Month: February 2012

Today’s topic: Jacques Kallis and The Theory of the All-Rounder.

First of all: Is he the best all-rounder of all time?

Let’s start from the batting side.

Here are the top ten test batsmen of all time, based on average runs scored, 100 innings minimum:

And here are the top test bowlers of all time, based on economy rate, 100 innings minimum

Kallis does not appear on both lists. Only Gary Sobers does, in fact, the man who most cricketing pundits considered the greatest all arounder of all time, before Kallis came along.

(One quick note on fielding statistics, I am going to ignore them for the most part, except in cases where a tie-breaker of sorts is needed. For the record however: Kallis has 180 test dismissals and counting, while Sobers retired with only 109…for whatever that’s worth).

Of course, Sobers retired from International cricket in 1974, and only played in one ODI, and no T20s. So once the short formats become part of the discussion, everything changes.

As such, I am hesitant to see what the numbers gives us, as I feel it might punish those that played in the pre-one-day era.

But for argument’s sake:

Top ten ODI batsmen, based on average, 100 innings minimum:

And the top ten ODI bowlers, based on economy rate, 100 innings minimum:

Not one player makes both lists. In fact, no one really comes close.

And I ran the numbers for wickets taken, strike rate, and average, and still no one came close.

One Day Internationals are just a different beast, it seems, for the all rounders.

Of course, Kallis still has a lot of cricket left in him (he has fantasies of playing all the way through the 2015 World Cup), but for now, Sir Gary Sobers is still the best all rounder cricket has ever seen.

But is he the best best cricketer ever?

Using the above information: yes, surely. He is top ten in batting and in bowling. He played for 20 years, and therefore his quality was proven over many years, on many grounds, against many teams.

And his team was, well, all right during his tenure, as well. Between 1954 and 1974, the West Indies played 23 test series, winning nine of them and drawing four.

In fact, they won five series in a row at one point. Against India at home, in England, against Australia at home, in England (again), and in India.

So: greatest cricketer ever?

Nope.

Sachin Tendulkar is the greatest cricketer ever. And he will retain that seat for the next 1,000 years.

He transcends Statsguru.

Until next time.

Today: Arsenal scored five unanswered goals, and defeated the Scum 5-2 at the Emirates.  (So many jokes: but simply put: the worst Arsenal team in a generation put five past the best Tottenham team like ever…hilarious).

The fourth goal was scored by Theo Walcott. A lovely dink after a poor first touch.

But what struck me was his reaction. He simply ran to the corner flag, stopped, clenched his fists, and screamed.  In the London Sunshine. In front of 60,000 adoring fans.

It was his first goal at the Emirates in who knows how long, and quite possibly the biggest goal of his career.

It was visceral reaction. It was not showy, he did not lift his shirt to praise Jesus or whatever. He didn’t samba, or cradle an imaginary baby, or point to the sky.

He had simply been liberated by the goal. The shackles thrown off. And all he could do was stand and vent years’ worth of frustration. Frustration with himself, frustration with his team, the English press.

Watch it here.

It has been a terrible year for Arsenal. For Walcott. But that moment erased all of it, for everyone.

His reaction was everything I love about sport.

*

Two of my favorite things on the Internet right now are Bon Iver’s performance of Holocene on Saturday night live:

And this article entitled “All Ten” from the incomparable Old Batsman.

They go really well together, I would suggest you listen to the song as you read the article, even if you have experienced them on their own already.

My attempt at a mash-up, with a thousand apologies to the artists:

“It had taken maybe an hour and a half. They’d only made 60-odd and we knocked them off quickly, on the ground surrounded by trees, underneath the perfect sky.

And I can see for miles and miles…”

*

There is a great deal of quality cricket happening, too. The CB series is reaching its climax, the third and decisive T20 between Pakistan and England is tomorrow, and the 2nd ODI in South Africa’s tour of New Zealand is on the 29th (my birthday).

In the first ODI of that series, Jacques Kallis took two wickets and then later added a disappointing 13 with the bat.

The announcers called him the greatest all-rounder ever. And it is hard to argue with the numbers: in 150 test matches, he has scored 12,260 runs at an average of 57.02; whilst simultaneously taking 74 wickets at an economy rate of 2.84: including seven four-fers and five five-fers.

In ODIs, his all-round numbers are equally as impressive: 11,494 runs, 269 wickets.

And those are just the 30,000ft stats.

And if he really is the greatest all-rounder ever, does that make him the best cricketer ever?

That questions begs another question: who are the most valuable cricketers? The all rounder, the bowler, the wicketkeeper, the batsman, the captain?

A subject I plan to explore in my post tomorrow.

Until then.

I have a lot of free time all of a sudden. I am winding down at the old job, waiting to start the new one – and on top of that school is out for two weeks.

And so I thought for sure I would be able to write a great deal for the blog, but I have been coming up empty.

A very real case of writer’s block.

This morning I was reading about the World T20 qualifiers over in Dubai next month, and then I read Test Match Sofa’s latest post and was reminded that England won the last incarnation of the tournament (2010) and that Kevin Pietersen was Player of the Tournament.

And so, I need to eat my words from yesterday: as that makes two global competitions where KP was magnificent: the 2007 World Cup and the 2010 World Twenty20.

Consider those words eaten.

And now I have World T20s on the brain.  And I find myself looking forward just a little to the 2012 version this year in Sri Lanka.

And then I thought: why not just do a post similar to yesterday’s, but only for the World Twenty20s instead.

Bingo!

First: a little history: the first Twenty20 World Cup was in 2007. The tournament was held in South Africa, and won by India.

The second tournament was in 2009: England hosted, Pakistan won.

The most recent was in 2010 (moved up a year, I am guessing, to make room for the 50-over cup). The West Indies were the hosts, and as mentioned, England won.

Cricinfo, as usual, has some great photos of England’s big day.

Over those three tournaments, the players with the best scoring averages (minimum 10 innings) are as follows:

Player	Country	Innings	Avg
RG Sharma	India	10	60.6
MEK Hussey	Australia	11	47
JH Kallis	South Africa	10	45.44
KP Pietersen	England	15	79
CH Gayle	West Indies	11	44.2
DPMD Jayawardene	Sri Lanka	18	41
Shoaib Malik	Pakistan	14	33.9
TM Dilshan	Sri Lanka	17	32.35
AD Mathews	Sri Lanka	11	32.33
Misbah-ul-Haq	Pakistan	17	30.66

And the top ten batsmen in ALL International T20s are as follows (minimum 20 innings):

Player	Country	Innings	Avg
Misbah-ul-Haq	Pakistan	31	37.94
KP Pietersen	England	33	36.68
MJ Guptill	New Zealand	27	35.81
MEK Hussey	Australia	20	35.15
BB McCullum	New Zealand	47	34.66
CH Gayle	West Indies	20	32.47
TM Dilshan	Sri Lanka	34	31.92
DPMD Jayawardene	Sri Lanka	35	31.76
JP Duminy	South Africa	33	31.76
GC Smith	South Africa	33	31.67

Six players made both lists this time: Hussey, KP, Gayle, Jayawardene, Dilshan, and Mishbah.

Sri Lanka, interestingly enough, had two players make both lists, and had a third make the World Cup list only, but has only advanced to a final once in the three tournaments.

This bodes well for their chances this year, at home, however.

Now, none of the players that appear on both lists above also appeared on two lists in yesterday’s post on the ODIs.

But that is probably because those posts were based on the full history of ODIs – from 1971 until the present day.  While Twenty20s of course have only been around since 2005.

And so I pulled similar numbers for ODIs between 2005 and 2012.

The top ten batsmen for ODIs in the two World Cups (10 innings minimum)

Player	Country	Innings	Avg
MJ Clarke	Australia	15	83.62
ML Hayden	Australia	10	73.22
Yuvraj Singh	India	11	71.14
SR Watson	Australia	12	62.14
DPMD Jayawardene	Sri Lanka	18	56.8
JH Kallis	South Africa	16	54.61
KC Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	19	54.33
SB Styris	New Zealand	15	53.41
RT Ponting	Australia	15	53.21
AB de Villiers	South Africa	15	51.78

The top ten batsmen overall, between 2005 and 2012, 50 innings minimum:

Player	Country	Innings	Avg
HM Amla	South Africa	53	56.35
MS Dhoni	India	177	52.1
ML Hayden	Australia	51	51.91
S Chanderpaul	West Indies	96	50.43
MEK Hussey	Australia	141	50.35
AB de Villiers	South Africa	116	49.03
V Kohli	India	77	45.95
JH Kallis	South Africa	104	45.82
MJ Clarke	Australia	151	45.15
SR Tendulkar	India	114	44.8

Four players made both lists: Hayden, Clarke, Kallis, and de Villiers.

And still no one player stands out.  Not one was brilliant both in the long term and in the short term, in the two one-day formats, from 2005 through 2012.

The conclusion: there are a lot of world class one-day cricketers actively playing right now – and we are blessed to all be around to see them.

And maybe that’s why Twenty20 is so popular, because there are so many cricketers worth watching.

And maybe that’s why we have so many domestic t20 tournaments that feature international players: because there are enough players to go around.

And maybe that’s why we have seen a resurgence in ODIs as of late.

And maybe that’s why Test cricket has been sliding.

Or maybe not.

I am just free associating here.

Until next time.

Today, Kevin Pietersen hit a marvelous century for England to successfully lead their chase against Pakistan in Dubai.

It was his second ODI century in as many matches.

Over on Twitter, I opined that maybe, just maybe, KP was not a big game player. That in ODIs specifically, he didn’t come through when England needed him most: In the World Cup.

This is similar to the knock that most people had on Alex Rodriguez until 2010.

Great all season, but crap in October.

I have always thought it was a bit unfair to criticize players based on such small samples sizes, but I thought it might make for an interesting blog post.

KP’s career ODI average is 41.84 in 116 innings.  In World Cups, his average is 47.91 in 13 innings.

Again, a small sample size, but it looks as if my tweet might have been off base a bit.

However, I was referring more to the 2011 World Cup and its relation to the UAE One Day Interationals. In the former, he averaged just 32.75 in four innings; while in the latter he averaged 70.25 in the same number of innings.

So while my tweet was not incorrect, per se, it was off base, as KP had himself a monster World Cup in 2007.

And so I decided to look at more players in a similar manner.

The top ten World Cup batsmen based on average runs scored (minimum 10 innings) are as follows:

Player	Innings	Average
L Klusener	11	124
A Symonds	13	103
MJ Clarke	15	83.62
IVA Richards	21	63.31
SR Watson	12	62.14
R Dravid	21	61.42
GM Turner	14	61.2
SR Tendulkar	44	56.95
HH Gibbs	23	56.15
SC Ganguly	21	55.88

In all One Day Internationals, here are the best batsmen based on average (minimum 40 innings):

Player	Innings	Average
HM Amla	53	56.35
MG Bevan	196	53.58
MS Dhoni	180	51.44
MEK Hussey	142	50.52
IJL Trott	42	48.31
Zaheer Abbas	60	47.62
AB de Villiers	120	47.56
IVA Richards	167	47
GM Turner	40	47
V Kohli	77	45.95

Only one player shows up on both lists: the incomparable Sir Viv Richards, widely considered the best ODI batsman in history.

I then expanded it to a 100 innings minimum:

Player	Innings	Average
MG Bevan	196	56.58
MS Dhoni	180	51.44
AB de Villiers	120	47.56
IVA Richards	167	47
JH Kallis	305	45.55
MJ Clarke	191	45.14
CG Greenridge	127	45.03
SR Tendulkar	447	44.83
DM Jones	161	44.61
ML Hayden	155	43.8

Now three players appear on both lists: Michael Clarke, Viv Richards, and Sachin Tendulkar.

It is a bit of a stretch, and a bit meaningless, but those are three batsmen who best exemplify “clutch” batting as well as long term brilliance.

But I bet you could have told me that without spending 45 minutes with Statsguru.

Until next time.

Pakistan’s history can be divided into three distinct segments.

1947 – 1972: Not actively seeking nuclear weapons

1972 – 1998: Actively seeking nuclear weapons

1998 – Present: Nuclear

On the cricket field, between 1952, the year they gained full test status, and January the 19th, 1927 (the day of the Multan meeting), they played in 62 test matches.

They won 10, lost 18, drew 34. A winning percentage of around 16%.

Between the Multan meeting and May 28th, 1998 (the date of their first successful weapon’s test), they played in 189 test matches: winning 61 of them. A winning percentage of around 33%.

And finally, as a nuclear power, Pakistan played in 119 test matches. They won 44 of them, a winning percentage of nearly 37%.

Non-nuclear: 16%

Pursuing nuclear: 33%

Nuclear: 37%

I don’t think there is any correlation to the above, not in the slightest.

All it tells us is that Pakistani cricket has been improving over the last half century.

I think Pakistan is a fascinating topic. Both on the cricket field and in more global issues such as nuclear power.

I look forward to continuing to post on their two sources of national pride.

*

Other posts upcoming next week: inspired by Levi’s magnificent innings down in New Zealand yesterday: the quickest international hundreds in test matches.

On April the 23rd, 1998, Pakistan played South Africa in a One Day International cricket match in Cape Town, as part of the Standard Bank International One-Day Series (Sri Lanka also participated in the series).

South Africa won by a decisive nine wickets with 134 balls remaining.

Pakistan lost the toss and batted first. Only four batsman got out of the single digits, and the highest score was a measly 30 from opener Saeed Anwar.

They went from 84-3 to all out for 114.

It was Lance Klusener’s day, taking five Pakistani wickets for only 25 runs in seven overs.

In the chase, Gary Kirsten hit a not-out 52 to lead his team to victory, needing only 27 overs and change to do so.

It also happened to be the final of the tri-series.

Pakistan did not play an international cricket match for five months. It was not until the September the 12th, when they played an ODI against India in Toronto, Canada.

India won by six wickets.

In a similar match, Pakistan collapsed at the crease after India won the toss and chose to field.

Pakistan finished at 189 not out, a total that India chased down with six wickets and 38 balls to spare.

Sourav Ganguly hit a half century to lead his countrymen.

*

Between those two matches, Pakistan went Nuclear.

On May the 28th, deep in the Chagi Hills, they detonated five nuclear devices, becoming the seventh nation to officially have nuclear weapons.

According to the articles I have read, Pakistan’s nuclear capability is a source of great national pride for the nation’s citizens. The leader of the nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, for example, is respectively known as Moshin-e-Pakistan – literally: the Savior of Pakistan.

And as I mentioned in a previous post, their national cricket stadium in Lahore is named after Muammar Gaddafi, all because he gave a speech in 1974 that supported Pakistan’s pursuit of a nuclear weapons program.

Now, I am not here to editorialize.  I do not claim to understand the region, or what is like to be a citizen of Pakistan.

My point actually is that there are two major sources of national pride in Pakistan: their cricket team, and their nuclear program.

The former is a pastoral bat and ball sport, the latter is the most dangerous creation ever envisioned by man.

And considering the dichotomy of the two sources of pride, maybe one explains the other, and vice versa.

Or maybe not.

But I find it fascinating.

And I think I might explore the link between the two in more detail going forward.

I would love to hear folks’ comments on the correlation.

Pakistan are back on the pitch tomorrow morning, looking for pride in the ODI series against England.  I hope to tune in for large portions of the match.

Until next time.

Gary Carter died today.

He was only 57 years old.

I know this is a cricket blog, but I love baseball, too. In fact I think the things I love about baseball ultimately led to me to cricket. It is rich in tradition, and history. It inspires fantastic writing.

Watching our former heroes age, grow weak, fade away – it’s one of the toughest parts of growing older. And it is even tougher when it is someone like Carter.

I grew up on baseball, and he was my first favorite player – and therefore more than likely my first favorite athlete ever.

My favorite baseball card growing up was Carter’s 1984 Topps:

For whatever reason, I loved the catchers. My favorites were Johnny Bench, and Carlton Fisk, and Gary Carter.

I moved around a lot growing up. I was never in one place long enough to have a team to cheer for, and so I developed affinitites for certain players instead.

I followed Carter from Montreal to New York, without missing a beat.

He was one of those players that your dad would tell you to emulate: he worked hard, he was always smiling, he ran out every ball.  I remember reading a biography of him in like fourth grade, and while I remember nothing else from it, I do recall him talking about how much he simply loved playing baseball, and that he felt so blessed that he was able to do it for he living.

In 1986, he won the World Series with the New York Mets, and even though years later I wrote a song about Bill Buckner, I cheered for Carter and the Mets that night.

The video is of course nowhere to be found on YouTube, but I remember as if it was yesterday: Carter running up and jumping into the arms of Jesse Orosco:

He was always smiling.

His nickname was the “kid”.

Over his 19 season career, he played in almost 2,300 games – along the way collecting over 2,000 hits and over 1,200 runs batted in. Phenomenal offensive numbers for a catcher.

Behind the plate, he led the team. Catchers are the field generals in baseball, and he commanded his field and his pitcher like no one else in the game – before or since.

In 1992, he retired from baseball. He was inducted into MLB’s Hall of Fame in 2003.

Last spring he went to the doctor complaining of headaches. Less than a year later he was dead.

His former teammate, Bob Ojeda, put it best: “He is gone too soon for us to understand.”

Rest in peace.

 

 

The One Day International format was my first introduction to the sport, thanks to the World Cup, and as such it holds a very special place in my heart.

Lately, of course, my preferred format has been Test cricket, and I have found myself thumbing my nose at cricket’s forgotten middle child over the last few years.

Over the last few days, however, I have fallen in love all over again.

Yesterday, I was able to enjoy a lovely ODI between Pakistan and England.

And the Commonwealth Bank Series feature Sri Lanka, India, and Australia has been brilliantly entertaining.

The most recent match between India and Australia featured everything that is wonderful about the ODI: tight, tense, every ball mattering…and it came down to the final delivery of the match…

Under the floodlights…

And, so, today, I thought I would talk a bit the One Day International…

95 years after playing in the first ever Test match, Australia and England played the first ever ODI, on January the 5th, 1971.

The first three days of a Test had been washed out, so Cricket Australia just decided to have each team bowl 40 eight ball overs, and the One Day International was born.

Australia won by five wickets.

Most features of the ODI as we know them were put in place by Australian billionaire, Kerry Packer. These include the colored uniforms, the floodlights, and the white ball.

Other than the limited overs, the rules of the ODI use, basically, the same rules of Test cricket. The biggest difference of course are the power play fielding restrictions:

For three blocks of overs (the first ten, and then five decided on by the batting side and five decided on by the bowling side), teams in the field can only have three fielders outside of the fielding circle.

The rules were introduced in 2005, and have been altered by the ICC like a dozen times since.

Also, the ODI brought us the Duckworth/Lewis Method – the algorithm used to decide rain shortened matches.

It’s hilariously complicated:

“The essence of the D/L method is ‘resources’. Each team is taken to have two ‘resources’ to use to make as many runs as possible: the number of overs they have to receive; and the number of wickets they have in hand. At any point in any innings, a team’s ability to score more runs depends on the combination of these two resources. Looking at historical scores, there is a very close correspondence between the availability of these resources and a team’s final score, a correspondence which D/L exploits.

Using a published table which gives the percentage of these combined resources remaining for any number of overs (or, more accurately, balls) left and wickets lost, the target score can be adjusted up or down to reflect the loss of resources to one or both teams when a match is shortened one or more times. This percentage is then used to calculate a target (sometimes called a ‘par score’) that is usually a fractional number of runs. If the second team passes the target then the second team is taken to have won the match; if the match ends when the second team has exactly met (but not passed) the target (rounded down to the next integer) then the match is taken to be a tie.”

(from wikipedia)

However, it is widely considered a fair method for deciding matches, despite how difficult it is to understand.

Oh, and it’s a killer band name, too.

*

Since 1971, there have been 3,338 One Day Internationals.

Currently, there are 16 nations with full ODI status: the ten full members, as well as Kenya, Ireland, the Netherlands, Scotland, Canada, and Afghanistan.

Australia has played the most ODIs, and consequently has won the most: 779 played, 484 won. A winning percent of 33.93.

South Africa has a better winning percentage, however, with 34.95 (played 467, won 291).

Sachin Tendulkar has the most runs in ODI history: 18,111.

No one else has 17,000…or 16,000…or 15,000…or 14,000

The next closest batsman is Ricky Ponting 13,686.

Caveat: Sachin has played in 453 ODIs, Ricky has only played in 370.

(Side: Ricky is his real name. I always wondered why he went by Ricky instead of Rich or Rick or Richard or Dick or ANYTHING besides Ricky…but now I know: it’s because it’s actually his name.)

Virender Sehwag has the highest run total in a single innings: 219; while South Africa’s Hashim Amla has the highest average, with 56.35 (50 innings minimum.)

Shahid Afridi has the fastest ever ODI century: doing it off of only 37 deliveries in 1996 against Sri Lanka.

That is seriously insane.

Bowling in an ODI, of course, it a bit of a different story than it is in Tests.  While you are still trying to take wickets, you are also doing your best to play damage limitation, much more so than in a Test, as batsmen will take risks in an ODI that they would never take in a Test match.

But, there have been some very successful bowlers in ODIs, all the same.

Muttiah Muralitharan and Wasim Akram each have more than 500 wickets, for instance.

But the ODI, for the most part, is a format for the batsmen.

And that’s the One Day International, in a nutshell.

Oh, one last thing: an ODI was the scene for my favorite cricket YouTube video ever: the underarm delivery:

I love the 70s uniforms, the Bacchanalian scenes in the crowd (that is 90% shirtless), the indigination of the announcers, the hair.

I love it all.

I love One Day Internationals.

Or maybe: I just love cricket.

*

Back on the pitch:

Tonight the South African tour of New Zealand starts up with a Twenty20 match at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington; while Sri Lanka searches for its first win in the CB series against Australia at the SCG.

Both matches are on Willow, I hope to be able to watch the first few overs (at least) of the former.

Until next time.

Today: Pakistan lost.

I blame myself, and my new found admiration for Pakistani cricket.

The eternal optimist in me however does see them winning the next three ODIs in the Emirates.

You heard it hear first.

A thrilling come from behind series victory would cap off what has been a very successful series overall.

It is actually a little odd, historically speaking, to watch them excel in the test format but struggle in the limited overs format, as their biggest  successes have come in One Day Internationals and T2OIs.

Three stand out, as I mentioned yesterday: The 1986 Australasia Cup, the 1992 World Cup, and the 2009 World Twenty20 Cup.

But allow me to digress a little:

I have at least a handful of American readers who know nothing of the sport. When I first started the blog, I wrote with them in mind as my audience. Recently, however, I have written with actual cricket fans as my intended audience, and have evidently spurned my non-fan readers by talking over their heads.

Therefore:

International Cricket has three main formats: Test, One Day International, and Twenty20.

Test cricket is the oldest format, and the most interesting of the three. In it: each team bats until the bowling team gets 10 wickets, or outs. And then the team that was bowling gets their turn to bat. And then the first team bats again, and then the second team bats again. The team with the most runs at the end of the two “innings” is the winner. If time runs out (five days, six and a half of hours of play per day) before a team gets their “fair ups”, then the game is a draw.

Limited overs cricket does just that: it limits the overs. An over is six deliveries – or pitches.

One Day International limits each teams’ overs to 50 each. Basically, they get 300 pitches to score as many runs as possible. If the bowling team gets 10 of the batting teams’ wickets, then their turn is over, no matter if they have had all of their overs.

Then bowling team gets their 300 pitches. And the team with the most runs wins.

The games last about 6-8 hours; it is the format used in the World Cup.

Twenty20 is the newest form, and its more egregious bastardization: each team gets 20 overs to score as many runs as possible and the games last about three hours.

It is currently the most popular format, though most cricket snobs, myself included, turn their noses up at it.

I hope that helps, though I am sure I just confused things even more.

Anyway: Pakistan’s three most glorious moments:

The Australasia Cup, 1986:

The Australasia Cup was a One Day International tournament that initially featured the nations of Pakistan, India, Australia, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh joined in on the fun in 1990, but were replaced by the United Arab Emirates in 1994.

The 1994 tournament was the last Australasia Cup – it was later more or less replace by the ICC’s Champions Trophy.

All three incarnations of the tournament took place in the UAE – and all three were won by Pakistan.

But the 1986 Cup was the big one: as it saw Pakistan defeat India in front of 20,000 spectators with the final ball of the final over.

The over started with Pakistan needing ten runs to win. Wasim Akram was run out with the first ball. Javed Miandad scored four with the second ball, and another one with the third ball.

In the fourth delivery, Chetan Sharma bowled Zulqarnain who was replaced at the crease by Tauseef Ahmed. He singled off of the fifth delivery, putting Miandad back on strike:

His team needed three to tie, four to win:

So he hit a six.

Wonderful scenes, surely, for Pakistan. Defeating their bitter rivals with the final ball, of the final over.

This article sums it up thusly:

“Do you remember where you were when…? When Pakistanis of my generation say this to each other there are several ways in which the sentence might end: when Zia was killed; Bhutto was hanged; democracy returned; Pakistan went nuclear; troops withdrew from Kargil; the military took over, again. But, more often than not, the sentence ends: when Miandad hit that six.”

Fantastic.

In 1992, Pakistan’s good fortunes in One Day Internationals continued: winning their first World Cup.

The tournament took place in Australia and New Zealand. It featured all seven test playing nations, as well as South Africa and Zimbabwe.

It was a straight round robin involving all the teams, the top four finishers advanced to the semi-finals, and then the finals.

Pakistan finished fourth, just one point higher than Australia and the West Indies.

In their first group match, they were crushed by the West Indies by 10 tickets.  In their second, they defeated the minnows Zimbabwe by 53 runs; and their next match against England ended with no result.

Then they lost to India.

It was not going well for Pakistan.  Through four group games they had won one and lost two.

And it didn’t get any better, as they lost to South Africa in their fifth match by 20 runs (D/L method.)

But then they beat Australia by 48 runs; then defeated Sri Lanka four wickets; and then defeated New Zealand by seven wickets, putting them into the semi-final against New Zealand – thanks to the one point they received in the “no result” match against England, a match that looked to be going England’s way before being washed out.

In the semi-final, they demolished New Zealand, winning their first semi-final in four tries.

In the thrilling final, they defeated England by 22 runs.

Imran Khan, in his last One Day International, took England’s last wicket.

Lots and lots of great photos on Cricinfo.

Javed Miandad (there he is again) scored the most runs for Pakistan in the tournament, with 437.  The highest score in an innings came from Rameez Raja with 119* against New Zealand in the final group stage match.

Wasim Akram was their best bowler, by far, going 89.4-3-338-18.

A special tournament from a special player.

*

2009 was a difficult year for Pakistan.

Violence had raged in the nation post 09/11.

In 2003, 164 people died in terrorist related attacks.

In 2009, that number had risen to 3,318, a 48% increase over 2008’s total.

To put that into perspective: 2,996 people were killed in the September 11th attacks.

In other words: in 2009, Pakistan needed something to cheer for.

And they got it, in the form a World Twenty20 Cup victory.

And while that might sound like hyperbole to some, Pakistanis adore cricket, and their cricketers. There is nothing to compare it to here in the States.

The tournament took place in England. Pakistan lost their first group stage match but won their second to advance to the knock out stages; where they defeated South Africa in the semi-final, and Sri Lanka in the final.

Shahid Afridi carried his team. Taking two wickets and scoring a half century against South Africa, and then scoring another half century in the final.

He gave Pakistan a victory, when his country needed it most.

The more I read about this team, the more I love them.

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I was searching for a conclusion to these moment, about how to tie them all together.

What they mean for Pakistan, the country…and what they mean for cricket…

But then I remembered this wonderful article posted on The Sight Screen.

The conclusion stands out:

“What we ask of cricket is not redemption, but a chance to know that beauty, passion, desire and belief can be real, visceral, true experiences, even if for only a moment.”

Thank you, Ahmer Naqvi, you said it better than I ever could, so yours will be the last words of consequence.

Until next time.

Three Pakistanis have hit triples centuries in a test match.

There was Hanif Mohammad against the West Indies in 1958; Inzamam-ul-Haq versus New Zealand in 2002; and Younis Khan against Sri Lanka in 2009.

Mohammad’s knock came at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown in the first match of a five test series. The match ended in a draw.

West Indies went on to win the next three tests to take the series.

The home squad had put up a massive score of 579 in their first innings, while restricting the visitors to 106, and forcing the follow on.

And then Mohammad stepped to the crease, and as I mentioned in my previous post: batted for a jaw dropping 970 minutes for 337 runs.  Carrying his bat through the innings as partner after partner fell.

Pakistan set a target of 185 for their hosts, but time ran out on day five after only handful of overs.

Cricinfo has a couple of photos that are worth checking out.

Herr Mohammad looks like the sort of cricketer I could get on board with, based simply on his picture. Just like The Nawab of Pataudi.

Unfortunately, as mentioned above, Pakistan had a poor showing in the series overall – as did Mohammad. He scored 337 runs in the innings, but only 628 in the entire series.

An aside: Sir Gabby Sobers also hit a triple century in the series: he scored 365 not out in the Windies’ first innings of the third test. His team went on to score 790/d and won the match by an innings and 174 runs.

Mohammad’s 337 is the highest ever for a Pakistani, and was broadcast live on the radio in Pakistan. This, according to Cricinfo, had a great deal to do with the popularizing of cricket in Pakistan.

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The second triple century in Pakistan’s test history came from Inzamam-ul-Haq.

He played in 120 tests for his country, scoring 8,830 runs, with 25 centuries, 46 half centuries, and an average of 49.60.

He was a big man, who loathed exercise, but who attacked the ball with ferocity.

His triple century happened at Lahore Stadium (formerly the Gaddafi stadium, at least here on Limited Overs) against New Zealand on May the 2nd, 2002.

The knock came in the first innings, and Pakistan went on to win the match by an innings and a whopping 324 runs.

Imran Nazir also scored a century for Pakistan in the match, but he was the only other Pakistani to get into triple digits.  All the hosts needed was Inzamam.

Their bowling was spectacular in the match, getting New Zealand out for only 76 in their first innings, and only 246 in their second.

In the first innings, Shoaib Akhtar had remarkable figures of 8.2-4-11-6. While in the second innings, he did not bowl an over.

Danish Kaneria bowled 32 of them, however. He was expensive, allowing 110 runs, but he also took six Kiwi wickets.

Unfortunately, the series is better known for the tragedy that preceded the second test in the series.

On May 8th, outside of the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi, where the teams were staying, a man detonated a car bomb near a city bus: killing himself and thirteen others.

The teams were minutes away from boarding their busses for the stadium.

New Zealand immediately called its players home.

And thus began Pakistan’s slow descent into exile.

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Pakistan’s final triple century happened, interestingly enough, at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Younis Khan scored it for his country in the first innings after Sri Lanka put up a superb score of 644.

Pakistan went on to score 765 in their innings, thanks mainly to Khan’s 313, and the match ended in a draw.

It was a marvelous innings for Khan, his first as Pakistan’s captain, and propelled him into the number one slot in the ICC Player Rankings.

Unfortunately, again, the test preceded a tragedy: two weeks later in Lahore, gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan team bus, and Pakistan has not hosted an international match since.

Nor will they in all likelihood ever host one again – at least not in my lifetime.

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I decided to write about the three triple centuries because in some ways, for me, with one major exception which I will get to in a minute, they sum up Pakistani cricket.

Incredibly talented, yet beset by tragedy over and over again.

Two of their biggest moments ever: overshadowed within days by terrible moments in their nation’s history.

They will be my team, going forward, I have decided.

I like that the are controversial, that they soldier on in the face of adversity, that they entertain…

And sometimes they even win.

Gloriously.

And that’s the exception: their one day history: the 1986 Australasia Cup, the 1992 World Cup, the 2009 ICC World T20…

More on those tomorrow.

And speaking of Pakistan:

Back on the pitch: their first ODI against England begins at 5am Minneapolis time tomorrow morning. I am very much looking forward to it.

Also: congrats to Dhoni and India for their win yesterday at the Adelaide Oval. A special victory from a special Captain.

As I mentioned before on this blog: I love it when Captains step up and drag their team over the line. It might just be my favorite thing in sport.

And finally, Ireland is playing Kenya in a four-day ICC Intercontinental March. They were 75 all out in their first innings but restricted their hosts to 109. Currently they are 81 for two in their second innings at the close of day one.

22 wickets fell in one day’s play. Amazing.

It should be a fun day tomorrow at Mombasa.

Which brings up our geography lesson:

Mombasa, Kenya:

Until next time.