost to Bangladesh in the inaugural T20 world cup.Anyway,then it was a better Bangladesh team compared to the West Indies team which was filled only by batsmen and no bowlers.But,now,the only one out of the two teams who are yet to face some music from the minnows New Zealand when they lost to Bangladesh on 9th October 2008 at Dhaka in the first ODI.

If the players make up their mind,they can rewrite history by making records in all parts of the game.For example,we have Gibbs who belted six consecutive sixes against Holland,Glenn McGrath despite being an awesome pacer,has his best bowling performance of 7/15 against Namibia in the 2003 world cup and much more.Even the recent 12 sixes in an ODI innings by a West Indian was against Canada and New Zealand's record of 401 runs came against Ireland.

Well India can boast of being the only team to have lost twice to Bangladesh,and England has a reason to smile for being the only team not to have lost to a minnow, whatsoever.The team that comes after Bangladesh who can boast of upsets is Kenya who have defeated teams like India,West Indies,Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.Even,this time its India who have lost to Kenya on two occasions.Oh! What a record?The other instances include Pakistan's loss to Ireland,which I think is the only instance of a strong team being stunned by a kid like team.

The test match is perhaps free from such debacles,or else each and every test would have seen a new record, forcing some legends like Bradman, Sobers and Lara to commit suicide.A hint was observed when Roy and Mankad's record was surpased by Mckenzie and Smith against Bangladesh.An amazing feat being that no batsmen has ever scored a triple hundred against either Bangladesh or Zimbabwe (barring Hayden's 380).

Well..if the ICC with an intension to globalise cricket gives the minnows a consession,I wonder how foolish the game of cricket would ever be.Ha ha ha..

When Is The Next Match?

The last international cricket match that I've witnessed is the fifth one day international between South Africa and England and after that its all been politics in cricket boards regarding which cricketing nation is really safe to play and bla bla bla.Alas!The ICC Champions Trophy had to be eventually postponed to October 2009.And until then...?

The tour that a cricket fan like me is looking forward is the home tour involving Australia.But,with most of the top players in the Australian side (viz Adam Gilchrist,Shane Warne,Glenn McGrath,Brad Hogg) calling it a day,some of them missing the tour owing to injuries (not sure about the names) and finally someone like Andrew Symonds who has made a fool of himself by opting to fish rather than attend the meeting with the board officials and end up losing his spot,it looks like this tour will be a disappointing one even though the chances of India regaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy is looking like a certainity.

As an Indian fan,Ah!Awesome.But,as a cricket fan..?Thumbs down.After the Ashes 2005,this would be the one to watch out for Aussie haters.And ifffff..India lose their plot even then,I wish they go home and have a clean shave on their heads.On the other part of cricketing world,there is the series between Bangladesh and New Zealand.Well McCullum..its your day...ha ha ha..Another 28 ball 80* hah?

All sports channels and Star Cricket in particular telecast either past cricket matches,which would be a treat for action lovers and a curse for colour expectations.A boring colourless ROI vs Delhi (currently) and some County championship.For the next international action,I'll have to wait until 9th of October to watch the first test between India and Australia or the first ODI between Bangladesh and New Zealand.Thanks to the insecure situation in Pakistan that forced the ICC to postpone the mega event a year ahead.Thanks to the imbalance in Australian team that has landed in India to return the B-G trophy.And finally a one sided series between Bangladesh and New Zealand.

Atleast lets hope for some thrill in the next edition of the Indian Cricket Legue,for which,the BCCI has to make up its mind and compromise.Else,it would be colourless cricket here and there.