C r i c k e t : Latest

Hi Guys,

With Wimbledon and the Confederations cup over, all eyes are set on
the most awaited Ashes series in the history. Australia proved why
they are a champion side in the Natwest Championship after coming down
from two straight defeats from England and Bangladesh. However, there is no
doubt that they are playing far below their potential. Its the first
time for the past few years that this best and dominant team appears
to be losing its shine, slowly but surely.

While batting has been Australia's better department always, they have
failed miserably with the bat this season. This could be a temporary
lack of form from the big players like Heyden Ponting and Gilchrist,
or it could also be the start of end of the older players in their
team. The relatively newer players like Hussey and Symonds have been
stealing the show of late. Clarke, who was a big hit last season is off colour
nowadays.

Bowling has been a common weakness of this team. McGrath and Warne are
on their way of ageing out and Warne's reluctance to play in the ODI
puts a question mark over their bowling strngth - as could be seen from
the recent one day matches.

Its a funny game this, Cricket. A few days ago Australians had made
lots of comments about the England openers. They had specifically
pointed out Trescothick saying he had never fired against Australia.
Come Thursday and he cracked a smashing century! I saw the yesterday's
match and it was totally and completely dominated by England. It just
goes on to prove that England is now a huge force to reckon with in
International Cricket, the first time it has happened in more than
10-15 years. It has made the remaining two matches of the Natwest
series very interesting since Aus will go all out for a kill.

All said and done, its a perfect setup for the Ashes. I just love it
when someone kicks the Aussies, because they had become a giant and
unbeatable force for way too long. Thanks goodness England are
challenging them this big! Its good for the game.

Some comments about the recent changes in the One day rules by the ICC

1. The reasoning put forward is to bring some change in the age old
rules and also to increase the popularity of the game. I have lots of
objections here. The game is already gaining in popularity. Popularity
of ODIs has really not been an issue. Record crowds attend one day
matches at almost every venue in the world. Regarding the test
matches, their popularity has soared over the past few years I think.
The number of draws has reduced dramatically in the 4-5 years which
has led to a steady rise in the Test matches' following. Then were
these changes made just for the sake of it ?

2. The Powerplay. Now the field restrictions will be on for 20 overs
instead of 15. This I think is totally ridiculous. All they are trying
to do is to make life difficult for the bowlers and easier for the
batsmen with the hope that the audience will love the scoring. But its
simply not fair to the bowlers. All the rule changes in the past few
decades have been in favour of the batsmen. While the 15 over
restrictions makes it a lot of fun, 20 overs is a bit too much I feel.

What say others?

Cheers,
- Tosh