M.Waugh- The connoisseur’s delight Part-2

So in this part of the article I would continue to talk about the graceful player from Australia.

So, after a successful world cup in 96 he yet again showed his class in 97 at Port Elizabith on what can be described as a very difficult wicket to bat on. The Saffers had lost the first test at wanderers on a relatively flat deck so, under pressure the groundsmen at PE spiced up the wicket. Yes,the wicket was still slow but there was lots of grass on the wicket and it was uneven too which made sure that batting on that wicket against let it be genuine quicks like Donald, dibbly dobbly medium pacers like Cronje or wrist spinners like Bevan and Warne very difficult. As expected SA and Australia did not make huge scores in that match as Australia finally required 270 to win the match and series and one has to say that considering the nature of the pitch it looked like a daunting task but as I said that Mark had the uncanny ability to come good when the conditions were difficult and there was pressure on the team to perform. Anyhow in the second innings Donald bowled quick but Mark showed great temperament and exemplary technique to handle Donald and when he would bowl short he took heavy toll on him as well as on the left arm chinaman bowler Adams. The Saffers finally dismissed him but it was too late as Aussies went onto defeat South Africa. The Wisden in its rankings rightfully recognises it as one of the best innings of all time!

In 1997 itself I also remember his fabulous shot of Vettori against NZ at Perth. He just came down the wicket and hit him with effortless ease into the stands. Till now I have not seen a six which has gone further than that one and he did it with so much ease! In that year he also played a gusty knock at Adelaide against SA to save the match. Again not many associate Mark with gusty knocks but as I said that under pressure Mark was very good!

He also played a fine knock at Madras against Kumble and co. In that knock he used his footwork beautifully against Kumble, and Harbie.

The betting scandal did affect his batting as his form got worse still he showed glimpses of what he can do again on difficult tracks like at Auckland where the track turned a lot and there was uneven bounce. Vettori almost looked unplayable in that match but of of course Mark played a delightful knock of 80 odd and helped Aussies to gain the vital lead which proved decisive in a low scoring match. It was something to see batsmen struggling at one end but on the other side Mark was using his feet brilliantly to Vettori and taking him to the cleaners.

As the time went on his form became erratic. Yes, he still had his moments like in England in 2001 but he played his final test in 2002 at Sarjah against Pakistan. I still remember that final innings of Mark when he played two glorious cover drives of Saqlain only to lose his concentration and get out to Saqlain. It was something which had become a sort of pattern with regards to his batting late in his career. It was sad to see him play his final knock in front of empty stands at Sarjah but as they say all good things have to come to an end!

I surely have to touch a bit on his fielding skills as he was an outstanding fielder. As we know that he was a great slip fielder and some of the catches he took like that of Haq at Hobart were just too good to be true! I have also seen him field at places like deep mid wicket and look as good as he did in the inner field! He even fielded at point before Ponting came on to the scene and if I remember correctly he ran out Hooper with a brilliant direct hit in a WSC game in early 90’s from that position and add to it that run out of Donald in the 99 WC.

Finally I would say that he was one of the few players I would pay to watch. He was a true match winner which SURPRISINGLY MANY OF THEM FORGET WHEN THEY JUDGE A PLAYER.

M.Waugh- The connoisseur’s delight Part-1

The player that I am going to talking about made cricket look so easy that when he played it looked like poetry was written on cricket field, one felt like a Mozart symphony making you forget all your worries, just all ease and grace. Of course I am talking about Mark Waugh the elegance personified batsman form Australia who made everything look so easy.

To describe about Mark’s early career in domestic cricket one has to look at what sometimes his biggest admirer and sometimes his biggest critique and former Australian coach Bob Simpson had to say about the classy Australian player.

“When I first saw him he was a real tearaway with quite a lot of pace. In fact, in his first season in first class cricket, in 1985-86, I had him opening the bowling for New South Wales and he could send them down as quickly as anyone in the side”.

“Mark loved to bowl bouncers and would take on any batsman regardless of his reputation”.

It is very interesting to note that at the start of his career Mark was reasonably quick as a bowler and Simpson even said that he wanted Mark to develop as a batsman in Sheffield Shield cricket as he thought that he was too much of a leg side player so, as his elder twin got selected to play test cricket Mark had to be content with playing the odd onedayer for Australia and had to wait for his chance to make his test debut. It finally arrived in 1990 against England when he replaced his twin brother Steve in the team. It must have been really tough for Steve to be replaced by his younger twin. Anyhow Mark made his debut and what a debut it was! as he made a classy 139 against England and when one sees highlights of that innings one could clearly see those trademark flicks, drive, cuts that made Mark such a graceful player. He continued to show glimpses of what he could do when he made a majestic 116 against the likes of Marshall, Ambi, Walsh, and Patterson at Antigua. The main factor to consider in those two knocks of Mark was his ability to come good when the team was in trouble as both these two centuries came when the Aussies were in some trouble and it continued to be the hallmark of his entire career!

After a good start to his career he did go through a horror period in Lanka when he could not buy a run and there was immense pressure on him when the Windies met the Aussies in 92/93 to score runs and he did respond with a fine hundred at Sydney. He had a reasonable series with the bat though the Aussies had to watch the Windies retain the trophy, especially that heart wrenching defeat at Adelaide must have been hard to digest.

So he came to England more or less having established himself as a player and throughout that tour he was consistent as a player and who can forget his sublime knock of 138 at Trent Bridge which again came when the Aussies were in trouble but Mark with his trademark flicks, drives, Pulls, and cuts turned the match on its head and Aussies were able to win.

During that time there was an interesting incident of Mark bowling just bouncers in Pakistan in 94 as he was frustrated by the flatness of the wickets in Pakistan and the number of catches that were dropped by Australia in that series. As per reports he even got to one of the deliveries to get big on Sohail and it did hit Sohail flush on his face because of which he had to retire hurt. He did come back with stitches on his face and made a fine century but it reminded me of what Simpson said about his bowling during his early days!

In 95 when the Aussies went to the Caribbean a lot was expected from Waugh twins and both of them responded in a great fashion in that unforgettable test match at Jamaica. The series was locked at 1-1 and the Windies looked to be in charge of the final test as they had taken 3 early wickets. So, Ambi and Walsh were smelling blood when Steve joined his twin in the middle but just before lunch Mark launched into both of them with some brave pulls and cuts which changed the tone of the match as after the lunch session both the twins looked in very good touch as Mark would back away a bit and play those upper cuts as well as hook Ambi for boundaries. He also took heavy on Hooper by using his feet. He just played like a true gambler in this knock and with his twin brother changed the course of the match against a good bowling attack.

In the 96 WC he started the open the batting in O.D.I’S and made a great impact in that WC as he scored lots of runs. I still remember that classy knock at Madras when he looked all at ease and who forget those delightful shots like that pull shot of Javs when with effortless ease he hit him for a six or that slog sweep of Raju and even that slog sweep did not look like a slog, he even got Tendulkar stumped by bowling a wide delivery as he saw him come down the wicket and pushed it wide to get him stumped! It was indeed a great WC for him as he yet again proved in that WC he was a match winner!

The rest of the article will be continued in part-2

Trezza at his best

I just thought of looking at Tresco's career and his achievements.

It was in 2000 when Tresco played for England. He was very much an unknown quantity then and was a surprise inclusion in the England one day side. Fletcher had seen him score a breathtaking triple hundred for the second team so he insisted on him being included.

Anyhow what struck me most in his first onedayer was his confidence. He just came down the wicket and smacked the second ball of Streak's over for a boundary and Streak was not some club standard bowler. He had a very successful one day series and there was a clamour for his inclusion in the test side. As expected there were many skeptics of his technique like some said that he had concrete feet but all those whingers had not seen the fact that Tresco's balance at the time of playing the ball was so good and he played with such a still head. Of course he had such good hands, and hand eye co ordination. Anyhow in spite of all that rubbish which was said about him he was selected and he immediately made an impact by doing well against the likes of Walsh and Ambi and played a huge part in helping England to win back the Wisden trophy.

His bigger test came in that winter when England went to Pakistan, and Lanka where the slow and low wickets would test the technique and temperament of many a batsman but Tresco stood up to it especially in Lanka when he played a masterful hundred at Galle against Murali and co. on what was an turning wicket. He showed excellent technique and patience in that innings. What struck me most in that innings was he had such good hands because of which he was able to manoeuvre the strike and he RARELY USED his pad against the spinners.

Back home he did well against Pakistan at Old Trafford when he scored 117 though at the other end wickets fell like nine pins and England lost. Again he showed that when the team is in trouble he is the one who will come good. In the Ashes that followed though he did ok he was not outstanding and again the so called experts started questioning his lack of footwork but thankfully it did not get into Tresco's head as in India he yet again did well and most of the times the team were under pressure yet Treso stood to the task.

His biggest test though came later in that year in Australia when he started to get low scores and were not the pundits waiting for it as they all jumped into the bandwagon and started questioning about his technique and one has to say that there was immense pressure on the guy when he walked to bat against SA at Oval in 2003 as he had not scored a century for over a year but how well he responded by playing a magnificent knock and getting a double hundred. Infact England were behind in that match as they were chasing a good score of 485 made by SA yet Tresco anchored the innings beautifully and helped England to win. His shots against Paul Adams in that knock were great to watch. After that series he scored a fine hundred against Bangladesh at Dhaka. I am discussing this knock just because even against Bangladesh England were in trouble and without Tresco's hundred England may have lost.

He had his troubles in the Caribbean and as expected the cricket pundits were beginning to question his technique but Tresco silenced them atleast for sometime as he did well at home still there were whispers about him failing on the bouncier tracks of SA but in his usual style of standing upright and getting a good stride in Tresco was able to do well in SA. His knock at Durban where he and Strauss put on a double hundred first wicket stand helped England not only to make sure that they will not lose but got them back in the match as suddenly England from losing had a good chance of winning! At Wanderes he helped England to win the match by scoring a blistering 169 which helped England to declare early as England won the series in SA. Few of the shots which I still remember from the knock were that nonchalant flick of Kallis, and coming down the wicket and hitting Boje straight down the ground against the spin.

The next big series was against Australia and the cricket experts were back on track as they started pointing towards Tresco's rather modest record against Aussies especially Ian Chappell was very critical of him as he said that both Kasper, and Dizzy will get him for single digit scores but did not he prove them wrong and who can forget his 90 at Edgbaston which brought some new life to England's camp or all those consistent scores throughout the series. In total he scored 430 runs and for once all his critics shut their mouth. He showed his class in Pakistan with a fine 189 at Multan though his team let him down by collapsing as England lost.

I don't want to get into the details of all that happened after that tour as Tresco finally retired in 07 but there is no doubt in my mind that he was an underrated opener. He was someone who stood upto the challenge whenever England were in trouble.

Siddle

So I again see that some are underestimating Siddle but just like I expected Siddle to succeed in SA I do believe that he can do well in England.

With time I expect him to be an all wicket bowler as he has good pace, can get it come back sharply, and seems to never give up,yes at times he can get carried away but with time I do think that he will get better at that. The only difference between England, and South African conditions is that in SA along with bit more bounce one does see more variation in bounce which can help bowlers like Siddle as he has a quick arm action so it is hard to pick him but I still believe that he can do well in England.

As far as Hilfy is concerned I still do not think that he makes the batsmen play enough but when one looks at some of the England's batsmen habit of flirting at deliveries outside the off stump with half hearted shots means that Hilfy may not need to make the batsmen play that much. I do hope that England's batsmen show better judgment when it comes to playing deliveries outside the off stump.

Buhanan and his band of coaches!

Buchanan looks like wants a big team of coaches for the 20/20 format. The list is as follows-

John Buchanan, director of cricket operations, chief coach Mathew Mott, assistant coach Brad Murphy, wicket-keeping coach Wade Seccombe, bowling coach Andy Bichel, assistant coach for strength training Michael Buchanan (John's son), team director Joydeep Mukherjee, trainer Adrian Le Roux, physiotherapist Andrew Leipus, fielding coach Jon Deeble and last heard, Buchanan's second son is also a part of the camp.

Now Andy Moles the New Zealand coach, has joined the Kolkata Knight Riders as an 'observer' and will be with the team till May 5, according to the Kolkata-based Telegraph. Moles is saying that he wants to study the 20/20 format and implement those ideas with NZ team but so many coaches and now Andy Moles joining them for whatever reason well it looks like we too can get some job with KKR!

Tendulkar plays a pull shot???

I saw Tendulkar playing a savage pull shot of Sharma and hit it for six against KKR.I have not seen Tendulkar play this shot for sometime now probably as he had back problems he had left playing that shot.

It surely made me remember his glorious knock at Cape town in 1997 when he pulled and even hooked Donald in a test match and made 169.

I also saw him play a shot which was almost like a reverse hockey flick against Gayle!

Finally it looks like Tendulkar is almost back to his best as he is making mincemeat of the opposition! where are those ho wanted him out after the 2007 world cup

Strategies against Hughes

To begin with there is no doubt that Hughes has started very well as a batsman and is going to be a threat to the opposition teams in the days to come, so what can the opposition bowlers do is the question.

Many experts do think that sustained short pitched bowling can be used against him as his technique of not covering the line indicates the tactic of bowling bouncers can be used but I don't buy that view as at present there are not many bowlers who can do that and when SA quick Steyn tried it Hughes was able to get away with that, yes he did not look comfortable but he showed the grit to play it well enough. So what else can be used against Hughes is the question.

I surely think that spin is an option against Hughes as he does play with hard hands and as he straightaway goes after the spinners with those slog sweeps. So I definitely think that England can take a chance and introduce Swann early on and make him bowl around the wicket which will make sure that Hughes has to hit against the turn when he tries those slog sweeps and I don't see him as someone who believes in taking quick singles which is expected as he does not play with soft hands.

Opposition teams can look at swing bowlers who pitch it up around the off stump as an option as Hughes does not like to play in the V but I do think the best option is to go with spinners.

Finally Hughes is an unorthodox player who with his success has definitely challenged the opposition teams to come up with some new plans and it will be interesting to as to see what the opposition teams will do to counter him.